The crew was gathered in the Jock Hangout where Julian was debriefing them on the final board member.
"...We just got word from the third member of the board, Mr. Javellana. He's an ex-basketball star, a huge sports nut... and he wants to check out our sports program firsthand."
"We don't have any sporting events coming up," Jess pointed out.
"No worries, Jess. Mr. Javellana took care of that for us. Apparently, the's all buddy-buddy with the principal at Hearst, so they worked out an exhibition match... A co-ed basketball game against Hearst High."
"Count me in. I actually have played some basketball," Autumn piped in.
"Basketball's not really my thing. If you want me tackling guys on the court, sure thing."
"And there's something else. Max is a basketball star. He's been playing since I was six years old. My dad would make me watch all his games. At this point, I can coach an entire team," Mia said with a grimace.
Jess gave her a knowing smile and Mia let out a sigh.
"Yes darling, I will coach the team."
Jess grinned and she said, "Okay people! Tomorrow, the real work begins! Head on home and get some rest."
The next day was one hell of a day. The gang was assembled in the gym ready for practice. Mia had requested for assistance from the student govs, gamers and filmmakers. The gamers was helping create plays for the game, the filmmakers footage and the student govs, well, were errand people.
Jess, Autumn, Julian, Ross, Seamus, Jessica Aaliyah and Sean were all lined up on the basketball court and Mia blew her whistle, basketball in one hand.
"Okay people! Your training begins now! Are you ready?"
They all shouted back, "Yeah!"
Mia nodded and threw the basketball to Julian and told him, "Let's see what you've got, Vega!"
Julian caught the ball and ran up to the hoop and threw the ball. It crashed off the backboard. Mia loudly blew her coach's whistle.
"Wrong, wrong, WRONG! Julian, you're travelling. Remember, you're supposed to dribble! And you're throwing that ball like it's a football. You're never going to make a basket that way," she informed him.
Julian gave her a sheepish look and apologized, "Sorry. Old habits die hard."
"Well, I'm going to help put them out of their misery. Give me twenty laps around the court, and dribble the ball while you run!"
Julian did as instructed and began his drills. Mia passed another basketball to Autumn.
"Art girl, show us what you can do."
Autumn easily caught the ball, dribbled down the court, and gracefully lobbed the ball into the hoop. The others appauded and Mia was actually shocked.
"Impressive moves, Autumn," Mia remarked.
Autumn blushed, "Thanks. My dad's a big basketball fan. Playing one-on-one is basically the only father-daughter bonding we do."
"You still need to work on your speed though," Mia added. "Sprints up and down the court."
Autumn went off and Mia threw a ball towards Jess who caught it.
"Jess, you're up!"
Jess dribbled down to the three point line and took a shot, which entered with a swish. Mia smiled at her but still made her run sprints. Basically, the entire team ran, regardless of how good they were. When they were running plays, if anyone made a mistake, they would do ten push ups, ten sit-ups and five sprints.
"Wow, I didn't realize Mia could be so... hardcore," Autumn commented after Julian messed up a lay up.
"Thank God she's on our side," Jess told her.
All week long, they trained hard and intensely. Their hard work began to show when Julian actually managed to go an entire practice session without tackling someone on the court and the speed of the team was at an all time high. Whenever they did lay-ups, barely anyone missed a shot.
On Thursday, Nishan and Payton walked into the gym with boxes in their hands.
"Hello, everyone," Nishan called, pausing the training. "We have a surprise for all of you."
"Shoes for each and every one of you!" Payton squealed excitedly.
The team came over and Nishan and Payton handed each of them a box. Cassandra opened hers and took out one of the shoes. It was black and blue in colour, with some white stripes. Just like the school colour. They looked like Jordans. At the bottom middle of the shoes was a clear substance that looked gooey.
Jess whistled in appreciation and Julian remarked, "Awesome shoes!"
Then he frowned and poked in the middle of the shoes asking, "What's this mushy stuff?"
"That's my special bouncy goo. I call it B-Goo. Or GooB. Patent pending," Nishan replied. "It's designed to make you jump higher according to the given weight and give you a spring in your step."
"AND they're fashionable. I used color blocking and our school colors to...," Payton quipped.
Julian interrupted, "Yeah, whatever, they're a color."
Payton rolled her eyes and sighed. Julian put on the shoes and tested them out. He was surprised at how high he could jump. "Look how high I can jump!"
Jess tested hers out by doing a back flip. Autumn on the other hand was busy on her phone, nibbling on her bottom lip. Cassandra noticed this and asked her with her eyebrow raised, "Anything wrong, kid?"
Autumn sighed and replied, "I just got a text from Wes. He wants to talk to me."
Julian had been busy dribbling the ball until he heard this. He sneered and caught the ball in his hands. "That guy?"
He threw the ball to Jess who took a shot that entered with a swish. "Again?"
Autumn frowned at him and folded her hands across her chest. "I know you don't trust him, but he did help us figure out what Max was up to."
