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Post by Anibal Desales on Jul 28, 2009 20:44:37 GMT -5
Anibal dribbled the ball across the court, aimed for the hoop....and missed. There wasn't even a need for Carter to block, the tiny blonde was that far away from actually scoring. He was so far losing miserably, although that would probably not come as a surprise to even the most ignorant of Basketball, as the Freshman was almost a foot shorter than his opponent. Those who had seen Anibal and Carter play before would have even less reason to be surprised, however, as Anibal had so far lost every single time he had challenged the other boy, but that had not stopped him yet. He much preferred track and soccer, but he was determined to prove he could hold his own against Carter, and, if he had to admit it, the other boy was plain fun to play against, even if he did have an annoying tendency to always win.
"Dammit!" He muttered, watching the ball bounce half-heartedly away from him, and towards the much taller Senior.
He pulled his track jacket closer, giving a shivering glare up at the clouds filling the sky. It was too cold out, even with all the running about the court he had been doing all afternoon. However, he almost felt blessed when jackets were necessary, because that meant he didn't have to feel ridiculous when he refused to wear the wife-beaters and tank tops so many of the other basketball players preferred, could get away with wearing something that wouldn't show his bindings. Not that he would have worn anything so skimpy anyway, of course, not until after he'd had surgery, but that day was distressingly far away. For now, however, he was too focused on the game to concern himself with the future.
"Just you wait, Streseman." He warned, glancing sideways to the wire fence, behind which a small crowd had gathered to watch their match. He waved briefly at the dark-eyed girl huddled beside his best friend, and sudddenly the air seemed much warmer. "You're going down!!" He called, rubbing his hands together in anticipation of a victory he knew had little chance of actually happening.
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Post by Carter Stresemann on Jul 28, 2009 21:15:22 GMT -5
Carter enjoyed these games and not because he usually won. It wasn't about the winning. To him anyway. It was about playing the game. The love of the game. Though he knew his opponent did not necessarily share his same love for the game. It was always good natured competition. He sometimes thought about letting the other boy win. Give his ego a boost. But then he always gave it a second thought. He wouldn't want him going easy on him and just letting him win. Carter could respect that. If he won was going to be fair and square and he was going to earn it, by playing a better game than Carter. But so far that day had not arrived. Sometimes he felt bad about it.
He shook his head as Anibal attempted to make a shot. He grinned and bent over slightly his hands on his knees. Taking a deep breath and wiping some sweat from his forehead. "Nice shoot." he straightened back up. Grabbing the ball. He watched Anibal look out at the crowd that had gathered. "Got a girl in the audience, you want to impress?"
"Going down huh?" he smirked. "Ok short stuff...bring it on."
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Post by Anibal Desales on Jul 28, 2009 21:38:36 GMT -5
Anibal turned crimson at the very correct assessment that he wanted to impress a girl. She was already his, but he still wanted to do his best in front of her, he didn't want her to think he was a wuss, after all.
"Ah...hey...!!" He objected, feeling that this was unfair of Carter to point out his motivation. "I...I don't need to impress anyone!" He sputtered, failing to make this into the boast he had intended it to be. His biggest fear was not that Archana would dump him for being unable to play basketball, however, it was that she wouldn't really like him if she knew his secrets. But so far outside of his family he had only told one person, and he knew that one person would never tell. "C'mon, you can't say anything, you got some girl hid away, admit it!"
He glanced at the crowd again, wondering if perhaps he should bother to introduce his friends to his opponent, offer some sort of friendship off the courts, but very quickly returned grey eyes to watch the other boy issue his challenge.
"You'd better watch it! I'm so gonna win this time! You won't even know what hit you!" The blonde bragged, but the effect was rather ruined by his attempt to jump high enough to block the hoop he was trying to defend. Why did they have to be so tall?! And why did he have to be so short?! He certainly wouldn't object to a growth spurt right about now, but since when had biology ever done anything he wanted it to?
"Cause I know Imma win, I'm uppin' the stakes here, loser buys the winner lunch." He announced, wondering if Carter would actually go along with that, although as he always won he really had no reason not to.
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Post by Carter Stresemann on Jul 29, 2009 9:48:00 GMT -5
If the boy had a girl he wanted to impress Carter wasn't one to judge. Everyone at some time or another tried to impress someone. May be he could go just a little easier on the guy, help him out a little. Of course he would have to be subtle about it. "Ok...ok...so you don't need to impress anyone. Got...let's just play ball.."
Carter laughed, "No, I don't have any girl hidden away anywhere. I'm a free man and frankly, pretty happy that way for the time being." Not to say that if the right girl happened to come alone he would not happily give up this so called *freedom*. Seeing as how he had yet to meet that girl, well then he was content to remain in his single state.
"Winner buys the loser lunch?" Fair enough bet, not that he would hold the kid to it. Hell, he might even buy the kid lunch just for whipping his butt so many times. "Let's see what you got..." Carter watched the boy trying to block the hoop. They needed to find him a better angle. May be speed? He could probably move pretty swiftly and be a bit more agile than some of the taller boys. He might suggest that to him sometime.
