HIT OR MISS {OPEN}

[ELIJAH COLIN MASTERS]

The echo of another missed shot resounded through the empty gym. Eli shook his head, letting out a deep breath. Focus, Eli, he thought, retrieving the ball from the other end of the court. He was the only one in the basketball gym, and he hoped it would stay that way. His plan for an easy Friday hadn’t exactly worked out. One failed test, one incomplete homework assignment, two tardies, and no distractions planned for the evening. At least it’s the weekend now.

He retrieved the ball, and walked to the half-court line. He dribbled the ball for a few seconds, looking at the goal. He broke into a run, attempting a lay-up. He knew something was wrong the second his feet left the ground. His right foot was caught under his left, and he was heading straight for the ground. He landed on his elbows, hard. The ball bounced down beside him before rolling away. He stared after it for a few seconds before letting out an agitated roar. He rolled onto his back and into a cross-legged sitting position. Eli put his forehead to his ankles and his hands over the nape of his neck.

He looked up at the squeal of the gym door opening, and quickly got to his feet, dusting himself off and running a hand through his sweaty, blonde hair. He shook his head, sighing, and walked over to the bench where his jacket and phone were sitting. Perhaps if he ignored whoever it was, he or she would return the favor.

[ISABELLA MARIANA DIAS]

It wasn’t too unusual for Isabella to be in the gym in fact it was daily. Cheerleading practice was indoors after football season came to a close and with it being so chilly outside she for one was glad for it. She preferred warm weather but the past two and a half years here at Mayview had taught Isabella to suck it up and deal. Unbeknownst to her after practice and the hour following it she had left a book of hers on the bleachers and in retracing her steps she had finally come back to the gym having every intention of just grabbing what she had left and going on about her day. She was sure that she would end up doing something tonight but Isabella hadn’t committed herself to any particular plans with anyone yet. The offers were still coming in and she tended to wait to see what all there was to do before saying yes to anyone that way she wouldn’t have to bail if something she wanted to do more came up.

Heading into the gym she scrunched her nose up in distaste at the horrible sound the door made. She made a note to talk with the janitor next time that she saw him to ask if he could oil the door or do something about it. Her gaze had been fixated on the hinges rather than ahead of her so hadn’t seen Eli jump up and make himself look too busy to be bothered. A small, impish smile came onto her lips as she silently made her way closer to him and picked up the basketball that had been abandoned, she assumed, by him since he was the only other person around.

Ball in hand Isabella slipped up beside him sliding into the spot next to the slightly younger boy intentionally bumping her hip into his. ”Don’t sit there trying to ignore me.” She teased having no real idea that he had been trying to look busy so he wouldn’t have to deal with anyone. But even if she had known Isabella was likely to have still come over and still bothered him because that was just what a big sister would do. Sometimes they like to antagonize and though she was only teasing him she also wouldn’t allow him to get away with being in the same room as her and not at least acknowledge she was there. Isabella figured that he was there to get in some extra practice and though she wasn’t wearing sneaker, instead a stylish pair of winter boots the kind with the fur lining the top, her jeans tucked into them, it was much better to move around in than heels. ”What do you say to a little one on one?” She tempted transferring the ball playfully between her hands.

[ELIJAH COLIN MASTERS]

Eli felt something bump against his hip, making him jump a bit, as Isabella slid onto the bench beside his stuff. “Don’t sit there trying to ignore me.” He snorted, smirking to himself as he checked his phone again. He wondered why his mom hadn’t answered him yet. He figured she’d probably let it die and now couldn’t find it. “Well, maybe if I had known the oh-SO-fabulous Isabella was gonna pay me a visit, I would have cleaned up a bit!” he retorted jokingly, his twangy Southern accent turning ‘would have’ into ‘woulda’. He gave her his usual goofy grin. She was practically an older sister to him, except for the fact that they got along much better than most siblings. Her appearance was definitely a high-point of his day – it would have been so even if his day hadn’t sucked. He flipped his hair out of his eyes, folding his sweatshirt into a neat rectangle.

At her offer of a one-on-one game, he chuckled, nearly choking. “I suppose I could try to go easy on you. I mean, I’m still a bit rusty, but…” he trailed off, shrugging. She didn’t necessarily need to know that he hadn’t made more than three or four shots in the past hour. He looked her up and down, nodding a bit, especially when he saw her shoes. He didn’t understand women’s obsession with shoes. For one thing, half of them had no practical use whatsoever. “Just try not to break anything. I do not want that on my neck.” Those boots probably didn’t have much of a grip on them, but he also didn’t want to risk stepping on her toes, either. He was definitely not about to take off his own shoes – he figured the ozone already had enough holes in it without his B.O. contributing to it.

