The Basketball Game
Nightcloud and Scourge padded into the elementary school gymnasium. Scourge, grumbling about having to wake up early on a Saturday, was carrying a video camera. Lollipop ran ahead of her parents, dribbling a bright orange basketball with her front paws.
"I'm so excited!" the black kit squealed. "It's the first game of the season!"
"I'm sure you'll win every game, Lolli!" Nightcloud meowed encouragingly.
Lollipop nodded, reaching into her mother's purse to get her yellow jersey. "I'm hoping to improve my free throws this season," she mewed, tugging the jersey over her head. "I'm pretty good at three point shots, but my free throws need some work."
Sparkle sighed loudly, adjusting a green bow on her left ear. "I don't see why you have to play basketball, Lollipop."
"It's not ladylike," Shimmer added, fixing her own green ear-bow.
Misery gave her athletic sister a cheerful glance. "I think it's great that you like sports! I bet you're the best on your team!"
Lollipop gave Misery a quick hug. "Thanks, Sis. I'm not that good, though."
Hashtag pushed in front of her sisters and parents, entering the gym first. She glanced around, taking in the sights. She studied the crowd of cats gathered in the bleachers- she-cats drinking coffee, toms helping their kits shoot hoops, brothers and sisters looking bored, and the teams getting ready for the game. Spying the scorekeeper's table, the black kit slunk away from her family, an evil smile spreading across her face.
"Now I want every minute of this game on camera, Scourge!" Nightcloud meowed as she found a seat in the bleachers. "You better not miss a thing!"
"I won't!" the tom growled, flashing his mate a grumpy look. He sat down next to her and sighed tiredly. "Eight in the morning is too early for basketball!"
Shimmer huffed in her seat. "It is always too early for basketball. Sports are for toms, not she-cats!"
Sparkle nodded in agreement. "Why couldn't Lollipop join our quilting circle? It's much more suitable for little she-cats."
"Hush, girls," Nightcloud scolded. "Lollipop can play sports if she wants to."
Tutu sat down next to Misery and pulled a book out of her purse. The kit opened her book and started to read, completely ignoring everything going on around her.
"Mama, you're going to cheer for me, right?" Lollipop asked as she tossed her ball toward Nightcloud.
"Of course, dear," the black cat mewed, catching the ball. "Now take your Catorade and go over to your team! I'm sure Coach Lionblaze will want to go over some things before the game starts."
The kit nodded, taking her bottle of Catorade and running across the court to her team. "I'm here, Coach!" she yowled as she approached the golden tom.
Misery opened her little purple purse and pulled out two small yellow pompoms. "I'm going to be the cheerleader," she mewed sweetly.
"Sit still and be quiet!" Scourge growled.
"Don't listen to him, Sweetheart," Nightcloud said, whacking Scourge with her paw. "You cheer all you want!"
The kit nodded and climbed down the bleachers. She stood at the corner of the court, waving her pompoms in the air. "Go Unicorns!" she cheered wildly.
"All right she-cats and toms," the announcer meowed, speaking into a microphone at the scorekeeper's table, "are you ready for some basketball? Today we have the home team- the Moor Elementary School Unicorns against the Pine Tree Elementary School Frogs! Let's play ball!"
Coach Lionblaze sent his players onto the court. Lollipop stood the closest to her team's basket, ready to guard it against the offending Frogs. Fernkit, Sorrelkit, and Hollykit were standing at the half-court line, staring down three of the opposing team's players. Berrykit stood a few tail-lengths in front of Lollipop, her little gray tail flicking back and forth.
A white she-cat on the opposing team got the ball first and dribbled it down the court. Fernkit ran up and stole the ball, passing it to Sorrelkit. A tortoiseshell kit blocked her, trying to whack the ball out of her grasp. Sorrelkit was quick, though, and whirled around and ran back toward her team's basket. She passed the ball to Lollipop, who turned around and tossed the ball into the air. It hit the back board and fell neatly through the hoop.
"That's two points for the Unicorns!" the scorekeeper called.
The white kit on the other team caught the ball and passed it to the tortoiseshell, who dodged around Fernkit and raced across the court, passing the ball to a ginger kit. The kit tossed the ball to a black kit, who made a nice three-point shot.
"The score is now three to two," the scorekeeper announced. "The Frogs are in the lead!"
Hollykit caught the ball, but the tortoiseshell kit tripped her, causing her to fall and lose her grip. The ball rolled across the floor into the tortoiseshell's paws. She picked it up and tossed it into the basket easily.
"Another two points for the Frogs!" the scorekeeper meowed.
Lionblaze tossed an official-looking clipboard onto the floor. "No!" he spat. "That kit fouled Hollykit! The points are no good!"
The referee, who was standing off to the side chewing a piece of gum, said nothing. The scorekeeper shrugged and kept the score as it was.
"Go Unicorns!" Misery cheered, waving her pompoms. "You can do it!"
Sparkle pulled a bottle of claw polish out of her purse. "This is so boring, Shimmer," she mewed. "Ladies do not play sports."
"You're right, Sparkle," her sister meowed. "Let's just paint our claws and ignore the game."
Tutu was thoroughly engrossed in her book and had no idea what was going on.
Lollipop ran across the court, waving her paws to Sorrelkit, who had grabbed the ball. "I'm open!" she called. "Toss it to me!"
Sorrelkit nodded and threw her the ball, but the black kit on the opposing team thrust herself into Lollipop, knocking her down. The kit grabbed the ball, leaped over Lollipop, and made another basket.
"That makes the score seven to two!" the scorekeeper meowed. The referee still said nothing.
Misery continued to wave her pompoms. "Come on, Unicorns! Don't let the Frogs get you down!"
The tortoiseshell kit got the ball and passed it to the white kit. Berrykit ran in front of the white kit, trying to block her shot. The opposing kit glared at her and shoved her out of the way, tossing the ball to a ginger kit. Hollykit tried to catch the ball while it was still in the air, but the ginger kit kicked her to the side, catching the ball and making yet another basket right as the buzzer went off, signaling the end of the game.
"The Frogs have won with nine points!" the scorekeeper announced.
The kits on the Frogs began jumping up and down, cheering for themselves wildly. Their dark tabby coach padded onto the court to congratulate his team.
Nightcloud slunk into her seat in the bleachers. "I knew this would happen! Pine Tree Elementary should never have hired Tigerstar as a coach! The referee can't even do anything because Tigerstar will beat him up if he does. It's not fair!"
Suddenly the scoreboard began flashing, the scores for each team changing rapidly. Then the lights in the gym began flashing, before going out completely. A black kit sat at the scorekeeper's table, laughing evilly as she pressed buttons.
"Uh-oh, somebody's spilled Root Beer all over the control panel!" Hashtag mewed, still pressing buttons with sticky, Root Beer-covered paws. "The scores are all messed up! This says the Frogs had zero points and the Unicorns had one hundred! Whoopsy!"
Tigerstar stormed up to the kit. "My team won!" he hissed. "You'd better change the score, young lady!"
Hashtag just smiled sweetly. "No, Mr. Tigerstar. I can't possibly do that."
"Why not?" he spat.
"Because in class you said to never correct your evil acts!" she mewed. "I'm only doing what you taught me in school!"
The dark tabby glared at her, narrowing his eyes in confusion. "Yes…well…my team won, but you get an A for being evil. So…good job, I guess."
Misery continued cheering for the Unicorns.
Sparkle and Shimmer continued painting their claws.
Nightcloud whacked Scourge because he forgot to take the cap of the camera lens.
Tutu still had no idea what was going on.