Bigger Than The Program

[The JZA]

[Agent]

Looks like a pretty even matchup ahead

[The JZA]

[The JZA]

Looks like a pretty even matchup ahead

Twas anything but even. O-Line ate in that game, made some lanes but I don't think if we got that safety we'd be looking at the same results.

The dynamic weather is cool. Used it to our advantage. Ran in the rain, passed when it stopped. Jukes is nasty in the weather. My RB juked their LB and slipped, got hit and fumbled, was lucky to recovered that lol

[The JZA]

All The Things She Said
(SZN 1 , EPI 13)

Sunday afternoon laid itself across the Bronx like an it was taking a load off it's feet. The sun remained high enough to warm exposed skin, but the wind had teeth now. Nothing vicious. Nothing that demanded winter coats or gloves dug from the backs of closets. Just a clean, cool breeze moving through the neighborhood, reminding everybody that summer had finally lost the argument. Across the street from Bethel Global Methodist Church, Cooney Grauer Field sat between faith and traffic. The park was not large enough to feel important. A baseball diamond occupied one end, its dirt worn pale around the bases. Two basketball courts filled the other, enclosed behind chain-link fencing that had been bent, patched, and bent again over years of bodies crashing into it. One rim leaned slightly lower than the other, creating arguments whenever a shot rattled differently than expected.

Beyond the field, the Major Deegan Expressway dragged northbound traffic through the afternoon. Brake lights stretched along the lanes as a collision farther up had reduced movement to a crawl, because there was no other reasonable explanation for the Deegan to be backed up on a Sunday. Drivers leaned on horns that accomplished nothing.

Church service had not yet ended. The steps across the street remained mostly empty, but music occasionally escaped whenever the front doors opened. Organ notes. Tambourines. A choir reaching the end of something powerful before the doors shut and returned the block to traffic, bouncing basketballs, and distant sirens.

The courts were full or empty depending on how generously someone defined basketball. On one end, several children launched shots with both hands from their chests, the ball rarely reaching the rim. On the other, teenagers argued over fouls . A man in sweatpants practiced dribble combinations along the sideline without ever attempting to score.

Kareem had claimed a basket near the far fence. Basketball season was approaching quickly enough to sharpen every repetition. The schedule had finally been released and Kennedy would open against the DeWitt Clinton Governors.

The name alone had changed Kareem’s energy.

Clinton had embarrassed the Knights the previous season. Not merely defeated them. Embarrassed them, 86-45. The kind of loss that opposing players referenced whenever they crossed paths during summer tournaments. Kareem understood exactly what Cortez had felt preparing for Tottenville.

Different court. Same scar.

He moved through shots without wasting motion.

One dribble left. Pull-up. Net.

Catch near the wing. Pivot. Release. Net again.

His size made every movement look slower than it actually was. At six-foot-five and carrying enough strength to punish guards in the post, Kareem could have relied on his body. Instead, he worked on balance, foot placement, and release points as if somebody had told him size would disappear the moment college scouts entered the gym.

Cortez gathered rebounds, passing the ball back. His body remained on the court. His mind had wandered somewhere beyond the fence.

Kareem noticed after the third pass arrived too low. Then after Cortez stared past him while the ball bounced toward the sideline, Kareem caught another pass and rose from the elbow. The jumper fell cleanly. He retrieved the ball and looked toward his best friend.

Cortez’s eyes had settled on no specific object. Somewhere between the expressway and the church, his attention had disconnected from everything directly in front of him.

“What's up money?” Kareem’s voice cut through the ambient noise. A basketball struck the neighboring backboard. A child shouted for a foul no one acknowledged. “You lost in the sauce? What's going on with you?”

Cortez blinked and redirected his eyes. “Hm? Nothing.”

He ran one hand over his face, dragging himself back into the afternoon. “Just got some shit on my mind I'm trying to process.”

Despair lived inside the admission despite the attempt to make it sound casual. Kareem took another shot. Cortez gathered the made shot and sent it back with a bounce pass.

Kareem caught the ball against his hip before deciding to break his rhythm.