He turned away, walking back onto the court. “So, what brings you to this fine establishment dressed like you’re ready to break some hearts?” he asked, turning on his heel to face her. He spread his arms out, challenging her to come out there with him. He really wondered how well this would go…she might actually beat him, considering the kind of day he had had. Perhaps his competitive edge would kick in, now that he actually had some competition. He had no idea whether or not she was any good at basketball, but she was taller than the average girl, albeit still several inches shorter than his just-at-six-one frame. He figured it would be a nice stress relief by any means, as long as he remembered that he was playing against a girl, not another guy. Not to say that Isabella wasn’t tough or anything, he just didn’t want to break his favorite upperclass(wo)man; he honestly had no doubt she could stick up for herself if she needed to. He grinned to himself, sincerely glad that she had found him.

[ISABELLA MARIANA DIAS]

He might have been joking around with her but no one could deny that Isabella wasn’t one of the more fabulous girls on campus. She had that look about her and a often beguiling effect on the people that she was around. To be in awe of her, however, arrogant it might have sounded, was a common thing amongst the students at Mayview. What made it more inspiring was that Isabella did try to be humble about it. She wasn’t always the nicest of people having a temper on her that clearly displayed her Latin heritage, and sometimes she could be a serious brat when she didn’t get her way but everyone had flaws and those were just a few of hers. She waved a hand in the air dismissively. ’You’re forgiven.” Eli hadn’t been asked for forgiveness but the lofty tone she was uses should have been enough to hint to him that she was playing around too.

Isabella rose a brow at his supposed courtesy. She wasn’t anything spectacular on a basketball court and had little desire to be on the school team but her movements were graceful and she aim wasn’t all that bad. Her tendency to be competitive had a way of helping her in these types of situations too. The harder someone else pushed the more she did to reciprocate. It was just the way that she was. The game did have the potential for becoming rough if either one of them got too swept up in the moment. Rather than shying away from that possibility though Isabella was welcoming it. Her week had been a bit rough around the edges and letting out some aggression seemed like a good coping mechanism. Getting to her feet she started to dribble the ball and get a feel for it. It had been a while since she had played basketball . ”You just worry about you, Sweetie.” She advised.

Her gaze shifted to the bleachers spotting what she had come for. ”I left my book here during cheerleading practice.” Rolling her shoulders and loosening up a little bit she would check the ball over to Eli. ”I assume you came for extra practice. I noticed your shooting was a bit off in the last game. Something been bothering you lately?” Isabella actually paid attention to the games while she was cheering on the sidelines. She might not have been a sports fanatic or anything too intense like that but she did enjoy watching the games, except for baseball that tended to bore her. Elijah had plenty of talent in him for this game but he hadn’t been applying it all that well from what she had observed. It had made her wonder about him but this was the first time that she had really been around him, alone, to talk about it and it didn’t seem like it should have been a phone conversation and certainly not over texts either.

[ELIJAH COLIN MASTERS]

“Oh, thank you, thank you for your gracious mercy, Queen Isabella the Umpteenth of Mayview,” he quipped, giving her an almost perfect curtsy – fake skirt gesture and all. He’d probably get slapped if he tried to say that to any of the other senior girls, but she knew he was joking. Well, mostly. She was a pretty fabulous human being, after all. Not that Eli would ever actually admit it; he wouldn’t want to enlarge her ego or something, especially because she didn’t normally go around flaunting the fact that she was the coolest thing since sliced bread. Normally.

“I’m shaking in my boots…oops, am I reading minds again because you’re the one with the boots.” Yeah, it was a lame come-back, and he knew it. He just wasn’t too bothered about discerning between good jokes and bad ones today – too much effort. Eli liked her confidence, though. It meant that he could have a little bit of fun with this. She didn’t seem like the type to get her feelings hurt over an innocent game, anyway. As long as he left his small but colorful vocabulary of trash-talk on the bench, he would be fine. That was best saved for games with nine other guys with way too much testosterone.

“And here I was, thinking you had come just to see my beautiful face,” he pouted, poking his bottom lip out as far as he could while tracing a tear down his cheek with his index finger. Eli cocked his head to the side a bit and grinned smugly at her as he caught the ball. At her next words, however, he froze and the smile left his face. His eyes cut to the floor, and he shrugged, breathing out heavily. So someone had noticed that he’d been off his game a bit lately. Then again, it was Isabella who had noticed, so maybe it wasn’t quite as obvious. ”Yeah, I guess. I mean…it’s just the usual. I’m worried about my dad, because he’s only got a couple more months in Afghanistan. My luck would be that something would happen now that it’s getting so close.” His dad had just gone back a few days ago after his two-week leave. Eli was supposed to go home to visit them because they couldn’t make the trip from southern Tennessee to Michigan, and he couldn’t leave because of the weather in Michigan. The time that he’d been planning to spend with his dad had turned into Skype video chats, which was a pretty terrible second-best. “I guess it’s just that I didn’t get to see him when he came home.”