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Post by Anibal Desales on Jul 29, 2009 14:54:05 GMT -5
Anibal bent over, hands on his knees, breathing heavily. "Y...you win..." He admitted, as though there had ever been any doubts. He had actually managed to score twice, though, which was better than he usually did, as he usually had a difficult time throwing the ball high enough to make it to the hoop. He had once been told he played like a girl, but he had made the boy who made that remark regret it terribly. Those sorts of comments stung more than they ought, because they hit too close to home. What if someone found out? Most people weren't open-minded enough to take it well, even those who claimed to be tolerant and unbiased. It was a lie, people were more caught up in gender politics than most of them liked to admit. Which included him, of course, or he might not have cared so much that people could know the truth.
He straightened, wiping sweat from his forehead, "Guess I got to buy you lunch, then." He was the one who had come up with the stakes, after all, so he was not about to try and back out. "Where you wanna go to?" He hoped that his friends could pay for their own lunches, though, because he didn't think he could afford four lunches. It wasn't as if he made that much money, and he was saving up. Or trying to, anyway, it was kind of difficult sometimes, to remember that he needed to save as much as he could, not spend his wages on frivolities.
Archana bounced out onto the court, flinging herself around him, and Anibal felt his face flush again. "You did great." She told him sincerely as Clayton trailed behind her, giving the two basketball players a nod.
"Y...yeah....thank....I mean...of course I did." The freshman replied, his voice going several registers higher than it should have. That was another thing that he couldn't wait to fix, lowering his stupid voice so he didn't always have to try and speak in a lower range than was natural.
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Post by Carter Stresemann on Jul 29, 2009 15:24:56 GMT -5
It had been a good game. Carter tried not to slam Anibal too hard. He might have missed a few shoots that he could have made quite easily. But tried to give Anibal a fighting chance. Carter wasn't about the glory of winning anyway. Carter picked up the ball and held it under one arm. "Good game..you're getting better." he smirked. "Those two shoots were impressive." Hey, everyone could use encouragement sometime, right? He wiped more sweat from his forehead. "You got potential. Work on speed and agility you could be good." he shrugged a bit. "But I'm no coach...so what do I really know." he laughed a bit.
"Hey man, I ain't going to hold you to that bet. You played a good game. I ain't taking your money too." There weren't a lot of people he would hold to a bet. May be just a few really close friends he might, but not even then really. It just wasn't Carter.
He stood back as the girl came running out and hugged Anibal. He nodded back to Clayton, before walking over to the side and picking up a bottle of water and taking a long drink from it.
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Post by Anibal Desales on Jul 30, 2009 18:21:33 GMT -5
Anibal beamed with pleasure when Carter complimented him. The older boy may not have been a coach, but he was on the school's team, so Anibal trusted his judgement. "Speed and agility." He repeated, nodding. "You're gonna regret that hint, Streseman, it's gonna be your downfall." He promised, bright grin belying the darkness of his words. As much as he threatened to bring doom to the Senior, he actually considered the other to be one of the most awe-inspiring people he had ever met, excluding his older brothers, of course.
"But I agreed to it," Anibal pointed out, trying his best not to look hurt that Carter was brushing him off after their game. Were their matches not signs they could be friends? Were they only opponents on the courts and nothing more? He wanted to get to know his idol, not just play against him, and was a bit put out that the taller boy apparently didn't feel the same. "You agreed to it, to. We both agreed, so I gotta. I can afford it," He added, a bit defiantly, as though perhaps Carter was insinuating that he was poor on top of being unable to win at Basketball. (Not that Anibal ever expected to hear Carter say he wasn't good, he had learned by now that his opponent was always respectful and would never even imply he sucked to his face.)
That ought to settle the matter, then, unless Carter was really intent on getting out of having lunch with him. Now only one question remained. "So where you wanna go?"
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Post by Carter Stresemann on Jul 30, 2009 18:52:13 GMT -5
What could he say, Carter was just too nice for his own good sometimes. He couldn't really talk down to someone. Unless they really deserved it. But such was not the case with Anibal. Carter wasn't going to say anything negative to the kid. "Yeah..speed and agility.." he nodded. "You might not always make the shoot, but you can could sure help the scorer, well...score." He sat his water back on the bench and sat the ball down as well. "I'm going to regret it? Well, I'll take my chances." he smirked.
This wasn't about Carter not wanting to be friends. Just him not wanting to hold the younger boy to their bet. "Hey, man, I don't care to hang out, I don't care to go to lunch. But I don't take those bets seriously. I don't expect you to pay for my lunch."
"I don't doubt you can afford it. " he shook his head and sighed a little with a grin. "Fine...though. If you're so set on doing this. OK, I"ll go along with it." he laughed a bit. He didn't want to offend the boy, so if he was so dead set determined on buying his lunch, then who was he to deny the kid?
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