Samantha and Cesar get out of Alfred’s room and proceed to the basketball court. Cesar, Justin, and Mark continue to practice basketball while Samantha and Ruth play Ping-pong.

The boys practice shooting, driving, and dribbling. Cesar also shares his knowledge with Mark and Justin in playmaking and techniques. Cesar has to make sure that their mind and body are conditioned for the game next week.

The girls also have fun playing table tennis. But after one game they don’t want to play anymore since the both of them have no stamina for it. They play chess, instead, with Samantha teaching Ruth the basics first then they decide that they want to play.

“Now I know how the game works, let’s play,” says Ruth

“Uhm, I don’t want you to play with me. I’m too strong for you,” Samantha replies.

Ruth smirks at Samantha and says, “Cowards are not allowed in Chess, Samantha.”

Samantha chuckles and says, “But seriously, I just don’t want to obliterate you in Chess. Roger and you are only starting out in Chess, he only learned Chess three days ago, so he’s a perfect match for you.”

Ruth sighs and smiles saying, “Ok, fine. I’ll play with him. Thank you for having mercy on me haha.”

Samantha approaches Roger at the other side of the court from where the boys are practicing and invites him to play Chess with Samantha.

“Oh, I didn’t practice enough in Chess. I’m not sure if I could play,” says Roger.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. Ruth just learned the basics of Chess today, you two are a perfect match,” Samantha reassures.

Roger concedes and goes over, with Samantha, to the table that the girls have set with the chessboard decked with ordered pieces and with a chess clock at the side. He sits on an unoccupied chair opposite Ruth. Samantha grabs the kings on the table each in his hand as she scrambles them behind her back.

“What are you doing?” says Ruth as she giggles.

Samantha just smiles and reaches out her clenched fists toward Ruth.

“Pick.”

“Oh, so that we would know what color we would play.”

Samantha chuckles and says, “Obviously.”

‘What should I pick? Left? No, Right. Because it’s alright hehe,’ Ruth thinks.

“I pick the hand at my right that is your left hand,” says Ruth as she touches the hand she chooses.

Samantha opens her hand only to see that it is white. Ruth claps her hands with glee.

“Yes! I get to play first.”

“Remember to play the opening I’ve taught you, Ruth.” Glancing the both of them Samantha says, “Remember, this is a 30-minute game. Take time as you like.”

“Yes, bes. I’ll play the opening and I’ll take time. Thank you for the advice.”

Roger smiles and says, “I’ll defeat you, little girl.”

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Ruth smiles back at him and says, “We’ll see.”

Samantha places the pieces she took as they’re about to start playing.

“Shake hands, you two.”

The two competitors shake hands. Samantha presses the clock to start the game with Ruth’s time reducing.

Ruth plays e4. Roger plays e5

Samantha nods as she thinks, ‘Good start bes’.

Samantha chuckles and says, “Obviously.”

‘What should I pick? Left? No, Right. Because it’s alright hehe,’ Ruth thinks.

“I pick the hand at my right that is your left hand,” says Ruth as she touches the hand she chooses.

Samantha opens her hand only to see that it is white. Ruth claps her hands with glee.

“Yes! I get to play first.”

“Remember to play the opening I’ve taught you, Ruth.” Glancing the both of them Samantha says, “Remember, this is a 30-minute game. Take time as you like.”

“Yes, bes. I’ll play the opening and I’ll take time. Thank you for the advice.”

Roger smiles and says, “I’ll defeat you, little girl.”

Ruth smiles back at him and says, “We’ll see.”

Samantha places the pieces she took as they’re about to start playing.

“Shake hands, you two.”

The two competitors shake hands. Samantha presses the clock to start the game with Ruth’s time reducing.

Ruth plays e4. Roger plays e5

Samantha nods as she thinks, ‘Good start bes’.

Ruth plays Nf3.

‘Yes, just as I’ve taught you.’

After some deliberation from Roger, he moves his Knight by Nc6.

‘Standard move. Standard move.’

Ruth smiles and nods as she plays Bb5.

‘The Ruy Lopez Opening’.

Roger plays a6. Ruth takes time as she hesitates to move. She scratches her head then lays it on her hand with her elbow on the table. Then suddenly she moves her Bishop as she takes the Knight on c6.

Suddenly Samantha senses something coming in her direction behind her. She senses it as the sound grows closer at a fast pace. She turns around and sees the ball zeroing in on her. But she reacts enough to cover her face from the ball, closing her eyes in the process. But she hears steps quickly coming towards her and someone catches the ball. She lowers her hand and opens her eyes only to see Cesar with a ball panting heavily.

“Are you ok, Samantha?”

‘Wow, he really did that for me?’ Samantha thinks while smiling.

“Thank you, Cesar. I didn’t expect you to catch the ball.”

“You’re welcome, Samantha. I have to catch the ball, I don’t want you to get hurt.

‘Ahhhh, so romantic’

Justin and Mark go over to them.

“Are you ok, Samantha?” Mark says.

“Yes, I’m ok, Mark,” Samantha says.

“Woah, Cesar really sprinted fast. He was far away from you and he just darted towards you and stopped before he could collide with you,” Justin says.

Samantha smiles at Justin and looks back at Cesar as Cesar also smiles at her.

“You should play chess elsewhere, Samantha. It’s kinda dangerous here with the balls flying out of nowhere.”

“Yeah, that would be the right thing to do.”

So the Chess enthusiasts move to the living room with Roger moving the table. The boys now return to practicing basketball.

For a while, the boys practiced and learned so much about basketball, especially Justin and Mark. They had mistakes here and there but they were given grace by Cesar.

Mark shoots the ball and a swish.

“Dang it, airball,” says Mark.

“It’s ok, Mark. Your arms will get used to shooting. Besides, you had made a basket before with nothing but net,” says Cesar.

“Yeah, Mark. You’ve improved much today. We’re gonna kill it when the basketball tournament comes,” says Justin.

Mark nods and says, “I hope so. You too, Justin. You’ve improved your ball handling skills, you’ll gonna be Kyrie Irving.”

Justin hides his face from him and says, “Oh, shucks. Hahaha.”

Mark and Justin laugh together while Cesar smiles for them. Cesar grabs a ball and just shoots for a while until they calm themselves down. After the merriment, they finally are back to themselves.

“Wait, how does the tournament work?” Mark says to Justin.

“Well, it’s a single round-robin. We get to play all the teams. They would then pick who’s the best four teams and they are paired to play in the best of three games. And the best two teams would battle it out in five games for the championship. While the other two would battle it out in three games for the third place. And we will have ten minutes per quarter.”

“Whew. I hope we can win.”

“Look at this, guys!” Cesar says as all eyes are on him.

He approaches the rim with the ball in his hands. He stops abruptly and jumps. And heck, he even windmills the goshdarn ball.

Wham!

They are all wide-eyed and eventually, they cheer him. Particularly Mark as he just shakes his head.

‘I’m sure we’ll win.’

“Yeah, baby! Y’all know I brought the house down!!!” Cesar says.

Mark smiles in amusement and says to himself, “Yes. We will surely win.”