He shrugged, clearing his throat. He knew he could trust Isabella, he just didn’t really like talking about his own feelings. His worries about his dad were beginning to affect his grades and his extracurriculars. He had a right to worry – what with being the only two males in his immediate family, they were pretty close. He sighed, shaking his head rapidly to clear the thoughts out of his head. He attempted a small smile at Isabella. “I guess I’m just turning into an old worry-wart.”

[ISABELLA MARIANA DIAS]

She wasn’t all that bothered with him being lippy with her and the nickname, though purely sarcastic, did have quite a nice ring to it at least the Queen Isabella part. She certainly wouldn’t have minded having an official claim as high school royalty. Some girls fought tooth and nail for the title stepping on dozens of other people along the way and if she could get it just by being her then that was an accomplishment that she didn’t mind having. Isabella giggled at his curtsy. ”You almost do that better than I do.” Which was actually a compliment considering she had five years of training in that area. It wasn’t always strictly curtsies but it had been part of her poise criteria.

”Ooh!” Isabella crooned giving Eli a once over. That was some mighty bold talk. She could handle it though. It was all part of the competition, right? What was a ball game without a little bit of trash talking? Isabella had more of eloquence in her speech but if you pissed her off enough you could get that verbal bitch slap from her like you could from any teenage girl. ”Hopefully you can keep up with all that nonsense you’re spewing.” She shot him a playful grin. There weren’t any hard feelings between them over this. Despite potentially being fiercely competitive toward Eli, whenever similar situations had happened in the past once the game was over, win or lose, she could get back to things as usual.

Pursing her lips and holding back her laughter for the time being Isabella was amused by his pout. ”Such a cute face it is too. So cute in fact that if I had a puppy I would name it Eli. The resemblance, I’m sure, would be uncanny.” Comparing him to a puppy was a little bit mean but also kind of accurate. He was playful and excitable and, at least around her, he seemed to show his emotions nearly unfiltered not holding back with her that kind of unconditional trust that dogs put in their owners. Not that Isabella would have ever said something along the lines of Eli being her puppy, she didn’t own him, just the characteristics were somewhat similar. Hearing him out on what he thought his problem might have been Isabella was sad to hear it but supportive that he continue and be open with her. She respected his father greatly despite never having met the man. Though Isabella wasn’t American she still loved this country and the fact that his father was a serviceman had always been admired and appreciated by Isabella.

She moved over to him tipping his chin up with her index finger. ”It’s okay to worry about the people you care about.” as much as she wanted to say that he didn’t need to and that everything would be fine those weren’t promises that Isabella could make because she had no control over whether they could be kept or not. Elijah was in a tough spot and though the circumstances weren’t the same she could relate to being concerned over a father’s well being with his job. ”You just have to have faith in your father that he knows what he’s doing.” Giving him a warm smile her hand came down stealing the ball from him. If she couldn’t offer any better advice than that then she could at least distract Eli from thinking about it too much. ”First to twelve?

[ELIJAH COLIN MASTERS]

He laughed at her comment about him almost being better at curtsying than her. He did have a rather well-developed feminine side; who wouldn’t when they had grown up surrounded by so much estrogen? He couldn’t say how many times he’d been forced to watch Barbie movies with his one older or two younger sisters, only that it was a lot. Iz, I learned from the best. I’m practically better at curtsying than I am at shaking hands.” He wasn’t sure how she’d respond to him calling her ‘Iz.’ He’d thought the nickname a lot, but he’d never actually used it. Oh, well. She’d probably forgive him anyway, even if only because she liked having him around.

He nodded his head slightly, taking in her comment. “All right, all right. If that’s how you want to play, bring it. You know, I’m going to have to actually try now just so that I don’t end up eating my words,” he laughed, realizing the hole he was probably digging himself unless his skills magically reappeared within the next couple of minutes. If they didn’t, he supposed he could play it off as letting her win. She’d still never let him live down the humiliation of it: the school’s point guard defeated by a cheerleader. All the more incentive to try harder. If anyone could bring out his competitive side, it was Isabella.

Eli pretended to look offended by her comment about him being a like a puppy, but truthfully, he didn’t mind. If anyone that he wasn’t so close to had said the same, he probably wouldn’t take it as well. ”Girl, I will have you know that this puppy has got claws, and he isn’t afraid to use them.” He made the claw hand gesture typically associated with cat fights before pausing a moment to think, chewing on the inside of his cheek. “I just got my domesticated animals mixed up, didn’t I?” he asked, pursing his lips as he did the mother of all face-palms in his mind. The more he thought about it, the funnier it became. He let how a short laugh that nearly registered in the ‘giggle’ range. “Sorry, it’s been a long day…”

One of the things he loved most about Isabella was that despite the fact that she had never met any of his family, she understood how he felt about his family and the reasons he felt that way. He looked into her eyes and shrugged. He wasn’t one to get all emotional in front of other people, not even Isabella. He didn’t really do it on purpose; he had always been that way. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. I mean, he’s already done it twice, right? And he’s been fine every time…” He rolled his shoulders a bit and let out a deep breath. He felt a bit better now that someone he trusted knew what was going on.

