Chapter 2: Playing once more

Crow yawned on his chair and regretted his choice last night. He had stayed up for far too long and was about to sleep, when suddenly Paul sat down in front of him and put his deck of cards on Crow's table. "Pick a card," Paul said, acting cool. Crow grinned and pulled a card out of the deck: "I win, Ace of Spades." Paul sighed and picked up his deck after he had put the card back in saying: "Never again, I'm never playing cards with you again." This made Crow chuckle and Paul grinned. Suddenly, Oz walked in like a zombie, in a slurred walk, looking more dead than alive with his eyes half opened. "How long were you playing?" Crow asked. "I quit at about four in the morning," Oz replied. Paul sighed when he saw Max come in just like Oz. Sam also came in and looked at Crow. "Oz got a third monitor," Crow answered to the silent question. Sam chuckled and then the door opened. Everyone ran to their seats, except Oz. Oz was still walking like a zombie and classmates laughed at him. Crow chuckled but thought of it as weird, that the teacher hasn't shouted yet. He looked at the door, but then he stood up. He saw the one person he least expected to see, a bored Coach Martin. Coach Martin was the Coach of one of the greatest high school basketball teams. "You're sticking to your words," the Coach observed. Crow grinned and then said: "Of course, we're trying hard, Coach." Paul saw Coach Martin and then said: "Hello there, care to tell us why you're here?" "For the first time I don't want to hire you. I just want you five to play. I saw you when you five played for the first time," he started to explain, "I don't want your talent to go to waste, just play one more tournament." Crow stared at the ceiling for a moment, but then replied: "Coach, we might think over it. Let us think it over." Coach Martin grunted in agreement and then walked away. The others in their class stared at them but Crow ignored them and stared at the sky. At the end of the day Crow and the others watched a basketball game between their school basketball team against one of the top five teams. Oz and Sam laughed at all the mistakes and Paul and Max laughed with them. Crow was watching he game, but felt something that pissed him off like nothing else. The other team was not playing seriously, they were trying to get an even number. Max also noticed that and walked to the bench of their school team. He stood there for a bit but then he walked out of the gym towards the changing rooms with a uniform in his hand. The coach of the school team walked towards the other teams coach and then they talked. Oz looked at the scene and then turned to Crow: "Shouldn't we also do this?" Crow though, ignored Oz and saw Max walk out of the changing room, with a uniform on, and getting subbed in. For three minutes, Max played and all passes never connected towards him. He was already standing somewhere else when the pass came. Max was benched and Crow, Oz, Paul and Sam heard the snickers from the opposing team. Suddenly, Crow walked towards the field with Oz, Paul and Sam close on his heels. They were standing in front if the coach and Crow said: "We're here to apply for he basketball team, may we play in this game?" The coach sighed and replied: "Well we can't make a comeback anyway so you four can play, and take the number 5 with you." The number 5 he was talking about, was Max. His jersey number was 5 and when the others got out of the changing room, Max joined them on the field.