Azure Rocks Chronicles Ch. 01

"That's alright, Bran, now just sit down, okay?" A relieved Ashley motioned him to the chair beside the one she was occupying.

Brandon sat down and threw a venomous look at Zack. "What are you doing tutoring people anyways? You play basketball, you're supposed to be needing a tutor, like me."

Zack rolled up his eyes at Brandon's attempt of stereotyping athletes as dumb bullies. This is going to be a long afternoon, he thought before glancing at Ashley, who gave him a small smile in return. Although, just by reconnecting with an old friend like Ashley, the torture feels totally worth it.

"Alright, Ash, you can leave now," Brandon said as he pulled out his notebook and a pencil.

Ashley knew what Brandon was planning, she was damned if she was going to let him do anything to Zack. "Nope, I'm staying sweetie, can't hurt to have a few extra lessons," she replied, pulling out her own stuff.

She and Zack exchanged an amused glance at her lie as Brandon tried a silent groan but failed miserably at it.

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Deafening cheers erupted from the crowd below as the home team scored two more points. The cheerleading squad was in fine form as their routines inflamed the screaming spectators as much as the basketball game taking place on the court of Azure Rocks High School that Saturday night. The Azure Rocks Wolves were on their best run to date in the State Championship, with only two games separating them from being in the final. That was the reason why the players' names were being chanted at an escalating madness by the ravenous crowd.

"Jackson! Jackson!" The team captain's name, Kevin Jackson, was one of the most acclaimed that night. The young man smiled as he heard his name being shouted after his latest shot added two more points to the hosts' tally.

"Great shot!" A hand belonging to his teammate Paul Hall patted him on the back. Paul was the one with the biggest percentage of shots converted on the team. He had been responsible for the assist to Kevin's shot, and his name got cheered just as loudly as the captain's.

All the starting five players were playing particularly well that night, however, the current game was proving to be a tight affair, with the Wolves winning against the Mountain Falls Rhinos by just two points with eleven minutes still to be played on the fourth quarter.

Sitting on the bench, Zack Bishop watched the game intently, his icy-blue eyes almost never blinking. He was well aware that being the back-up for a player such as Paul, who rarely got injured and tended to fight with the coach to not be pulled off to rest, could be insanely frustrating for some people, but not for him. The pack comes first. It was what he always told himself during games. It wasn't that he doubted his skills, Zachary worked hard at practice sessions and at home to improve his game with Kevin and Paul's help, but he knew that there were better players before him on the pecking order.

He scratched his chin with a thoughtful look on his face. The Rhinos probably were the toughest team the Wolves had faced so far, with Kevin and Paul being barely able to keep them in the game. There was ten minutes to be played in the fourth quarter and the game was becoming more physical ever since halfway into the third quarter, both teams starting to resort to a rougher kind of game. When one of his teammates fouled a player from the Rhinos, Zack took advantage of the brief pause to glance at a spot in the stands near the Wolves' bench.

Chloe smiled and waved at him and he nodded at her in return just in time for Gavin to aim his trustworthy phone at him, no doubt to take a picture. Zack's smile widened when he laid his eyes on his girlfriend of two and a half months, Lisa grinned widely before blowing him a kiss. Between Chloe and Lisa, the redhead's younger sister, Holly McRose, beamed at him before throwing a dirty look at Lisa. Zack mentally chuckled at the scene.

A loud yelp of pain snapped Zack away from that sweet moment and he quickly turned back to the court in time to see players of both teams rounding up on each other. His left eyebrow raised in confusion at first, but then he saw Paul on the ground clutching his right leg while screaming his lungs out. What happened to him?

Kevin and another player started arguing with two of the Rhinos' players as the remaining two looked on as the team's doctor checked Paul's condition. After almost a minute, the doctor turned to the coach and shook his head in a negative way, a grimace on his face. Coach Lance Jones then threw his cap on the floor in frustration.

He had been coaching the Azure Rocks Wolves for several years now, and saw this season as a golden chance of at least reaching the State Finals. He was a great coach in Zack's opinion, stern but fair to every one of his players. The doctor approached him, carrying Paul on a stretcher with Kevin's help. The captain and the coach talked to each other in hushed tones for a few seconds before Jones turned to Zack.

