Part II - Gameday
-2 Days Later-
JuJu wakes up early around 6:00 AM. He does his daily routine and gets dressed, but this time he puts on his school's game jersey. He wore number 11 and it was crimson with gold accents and numbers with a white outline around them. He also puts on black jeans with all-white Air Force 1 sneakers.
He goes to his little sister's room to check on her and sees that she's still asleep since she doesn't start school until later.
He heads downstairs and sees his mom and dad in the kitchen.
"Morning guys," JuJu says.
"Morning Mini-Me," says D'Angelo.
"Hi, mijo!" says Maria.
"Love the jersey, Lil Man! Just like your old man!"
JuJu laughs. "You know I had to represent, Pops. This number 11 is our family tradition."
"Damn right."
"I'm taking you to school today, mijo," says Maria.
"Alright, sounds good," JuJu replies.
Then they head out to the car so JuJu can get to school. Once they get to campus, Maria talks to him.
"Mijo, I don't want you to worry about that record, all that matters is that you play well and not get yourself hurt, okay? Love you."
"Yes, ma'am. Love you too."
JuJu gets out of the car and puts in his headphones listening to the album 'Lil Uzi Vert VS The World' by rapper, Lil Uzi Vert to stay focused before the game. He greets other students while they say words of encouragement to him.
-Hours Later-
It was minutes before game time. The team is in the locker room dead silent. Everyone is staying focused either with music in their headphones or reading the team's playbook. JuJu played hard at practice that week and he hopes his play would show it. The uniforms the team wore were the red jerseys with gold pants. JuJu had a visor on his helmet, wore a red arm sleeve on his right arm, and had custom red cleats with the quote he lives by, "Always trive And Prosper."
Coach then walks into the locker room.
"Alright men, we have twenty minutes until kickoff, let's head down to the field and warm up."
"YES COACH!" the team responds.
The team puts on their crimson helmets and line up to head down to the football field filled with students and parents from their school. Every player is greeted with applause before the team captain introductions.
"Everyone get ready for the team captain introductions to begin!" yells the announcer through the loudspeakers.
"First off, we have your Quarterback, number six, Ruben Sanchez!"
He runs out to the field with his helmet in his hand while the Crowd applauds and cheers.
"Next up, at Running Back, number twenty, Isiah Griffin!"
"And last, but not least, Wide Receiver, number eleven, JuJu Rose!"
He runs out to the field moving his arms up and down to hype up the crowd, cheering loudly once again. Minutes later, after the team had warmed up, it was time for kickoff.
JuJu's team started with the ball first. On the first play, they all lined up and JuJu saw that he was up against number 2. He remembered what his coach had said to him about where he's placed and how to beat him. He looks at Ruben to give the hand signal for what route he will run and then he hears the cadence from Ruben.
"Down, set, go!"
JuJu blasts off the line with pure speed and easily gets past his opponent wide open for a 75-yard touchdown. He celebrates with his teammates and walks off the field. He then looks at the stands seeing his family. His mom, dad, siblings, niece, and nephews, all applauding and celebrating. His dad then gets a tap on his shoulder and is greeted by Coach Richardson. As he introduces himself, he tells JuJu's parents how good of a player he is and asks for permission to talk to him after the game.
"I'm breaking this record tonight," JuJu says to himself.
Throughout the game, JuJu shows the scouts, coaches, the stands, and the other players what he is capable of doing on that field.
It's the fourth quarter and the game is close with a score of 42 to 36. His team is down and he is one touchdown away from breaking his father's record. Isiah is handed the ball a couple of times to get the opponents' eyes off JuJu then there will be a good chance to hit him for an unsuspecting pass to the endzone.
"Down, set, go!" Ruben calls.
He tosses the ball to Isiah then he runs to the outside. Isiah sees that the opponents fell for the fake and are going straight for him. Then suddenly, he throws the ball as hard as he can down the field right into JuJu's hands, wide open, and scores the touchdown to take the lead with no time left on the clock. The team, coaches, and the stands all storm the field celebrating what they all just witnessed.
"THE RECORD IS BROKEN! THE RECORD IS BROKEN! JuJu Rose has broken the touchdown record set by his father 20 years ago! Like father, like son!" Yells the announcer.
