Five minutes later I'm on the courtyard, standing across from me are Jacob and four other cronies. Michael told me I should expect this, I don't have anyone to back me up and Jacob has four.
"Are you ready Albert?" He hollers tauntingly.
"Sure, but you might need a couple more guys if you want to stand a chance."
I don't hear his next words, but even from this distance due to recent perks of biotechnology, most people can afford to have 20/20 vision so it's child's play to read his lips.
"Show no mercy."
The referee tosses the ball upward, and since just about everyone in the school is taller than me, the guy for Jacob's team passes the ball to his side of the court.
Jacob catches it, advances unobstructed because two of his teammates are in my way, and dunks the ball into the basket. The students who cared to come — which are a lot — are sitting on the bleachers and happily cheering for the Principal's grandson.
"That's two points." Jacob brags. A confident smirk plastered on his face as he jogs past me.
"I know how basketball works." I retort.
"Really? I bet you didn't know that this game is to eleven points." Jake says.
To be honest, basketball is relatively foreign to me, I understand the basics at least. If observing Michael has taught me anything, it's that you don't make a deal with Jacob Xanderidge without having a plan, I just need an opening.
"You're losing hard Albert." Jacob taunts after his fourth consecutive two-pointer. The excited chatter of our classmates fill my ears as the game comes approaches the end.
"I may have been mistaken, your teammates are actually decent players. It's you who's bad at this game." I respond, pretending to pant with my hands on my knees.
Jacob scoffs. "Look at the scoreboard, I've been owning this game."
"When your teammates get to stop me, you can own this game, without them, I would have ended this ages ago." I assert.
His eyes glint dangerously at my words before he looks at his teammates and tells them, "you guys can go, let me put this kid in his place."
In seconds, it's just me and him.
"I'll even give you the ball so you can, 'end this'." Jacob says and passes me the ball.
Instantly, I catch it and sprint forward, bounce the ball in a complicated pattern in and out of my legs to keep it out of his reach, and casually toss the ball into the hoop.
"That's two." I say to him, I played on his arrogance and pride, now I get to humiliate him in front of his team and a good percentage of our year.
He starts towards my hoop when he's with the ball, but I intercept the ball mid bounce and put it between his legs, spin around him to catch it and toss it into the hoop from the middle of the court. Basketball can be easy, it's just projectile physics. Computing the angle of launch and the force I need to apply to get a hoop is elementary with my advanced mind and intimate understanding of my own body.
"That's three."
I do the same thing again, except that I fake him out and dart to one side before doing a cross over to the other and shooting for another three points.
"That's-" I start but Jacob cuts me off.
"Don't you dare." He interrupts me. I'm clearly getting to him, he didn't expect me to be this good, and judging by the surprised looks on our classmates, neither did they. Sasha in particular looks very surprised, she came over at some point during the game.
When I steal the ball from Jake again, I try to shoot, but he rams his shoulder into me and sends me sprawling on the floor, he takes the ball that I drop and tosses it up for a layup that lands flush in the hoop.
"The fuck was that?" Sasha yells from her seat.
I pick myself off the floor and step up to Jacob. "Care to explain what that was Jacob?"
"Street rules Albert." He smirks at me. "That's two."
I stand at my side of the court, ball in hand, and wait for the referee's whistle.
As soon as I hear the shrill sound, I make my way forward and when Jacob gets close, throw the ball directly upward. As expected, he extends his arms to shove me. I jump at him, as he pushes my torso backwards, I trap his shoulders and redirect my momentum up, flip over him and grab the ball as it falls back down, tuck it between my legs just because, and shoot.
It goes through the hoop.
The referee whistles to signify the end of the game. I win.
"You know what that means right?" I ask Jacob as I come towards him.
"A deal is a deal." He says.
"I look forward to another game with you Jacob, good game." I reach out to shake his hand and he grasps it firmly.
"This isn't over, Albert." Jacob says before walking away. I know he only shook my hand because people were watching, he actually squeezed it a little.
"Albert, you. were. amazing." Sasha breathes out when she gets close.
"You said this was your first time playing. You didn't need to lie." Michael says.
"I didn't, this is my first basketball game, hopefully my last." I respond.
"Why? You didn't have fun kicking Jake's butt?" I'm almost more surprised at the fact that she didn't swear than the notion of having fun with anything. Almost.
"It wasn't for fun, it was to get Michael out of the deal." I say.
The smile on Sasha's face now fades as confusion etches onto her face. "What deal? What are you talking about?" She turns to Michael. "Mike, what is he talking about?"
"Um, what he means is-" I save Michael the effort of coming up with a convincing lie.
"Jacob tried to strike a deal with Michael, allow some more dirt to be put on his name or be mauled by he and his cronies. The latter was about to happen when I stepped in." I tell Sasha.
The look in Michael's eyes is one of relief and gratitude. It better, I don't lie for just about anyone. I don't know why he's keeping it a secret but I'll guard it, for now.
Sasha rolls her eyes. "Of course he'd do something like that. I have to say I was kinda surprised to see you playing for us, I leave for ten minutes and my brother gets you into a game with Jake and his whole team."
"Why did you help us anyway? I mean, I don't have a problem with it but why?" Michael asks.
"I don't like it when people who are stronger, control everything they can, just because there are people who are weaker." I answer.
"That's some deep shit right there." Sasha remarks while nodding in approval.
While we converse, we steadily make our way to the school entrance where I bid them goodbye, retrieve my bag, and head home.
On my way home, I text my mother Mr. Dent's number and tell her what it's for. Noticing that it's getting dark, I stop at a vending machine to get a burger and eat it at a park bench. Roadside vending machines only became popular in the last decade or so, they're an efficient way for food vendors to make profit without congesting the streets.
"Why did you help the Reid twins?" PITAN questions in my head.
I wait until I finish my bite before I answer. "Way to interrupt my dinner PITAN. I did it to gather information, get closer to the children of high ranking SOSRAC officials."
"You don't believe that do you? I mean, it's a good reason, A believable reason, but that's not why you did it." PITAN says with so much certainty it would be insulting to deny it.
I ponder my next words carefully before I say them. "I don't know why I did what I did, PITAN."
"I know."
And with that, I finish my dinner and head home. What greets me is unexpected.
"Albert you're not going to believe what's on the news." Are the first words my mother says to me when I step through the front door.
She already has the news channel on so I glance at it to see what she's talking about. She was right, I don't believe what's on.
"An attempted kidnapping of a young boy in the crowd was foiled by the presidential aspirant, Dr. Gerald Finn, who was caught in the cross fire between the police and the suspect while bravely stepping in to save the young boy." The news reporter says.
"The boy, Barry Smith, is the four year old child of Senator Davis Smith, and would be missing as I speak if not for the actions of Dr. Gerald Finn. The suspect is a young man who the FBI and CIA have been after for years, whose name they are only just disclosing to the public. This man has been charged with arson, kidnapping, homicide, drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and other grievous crimes. His name might raise a couple eyebrows, but according to the FBI's database, his name is Diego Hernàndez and the authorities believe him to be related to the late scientist, Javier Hernàndez."