"And with good reason. He lured us into Max's trap!"
"Wes gets very specific results."
"Well, let's just say I don't trust his 'very specific' way of doing things."
Autumn scowled at him and sighed, "Look, if he says he needs to talk, then I'm going to meet him."
"And we're coming with you," Jess spoke up.
Autumn nodded and the trio walked out of the gym to meet 'Sketchy McSketcherson' as Julian called him.
They drove to Gül Park to meet Wes and he was waiting at the bench where they first met him. Wes saw them approaching him and he smirked in amusement.
"Nice entourage, Autumn. I'm starting to think you don't trust me," Wes remarked.
Autumn asked rhetorically, "Can you blame me, Wes? After what happened last time?"
"Yeah, well, has it ever occurred to you that I'm spending all this time trying to keep your school OUT of trouble? Speaking of which... I want you to cancel the basketball game."
Jess gave him a once-over and asked, "Have you lost your mind?"
"Is this your scheme? Trying to get us to blow our one chance to save our school?" Julian pointed out.
"You really don't trust me," Wes said dryly. "You'll come up with some other way to show the board member that your school deserves a shot. Trust me, you are not winning this game. I've heard Max and Kara talking. They're going to play dirty. I don't want anyone to get hurt."
Wes gave Autumn a pointed look. Autumn shifted uncomfortably and told him, "I'm no damsel, Wes. I'm not afraid of them."
"I'm serious. Don't play in this game. It's going to get ugly," Wes implored her.
Autumn shook her head and said, "No, Wes. I can't do that."
Wes scowled and said, "You want to ignore me now? Fine. It's your loss."
He stood up and stormed off. Jess sighed as she ran a hand over her face and asked no-one in particular, "Why can't things ever be simple for once? Oh God."
The Day of the Game...
Jess was all dressed in her black and blue basketball uniform as she entered the locker room. The rest of the team was getting ready and she smiled at them warmly.
"Are you guys ready?"
Julian grinned at her and out an arm around her, "You know us, Sage. We Knights are always ready."
"Kinda nervous," Autumn piped up.
Julian gave her a warm smile and said, "Don't be. We have this in the bag."
Just then, Mia entered the locker room, looking confident dressed in black yoga pants, emerald Jordans and an emerald hoodie. Jess whistled and remarked, "Looking good, Mia."
"I know, darling," Mia smiled. "Okay, people. Huddle up."
The team gathered around her and she spoke, "Okay, team. This is it. The big game. It all comes down to this." Jess was standing next to her and she continued. "Hmm... what does my dad always say to Max?" She thought for a while before snapping her fingers. "Oh yeah... In this house, we're WINNERS. What do we train for? To WIN. If you want hugs and cuddles, go live with your mother!"
The team was silent at this, so silent that you could hear a pin drop. Cassandra finally spoke up, "Wow, that was..."
"Too much?" Mia finished as she noticed their looks of surprise.
"Pretty much," Julian said.
"Oh, fine. I guess just go have FUN or whatever, and if it's not too much trouble, think about trying to win. Y'know, to save our school," she said, rolling her eyes as they ran out of the locker room cheering.
The stands were packed with the crowd cheering for their respective teams. Mr. Javellana, Principal Warren and Lance were at the front stands, applauding politely. Cassandra caught his eye and Lance winked at her and mouthed, "Good luck, sweetie."
Jess beamed and nodded. They ran too the centre where the Hearst team joined them. Cassandra, Julian, and Autumn took the court, facing off against Max and Kara.
"Well, well. A football player and an artist in the starting lineup. So this is what the bottom of the barrel looks like." Max remarked.
"Sounds more like the setup for a dumb joke... 'Little Miss Artistic and the Dumb Football Guy walk into a basketball game...' I don't know what the punchline is, but it probably involves them making out!" Kara added in laughter.
"Don't worry, Kara. I'm sure they'll be too busy awkwardly flirting to actually play ball," Max continued his dissing.
Jess rolled her eyes at their lack of original disses and she nearly retorted at them but Mia beat her to it as she walked up to them.
"Back off, Max! I'm coaching them and you'd better be ready!"
Max's eyes widened. "Mia?"
"I should've known you'd really enjoy the whole traitor thing," Kara sneered.
"If you cupcakes are done being a bunch of jerks, let's start the game," Jess scowled.
The referee came and called for Jess and Kara to take the centre. He had the ball in his hands and as they took the centre, they scowled at each other. The referee threw the ball up and Jess jumped for it and ripped it towards Julian. Julian grabbed it and began dribbling, only for Max to slam his shoulder into him and knock him down and take the ball and make an easy lay-up. As he celebrated, Mia was busy being flabbergasted.
"Ref? Where were you on that one? Ugh."
Autumn helped Julian up and he groaned, "Wes warned us they would play dirty, but I'm ready."
The game continued and Autumn threw the ball in to Julian. He dribbled the ball back to the team's end of the court, and passes the ball to Cassandra. She grabbed the ball and dribbled it. She thought as she observed her surroundings, 'Max is covering Julian... I can take the shot or pass it to Autumn... I should pass to Autumn.'