He jumped into action as he felt the force of her hand snatching the ball away. ”Okay, I see how it is. And just to add a little more incentive, loser buys the winner food?” He grinned, settling into his usual rhythm. The thought of food was almost always pleasant to him – he was a fat kid at heart and forever hungry. He appreciated the fact that she wasn’t really letting him dwell on his worries by presenting him with a greater challenge. He stole the ball back from her and took a quick pot shot. It bounced off the rim – closer than he’d gotten from this distance most of the evening.

[ISABELLA MARIANA DIAS]

When it came to nicknames most people went with Issy but if Elijah wanted to call her Iz she didn’t have any complaints on the matter. He was more than welcome to call her whatever variation of her name that he liked. She had never been too picky when it came to what people called her as long as it wasn’t rude or inappropriate. Her lack of a response should have been enough to let him know that it was acceptable to call her. If it stuck so be it, if not it wouldn’t be too much of a loss for her. ”I’d have hoped you’d bring you’re A game regardless.” Isabella could understand why he might have originally wanted to play easy with her but it wasn’t really necessary. True, a lady was supposed to keep well-manicured nails and this ran the risk of breaking one, but she wasn’t too concerned about it.

Light giggles escaped her lips when Eli made a claw gesture at her. He was just a little bit off when it came to his statement and wouldn’t have the affect of making anyone be warded off to thinking him more the cute and cuddly type than some ferocious attack dog but Isabella knew better despite whatever appearance that Elijah might have been able to pull off. He didn’t have to puff up his chest around her though. Isabella didn’t need him to be some big bad manly-man or anything like that. She much preferred that he was a bit of a goofball. It suited him in her opinion. ”Easy mistake.” Isabella soothed seeing no reason to razz him over the mix up he’d just made.

”It’s okay.” She was more than happy to assure him. Isabella could have asked what had happened to make it so long but she was aware that boys weren’t always the talkative type. You could make it known that you were there to listen if they needed it, encourage it a little bit if they were being difficult and acting like they couldn’t handle it themselves but to nag at them to tell you what was on their minds just made them retreat into themselves even more usually. After her brief pep talk Elijah seemed to be able to rally himself into better spirits getting more accustomed to the positives surrounding his father’s work. She nodded in agreement. Though Isabella had thought about saying something along the lines of ‘third times the charm’ she nixed that thinking that it might just leave breeding more for his mind to take it the wrong way.

Eli seemed to snap into the game just as quickly as she had reintroduced it. Some might have suggested that he linger on his worry and talk it out but Isabella thought it would be better in this case to get his mind off of it, give him something constructive to focus on instead. ”It’s a deal. I can go ahead and start thinking about where you’ll be taking me.” The burst of confidence wasn’t completely unfounded but Isabella didn’t think that she was a shoo-in to win. He was a very good player, maybe in a bit of a slump lately but if she goaded him into his instincts and rekindled them with this little competition than she might not have such a big grin on her lips for much longer.

Isabella moved to his side getting into a defensive posture her hand reaching out quickly to test his control and trying to anticipate his movements so that she could match him and maybe steal the ball back from him to have a chance at making a shot. Elijah made for a shot though and Isabella turned to watch it bounce off. It would have been a good time to make a jab at him but she didn’t instead retrieving the ball and dribbling it down the court. ”You still decent on defense?” Her brow raised getting a feel of control for the basketball as she moved toward the hoop some.

[ELIJAH COLIN MASTERS]

His A-game? Well, hopefully it had caught up with him. Losing to Isabella, he could take. Playing poorly on top of losing? No way. “Getting a little brave now, aren’t you? I just hope you remembered yours because you’re gonna need it,” he responded cheekily. Isabella always brought out his flirty side, even though he had no romantic feelings for her. Their playful bantering had no doubt confused several people before, but Isabella was just protective of him, almost maternally so. He didn’t really mind – he wasn’t too easily embarrassed. He actually found it nice that someone two years older than himself actually took the time to be concerned for his well-being without crowding him or hovering. He stuck up for Isabella in return, but she didn’t really need his help much. His support was mostly a just-in-case type of thing, but he never knew, she might need him for something some day.

