The light breeze left by summer hit everyone, and the day of school shook all new-coming students into awkwardness. His figure was approaching school...
Daniel Filipov Yanev, the captain of last year's middle school basketball league winners. He was known for his cold nature and unreadable leadership on the court, a true king that made sure everyone looked at him with respect and fear.
His opponents described him as a devil rather than a human being. The face he had built was even known among pro players, but how far was all of that from the truth?
As he approached the school, a smaller figure pushed itself into him in an attempt to take him off-balance, but the attempt was nowhere near successful. The figure was a girl, about 10 cm shorter than him, who was smiling at him.
He sighed, sounding tired, yet underneath he was somewhat happy.
"I told you to stop doing this, Mayu, it never worked and never will."
He said, calmly, trying to keep a serious face. The girl, Mayumi, chuckled, unbothered by his tired way of speaking, and chuckled at him, putting her hand in his, interlocking their fingers and speaking back with no sign of fear, teasingly.
"Or what? You'll punish me? I was just testing if you can still handle surprise attacks. Didn't Veron knock you into a bush last week?"
His serious facade broke, changing to an embarrassed face as he looked away a bit, defending his position.
"I let him. That's all, okay? You're acting like it's a big deal."
She held her laugh at his embarrassed expression, leaning her head to the side a bit, with playful mockery.
"Yeah, because NOBODY can shake the mighty Daniel, right? Such POWER and TECHNIQUE! Trying to keep his throne to himself. After all, everyone are dwarfs in your eyes. HMM?!"
He rolled his eyes, annoyed by her behavior, before suddenly stopping. She followed the sudden stop and looked at the horizon. Veron Hajdari, Daniel's old teammate and best friend was towering over them at the mighty 206 cm.
Veron, known as "Willston Middle School's Titan", wasn't looking at Daniel but rather glaring at Mayumi. She held her laugh again, putting her hand on her mouth.
"What's wrong? Not even gonna say "hello" to your best friend?"
Mayumi said, pulling Daniel a bit forward, and Veron glanced at him. His face changed and he grinned and grabbed him from under his shoulders and lifted him in the air. Mayumi glared as Daniel's hand got pulled away from hers.
"DAN!" Veron shouted.
"VERON!" Daniel shouted back.
The children around stared in shock as this "giant" lifted someone in the air so effortlessly. Veron then slammed Daniel into the fence of the school, bending it a bit, and letting go of him.
Daniel fell down, balancing himself and elbowed Veron at the side of his stomach, while both of them were laughing.
"Man, you punch lighter than your girlfriend!" Veron said, mockingly.
"At least it doesn't take me five years for my hand to reach my ass to wipe myself," Daniel responded, glaring with a smirk on his face. Mayumi gripped Daniel by the wrist, pulling him a bit away from Veron with possessiveness.
"Enough friendly fighting, okay? You two are dumb enough to waste your time fighting when our first class in high school starts in 30 minutes. Like c'mon. Be serious for once.."
She said, not with hatred but rather care. Daniel nodded while Veron glared at her. The obvious hatred for each other was noticed by the students around. They locked eyes, like two beasts ready to tear each other into pieces.
Daniel noticed where this is going and cut their staring contest.
"Yeah, let's just go, aight?"
Both of them turned their heads away, nodding, clearly hating the presence of the other, but Daniel was the wall between them to keep peace.
Somewhere in the school yard, Kaan, another boy from Daniel's old team, was teasing the girls from his old class. That habit is quite literally in his DNA. As one of the girls threw an empty bottle at him, he had the lightning-fast reaction to move his head out of the way, catching it and throwing it back.
The students around stared in shock at how a human could move so quickly. A shorter boy, Erjon, was standing right next to him, both of them laughing at the girls. The girls were fed up but knew they couldn't do anything about it.
Then a basketball fell right in front of Kaan and Erjon, and they turned their gaze to where it came from. Daniel, Veron, and Mayumi approached them.
"Kind of unoriginal at this point, if you ask me." Daniel said, Erjon responding with "E qpove", which makes Daniel roll his eyes and irritates Veron.
It was something Erjon always said and something that irritated both Daniel and Veron. Veron grabbed Erjon by the back of his shirt, lifting him like a cat, and glared at him. Erjon was a bit shocked and looked at the distance between himself and the ground.
