Seniors

The coach looked at his wristwatch before blowing his whistle, grabbing everyone’s attention.

“Everybody, it’s already seven o’clock. The basketball club is officially over for the day. Please check your belongings before you go home.”

As the students packed their stuff and went home, I quickly remembered that a senior had helped us in the scrimmage.

I need to thank him.

Following my thoughts, I walked into the giant Center player of the team.

“Senior, thank you very much for your help in our scrimmage.”

“Huh?” He looked surprised. “It was the coach’s decision. Don’t thank me, thank the coach.”

“Anyway, senior, can you please teach me basketball? I’m begging you!” I bowed myself to him.

“Wha? Wait, wait, wait, wait…” Sean shows me the palm of his hands. “Relax, buddy. The coach will teach you….”

Feeling that he rejected me, I prostrated in my desperation.

“But I need to improve my skill as fast as possible. Please, senior, I will do anything you ask! Anything!”

“Anything you say?”

Sean grinned, his right index and thumb finger resting on his chin.

“Yes! So please…”

“Wait! What’s going on here?”

Hearing Carlos’ voice, I stood up quickly, hoping this won’t turn into a misunderstanding.

Except it did.

Carlos had a concerned look on his face, showing a sign of displeasure.

“Senior, I thought you were a chill guy, but you dare to bully my buddy here? I guess I was mistaken about ya’.”

“Hold on, Carlos… He didn’t…”

My reply was cut off as two more upperclassmen joined us. On the left side, there’s a pale-skinned young man with caramel quiff-styled hair. On the right side, there’s a fair-skinned young man with black pompadour hair. They looked similar in height, while the pompadour was slightly taller. They are around 6’ 3” and 6’ 4”, respectively.

“Hey, Sean! What’s up with these pushovers?” The pompadour-haired guy asked the big guy.

“Hey, guys. They are…”

Sean tried to reply, only to be interrupted by Carlos.

“What did you say? Pushovers?!? That’s not the way to greet your underclassmen, yo!”

“Huh? It looks to me that you are one, though?” The pompadour-haired chuckled at Carlos.

Carlos looked seriously angry as he walked close to the pompadour-haired man.

“Say it again to my face, jackass.” Carlos stared menacingly and looked his upperclassman right in the eyes up close.

“Hey, do you want a fight?” Tony glared back at Carlos.

“Guys! Don’t fight in the university. You guys will get suspended… Let’s calm down for a moment and…” Sean tried to interrupt, but he was ignored.

Instead of calming down, Carlos fueled the fire even further.

“Nyeh! Let’s play one-on-one. Half-court, first to 21, with a tiebreaker. The loser will have to apologize while prostrating. Don’t be a chicken. Let’s settle this.”

The pompadour-haired guy walked into Carlos, accepting his obvious taunt.

“Who’s scared? I’m in!”

“Guys?” Sean tried to get their attention, but they were still going at it.

Running out of patience, the whiff-haired guy palm-smacked the pompadour-haired guy in the head. His face looked annoyed, as if this had happened before.

“That’s enough, Tony!”

“Ouch!” Tony shouted.

Carlos could only be surprised as the whiff-haired guy bowed down, apologizing to him.

“Juniors, I’m sorry, my stupid friend here is a total douchebag. Please don’t worry about him.”

Before Carlos could say anything, Tony was shocked as he looked at the whiff-haired guy.

“What! Brandon, you are siding with them?”

“I’m not siding with them, you idiot! Can’t you stop bullying the new guys, Tony?”

“See, this is what I’m talking about.” Carlos chimed in. “Y’all seniors bully your underclassmen too much.”

“Sigh…” Brandon shook his head. “Sean, did you bully them too?”

Before Sean could answer, Carlos chimed in.

“Yea, or else, what is my buddy Keith here prostrating for? That’s the only sound explanation, ya’ know?”

The gigantic senior of mine took a deep breath before explaining the whole thing to Carlos.

“Carlos, listen. Keith begged me to teach him about basketball. I told him he would learn from the coach, but he quickly prostrated before me, saying he wanted to improve as fast as possible.”

Sean pointed his right thumb at me as he continued.

“I was testing him to see if he has the fiery ambition to improve himself, and you came right when I was testing his mettle. Sorry to make you misunderstand. I will let you know that I never wanted to bully him in the first place.”

