Tremaine woke up with a burning sensation at the pit of his stomach.
The late summer sun has not fully shown up over the horizon yet, but he's already feeling the heat. Sprawled over the other bed were his two best friends… oh well, they went at it again late last night it seems.
He could still feel the aftereffects of his heroic charge on the pizza— that was nothing more than hot sauce with a little dough— with hundreds of thousands of Scoville, like it was nothing but playing basketball against toddlers.
Now, even if he loves spicy food, he has no choice but to stay away from it for a while.
He got up, felt his insides grumbling because of the heat, and hunger, then sent straight to their shared fridge.
"Oh, so many different kinds of cereals. Who puts cereal in the fridge anyway?" One of the things he found out about growing up with Deshaun Richardson, is that he's addicted to cereals. He'd even put vegetables on his cereals, eating it like a lunch meal, he'd even grind cereals and put it on his protein shakes. "Can I get some, Deshaun?"
All he heard was the sound of calm breathing.
"I'll take that as a yes." He randomly grabbed a box of cereal, a carton of soy milk, and a few pieces of fruit for breakfast. Deshaun was a full scholarship student, so his budget for food was amazing. "Damn, free food is always fantastic!"
He poured the cereal first before the milk… before realizing that Deshaun would call him a heretic clusterfuck that should pour milk first before the cereal…
He then proceeded to put all the fruit in a blender with some ice cubes and milk for a wonderful healthy morning drink.
After chowing down and freshening up, he tucked his earbuds to his ear and started his morning jog once the sun's up.
He actually couldn't remember most of the places in the university, as he's spent most of his time here in just three places. The practice facility, the gym, and their dorm.
So jogging along the scenic route of oak and maple trees was understandably a different kind of bliss.
It would've been even better if he wasn't feeling the itch on his ass.
He saw some other early morning joggers, bikers, and late nighters just finishing up their day, along the serene street. As he passed by the massive halls of some school dorms, and some frat houses, he wondered how such simple early morning bliss evaded him in his past life.
Jogging down the tree lined avenue, he slowly caught up to a fellow basketball freshman wearing only a tight fitting boxer shorts and a sleeveless jersey top.
"Oh, Tre. Good morning, spicy man." Five star freshman Jaylen Mitchell said with a nod.
"Good morning, man. What's with the getup?" Tre went straight into his teammate's bold outfit. Some college students were already gawking at his muscular legs and his bursting muscles that were pretty much in full display.
"I woke up wearing this, so here I am using it to complete my morning routine."
So are you telling me, that whatever you're wearing the night prior, you'll wear to jog the next morning?
"What if you're wearing nothing last night?" Tre asked as they got a glimpse of their practice facility.
Jaylen's cryptic smile, and lack of a response told Tremaine all he needed to know.
The two rookies then passed in front of their training complex and jogged up its steps. Both of them were excited by the solitary sound of a basketball bouncing up and down the hardwood.
Jaylen sprinted into the facility all of a sudden, not caring about how his teammate reacted at all.
Tre shook his head at this eccentric basketball maniac, before he followed him inside.
Once Tre opened the gym doors, the breathtaking sight of a tightly contested three ball whistling through the air in arc, and two players that fought up top before the shot went up caught his eye.
As the ball made a satisfying entrance to the hoop, Tre's heart stilled.
It was an instantaneous moment, not even a second long, but for Tremaine… it was moments like these that made basketball all the more special for him.
Tremaine watched as junior two-guard Lamont Harris took a ten dollar bill from fellow junior two-guard Caleb Wilson with glee. He then slowly walked to the side as if nothing happened while Caleb sulked after his loss.
That's when Tre noticed someone else sitting on the benches on the far side of the gym, another junior named Dwayne Evans.
Of the three juniors inside the gym, only Lamont was named a starter by the coach. Tre remembered that Dwayne was supposed to be the small forward starter this year, but the arrival of elite freshman Jaylen Mitchell wrecked his plans.
It's a good thing though, that Dwayne took it as a challenge upon himself to improve and fight it out.
"Wanna play ball, guys?" Jaylen walked in without a care for the atmosphere and asked honestly. "Just a quick game?"
Dwayne was stupefied about how this person was clothed early in the morning. "Hmmm… I was supposed to be up next, but perhaps we can play a two versus three?"
Caleb was not happy with the idea. "No, no, no, I don't want to be smashed by a top freshman recruit this early in the morning. Let me referee instead."
"Be impartial, you fuck." Lamont slapped the ten dollar bill he won onto Caleb's shoulder. "Just don't fool around and be a proper referee like your pops."
"It's decided, then!" Jaylen didn't waste any second and started warming up. "Let's go with freshmen versus juniors!"
Tremaine was wondering how this tense situation came about. He was not expecting a challenge like this at all, involving two junior rotation regulars, and the nation's seventh ranked recruit. Another junior was even refereeing!
'Fuck! This is going way too fast!'
Tremaine breathed in a lungful of air, and carefully adjusted himself into peak focus like it was nothing but routine.
"Don't go easy on us, or you'll pay." Jaylen ruffled some more feathers with his choice of words. "You know, I got a good playmaker."
None of them had seen him play seriously before, and he was itching to show them what he's got.
He's not just the seventh ranked recruit in the nation.
He's Jaylen fucking Mitchell.