"Bishop, get up, you're going in!"

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"Oh, shit! That can't be good," Ashley Woodsen exclaimed, her medium-sized breasts heaving under her blue and red cheerleading uniform. "What now?"

"Relax, Ashley," Madison replied. "You know what they say, next man up!"

"I wouldn't be so sure, Madison," the cheerleader captain, Heather, chimed in as she turned around to face her friends, her large tits stretching the fabric of her uniform. "Paul and Kevin practically carried the team on their shoulders this season, I don't know if they can bounce back from this."

"Geez, Heather," Ashley frowned at her captain. "A little optimism wouldn't hurt, don't you think?"

Heather grinned at her best friend. "Just being realistic, Ash," the brunette said before turning back to the court. "Of course, I'll cheer for them until the end."

At that moment, a player stood up from the bench and started making his way to the court. Heather turned back to Ashley once more with a curious eyebrow raised. "Hey, Ash, isn't that Taylor's brother coming in?" she asked her friend, recalling the boy for his insightful opinions in Ms. Moreau's Literature class.

"Yeah," Ashley slowly replied, remembering the fun chat she had with her old friend the day before, after six years without talking to each other. "He tutored Brandon yesterday after school."

Heather kept her eyebrow raised. "Funny, I forget all the time that Taylor has a brother our age," she said, Zack's older sister Taylor sometimes hung out with them, when she and Ashley's older sister Hannah were in town on college breaks. "Kinda weird actually that she's our friend and he isn't."

Madison smirked beside them. "Don't go getting any ideas, Ravers," she piped in. "He has a girlfriend and she is a friend of mine."

The busty blue-eyed girl laughed. "Please, Maddie, like I'd ever date a guy my age again. Been there, done that, won't make the same mistake ever again," she said before turning back to the court and cocking her head to the side. "I just hope he can be half as good a player as Paul."

"True, we haven't seen him play yet," Madison agreed.

Heather grinned. "You two care to make this interesting?" she inquired, and seeing that she had her two friends' attention, the cheerleader captain continued. "If we win, I'm going into their locker room and personally congratulate the player who scores the winning shot."

"And if we lose?" Madison asked, already fearing the answer.

"If we lose," Heather smirked. "The two of you will have to flash your tits to the Rhinos when their bus leaves the school."

Ashley and Madison incredulously stared at each other, their eyes wide with surprise.

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Amidst all the madness within the crowd, there was one person who wasn't partaking in all the joyful mood around the basketball team of the Wolves. Brandon yawned as he distractedly looked at the court. He couldn't understand all that ruckus, the football Wolves had been State Champions five times over the last eight years and everyone was acting as if was the first time one of the school's teams had a shot at winning the championship.

In all fairness, Brandon didn't really want to be there. The only reason he subjected himself to the torture was because of his little sister Madison, who needed someone to take her home after the game, and he supposed it would be fun to watch his hot girlfriend, Ashley, and her sexy friend Heather, spinning around in their skimpy cheerleader uniforms.

A sudden wail of pain from the crowd brought his attention back to the game and the corner of his mouth twitched upwards when he saw Paul Hall rolling on the floor in pain. That should put those losers in their place, he thought, glee spreading all over his features.

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"He's going in!" a shocked female voice exclaimed somewhere on the stands. "Oh, my God, I can't look!" The voice belonged to a beautiful, tall, sixteen-year-old girl with long, wavy red hair and dark brown eyes.

"Calm down, Holly," replied a confident voice, coming from her older sister beside her. "Zack's ready, trust me. He's been practicing in his backyard every evening this season, even when the team has an afternoon practice." Of course, Chloe knew that because her bedroom window had an unobstructed, clear view of the Bishop's backyard. "He'll be fine, you'll see," she added confidently.

Lisa groaned beside Holly, the thought of seeing her boyfriend hurt in any way causing the Hispanic beauty to start freaking out a bit, much like her redheaded friend's sister was doing. "I hope you're right, Chloe. I just, well, I can't bear to see him lose."

"You won't, I know Zack," Chloe's blue eyes fixed on her oldest friend walking into the court. "When he has that look on his face, he can do anything he wants."

