Chapter 9: Waiting Game

"My parents said that I have a gift" Jared said.

"What kind of gift? Ethan replied.

"Ohh! is it a toy?" Katie replied to Jared

"No, not like a toy" Jared answered.

"A gift is like a special skill that you are born with" Jared replied to Katie.

Jared spent the next couple of minutes explaining to the siblings how his skill works, his big brains and his incredible perception.

"So you're pretty smart and has an eye for things?? ... yeahp you're such a weirdo haha" Ethan remarked while laughing.

"Pretty much" Jared replied with an embarassed look.

"But I dig it! you know back in our old place, kids hated me for playing too good, most of the times they don't wanna play with me saying that I'm taking away all the fun, so I tried to play with the adults but they say I'm too small to play with them, so I end up playing by myself most of the time, Atleast now, knowing that someone was able to beat me and made me look normal, It kinda feels great" Ethan replied. "I think you and will get along quite well" Ethan added.

"Thank you, I will look forward to that!" Jared replied with an enthusiastic tone.

"But that doesn't mean that we're not rivals in the court okay?!" Ethan said with a determined look.

"Pfft! Come on, i'll beat you everytime haha" Jared replied in a playful manner.

"Nahh wait til i get better, you'll see!" Ethan replied in a confident way.

"I'll give you a tip, you need to develop a jumpshot and work on your defense, not all the times you need speed in order to defend, sometimes you just need anticipation" Jared replied and winked

"Will keep that in mind thanks, but how did you figure out my crazy layups though?" Ethan asked.

"As I said I can see things, actually I was surprised at first because that's the first time I saw anyone do that on a game, my defense are programmed by normal movements performed by both ordinary and NBA players that I've watched, But thanks to you, having been able to see those kinds of moves, I was able to expand my spectrum on what to expect moving forward. Like an Immune system adapting to defend the body against new viruses" Jared replied.

"I dunno what the hell that meant" Ethan replied with a confused look.

"Basically, If I'm seeing things for the first time without knowing anything about it, just give me a few minutes to observe it, then after that I can already tell you how it works, it's strengths and weaknesses, and that's what happened when i was playing against you" Jared explained.

"Katie woahhh that was cool! can you teach me how to do that?" Katie was impressed and asked Jared.

"Hmn sure, it takes time, patience and experience to master it, but you can do it! you can actually use it for your dancing!" Jared replied to Katie.

"Cool! I'll be looking forward to that!" Katie answered.

"Sheesh! you really are a weirdo huh" Ethan remarked.

"You scared? ... well you should be! haha" Jared said in playful tone. Ethan just shook his head.

"Which school will go to? Katie asked Jared.

"Oh I'm going to Nordam Academy, I like their sports program" Jared replied.

"Really?! that's cool I will go there too!" Ethan replied with great Enthusiasm

"Oh sure! That'll be fun!" Jared replied.

"Hi Kids!! your Mom's here to pick you up!" Mom emerge from the house together with Marina

"Let's go you two!" Marina with a big smile called the siblings over to come home

"Mom!" Katie rushed to her mom.

"Okay!" Ethan replied to her Mom "I guess we gotta go, let's hangout tomorrow! we can get our bikes and ride around the suburb?" Ethan asked Jared.

"Sure that'll be fun!" Jared replied "By the way thanks for hanging out today!" He added.

"Thank you too! see ya!" Ethan replied to Jared and ran to her Mom.

"Bye Jared!" Katie said with a cute voice, her eyes are shining bright, cuter than ever, waved at Jared. Jared did the same.

The Wolfes went home, Jared went back to the house to take a rest and later help her Mom with chores.

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One month later...

The last 4 weeks has been incredible for Jared, Ethan and Katie, the three got fond of each other pretty quick, they've been hanging out at each other's houses and even spending a few nights together for sleepovers.

Between the three, Jared is the smart and silent, Ethan is the talkative one and Katie is the baby of the group. Jared spend most of the time baby sitting the two, but on other occpasions he just sit back and watch the siblings piss off each other and laugh.

Jared and Ethan continued to play 1-on-1 since the first time they met, at the same time, Jared has been teaching Ethan developing his jumper and his defense, at this point in time, Ethan has never won a game yet, the current score is 11-0.

