The boys finish practicing basketball when Al invites them for lunch. They are a little bit hesitant but Al insists.

“Please, you’re my guests. I can’t let you leave without giving you one of my blessings.” Al says

“Sir, we have a big appetite. I don’t think it’s a good idea to invite us over for lunch.” Cesar replies.

“Well, that don’t make a difference. I have a big appetite too, the food will be enough for us. Besides, I have told my cook that she should bring in more food for you boys, it would be a shame that they would get wasted.”

Mark, Justin, and Cesar look at each other with a hint of shyness at the offer. Eventually, Justin walks past Al briskly.

“Well, Sniper. I need to taste the food of the rich, I’m famished.”

“Justin, don’t-“ Mark suddenly walks past Al to pursue his friend eventually catching up to him. “Don’t say that to Sniper, that is rude.”

“What? For saying I’m famished? What did I do wrong now, Mark?”

“What’s wrong is when you said, I need to taste the food of the rich. You just don’t say that to someone especially when you’re just a guest.”

Just as he finishes his sentence, Al grabs their shoulders.

“Sure you can, I love the rawness and grit of it. Keep being you, Jus. Can I call you that, young fella?”

“Cool,” Justin says. “Thank you very greatly, Sniper.”

“Sure do, kid,” Al says while smiling at him. “Now let’s eat, I’m now also famished.”

In the dining room and on the table are barbeque chicken wings and pancit, and to these Justin is drooling. Around the table, sit Al, Manny, Sam, Cesar, Mark, Justin, and Ruth who recently arrived shortly after the meals are presented.

“Well, you’re a little bit late," says Justin to Ruth. "If you’d been late a little bit more, I would’ve eaten more of these myself. Because I know you’ll eat all of them with your big mou-“ Mark elbows Justin as he’s about to finish his sentence. “Hey, wharrr-ay-doo?”’

Mark draws close to Justin and whispers, “You’re being rude.”

Ruth just chuckles and says, “Oh, I will eat all of them, Justin. I won’t leave you a single one.”

“You sure will, Ruth,” Justin says and turns to Mark with a smile. “Told you.”

Mark just shakes his head when Al calls their attention just as the rice arrives at the table.

“My fellow guests who are friends and classmates of my daughter Sam, thank you for being here today. It’s an honor to present these magnificent cuisines that are in front of you. This act of mine signifies that you’re welcome in the Macapobre home and that I consider all of you part of the family. You’ve been good to my daughter and it’s time to pay back goodness with goodness. Let us bow our heads and close our eyes in prayer.”

Everyone at the table bow their heads and close their eyes.

“Lord,” Al begins. “Thank you for the blessings of savory meals that you have given us. I thank you, Lord, for giving such good friends to my daughter Sam. Forgive us of our sins that we have committed in our hearts as we eat your blessings. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

They raise their heads and open their eyes when Al bangs the table with his fists. He is giddy and licking his lips looking at the food.

“Let us dig in with these scrumptious cuisines we have at our table.”

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“We sure do, Sniper,” Justin says in an excited tone.

So they start to eat at the table, occasionally talking to each other. But one finds it uneasy that the two are enjoying each other’s company. He finds himself jealous, wishing he should be the person who makes her laugh and smile. But he can't do anything about it when she doesn’t even like him. And that he is Mark.

‘Why does she have to like him,’ Mark thinks. ‘Why does a girl that I like not like me back?’

Seeing their smiles on their faces, Mark just stares at his food for a moment and scoops it into his mouth.

‘Why am I cursed? A girl that I like should like me back, not like someone other than me. This sucks.’

Finally, they finish eating lunch and the boys immediately proceed towards the school for their basketball practice. But before they could leave the dining room, Sam’s mom arrives.

“Oh, we have guests?” She says.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Macapobre,” Cesar says.

“Oh, you must be the Cesar Owens my daughter keeps talking about.”

“How did you know, ma’am?”

“Oh, by your physical features.”

“Uhm. Could you be more specific, ma’am?”

“Your curly hair, silly. What else is there?” She laughs.

“Oh, you’re right.” Cesar chuckles.

