I know, it's been months. Junior year really got me messed up. It's finally over though, so bless. To make up for the slow ass updates here's one tonight and another one coming tomorrow.

Anyways, man do I love me some basketball. This was my school's team chant, I just changed up the mascot, so y'all need to get hype with them or it won't feel right. 

"California nigga and I'm heavy in these streets. If you don't keep a pole, how you ready when there's beef?"

***

"This is the big day y'all, this game will make or break our chance of gettin' into the final four," Coach started. "I'm puttin' all my trust in y'all, we got scouts at every corner and y'all can't let these lil' steroid pumped white boys outshine you tonight."

The team nodded eagerly in agreement, listening closely to Coach's words while standing with arms wrapped around each other's shoulders. "Tonight y'all better go out there, play hard, work hard, and beat these Berkeley boys," Coach shouted, his voice getting louder with every word. "Let's get this win Patriots!" 

With that came a loud array of hoots and hollers. Drake and I exchanged a knowing look before moving into the middle of the huddle to get the team hyped. Drake took the left side of the circle and I took the right, I nodded signaling for him to start it off.

"Aye let's show these boys what we about, alright?" Drake began, earning a few hoots."We bout' to turn up one time on these boys y'all."

"They ain't ready! They ain't ready for us! This bout to be their last game of the season!" I shout causing the team to get rowdier. "We bout to smash em! Show these scouts what Oakland is really about!" 

Drake started jumping up and down around the huddle, and soon enough the rest of the team joined in. 

"We on the court like?" Drake and I yelled.

"Woo!" The team replied.

"All day like?" 

"Woo!"

"All night like?"

"Woo!"

"And we ready like?"

"Woo!"

"Patriots like?"

"Woo!"

"Dubs on em' like?"

"Woo!"

"And we get it like?"

"Woo!"

"And my dogs like?"

"Woo!"

"And it sound like?"

"Woo!"

"All day like? Woo! All night like? Woo! We ready like? Woo! Patriots like? Woo! "Dubs on em' like? Woo! And we get like–Woo–And we get it like–Woo–Oooo–Ooo–Oo!"

"Patriots on three, Patriots on me!" I shouted, holding my fist in the air. 

My team held their fist up to mine. "One–two–three–Patriots!"

***

***

When Coach said white people food hit different I thought he was lying. 

There were three guys on Berkeley's team that towered over me, they had to be at least 6'6 or 6'7. I have no idea what they feed the athletes over at white schools but it had to be somethin' special if they ended up being this big in high school. 

They were good too, no denying that. All that means is that I gotta work harder if I want scouts to notice me tonight. There were several in the crowd, along with players and coaches from college teams. It's normal to see that here, considering we're playing at Berkeley and not in the hood of West Oakland. 

I looked around the crowd, most of the scouts were sitting around where a guy worked the scoreboard while another kept stats on each player. Like how many points, rebounds, or assist they make. I was able to spot my parents on the visitor's side of the gym. Momma sent me a friendly wave and Pop, who was sitting next to her, studied the other team carefully. In front of them sat Reese, Amour, Sarai, and Devany. Reese and Dev laughed at something on their phones while Amour laughed and whispered something to my sister. 

It was cute how supportive Amour was of my games. When we first met he hated any kind of school-related sport, but here he is wearing a green shirt paired with a green bandana wrapped around his forehead, his curls falling in front of it. 

Sarai noticed my staring and waved before tugging on Amour's shirt to alert him. He smiled and gave me a thumbs up. I replied with a wink, making his cheeks flush red.

The ring of the buzzer shook me out of my thoughts. I moved onto the court with the rest of the starting five, looking to coach who signaled for me to move to the middle. I walked towards the middle of the court, standing next to the 6'6 Berkeley kid. We crouched down and positioned ourselves to get ready for the tip. 

The sound of the ref's whistle blew loudly, I jumped as high as I could and swatted the ball towards Drake. Berkeley boy was tall, but he didn't have hops. I smiled knowing our first play went as planned. Like always, Drake sprinted towards our basketball and made our first point with a layup. 

I quickly got on defense when the other team retrieved the ball. Number Two made his way past Drake's defense and dribbled the ball across the court. He was shorter with blonde curly hair, probably point guard since the rest of the team was following his calls. Curls passed the ball to Number Ten, the big dude I was tipping with. He had short brown hair and was pretty muscular. Ten looked to be heavy-handed naturally, but he could barely dribble with his left. Judging by his size, he was probably used as a big who would work on dunking and defense only. 

I gotta figure out how to get him to switch hands.

"Use your feet, Isaiah!" Pop yelled from the stands.

"Let's go, King!" Coach followed. 

I moved closer to Ten's right side, keeping my hands up while still trying to block him by guarding him with my feet. He was backing up into the corner, not far from the out of bounds line.

"Logan over here!" one of his teammates called from behind. 