JuJu, being the humble kid he is, shows respect to the opposing players congratulating them for the hard-fought game they played. After that, he hears the stands cheering his name.
"JUJU! JUJU! JUJU!"
His teammates celebrate with him while congratulating him in the process.
Minutes later, after the celebration died down, JuJu hears a voice calling him.
"JuJu!"
He turns around and sees that it's Coach Richardson.
"Hey son, you played a great game tonight."
"Thank you, sir, I love the game." JuJu replies.
"Listen, I think you know we can't offer you a scholarship yet since you're a freshman and all."
"Yes, sir."
"But, you are on our radar and if you keep playing this hard through your junior year, we'll have that scholarship offer waiting for you. The Wolverines need a fierce competitor like you."
"Yes, sir appreciate it."
"Now, I asked your parents for permission first. How would you like to go on a visit to the campus next week? Fully paid for."
"Are you serious?"
"As serious as I'll ever be."
"Yes! I'd love to!"
"Alright sounds good. I'll send the details to your dad so we can get settled. Great game again."
"Thank you, sir."
JuJu then heads up the stands to see his family. He greets each family member filled with happiness. Then, he reaches his father.
"Well, looks like we have a new king, congrats son," says D'Angelo
"Thanks, Pops, couldn't have done it without you." JuJu replies.
"JuJu!" screams his little sister, niece, and other nephews. They all hug him and they all pose for a picture together. Then after is the older kids, siblings, and parents.
"Alright. I gotta go change before Coach gets mad," says JuJu. I'm gonna go eat at Denny's with the guys so I might be home later. Is that cool?"
"Sure mijo," says Maria.
JuJu struggles to get out of his skin-tight football gear and dresses in the normal clothes he wore that day but instead of a jersey, he had a white hoodie.
"Yo JuJu, you comin' or what? Hurry yo ass up nigga!" yells CJ from across the locker room.
"I'm comin'! Damn! You know how hard it is to take this shit off?"
He then meets up with CJ, Ruben, and Isiah in the parking lot by CJ's car to drive and eat at Denny's with their other teammates.
Once they get to the restaurant, they take their seats and begin ordering. JuJu has a good look at the TV and sees that the highlights from their game is on. He tells the waiter to turn up the volume.
The team sees the highlights from the game and they react to every big play that happened. After all the highlights played, they all got their food and started chowing down. They were all talking, cracking jokes, watching the TV until the news came on talking about the same virus from days ago.
"Bruh, I heard about this a couple of days ago," says CJ.
"Same, I saw a dude go insane and ate a dude's face off." says one of JuJu's teammates. "Not sure if it was legit though."
"Yo what? Where the fuck did you find that shit?" says another.
JuJu, Ruben, and Isiah all look at each other.
"Look! I told y'all." says the teammate pointing at the video on the screen. "That's the video I'm talkin' about."
"Shut up you fat fuck," says another teammate. "Let me listen."
The reporter on the TV goes on to explain.
"This video you see here is from Toronto, Canada. This could either be a sign of the virus or someone on drugs."
"Bruh, this shit stupid, That video was on YouTube years ago. That was a guy off of bath salts." The news always got some dumb shit to say just for views." Says a random customer in the restaurant.
One of the waiters then change the channel to SportCenter so the commotion would die down, which worked. Later on, the group pays their bill and all decide to call it a night.
"I'm taking y'all home," says CJ. "Who's house is the closest?"
"Drop me off with Ruben," says Isiah. "We live by each other."
"Aight."
After his friends are dropped off, JuJu gets a text from Isiah. Saying the trio should play pickup basketball at the park tomorrow. JuJu accepts the invite and gets out of the car, thanking his teammate for the ride.
"Thanks, CJ. I'll see you at practice."
"No problem. Catch you later."
-Next Morning-
"Shit, my body's killing me," JuJu says as he wakes up. "Fuck it, it's a bye week. I'll recover."
JuJu gets out of bed and gets a call from Isiah.
"Yo." JuJu answers.
"Yo, You still coming?" asks Isiah.
"Chingada madre, I just woke up. Yeah, I'll be there. Give me a couple minutes."
"Alright. See you then."