With his senior assurance, Carlos calmed down. Meanwhile, Brandon looked at Tony while pointing his finger at me.

“Tony, see? This is what I wanted from my juniors. Unlike you, he has the drive to improve himself, even going as far as prostrating, begging in front of his seniors to teach him basketball. I like him.”

Brandon winked his eye and tilted his head as he looked at me.

“Keith, you are my favorite junior from now on… As the team captain, I’ll personally mentor you, free of charge. That’s my responsibility as the captain, ain’t it?”

Sean looked at me with a smile.

“I’ll help as well. I can’t just abandon you like that after you prostrate to me, right?”

“Huh, why are you two so eager to teach him basketball? I don’t get it, he could learn as he stays on the basketball team, and there’s the coach. Why do you two want to teach him?” Tony looked puzzled.

Brandon points his right finger upward as he walks around. Looking up at the ceiling, he made a lengthy explanation to Tony.

“Tony, you don’t understand. Every player is a gem, some are already shining, and some are still in the making. Those two are pretty much like unpolished gems that you need to polish and shape to make them shine.”

“However, not all of them shine in the end, and there’s one thing that separates a shining gem and the one that doesn’t: ‘effort’. There’s nothing better than having a strong drive to learn. Like these gems, you need to polish yourself to shine.”

“To close this, I’ll quote Einstein: ‘Once you stop learning, you start dying.’ You have to keep learning new things and train your skills. Now, Tony, do you understand why having the drive to learn is crucial? This junior of ours right here is burning passionately. Who are you to discourage him?”

Tony was left flabbergasted as Brandon made such a speech. While he felt that Brandon shoved such an opinion down his throat, he couldn’t argue against his senior. Exhaling a heavy sigh, he reluctantly complied.

“Ha-ah… Fine, you win. If you insist, then I’ll also help him, uh….”

Brandon quickly realized he didn’t introduce himself to us, nor did Tony.

“Oh, come to think of it, we didn’t introduce ourselves to them.”

“Nah, I already introduced myself earlier, and you guys know me, so…” Sean scratched the back of his head.

Before Sean could finish his words, Tony interrupted him and looked at his face.

“Nope, who are you?”

In a split second, Brandon palm-smacked Tony in the head again.

“Tony, it’s not the time to joke around!”

“Ouch! Sorry…” Tony scratched his head.

Brandon cleared his throat as he started introducing himself.

“Ahem. My name is Brandon Stafford, and I’m 6 feet and 3 inches tall. This is my third year at this university. I’m a starter, playing as a Point Guard. At the moment, I’m acting as the captain of the team. Nice to meet you.”

“Alright, next,” Brandon pointed his thumb sideways at Tony. “This douchebag, playboy friend of mine is Tony Phillips. With his 6-foot and 4 inches physique, he plays as a Shooting Guard in his second year here. I have to admit he is quite good. Despite being an asshole, he is the ace of the team…”

“Wha! Brandon, why?!? I’m not an asshole, you know.”

“Tony, do you remember how often you tried to woo the girls? I had lost count of how many times you tried delivering your advances. If that doesn’t make you a ladies’ man, a douchebag, a playboy, or an asshole, then I don’t know what to say anymore.”

Brandon looked at me and Carlos as he continued.

“My juniors, don’t follow his example, alright?”

“Brandon…” Tony looked at Brandon with puppy eyes.

“Good grief…” Brandon shook his head, putting his right hand on his face. “Anyway, despite his trash personality, Tony’s skills are the real deal. He is not the ace for no reason.”

Proudly, Tony pointed his thumb to himself, only to get ignored by the others. Meanwhile, Brandon looked at me and Carlos while smiling.

“Since we all know Sean, let’s continue with the freshmen, shall we?”

“Okay, it’s my turn now, yo!” Carlos chimed in. “My name is Carlos Stewards, a freshman here. I’m 6 foot and 1 inch tall, playing as Point Guard. Nice to meet y’all.”

Upon realizing he was being ignored, Tony felt dejected as he looked like dried wheat.

Looking at Tony, I couldn’t help but giggle. I never imagined that my prostration would lead to a heartwarming conversation with my seniors. With my introduction coming up next, I’m looking forward to what’s to come.

Who knows? The chat may get even livelier from now on.