"Zack has been waiting for this opportunity for a really long time," added their introspective friend, Gavin, adjusting the glasses on his face. "Even if he wouldn't want to admit it."

"Ok, here we go, it's gonna start again!" Chloe pointed out enthusiastically. "Quick, Gavin, take his pic!"

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Sitting on a spot in the stands just above the Wolves' bench, a young woman madly typed on a laptop resting on her legs, pausing only to push a strand of her long, wavy blonde hair behind her ears as she breathed heavily. No, no, no. I can't afford my fingers cramping now, please! she groaned.

Victoria, being the editor and reporter of the school's newspaper, was very aware that game night also meant job night for her. Brandon, her best friend's boyfriend, insisted she sat with him, but that meant he would talk and distract her the entire game, and the blonde didn't want to let any detail of the game to escape her. The basketball team had become such a huge hit within the school that a detailed account of their game was mandatory for the next week's paper, especially after Mr. Hartburn canceled her previous article and forced her to rush with the game's piece.

What transpired next was something no one could have anticipated, not even the most pessimistic supporter, causing more than a few howls of frustration to echo through the school's gym. One of the Wolves' stars, Paul Hall, was tripped by a rival player and fell to the floor clutching his leg. Victoria jumped to her feet in surprise with her laptop in her hands, her knee-length black skirt flowing down her legs.

She sat down again and her fingers started working even faster on her laptop at the sight. I feel really bad for them, but what can I say? The public loves a good, old-fashioned, drama story, she thought. Well, if it only was a mystery one...

Victoria's emerald-green eyes shifted to the court just in time to watch Paul's replacement going in with a look of determination on his face. Bishop? Can't say I remember him, she frowned. He's cute, though. Hope he's not too nervous.

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Wearing the light grey home uniform of the Azure Rocks Wolves, Zack walked over to the court, the number '10' emblazoned on his back with the word 'Bishop' above it. Now that he was actually inside, Zack felt calm, he had confidence in all the training he did ever since before joining the team.

He glanced at his friends once again and, surely enough, Lisa and Holly were smiling at him as Gavin had his phone pointed to the court and Chloe grinned at him before giving an encouraging nod. Zack nodded back at his oldest and best friend and turned his attention back to his fellow players, concentration etched onto his face. Kevin approached him and patted his back.

"You'll be fine, Zack, just do what you've been doing in practice, ok?" his friend reassured him. "Let's show those fuckers that all of us can win this thing."

"Alright," Zachary smirked. "Thanks for the trust, Kevin, was it you who convinced the coach to send me?"

Kevin chuckled. "Yeah, you earned it and I know you can do Paul's job," the black guy replied. "Now let's go punch our ticket into the semifinals, dude!"

Zack nodded and then, once the game restarted, it all became a blur for the blue-eyed young man. He launched himself into his game and didn't let anything bother him. The Rhinos continued to play a physical game, but the Wolves managed to stay on their feet as the game became even tougher, with constant changes to the scoreboard.

The minutes passed by and Zack had a really good game, with six points, two assists and one steal to his name. However, the Rhinos were ahead by two points and there was just eleven seconds left on the game. The last possession belonged to the Wolves though, and every player on the team knew what to do, stall until the end and give the ball to Kevin for him to attempt a last-second three-point shot. The Rhinos knew they would try that strategy though, so when Kevin received the ball with three seconds remaining, he found himself surrounded and wasn't able to take the shot. He had to give the ball to the nearest free player, Zachary.

Once Zack got the ball near the center of the court, he instantly knew what to do. With no time to try a closer shot, the ball left his hands and a second later, the time was up. Almost every living soul in the Azure Rocks High School's Gym that night jumped to their feet to watch what would happen. Time seemed to have slowed down for Zack as his eyes followed the ball to its intended target. The moment it swished through the net, he froze in place and a deafening roar was heard across two blocks outside the gym.

Zack's eyes widened, and he remained still, unable to believe what had just happened. He felt his teammates tackling him to the floor amidst shouts of triumph and joyful laughter.

"I did it...," he whispered as Kevin hauled him to his feet with a huge grin. "We won the fucking game!"

