Part-435

  Mili is practically bouncing with excitement, ponytail doing its own happy dance. “Yeah! He joined the Banani High team! I saw him practicing on the court yesterday after school!” She's clearly hyped for James.

  Lily actually chuckles, shaking her head a little, still amused.

  James, the guy who’d rather spend his Friday night curled up with a book, suddenly morphing into a basketball pyer? It’s almost cartoonishly unexpected. Her little bro is definitely keeping things interesting, that’s for sure.

  “Basketball now, huh? That boy is everywhere,” she mutters to herself, mostly just thinking out loud.

  Then she gets back into teaching, showing the girls how to properly angle their stance for a killer side kick. But even as she’s demonstrating, the image of James on a basketball court keeps popping into her head. She pictures him looking maybe a little lost, maybe a little awkward, but definitely determined, trying to figure out how to, you know, basketball.

  It's kind of endearing, actually.

  Lily gets back home ter that night, and where does she find James? Exactly where you'd expect him – basically living at his desk. Textbooks, notebooks, the whole academic starter pack spread out around him, all lit up by that study mp of his.

  Honestly, the glow from it was probably visible from space.

  He actually looked up when she walked in, which is a surprise in itself. Usually, he's so deep in study mode he wouldn't notice if a marching band paraded through the room.

  He just gave her this kind of 'huh, you're here' look.

  Lily leaned against the doorframe, you know, trying to look all casual and cool. Arms crossed, smirk pstered on her face – the whole nine yards.

  “Sooooo,” she started, dragging it out for maximum dramatic effect, “I’m hearing whispers, rumors even… could it be true? Are you, like, a legit basketball superstar now?”

  James blinked, like he genuinely didn’t know what pnet she was on for a hot second. Then, a tiny smile started to py on his lips, and you could see the amusement spark in his eyes. “Basketball superstar?” he repeated, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

  “Slightly overdoing it, don’t you think? Unless ‘superstar’ now means ‘tripped over my own feet and almost took down three other guys’ then yeah, maybe.” That dry humor? Definitely a family trait – thanks, Lily, for that one.

  “Oh, come ON, don’t even try to py it cool!” Lily shot back, pushing herself off the doorframe and sauntering further into his room.

  She was totally hamming it up now. “Mili spilled all the tea. After-school practices, joining the team… dude, next thing you know, you’ll be, like, pstered all over ESPN, dunking so hard the hoop spontaneously combusts, and signing basketballs for screaming fans.”

  She even did this ridiculous mime of a dunk, nearly taking out a tower of his perfectly stacked books in the process. Seriously, the way he organized his stuff was borderline obsessive.

  James actually chuckled – a real, soft chuckle, not his usual sarcastic snort.

  “Yeah, national TV seems… slightly out of reach,” he said, still trying to downpy the whole thing. “It’s just a club. You know, something to do, gets me out of the house other than martial art things.”