He shrugged off her response to his cats and dogs gaffe; he did things like that a lot. No one was better at laughing at Eli than he was. For the most part, he didn’t have a problem with admitting his mistakes. He just tried to be light-hearted about it and let things just roll off his back. He had too much else to worry about than always being correct. He rolled his left wrist to stretch it out, then his right, and his left again while simultaneously tapping the opposite foot twice each. It was a habit of his that had developed the more he played basketball. He wrote it off as part of his obsessive-compulsive tendencies. It wasn’t like it disrupted anyone; it just made him feel better about playing. As far as the rituals of athletes went, his was fairly normal. No hopping around the court on one foot or drinking a gallon of goat milk or sacrificing kittens to Satan or something weird like that – not that he’d ever heard of anyone doing the last one.

Eli appreciated that Isabella didn’t try to dig things out of people or get them to talk about something when they’d really rather not. This gym wasn’t exactly his ideal place of discussing it, not that he really had much to say on the subject – they’d already covered pretty much all of it. He just felt like if they talked about it too much in here, he would come to associate the gym with that conversation and his mojo would be thrown off every time he came in here. Oh, well, he saw no point in thinking too hard on it right now. He couldn’t fly to Afghanistan and pull his dad out, and besides, Isabella was here to play a game of basketball, something he sorely needed right now. Pick-up games were a lot more fun than practices or real games, because when someone put their bony elbow in your stomach at a game, they meant it. After hours? It was all in the name of friendly competition, and they didn’t mean anything by it. Once you could breathe again, you could get right back to joking and, when they weren’t paying attention, return the favor.

“Don’t speak so quickly, Dias. There’re still at least twelve points between me and my food,” he responded, equally confident. He knew she would put up a fight either to win or at the very least to delay his victory, but he wasn’t too worried. He spent most of his summers playing basketball back home with guys a good couple of inches taller than him. That’s why he was always point guard – he was fast, sharp-minded, and could get around people more easily. But he liked her confidence, too; it would make the game more interesting. He watched as she retrieved the ball after his missed shot and moved to block her way to the goal, thankful that she hadn’t commented on his missed shot. “I’d say I’m still pretty good at it,” he answered, “Especially when my opponent is shorter than me.” He smirked, waggling his eyebrows at her. He made a few feigns like he was going to try to take the ball away, but he was waiting for an opportune moment to strike.

[/quote]

[ISABELLA MARIANA DIAS]

It a person had any intention to succeed at anything in like they couldn’t be singing woe is me or belittling themselves. Confidence played a key role in getting anywhere or doing anything. Isabella might not have been a star basketball player, but if she beefed up her attitude and came across like she was better than she was it was a classic psyche out technique. Isabella had seen it used plenty of times during the games and while most just brushed it off as being a jerk or something like that she had to respect the psychological effects that it had on a person. Eli was used to the shop talk though, he wasn’t going to get too discouraged by Isabella and as chauvinistic as it might have been it probably had something to do with her being a girl, not just any girl but a high class one that probably shouldn’t have been making a display of herself like she was trying to ‘play with the big boys’. It very well could have been construed as unbecoming behavior.

With it just being the two of them though she didn’t think that Elijah would really mind her playing a little rough and breaking out of her usual lady-like persona. As much as Isabella tried to keep it in tact at all times being a teenage girl did have its downfalls and she wasn’t always in control over her emotions and so her actions and reactions were affected by that. In this case though it was a voluntary surrender in order to help Eli through what he had going on. He had more than one thing going on with him apparently but this way, maybe, if all went well, she could kill two birds with one stone.

A grin brightened her face at his retort. Eli was back to the playful side of himself that she had grown so fond of and, to her that was a good sign that he was getting into the game rather than dwelling on the things that were bothering him. She did kind of wish that he had come to her sooner but understood why he might not have. Sometimes you wanted to work through things yourself. It could have been for a number of reasons, embarrassment, not wanting to burden anyone else, needing to prove something yourself, or even just that you were so caught up in whatever it was that you just didn’t think to seek out help. Isabella kept that in mind to avoid getting offended that he hadn’t been more open with her. With certain people in her life that was something that she craved from them, that show of trust ensuring that she meant something to them. It was just her own need for attention probably but was it wrong of her? Not really, everyone had things that they wanted.

Isabella tried not to have her focus pulled by her laughter. That eyebrow waggle of his was easily the most adorable thing she’d seen in a bit. She viewed most of Eli’s gestures, facial expressions, and habits as adorable. Isabella supposed that it had a lot to do with their friendship being mostly based on a familial bound. Looking out for him was just second nature for Isabella without any of those negatives that sibling relationships tended to have and mixed in was a completely chaste flirtation that was a key component of both of their personalities. Her being a few inches shorter than him just meant that she was in a better position to duck him if the necessity to arose. Elijah was blocking her pretty well and she hadn’t come up to an opportunity that she could get out of his range yet. With that realization in mind and her momentum for the game still building Isabella turned putting her back against him. With them touching she would be able to better anticipate his movements and when he went left or right she could spin off and get away."Haven't you ever heard of the bigger they are the harder they fall?" Isabella felt Eli's muscle contract to one side as if he were going to reach around her for the ball, without waiting for confirmation she stepped out to the other side to try and get around him.