“Nah. Try again.” He walked toward the sideline and retrieved his water bottle. Cortez remained beneath the basket while Kareem drank, allowing the silence to become uncomfortable enough to demand honesty.

“You been quiet for a minute. And you definitely been acting weird lately. So what's really going on, bro? And don't give me that 'nothing' bullshit, Lauri already clued me in.”

Cortez’s hands slipped halfway into his pockets. The directness eliminated several excuses before he had the chance to use them.

Kareem had known him too long. Lauri had already reached out and there was no version of the conversation where Cortez escaped cleanly.

“Man, I'm just going through some shit, that's all. School, Jennessa, college recruits, you know how it is.”

Half the truth. Enough real details arranged together to resemble an answer.

School tests were starting to pop up left and right, Jennessa remained a problem while recruiters had transformed every performance into a public examination. Cortez hoped the collection might satisfy Kareem.

But It didn't.

Kareem placed the basketball between his shoes and lowered himself onto it, balancing his weight as though the ball had become a small stool. He fixed Cortez with the patient stare he normally reserved for teammates lying badly.

“Bro. We've been tight since the fifth grade. You really think I can't tell when you're giving me the half version?” No accusation entered his voice.

That made the question harder to avoid. “School and recruits? That's regular season stress. This is something else. You've been in your head all week even before you left for Boston, and Lauri's been worried about you. So let's cut the bull. What happened?”

Cortez’s jaw tightened. “Yo, it's nothing, aight?”

The snap lacked heat. His frustration was not aimed at Kareem. That did not prevent Kareem from receiving it.

“I don't need you getting dragged up in my mess. It's just some family shit.”

Kareem’s expression changed. Not wounded exactly, but offended.

“Oh, so I'm not family anymore?” The question crossed the space faster than any pass Cortez had thrown all season.

“You're the one who said that blood couldn't make us anymore brothers than we are... But apparently you do have a line you draw...”

Cortez had no rebuttal. He remembered saying it. They had been younger, though not young enough for the words to mean less. Somebody had made a comment about Kareem practically living at Antonio’s house. Cortez had answered before thinking. Blood could not make them more like brothers than they already were. The sentence became one of those things both carried without needing to mention again. Kareem had proven it repeatedly. When he first developed feelings for Jennessa and realized she preferred Cortez, Kareem had stepped back without allowing jealousy to poison the friendship. He did not gossip. Did not sabotage. Did not wait for cracks inside their relationship so he could enter through one.

He respected the choice, even more he respected Cortez.

Whenever football broke Cortez down, Kareem helped rebuild him. When Kareem’s recruiting pressure became too heavy, Cortez returned the favor. They competed in Antonio’s gym, argued over sports, insulted each other’s clothes, and defended one another with the kind of instinct that required no discussion. Kareem had never stole on Cortez. He never lied where loyalty mattered, nor never treated the word brother like decoration. He was just the same to him and Lauri as Lauri was to them both. At least Cortez had believed that until the photograph.

He released a long breath and moved toward the fence. The chain links pressed coldly against his back as he leaned against them. Beyond the courts, church service ended. The large doors opened and people began spilling onto the steps in polished shoes, bright dresses, dark suits, and hats wide enough to create their own weather.

Cortez stared across the afternoon. “I think Jennessa and Lauri may have had a thing behind my back...”

Kareem’s eyebrows rose. For the first time since the conversation began, his controlled expression disappeared.

The news struck him squarely in the chest. “Hold up... run that back? Lauri and Jennessa?”

He stood so quickly that the basketball rolled away from beneath him. “Nah, bro, that's... that's wild. You sure? Like, you got proof or you just piecing stuff together?”

“Jenn been nipping at my heels since our break-up. But...” Cortez paused. The confession had traveled far enough that retrieving it was no longer possible. Still, part of him wanted to stop before the photograph entered someone else’s eyes.

“Last week, when my Moms came over to try and "reconcile", she send me a photo...”

He removed his phone. The image had been stored inside his gallery where he could reach it too easily. Cortez opened it without searching, proof of how often he had returned during the week. He handed the phone to Kareem with no explanation following.