"Yeah, dude!" his friend nodded enthusiastically at him. "You've put us in the semifinals, Zack!"

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At her spot in the stands, Victoria put the finishing touches on the draft for her article, a shit-eating grin plastered all over her face. Despite the fact that she didn't enjoy sports too much, to see every student of Azure Rocks High School happily celebrating as they were right now, always brought a smile to her face. Especially if the reason for all that joy generated a very good story.

The story of an improbable hero, hmm, she mused. "Yeah, that'll be one for the ages."

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Almost an hour after the Wolves' heroic win, the stands had already been cleared, the audience preferring to celebrate elsewhere. The team still was inside the locker room freshening up though, and that's where Heather was headed. She figured it was only fair that she thanked Zachary Bishop for his efforts during the game, in the name of the cheerleading squad, not to mention the fact that she had lost a bet. Ashley mentioned she wanted to go talk to him, given their old friendship, but her blonde friend told her that she would never hear the end of it from Brandon, her boyfriend, if he caught wind she had put even a foot into the boys' locker room. Madison also expressed a certain interest of going, but held herself back for the same reason as Ashley. Therefore, bet or no bet, Heather elected to handle the task herself.

As the cheerleader captain left the court area though, a thought popping into her head made the busty brunette slow her steps down. I just hope they don't get any ideas. After games, girls who had a boyfriend on the team or simply had their eye on a player was allowed into the locker room to congratulate said boy, even their coach had no problem with it and Heather already had given the green light to a number of her fellow cheerleaders to do so. The only unspoken rule was that, if they wanted to have sex, the couple had to take their action elsewhere. In Heather's case, she never felt the urge to go in there, since she had no interest in guys her own age, not even at the time she made the colossal mistake of going on a couple of dates with one of Brandon's teammates from the football team.

Approaching the locker room, she was a bit surprised to see Victoria standing there, knocking on the door. "Oh, hi, Heather!" she greeted.

Heather raised a curious eyebrow. "Vicky, are you going in there?" she inquired, pointing to the locker room's door.

"I wasn't intending to, but no one has come out yet. I guess they are too busy celebrating," the green-eyed girl was quick to answer, chuckling nervously. "I have to prepare an article on the game for next week's paper and I thought it'd be great to just ask a few quick questions."

"Oh, good luck with that, then," the brunette said with a smile. With no further ado, Heather pushed the door open while screaming, "Coming in!"

It was Victoria's turn to frown. "You're going in?" she asked, surprise etched on her face. "They might be changing!"

Heather briefly turned around, standing in the doorway, with a wicked grin. "Yeah, you know how it is," she replied while walking backwards. "Rumor has it that a hero has emerged, I just wanna meet him, that's all."

Victoria quickly debated the pros and cons in her head, but in the end, the intrepid reporter decided she couldn't afford to pass such an opportunity to get her story, so she quickly jumped inside, following her brunette friend. When she crossed the threshold, a wide-eyed Vicky looked around and all she could see was a bunch of shirtless players who, luckily for her, were wearing either a pair of boxers or a towel around their waists. The blonde released a long breath, relieved she wouldn't be facing any nude boys.

"Ravers and Walker? Never dreamed I'd see you both in here at the same time," another black player from the starting five, William, remarked when he saw the duo of gorgeous girls who had just entered the locker room, a grin on his face. "Can any of us help you with something? Or maybe you want to help us?" he snickered.

Heather returned his smile with a dry smirk. "Sorry, but not today, Will," she replied. "What you can do, though, is tell me where are our new resident hero."

"Zack?" William inquired with a surprised look on his face, but decided to not bother the cheerleader captain and the school paper reporter with any smart remark. He pointed to a spot ahead of them. "He's behind that first row of lockers, I think he's already dressing himself to go home."

Heather smiled at him and looked around, since she wasn't able to get a rise of Ashley and Madison, a little prank on Vicky didn't sound so bad in her head. "Thanks, have to uphold the tradition now." She winked at William, hoping he got the message and started walking, appearing to be impervious to all the gawking eyes following her every step. The busty blue-eyed girl figured they were stunned to see the cheerleader captain in there.