I nodded in understanding as I didn't have any choice but to go along for the ride, anyways, after discussing a bit he dismissed us as we had the rest of the day off to relax. Paige wanted to go out, but I told her that I just felt like staying inside, especially after last night. Paige laughed and said, "don't be a p.u.s.s.y." 

I shook my head and said, "nope not being one I just had too much fun last night so I need to take some rest to recuperate." Paige laughed as she dragged me on and said," okay" in defeat. Khalid saw us messing around as he told us," I need a girl like that too," causing us both to laugh. 

Paige invited Khaled over as her roommates enjoyed his company sometimes. I high-fived Khalid and said," this time, we will tag team in this match. Paige frowned, and she said," I'm not touching him," we both laughed as you went to Paige's place to relax there. 

A few days later, the game with the Marines was about to start as we were in the same gym we played against the Navy. There was a crowd of people there to witness the match; Coach Andre was going over some plays as I sat back and relaxed. When I got to the gym, I noticed that there were a lot of Marine supporters there cheering for the Marines team. 

I noticed the Marines team stretching out while getting ready for the match; they looked extremely fit and buff. I questioned Coach Andre "are we playing football or basketball because this team looks like a football team, they look like a bunch of muscle heads." 

Coach Andre laughed and said"  be careful one tackle from these guys, and you'll be out of commission, we had one incident once where one guy was tackled, and his arm bent back causing him a severe injury. The guy wasn't able to play basketball ever again". 

This shook me as I told myself that I wouldn't offend these guys, but then I shook my head and said to myself I'm a Kung Fu Master plus I have abilities, so no need to fear, as i hyped myself up for the upcoming game. After a few minutes, they started the game and announced the starters as they came out cheering. 

I was going to be playing in the second half of the game as Coach Andre was using me as a secret weapon against the Marines. The Marines were a good team, they didn't have one-star player and played very team-oriented basketball, where everybody could score, and everybody played defense. 

They were extremely buff and tall, their Center looked like a young Shaq, and I knew that he was going to be a problem since he was a little bit taller than my Center. Their point guard was also pretty tall standing at six-five, n.o.body else on their team was shorter than that. 

They all look like muscle heads, and it was quite uncomfortable to watch them play basketball. When they finally started the game, we had lost the jump ball, but it looked like they had unlimited energy as they quickly surrounded any player that got the ball. They were able to take the ball away from Paige, who got bombarded as they pulled the ball away from her. 

I got p.i.s.sed seeing this, but I held it in because there was nothing I could do at this point. One guy was standing back cherry-picking at the end of the lane waiting for the pa.s.s as their point guard pa.s.sed it to him. He jumped up and slammed the ball in the bucket causing the Marine side of the crowd to erupt in cheers. 

I shook my head as I thought this was going to be quite a tough game. Paige arranged the players as she dribbled down; she called a play, which caused Khalid to set a pick for Chris, who got open and shot the three and made it, giving us a one-point lead. It seems like my team was quite motivated and didn't want to back down from the challenge this year. 

They were going in tough and not timid like the following years, so this surprised the Marines coach as he said," finally they got some guts" as he wondered what changed in them to make them want to fight. The previous years they were able to bully them; this year, it seemed like the ground force team was slightly different; the game continued as the Marines point guard was having a game day around Paige. 

Paige was having a tough time guarding him as he did a step back and shot the ball from the mid-range, making it. Paige came back and tried to get him back. Still, it was in vain as he blocked her shot. Coach Andre told Paige to pa.s.s the ball and that their PG wasn't her match. 

Even though Paige was pretty angry after that, she controlled her anger as she started setting up plays more and trying to get the team involved and rolling. Due to that, they were able to keep up with the Marines team. Chris would come and help Paige sometimes since, in the Marines team, n.o.body could shoot long-range as they weren't as flexible as others were since they all had buff and stiff bodies. 

They used their big bodies to bully people in the post; n.o.body liked to go in the post whenever they played against the Marines. Still, we figured out that if we don't go in the post, it will be okay just taking jump shots since they had an excellent defense inside. On one of the plays, Khalid tried to go in for a dunk but was blocked and fell on the floor. His fall was pretty bad, and I had thought that he got injured. Khalid stood up and raised his hand, causing the crowd to go wild. Khalid's spirit boosted up the crowd as they started barking nonstop every time we scored.