None was necessary.

Kareem examined the picture, seeing the same as Cortez. Jennessa holding the drink, smiling. Lauri’s body pressed close. Her face inside the curve of Jennessa’s neck.

Curiosity drained from Kareem’s face with something colder to replace it. He remained silent for several seconds, studying the screen as though another detail might appear if he stared long enough.

“Man... Lauri? For real?” Kareem handed the phone back. The disbelief remained visible.

“That don't even sound like her. She's always been ride or die for you. You sure this ain't some photoshop shit? Jennessa's been known to move shady.”

“I know, fam. But I don't think Jenn would stoop this low. Lauri looked at her like a sister... So I thought.” The statement sounded weak even to Cortez.

He had accused Jennessa of enough during the breakup: lying. Manipulating. Rewriting events to protect herself.

Yet some line inside him still resisted believing she would fabricate a photograph involving Lauri. Jennessa might twist context, she might hide pieces, but creating the image from nothing felt different. Then again, betrayal often survived by depending on what people believed someone would never do.

Kareem rubbed the back of his neck. The situation challenged everything he knew about their circle. Lauri had always been solid. Aggressive when necessary and loud even when unnecessary. But she was loyal. The idea that she might sneak behind his back with Jennessa felt incompatible with the person Kareem knew.

But the photograph remained.

“Look, I ain't tryna defend nobody without knowing the full story,” Kareem chose each word carefully. “But people do stupid things when feelings get involved. You know that better than most.”

His eyes remained on Cortez. “Question is — what you gonna do about it? You gonna confront her? Sit on it? Because walking around with this weight ain't gonna help your season, and it definitely won't help things between you and Lauri, bro.”

“You think I don't know that?” Cortez looked at him.

“You think I don't think about it? It crosses my mind ten thousand times a day. I see her face everyday and night. Every time I think about a solution to resolve the awkwardness, I always come to the line I don't want to cross. I don't want to validate that Lauri would do me dirty like that...”

He pushed himself away from the fence. “I just don't know what to believe right now.”

Kareem watched him. He did not rush to fill the silence as he had allowed the moment to breathe.

“Aight, look. You got two choices, bro. You either let this eat you alive from the inside. You gonna show up to practice distracted, throw you off your game, and let Jennessa win. Or...”

He forced Cortez to meet his eyes. “You go straight to the source. You sit Lauri down, you show her the same photo you showed me, and you let her explain. No accusing. No assuming. You give her the chance to tell her side before you convict her.”

Cortez knew. He had delivered the same argument to himself. Whether he faced Jennessa or Lauri, the result would involve something becoming real. There was no clean version. No conversation capable of returning everyone to the positions they occupied before the party. Once Cortez showed Lauri the image, the silence between them would gain a name. If she admitted wrongdoing, something permanent would break. If she denied it, he would still have to decide whether to believe her over what his eyes appeared to show.

“Why can't none this shit be simple?”



———————————————



Evening settled over Kingsbridge Terrace by the time Cortez and Kareem separated. They had walked back together from the park, speaking about basketball, football, college visits, and anything else capable of filling the distance without returning to the photograph. Near Kareem’s crib, they exchanged a dap. There were no dramatic encouragement, no final instruction. Kareem’s eyes said enough: handle it.

Cortez continued toward Antonio’s house down the block. His uncle’s car was not parked along the street or anywhere in the vicinity. Antonio might have been at the gym since his day job Mavis was already closed after hours or somewhere doing his own thing.

Either way, the absence created an opportunity. No extra ears, no adult voice attempting to mediate before either sibling finished speaking.

Cortez stopped near the sidewalk and looked toward the second floor where Lauri’s bedroom window glowed. She was home. The decision had already been made on the basketball court. His body still resisted carrying it through the door though.

When Cortez entered, the house was silent. Not a peaceful silent. The silence had changed inside the rooms since Evelyn’s dinner. Her apology, Jennessa’s message, and the image that followed had left something behind. The living room felt colder despite the heating system. The dining table seemed larger than it had before everyone sat around it attempting to repair the family. The house had always represented safety and welcoming. Now, it just felt off, a different evil was lurking about.

