The crowd raved and stomped in an uncultivated chant, their screams echoing in his head, between both ears, getting to him. Sweat dripped on the floor, forming small puddles beneath him. They followed him, carving his path on the court. He began panting; sweat hanging on by a small thread on his nose, finally falling down in a swift, yet slow trajectory. The intensity was on; the heat was nearly as intense, the atmosphere was thick, not only with the immense heat, but the pressure that was pressed upon this man. It was up to him, no one else, to score this goal. With the game at 74-76, he needed that three in order to win. He just had to win.
He subjected his mind to his primitive instincts, no longer thinking or acting in an accorded fashion. He blitzed down the court, moving at an unparalleled speed. He dribbled the ball with such precision and talent; he was a one man crew on the court. His teammates called from across the court, no one was open. The crowd’s cheers got louder. Three seconds on the clock.
An enemy came from the right, getting in his way. The boy swiftly moved aside, faking a pass to the right, spinning around the man in an ultimate school, using that less than one second moment to get away. He approached the line. He glared up, his face burning with a deep, courageous inferno. His heart pumped, serving as his humble guide. He followed his heart. He shot the ball, the clock ticking. 73 miliseconds to go. The enemy player went up for a guard, yet ultimately missed his chance. He went over the boy, tumbling over him in absolute defeat. The boy unintentionally tripped over the man…
SWISH
The ball swished straight into the basket, the crowd roared with exhilaration. The whole gymnasium shook, in what was the most exciting game of the decade. The boy fell down, yet his hands stayed up, raising them in victory.
“Good game.” He mumbled below the man, as before he fell on the concrete gym floor… his reality was warped straight from underneath him, folding around himself into he was gripped outside of his dream and into reality.
“’Ey, Willy, what’s the happs?” the familiar voice rang annoyingly beside Willy’s desk. Willy looked up groggily, the entire classroom was empty, even the teacher had left, only the homework left up on the board for reference. Willy sighed glumly, rubbing his face with his imprinted hand, imprinted with his hair from where he laid on it. The feeling was just starting to escalate back into his hand actually.
“...” Willy finally oberserved the classroom. “Where is everyone?”
“Lunch,” Dew said, leaning against the opposite desktop, folding his arms with a smirk, tilting his head. “You fell asleep about 30 minutes ago. Figured I’d come by and wake your sluggy ass up.”
Willy stood up, packing up his bags, walking out of the room. His face, always so cool and casual for the 14 year old, not caring in the slightest he missed out on an important lecture about English Colonization in North America. Was a big snore to him anyway, it already happened ages ago, why did he care about it now?
Willy walked down the hallway alongside Dew. Compared to Willy, Dew was much more fit and muscular, and a little bit taller too, yet Willy was always the most popular among the two. Sort of why Dew hung out with Willy, Willy always thought. Gave him a good image. Willy didn’t care though, he didn’t care about much of anything, school especially last on his list. Being a hard person to genuinely please, Willy only looked ahead. He only cared about his future, his issues, and his demeanor. Well, not really his demeanor, he didn’t care about his attitude or appearance much at all. Most may consider Willy a blah with unrealistic dreams of reaching the heights of his basketball career, Willy always referred to himself as an positive activist. Most of all, he always wore that giant imprint on his face, the nonchalant, blank gaze. The only reason people looked up to Willy was for his athletic prowess, breaking nearly six school records since his Freshmen year, which was this year.
Dew however, was the total opposite of Willy in those regards. Compared to Willy, he was a rather happy-go-lucky individual. He didn’t care much about his future at all, only a ‘in-the-now’ kinda guy. He was popular amongst the female population, and was asked out on dates nearly everyday, all of which resulted in Dew taking on more than he could chew (he always said yes, if he found the girl attractive). He was known as the Tri-Knocker for taking three girls to the movies at once, and not getting caught. Dew was quite a ladies man, yet his ambitions were clearly not set in stone, unlike Willy, who only had one single motive and ambition, be the best at what he does.
Willy arrived at his locker, rummaged through his bag, looking for his history book. Willy groaned upon the realization he had left it in the classroom. “Darn.” Willy said shortly. Dew stood next to Willy stylishly upon the locker, slicking up his pure black hair, stretching his masculinity to new heights. Dew turned to Willy rather nonchalantly.
“’Sup?” Dew asked. Willy sighed.
