Leonz struggled to get to school, needing to use crutches to get around. He had skipped a few days of school, and was feeling much better, but the doctor told him he still needed to be careful when walking.
At the gate of Zodiac Academy, he coincided with someone familiar.
"Yoooo, how did that happen*?" (Madelyn)
* Excited to concern
Madelyn walked beside Leonz as he made his way into school.
"I got ankle broken, literally." (Leonz)
Madelyn saw his leg, his ankle wrapped in bandages, the exposed part of his foot purple in colour.
"That looks painful." (Madelyn)
Leonz let out a long sigh.
"What's up with you? Another one of your boyfriends left you?" (Madelyn)
"What? Since when did I have boyfriends? Mind you, I've never been in a relationship before." (Leonz)
"Got it, got it Lover Boy." (Madelyn)
"You can't call me that, remember? You said that if I got my right ear pierced, you can't call me by that stupid nickname." (Leonz)
Madelyn paused.
"Wait, you actually did it?" (Madelyn)
"Yeah, didn't you see it the last time I was in school?" (Leonz)
Madelyn, who had been walking on Leonz's left, walked behind Leonz and walked on his right. Leonz stopped as Madelyn pulled on his right earlobe.
"That hurts." (Leonz)
Madelyn let go of his ear, seeing the hole evidently. She rubbed her chin.
"Huh… I was planning on doing this whole thing where I acted like I was being betrayed and do this whole drama bullshit." (Madelyn)
"Well, now ya can't." (Leonz)
Madelyn sighed and pointed to her left ear, where it was also pierced.
"I also did it, okay? It's all fair now." (Madelyn)
"You were the one who forced me to pierce my ear anyways. You should have both ear pierced." (Leonz)
"Don't wanna. It hurts." (Madelyn)
"Of course stabbing holes in our bodies is gonna hurt, what da hell did ya expect?" (Leonz)
Madelyn walked alongside Leonz, walking slowly to match Leonz's pace.
"You're being really angst. Seriously though, did you break up with someone? Wait, you broke your ankle, I see what's going on." (Madelyn)
Leonz simply sighed.
"Stop being such a Drama Queen, King." (Madelyn)
She patted him on the back.
"It's only one game, you'll get better soon anyways." (Madelyn)
"It's just that there's this guy that's really good, and who knows what kind of freaks are out there too. I might not be good enough to play for a Championship Team." (Leonz)
"Are ya having an existential crisis on me?" (Madelyn)
"Maybe." (Leonz)
Madelyn shrugged and continued walking.
"You got a role to play though. Not everyone on the team can be a star, it just doesn't work like that." (Madelyn)
There was a moment of silence. Leonz was about to break the silence when Madelyn snapped her fingers.
"Hey, I just got an amazing idea!" (Madelyn)
"What?" (Leonz)
"Okay, hear me out." (Madelyn)
Madelyn leaned closer to Leonz, even though no one was near them at the time.
"We go scout out some of the schools, ya interested?" (Madelyn)
"Scouting?" (Leonz)
"Yeah, we go and watch some of the practice games some of the school are probably having now. We can go watch the Knights or something." (Madelyn)
"Sure, I don't mind." (Leonz)
"You can even wear earrings, just to be wacky." (Madelyn)
"Firm no." (Leonz)
"C'mon, you've gotta put that hole to good use." (Madelyn)
"Phrasing." (Leonz)
They both walked into the elevator. Since they were likely late to class, no one else was in the elevator with them.
"The girls have a practice game coming up soon too! You've gotta watch us play, and kidnap someone else from the boy's team while you're at it." (Madelyn)
"Kidnap? Who?" (Leonz)
"Um… his name was Joe something. Harley Quinn*! Must be him!" (Madelyn)
* From Suicide Squad
Leonz flinched when she said Harley, then found it funny that their names seemed to fit.
"Joseph Quinn, you mean. Why do you want me to kidnap him?" (Leonz)
"You know the girls' team captain?" (Madelyn)
"No? I don't think I've talked to her." (Leonz)
"Well, she mentioned that she had the hots for him one time. Don't ask how I got the information." (Madelyn)
"Sure, how did you get the information then?" (Leonz)
Madelyn gave him a 'are you being serious' look.