Despite being winless against him, Jared already noticed some improvements in Ethan's game and he's been listening to everything that is being taught to him so far, Jared admired Ethan's will and tenacity in learning, as it reminded him of his previous life when he's still on the streets, trying to learn everything as much as he can at the same time trying to survive. And for that he respects him, the same way Ethan respects Jared.

Katie grew comfortable with Jared, even though Jared has this intimidating presence, his gentlemanly behaviour makes anyone around him at ease, evidence to Katie's emerging outgoing personality, she's becoming more and more confident with herself due to the presence of his brother and a brotherly figure in Jared who always stands beside her.

Nordam Academy: 1st day of school...

"Oh man! there's a lot of people here" Ethan complained

"Yeah, It's gonna be fun, let's go" Jared replied as they both went inside the school campus.

As they went inside they saw students and teachers busy doing their own thing, they saw students putting their things in their lockers, group of friends standing in a circle chatting and havingba good laugh, Teachers walking in hurried pace while holding their teaching materials, they saw the Prinicipal chatting with the parents.

"Alright this is my room, I'll see you at lunch, stay out of trouble okay?" Jared said to Ethan as he walked inside the classroom.

"Oh they're the ones that needs to be careful haha see yah!" Ethan replied with swag and went off to find his classroom.

Jared spent his first three classes sitting in his desk bored to death as his teachers discuss their lessons, unsurprisingly Jared was able to answer every questions his teachers asked, even sharing insights on lessons which impresses both his classmates and teachers, but to him it's a torture, like being forced to watch a movie for a thousandth time.

Lunch time! Jared went to his locker to leave his things and pickup stuff for lunch, as he's about to leave, his locker door was slammed shut, it was shut loud enough that some students looked to Jared's direction, Jared turned around to see who did it, he saw a tall a white caucasian kid standing in front of him and two companions on either side, some kids who noticed the commotion turned away when they noticed who's involved, Jared noticed this in his periphery. "Top of the food chain huh?" as he thought he must be the bully of the school.

"So, what do we have here?!" The tall kid said looking down on Jared with a menacing smile.

The kid looked intimidating because of his size but his facial features gives off an intimidation factor as well, Jared is shoulder length compared to him and judging from his looks, the kid looked 5th or 6th grade level, which makes him older than Jared.

Jared scanned everything, breathing patterns, mannerisms, behaviours and weaknesses, anything that he can exploit in case he needs to defend himself.

"Looks like we have a new toy! haha" The other kid said as he and his friends laughed. the three surrounded Jared in a way that from a different perspective nobody knows who the three are talking to.

"What do you want.." Jared noticed the kid's name tag "..Chet?" Jared asked in a nonchalant way and a poker face. It almost made Jared laugh seeing a bully with a "Hi my name is" name tag, but he kept his laughter.

"Well we're actually looking for a piggy bank for lunch money and you just got lucky!!" Chet replied and laughed maniacally.

"Lunch money? pfft! lunch meals are free here, therefore kids have no lunch money dumbass! ... how long have you been studying here haha" Jared mocked and laughed at Chet's face.

Chet now visibly pissed, he grabbed Jared's shirt, pulled him and slammed him against the locker. "You think this is funny you little bitch?! just give me the money or I'll beat you to a pulp!" Chet said with rage in his voice.

"O-okay fine let me just get it for you" Jared said in a gentle way trying to calm down Chet, Chet let him go and the three laughed at each other, Jared reached for his pocket when suddenly, in one quick motion Jared wrapped his left hand around Chet's neck and put him on a headlock which locks Chet in a bent over position, simultaneously, Jared holding something in his right, Chet felt a pointed object pointed at his neck, from a different perspective it looks like Chet is being hugged by a smaller person. While the two companions stands on either side.

Everything happened in a blink of an eye that no one had a time to react, however, since everything went smoothly, no one around them noticed what is happening, like the group is invisible at the moment. The only ones who knew what exactly is happening is the 4 of them, the two companions noticed the thing Jared is holding, it's a long yellowish stick, possibly a pencil.

"Don't do anything stupid or I'll stick this pencil down on Chet's throat" Jared with a low soft voice but audible enough that the three can hear, Chet and his minions heard this and followed.