“Left my history book in the classroom. Be right bac-“
“No worries, my man Willy. I got this covered, for both of our sakes!” Dew exclaimed with a wink and a pointed index finger. Willy looked on with a blank gaze. Dew raised his hand.
“Attention, ladies!” Dew called, posing stylishly beside Willy at the locker, his finger pointed toward the sky as if ready to disco. Everyone turned to Dew, most as if he were crazy, most of the girls in admiration. Dew smiled, pointing down. “My friend Willy here has a passionate issue! He left his history book in the classroom, yet has no desire to beckon forth into Hell’s doors! Will one of the bravehearts summon all of your courage and passion to retrieve this young man’s history books from the clutches of the devil himself?!”
Most people looked on blankly, while a few girls were instantly hypnotized. With hearts decorating their every move, they ran toward the classroom, or at least, that’s certainly what it seemed like, leaving a trail of glittery hearts behind, decorating the hallway. Some even exclaimed a declaration of admiration for Dew. Dew smirked, flipping up his hair coolly, posing in front of Willy. “Woman are very fertile creatures, you see, and very useful. Just like a program, only as useful as the programmer.
Willy blankly looked at Dew, closing his locker door, he stared ahead in a straight stare. “You don’t say?” Willy said, with a forced look of inquiry. It was just that though, forced, and Willy was never good at hiding his true feelings. Most of the time, he just didn’t have anything worthwhile to say, or so he felt. Dew frowned, hugging Willy by his shoulders, much to Willy’s dismay.
“See, my man Willy, what you need is a little enlightenment!” Dew exclaimed with a large batch of fresh air, exhaling noisily, which Willy found kind of disgusting. Or it may have been because he was hugging Dew by his armpit. “You need to go out there, make yourself known, ya know?! You really want people to recognize you as the guy with a constant scowl on your face? Even if you’ve broke records, socially, you’re not adept.” Dew said as if he were a powerful and wise guru.
“That’s not for you to decide. I don’t care about any of that,” Willy said, narrowing his eyes, forcing Dew off of him. “And please don’t do that… ever again.” Willy nearly gagged. Dew shrugged with a cocky smile. “Look, I appreciate what you’re… trying to do, but I’m not interested. I’m content the way I am. I’m me, that’s all that matters. Don’t like it, don’t deal.” Willy said, walking away. Dew merely looked on and sighed.
“Come on man, this is exactly why I’m your only friend! You’re a loser!” Dew exclaimed, yet shut his mouth manually. He regretted saying that the moment he said it. Willy stopped mid-walk. He didn’t look back, only looked down slightly, and walked on. Dew watched Willy, and sighed.
---
The next day at school, Willy leaned against his locker, getting ready for gym class. The bell had already rung. Strangely, he hadn’t talked to Dew all day. Willy hadn’t really cared though, from their fallout yesterday. It wasn’t too intense, but he didn’t care much for Dew’s comments. It made Willy think though; was he really a loser? As far as he was concerned, he was content. Not happy, but content. He was breaking all of the athletic records in gym, and was close to breaking the long jump. His coaches always praised him for his prowess, and insisted he take it to the next level. Was that really enough?
“I’m living the dream,” Willy said slowly, looking down at the floor tiles. “That’s all I need; my talent. It will take me to… the top.”
As Willy shut his locker, he looked ahead. He heard footsteps approaching from the empty hallway, hollow footsteps, it was weird. Willy raised a brow as he turned to the source. A lone kid, black hair stranded in small spikes down his face, covering a large portion of his upper face. His fashion sense was something Willy couldn’t consider anything other than crude, with chains sporting down his black baggy pants which were a little too big to be worn by him in the first place. He had a sluggish, uncaring demeanor about him, and a chilling aura. He had a rebel sort of feel, which Willy instantly liked, at least somewhat about him. He seemed to be the kind of man one couldn’t answer to.
He was also holding a schedule in hand, glancing at it in a very unorthodox, yet uncaring method. Willy leaned against his locker coolly as he finished packing all of his gym clothes in his bag. Technically, he should have already dressed out and been waiting in the gym, but he had a lot on his mind today.
Willy wasn’t planning on speaking to him at first, but he seemed lost, or perplexed, something weird. The young man took strange strolls around the hallway, as if looking for something, yet nothing. It didn’t make much sense to Willy why he was doing what he was doing, which was probably one major aspect that interested him. Directionless, for lack of better terminology.