Cortez removed his shoes and crossed the living room. At the bottom of the stairs, he raised his voice. “Lauri! Let me talk to you in the kitchen.”

After a few moments, movement came from above. Cortez entered the kitchen while she made her way downstairs. He opened the refrigerator and removed a bottle of Sparkling Ice. The condensation chilled his palm as he pop the tab and sat at the table.

Lauri appeared at the kitchen entrance. Gray sweatpants hung loosely from her hips. A cropped black hoodie exposed a narrow strip of skin above the waistband. Her twin braids had lost their usual precision, several sections slightly frayed from hours spent lying in bed.

Her expression remained guarded. Unreadable by anyone who had not spent a lifetime learning it.

Cortez could read enough. She was irritated. Hurt. And most likely prepared for whatever explanation had taken him an entire week to offer.

“You called?” No warmth entered the question as she leaned against the frame and folded her arms.

Cortez registered every defensive angle without reacting.

“Sit with me. I want to talk.”

Lauri remained where she was. Her weight shifted toward one hip while she studied his face like text printed too faintly to understand.

“Talk.” The word carried accusation. “Now you wanna talk. After a whole week of nothing.”

She pushed away from the frame. Her feet dragged toward the table. The chair scraped hard against the floor before she dropped into it, slouching with both arms still folded.

“What is it?”

Cortez paused, letting a sip of his drink quench his thirst to clear his throat, though nothing could clear the pressure behind the words.

“First off, I want to say that I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable lately. I've been... beside myself for the past week, just trying to process shit...”

He searched for the right entrance, but there was none.

“You still remember all the details that happened at that party you went to with Jennessa, right?”

The name changed Lauri instantly. Her eyes narrowed. Both hands moved from her folded position and pressed against the tabletop.

“Jennessa.” The name left her mouth like a curse. “That's what this is about? You been icing me out for a WEEK over her?”

A humorless laugh escaped as she leaned back. “Yeah, I remember every detail. I already told you what happened. She was all over some dude at that party, right in front of my face, knowing damn well you two had history. I got heated because she was being disrespectful to YOU. That's it. That's the whole story.”

Cortez nodded without speaking. The frustration arrived exactly as expected.

Lauri was tired of Jennessa. Tired of hearing the name. Tired of watching her remain present in Cortez’s life despite the breakup. Even in absence, Jennessa controlled the atmosphere inside rooms she had never entered.

“You sure that's all that happened? You're positively certain?” Cortez asked.

Lauri’s palms pressed harder against the table, the skin across her knuckles lightened. She stared at Cortez as though he had presented a question without enough information to solve it.

“Positively certain? Bro, what is this — an interrogation? You think I'm hiding something from you?”

Her chair shot backward. The legs screeched against linoleum as she stood. Her arms remained rigid beside her body, fingers curled into loose fists.

“I told you everything that night. Right after it happened. You know I don't lie to you, Cortez. Not about stuff like this.”

Her answer reached Cortez while he held himself still. Kareem’s warning had reminded him: no accusing, no assuming. Give her the chance to explain.

Cortez reached for his phone. Lauri watched every movement. He opened the gallery and returned to the image. Before placing it down, Cortez stared once more at the picture. Lauri’s face near Jennessa’s neck, Jennessa smiling, the closeness. He set the phone against the table and pushed it across. The phone slid over the surface and stopped directly in front of Lauri. Cortez looked up, watching her face rather than the image.

For one terrible second, nothing moved. The anger drained from Lauri’s posture as though someone had opened a valve inside her. Her eyes lost their sharpness. She blinked once.

“Where... where did you get that?” Her voice became smaller.

Confused, she picked up the phone with trembling fingers and enlarged the picture. Her face moved closer to the screen as if proximity might reveal whether the image was real.

Then Lauri looked at Cortez.

“Nah. You know what? You really think I'd do you like that? You think I'd slide behind your back with HER of all people? Jennessa? The same girl who been playing games behind YOUR back? That's what we on now?”

