Within The Bonds

18: Tryouts

The time in the classroom went by quite fast, but the only thing which got me annoyed was the constant questioning on my relation with the Santos.

Apparently all my brothers attended the same school and held the reputation of being notorious and dangerous.

Before my lunch break I am called by the basketball coach. Turns out Xavier actually called the school and made sure I am given a chance to try out for the team.

So today, during the lunch break, the selection rounds were to be conducted. I'm really thankful and grateful to Xavier for doing this. I made a mental note to convey my appreciation later today.

Once the lunch bell is out, I text Lorenzo and tell him that I would not join him and the others at lunch. I really didn't make many friends or any friends if I'm honest, but then again, I'm not that social and everyone seems to fear the Santos siblings a bit too much for some unknown yet suspicious reasons.

I make my way to the basketball court, with the help of the map that I received at registration. I went to the locker room and changed into my gym uniform.

The silken white tee shirt and shorts were way to short for my liking but I put up with it anyway. I laced up my shoes and made sure my hair is tied in a tight ponytail before I make my way out.

As I approached the coach I notice a group of students on the bleachers. When I take a closer look, I notice three familiar figures. Gosh! My brothers. My nerves sky rocketed. The others look like their friends and maybe even girlfriends, by the way they have their arms around them. Gross!!!

The coach's whistle diverted my attention, while it gets my brothers' and their groups attention too, in the process. When they see me, the three of them looked furious, Jack was about to head in my direction but is stopped by Lorenzo, who whispers something into his ears. He reluctantly nodded at him and takes a seat back on the bleachers, but not before shooting a deadly glare at me.

Then from the corner of my eye I notice, Lucas is glaring at me too!!! I kept a blank facade not wanting them to see how much their look hurt and affected me. I brought my attention back to the coach who is busy explaining the way the tryouts would be held.

I now learnt that the selection were going to be done in the form of a series of tests. First I would have to do accurately execute some lay-ups and free throws. Most interestingly, I would have to get at least nine out of ten right.

I got all of them in with ease. All those years of training payed off. I have been into basketball almost since I was in kindergarten and as I grew up, my passion for it only increased. I practiced everyday without fail and now I am thrilled with the results.

Next I have to play one-on-one with one of their best players, the captain of the team. She is an excellent player, but she underestimated me. She tries and blocks my advances but always leaves a loop hole. If her lower body is strong, her upper body isn't and vice versa, making it easy for me to fake and score.

By the end of the tryouts the coach was impressed to say the least and so were the others except the captain, who looked like a kid throwing a tantrum when coach welcomed me into the team. He dismissed us and left. Everyone congratulated me and praises my skills. Soon the boys were down too, along with their friends, Jack is the first to take me by surprise by wrapping his strong arms around me and giving me a tight hug.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" I pulled back a little and look at him confused, only to be pulled back into the hug.

"Where the fucking hell is your bracelet!" Jack spoke, nay, almost yelled in a low and threatening tone right into my ear, loud enough for me to hear him clearly but low enough for the others not to.

"In my locker?" I whisper back. The thought ran through my mind then, 'Why was he mad at me?' It's a rule that we cannot ware any kind of jewelry on the field, I'm just following that.

"Don't try to sass him young lady. You are to wear your bracelet at all times. You had promised us you wouldn't remove it under any circumstances didn't you? Now go put it on and change. Got that?" Lorenzo spoke in an authoritative voice, while he dragged me away from the others and stopped right in front of the locker rooms.

"Crystal" I murmur, he nods in approval and leaves. I chang quickly and exit the changing room.

I suddenly felt relieved despite the situation. At least they didn't embarrass me in front of my new teammates and their friends.

This was the first time I heard Lorenzo speak with such authority, it was almost like the tone Owen used at dinner the other day. But still not as demanding and authoritative as Xavier.

The rest of the day went by in a blur and before I knew it, school had ended for the day and I was headed out towards my brothers' car. I reached the car but found no one there.

'They must be running late'

I waited patiently for them when a tall redhead approached me. She had her face caked with make-up and seemed to have worn her clothes just as a formality. Basically, the cliché 'high school 'queen bee' types. Than I remembered that I had seen her earlier at the bleachers hanging on Jack's arms.

'must be his girlfriend'

"Hey, you must be Asteria, Jackie's little sis?" To my surprise she didn't speak in a high pitch screechy annoying tone like she was talking through her nose instead she sounds pretty normal.

"It's Astoria and yes I am his sister" I say with a neutral tone, not liking the vibe she presented.

"Yeah yeah same thing. Soo..what I wanted to tell you is that stay away from us. You maybe his sister and all but I am and will always be the only important girl in his life. Got it," she says grabbing my forearm and digs her claws into my skin.

I wanted to hiss in pain but stopped myself not wanting to give her the satisfaction of knowing she was hurting me. Instead I reacted quickly and twisted her arm behind her. Ah... now she was the one crying in pain.

I rolled my eyes at her stupidity, "Listen, whoever you are or think you are, first thing is Jack is my brother and I can't stay away from him even if I want to. We live under the same roof. Secondly, if it were up to me, I wouldn't be even within a meter's distance from you. So I wanting to be near you is out of the question. Next time before coming and threatening... "

"Who's threatening whom?" Jack's powerful voice boomed through the students' parking lot, cutting me off and in the process making me release her from my grasp.

Miss queen bee is quick to jump into his arms and with that the water works started.

Author's Note :

Hope you all enjoy this chapter, as usual the next update will be on the coming Thursday.

Within The Bonds has reached 24k+ reads in less than a month!!A big Thank you to all my readers.❤ ❤💞 you all are the best.

I know that this chapter is a bit boring the next however will intrigue you for sure.

Thanks for reading

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~Kia