Ch. 4

SLAM!

What was that? I opened my eyes and saw a hand on my desk. Uh-oh, this can't be good. I looked up and there was my teacher, staring back at me with her cold, black beady eyes. Ms. Morrison. Honestly, she is the scariest teacher I've had since Ms. Dodds, and she was a fury. Ms. Morrison though, her being human is still up for debate.

"Mr. Jackson, did you get enough sleep?" asked Ms. Morrison.

"Uh… Yes?" I answered.

Ms. Morrison smiled devilishly and said, "Good. Now tell me, which countries are part of the Axis Powers?"

Dam. I looked around to see if anyone would be willing to help me. Connor looked at me and shrugged. Dennis was on his phone watching his highlights. The only one that was helpful was Brandon, but it was really confusing. He just kept pointing to himself and mouthing Me.

I replied, "Is one of them Korea?"

Brandon facepalmed himself.

Her smile seemed to just grow like she won the lottery with my answer.

Ms. Morrison said, "No. The Axis Powers are Germany, Italy, and Japan. Dennis put your phone away. Brandon, stop slapping yourself. Now class, can anyone tell me who started World War II?'

It was silent for a few minutes, then the bell rang. Ding-Ding.

Yes, I'm outta here.

Ms. Morrison sighed and stated, "Okay, I need someone to answer this next class. For homework, read chapter 23 and answer the questions at the end of the chapter. We have a test coming up in two weeks."

I dipped as fast as I could. That teacher just gives me bad vibes. I headed over to the cafeteria to get some lunch. Brandon joined me in line and just gave me an exasperated look.

He commented, "Bro, did not get my hint?"

"Ya, I got your hint, but how were you helping me? You just kept pointing at yourself. How was that supposed to help me?" I answered.

"Dude, what's my last name?" Brandon asked.

"I don't know man. Is it Lee?" I responded.

Brandon gave me a look and stated, "Dude, do I look Chinese? My last name's Nishijima. I'm Japanese. That was the hint. How could you not get that?"

I shrugged and stated, "Eh, thanks for trying to help. You wanna go find an empty classroom and watch film?"

He smiled and answered, "Yeah, I got my dad to let me borrow his old iPad. We can hook it up to a projector."

Out of nowhere, Dennis butted in between me and Brandon and asked, "Wait, you guys are watching film? Can I join?"

Brandon fumbled his tray of food and stated, "Bro, you made me almost drop my food! Next time, be a normal person and just tap my shoulder instead of shoving your way in."

Dennis just laughed and said, "Haha, thanks for the tip, Brandon. I'll keep that in mind. So, can I join in?"

We say no, he is just gonna complain and say that we are holding the team back without including the best player to watch film. We say yes, he is gonna criticize everything we do and say anything he does is perfect. Lose-lose situation.

We looked at each other and knew that it doesn't matter whatever we do. I sighed and said, "Sure bro, you can join us."

"OOOOOOOOOO, DID YOU SEE THAT?! I DUNKED THAT FOOL! I MADE THAT FOOL MY B-"

I interrupted, "DENNIS! Shut up! We've been watching the same highlight for 100 times. Can we move on?"

Brandon interjected, "Ya man, the whole point for this film session was to help me get better."

Dennis conceded, "Alright, alright. But you gotta admit, that dunk was nasty."

I rolled my eyes. I commented, "Dennis, you can watch your mixtape on your own time. We need to help Brandon."

Dennis mumbled something about people not appreciating greatness and pressed play. This play was when Semi blocked Brandon's floater.

I commented, "Okay, did you see Jeffrey coming at you? If you look to the right, he left Connor wide open. You could look off Semi and dish it to Connor for an easy lay-in."

Dennis added, "That's one way to look at it. But you missed 26 sagging who is sagging off you, Percy. Brandon could actually fake it to Connor and then pass it to you for the outside three."

I looked at the play again and saw I was open.

He continued, "If you don't like that look, you could move the ball to the top to me and I could dish it to Kyle. He would have given me a pick beforehand and our man would have switched. He would have a mismatch and get the easy 2."

Brandon and I both looked at him in amazement.