Willy stood up tall, approaching the boy casually, a rather blank look upon his face as usual. Willy wiped his nose uncaringly, and waved. “Hey.” Willy simply said. The boy looked up, staring at Willy with a side gaze of very interesting, black as night eyes. The boy simply stared back, in a similar ordeal as Willy.
“Hello. Can I help you?” the boy asked in a tone that was significantly smooth. It was weird, how the boy just turned the tides on his original intentions, questioning him if he needed help? That was really… strange. Willy scratched his chin, his eyes widened suddenly as he spoke up.
“Well, not exactly. But you look rather… perplexed,” Willy said in a flat tone. “Or straight up weird. Whichever fancies you more,” Willy waved his hand to the side insensibly. The boy seemed not phased at all, in fact, he actually chuckled. Willy smiled slowly, for the first time in the week. “What class you got next? I can probably hook you up.”
“Ah, yes. My schedule,” the boy said, holding up his schedule. He took a short glance at it and looked back up at Willy from within the paper strangely. “Gym.”
Willy shot the boy an interested look, and grabbed him on the shoulder. The boy looked at Willy rather weirdly, but accepted it nonetheless. “Nice man. That’s my next class too.”
The boy beamed a small smirk, “Fascinating.”
After a small moment of silence, the tardy bell resonated in the hallway. Willy looked up and shrugged. “Right. We’re already late. Might as well get going.”
The boy nodded, “I agree.” The boy followed Willy. Willy looked back, cutting his eyes back to the strange man as they walked down the narrow hallway to the locker room.
“I didn’t catch your name,” Willy said, introducing himself. “Names Willman. Call me Willy.”
The boy nodded. “Sidian, Sid is fine.” He grinned, his teeth were abnormally pretty sharp. Willy opened his mouth to beam a smile at Sid’s beaming mouth.
“Got some pretty nice choppers on you, eh?” Willy teased lightheartedly. Sid closed his mouth, looking ahead with a strange conduct.
“Hereditary,” Sid replied, staring at Willy rather peculiarly, yet an interesting curiosity, so it appeared. Willy thought nothing of it and continued on his way. Willy led Sid into the locker room where they would change and be geared up for gym.
---
The gym class as an entirety stood by the open bleachers, some students sitting chatting amongst themselves in their own crowd, others already shooting hoops and challenging one another inside. Willy usually sat out during gym, having the option to do so. Because of a deal he struck with his gym coach at the beginning of the semester, he was allowed a free pass to gym any time he chose. As long as he showed up, he automatically passed. The choice of dressing out and participating was only optional to him. Most days he would dress out however, in the fact that he’d rather be on his feet and pumped up getting up his adrenaline than sitting down and doing nothing, watching everyone else. Willy always considered himself the best in the court, and truthfully, he was. No one beat him.
Willy was also a competitive person by heart, so with this trait, whenever he played, he took it seriously, often screaming across the court. When his team got behind in points, his game increased even more proportionally. That was how Willy was, he was the guy most people wanted on their team, due to the competitive nature of gym class as a whole. While the coach always stressed that gym was about having fun and sportsmanship, Willy honestly didn’t care. He just wanted to win. He simply hated losing.
Willy walked inside of the gym alongside Sid, the new kid on the block, the mysterious newcomer no one knew a thing about. Obviously, with this new interaction, people started talking when they seen Willy and Sid together. Sid paid them no mind, but Willy was slightly curious just what it was they were talking about. Seeing their heads turn as Willy looked their way, chatting among their group of friends. They were definitely talking about him and Sid.
Willy and Sid approached the majority of students, waiting for the coach to arrive. Being already late, it was suspicious the coach was not already in the gym taking roll, at the least. The students turned to Willy and Sid as a duo, someone snickered. Sid turned an ominous eye toward his way, which suspiciously, made the guy back off immediately. Everyone else saw it too; there was something dark and subtle about Sid. While everyone else saw a menace, Willy saw a prodigy.
Willy turned to Sid indifferently. “Yo, Sid, you a basketball fan?”
“I’m familiar with the game,” Sid replied with a short spoken tone.
“Ever played seriously? Like for a team?”
“Never interested in the concept.”
“I see,” Willy looked ahead.