JuJu puts on comfortable clothes to play basketball in. He puts on a white shirt with black basketball shorts, black compression pants, and white and gold Kobe X basketball sneakers.
"Aye ma! I'm going to the park to play basketball with the guys." JuJu says. "I'll be home in a little while!"
"Okay, mijo!" Maria replies. "Who's taking you?"
"I'm walking. It's not that far away. I need to warm up my legs anyway."
"Are you sure? I can take you if you want."
"Nah Ma, it's good. Trust me, I'll be fine. I'll see you later."
JuJu gets a bottle of "Cool Blue" Gatorade, his favorite, and heads to the park. When he gets there, he's immediately greeted by his friends and heads to the court.
"Let's see if you still got them hops, JuJu," remarks Isiah.
"Hit me with an oop and I'll show you," says JuJu.
Isiah throws the ball off the backboard and JuJu catches it and throws down a powerful one-hand slam.
"Told y'all. KEEP PLAYING WITH ME!" JuJu says, feeling a little cocky.
The trio goes on to play Horse while conversating in the process.
"Aye JuJu, I saw that University of Michigan scout talk to you after the game," asks Ruben. "What was that about?"
"He offered me to go to the campus next week fully paid for by the school with a hotel room and everything. I have to miss all of next week though." JuJu replies as he sinks a deep three-pointer. "But still, you know I took that opportunity. What about y'all two?"
"I got to talk to the scout for UCLA. He told me I'm on their radar and I'm gonna be projected to be a top 10 Quarterback in our class."
"Damn, good shit. I got one from Florida State," says Isiah. "Said they can turn me into a 'Le'Veon Bell' type player. I ain't complaining."
"See?" says JuJu. "I knew y'all was gonna get something."
"Yo!" a voice says from across the court. "Y'all wanna do a little pickup game three versus three?" It turns out to be Emmanuel, another football player from an opposing school that JuJu never liked. They were rivals since they were kids.
"Nah bro, we're good. We just recovering right now," says Ruben.
"Ohhh okay okay, so y'all pussy then? I see how it is. Typical Monte Vista mother fuckers."
"Yo, what?" JuJu answers back. "Who the fuck you think you talkin' to? Don't come out here with all that disrespect."
"Yo, JuJu, relax before your temper takes over," says Isiah.
"Nah, he a whole bitch talking all this nonsense."
"Then let's run this game if you so tough."
JuJu passes the ball hard into Emmanuel's chest.
"Let's go then. Your ball. First to 21 wins. I'll guard you."
Emmanuel and his friends all line up in their spots and the pickup game begins.
Emmanuel dribbles behind his back and does a no-look pass to his teammate for an easy layup.
"Come on now, I thought you were good at defense?" Remarks Emmanuel as he passes the ball back to JuJu. It's 2 to 0
JuJu passes the ball to Isiah who drives into the paint to pass out to Ruben for a wide open three pointer. 3 to 2.
"See that?" JuJu answers back. "Wet like water!"
The game gets heated as every possession goes on. There's shoving, tripping, and lots of arguing back and fourth. The other people at the park were very into the game and watching like it like it was the NBA Playoffs, chanting and celebrating after every highlight play.
The score was suddenly 19 to 18 with Emmanuel's team ahead. Ruben gets the ball and passes to JuJu.
"ISO!" JuJu calls.
The others spread out the space of the court until it was JuJu and Emmanuel one-on-one. JuJu dribbles around the court with the crowd in the background chanting until he fakes a drive into the paint with a behind the back snatch back to the 3 point line and sees Emmanuel lose his balance and fall over. JuJu shoots the 3 pointer and makes it. His friends are in complete shock from what they just witnessed. They win the game 21 to 19. JuJu walks up to Emmanuel and helps him up from the ground, showing how humble he is.
Emmanuel and his friends then walk off the court in disappointment, without saying a word.
"Damn bro, I ain't never seen you get that upset before, besides losing, anyway." says Ruben.
"I don't like getting disrespected by people who don't know me, shit's weird," Says JuJu. "But imma head out. Gotta take care of my sister."
JuJu puts on his slide-on sandals and does a handshake with each of his friends. He then puts on his headphones while drinking his Gatorade and starts to walk home.