Chapter 2: Chapter 2 – Three is the Magic Number

In this world, Dodgeball reigns supreme over other sports and is considered the number one sport in the world. It attracts a huge audience due to men and women being able to play together professionally (though that is a new endeavor) which has greatly boosted its popularity. It also means the talent pool is much higher and the competition is very fierce. The Award of 'King of The Court' is not an easy one to obtain nor can it be easily identified who is worthy of the title each year. Certain factors besides season stats play a role in the vote of the winner. Teddy Walker, a newcomer to the sport, is fully aware of this.

The crowd erupts into cheers over the amazing comeback from Teddy. This newcomer has bested a veteran of the Dodgeball team with ease. Marcus watches with amazement, more importantly, he shut down Raymond, his tormentor for good.

"Welp, that's that." Teddy says with a hint of disappointment in his voice. He then exits the gym as if nothing ever happened.

The crowd, satisfied with the result, follows his example and heads to whatever activity they were planning on doing next. Marcus looks on as Raymond is still on the ground, wincing in pain. Could a regular athlete really do something up to this magnitude?

He figured the best way to get the question is to ask the "athlete" himself.

"Woah! This is incredible!" Teddy exclaimed in amazement as his new living arrangement. "Even boarding schools don't have as good a setup as this! Good thing I'm a scholarship student!"

He did not want to think of a price for this one room alone. It made his heart ache.

The room had everything a student-athlete could ever ask for: a Texas King size bed, high quality bathroom, kitchen to make food, a fridge that seems to be stockpiled with drinks, a patio to look at an amazing downtown view, and a sturdy oak wood workstation. More like a mini studio apartment more than anything.

All a dream come true for a kid from Maine.

There is a treadmill in the corner of the room.

"Huh?"

I guess it's helpful, Teddy thought. He just gonna have to deal with any potential neighbors who get annoyed with the sound of it.

He then decides to take a shower. Thinking of this as a bizarre first day of school, he is more than determined to realize his dreams. He will be on top. He will become the King.

Just as he finishes up in the shower, a knock comes on his door. Maybe a teacher? Administrator? Counselor? Could be anybody. He decides to open the door.

"Hey-"

He shuts the door. Thinking of this funny, he waits a second before reopening the door.

"Sorry, I'm childish," Teddy winks. "Anyway, what's up Marcus?"

"You remember my name?" Marcus says sheepishly.

"I sit next to you in class, man. Besides, who wouldn't remember your bulky frame? Bro, you are so huge."

Marcus is kinda taken aback from Teddy's laid-back attitude. Most of his tenure at the academy, many have bullied him, and someone talking to him casually is a feeling he's almost forgotten.

"Anyway, I wanted to ask you something." Marcus explained, "I want to talk about the match a few hours ago."

"Sure, go ahead!" Teddy then brings a flinging motion to his arms pointing to the direction of his room.

Marcus is surprised by how incredible his room is, especially for a new student. Usually, new students are paired with other students, but it seems it's a room only for him. Lucky him.

With hesitation, Marcus is having trouble saying the words he wants to say out his mouth. He takes a deep breath and says.

"How did you beat Raymond so easily? I had no doubt you could do it but Raymond is in the Top 100 of dodgeball academy players in Texas."

"So?"

Marcus was taken aback.

"What do you mean?"

"If that was Top 100 material, gotta say maybe I overestimated the competition. Maybe you must be mistaken on that list, are you sure that wasn't during his Little League days?" Teddy exclaimed.

The King's Academy is known for breeding talent out of its students. Raymond may be a dud, but the fact that is considered one of the top players in the country is laughable in the thought of Teddy's head. Type of stuff that could keep a man up at night.

Seems like there is a decline in talent in the world of dodgeball he thought. Then again, Teddy might just be looking too hard into it.

"I have another question." Marcus says with more seriousness, "Why this school? You flew from the far north of the country to Texas."

"Why do you?"

"I wanted to enjoy the sport I like."

"How can you enjoy this sport to the fullest when you are getting pushed around like this? You gotta show some backbone."

If there's anything Teddy has learned in this school, the subtle hierarchy among student-athletes is your skills. His skills shown against a seasoned veteran is probably gonna be the talk of town. The amount of people who were at the match against Raymond was astonishing, you would think it was a league match against a rival school. This school feeds off the students' competitive nature.

"If that's how you feel Marcus, guess that's all you. But me, I wanna win 'King of The Court', that's why I came to this school. No better school to win the award in this school. Capiche?"

"Well anyway it doesn't matter," Marcus says, "I appreciate you standing up for me."

