The Sneaker Kings

by Eric McLauren

  “I gotta give it to you, kid. You got some gall. Grown men couldn’t pull off what you did out there today.”

  Brandon grinned. “Thanks.”

  “I usually don’t agree with breaking company protocol, but Michael really went to bat for you, and it looks like it’s gonna pay off. So, I’ll agree to let you do your whole Beast Team thing as long as your guys continue to push Adidas.”

  Brandon nodded. “That’s a deal.”

  DATING GAMES

  FOR THE NEXT two days in Columbus, ESPN covered the skateboard competition, spotlighting the hometown kid Jay Stewart and Brandon Jenkins’s gang of Beast Team chanters. Jay did well enough to finish in the top four in total points and even won a couple of individual events.

  To Brandon’s surprise, the ESPN producers decided to turn their interviews into a feature story and lead-in. The camera crew and Cassie Morris added a closing interview with both of them.

  “So, Jay, how do you think you did this weekend?” she asked the skateboard phenom.

  “Well, you know, of course you wanna win, but looking at the guys I was competing against, I would say I did pretty good.”

  Brandon jumped in. “Yeah, he was the youngest and the biggest crowd-pleaser. Now he just has to keep working and competing at more events—like the other guys—and pick up a couple of sponsors.”

  “Yeah, maybe The Beast Team will sponsor him,” Cassie joked on camera.

  “Oh, we’re already thinking about it. All he has to do is say the word,” Brandon said.

  >>>

  That Sunday evening, Brandon caught back up with Jay before he left the Flow Skate Park. “Hey, man, we didn’t get a chance to talk to you about skateboard shoe ideas, but you know that Adidas wants to sponsor you. They’re even thinking about designing your own shoes.”

  Jay’s eyes popped open. “Really?”

  Brandon paused. “Well, they’re probably gonna bring that up when they talk to your parents. I just wanted to run some of my ideas past you, if you have a few minutes to listen.”

  Jay felt honored. “Yeah, sure.”

  Brandon smiled. “Thanks. I have three different ideas for shoes. The first one is ah, have you ever played paintball wars or like, laser tag?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, how about we take shoes and just splash them with different colors of paint, like they’ve been hit by a paintball or a laser beam? And we call them Adidas Skateboard Splash by Jay Stewart.”

  “Yeah, I like that. Adidas Splash.”

  “Yeah, we just splash each shoe with your favorite colors or whatever.”

  “Black and blue,” Jay told him. “I like that!”

  “For the second idea, we could do whipped colors, as if we whipped a paintbrush over the shoes.”

  “I like the first idea better.”

  “All right, the splash design. And no shoe should ever look exactly the same,” Brandon said. “For the third idea, we would copy the designs and artwork on the bottom of your skateboard. And we could call those the Jay Stewart Customs, but you would have to send in a copy of your skateboard design and special order them.”

  Jay could see it! “I like that idea too, but wouldn’t that be expensive?”

  Brandon smiled. “You let Adidas worry about that. But the more specialized the shoe, the more people will want them. That’s why they’re called Customs.”

  “Well, you’re the sneaker expert, not me.”

  Brandon shook his hand and patted him on his shoulder. “All right, well, go catch up with your family. I’ll call you. Splash and Customs, right? No whips?”

  “Yeah,” Jay agreed and nodded. “Call me, man. This has been a great weekend.”

  “Definitely.”

  >>>

  When Brandon returned to his guys, they spotted a group of older skateboarders talking to Natasha and Adrienne. Brandon noticed the tall Southern Californian from earlier. And the guy had plenty of swagger.

  Leon joked, “It’s the last night in town. That’s when you see who you can hook up with. And I’m trapped in a room with you guys.”

  Brandon shook it off. “Whatever.” But he watched the scene with concern, while Natasha laughed and enjoyed herself.

  “All right, Leon, go break that up,” Brandon commented protectively. The words just jumped out of his mouth.

  Leon chuckled. “My pleasure.” They already knew how strongly Brandon felt about Natasha, and that’s what friends were for—to protect each other’s interests. So Leon marched over to the group and butted in.

