[WIZARD24: Chapter Four]

I heard some noises and woke up. I noticed Shane moving around, changing, and I climbed down the ladder. I took off my lounge pants, and put on some red basketball shorts, and swapped out my white undershirt for a red Rangers T-shirt. I went downstairs with Shane, and saw no one else was awake, meaning I was the first Benson awake. This got me thinking, wondering what Shane’s last name was. “Stephens.” I must have said something aloud, because Shane had just said his last name! “Shane Stephens, born on December 20, 2001.” “How do you remember all of that?” I asked. “It just came to me, after you asked,” Shane said. “Well, that could be some important info,” I said as I walked into the game room, where my laptop sat, charging, on a desk. I opened it and googled “Shane Stephens”. However, I quickly found a site called “How Many of Me”, which told me that there were 78 people with that name in the United States. “Well…guess we’re not gonna find you,” I whispered to myself.

My dad came downstairs a while later to the sound of the sizzling bacon that I was cooking, and I handed him a plate with two pancakes and two slices of bacon on it. Shane was already eating his breakfast. I noticed that my dad seemed lonely or something. Maybe I should help him with that… I made another two plates, one for Graham and the other for myself. I poured orange juice for everyone, and sat down to eat. A minute passed, and Graham came downstairs in red shorts and a red Rangers shirt, just like me. We were supporting Adrian Beltre, the Rangers’ third baseman, who was in the Home Run Derby today. I then realized that it was Yates’ birthday, and he was going to turn 16! Conrad, Yates, and I had all made plans to get together in the afternoon to celebrate.

After my dad and I finished eating, I sent Shane and Graham outside, and sat down to talk to my dad. “You’ve seemed extra lonely recently,” I said bluntly. “Well, I guess, without your mom it’s been more lonely than ever around here, even with Shane.” “Well, would you want to get less lonely, by dating someone?” I asked. “I guess so, yeah,” he responded. I then proceeded to sign my dad up for an online dating site, and told him to check his email often in case he got a message. I went outside and joined Shane and Graham in their game of catch. “Let’s play some basketball,” Graham suggested. I went over to the mini-court we had set up - a solid square of concrete, with a hoop set up. “Two against one?” I asked, and we started. I got the ball first, since I was by myself. “Play to twenty-one, win by two, score by ones, twos behind the line, no make-it-take-it, and loser has to fulfill a dare that we’ll figure out later,” I said. We started playing, and I made a couple of threes (or twos), and took a 12 to 5 lead. Unfortunately, both Graham and Shane could pass, and they got an advantage out of this, scoring several points and playing good defense to pull within two, 16 to 14. I took the ball, dribbled left, pulled up, and shot from the elbow, missing. Shane got the rebound and passed to Graham, who swished a two-point shot to tie the game at sixteen. Each team scored on their next three possessions to make it 19-all. I got the ball, tried to make a fancy move, and lost the ball. Graham stole the ball and passed to Shane, who shot an easy layup, which went in. I got the ball, and made a deep shot, but my foot was on the line, making it only worth one point. Graham took the ball and immediately air-balled a two. I got the ball back, and made a shot from the corner, for two, and won the game. “Good game,” I said, high-fiving both Graham and Shane, as we headed back inside.

Graham and Shane went to do something in Graham’s room, and I was left alone with Dad. He checked his email, but still had no messages. I reassured him that it hadn’t been long, and it would probably take a while for anyone to message him. I went up to my room and got out Yates’ gift. I was going to give him a $25 gas card for Valero, since there was one right down the street. I made a card for him, just a basic “Happy Birthday”, but it’s the thought that counts, right? We ate lunch at home - turkey sandwiches - then Conrad called me. “What’s up?” I asked him as I put my dishes in the sink. He said he was coming by to get me, and we were going to meet Yates at the park. I said okay, hung up, and got ready to go. A few minutes later, Conrad’s red truck pulled up. I left with him after telling my dad what we were doing. “What park are we going to?” I asked. “He said he was at Veterans,” Conrad replied. “But that’s-“ “On the other side of the city, yeah, but it’s doable,” he said. We drove for about 20 minutes, the radio playing country music, and we got to the park. I spotted Yates on a bench with his back to us. “Let’s sneak up and surprise him,” I said. I got my gift and crept up behind him. I was about to spring when Yates jumped up. “Gotcha!” he yelled. I gave him the gift, and wished him happy birthday. “Thanks!” he said as he set down the bag and picked up a football. We started throwing it around, and Conrad joined us. We had a great time at the park, and we went to Whataburger afterwards to get a bite to eat. After we ate, I got in Yates’ car, as Conrad had some errands to run for his dad. He told us that he had gotten the car, a black Mustang, for his birthday. My dad gave me the OK to hang out with Yates, so we went to his house. Yates led me to his room, where he had a TV set up, with a PlayStation 4. “Wanna play some 2K?” he asked, referring to the game NBA 2K14. I took him up, and he started the game. I took the Mavericks, and Yates decided to be the Bulls. At halftime, I was leading 50-44, but I had gone cold at the end of the second quarter, and Yates had gone on a 12-2 run. In the second half, Yates came out on a roll, scoring fifteen straight points, all with either Derrick Rose or Joakim Noah. I called a timeout to regroup, and came out of the timeout thinking I had a good plan. I ran a play for Dirk Nowitzki, but he missed an open shot, and Yates went on another huge run. I started driving the ball more with my guards, and when he stopped me, I started passing to the corners for open shots. I got back in the game on this run, but Yates was too good, and ended up winning 103 to 99. I was sort of glad that he won, since I wanted to talk to him, and didn’t want him running away in anger.

I started the conversation nice and easy, asking if he had done anything interesting recently. “Well, actually, I lost a shirt recently,” Yates said. “Oh, really? What kind of shirt?” I asked. “It was just a white tank top, so I don’t really care about getting it back.” “Oh, okay, because I think I have it at home. I think Shane found it somewhere,” I told him. Yates said I could keep it, and we went outside to shoot some hoops. When we both got tired, I wished him happy birthday again, and went home. After dinner, we watched the Home Run Derby - Shane included - but Beltre didn’t win. I was quite tired, and went to sleep early, before it was even 8:30.