The coach finally entered the gym. He wasted no time, gave no explanation for why he was late. He blew his whistle, ordering the students to get in line to take roll. As the coach came across Sid’s name, he looked at him rather peculiarly before continuing. Willy cut his eyes to Sid’s way for a brief moment, then back at the coach in that allotted time. This was starting to get a little strange. Something was up with Sid, he knew that much. Everyone seemed to realize just what it was, except Willy himself…
---
Willy walked out of the school cafeteria, carrying a small bag of Cheetos and a cold ham sandwich. He walked through the school grounds, with a blank, straight face, carrying his lunch bag across his shoulder. He sat down at the nearest picnic table outside, right beneath a large hardwood tree. Willy didn’t eat right away, he had a lot on his mind at the moment. Focusing on just Sid. He couldn’t pinpoint what it was about him that was so perplexing, but it dragged him down with him and made him want to learn more. He had only just met him, and it was like he was being hypnotized. It was a strange feeling, almost a controllable feeling. Willy shook his head slowly, and began to bite down into his sandwich, until he heard rummaging at his table. Willy looked up, his eyes beaming upward nonchalantly.
Sitting across Willy was a rather small boy, Willy’s age. His eyes were crystal pool clear with a sharp sapphire edge. His blue hair was neatly kept, yet fairly spiky and eccentric, and he was carrying a large stack of playing cards at his disposal, shuffling them skillfully with both hands, flipping the cards beneath his fingers as if he had practiced for years for this. He placed down the card trendily, and grinned cockily.
“New card, Dark Lord Ha Des. Attack Power 4300, and comes with a unique special monster effect that paralyzes all monsters on the field. He also has the power to suck out the opponent’s life force. Limited edtion, finally got my hands on this bad boy,” the rather geeky boy said as if he had just achieved the greatest accomplishment of his life. Willy smiled lightly, taking a short glance at the card before turning back up to the young man.
“Raw card, Jesse,” Willy replied with a fake smile. Jesse leaned back, rubbing the back of his head with a casual smirk. “How much did you spend on this one?”
“It was actually a prize,” Jesse responded hysterically, a large, big teethed pompous smile.”I won a draw at the last comic con! Unbelievable, man. You have no idea how many bitches I’m gonna pawn with this card. The whole Deck Monsters community will be sprawled before my feet, sucking my d-“
“Right, but man…” Willy looked around both sides briskly before turning back to Jesse, “Mind putting those away before someone sees us?” Willy looked on, his cheeks began to flush as he looked a certain way. Jesse’s brow perked with intrigue, clearly not catching what Willy was.
“Suddenly embarrassed to be seen with me? You should be proud, homebrew! Honestly Willy, some of the things you say are just—“
Suddenly, a large pair of breasts overwhelmed Willy’s head. Willy cut his eyes up without moving his head, looking up at the jade haired girl with a loosely trimmed shirt revealing a large portion of her breasts, and a pair of jeans, hugging her waist. Jesse looked up, as if he had just instantly gotten a boner, yet looked away just as instantly. Jesse was still extremely shy around girls, not getting out much outside of school. Willy actually found it funny. However, what he didn’t find quite as funny was the girl delving straight into their business, looking at the cards.
“Willy! I didn’t know you still played cards,” the girl said. “Aren’t those for like, middle schoolers?”
“It’s not that it matters,” Willy said, sliding away from the girl. He looked up at her. “And these cards aren’t mine, Cynthia.”
Cynthia smiled delightfully, tugging Willy by his nose, much to his annoyance. He swatted her hand away. She looked over his shoulder. “Something bothering you?”
“Nothing that concerns you,” Willy said bluntly. Cynthia pouted, and turned away. She closed her eyes and shrugged.
“If that’s so, I guess I’ll be on my very merry way!” she began skipping off. Willy made no attempt to stop her, which was probably what she was expecting him to do. Willy was fairly good at reading people, especially someone as predictable as Cynthia, a girl he had studied since middle school as a favor for his longtime friend Jesse. He and Jesse had been friends ever since 5th grade. As a favor, Willy promised to be ask Cynthia out for Jesse, which she initially misunderstood as Willy asking her out. Ever since, Willy has refused her, and she continues to bug him, because all along, she had a crush for him, yet Willy didn’t want to make a move on her for consideration of Jesse. Jesse even seemed at unease when she approached just there. Jesse sighed miserably.