"I literally told you not to ask." (Madelyn)
"What? I'm curious." (Leonz)
"With a little bit of blackmail, anything's possible." (Madelyn)
"What?" (Leonz)
"Just kidding. The girls had an after school gathering once, so we started spilling some tea, and I managed to get the captain to spill some serious tea." (Madelyn)
"That makes more sense." (Leonz)
The elevator stopped and the door opened. Madelyn held down the open button as Leonz 'walked' out of the elevator. Madelyn followed him soon after, walking by his side as they made their way to class.
"Yeah, but I don't got a clue when exactly this practice game is." (Madelyn)
"I'll just see how it goes." (Leonz)
They entered the class, Madelyn apologising for being late, as well as using Leonz as a scapegoat.
Leonz made sure his right ankle did not move as much as possible. He wanted a quick recovery, and he wanted to make sure that he was out on the court when the season starts.
He had already made a mental preparation for what he needed to work on to reach the next level.
He had never thought about it as hard before. He was content staying at his skill level, but after seeing Harley's performance, he knew he wanted to reach that level.
He wanted to be a Star, not just a Star, but a Superstar.
Someone who was so good that they changed the entire flow of the game just by being on the court. Someone so good that no defence would stop him. Someone so good that no offence would get by him.
Someone of absolute ability.
Leonz wanted to reach that level, the level which a few other players were on. Harley was one, but another person Leonz knew was Asher. Asher was definitely on that level, just that Leonz had yet to see him in a game.
Other teams had their Superstars, Leonz wanted to be a Superstar too, he wanted to be the one to lead the team. He had seen Asher's disengagement in the practice game in how he did not show up.
Leonz felt as if he needed to keep the Beasts on his back.
He was going to recover, and he was going to tirelessly train.
Being a one trick pony of a sharpshooter was no longer going to work for Leonz.
He needed to first work in his dribbling. He was the first hand witness to Harley's skill with the ball in his hands, and he wanted to imitate it.
Next was his ability to playmake. He wanted to go and throw lobs fo Crox, control the floor and make the correct reads, control the flow of the game.
Next thing he needed to work on was his ability to score in a variety of ways.
Stop.
It was just impossible for Leonz to accomplish all of those things in a short amount of time, especially when he just got injured.
Leonz knew that, but it was fine to dream. Dream big, for that will motivate him to work even harder.
Leonz was fired up and ready to get better.
The school bell rang, and it was time for club activities.
Leonz had to stagger towards the gym with his crutches, Madelyn walking by his side.
"Where's As-ter?" (Madelyn)
"Probably at the gym. That guy gets there ridiculously quick." (Leonz)
"He's magic." (Madelyn)
"Sure, we'll just go with that." (Leonz)
Leonz finally got into the gym, where the boys and girls were gathered in one big group.
Madelyn whistled, interested in whatever was going on.
Coach Dom stood in front of the group, Joseph standing somewhere to the side, smiling casually.
"Lovehart, you're finally here." (Dom)
Madelyn split and jog towards where the group of girls were.
Leonz managed to get to the bench and sat down.
Dom made sure everyone was listening before he signalled to Joseph. Joseph rolled in a whiteboard and a few markers.
"So Coach Ceres is out sick today. I'll be taking both the Beasts and the Stars in the training today, so I hope for your corporation." (Dom)
Dom started the training, sometimes using the whiteboard to describe certain things that needed to be done.
Leonz simply say at the side, watching as everyone started playing.
When everyone was off doing their own thing, including Asher, Coach Dom approached Leonz.
"Lovehart, I'm going to need you to dribble a little." (Dom)
Dom passed a ball to Leonz.
"Sit down, just dribble the ball casually. When you're more comfortable, try to dribble between both legs while sitting down. When you're comfortable with than, try to dribble behind the back while sitting down." (Dom)
Leonz did as he was told.
He watched the players practice as he dribbled the ball. He had not known the girls team had a different name, but it somehow made sense.
The girl's jerseys had the same blue colour, and also had the circle of zodiac symbols on them. However, instead of the slashes at the sides of the jersey, there were stars.
The boys jersey had the word 'Beasts' above the circle of symbols, and for the girls, it was 'Stars'.
Leonz started dribbling, occasionally fumbling the ball because of the unnatural angle he was dribbling in.