“Go easy on the kid, hon,” Al goes over to her and puts his arms around her. “I miss you, hon.”

“I’ve been gone for what, a day? You must want me so much, baby. And by that, I’ll give you some goood.”

“MOOOM!!!” Sam shouts.

“Don’t yell at your mom like that, Sam,” says Al

“You’re both disgusting. In front of my friends?! Yuck.”

“Terese, I’m sorry that our daughter yelled at you. But we need more to stop us.”

“I know, my lord,” she says when she pulls away from him. “But she’s right, we shouldn’t be lewd when the people are around.” She then pulls him closer and whispers to his ears, “We should do it when they’re not around.”

“You’re right.” So Al pulls away from Terese and faces the tough crowd. “I’m sorry for our lewd actions, we’re gonna have fun upstairs. Have fun in your basketball practice boys and enjoy your stay here Ruth, you’re welcome.”

“Thank you, sir. I’m just gonna practice playing chess with Sam.”

“Good, you’re exercising the mind. Well, have fun while at it. To all of you, God bless.” And off the married couple upstairs for God knows what they’re gonna do.

“We’re gonna go now, girls,” Mark says. “Have fun playing chess.”

“You too have fun playing basketball, Mark.” Ruth says.

“Thank you, Ruth.”

And off the boys go for their basketball practice at school. Arriving there, they notice someone tall and lanky ahead of them walking towards the basketball court, taller than Cesar by a long shot. They haven’t seen him before so they decide to catch up to him.

“Hello, my guy. How’s the weather up there?” says Cesar to the towering individual.

“Oh. Hello, big bro. The weather’s fine up here, thank you very much,” says the giant.

“Pfft. Big bro? With that size you call Cesar a big bro?” Justin says to him to which Mark elbows him to his side. “Ow. Alright, I’m sorry.”

The giant chuckles and says, “It’s ok. It kinda makes sense why I shouldn’t call anyone big brother with my size, even though they’re older than me. I guess I should call them small big brother.” The giant proceeds to laugh in a deep voice.

The boys laugh along with him then Cesar initiates a conversation with him. Mark and Justin engage in a conversation on their own.

“He might be our key piece to our championship in the CESAFI tournament,” says Justin. “We’ll be champions, Mark.”

“I hope so,” Mark replies. “But we have to see what he’s capable of, we need to be sure of it before we get our hopes up.”

“We sure do have to make sure that he’s not a bust. We would have a well-stacked starter of a team. I sure hope that this is our chance of redemption.”

The company arrives at the court with Coach Perez standing by the bench and the players shooting and practicing. Upon their arrival, the coach notices them and goes over to them.

“Nice to meet you, Cesar Owens, Mark Mercado, Justin Banderas, and our new member of the team, Kevin Rebias.” Coach Perez shakes the hands of Kevin. “I’m looking forward to your contribution to our team.”

“It’s a pleasure, coach. I’ll do my best to win the championship.”

“That’s the spirit.”

‘To win the championship?’ Mark thinks. ‘This guy means business

The coach approaching them is enough to draw the crowd around them. The coach faces them with a confident and optimistic demeanor as he starts to give them a speech.

“Behold, our bridge and beacon of hope to our championship for the CESAFI basketball tournament: Mark Mercado, our lethal three-point shooter who’s now back in our team; Justin Banderas, our point guard and playmaker; Cesar, our defensive man and chief scorer; and last but not least, our thirteen-year-old six-foot-nine power forward, shooter, shot blocker, and basketball champion in the Toledo Elementary Interschool Games, Kevin Rebias.”

Silence overcomes the atmosphere until the giant exorcises it.

“Hello, guys. Nice to meet you all. I’ll do my best to live up to the expectations, I will contribute to winning the championship. God willing, we will win it. I will do everything in my power to keep us winning every single game. Until we win so much that we would be sick of winning. I’ll be your teammate ‘til the day I die.”

They are wide-eyed and nobody says a word. Mark looks at him entranced with his jaw dropped to the floor.

‘Could this be our time? To win the championship? God willing, we will win it.’