Capítulo 34: Basketball
The two of them finally managed to get a hold of themselves and Troy joined Jonah at the table with a cereal bowl of his own.
"I don't need a girlfriend anyway. Not if I'm going to be hitting the road provided our album takes off. I'll get by on random flings like I always do. I'm not like you, dude. Maybe I'll settle down when I'm thirty-five if Mom hasn't murdered me for not making anything of myself before then."
"Quit being a drama queen. The only reason you're not like me is because girls give you the time of day," Jonah retorted. "Anyway, are you joining us for basketball or not?"
Troy held up a finger to indicate he was chewing and couldn't talk. He swallowed before answering.
"May as well. Have to distract myself after being used like that. Again. Plus Mitchell's team thrashed us last week and I can't let that slide."
Mitchell was a thirty-five-year-old father of two that showed up most Sundays. His kids were old enough that they could play on the playground safely with minimal supervision. Some of the guys that sat out waiting their turn to play took turns keeping an eye on all the kids belonging to the players.
He grinned at his cousin as milk dripped down the stiff side of his lips. He was only able to manage a half smile because he didn't have a ton of movement on the right.
"Dude, you're dripping," Troy pointed out.
Jonah cursed reflexively as he wiped it. This happened sometimes when he was drinking things because the right corner of his mouth had a lot of scar tissue. It had taken him a while to learn how to chew things again properly without it hurting after the accident and he still had issues every so often when his face was particularly stiff. It was hard for him to open his mouth all the way at the dentist too.
He should probably mention this to the doctor tomorrow to see if they could do anything. Ugh, he really didn't want to go to that appointment.
After breakfast, the two of them hung around in the living room for a while before changing into basketball clothes and heading out. The games always started at 10:30 sharp and it was Jonah's turn to bring the ball this week.
He hadn't heard from Eden but she was probably at brunch right now. Maybe he could text her later to see how it went using wishing her luck at her first day at work as an excuse.
Mitchell, his next-door neighbor Brian, and a pair of teenage brothers named Donny and Joey were waiting for them when they arrived at the basketball court. As they exchanged their greetings, five other semi-regulars showed up so they could make their teams.
With the odd numbers, one person agreed to be the referee and serve as an alternate. Mitchell, Brian, two young married men with no kids, and one teenager made up one team. Troy, Jonah, Donny, Joey, and a guy in his early thirties who also had a kid on the playground made up the other.
They started their game when Reed—the guy sitting out—threw the ball up for grabs. Right now, it was a three-on-three match with those sitting out watching the kids more than the game.
Jonah and Troy were both in and had seamless teamwork after playing together for so long. Their team managed to score twice before they had to switch out with other teammates.
Their replacements high-fived them as they went out and grabbed their water bottles. Jonah felt himself relaxing already. This was familiar territory. All these guys knew him and cared more about his basketball skill than his face.
It was why he continued to come back week after week. This basketball court was possibly the only place on earth where he felt like he belonged around other people. The only other one he could think of was his aunt and uncle's house and that was when guests weren't over.
Donny plopped down next to Jonah after he switched out with someone else on their team and turned toward him after taking a swig of water. "Hey, you went to UC Berkeley, right?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"How hard would you say it is to get into? Everyone's been telling me I should aim lower because it's a top twenty-five school but I really like the sound of their engineering program," he admitted. "What do my grades need to be like?"
Jonah eyed him appraisingly. "You're in eighth grade this year, right?"
"Yeah."
Grades didn't count on transcripts until high school. Even if he was behind now, he should be able to catch up this early on if he worked hard.
"What are your grades like?"
"A's and B's…though I did get a C+ in math last semester," he admitted.
"You're going to need A's; I'll tell you that now. Probably honors and AP classes too. A high SAT score. Not to mention plenty of extracurricular activities and community service. Are you prepared to do all of that for a single engineering program?"
Donny didn't hesitate at all. "I can do that. I was on my school's basketball team last year but this year I missed the tryouts because I was sick. I'm sure I can get onto the high school team; Joey says they're all wimps and need better players."
Jonah laughed. Joey had a rather aggressive playing style more suited to street basketball than school sports. He could see how the boy would think that way. It was probably why he hadn't bothered staying on the team more than a year.
"Sports are good but be sure to branch out. Maybe take a choir class or join the yearbook staff too. Or clubs. Colleges like seeing that you're involved in high school because it makes them think you'll be involved in college too and help enrich their campus," he advised.
Donny soaked up his words like a sponge. "Got it! Thanks, Jonah. You're really smart."
He managed to hold back a smile. These guys may be mostly used to his face but he still didn't want to draw attention to it more than necessary.
"No problem. Happy to help."
Regalos
-- Regalo
recibido Estado de energía semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Piedra de
Poder