“Dude, she totally wants you,” Jesse said. Jesse was a fairly enigmatic person to most people, yet to Willy, he showed his true colors. He was actually a fairly rude, loud mouth guy, yet to the public he remained quiet. He was a huge smart ass, yet extremely shy, not having come out of his shell yet. Willy also promised to help him with that… we’d see.
“Honestly, she’s not my type,” Willy said matter-of-factly. “Besides that, I’m not interested in a girlfriend right now.”
Jesse looked up between his cards. “Still going for the long jump record?”
“I have to,” Willy said. “But above that, I plan on going to the big leagues. Jesse, I’m gonna do it. I can do it,” Willy said, completely sure and confident of himself. Jesse leaned back in his seat and grinned.
“At the cost of your social life and grades, anything is possible,” Jesse said. Willy looked down at Jesse. There was the side he was just waiting to hear. He had just received a similar ‘lecture’ from Dew the other day. Was Jesse really planning on going there too?
“What are you trying to say?” Willy said, staring at Jesse rather seriously, sipping on his Hi-C Juice drink. Jesse closed his eyes for a brief moment, opening them back up, holding his new Dark Lord card in the ridges of his index and middle finger.
“You’ve become so obsessed with your goal to make it somewhere in the big shot leagues, a goal that, realistically, 95%, statistically, of people, only dream of, that you’re spiraling down a path of self destruction,” Jesse said bluntly, placing the card upright on the table, looking back up at Willy.
“I can do this, man,” Willy said calmly, placing down his Hi-C drink, staring at Jesse rather intently. He was honestly getting slightly offended, because just like Dew, Jesse was implying he was a loser, albeit in a different manner. “I’m special.”
“You’re human,” Jesse corrected. “But let me just ask you one thing,” Jesse folded his arms. Willy perked up listening. “What are you going to do if this doesn’t work?”
“It will,” Willy said, narrowing his eyes.
“It’s good you’re a dreamer, but dreams are only dreams, they won’t sail you to reality,” Jesse callously said.
“Dream hard enough, I’ll sail across reality,” Willy said, still not losing his adrenaline edge. “I’ll make it, Jesse. I’m doing it, that’s all that matters. I’ve put my life on the line for this. It’s my only passion in life… it’s all I got!” Willy said intensely, as he slowly stood up, walking away from the table. He was done with the conversation. He didn’t care enough to hear Jesse’s reply. He just wanted someone who would support him for his dreams. Not even his two best friends would do that.
Jesse sighed, collected up his Dual Monster cards, and walked off.
---
The next day at school, Willy walked down the school path. He walked slowly, as to not arrive at school too early, yet too late. He always had that certain ritual. His sister always left earlier than he did, being a senior and a very productive and involved member of the school. Unlike Willy, who only lived for his one ambition, she had many things going for her, and was socially popular. Willy didn’t care too much, though. He only cared about him.
As Willy arrived inside school, there was a lot of talk and gossip floating about. Willy paid no attention at first, until he saw a bunch of kids, mainly athletes, lined up at the award hall. This part would entice Willy’s curiosity. As Willy approached the crowd, he stood behind at first, waiting for the crowd to hear. Inside of the crowd, he heard these words uttered.
Incredible, Record, New
Willy’s eyes shot up. He fought his way through the crowd, pushing people aside. As he reached the leaderboard, or the award wall, his eyes widened in alarm. He stepped forward, looking over the 50 meter and 100 meter dash records, two records he held.
They were broken.
The new frame replacing Willy’s.
Sidian Shamal.
Willy clenched his fists, perked up his chin, and fought his way through the crowd. In one day, something he had worked and devoted a whole month to defeating… was defeated in an entire day by one boy. Willy’s complete competitive edge took him over… he was angry. At first, he stopped by the gym.
Upon finding Sid crouching beside his locker on the floor, staring at the people walking by peculiarly, Willy approached Sid. Sid looked up rather boredly, and nodded in simple acknowledgement. Willy tightly held the basketball in hand, hurdling it Sid’s way. Using surprisingly quick reflexes, Sid looked up briskly, his eyes widened, as he caught the basketball, yet slid against the floor. Sid used the basketball as leverage to flip himself up, and used the nearby array of lockers for support as he crouched on the basketball itself, staring up apathetically at Willy. Willy stared down with an intense glare, not seemingly impressed by his display, in fact, he took it as a challenge.
“You got the message?”
Sid nodded.
“It’s on.”
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