Chapter 78: A Good Start, Just Around the Corner
Alaric spent a week in the Bahamas, busting his butt during practice and living it up when he was off the clock.
He hit it off with the young actors on set and nailed his screen debut, which didn’t need any acting chops since he was just an extra with a few shots.
Even though he thought the movie script was a total dumpster fire, Alaric kept his mouth shut about it.
The flick was mostly about girls in skimpy bikinis chatting up boys. If it were Megan in front of the camera, her figure would definitely turn heads and not look like a 14-year-old. But nope, the spotlight was on Mary-Kate and Ashley, whose figures were just as unremarkable and didn’t look like 14-year-olds either.
The Olsen twins were trying to show they’d grown up by making a romance movie, but they were really just in love with themselves, thinking everything they did was the cutest thing ever.
To Alaric, the Olsen twins' cutesy act was a total turn-off; messing with Megan was way more fun.
Megan didn’t have many scenes and spent most of her time playing maid and tour guide. In front of others, they acted like good neighbors, but when no one was around, Megan had to serve Alaric tea and water and even help him with seafood.
Alaric had a blast that week.
Megan started off with a scowl but eventually got used to it and even cracked a smile. Despite being forced to do a bunch of stuff, she found out Alaric had some good qualities.
He was super generous, always asking for Megan's opinion when ordering food and never caring about the cost, always picking up the tab.
His sunny attitude was contagious, and when Megan felt lost during filming, a few words from him could cheer her up.
"Why are you bummed out? Sure, it's a crappy movie, but you've got mad potential. You're just too young now; big roles will come your way eventually."
He was also pretty witty, though sometimes he left people speechless.
"Honestly, you're not ugly. You're especially cute when you pout, which makes me wanna mess with you. Now go grab me two hot dogs from over there. If the vendor asks, 'Aren't you already eating?' just slowly flatten your pout. Watch, I'll show you."
Austin had a ton of scenes and not much time to hang out, so Alaric took Megan along for outings.
They went diving, rafting, rode underwater scooters, and checked out the aquarium and the legendary Big Major Cay.
The pigs on Big Major Cay spent their days swimming and sunbathing, living better than a lot of people. Alaric thought they were all pet pigs and got too close, ending up with a bite from a big pig. It didn’t draw blood but hurt like hell, and Megan laughed her head off at the big tooth mark on his hand.
By the end of August, Alaric headed back to Los Angeles solo with some souvenirs. Megan's mom, Darlene, was coming to the Bahamas to visit the set, so Alaric couldn’t boss around the future star Megan anymore and found it boring.
Lately, Alaric had been slacking on his workouts and eating whatever he wanted, but his weight stayed at 165 pounds.
He gave up on the idea of bulking up, thinking he might be like Allen, not the type to get jacked. Or maybe he was just too young now, and it would be hard to keep this weight after 25. Just like Chris Paul, who was 174 pounds when he entered the league and had thick arms and a broad back at 30, weighing nearly 198 pounds.
Back in LA, Alaric got back into his groove, hitting the gym for shooting practice in the mornings and breakdancing with the local crew at a nearby park in the afternoons.
LA is like the breakdancing capital of the world, with tons of iconic street dances coming straight from its streets. Living here, