Playing some ball (room 2) on Magical Arts Room and Sports

Marcus Williams

December 07, 2011 8:27 PM

Playing some ball (room 2) by Marcus Williams

Marcus missed his sports. He missed playing football. He missed talking about baseball. But mostly, he missed basketball. This had been his favorite sport to play. The Magical world apparently didn’t have sports like his. They only had Quidditch and Quadpot or whatever it was called. Neither of those appealed to him. Sure he liked a little bit of thrill out of life, but he didn’t care to fall to his death or have something blow up in his face. He liked his face. He thought he looked pretty damn good. Having his hair burned off would put a real damper on all of that.

Thankfully, the school offered a special room where Marcus could have at it at whatever he wanted. He loved this room. This room and the room with the water in it. He had only ever seen Lake Ontario, never the ocean. He sometimes went to the first room just to sit and watch the ocean. He knew it wasn’t real, but it looked so amazing. One day he planned on taking his Mother and his Grandmama to the ocean. They would love it and they both deserved a nice vacation. Prior to learning he was a Wizard, Marcus had always thought that the only way he was ever going to get out of Rochester and make something of himself was by getting a full scholarship to a college on basketball or football. At least now he had some real options.

Marcus wore his basketball jersey and his newest Jordans. It was somewhat boring to play basketball by himself, but no one else really seemed interested in Muggle sports. Not even other Muggleborns. But he still wanted to keep himself in shape and up to par on his awesome skills. There was still a chance that when he went off to college that he would still get some form of scholarship or assistance in the form of a sport. His mother definitely couldn’t afford a fancy school for him all on her own. They would need help and he was going to do whatever he could to help both his mother and himself get into a decent college and not end up completely in debt.

Running drills was what he did to get into the moment. He loved the sound of his sneakers as they slid across the floor, making that nice squeak sound when he turned or swiveled as though he were facing an opponent. In his head, he was playing a real game and the clock was nearly down and he was their only hope with winning the game. Marcus twisted, swiveled, and ran from one end until he reached the three pointer line. Taking aim, Marcus shot and watched as the ball sailed straight into the net. “Oh yeah!” He cried out, doing a little dance as he had just won his imaginary game.

Little did he know that someone had entered the room and had watched his display of imagination.

6 Marcus Williams Playing some ball (room 2) 180 Marcus Williams 1 5

Jordan Adair

December 07, 2011 9:00 PM

Am I interrupting? by Jordan Adair

It had been quite a while since Jordan had practiced gymnastics, but she was suddenly feeling inspired that weekend. Maybe it had to do with the change in her sister, Dani. She had suddenly become a rebel girl. Jordan had no idea what had come over her, but she didn’t like it and she certainly didn’t approve it. And it definitely worried her. It worried her that Dani could be like that and it worried her that if she could go down the same road. Was it that Dani didn’t have anything in her life that caused her to be like that? She didn’t know. She did know, however, that she needed a better routine. She would never be great in school like Alice or be a leader like Eliza seemed to be.

Instead, she opted to try and just better herself. Focus at least on something that she enjoyed. So, that Saturday, after lunch and everything, she had gone up to her room and changed into a leotard and a pair of short shorts. The leotard was simple. It wasn’t one that would be used for competitions or anything like that, but rather one that was used for practices. It was pink with white along the sides. The shorts were a simple black. Her brown hair was long enough that she could pull it back into a simple braid, which she did. She threw on a pair of sneakers to go from her room to MARS, room 2.

Unfortunately, Jordan was disappointed to see that she wouldn’t be alone to practice. Worse yet, it was a boy that she would be sharing the room with. It was Marcus, in fact, who was playing some sort of sport. He seemed awfully excited when the ball went in the hoop thing. So much so that he did a dance. The corner of her lips turned up in a smile. It was pretty amusing to watch. “Hey, Marcus!” She called out, raising one arm in greeting. She started walking towards him instead of continuing to shout across the area.

“What are you up to?” She asked when she got closer. She actually had to tilt her head to look up at him, a fact that she loved about boys. She liked that they were taller and bigger. She never understood girls that went out with guys that were shorter than them. Didn’t it make feel unprotected, like her guy couldn’t take care of her? Nope, she never understood it. “I hope I’m not interrupting or anything. I was just going to practice some gymnastics, but I can go if I’ll be bothering you.” She bit her lip hoping that she wouldn’t be told to leave. Besides, the hoop thing was interesting and she wanted to watch him some more. What could she say? She liked guy watching.

0 Jordan Adair Am I interrupting? 173 Jordan Adair 0 5

Marcus

December 08, 2011 9:18 PM

Not at all. by Marcus

Marcus stopped mid cheer/dance when he heard his name being called out. He looked around and found that Jordan had entered the game room. He had no idea how long she had been there or why she was even there, but that was fine with him. He never really liked to be alone in this place as it was and since he didn’t have any seriously close friends, he was quite okay when anyone decided to join him. This was far more fun with more than just one person. Even if the other person happened to be a girly girl like Jordan.