[ELIJAH COLIN MASTERS]

Eli was glad he had gotten to tell Isabella about what was on his mind. He hadn’t necessarily been trying to avoid talking to her; he just hadn’t had a good opportunity. He didn’t like talking about himself in the first place, but if other people were around? It just wasn’t going to happen. Letting her know what was going on was helpful to him. He wouldn’t have to worry about her not understanding why he was upset now; she would get it. It also took a good bit of the weight off his shoulders, allowing him to focus on basketball for the time being. He would have plenty of time to worry about things later on when he was alone. Right now, there was food on the line. Eli didn’t joke about food – he liked it way too much. As a general rule – if it was fried, he loved it. He wasn’t big on vegetables and the like. He pushed the negativity as far to the back of his mind as he could, making room for his rhythm. If he could play like the beast he was, he wouldn’t have any trouble winning. As overly confident as that sounded, it was pretty true – he was good at basketball.

Most of his strategy was associated around how well he could trick Isabella and get her confused. He wasn’t sure how long it would take for her to figure out what he was doing, but as long as he kept shaking it up, he could probably stick to that principle for a while. Repetition was his worst enemy most of the time. He laughed out loud at her comment about falling. “Well, if I start going, you can be sure I’ll take you with me, darling,” he cracked, smiling at her. “Besides, I’ve heard it’s pretty lonely. I’m going to need some company down there.” Another part of his plan was to either continue talking or to keep her talking. He didn’t know how good she was at dividing her attention, so that might help him out for a while.

He smiled when she turned around, putting her back against him. What she didn’t realize was that not only could she feel his movements better, but he could feel hers just as well. He stepped one direction, and spun so that he was separated from her. He was going to let her think he had messed up before he jumped in cut her off. After all, this was a friendly game between two teenagers. He might as well let her have some fun. As long as he still won in the end. “So,” he started, switching directions to cut back the same direction she’d gone, “you do this often? It doesn’t seem like your kind of thing. I thought you were more of the pom-poms and human pyramids type of girl.” His entire aim was distraction – nonsense small talk. He also noted how thankful he was that his legs were long. He could cover more ground in a shorter amount of time, so long as he didn’t get tied up in his own feet. He got in front of her, putting his arms up, occasionally purposefully moving out of her way to see if she would take a shot when he wasn’t blocking her. He figured he could afford to let her get the first goal. It would give her a bit of a confidence boost, which would make the game that much more enjoyable for him. Who knew? It could end up being good practice for him – trying to judge how the female mind worked on the court.

[ISABELLA MARIANA DIAS]

She wouldn’t discredit Eli’s friendly threat in the least not even for a second. He had become plenty bold enough around her to actually pull her down with him. Most boys would have shied away from that kind of thing either not wanting to potentially harm such a fragile looking creature or they were too scared of what she might do to them in return. Seeing the way that most of the boys around school were when she walked into the room. If she didn’t have a smile on her face when she first came in they tended to keep to themselves and generally didn’t speak until spoken to. How had Theo put it? She was a fantasy girl. It had probably been the sweetest thing he’d ever be capable of saying in his entire life, which she found highly amusing.

Isabella laughed lightly. ”I’d be happy to keep you company.” The thing about her was that she was and always had been a fiercely loyal friend and though being at the bottom, or lowest level as the ground might have suggested, wasn’t where she really belonged if Elijah needed her there she would fall without a second thought and help him back up. It hadn’t been meant that way, Isabella knew that, but that didn’t change the fact that it if need be she’d be there for him no matter what the situation was. She wasn’t catching on to what Eli was doing but it wasn’t getting to her just yet. She was used to doing a lot of things at once. Isabella piled on responsibility after responsibility with her cheer, dance, drama, school, all the charities and volunteer programs she was involved with and a very active social life.

Multi-tasking with those things was a bit different than holding a breezy conversation and trying to play a game that wasn’t your best. Eli was toying with her, having a bit of fun with making her think that she had gotten the slip on him and Isabella was none the wiser to his sneaky little ploy. She was more for cheering and being a spectator than she was for playing sports. It might have been because as a child her parents had discouraged her getting out there with the neighborhood kids and rough housing, which was always an inevitability when playing any game with them, and getting her dress dirty. But even then there had been the occasions where Isabella had rebelled and snuck out to play with the others. It had remained secretive until one day that rough housing that they were so fond of had gotten her a bit too noticeably having Isabella come home with a bloody nose. It hadn’t been done maliciously of course but the result had still been the same. Her mother coddling her while her father stood over the pair shaking his head at Isabella for disobeying him.