"Ay it's no problem, my guy!"

Just then, Teddy had a thought in his head. Then out came his words.

"Dude, I think you're cool! Wanna be my partner in crime?"

"What?" Marcus was obviously shocked at the words that came out Teddy's mouth.

"Besides, someone got to teach you how to properly utilize that massive frame! Those muscles can't just be for show!"

Self-confidence is a huge aspect for any athlete, regardless of skill or natural fitness. More than anything, Teddy realizes this. He needs to turn this herbivore of a man into more of a carnivore. No, more like an omnivore. The best of both worlds.

"Now then, you're my pupil!" Teddy smiled.

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"Hold on! I haven't said yes!" Marcus yelled.

"Got a better idea, my guy?"

"Well- N–N-N-No….," Marcus starts stuttering and practically becomes incoherent until, "FINE! You got yourselves a deal! I'm tired of being bullied and being looked down upon! Let's become better players together!"

"Great! I already put you down on my roster for the trio tryouts! Looking forward to seeing your skills!"

Marcus's mouth opens wide open. Did Teddy plan for this? What is he thinking? Honestly, his head thinking on Teddy's brain operates. He shakes Teddy's hand in agreement that they will be partners. He'll just have to get ready to look for another teammate tomorrow.

The Following Morning….

The blue-orange sky engulfs the bustling city of downtown in a soft aesthetic. However, the only thing on Teddy's mind.

Hunger.

He needs something to get through the day. Suddenly, he is startled by Marcus's presence by a slight tap on his shoulder. His body's neurons all start reacting, giving him a chill up his spine.

"Yo," said Marcus.

"Hey bro…." Teddy groggily says.

"Are you doing alright?"

"I'll be alright when I lodge something into my esophagus….."

On the way to the cafeteria, they happened to overhear two female students discussing the Trio Tryouts.

"Girl, we are screwed if we can't find one more person for these trio tryouts!"

"I know! I know!"

They start rushing in the hallway.

"Man, who knew it would be a hassle to find two, let alone one teammate. It was already a struggle to try to find someone during the summer and even then no one until I met you." Teddy explained.

Almost like a hidden status quo and it was like teams were already being set up.

"Don't worry, Teddy. It's a good thing I found you early before class, there's someone I want to meet that we can recruit onto our team. She's been an old friend of mine since childhood." Marcus said.

She? And she's in this school with him as well, guess it always helps to have someone around you know? The opposite could be said of Teddy. However, he was too hungry to think about that.

Suddenly, Teddy felt a tap on his shoulder and when he turned off appeared a girl with a medium brown skin complexion, similar to that of a pecan. Was considerably taller than an average height and had short curly hair that was pitch black. She wore the maroon school uniform but her backpack was covered with pins and stickers.

"She's taller than me…." Teddy thought but kept to himself.

"Veronica, so glad to see you! Ted, Veronica. Veronica, Ted." Marcus exclaimed.

Ted? Not a bad nickname. On the other hand, Marcus is friends with a girl like her. Who would have thought?

"Teddy, huh? Full name is Veronica Garcia. You've gathered quite the name for yourself since your impressive showing last afternoon. People have their eyes on you." Veronica exclaimed.

"Eh, he wanted to prove how big he was so I just took him down a peg. Nothing to get excited about."

"Mo, did you tell him the rumors?"

"Rumors? And Mo?" Teddy ask in bewilderment.

"Mo is just a nickname. It's just a formality sometimes I have with him."

Marcus looks red in the face after that comment.

"Anyways, that seems to have ruffled the dodgeball team greatly. It seems your victory against him is going to be your defeat in the future."

"Stop being vague. Tell me how this is gonna hurt me."

"It's gonna hurt your chance on a spot with the team. Raymond is a senior in charge of roster changes and he can be pretty vindictive. Knowing him, he'll probably rig the tryouts to face you in one of the matches."

"Haha. Petty." Teddy laughs.

"Anyway I'm telling you this because Marcus has faith in your ability and I wanna join your te-"

"You're in." No hesitation. "Besides I'm curious about your relationship with 'Mo'."

The two blush at the indication of those words.

"We're just friends!!" Both exclaimed loudly. So loud that they receive stares, because it's 6 AM in the morning and no rational person has that much energy.

"Okay, this is gonna sound strange but…..Teddy how long have you played professional dodgeball? You have the skill of a minor league player at this age." Marcus asks.

"Oh, never played in a professional setting." Teddy says straight-faced.

Both Marcus and Veronica slowly look at each with confusion over the words that came out of this man's mouth.

He's crazy.

Teddy Walker is not a normal guy.

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