Cortez remained quiet, reading her disposition. The initial shock. The anger returning once she understood what he believed.

“Then what is it?” He allowed the question to sit. “...Black crop top and fishnet, baggy jeans, white kicks... Is that not what you wore at the party? Is that not you?”

Lauri’s jaw tightened when her eyes returned to the phone. “Yeah. That's me. That's what I wore. I ain't denying that.”

She placed the phone faceup on the table. The photograph remained between them like evidence submitted during trial. “But you looking at a snapshot, Cortez. You don't know what happened before or after.”

Lauri sat again. Her eyes moved away from him as she reconstructed the night.

“She came up behind me and grabbed my waist. Whispered some dumb shit in my ear about how she 'missed the old us' or whatever. I was mid-laugh about to pull away. That picture?”

Lauri struck the screen with one finger. “That's her catching me off guard. That's her pressing up on me. That's not me kissing her neck like she probably told you.”

She leaned back and folded her arms more tightly. Her voice remained controlled, but a tremor moved beneath it.

“I ain't gonna sit here and defend myself against some cropped screenshot she sent you. You wanna know what happened? Ask me. Don't come at me with evidence like I'm on trial.”

Cortez rested one elbow against the chair. His fist rose, covering his mouth while he listened.

He attempted to place Lauri’s explanation over the photograph, but the uncertainty remained. Jennessa had said the image proved Lauri was not innocent. Lauri said the image captured her being caught off-guard. Both stories used the same frozen second.

Silence sat between the siblings. Cortez looked at Lauri, but she looked away.

He tried to determine whether her anger came from being exposed or from being doubted by the one person she believed should trust her automatically. Before Cortez could speak, the phone vibrated against the tabletop.

Both looked down. The phone buzzed again.

Evelyn’s name flashed above the photograph.

The interruption felt absurd. Another Terrano problem arriving before the current one finished breathing.

Lauri reach for the phone and accepted the call, “Hello?”

Evelyn answered immediately, her voice sharp with surprise.

“Lauri? Hey sweetie, why are you answering your brother's phone? Is he with you?”

Lauri looked at Cortez, half accused and half exhausted.

“Yeah, Ma. He's right here. We're in the kitchen. What's up?” Some of the sharpness left Lauri’s voice, though tension remained wound through every word.

“I was just checking in. Called you first but you didn't pick up, so I figured you might be with your brother.” Evelyn paused. Her instincts caught something the explanation had not covered. “What's going on over there? You sound... off.”

Lauri kept her eyes on Cortez. “Nah, Ma. Everything's fine. Just having a little sibling chat, that's all.”

She added false lightness. “You know how it is. He's being dramatic, I'm being reasonable. The usual.”

The attempt failed to sound convincing. Lauri finally looked away and turned slightly from the table.

“Hm.” Evelyn understood the lie. She did not press. She promised to give Lauri space remained fresh enough to restrain her curiosity.

“Well, I had called to tell y'all some news. Is Cortez near you? Can he hear me?”

“Yeah Ma, I'm here.” Cortez raised his voice toward the phone. “You're on speaker.”

“Oh! Well good, I'm glad.” Energy entered Evelyn’s voice. The particular brightness she developed whenever she had carried news long enough to imagine everyone’s reaction.

“So I got in touch with your Aunt Beverly a few days ago. It's been almost twenty years since we last saw each other. She wants us to come out to Cali for Thanksgiving. All three of us. She already said she'd cover the flights and everything.”

Evelyn waited. The reaction did not come quickly enough.

“Now before y'all start coming up with excuses, really think about it. It's still a month away, so it's not like I'm springing up on y'all. But I was thinking we could all go together, get away from the city, get away from these problem over ours and just take a breather and be around other family.”

Cortez looked toward Lauri. The conversation they had been having remained unfinished on the table beside the phone. California entered the kitchen like a door opening into another building.

Aunt Beverly. Neither sibling recognized the name.

“Beverly? I didn't know you had a sister.” Cortez searched his memory, not recalling any photographs inside Evelyn’s apartment.

