Part-434
Even James, Mr. Mystery himself, standing there in the back like a silent observer? Even he cracked a tiny smile. Like, so subtle you could almost miss it if you blinked. But it was there. A faint, almost-not-there smile, like he was secretly amused by the whole thing. Still enigmatic AF, but maybe, just maybe, a little bit hyped too? Who knows with that dude.
So yeah, the pn was locked in. Lineup? Decided. Banani High? About to drop a bomb on the basketball world, or at least, the Banani High basketball court. Secret weapon? Locked and loaded, or at least, standing quietly in the corner. Was this gonna be a stroke of pure genius, like some next-level strategic mastercss? Or a total face-pnt, a spectacur, meme-worthy disaster? Your guess was as good as anyone's. But one thing was for sure, for real sure: that practice match against Motijheel? Suddenly went from "meh, another practice" to "OMG, you HAVE to be there, you're not gonna BELIEVE what happens." The stakes? Officially raised. The drama? Dialed up to eleven. Game on.
Word about James joining the basketball club? Oh, you know how it is – school gossip travels faster than that one meme that went viral for like, a hot second. Seriously, it’s like everyone’s got telepathy or something.
And of course, it zoomed right into the orbit of his older sister, Lily.
Because, duh, big sisters always find out everything. The intel came courtesy of the ever-reliable teenage social network – basically, the human version of the internet, except way more dramatic.
The messenger? Mili, James’s friend ssh cssmate.
She spilled the tea to Lily at the Martial Arts Center, of all pces. Lily was in the middle of teaching a css – picture this: a total boss dy showing a bunch of slightly wide-eyed but hyped girls how to throw a roundhouse kick that could probably knock a brick wall down.
Mili, still trying to catch her breath, calls out, “Hey Lily-apu!” Yep, ‘apu’ – older sister in Bengali, just in case you were wondering.
“Guess what? James is pying basketball now!” She announces it like it’s the test weather report, totally nonchant.
Lily, mid-roundhouse kick demonstration, actually pauses. Like, full stop.
Her brow furrows a tiny bit, the kind of look that says, "Wait, rewind. Did I hear that right?" She’s trying to catch her breath, both from the workout and this sudden piece of information.
James and basketball? Huh. That’s… a plot twist nobody saw coming.
I mean, James is a lot of things. He’s the brainy type, always got his nose in a book. He’s quiet, keeps to himself most of the time.
And when he does decide to be funny? Dude’s got a dry wit that can sneak up on you and leave you snort-ughing. Plus, the kid has a legit superpower – disappearing into a crowd like he’s a ninja in training. But ‘basketball pyer’? Yeah, that was definitely not on anyone’s bingo card for James’s life.
“Basketball?” Lily repeats, like she’s gotta double-check she’s not in some weird parallel universe. A smile starts pying on her lips, though. “Seriously? James? Like… actually dribbling and shooting hoops kinda basketball?” She needs to picture it to believe it.
