JULIAN: Yo! Addison! We need to talk, now!
[ Have 2 Upgraded Jock Hangouts | None | 3300xp ]
JULIAN: We just got word from the third member of the board, Mr. Javellana. He’s an ex-basketball star, a huge sports nut… and he wants to check out our sports program firsthand.
ADDISON: Do we have any sporting events coming up?
JULIAN: Mr. Javellana took care of that for us. Apparently, he’s all buddy-buddy with the principal at Hearst, so they worked out an exhibition match… A co-ed basketball game against Hearst High.
ADDISON: A basketball game, huh? That shouldn’t be too bad, right? We just need to recruit some players. I’m up for it.
AUTUMN: I’m in. I’ve actually played a little basketball…
ADDISON: Julian? You’re our star athlete… we can count on you, right?
JULIAN: Uh, I hate to break this to you, Addison, but I’m not a basketball guy. Football is really more my thing. And those skills don’t really translate, unless you want me tackling dudes on the court…
MIA: And there’s one more thing. Max is kind of a big basketball star at Hearst High.
ADDISON: Uh oh.
MIA: Yeah. He’s been playing since he was six! I’ve had to suffer through his stupid games for years. My dad always makes me go watch. At this point, I’ve seriously watched enough games that I could coach a team…
ADDISON: Oh really?
MIA: Uh oh. This is going to end in you asking me to coach the team, isn’t it?
ADDISON: Will you do it?
MIA: Only if I get to yell and boss people around! First, I’m going to need some assistants. And before you go around just grabbing random people… I have some VERY specific requirements.
[ A Level 5+ Student Gov, A Level 5+ Filmmaker, A Level 5+ Gamer (Hadley, Morgan, Kennedy) | 7h | 3300xp ]
MORGAN: Hey, Addison! We’re here and ready to help!
MIA: Excellent. You can start by setting up a camera over there to film everything. When we’re ready to scrimmage, you can record everything so we can study it later.
KENNEDY: What should I do?
MIA: Start looking over these plays I’ve been working on. Basketball is a game, after all. Oh, and then go get me a pumpkin spice latte.
HADLEY: And what about me?
MIA: You’re the towel boy. You see all those dirty towels on the floor? Wash them!
HADLEY: Uh, really? That’s what you want me to do?
MIA: No, I want a towel boy to paint my nails and bake me a cake! Go! Towels! Wash! Okay, looks like everything’s set up… Julian, Autumn, Addison… are you ready to start your training?
ADDISON: Ready to go.
JULIAN: How hard could this be?
Julian grabs the ball and runs, shoving you aside! You freeze and fall down!
AUTUMN: Addison! Are you okay?
ADDISON: Nothing hurt except my pride…
Julian runs up to the hoop and throws the ball. It crashes off the backboard. Mia loudly blows her coach’s whistle!
MIA: Wrong, wrong, WRONG! Julian, you’re traveling. Remember, you’re supposed to dribble! And you’re throwing that ball like it’s a football. You’re never going to make a basket that way.
JULIAN: Sorry. Old habits die hard.
MIA: Well, I’m going to help put them out of their misery. Give me twenty laps around the court, and dribble the ball while you run!
Mia passes another basketball to Autumn.
MIA: Art girl! You’re up! Let’s see what you can do.
Autumn easily catches the ball, dribbles down the court, and gracefully lobs the ball into the hoop.
AUTUMN: Easy!
MIA: Autumn… you’re… actually… good.
AUTUMN: My dad’s a big basketball fan. Playing one-on-one is basically the only father-daughter bonding we do.
MIA: Yeah, well, you’ve got good aim, but you need to work on your speed. You could use some work too, Addison. Sprints up and down the court! Now!
AUTUMN: Wow, I didn’t realize Mia could be so… hardcore.
ADDISON: At least she’s on our side.
NISHAN: Mia, Addison… so… sports aren’t exactly my ‘thing’, but I do want to help. Is there anything you need that’s not so much focused on the running and sweating part of basketball?
PAYTON: Yeah, what can I do to help?
MIA: Well… I know Max is always buying really expensive shoes because they’re supposed to help him run faster and jump higher.
ADDISON: That’s a great idea! Nishan, think you could make some super shoes?
NISHAN: Do lobsters have blue blood? ...they do.
PAYTON: And I’ll help.
NISHAN: Really? You… want to help with this experiment?
PAYTON: You had me at ‘shoes’.
[ Spend 120000 coins | None | 3300xp ]
NISHAN: Hey, sports fellows… I’ve got something to show you. Trust me. You’re going to like this. Here, shoes for everyone!
JULIAN: Whoa! These shoes are awesome. What’s this mushy stuff in the middle?
