Jerry’s Journey

By Darian and Silas

In the land of Ront, there was a monster named Jerry who had dreams of becoming a professional basketball player. Jerry was around eight feet tall with green fur and claws as hands. This was the first day of school, and Jerry didn’t know any kids as he was a new student. He was wondering if it would be hard to make friends since there were not many monsters like him. Nervous, he slowly walked to his first class at Lakeside Middle School in Ront. Jerry sat down at a desk in math class, and next to him was a friendly-looking kid named Maverick. After class, Jerry started chatting with Maverick, and they became friends. At lunch, Jerry and Maverick kept talking about various topics as they had much in common. Cheerfully, Jerry shared with Maverick that he had big dreams of becoming a professional basketball player. Surprisingly, Jerry already felt so close to Maverick on the first day, and when he figured out that he only had one class with Maverick, he almost teared up.

After school, Jerry took a walk to the park. At the park, there was someone already playing basketball on Jerry’s favorite hoop. Jerry quickly decided to approach him and ask if he wanted to play basketball together. As Jerry excitedly approached him, he asked, “What's your name?” The monster joyfully introduced himself as Greeny. Jerry then asked Greeny if he wanted to play one-on-one, and Greeny loudly said, “Yes, I’d love to!” Greeny was absolutely destroying Jerry as the score was two to ten in four minutes. Greeny used his extreme strength to post up and drive through Jerry. He also used his tremendous speed to drive to the basket and shoot over him. Once the game was done, Jerry kindly congratulated Greeny on the win. Since both of them had so much fun, they decided to take a walk to the park every day after school to practice and play basketball together. Most of all, Greeny wanted to help Jerry with his dreams since he thought he was a delightful person and a potential friend.

At lunch the next day, Jerry and Maverick decided to play a game of basketball. Maverick was extremely frustrated after his terrible performance against Jerry. Maverick said, “Would you like to play basketball with me after school today?” asked Maverick.

“I actually play with another kid named Greeny, but you’re welcome to join!” said Jerry.

Maverick’s eyes glowed, and he gained a sudden burst of energy.

Since there were three players, they decided to play a fun game called Twenty-One. Greeny was undoubtedly dominating again, followed by Jerry, and then Maverick. Jerry was using his massive, eight feet tall, monster body to jump over Maverick and sometimes Greeny to score. Maverick was truly jealous of Greeny and Jerry’s talent. After they finished, Maverick told Jerry, “I don’t think you can become a professional basketball player.”

Greeny replied, “Well, maybe you’re just jealous that he works harder and is better than you.”

That evening, Jerry quietly walked with Greeny home. On the walk, they were talking about Jerry’s plan to become a professional basketball player. The plan was that they were going to practice basketball skills together for around two hours a day. Also, they were going to work on physical training that included lifting lots of weights. Jerry was ready to pursue his childhood dream.

Once Jerry was home, he told his brother, Otto, that he wanted to become a professional basketball player. His brother was surprisingly short and skinny, and he had fluffy green fur as soft as a blanket, with large hands the size of a human head. Otto also kindly offered to help Jerry through the tough journey, so he decided to come to the park every day as a supporter. With this much support, Jerry thought that he would improve his skills quickly. Jerry was up all night in his bed feeling tremendously excited for training the next day.

The training at the park went well and ended up being exactly as planned. Greeny worked on specific offensive and defensive drills to help parts of Jerry’s game that he needed to improve on while Otto consistently brought Jerry a towel and some water. Some of the drills included shooting free throws, three-pointers, one-on-one play, finishing, passing, and defensive drills. Jerry used his monstrous claws to grip the ball extremely well, and when he played in the one-on-one play drills, nobody could steal the ball from him.

Four years passed, and Jerry felt like he had exceptionally improved his basketball skills. Jerry was in high school, and he had been playing on the varsity basketball team for his freshman, sophomore, and junior years. He created a technique where he used his claws to grip the basketball so it could never be stolen from him. Other monsters tried to replicate this creative idea, but they couldn’t seem to perform it as well as Jerry. Jerry’s monstrous paws slammed against the ground as he drove through all the defenders with his massive amount of strength and dunked almost every play, every game. In addition, Jerry’s legs were enormous so he took long strides and gained even more speed as he ran down the court three times quicker than the fastest player. As a result, with his many large sharp teeth showing as he smiled, he was awarded the honorable MVP of the 2023-2024 season trophy.

Otto had stopped coming to the park with Jerry and Greeny a while back, but Greeny was a loyal friend who was always there for Jerry. Maverick had still been hating on Jerry just because he was better than him!

One afternoon, Jerry received a letter in the mail from Ront University, noting:

Dear Jerry,

	We are super excited to announce that we would like to offer you a full-paid scholarship for our division one basketball program at Ront University. Our coaching staff are all extremely impressed with your basketball skills. Being humble, bringing positive energy, having skill, and most importantly for our program, being a good teammate, are all traits you would bring to our team. We are very excited to receive a response from you and look forward to your decision.

Thanks,

The Ront University Basketball Coaching Staff

Jerry was the happiest he'd ever been when he saw this letter. He decided that he would like to immediately accept the scholarship. With much excitement, Jerry ran to the park in a flash to show Greeny the letter. Surprisingly, Maverick was there too.

Jerry told Greeny, “Omg, I got a scholarship to Ront University! Can you believe that?”

“Wow! I'm so proud of your determination and work ethic to reach this goal,” replied Greeny.

“You probably paid Ront University to get this letter. There is no way you could’ve earned something like this,” yapped Maverick.

With a scrunched face, Jerry wasn't allowing Maverick to discourage him as he replied, “You’re such a supportive friend, Maverick! Thanks for your vote of confidence!”

“I agree!” yelled Greeny. “Truly, Jerry deserves everything he’s earned so far.”

In his whole life, Jerry never reacted with his claws in anger, but this time, he pulled them out and furiously lunged for Maverick. Luckily, Greeny instantly stepped in so nobody would get hurt.

Maverick barked, “You’ll never make it! Your claws will stop you from achieving your dream!”

Fast forward to Jerry’s first year at Ront University…

Jerry and Greeny continued to be friends in the years to come even though they went to different universities. Greeny continued to support Jerry through his amazing college basketball journey. Jerry would mentally visualize himself playing professional basketball. He never let what Maverick had said that one day when he got his scholarship letter get the best of him.

When Jerry graduated from Ront University, he was invited to an RBL (Ront Basketball League) scouting game. Otto and Greeny attended the event for support. Jerry’s hands and legs were trembling, and his head was spinning. Before he knew it, it was Jerry’s turn to play. Somehow, Jerry flew onto the court! He reached behind his shoulders and felt a set of wings. How did this happen? Could the adrenaline have made a new monster ability extrude? Greeny’s jaws dropped while Otto passed out on him. As Jerry was trying to sort through this miraculous event, he knew he had to remain focused on the game. With all his adrenaline, Jerry played amazingly well, scoring a ridiculous amount of points and obtaining many rebounds. That crowd went WILD! Jerry felt proud of all his hard work throughout the years leading him to this amazing victory. After this, Jerry received tremendous attention in the news and had many offers to join various RBL teams. Jerry had a great future ahead of him!

THE END