Shawn scraped his shoe through the grass, looking around at everybody.
Shawn: "Yall tryna head to the park?"
Takeshi looked up from his phone "Which ward we going to? The 5th?"
Shawn shrugged "Yeah, 5th smooth. We can go there."
Zay immediately shook his head "Man we can't go to the 11th park at least? They got actual nets over there. Every time we go to the 5th them rims sound like they boutta fall off."
Shawn let out a snicker "I got too much on me to be going all the way up there."
Zay rolled his eyes "Bruh, youn gotta carry around allat on you every time we leave the house."
Takeshi laughed as he stood up "He not gon listen. He think he the main character."
Shawn pointed at himself "Cause I am."
The whole group laughed.
Shawn: "I'm just different."
He shoved Zay lightly in the shoulder.
Zay:
"Shi gon get you in trouble one day."
Shawn:
"Nah. Trouble gon get in trouble dealing with me."
Takeshi:
"That ain't even make sense."
Zay started laughing "Aye come on. Let's go before this man start giving speeches."
Marr finally looked up from his phone "igh."
He pushed himself up and followed behind them.
The group headed through the back door and into the house.
As they passed through the living room, Shawn looked over toward the couch "Aye pops, I'm heading to the 5th."
His dad barely reacted.
His eyes were bloodshot and unfocused, staring at the TV like he wasn't really watching it.
Shawn stopped walking "Damn."
Takeshi instantly lost it "Bruh." He doubled over laughing
Zay pointed at him "Chill out."
Even Marr cracked a smile before looking back down at his phone.
A few minutes later they piled into the car and started heading toward the park.
The ride was mostly jokes and trash talk.
Takeshi was arguing with Shawn about who was the better shooter.
Zay was calling both of them garbage.
The whole time Marr sat in the back looking at his phone.
Then his face twisted slightly.
Not enough for anybody else to notice.
He stared at the screen for another second before locking it and putting it away.
He didn't say anything.
When they finally got to the park, the sun was starting to dip lower in the sky.
The place wasn't crowded.
Just a few people scattered around the courts.
The group immediately started shooting around.
Shawn was calling every shot before he took it "Kobe"
Missing half of them.
Zay wouldn't let him hear the end of it "Boy stop talking and leave kobe name alone."
Shawn:
"Greatness gotta announce itself."
Takeshi grabbed the rebound "Nah greatness usually make the shot."
Everybody laughed.
For a while it was just basketball, jokes, and arguing.
Then a group of guys walked up.
One of them leaned against the gate and watched for a second and smirked "Yall ass."
Shawn's head jerked toward him immediately "Who the hell is you?"
Takeshi looked over.
Zay kept dribbling but his eyes shifted toward the newcomers.
The group walked through the gate snickering amongst themselves.One of them pointed toward the court "I aint neva seen a group so buns."
Shawn scoffed "Yall just talking. Yall ain't tryna do nothing."
The guy at the front stepped forward his people hyping him up saying "KJ".
A confident grin spread across his face "Bet you won't play for money though."
Shawn smirked instantly.
Now he was interested.
Takeshi bounced the ball once "How much?"
Zay stayed quiet, dribbling beside him.
Marr glanced up from his phone for the first time in a minute.
KJ looked over his shoulder.
"Aye KJ, tell em."
One of the guys laughed.
KJ: "They don't got money like that."
His whole group started chuckling.
Shawn pulled out a folded stack of cash "Bet."
The laughter died immediately.
Marr stared at the money "Damnn. I only got like twenty gang."
Shawn waved him off "These boys sweet. four hundred right here."
KJ's smile widened "Okay then."
He pushed off the fence "Check up. First to twenty one."
Before anybody could answer, Zay stepped beside Takeshi. His voice dropped lower. "Aye man."
Takeshi looked over.
Zay:
"I seen these boys before."
Takeshi raised an eyebrow.
Zay continued. "I ain't tryna get into nothing."
Takeshi tapped him on the shoulder "Bruh relax. We just playing ball."
Zay looked unconvinced.
KJ had been watching the whole exchange his eyes landed on Zay "I know you."
Zay looked up.
KJ smirked "You overrated."
His group immediately burst out laughing.
A few fake gasps mixed in.
One dude even started clapping.
Shawn didn't even let Zay respond.
He fired the basketball straight into KJ's chest.
THUMP.
KJ caught it without dropping it.
Shawn:
"Man cmon."
A grin spread across his face.
Shawn:
"Either hoop or shut up."
Sorry everybody, I'm going on a hiatus to make a buildup of chapters. Once I finish writing this project I will start back posting regularly.
See you soon
-Ree