NISHAN: That’s my special bouncy goo. I’ll call it B-Goo. Or maybe GooB. Patent pending. It’s specifically designed to make you jump higher. To put more spring in your step and all that.
PAYTON: AND they’re fashionable. I used color blocking and our school colors to…
JULIAN: Yeah, whatever, they’re a color. Look how high I can jump!
PAYTON: Sigh.
AUTUMN: I just got a text from Wes. He wants to talk to me.
JULIAN: That guy? Again?
AUTUMN: I know you don’t trust him, but he DID help us figure out what Max was up to.
JULIAN: By luring us into Max’s trap!
AUTUMN: Wes gets very specific results.
JULIAN: Well, let’s just say I don’t trust his ‘very specific’ way of doing things.
AUTUMN: Look, if he says he needs to talk, then I’m going to meet him.
JULIAN: At least take some muscle with you.
[ Julian, A Classmate except Autumn, A Level 7+ Classmate except Autumn (Indiana, Kennedy) | 10h | 2500c, 3300xp ]
KENNEDY: Heard you needed some backup.
AUTUMN: I think Julian’s being paranoid, but it can’t hurt…
ADDISON: Exactly.
INDIANA: Better to be prepared, right?
KENNEDY: Let’s get this show on the road!
WES: Nice entourage, Autumn. I’m starting to think you don’t trust me.
AUTUMN: Can you blame me, Wes? After what happened last time?
WES: Yeah, well, has it ever occurred to all of you that I’m spending all this time trying to keep your school OUT of trouble? Speaking of which… I want you to cancel the basketball game.
JULIAN: Is this your scheme? Trying to get us to blow our one chance to save our school?
WES: You really don’t trust me.
ADDISON: No offense, but I’m with Julian. If we cancel this game, we might as well shut down our school.
WES: You’ll come up with some other way to show the board member that your school deserves a shot. Trust me, you are not winning this game. I’ve heard Max and Kara talking. They’re going to play dirty. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.
Wes looks at Autumn pointedly.
AUTUMN: I’m not afraid of them.
WES: I’m serious. Don’t play in this game. It’s going to get ugly.
JULIAN: Ugly like, say, that time you tricked us into getting mayo dumped on our heads?
WES: I got you the info you needed. I’d say getting a little dirty was a small price to pay for learning Max’s plan, wouldn’t you? You want to ignore me now? Fine. It’s your loss.
Wes turns and storms off.
ADDISON: That… could have gone better.
AUTUMN: I think Wes WAS just trying to look out for us. What should we do?
JULIAN: How is this even a question? We gotta play. If we back out now, we might as well shut down our school ourselves. It’ll look like our school can’t even participate in a recreational basketball game!
AUTUMN: You’re right. I know you’re right. I just… I don’t like it.
ADDISON: I don’t like it either, but we don’t have a choice. We’ve just got to be ready for whatever they throw at us. It’s almost time for the game! Nervous?
AUTUMN: Kinda.
JULIAN: Don’t stress. We’re going to win.
PAYTON: Well, there’s just one thing left. We better make sure we’ve got enough people in this school to pack the stands!
[ Have 25 Classmates | None | 3300xp ]
PAYTON: Awesome! Everyone’s here!
ADDISON: The stands are packed!
AUTUMN: Hey, Addison! I just saw Mr. Javellana! He’s sitting in the front row! Looks like it’s game time!
MIA: Okay, team. This is it. The big game. It all comes down to this.
AUTUMN: Ooh, a pep talk! I’ve seen these in movies. Are you going to tell us to have fun and remember our love of the game?
MIA: Hmm… what does my dad always say to Max? Oh yeah… In this house, we’re WINNERS. What do we train for? To WIN. If you want hugs and cuddles, go live with your mother!
AUTUMN: That was…
ADDISON: Unexpected.
MIA: Too much?
ADDISON: Maybe just a little.
MIA: Oh, fine. I guess just go have FUN or whatever, and if it’s not too much trouble, think about trying to win. Y’know, to save our school.
[ Addison, Julian, Autumn | 9h | 3300xp ]
Addison, Julian, and Autumn take the court, facing off against Max and Kara.
MAX: Well, well. A football player and an artist in the starting lineup. So this is what the bottom of the barrel looks like.
KARA: Sounds more like the setup for a dumb joke… ‘Little Miss Artistic and the Dumb Football Guy walk into a basketball game...’ I don’t know what the punchline is, but it probably involves them making out!
JULIAN: Hey!
MAX: Don’t worry, Kara. I’m sure they’ll be too busy awkwardly flirting to actually play ball.
AUTUMN: What? I… I mean…
MIA: Back off, Max. I’m coaching them. And they’re good.
MAX: Mia?
KARA: I should’ve known you’d really enjoy the whole traitor thing.
MIA: Save it for the game. Okay, team. This is it. Ready? On three…
JULIAN: One…
AUTUMN: Two…
ADDISON: Three!