She decided to pass the ball to Autumn. Jess called her, "Autumn! Heads up!"
Autumn caught the ball and sunk an easy shot. The Avalon supporters cheered and Mia nodded in approval at their team work. The game went on in that vein. Whenever Hearst pushed, they pushed back and they gave as good as they got.
Around half-time...
The game was a narrow one, Hearst was like three points ahead of Avalon, since Max had managed to make a three-pointer. Autumn was busy dribbling the ball when the unexpected happened. When she was near the basket, Kara hooked her foot around Autumn's ankle and shoved her.
Autumn fell with a scream and her head slammed hard against the floor. The ref blew his whistle, and the game stopped. Cassandra could hear Payton's cry of surprise and the crowd murmured. Julian ran to Autumn and shook her.
"Autumn! Autumn, can you hear me? Autumn, please, open your eyes," Julian inquired, worry laced in his voice
Julian lifted her up in his arms as she moaned in pain as they walked to the locker rooms where the nurse came for her for check up. As they waited, Payton burst into the locker room and asked, "Will she be fine?"
Mia answered worriedly, "Autumn's going to get checked out by the school nurse. I think she'll be fine... I hate to say it, but maybe we shouldn't finish the game."
Julian's fist slammed into the locker where he had been standing silently.
"Are you crazy? We can't let them get away with this!"
"Look, I don't want to see anyone else get hurt! You don't understand Max. "Maybe it's better if we give it up."
"No! No quitter talk. I'm not going to let them get away with hurting Autumn. We can't let them get away with that." Julian looked at Cassandra and implored her, his chocolate brown eyes boring into hers. "Jess, tell me you're with me."
The entire team waited for her response with bated breath and she stood up and faced Julian. She smiled and said, "Insieme per la vittoria. Together, we stand and we shall be victorious. We're going to win this for Autumn."
The team cheered and the duo hugged each other. Just about when Mia was about to speak, the door to the locker room slammed open and a furious Wes walked in.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Mia asked with a scowl.
"I warned you. I told you to stay out of the game. I told you they were going to play dirty."
Wes slammed the locker room door behind him and walked to the center of the room.
"So you came to rub it in our faces?" Julian asked sarcastically.
"No. They crossed the line. I'm here to help you take them down," Wes replied. "Just listen. Kara's terrified of getting hit in her beautiful face. If you fake like you're going to throw the ball at her, she'll break. As for Max, when he's dribbling, he sticks out his tongue every time he's about to crossover from one hand to the other. Just wait for that to happen, and you should be able to steal it from him, easy," Wes informed them.
"Any tips on how to avoid getting pummeled?" Jessica asked.
"Easy. Be the fastest one out there," Wes replied flippantly.
"Sure... 'Easy.' " Jessica gulped nervously.
Jessica was made Autumn's substitute and they rushed back out to the court. And so, a few minutes later... the ref whistled to resume the game. Kara inbound the ball to Max. He dribbled the ball... and stuck out his tongue. Contessa reached out and snagged the ball from Max.
Max yelled in surprise, "Hey!"
Max lunged for Jessica, but she spun around and ran down the court. Kara blocked her path and told her, "You aren't getting past me!"
Jessica replied, "Watch me!"
She faked throwing the ball at Kara's face, who yelped in fear and covered her face. Contessa jumped and shot the ball. It sailed gracefully through the air... and sunk perfectly into the basket!
Jessica rejoiced, "Amen!"
Julian shouted for joy and ran for Contessa and lifted her up on his shoulders.
"Nothing but net! We win!" he shouted.
Max growled in frustration, "Arrgggh! Unbelievable! This is all your fault, Kara!"
"My fault? You're the one that let them steal the ball, hotshot!" Kara retorted.
Jess nodded and Mr. Javellana cleared his throat and they looked at him. He stated in a deep voice. "Miss Miller, I have to say that I was skeptical about this institution, but I'm happy to be proven wrong as you have an excellent sports program around here. It reflects in the way you played today; teamwork and strength. You certainly have my vote."
"Autumn! You're okay! Jess exclaimed.
Autumn nodded and said, "Yep, the nurse says I'll be fine... and it sounds like our school will be too!"
Wes entered the locker room and Autumn looked at him with a smile, "I hear you helped, Wes. Thank you."
"Just doing the right thing, that's all," he shrugged. "Unfortunately for me, I don't think Max and Kara are going to see it that way. I get the feeling people at Hearst aren't going to be throwing me any parades..."
"Well, you could always transfer here," Jess offered.
"Whoa, Jess. You sure? Sketchy McSketcherson?" Julian enquired, eyebrows raised.
"He helped our cause. Makes him right by me," Jess stated with a smile.
Julian was silent for a moment and then he nodded, "Alright then, I trust you, Jess. If you're sure."
The team changed and they went out for pizza at the local pizzeria, Wes among them as Berry's newest student