“I got a whole family y'all don't know about. But she got married and moved out of New York before either of you were born. But that's not the point.”

Evelyn’s tone tightened. The question had brushed against territory she was not prepared to explain. “The point is, she reached out. After all these years. And she wants to see y'all. Her niece and nephew.”

A pause allowed the information to settle. “Now I know things been... tense. Between all of us. And I'm not trying to pretend like everything's fixed just 'cause we get on a plane and eat some turkey. But maybe some distance from all this and clear our heads. Be around family that ain't been caught up in all our mess. Maybe we way back to each other.”

California. Cortez had never traveled that far west. His known family map stopped around Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. Florida existed as a vague possibility because every family seemed to have somebody who had moved there after deciding cold weather was enough for them or the retirement years had been calling.

California belonged to television, palm trees, sunset over beaches. A different coast with glitz and glamour.

Then another thought arrived: USC.

Cortez's name was becoming more popular than he cared to acknowledge. He was now a top 25 prospect in the nation and number 1 in the state of New York. Bigger schools had began to seek him out. Arkansas, Miami, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, USC, Texas, and Virginia Tech. But Southern California stood apart. An invitation had already reached him, though the logistics made the visit feel more imaginary than Boston College or Rutgers. Evelyn’s unknown sister offered to cover the trip during Thanksgiving.

New state. New family. A campus visit completed during the same journey. The timing felt too precise to ignore.

But none of it erased the 'state of affairs'. Lauri’s explanation still occupied the kitchen. Jennessa remained inside the phone. Trust had not been repaired because another subject entered the conversation. But Cortez understood scale. This invitation extended beyond the argument.

He looked toward Lauri. “What do you think? You want to go to California?”

Lauri exhaled slowly. The abrupt change left her disoriented. Minutes earlier, she had been defending herself against the suggestion that she betrayed Cortez with Jennessa. Now an aunt she had never heard of wanted to fly them across the country for Thanksgiving.

“I mean...” Lauri glanced toward Cortez, then at the phone. “I ain't gonna lie, Ma. This is kinda outta nowhere. You got a whole sister we never heard about and now she wants to fly us out for Thanksgiving? That's... something.”

Her fingers drummed against the table. "It could be cool. Get out the city for a minute, clear my head.”

Lauri’s eyes found Cortez again. She searched for what he actually thought beneath the calm expression. Whether the question had become an excuse to avoid returning to the picture, whether he believed her or whether the trip meant they would pretend nothing had happened until California.

“Well, I can't exactly book three tickets without knowing if my son's coming or not. Cortez, what do you think? You willing to get on that plane and see another side of the country for once in your life?” Evelyn awaited Cortez's answer.

Cortez looked toward the Sparkling Ice. The condensation had gathered into a ring beneath the bottle. Then he looked at the phone. The call timer continued counting.

“Yeah, sure. I'll go.” Silence followed.

Evelyn had expected resistance. Her next response arrived lighter.

“Well alright then. Both of y'all on board.” She sounded as if she could already see them boarding the plane. “I'll call Beverly back tonight and let her know we're coming. She's gonna be thrilled.”

Another pause. Shorter.

“And hey... thank you. Both of you. I know things ain't been smooth sailing around here, but this? This means something to me...”

Neither sibling answered immediately. The sincerity in Evelyn’s voice felt unfamiliar enough to require examination. California appeared to mean more than a vacation somehow. But for now, the road to California had left a month left between the future and the present. The relationship between the Terrano siblings had threatened boundaries neither wanted to cross, but situations didn't care for feelings, it didn't care for who was going to hurt the most. It just cared about the truth and consequences.

National Rank: 25 | State Rank: 1 | Position Rank: 5
Interests: Arizona State, Arkansas, Baylor, Boston College, Duke, Houston, Kansas State, Louisville, Miami, Michigan, Missouri, NC State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Rutgers, SMU, South Carolina, Texas, Tulane, UCF, USC, USF, Utah, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest

[djp73]

some interesting school choices there

what's y'all season stats looking like?

[Soapy]

Go Canes