"Hey Daniel, over here!" A boy, tall, strong, and carrying a basketball, waved to him, before running down the court (warmups were about to begin), leaving Daniel an empty chair. Daniel looked gratefully in his direction, and dumped his bag on the chair, before joining him on the baseline. "Traffic?" The boy looked in Daniel's direction. Daniel shook his head "Nah, just got into a tussle with some bullies." "Let me guess, you beat them up, and then you got lost." The boy grinned, and shot his ball, sinking in a swish. "Ehm, more or less the same, this random weirdo who had the weirdest clothes I've ever seen helped me get back here." Daniel shuddered. "Speaking of which, I hope I don't meet that guy again." "Oi Carter, come here for a second." Carter looked at Daniel apologetically, before jogging over to his friends. Daniel watched him leave, before standing in his standard shooting form. Now that Daniel was alone, he finally could gather all his thoughts, put them in a jar, screw up the lid, and focus on nothing but basketball. Fake, shoot, lay-up, drive, shoot. Muscles rippled in his arm as he moved this way and that, the ball being pounded from one hand to the other. He finished with a slam dunk and exhaled sharply. "Sheesh, look at the little tiger!" A group of boys waved at Daniel, without any hostility in their gaze, and Daniel waved back. Just an ordinary day of basketball.

"ARE YOU JOKING!" The man behind the counter seemed to shrivel up a little bit before his voice came back to him, and a timid squeak came out. " I DROVE FOR AN HOUR JUST SO I COULD TEACH MY FRIEND'S BASKETBALL LESSON BECAUSE HE IS SICK, AND NOW YOU ARE SAYING I DON'T HAVE A BOOKING!" The man seemed to explode at the last word, spittle flying everywhere, face red as a tomato, his odd tie coming loose. "I-I'm sorry sir, b-but I'm not sure I have the authority to" "SCREW YOUR AUTHORITY, YOU LET ME IN THAT BASKETBALL COURT OR ELSE YOU WILL PAY DEARLY!" The man's face turned ghostly white, and he clutched the table with both his hands. "Ok sir, I-I'm opening the door right now." And just like that, almost as though the argument never happened, the man with the odd tie went back to normal. He straightened his tie, picked up his book (titled 101 Ways to Checkmate in Chess), and nodded to the man behind the counter. Then he walked through the glass doors onto the basketball court. The man behind the counter sighed in relief, and exhaled deeply, before dreading what would happen to those boys inside. "Oh, deary me," he murmured.

"Is everyone ready to rise and shine?" A loud voice rang throughout the basketball court, making every head turn towards the man who said it. "Cuz I am ready to ROCK!" There was no response, only the silence you get when you have stunned your audience. Daniel blinked several times rapidly, rubbed his eyes, and slapped his face with both hands. "You-have-got-to-be-kidding-me," he hissed behind gritted teeth. Carter looked at the man, then at Daniel, back at the man, before his eyes finally returned to Daniel. Then he started making weird symbols with his hand(is this the man you were talking about?) Daniel looked at him and nodded his head very slowly. Then he made a few weird symbols as well (I think it is him, and if I am correct). Daniel mimicked cutting his own throat. "Oh, hello over there!" The man was facing Daniel with a delighted look on his face. "Boys, I helped this young man get to the basketball court!" There was no response, only the deathly silence that had greeted the man ever since he walked in. "Oh, come on, a little more enthusiasm please?" A boy let out a small 'woo Hoo' but apart from that, everyone was motionless, staring at the man wearing a strange hat, an even stranger shirt, and an absolutely bizarre pair of shoes. The man gave up. "All right, everyone line up below the hoop with a net thingy. " Every single boy on the court exchanged glances with each other, before lining up and hoping with all their might that this teacher knew what he was doing. "Diz teacher iz very strange." "I know right, I hope he isn't permanent, or I'm quitting." It seemed that everyone had already drawn their conclusion about what this teacher was like in less than a minute. "Ok everyone, time to do Knight to F3, and yes Aunt Mary, I would like a cup of tea with that as well." The boys stared at the teacher, then looked at each other hopelessly. 'Ok, sure thing," Daniel muttered sarcastically. Shoes squeaked everywhere as boys began to run around in circles, unsure of what to do. A few had even begun shooting, completely ignoring the teacher's instructions (not that they were coherent anyway). The sky up above was grey, and it reflected perfectly upon the boy's moods. "Hmmm, yes it says here that I have to do lay-ups, shooting, blah blah blah." "That's so boring, how about we do the Scotch Gambit?" By this time, some of the boys were already getting ready to walk out the door, shaking their heads in disbelief. To make matters worse, a huge chess piece, as wide as a trampoline, and as tall as a pillar, began being unloaded from a helicopter right above the basketball court. All the boys heard was a thump. A loud, chilling, thump. "What's that?" "Ahh, it's arrived." The teacher ran towards the center of the room, before adding "It's my new giant chess piece being unloaded from my private helicopter!" Carter stared; mouth open. "He has enough money to buy a helicopter and a giant chess piece, and yet he can't afford a psychologist?" Daniel sniggered. "Just wait, this is going to be AWESOME!" The boys sighed in unison. They all seemed to be thinking the same thing. "Totally a normal day" Daniel muttered sarcastically.