“Hey Jordan.” Marcus greeted as she moved closer to him. He noticed her outfit then and he found himself rather enjoying it. Just by the look of it, he could tell it was for some sort of gymnastics training. He knew enough girls to know what leotards were and he had seen the Olympics a handful of times. He thought the designs of the outfits were ridiculous, but the mold of them was quite nice. “I didn’t know you did tricks.” Marcus commented, smiling so that she knew he was just playing with her, even if what he said was the truth.

“I was playing basketball.” Marcus commented, pulling his wand out of his shorts pocket and called the basketball back to him. “A game I play at home. I like to keep active and since I’m not really a fan of flying or having my face blown off, I was really glad that the school created this room for me to play my sports in.” Marcus explained, bouncing the ball idly as they spoke. “I don’t mind sharing the room. It’s better having someone around anyway. This place is too quiet when it’s just me in here.” Marcus commented and then grinned at her. “So, what sort of tricks do you have? Beam, floor, or handle bars?”

6 Marcus Not at all. 180 Marcus 0 5

Jordan

December 11, 2011 12:09 AM

That's good, because I would be sad if I was. by Jordan

“Yeah, I’m a bit out of practice, though,” Jordan answered. “I used to do it all the time before coming here. I don’t really know why I stopped. I guess I just didn’t want to put the time into it.” The truth was she had been far too concerned about other things like becoming popular, which she wouldn’t say she had really succeeded at. Though, while it was still important to her to be popular, it didn’t hold the same life or death intensity that it once held. Other things were starting to become more significant, as she was finding out whom she was. One of those things was gymnastics. She wanted to get back into it. She wanted to feel that carefree feeling she had when she performed. She wanted to feel that feeling of flying through the air. It was amazing!

Basketball? She nodded like she had a clue to what that was, which was fine since he was still talking. Besides, she at least knew about the part about not having her face blown off. Quiddich could be a rather dangerous sport. If it weren’t for the fact of the throwing, catching, bludgers, and basically made it everything other than a flying game, she would play it. The flying part was the only part she did like, which was probably why she was so into gymnastics. “Beam, definitely. Floor is more about power and bars are strength. Beam is about grace. Not that you don’t have to have the other two qualities, but you can be strong and powerful, but not be graceful. Plus, you hear people talking later about some crazy back flip you did on it, you can’t help, but feel like you’re the greatest thing in the world.”

She knew that sounded a bit egotistical, but it was true. Being able to do something that most people couldn’t and having them talk about it, you couldn’t help feeling that way. Of course, it also didn’t mean that she had to continue blabbering on about it. “Okay, so I’ll show you my tricks if you show me yours,” she said with a grin, her blue eyes sparkling. “Show me how to play this basketball of yours. Do you just throw it into the hoop thing?” She wished she could have been more specific, but she had no idea what all of the technical terms were. She figured he would forgive her that though since she had never heard of the game before.

0 Jordan That's good, because I would be sad if I was. 0 Jordan 0 5

Marcus

December 19, 2011 9:25 PM

I would have been bored if you left. by Marcus

Marcus was not going to deny the fact that he was impressed with the fact that Jordan did gymnastics. It gave her a whole new depth that he wasn’t expecting. Jordan seemed like a superficial girl. Only looks and popularity matter. Although, it didn’t seem like blood really mattered to her, so he had always given her kudos for that. But gymnastics took a lot of dedication, time, and passion. The fact that she had done this and found herself wanting it again just showed that she was more mature than he had given her credit for. Since coming to Sonora, Marcus had honestly believed the girls at this school only cared about status and shallow things. It was refreshing to know that someone thought about something generally interesting.

“Oooh, beam, huh?” Marcus asked, clearly surprised by this. “I can never understand how you all are able to do all those tricks on that little thing.” Marcus commented. “I used to have to do just walk on it in gym class, and not even a high one like those you all use, but one set low to the ground and I am always falling off it. Props to you though, Jordan, that takes some serious skills to be able to dance and flip and do crazy things like that.”

Marcus wasn’t as stupid as people might peg him to be. Sure he had no idea about the Magical world or how things worked, but he was street smart and he was an observer. Jordan didn’t know sports, or, at least, not his sports. She was from the magical world where Basketball never existed and never would. Still, he appreciated her feigning interest in his sport. “Uh, well, it’s much more complicated than just throwing the ball in a hoop, but in order to win, you need to score the most points. It’s five on five. If you score a field goal, you get two points. The field goal lines are here-“ Marcus demonstrated where the lines were “And anywhere inside this semi circle. You can also earn a three pointer by making a basket while being outside of the line. You always have to keep the ball moving, which is called dribbling.” Again Marcus demonstrated the move by dribbling in a circle around her. “If you don’t, that’s called traveling and you earn a foul. If you are dribbling and stop and than start dribbling again, that’s called a double dribble and you earn a foul. Forceful contact with the other team players can also get you a foul. When you get a foul, the other team gets a free throw.”

He paused here because he knew he had said a lot in a short amount of time. “Of course, there are games to play that are fun. Like, H-O-R-S-E, which is when you stand at specific spots on the line and try to make a basket. I would shoot, make it, you’d have to try shooting from where I had stood. If you miss, you get the first letter of the word. The first player to spell ‘horse’ loses. Wanna try it?”

6 Marcus I would have been bored if you left. 180 Marcus 0 5