”I haven’t done this for a long time- sophomore year actually.” There had been a charity event where the teams had been playing so the proceeds from the game would go to the charity of the winning teams picking. It had been fun but given the circumstances she had to keep her composure and avoid getting too riled up with it. She had a quirk about her when she went for a shot. Her tongue slipped out just barely so the tip was viewable holding it to the left of her mouth in the corner as she concentrated on her shot. Eli had been leaving opening on and off, which if she had been all that concerned about it she might have noticed was happening on purpose, and when she felt the time was right she let the ball off the tips of her fingers flicking her wrist going for her first two points. The ball arched into the air as anticipation took over and be it skill or luck, the satisfying sound of the net swooshing could be heard in the gym. Isabella bounced on the balls of her feet letting out a girlish squeal.

[ELIJAH COLIN MASTERS]

Eli hadn’t caught on to the deeper meaning of her words; he was in full-on basketball mode now. Trying to have a deep conversation with him while he was playing basketball was like trying to have a conversation with a loaf of bread. Nothing really came of it, except for the feeling of wasted time. “Well, I hope you don’t give me much of a reason to do that. Besides, I’d probably let you land on top of me. I’m a little softer than wood.” Which was true. Despite how active he was, his middle was still a bit soft because of all the junk food he ate. How could you expect someone who had grown up in the Deep South to not like anything fried, tasty, and extremely bad for your health (if not all three)? Besides, he wasn’t too concerned about having washboard abs. As long as he wasn’t getting a non-alcoholic beer gut about twenty five years too early, he didn’t really care.

Aside from a few genuine mess-ups, he kept letting her think that she had the upper hand. She’d probably figure it out soon enough and launch a counter-attack. He slowly began decreasing the numbers things he was letting her get away with, and therefore increasing the intensity of the game. If this went his way, they were going to be playing a lot of cat-and-mouse. They were both very physically active students, so he had to be careful not to wear himself out before she got tired. He had a lot of endurance, so he figured he could last long enough to get a win in. The more tricks he could pull on her, the easier his job would be. He just had to stop slipping up. It made him wonder if she had caught on and was now trying to turn the tables on him and give him the slip.

“So, if by some chance I lose to you, no who can’t keep their mouth shut has to know, right?” What would it say about him if the school’s point guard was defeated by a cheerleader who was definitely not a closet Kobe Bryant? He tried his best to stay between her and the goal, his arms waving, to keep her from being able to get a clear, easy shot. He might let her get the first shot, but he wasn’t about to hand it to her. If she wanted to win, he was going to make sure she worked for it.

“Oh, so, you haven’t played since you were just a young girl. How does it feel to return to the court now as an old woman?” he asked, acting like a news anchor shoving a microphone into her face. He was really just trying to be a nuisance right now, to throw her off. He stepped away for a moment, and she went for the shot, just what he’d been waiting for. He jumped as the ball came towards him, hoping to swipe it out of the air, but he had misjudged the distance, and his hand swooped harmlessly under it. He turned to watch as it sailed through the net. He shrank away from the high-pitched squeal that came from her direction, covering his ears as he jogged over to the ball. “Geez, how do you women make such noises? Is it not painful?” he asked, shaking his entire body out as if trying to get the sound out of his system. He couldn’t even imagine such a noise coming out of him, unless he were to be hit one certain area. He tried to avoid such situations that could result in that. He jogged over to the line.

“Heads up, Lebron,” he called, passing her the ball so she could check it back to him. Now that she had a bit of confidence, he would really kick it up and play more aggressively. He was definitely better on offense than defense. He wasn’t used to blocking people shorter than him, so he hadn’t quite adjusted to playing against someone who could duck under his arm. Offense? It wasn’t much different. He just had to keep the ball out of her hands without fouling her. Or at least, without fouling in a way that she would recognize. For all his innocence and trustworthiness, he wasn’t afraid to play dirty in pick-up games.

[ISABELLA MARIANA DIAS]

Eli might not have been the picture of perfection to some but Isabella thought he was adorable. It probably aided in the reason why she had trouble ever getting angry with him. That playful personality of his more than fit his features. He had a softness about him and not just that un-toned middle of his, but everything about him. Though Isabella knew that Elijah would grow older, his face sliming out, body toning in all the right places, maybe he’d get a bit of scruff on his chin- it wasn’t just the physical stuff though. She was also interested to see how he would grow as a person. Isabella hoped that he would keep his sweetness. There were too many jerks and players in the world as it was and she had her fingers crossed that Eli would be one of the good guys.