  “So, what are you guys doing later on?” the California skateboarder asked Natasha.

  Adrienne shrugged. “Just packing up to leave in the morning.”

  “What time is your flight?”

  “Eleven o’clock,” Natasha answered.

  Leon interjected right on cue, “What, we have a curfew tonight? It’s at eleven o’clock? That’s crazy.” He faked outrage with a scowl.

  Adrienne frowned at him. “What are you talking about?”

  “You said eleven o’clock, right? Is that what time they told us to be back in the rooms?”

  Adrienne snapped, “What? Where did you get that from? We weren’t even talking about anything like that. We don’t have to be back at a certain time. We’re in college.”

  She was so appalled at Leon’s insinuation that she failed to read his true intention. But Natasha understood it perfectly. She looked past Leon and spotted Simba and Brandon, following behind him. Brandon had concern written all over his face. He didn’t appear to be talkative at all, which contrasted with how social he had been during that weekend of skateboarding events. Something else was on his mind—territory.

  Oh, my God, look at him, Natasha thought. She forced herself not to smile. Now he knows how I felt when he called me an Adidas girl, she reflected.

  The skateboarders gave him their immediate respect. “Hey, man, great job this weekend. So, you guys are all with Adidas?”

  “Yeah,” Brandon grumbled.

  “Is Adidas sponsoring The Beast Team too?”

  Brandon remained tight-lipped. “No, we’re just doing a summer internship with them.”

  “Cool. You guys rock.”

  Brandon smirked. He had reverted back to his eccentric shell of deep thought, and Natasha loved it. She could tell that he was jealous. Boys will be boys.

  Natasha shrugged and said, “You never know, Brandon. Adidas could sign you this summer.”

  Brandon gave her a serious business look before he laughed it off. “Yeah, you never know,” he agreed. He was hesitant to say anything else. His main goal had been accomplished—to block the skateboarders from making any moves on her.

  However, the skateboarders remained persistent. “So, are you guys hanging out tonight? What hotel are you staying at?” The Californian was almost certain that Natasha liked him. She had a lively spirit that made every guy believe he had a chance.

  Natasha focused on Brandon to see how he would respond to her answer. “Well, we all have to fly out pretty early tomorrow morning, so …”

  Brandon couldn’t help himself. He exhaled and grinned immediately.

  “Well, it’s still pretty early, so who knows,” Adrienne countered to slight Leon. She still didn’t appreciate him embarrassing her with his curfew talk. But Natasha refused to play her game.

  “Well, we have to check in with my dad first to see what he says. He may have something else for us to do.”

  Brandon liked that answer even better. He looked at Natasha and wanted to kiss her on the cheek. He felt relieved. But she didn’t look at him. She already knew how he felt, and she respected his focus.

  “You guys wanna call us later or something?” the skateboarder pressed her. That rubbed Natasha the wrong way. She figured bringing up her father would give him a hint to back off.

  “Nah, that’s all right,” she said. “We’re not really into skateboarding like that. We like basketball.”

  “Oh, yeah?
I run ball too,” said the Californian.

  On that note, Natasha hooked her arm in Brandon’s and pulled him away. “All right, let’s go, guys.”

  Leon, Simba and Adrienne followed behind them.

  “He was so full of himself,” Natasha complained as they headed toward the exits. “I can’t stand guys like that. No means no.”

  “You didn’t exactly say no to him,” Leon teased.

  “Whatever. He got the point. I was trying not to be nasty to him.”

  “So, you can be nasty?” Leon joked.

  Natasha stopped and turned to face him. “Leon, stop it. Okay? Just stop it.”

  Brandon looked at his friend and nodded. Enough was enough.

  Leon shrugged. “Okay. My bad.”

  Simba took it all in and smiled. I like her. I’ve never heard anyone shut Leon down like that before. Brandon really picked a winner this time. I think she likes him too.

  >>>

  After a final group dinner at LongHorn Steakhouse, the Adidas staff arrived back at their hotel, where Brandon began to feel anxious about leaving. He was just beginning to feel the ice melt between himself and Natasha. But it wasn’t as if they could sit next to each other at dinner or anything. They didn’t have that comfort level in a group yet.