Dennis looked back at us and said innocently, "Hey, I don't just score. I can pass too."

"Nah, it's not that. How did you process that whole set up?" Brandon asked.

I added, "Yeah man. It's like you thought of three plays in advance."

Dennis just shrugged, "I don't know man, I just know what would play out."

We continued watching film. Dennis and I tried to give pointers to Brandon as we finished watching the game. Well, I was giving advice and Dennis was just giving criticism for every little thing.

"Dude, you need to look up and open your eyes. Did you not see James. HE WAS WATCHING YOU THE WHOLE TIME!" Dennis shouted.

Brandon stood up and got right into Dennis's face. He replied, "Hey, whatcha mean 'open my eyes.' Is that supposed to be funny? Cause I'm Asain?"

Dennis answered back, "Bro, it doesn't matter if you're Asian, White, or Latino. The dude was right in front of you and you handed him the ball."

"Okay guys, let's take a break. I think we could all use a breather," I interjected as I stepped in between them.

"Nah, forget this. I don't need this," said Brandon.

Dennis laughed and stated, "You don't need this? Bro, grow up and stop getting your feelings hurt. I'm just telling you the truth. You can't handle that, then I can't trust you in the game. Might as well sit on the bench."

Brandon just flipped him off and stormed off. This is just great. Two teammates who can't stand each other. Who said team chemistry was important anyways.

I shoved Dennis and got into his face, "Not cool man. Lay off the dude."

He instantly responded, "Hey, the dude needs some tough love. If he's gonna crack under the pressure I give him, then he won't be able to handle his stuff when he's on the court."

I sat down in exhaustion. This whole thing was a mess.

Dennis sat down next to me. He commented, "You know I'm right. This is just practice. I need to trust teammates when we go out onto the court. It's like going to war, I need to know he will have my back and won't choke."

Ha, going to war. Yeah, basketball is definitely the same thing as going into war.

"Ya, you're not wrong. But that eyes thing was a low blow."

Dennis looked a bit ashamed and answered, "Okay, ya, that was a wrong choice of words. I wasn't trying to say anything about him being Asian. But the dude was right in front of him. What else am I supposed to say?"

I laughed and responded, "Anything, but that."

We smiled at that. We may be different, but we get along for the most part. I understand that him being cocky is just who he is. He's not really a bully, but the combination of honesty and words are not his strong suit. And he gets me for the most part. I'll stand up against him if he gets out of line but will look out after him on the court.

Dennis looked at me seriously and said, "Look, this is my last year and I think we have a shot this year. I know I always talk about state, but I'm serious bro. We actually have a shot with this crew. We are just missing like one piece. And if Brandon steps up, we may not need that piece. "

I answered, "I get what you are saying, but you need a different approach. If you keep going like this, Brandon won't listen to you or he will lose his confidence."

He smiled at that and replied, "Nah, he won't lose confidence. He may crack under pressure, but it's cause he is thinking too much. Once the game slows down for him, he's gonna get it."

I looked at him in wonder and asked, "How do you know that?"

Dennis looked at me and said, "Cuz I used to be him."

"Anyways, I need him to make me look good. Scouts saw me over the summer at the AAU circuit. But the big ones will see me when I play with bigger competition. The only way for that to happen is if we get deep in the playoffs," Dennis stated.

I keep forgetting about college. I mean growing up, I was never given the chance to think about my future past 16. I forget normal teens actually think about college. I mean, the only real school for me is the one in New Rome. So, I can't really think of colleges like NYU, Duke, or Michigan.

I don't know how long we were in the classroom, but freshmen starting piling in randomly. A couple of them walked up to Dennis and asked for his autograph. He got a kick out of that. Typical Dennis. A walking local celebrity and he is still in high school.

We were walking down the halls when we saw Coach Kevin with some skinny looking kid.

He caught our eye and waved us over.

Coach Kevin talked, "Boys, I got someone I want you to meet. He just maybe our missing link you keep talking about Dennis. This is Jalen and I'm pulling him up from the JV team."

Dennis and I looked at each other and said at the same time, "A freshman?"