I watched closely as Ten had a mental debate on whether he should pass over to his friend. I step closer to him with my hands still up so the refs don't call a foul, he switches hands quickly before throwing the ball over my head. It hits the tip of my fingers, bouncing away from us and over to Ty and another Berkeley boy. Ty moves fast and catches it and passes to Quincy who began to sprint to the other side of the court. 

A cheer roars from the crowd when Quincy makes another layup, adding two more points to the score. I look over to my coach who gives me a nod, "Nice defense Isaiah!" he yells. I smile, running back towards Berkeley's side to prepare for their next play. 

This is gonna be a good game. 

***

Amour's POV

Berkeley's team was down by one point with five seconds on the clock. Some guy fouled Isaiah while he was shooting, so each of the players lined up at the free throw line waiting for the referee to throw Isaiah the ball. 

"Come on Isaiah! We need these!" Isaiah's dad yelled from behind me. 

Isaiah looked up and towards where we were sitting and rolled his eyes at his father's words. After spending the first half sitting in front of Isaiah's dad, I finally realized why Reese always insisted to sit away from his parents at games. Mr. King was like a coach from the stands, yelling, jumping, and calling out instructions non-stop. Anytime one of our players messed up he would throw his hat down or yell out angrily, rambling on how whoever it was should've passed the ball to Isaiah. 

"Pandora did you see that? He rolled his eyes at me," Mr. King whispered to his wife. "Why would he do that?"

"Cause he don't need you tellin' him what to do all the time," Mrs. King said flatly as she continued to play Candy Crush on her phone.

"If he wants a basketball scholarship then he needs to be listenin' to what I'm saying." Mr. King replied. 

Reese and I watched as Mrs. King turned off her phone and looked her husband in the eye. "Kerry if you don't shut the fuck up. You know damn well Isaiah is capable of gettin' a scholarship on his own so quit being a bitch and watch the game." she snapped. 

Mr. King huffed and turned his attention towards the court. "We'll talk about this later." 

"Sure we will." Mrs. King chuckled, replying sarcastically. 

Reese and I did our best to hold in our laughter. We turned back to the court to find the ball leaving Isaiah's hands and traveling through the hoop. The ref passed him the ball again, he bounced it once before spinning it in his hands and shooting it once more. The ball went into the basket with a swish, a kid from the other team got the rebound and made his way towards the other basket. The five seconds went by quickly, Berkeley's team went to shoot the ball and it ended up bouncing off the rim, causing a loud cheer from George's side to echo through the room. 

The halftime buzzer rang and the players jogged into the locker room while students piled into the hallway towards the concession stand. 

"Come on I want a hot dog," Reese announced, grabbing onto my hand.

"Shareese can you get Sarai some candy while you're down there?" Mrs. King asks, handing her a couple of dollars. 

"Anything else?"

"Yeah," Mr. King says shuffling through his bag. He pulls out a red Gatorade and hands it to me. "Armando, can you give this to Isaiah?"

You've got to be kidding me. Armando? Seriously?

Reese cracks up at Mr. King's attempt at my name. Mrs. King slaps his arm and corrects him, causing him to give me a strange look. "Amour huh? That's...different," he admitted. 

"Yeah, I mean I guess," I say awkwardly. "It was my grandma's middle name." 

"Alright," Reese cuts in, saving me from Mr. King's strange stare. "We'll be back when the second half starts. Come on, Armando." 

With that Reese pulls me down the steps, across the gym, and into the Berkeley hallway. This school was way nicer than ours, everything was shiny and new and they had awards displayed everywhere in the hallways. The boys here wore Vineyard Vines t-shirts and khaki shorts paired with calf high Nike socks and Vans. Reese ended up counting eight kids wearing almost the exact same thing. 

"If I see another white boy with that dumbass whale shirt imma scream," Reese grumbles, getting in line. "Do you want anything?"

"I'm okay, thanks though," I smile. "Do you know where the locker room is?"

Reese shrugs. "Probably over there somewhere." she points to the hallway near the bathrooms.

"If I'm not back in ten minutes then call the police," I say before walking off into the dark hallway. 

Reese waves me goodbye as I turn the corner. I enter a hallway full of large light blue lockers that the students probably don't have to share. The lights are dimmed over here since most people are near the main entrance or the gym. There usually wouldn't be anything scary about walking through a hallway, but I was here alone in a school I've never been in before, and I'm not gonna mention the light flickering in the corner. 

I clutched onto the Gatorade tightly. I guess I can use it as a weapon if someone tries to kidnap me. There was a sign labeled "LOCKER ROOM" ten feet away, I sighed in relief, picking up my pace so I could get this done as quickly as possible. 

There was this feeling in the back of my mind that someone was over here. Before I could react, a hand grabbed ahold of my arm and pulled me into a dark room. Right as I go to scream another hand covers my mouth and pushes me back into the wall. I close my eyes and prepare for the worst. 

This is it. Bobby found me and now he's gonna kill me. Great. I'm gonna die before I get the chance to go to Disneyland. 

"Yo Amour chill, it's just me." a familiar voice speaks. 