  This is our last night, Brandon told himself. I should at least keep in touch with her.

  Michael Avery yawned and stretched his arms out when they arrived back at the hotel. “Well, I’m all worn out, fatted up and ready to get some rest now.”

  He had just parked the white Toyota rental van in the hotel parking lot.

  “Not me. I can go another three days out here,” Leon joked as they walked back toward the hotel entrance. They were all used to Leon’s jokes by now.

  Michael smiled at him. “You had us pumped up and energized every day, Leon. I really appreciate you guys. You all did a hell of a job this weekend.”

  “They sure did,” Daniel added as he walked up. He parked a second Toyota rental van not far from the first.

  “Thank you,” the guys said in unison.

  “We’re glad you invited us,” Simba added. “We can’t wait for Florida next.”

  Adidas would be co-sponsoring the National Girls Soccer Championships in Tampa Bay in two weeks. But first, they wanted to follow up with Jay Stewart. However, all Brandon could think about at the moment was talking to Natasha before their final night winded down in Columbus. Everything else could wait.

  I guess I’ll see her again in Florida, Brandon thought. But what if she doesn’t come? And that’s two weeks from now.

  He grew more anxious by the minute. He didn’t even have Natasha’s phone number. He had been too busy focusing on his business goals that weekend to socialize enough with her. But Natasha made it easier for him.

  “Brandon, what are you thinking about?” she asked out of the blue. He didn’t even know she was still out there. He thought she and Adrienne had walked inside already.

  “Oh, I’m just ah, daydreaming. It’s nice out here.”

  Michael grinned at him on his way into the building as he said, “Well, enjoy it, kid. I’m going in to bed. It’s been a long weekend. I’ll call you guys around eight in the morning.” Their plane departed in the morning as well.

  Daniel Baker walked inside with the rest of the staff, leaving Natasha by herself with The Beast Team and a few young skateboarders, who were still doing tricks in the parking lot. Once Leon and Simba noticed the energy between Brandon and Natasha, they didn’t want to be in the way.

  “Well, we’ll see you up in the room, Brandon,” Leon told him, holding in his grin.

  “Yeah, later, man,” Simba mumbled.

  That left Natasha all alone with Brandon outside the hotel.

  “Where’s Adrienne?” Brandon asked.

  “She went up to the room.”

  Brandon loved their sudden privacy.

  “Did you enjoy yourself this weekend?” Natasha asked.

  “Yeah, it was a lot of fun.”

  “I bet it was. You were all over ESPN.”

  He smiled. “I was trying to do what I needed to do. Did you enjoy yourself?”

  She nodded and smiled back. “I learned a lot.”

  “Oh, yeah? About what?”

  “You.”

  That caught Brandon off guard. “What about me?”

  “You’re interesting. So, if I gave you my number and e-mail, would you use them?”

  Brandon was shocked again. Is that a trick question or what?

  “Yeah,” he answered.

  “Let me see your phone.”

  Brandon pulled it out and handed it to her.

  Natasha input her name, number and e-mail address. “All right, so when you text or e-mail, I’ll have yours.” Then she headed back inside.

  “What, you’re leaving?” They had barely talked for five minutes.

  Natasha stopped and shrugged. “You have something else you wanna say?”

  It was their moment of truth. The world stopped spinning for a minute as Brandon struggled to get his words out. He just stared at her, hypnotized by her natural beauty and personality. And he remained tongue-tied.

  Natasha understood and saved him. She smiled and said, “I know.”

  THE SKY IS THE LIMIT

  INSTEAD OF TALKING about girls or going to bed that Sunday night, the guys stayed up to manage their social media accounts for The Beast Team. In just a weekend, they had thousands of new followers, tweets, likes and new orders for Beast Team T-shirts and hats.

  “Man, we’re gonna have to order like, a whole garage of stuff when we get back home,” Simba said excitedly.

