It was then that he heard it: the rhythmic thudding that reminded him of his own heartbeat. It was loud, strong, and echoed in his head.

He opened his eyes, and then shut them again--the blinding afternoon was glaring down at him. He sat up, still drowsing after his brief nap on the grey stone steps that served as a "spectator stand", as Maya had called it, and looked down at the court. Two boys, one sitting in what Maya had explained was a "wheelchair" (he had forgotten to ask what it was for), were playing with a large orange ball. The one in the wheelchair was bounding the ball expertly with one hand, occasionally tossing it to the other boy, who would catch it and throw it back. Maya stood beside the second boy. The three of them were having a cheerful conversation, their laughter ringing out in the still July air.

Zacharias watched them with many strange emotions rising in him. Smiles and laughter came to them so easily. They did it every day, every minute. This kind of thing was just not his style. He could not imagine trying to laugh or trying to smile. He wasn't even sure he was capable of it. Maybe they required a special kind of facial muscle or vocal cord that some people (like him) didn't have?

He stretched, feeling the tension in his hard, powerful muscles, and stood up. He didn't like this tension; it was a liability in battle, and battles could spring up any time. Maybe a run around the city would loosen him up a bit. He made to jump over the tall green fending ("criss-cross fencing", he called it) that surrounded the court.

Someone called his name, and he turned his head. It had been only recently that he had learnt to turn around whenever someone called his name. Previously, he had gone without a name. He saw Maya waving her hand at him.

"Play with us," she called. "We need four people for a proper game."

Maya was the first girl he had met, and she had convinced him easily enough that girls were a different species altogether--not that Edward and Niles and Alexander were extremely easy to get along with. Maya had been his first friend. For some reason, he could never say no to Maya. It was either something in her voice, or something in her eyes. He struggled helplessly with himself--he didn't want to play with them!--and then, finally, relented. Reluctantly, he hopped down the steps.

"This is a basketball," she explained, when he got to them. "You throw the ball through that basket--the one up there--and on the court you bounce it around. The opposing team--that's Ed and Alex--will try and get the ball from you."

"Don't kill anyone," the boy beside her added. His name was Edward--the second friend he had made. "No killing."

"He can play?" Zacharias asked, nodding at Alexander.

"You watch," Edward grinned. "He'll beat the living daylights out of you."

Alexander, sitting in his wheelchair, smiled.

When the game started, Zacharias did not move. He watched Maya run down the court, bouncing the ball with one hand. Edward came at her, but she spun around, keeping her back to him, holding her free hand out to keep him away from the ball. She dodged left and Edward nimbly followed, but Zacharias quickly realized it was a feint. Maya darted right, rounded neatly past him, and made for the basket, bouncing the ball along with her. There was a white line shaping a semicircle on the court around the metal structure that held the basket up. Maya made it to the edge of the semicircle and caught the ball. She took two steps, jumped on the third, and tossed the ball. It hit the plastic pane behind the basket and bounced off to fall neatly into the hoop.

All this had happened very fast, but to Zacharias every move was clear as crystal. The game started again and he watched the three experienced players. He watched all their defenses and their attacks and stored each movement carefully in his head. Within five minutes, they had reached a tie.

"Come on, Zach," Edward teased. "Maya can't beat us alone. She can't even beat me."

Zacharias had learnt that "Zach" was a more convenient--and supposedly friendlier--way of saying his name.

Maya tossed the ball at him. "Get him, Zach."

Zacharias ran down the court. Immediately Edward was onto him, but, remembering Maya's first feint, he darted past him and made for the basket. Following the video in his head of Maya's lay-up, he tossed the ball neatly into the hoop.

"Don't gape, Edward," Maya said. "It makes you look like an idiot."

The real game started there. Zacharias noticed that Edward and Alexander passed the ball to each other a lot. They worked well together, even though only one of them was fully mobile.

The score was around ten-ten when Zacharias experienced his first shot at teamwork.

Edward had gotten used to Maya's feints and dodges. Zacharias watched from beneath the basket, wondering how she was going to get away from him.

Finally, she yelled out to him. "Zach! Move!"

...?

"Move!"

Then he understood. He darted round Alexander, who had spun his wheelchair around with amazing agility to block his path. He skidded to a halt ten metres away from Maya. With a powerful thrust, Maya threw the ball to him, and he caught it and flew toward the basket and tossed it easily into the hoop.

Maya had run down the court with him.

"Move around with me," she told him. "If I can't get past Edward, I'll have to pass the ball to you. If you can't get around him, you can pass it to me. That's what basketball is about."

"What?"

"Teamwork," she said.

Zacharias had never so much as heard of the word before. But he thought he knew the general gist of it.

Edward changed tactics and shadowed Zacharias instead. Alexander moved to block Maya. It seemed to the other three that Alexander had surprising reflex and could demolish many chances for Maya to shoot at the hoop. Maya's clever feints and darts were quickly reduced to nothing, and occasionally Alexander would slip the ball easily out of her hand. At other times, however, Zacharias would dart round Edward and place himself in an easy position, after which Maya would pass the ball to him. Things would happen very quickly after that.