I open my eyes as the lights turn on, furrowing my brows once I realize who just kidnapped me. I remove Isaiah's dirty hand from my mouth, squinting at him before punching him in the arm.

"Ow! That's my shooting arm!" he yelps.

"Why would you do that!" I shriek, hitting him again. "You scared the shit out of me!"

"I wanted to talk to you." he pouts. 

"So you snatched me from a dark hallway into a," I look around, noticing the single sink and toilet. "A bathroom?"

"It's a unisex bathroom, there's a lock on the door." 

Isaiah innocently points to the door, which indeed has a lock. I sigh, shaking my head at his actions. For some who's had straight A's all their life, you would think he'd have the common sense not to snatch someone up like that. 

"You're too much," I laugh. "I came over here to give you your dumb drink." 

Isaiah smiles and takes the Gatorade, setting it on the small sink. "And I brought you in here to give you this," he puts his hand on my cheek and gives me a soft kiss. 

I pull back with a smile. "What happened to playing straight for a day?" 

"I missed you too much." 

"Stop being cheesy," I say, trying to hide my blush. 

Isaiah chuckles, pulling me closer by wrapping his arms around my waist. I put my arms around his neck and connect our lips once more. I was still pressed against the bathroom door, Isaiah's hands trailed up and down my spine as I moved to deepen the kiss. I stood on my tiptoes in an effort to take charge, Isaiah noticed, kissing me back with just as much force.

"Did I tell you...a guy from UCLA...came and talked to me...earlier," Isaiah mutters between kisses. 

I pulled back, furrowing my brows. "What'd he say?" I ask.

"He said if I keep playing like I am tonight I have a chance of gettin' a full ride," he says nonchalantly.

I look at him with my mouth agape. "Isaiah!" I exclaim, hitting his shoulder. "Do you know how big that is?" 

"I know it's a big deal," he shrugs. "I guess I didn't realize how fast everything is going."

"What do you mean?"

"We have five months until we're out of high school and off doin' our own thing. If I get this scholarship we won't be fifteen minutes away from each other anymore," he sighs, taking a strand of my hair into his fingers and twisting it. "You're applying to that music school in Pasadena and I'll be in LA."

"You know that's only like, three hours away right?" I chuckle. "Why does it matter away? Distance doesn't make or break a relationship."

"But it makes it harder." 

I move my hands to cup the sides of his face, connecting our eyes. "Hey, we'll make it work okay? Distance isn't going to break us, I promise," I tell him, holding out my pinky. "You can't turn down an opportunity like this for me."

Isaiah intertwines his pinky finger with mine. "Okay."

"Good, now quit being soft and get back on the court. This game isn't gonna win itself." I chirped, pumping him up.

"I'll see you after?" he asks.

"I'll meet you by the front." 

He nods and gives me a quick peck before unlocking the door and walking out. I stay inside for an extra minute, just in case someone happens to walk by. It wouldn't look good for Isaiah if someone from Berekely saw him coming out of a locked bathroom with another boy. Right as he walks out the voice of a player comes and greets him. I press my ear against the door to get a better sound.

"Bro, where were you? We got five minutes left and Coach needs to go over the plays." the player says.

"I was taking a shit," Isaiah blurts. "Sorry."

"But there's a bathroom in the locker room."

"It was bad dude, you don't wanna smell all that," he lies. 

I cover my mouth trying to hold in a laugh, the footsteps of Isaiah and his teammate fading into the distance.

***

***

"Okay but hear me out, posting your covers would get you way more recognition as an artist," Reese explained. "That way, more venues can reach out to you to play at their place!" 

"Reese, no one's gonna watch me." I pushed the idea aside.

"I would watch your covers!" Sarai piped. 

"Same here." Devany piped in. 

"Then it's settled, I'm making you a channel." Reese decided. 

"Reese there's no way," I protested.

She put her finger up to my mouth and shushed me. "I'm making you a YouTube channel and you'll be posting Monday's and Friday's. Got it?"

I surrendered, huffing and leaning back onto the bright blue wall with the Berkeley mascot painted on it. Isaiah's team won 89-96, the second half was tense, to say the least. Berkeley ended up catching up and taking the lead for the third quarter, the game was tied for the longest time until Isaiah started shooting three-pointers non-stop. Mr. King says that Isaiah scored the most points today, with Quincy coming in second and Drake coming in third. After celebrating the win most of the crowded moved into the hallways to wait for the players to come out. 

One by one the boys started to come out of the locker room, but of course, Isaiah and Drake had to be the last ones. 

"Drakey!" Reese beamed, running over to hug her boyfriend.

Isaiah walked out right behind him, he exchanged a handshake with Reese once she was done squeezing Drake and then moved to hug his mother and dap his father.

"Good game son," Mr. King praised, rubbing the top of Isaiah's head. "We'll hit the gym this weekend to work on some upper body strength. Those dunks were weak." 

Isaiah shrugged. "The scouts didn't think they were weak."

"Did they talk to you? What'd they say!" Mrs.