It hadn’t even crossed her mind to go for bragging rights and humiliate Eli with that classic fail of losing to a girl, one such as Isabella Dias no less. She wasn’t anything special on the court, not the next prodigy waiting to be discovered so if she did somehow manage to beat Eli it couldn’t have been anything more than a fluke. ”It’ll be our little secret.” She assured him. It wasn’t her intention to have him even more dejected over his basketball. Isabella only wanted to boost his confidence and though she wasn’t going to hand the win over to him she had a pretty good feeling that he was three times the player she was and as soon as he got that confidence back into his mind he’d be hitting those shots with ease.

Isabella had ignored his commentary in favor of concentrating on making the shot. It paid off too. She had gotten a little over excitable over her small victory not to rub it in his face but because she was genuinely giddy she had actually made the basket. It was terrible that her mind went to something inappropriate to his question thinking that women could make all sorts of sounds that Eli didn’t know about and wouldn’t think possible. That would be a lesson he learned later in life though and Isabella didn’t want to be his educator on that, not at this point in Eli’s life at least. He was still innocent and the preservation of that was important to her thought she understood the necessity of growth too. ”It’s a special skill encoded in our DNA to both shock and awe unsuspecting males.” Isabella teased.

She caught the ball waiting a beat before checking it back to Eli. She wasn’t sure how he was going to be on offense with her. Isabella might be familiar with his playing style from observing it during games and the few practices that she had seen, but that didn’t mean he would be pressing those on her. Eli couldn’t exactly treat her like he did the bigger guys that he was used to dealing with and she would be much easier to slip past as her reach wasn’t as long as what he was used to. She was probably speedier than the bigger guys though so that was an advantage that Isabella had. She was an avid runner and though she stuck to jogging in the park building up her speed there rather than on the track field giving it her all, she was quick.

Moving toward Eli to start on defense Isabella kept a little bit of distance between them so whichever way Eli decided to fad off to she would be able to, hopefully, get there in time before he was jetting down the court and taking his shot without her even getting the chance to jump for it and block the shot. Shuffling her feet horizontally to match up with Eli a content smile still lingered on her lips. ”Lets see what you’ve got.” The provocation was playful of course but Isabella really did want him to bring effort to the court and try not to treat her too much like some fragile doll that he might break.

[ELIJAH COLIN MASTERS]

“Okie doke. I was just checking. Ya know, since it is practically a one-in-a-million chance…” he trailed off, giving her a smirk that let her know he was only joking. Maybe a quarter of a million. Maybe if she managed to figure out how he played. That was the bad thing about one-on-one games – you only had to determine one person’s game-personality as opposed to five peoples’. No back-up also limited what he could do on the court. Nothing too fancy, unless he got unbelievably confident in his ability to win. Eli had a fairly strategic mind when it came to basketball. He was used to being the runt of the pack back home (before he hit his latest growth spurt and had to buy all-new pants), so he knew a ton of ways to sneak past the taller guys. Shorter? Not so much. They weren’t as easy to get around because all of the ones who were any good knew a lot of the tricks that he knew.

He laughed a bit at her comment about women’s genetics. Shock? Definitely yes. Awe? Maybe if he took the time to think about how hard he would have to try to produce a noise that could make a person’s blood curdle in their veins. “You’ve definitely got the shock part down, Iz,” he muttered just loud enough for her to hear, rubbing his ear with his fingers. He’d become a little unaccustomed to girls’ squeals and screams in the two years that he’d attended school here. He wasn’t surrounded by women 24/7 now. Truthfully, it was a lot quieter, more peaceful.

He caught the ball as she checked it back to him, pausing for a half of a beat to get his bearings and decide which game plan was best. He decided to start of simple so as not to discourage her too early. He already knew that she knew he was good, but he still wanted her to feel like she had a really good chance of winning. He definitely wouldn’t let her fall too far behind points-wise once they got going. “Well, make sure you aren’t just watching my dust trail, honey,” he replied cheekily, faking left before taking two large strides to the right and cutting back to the left in a sprint, dribbling back and forth in a zig-zag motion. He always hated when Coach made them do suicides, but they worked. He was a lot better at changing directions now without falling flat on his butt.

Eli was hoping Isabella would see his point in doing this – to keep her on her toes. Eli circled back away from the goal, and came up to the three-pointer line. He knew it was probably a bit cocky for his second shot, but he went for it anyways. He jumped, the ball sailing from his fingertips in a clean arc. He watched as the ball knocked the rim before falling through the net. On the inside, he was having the biggest celebration one could imagine. On the outside, he tried to play it cool. “Well, I suppose you’ve gone and put me back in the swing of things,” he said shrugging. He knew she would probably see right through his façade, because Isabella just knew him that well. He couldn’t stop the small grin that touched his lips. As long as he didn’t make a huge deal out of it, he was good. Isabella wouldn’t take it as him rubbing it in if he did, but he didn’t want to let on to the fact that this was the only three-pointer he had made all night.