Once, Zacharias flashed past Edward and caught the ball from Maya. He tore down the court, but Edward had also gotten used to his defenses. He caught up with Zacharias and blocked his path. Zacharias gazed at the hoop, bouncing the ball and keeping Edward well away, wondering if he could shoot from here. He quickly dismissed the idea. But he did not like the prospect of passing the ball to Maya, either. What if she didn't catch it? What if she shot and missed?

"Zach! Pass!'

Maya had broken free from Alexander and was in an easy position. Without thinking, Zach thrust the ball at her.

Maya made a perfect lay-up. Eleven-ten.

He and Maya won the game effortlessly after that.

"You learn really quickly," Maya said to him, as the three of them walked Alexander home together. Edward and Alexander were engaged in their own conversation.

"No." Zacharias did not look at her.

"You can dribble and do the lay-up," she said. "That's the bouncing and the three-step thing," she added. "You can even toss a three-pointer--that's what Alexander does. You're really good at this."

"No."

"I don't know what you expect of yourself," Maya said.

But Zacharias was truly disappointed. He had watched and learned in a matter of seconds--he would give himself that much--but he had completely overlooked the most important part of the game, the strategy that mattered the most. It had been right in front of him, and yet he had failed to see it. If he were this blind in a battle, he would be very, very dead.

"Hey, if you like, you can come by and play with us tomorrow," Maya said. "I think we make a great team."

Zacharias paused, her last few words burning in his ears. A large part of him told him he'd rather be alone--comfortably alone--but another part of him said basketball was actually quite enjoyable. And actually, getting along with these people wasn't that hard, after all.

"...Mm."

Maya smiled.

They walked Alexander home together in the last dying rays of the evening sun.

Okay, so what's happening over the last few days of holidays?

Well, for one, Legend is going good again. Well, was. I finished L12 and L14 :D I skipped L13 because I wanted to write 14 first (HAHA) and also because 13 is going to be a long emo chapter with a lot of people dying or crying and I don't think I want to write about that at the moment. Not that 14 was extremely happy, but at least it was happier. I'm beginning to like O'Conner a lot. I mean, I make him sound like a jerk sometimes--and he can be--but he's just misled, I suppose. When you spend a life in a ten-by-ten room with nothing but a floor, a ceiling and four walls to look at, I guess you can't expect too much from yourself. O'Conner actually turns out just fine for someone with that sort of background. I'm so proud of him. (: I think it's very obvious in 14 that he's not EVIL. I think there are a lot of people like him--good at heart, but always misunderstood because of the things they say or do (yeah, like when O'Conner says he kills because he gets bored...) Anyhow, I am pretty proud of how L14 turned out and O'Conner is lucky he's in good hands. If it weren't for the people around him he might as well have killed half the country by now. But now I have to go back to writing about Kieran's emo test in the woods etc, etc, etc, and that isn't going to be very uplifting. Boo-hoo. It'll get written SOON, I guess. (:

For another, training's going good. I am finally getting the hang of the stupid one-shot-kill rubbish. I'm actually getting it! Drilling and sparring are two extremely different things. The fact that I can get timing right in sparring now--and most of the time I am accurate--SHOWS SOMETHING. I'M GETTING IT. ALL HAIL JENNIFER. NO LAH. But I am getting somewhere. I just hope I don't run head-on into a dead end or something.

For ANOTHER, I wanna do Scholars' Cup! It sounds like FUN. Stella Clara let's go! (: It's a mugger thing and I suppose I'll be drowning myself in notes, but who cares, I do it anyway so a few tons more of notes won't hurt! You can't drown someone more. You just drown them. So heck, I'll do it!

For ANOTHER ANOTHER, Kekkaishi is extremely slow, but also extremely interesting. (: I am so happy 242 FINALLY came out! Yeesh, 238-240 as I recall were boring, what with a deep dark well and some funny cat that talks and has two tails that can electrify people... I'm not all that interested in how he fares in training, actually. I just want to see how he does in a real fight. (: Speaking of which, when Masamori went back home and gave everyone a surprise I thought he was going to ask Yoshi for help with all the rubbish that he has on his hands now, but he just told Yoshi that he's leaving Karasumori to him. I think he went over just to tell him that face-to-face (and fifty metres up in the air). Which was nice, but shouldn't he have done that a long time ago? I mean, he's never there himself and Yoshi and Tokine WERE in charge of Karasumori in the first place. What a waste of time. Speaking of which, I think I am beginning to like Rokurou again. He seemed like a total jerk before, but I think he's okay. I can't believe he wasted so much time (i.e. his LIFE) with his brothers trying to do something they'll never achieve. Good thing he got some sense knocked into him. He's so sweet to the kids (: And look who's all grown up now--his one younger brother, the seventh kid in the family. Another jerk. How come no one GOOD comes out of this family? I hope he doesn't take Rokurou back to his brothers. On the other hand, it will be a good excuse for Masamori to jump in there with the whole of Yagyou and attack the five of them and get rid of them for good, with Okuni's help. He'd better do it quick.