"How does it feel to be here for the first time?" Veron said, hinting Erjon was never anywhere near that height in his life. Erjon's face went completely red, and suddenly he started throwing his hands in protest, trying to strike Veron in the face.
Veron just yawned mockingly at him as he dropped him on top of a bush, making everyone around them laugh at the situation. Erjon, with widened eyes, clearly lost any calmness and jumped off the bush, rushing at his own friend with anger.
As he was about to swing his fist towards Veron's lower jaw, quick steps were heard, and a boy, a bit older, appeared, having Erjon's wrist locked in his own hand, preventing any more chaos.
Daniel and Mayumi looked at the boy, straight in the face, seemingly knowing him as his attention was also pinned onto them.
Veron stared in shock at the boy's speed, but Kaan had noticed him, being the only one who was able to see such quick movements. Erjon's eyes were widened in anger, the vein on his forehead about to pop.
Erjon tried to hit him with his other fist, but the boy lifted his elbow up, parrying it and sending slight pain in Erjon.
"Let's calm down, shall we? I don't want any first years causing chaos around on the first day of school." The boy said with a small smirk, seemingly mocking them.
Daniel got between them, shoving his hand away from Erjon's wrist.
"Thanks for the warning, we'll remember it. You can go now." He said, shooting the boy with a glare who raised his hands, mockingly replicating defense.
"All good then.." He said while grinning and taking a few steps backwards.
He glanced over his shoulder, fixated on Mayumi before walking into the school. The students around were quiet, giving him space to walk.
Daniel turned towards Erjon. "You good, gang?" he asked, turning his attention towards Erjon's wrists, which had a red mark on them.
Erjon growled and responded with "I'm alright," while staring at the ground in anger. He lifted his head up.
"I'll kill him next time I see him.." He said, referring to the boy they had just encountered.
Mayumi stayed silent, staring in the direction in which the boy had gone. Daniel had also glanced in the same direction a few times, but he was more focused on his hurt friend.
"That was your fault, you stupid bitchass monkey!" Erjon said as he turned to Veron.
Veron got even angrier. "You said what, dwarf?" he said, irritated, but Dan looked at him, signalling for him to calm down and play along.
Veron sighed, mumbling out "Sorry, dickhead." and Erjon got a bit calmer. The tension in the air disappeared, letting them finally go to their first classes.
The four shadows, have finally entered highschool, but what were they known for?
Daniel Filipov Yanev (Bulgaria)
Age: 15
Height: 177CM
Weight: 62KG
Wingspan: 180CM
Position:Â PG / Pointguard
Special Abilities:
-Three-Form-Dribble
-Perceptor
Veron Hajdari (Albania)
Age: 15
Height: 206CM
Weight: 87KG
Wingspawn: 215CM
Position: C / Center
Special Abilities:
-Titan Dunk
-Absolute Wall
Kaan Ender (Turkish)
Age: 15
Height: 172CM
Gender: Male
Weight: 60KG
Wingspan: 174CM
Position: PF / Power Forward
Special Abilities:
-Whirlwind Dribble
-Kebab Layup
Erjon Rama (Kosovo)
Age: 15
Height: 164CM
Weight: 57KG
Wingspan: 165CM
Position: SF / Small Forward
Special Abilities:
-Sky Ruler
During their first day of school, everything went smoother than any of them thought. Introductions, meeting new friends, and learning new things. Everything that should be expected from the beginning of high school.
But there was the thing they were waiting for all day..Basketball. They were all craving to join the basketball team of high school. Daniel was waiting in front of the gym for the other 3, leaning onto a wall.
Veron, Erjon, and Kaan approached him, all laughing. Daniel sighed and scolded them.
"You guys are late like always. We made a deal to be here about 10 minutes ago." He said, annoyed at their unserious behaviour.
"Awww, go cry!" Erjon said, trying to annoy him, waiting for Kaan and Veron to follow, but instead they just nodded and apologized, leaving Erjon angry.
As they all walked inside into the gym, the air turned warm and friendly. Their laughter silencing their own steps. As they finally entered the gym, they noticed other first years waiting while the second years were talking to each other.
They noticed the ball from earlier that day, which was looking at Daniel with a grin.
"Oh hell NAH!" Veron said, jokingly. Erjon just got irritated, and Kaan remained nonchalant and quiet about it.
Daniel calmly glared back at the boy, who then picked up a basketball. "Hey, Daniel..." he mumbled before throwing the ball straight towards him.
----TO BE CONTINUED----