MIA: Okay, Addison. I want you in for the jump ball. Tip it towards Julian!
The referee throws the ball in the air! You jump for it and… You freeze! Kara tips the ball to Max!
MAX: Heh, too slow, Addison!
ADDISON: Oops.
MIA: Come on, Addison! Get it together!
Julian runs over towards Max, but Max slams his shoulder into Julian, knocking him down, then runs past him and scores an easy layup.
MAX: Did you see that bucket?!
MIA: Ref? Where were you on that one? Ugh.
AUTUMN: Julian, are you okay? That looked brutal.
JULIAN: I’m fine. Wes warned us they’d play dirty.
MIA: Hustle up, team!
Autumn throws the ball into Julian. He dribbles the ball back to your team’s end of the court, and passes the ball to you! You choke! The ball flies past you, and Kara snags it.
KARA: Got it!
Kara dribbles back up the court and nails an outside jumper!
MIA: Get it together out there! Come on, Addison! Focus!
An hour later… the game is still going! Autumn sinks shot after shot, but your team is still down by two points with the scoreboard reading 58 to 56. Julian drives around Max and dunks the ball!
JULIAN: Wow, Max, for a basketball superstar, this game’s awful close…
MAX: Not for long.
Max shoots Kara a look. She nods.
AUTUMN: I’ve got this, Addison!
Autumn catches the ball and dribbles it down the court… when Kara hooks her foot around Autumn’s ankle and shoves her!
AUTUMN: Aaaaaah!
Autumn falls, and her head slams hard against the floor! The ref blows his whistle, and the game stops. Julian runs to Autumn’s side.
JULIAN: Autumn! Autumn, can you hear me? Autumn, please, open your eyes.
ADDISON: Autumn…
AUTUMN: Wha… what happened? Julian?
JULIAN: You’re gonna be okay. It’s gonna be okay.
Back in the locker room…
MIA: Autumn’s going to get checked out by the school nurse. I think she’ll be fine… I hate to say it, but maybe we shouldn’t finish the game.
JULIAN: Are you crazy? We can’t let them get away with this!
MIA: Look, I don’t want to see anyone else get hurt! You don’t understand Max. Maybe it’s better if we give it up.
JULIAN: No! No quitter talk. I’m not going to let them get away with hurting Autumn. We can’t let them get away with that. Addison, tell me you’re with me.
ADDISON: Julian… Winning won’t help Autumn. I know you’re upset, but…
JULIAN: So that’s it? You’d rather do nothing? I’m going out there to win. So how about it, Mia? We’ve got enough time left for one more basket. Who takes the shot?
MIA: You want me to decide? No way! I already feel bad enough about Autumn getting hurt! Addison, this is your school. You make the call.
[ A Classmate except Autumn and Mia (Cameron) | 18h | 5000c, 3200xp ]
CAMERON: I’m ready. Let’s…
Suddenly, the door to the locker room opens… and Wes strides in!
WES: I warned you. I told you to stay out of the game. I told you they were going to play dirty.
Wes slams the locker room door behind him and walks to the center of the room.
ADDISON: Wes… what are you doing here?
WES: They crossed the line. I’m here to help you take them down. I’ve been watching them practice. I know their tells.
JULIAN: Yeah? So what do we do?
WES: Just listen. Kara’s terrified of getting hit in her beautiful face. If you fake like you’re going to throw the ball at her, she’ll break. As for Max, when he’s dribbling, he sticks out his tongue every time he’s about to crossover from one hand to the other. Just wait for that to happen, and you should be able to steal it from him, easy.
CAMERON: Any tips on how to avoid getting pummeled?
WES: Easy. Be the fastest one out there.
CAMERON: Sure… ‘Easy.’
And so, a few minutes later… the ref whistles to resume the game. Kara inbounds the ball to Max! He dribbles the ball… and sticks out his tongue! Cameron reaches out and snags the ball from Max!
MAX: Hey!
Max lunges for Cameron, but Cameron spins around and runs down the court.
KARA: You won’t get past me.
Kara looms in front of Cameron! Cameron fakes throwing the ball at her face!
KARA: Eek!
Kara ducks, covering her face. Cameron jumps and shoots the ball. It sails gracefully through the air… and sinks perfectly into the basket!
CAMERON: Yes!
JULIAN: Nothing but net! We win!
MAX: Arrgggh! Unbelievable! This is all your fault, Kara!
KARA: My fault? You’re the one that let them steal the ball, hotshot!
MIA: I’d say it sounds like the better team won!
MAX: This isn’t over…
WES: Actually, it is. I heard Mr. Javellana saying he was impressed by Addison’s team… they’ve got his vote.
ADDISON: Looks like our school’s safe for another day.
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