For ANOTHER ANOTHER ANOTHER, I don't know if I wanna go back to schoooooool D: Yes and no. And my homework and SIAs are SCREWED BEYOND ALL RECOGNITION. Yeesh. Oh, well.

Okey-dokey. That's all that's happening I guess. Oh--I know NYSC2009 is going to be GREAT. Secondary One Orientation is going to rock everyone's socks off :D I know it! I hope the Mass Dance is given a pass--I really think it'll raise the spirit, somewhat, and I think everyone will find it fun. The CD people yesterday seemed to like the jumping parts enough (: NYSC2009 FOR THE WIN!

That really is all. Goodbye for now--I will be back to complain about school life once I am thrown back into it. Cheers.

Today when I woke up, my mum told me to check my Christmas stocking (the tiny one she'd bought for me a few days ago). I thought it was a joke, because she's been telling me and my sister to check our stockings for as long as she's bought them for us, and they're always empty, but today when we checked them--suspiciously, no doubt--we found bracelets. Mine's made up of little objects like school buses, books and apples. My sister's consists of hairdryers, combs and clips. They're absolutely adorable. Thanks mum (: I gave my sister her present--a mini eraser dust vacuum with a USB port. She seems to like it because she keeps vacuuming the keyboard. (: I got my mother a pink collared shirt so she can wear it when she goes golfing. She seems to like it enough, although she was worried it wouldn't fit her. I haven't given my dad his present yet--I have to learn how to sew, and there's not time anyway. Oops. It can be his New Year present, I guess. Sorry ah.

Later in the morning I baked cupcakes for NYTT. NYTT outing was today at my house. I tried spelling "NYTT 2009" with chocolate chips, but when they came out of the oven the words weren't readable, so I gave up and just randomly stuck chips into the next batch. I think I actually like baking a lot. I'm going to learn to make cookies and cakes and that sort of thing. I think my feminine side is taking over! And anyway, the cupcakes were superb. HA.

In the afternoon, I went to Junction 8 to pick up my NYTT friends for the outing. I met Celeste (hey man, congratulations on getting into Nanyang. Welcome to NYTT!), Yi Rong, Grace and Lynn there (Isabelle came alone later). Thanks for coming guys! It was a bit of a flop, considering the attendance, but thanks anyway. (: 11 people were meant to come, but some people bailed out in the end due to varying reasons, and some of them were package deals (i.e. if-this-person-doesn't-go-I-won't-go-either), so one person not going more or less resulted in three absentees. It came as a bit of a shock that there would only be 6 people at the outing, but I couldn't do anything about it. We went back to the house.

It wasn't that bad, after all. We had chips, cupcakes, pizza, chicken wings, Pepsi, and ice cream for dessert. We wached Mr. Bean's Holiday and a bunch of Mr. Bean episodes (we needed something to laugh at!). It was hilarious. We laughed a lot and the food was good. It was a laidback night.

It was a good way to spend the night, I suppose. Everyone had fun, we laughed a lot, and I truly feel a bit closer to the people who came, especially the two new juniors (Isabelle, thanks a lot for the present and Celeste, thanks for yours!). Even though there were only 6 of us, it was good fun. Thanks guys for coming! (:

Still...I can't say I'm not disappointed. I mean, it's Christmas Eve and everything, and I know some people couldn't make it because they were supposed to spend it with their family, or overseas. That's perfectly fine. But some people just didn't make the effort to come. I've always wanted to do something for NYTT. I hear people talking about their CCAs with such pride and they seem to love what they do, and the people they do it with. For us, it's so scattered (as seen with the package-deal idea). The fact that some people could in fact make it, but didn't because they didn't want to, disappoints me badly. If more people had come, maybe they would have realized that our CCA has hope to be more bonded, after all. I can't say I didn't put effort into thinking about this, and it wasn't easy initiating it, either. How long has it been since NYTT has had an outing or a camp? Not since 2005, seriously. It took so long for me to dare to initiate something like this, and it turns out only 5 people bother to show up for it.

NYTT's got spirit, but just not enough of it. I just sort of feel responsible for bringing the team together and making NYTT feel proud of who they are. Maybe they are; maybe they just don't show it. I don't know. I can't tell.

If you guys are proud of NYTT, and just don't show it the way people normally do, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. Maybe you will cheer for your teammates when they need it, and show team spirit when the heat is on. Maybe I'm expecting far too much on the surface. But so far, I truly don't see or feel anything. It's hard to say what we are: proud of our CCA but not showing it, or not proud of it at all.

A bittersweet Christmas Eve is better than a bitter one, I guess.

Merry Christmas.