The coach walked up to Zephyr and caught his arm. "Hey, Smokey?" The coach asked with a smile. Zeph turned. "Yeah?" "Can you stay late with Empathy?" The coach grinned as he said the name. Zephyr laughed. Peter had always been a jokester, and his last name was Sencen, with sounded like sense, and Pete took that to sensing emotions, and then Empathy. Just like Peter. Zeph nodded as he walked back, not in his uniform anymore but hey- it would work. "Hey Empathy." He joked with a grin as he grabbed a basketball and shot a hoop, then turned to the coach. "What ya need us for?" He asked. Coach smiled. "You two are the best on the team, but Lank is good too. Treat him with respect or our team isn't going to get very far. Now, for staying through my boring talk you two can shoot a few extra hoops" the coach joked before walking away. Zephyr nodded before performing a layup, then turning to Pete and was about to say something when Sophia walked in. "Gotta run." He gave Pete a nod and put the basketball back, walking over.

Sophia climbed the bleachers and sat at the top, putting her bag down beside her feet. She had changed into her tennis shoes, but she was still in her new uniform. While Zephyr practiced some more, she pulled out her sketchbook and drew some small flowers. "Lily of the Valley" she whispered to herself as she wrote the name at the bottom of the page

(Erase the bottom part of my last post xD)

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Zephyr grabbed the basketball, not noticing anyone arrive as he shot a beautiful 2 pointer. Peter grinned at him. "Shoot off initiated! Let's see who can shoot father, Smokey Bear!" Pete yelled. Zephyr laughed. "Okay Empathy." He teased before going for a layup. Pete did the same. They slowly moved farther out. 3 pointer. Both boys got it. Then, even farther back, Zeph threw an incredible ball- he wouldn't be surprised if he missed the backboard altogether, and it went in. Pete looked at him in astonishment, tried, and failed. Zephyr took a couple more steps back. "One more time. I will prove I'm the champion of basketball." He joked, jumping high in the air as he practically chucked the ball at the hoop. It hit the backboard, ran around the rim... and fell in. Peter let out a loud whoop and jogged over, smacking Zeph on the back. "And THAT is why you are our team captain!" He joked before waving and heading out. Zephyr glanced up, noticing Sophia in the bleachers- how long had she been standing there. He put the basketball away before walking to the bottom of them. "How long have you been here?"

Sophia looked up as two guys started throwing the ball, stepping further back each time. She suppressed a whoop as she last ball went it. She put her sketchbook back in her bag as Zephyr walked up. "Just got in actually. Had a few seconds to doodle before you threw that basketball across the court! I don't know a lick about basketball but I know that has to take skill! " she gave a small applause before zipping up her backpack and grabbing her softball bag, stepping down the bleachers to stand beside him.

Zephyr ran a hand through his hair with a small smile. "It might've been, like, 10 percent skill but it was definitely one of the most lucky shots I've ever had." He answered, unlike most people trying to deflect off the fact it was a little true. Basketball was his passion- he had done it since he was really short. Orrrr in other words young. "But thanks.. kinda like you're really good in softball." He added before stepping back as she came down. As Zeph thought about it he was a little surprised. Prom was only in a week now, and this was what, his fourth time talking to her? "How- like, for softball, how do you get the bat to hit the ball? The ball is literally only a couple inches across, and so is the bat, and if you hit a little up on the ball or a little down it goes flinging the wrong way. Seems to me like it takes incredible precision. How do people do that?" He wondered out loud- it was half a question as he glanced at her.

"We'll first of all, keep your eye on the ball is probably one of the most well known sayings in any sport that has to do with a flying object, so that helps. Mainly, you do a lot of exercises and start with a tee to work on where to hit it at. Then you work up to soft toss then underhand then over hand or pitching. It's a LONG process but it works out in the end. " she shook her head. "A very long process. Too me twelve years and I still haven't gotten amazing at it. " she didn't want to brag, so she didn't speak some of her thoughts. Hee coach had said she was the stringers batter on the team and that if she left they would be lost without her. She told them she didn't need that pressure and needed to pick someone else- in a nice way of course. Hee coach had always pushed her after that. She sighed and looked at a stray basketball in the corner. "On the other hand, I cannot throw a basketball for the life of me. I think my hands are too small" she held out one dirt smeared hand. "Whoops. Guess the ball was covered in dirt..."

Zephyr nodded as she started her explanation, leaning up against the railing. "I've definitely heard that " He laughed a little. It was all very interesting to him. He wondered if he'd be coordinated enough to do that. "You've been doing this for twelve years? Wow." Zephyr sounded impressed as he thought about it. At her next words he tilted his head with a small grin. "Excuses excuses. No hands are too small. Try it. I can give you a couple pointers." He smiled a little, grabbing the basketball and tossing it to her.

Sophia dropped her bag when he grabbed the basketball. "I don't know..." she started just as the ball came hurling toward her. She caught it then shook her head at Zephyr. "I really don't have that good of an arm. One of Blake's friends tried to teach him then Blake tried to teach me. Did NOT work too well. His car got messed up really bad" she winced at the thought. She had gotten into a LOT of trouble with that kid.

Zephyr looked around slowly. "What's the worst that could happen? Most likely you won't get seriously injured from throwing your own ball, so worst case scenario you maybe break a window and smash in my face a little more." He joked a little with a small smile. "So, you ever heard that saying keep your eye on the ball?" He said with a wry smile before grabbing a basketball himself. "Don't do that. Imagine drawing a line in the air towards the hoop. Look where you want it to go as well. Also, get closer, because you'll probably fall short of the hoop." He instructed, though he stayed where he was when he looked at the hoop, aimed, and threw a nice backboard ball. "Since you throw softballs too, you know the concept of looking where you want it to go. This is just a bigger bouncy softball that you hold in two hands."

"That's really confusing but I can try..." she looked at him then at the ball. "How do I hold it?"