"Do you know what I hate the most? people like you who's acting tough yet throws tantrums to anyone like a fucking animal, people like you disgusts me" Jared said it in calm yet intimidating manner.

"Listen I don't want to see your faces again, because if I do, well, let's just say I have plenty of things other than pencil to use and play with you guys, understood?" Jared said with a terrifying smile that made the three chilled with fear. Chet felt Jared pressed the object harder on his neck as he said it, the three just nodded.

"Now, I'll let you think about everything in the principal's office" Jared said to Chet as he let him go from the headlock.

"What?!" Chet replied, confused on what Jared's last line meant, as he asked Jared, Jared raised both his arms and then shouted as loud as he can, confusing the three.

"OKAY OKAY! I'LL GIVE YOU MY LUNCH MONEY PLEASE JUST LET ME GO I DON'T WANNA GET HURT!!" Jared screamed with fear on his voice which caught everyone's attention around them, including the school Principal at the end of the hallway who just got out of her office, they saw the principal rushing towards them from afar they can hear her "What's going on there!?"

"What the fuck? this kid is a psycho!" Chet thought to himself.

"Haha joke's on you I'll just tell the principal everything!" Chet threatened Jared.

"What are you guys doing there?" Principal shouted as she's getting closer.

"Oh yeah? you just got caught by the principal with three of your friends heckling a smaller student, who the hell would believe you?" Jared said with confidence.

"You think the principal will save you? you little bitch!!" Chet replied.

"Oh it's not for me, It's for you, consider this a warning" Jared replied and gave Chet a cold terrifying gaze and a grim smile.

"You three come with me to the office. NOW!!" the Principal shouted at Chet and his minions as she arrived at the scene.

After hearing Jared's grave threats, Chet felt a chill ran down his spine, he knows those are not empty threats.

Jared just looked at the three as they're escorted to the principal's office. "Tch, fuck them kids" Jared thought.

Jared then pocketed the pencil then held and counted out the 4 bucks that he got from Chet's pocket and went to the cafeteria to wait for Ethan.

Jared and Ethan ate their lunch together at the cafeteria then spent the rest of their free time at the gymnasium hoping to see students playing basketball, however, they only saw some students taking their PE class and other students trying to pass the time as well.

Jared shared to Ethan about the Chet incident which both of them laughed about, making the bully scared shitless will make Jared free from any bully problems in the future, apparently, Jared is not alone with a bully encounter, Ethan also experienced one, right before one of his class started, a kid is acting tough and threw a book at Ethan's back, Ethan with his impulsive nature went to the kid who threw it, and slapped the shit out of the kid so hard the kid fell over like a bag of meatball, obviously the kid was shocked, this display of dominance makes it hard for anyone to mess with Ethan in the future.

The two went back to their classes afterwards, Jared as usual, had to sit through the rest of his classes sitting on his chair pretending that he's listening and keep himself from falling asleep. At times he's been thinking about their Basketball plans in school, as it appears they need to wait for 3 years to join the school's basketball team, as they only accept kids with ages 7 and above for tryouts due to health and safety protocols.

"Ugh!! such a drag!" Jared thought to himself, letting out a deep sigh as he realized he needs to endure three years waiting for their chance for the team.

Before the two went home, they went to a nearby bakery first and bought a treat for Katie through the money Jared got from Chet, then they went home afterwards.

The three hangout at the Wolfes residence after they went home, the boys worked on their homework first before playing games and watch movies, Katie enjoyed the treat that the two got for her, the boys then shared how the day went for them, Katie did the same sharing her activities while they're gone.

Jared went home right after for dinner, after dinner, the summers played scrabble as a bonding time for the family and at the same time talking about Jared's 1st day of school, Jared didn't brought up the Chet incident to not worry his parents, although Mom and Dad is glad Jared is having a good time.

Jared went to bed afterwards, before he goes to sleep he thought about everything that happened that happened also the things that he wanted to do in the future, he then slowly closed his eyes and take a rest, for tomorrow would be another boring day.

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Time skip 3 years...

Jared is now 7 years old, just woke up and realized today is the tryouts of the Basketball team, he's excitement is unfathomable as he can't Imagine that finally after 3 long years he's a step closer to his basketball dream.

"Let's do this!" Jared said to himself as he got up from the bed and went to the bathroom to get ready.