  “It’s because of Brandon being on TV all weekend. Look at how these numbers keep jumping,” Leon noted. He had never seen their social media numbers add up like a video game win before. He thought his phone was broken. “But how come they’re coming in so late?” he questioned. “It’s after one o’clock in the morning.”

  Brandon looked at their new social media numbers on his own phone. “They’re on West Coast time.”

  “Yeah, but the skateboard finals was hours ago,” Leon argued.

  “Was it all live or tape-delayed though? You know how ESPN replays stuff for later. We don’t really know when they showed it or how many times,” Simba said.

  Brandon nodded. “Yeah, that’s true. They were piecing it all together. So, you know, it could air all out of sequence.”

  Leon shrugged. “Whatever, man. We’re getting all kinds of hits now. This is great! So we’re still gonna make money off this trip.”

  “Yeah, when we get home, we should check to see when they’re gonna replay it so we can record it,” Simba advised them. “In fact, I should call my mom and dad to look right now. And the more they replay it, the more hits we’ll get. Beast Teeeammm!” he shouted.

  Brandon frowned. “Come on, man. People are sleeping.”

  Simba caught himself and whispered, “Oh, my bad. I forgot. You think they’re gonna have cameras in Florida too?”

  “For girls’ soccer?” Leon said. “Come on, man, have you ever seen girls’ soccer on TV before, outside of the Olympics or something?”

  “It could be on locally. I’m just asking,” Simba explained.

  “Nah, that one’s gonna be a cool vacation for us, so bring your swimming trunks,” Leon joked. “They want us to see if we can push Adidas cleats and soccer gear.”

  “Yeah, that’s a huge market,” Brandon commented. “Just think about football.”

  Suddenly his eyes widened as he stared at his phone. “Oh, my God! David Terry hit me up from North Carolina. He said he just got the package I sent him.”

  “What? You sent that package weeks ago,” Leon barked.

  “Yeah, but he was out of town at tournaments. Those guys are constantly traveling now with school out,” Brandon explained. He kept reading. “He said he just saw us on TV tonight.”

  Brandon shoved his phone screen into his friends
’ faces. Leon and Simba looked at several pictures the basketball phenom from Rocky Mount had sent Brandon in their Beast Team gear—a TBT hat, a T-shirt and the multi-colored Retro Jordans Brandon had sent him. He even had “THE BEAST TEEEAM!!!” typed under his pictures.

  Leon smiled. “That’s major cool. Now we can post that and sell more stuff. You think he’ll let you make a poster of that?”

  Brandon’s eyes grew even larger. “Man, I was thinking about that before we came out here. We need to do posters of like, everything. That’s what Fathead does.”

  “Well, just ask him,” Leon commented. “All he can say is no. But what if we offered him some of the money from poster sales?”

  Simba took Brandon’s phone as they continued to discuss it.

  “What are you doing?” Brandon snapped at him.

  “Wait, he sent you more messages,” Simba said. “He’s even joking about you being his manager.”

  “What?”

  “Look.”

  Brandon and Simba read the text together—man, the way u hype things up for skateboarders I’m thinkin bout signing u up as my manager lol.

  Brandon stared at Leon before they looked at Simba.

  “Oh, my God! He actually said that? That’s crazy!” Brandon exclaimed.

  “He was only joking, man,” said Leon. “What do you think laughing out loud means?”

  “Yeah, but even if he’s joking, he’s still thinking about it. And he knows that I’m connected to real ballers too,” Brandon argued.

  Simba nodded. “Yeah, he does.”

  “What if he looks at me like a young P. Diddy or Jay-Z or something. Isn’t Jay-Z representing athletes now?”

  “Yeah, he is—baseball, football and basketball. He even signed Skylar Diggins from Notre Dame. She’s playing in the WNBA now.”

  Leon stopped. “Dude, I would drink her bath water, she’s so hot.”

  Brandon cringed. “That’s gross, man. Keep that kind of stuff to yourself.”

  Simba laughed. “She is hot though.”

  “Yeah, that’s why we all follow her. But drinking her bath water is crazy,” Brandon insisted.

  “You wouldn’t drink Natasha’s bath water?” Leon challenged his friend.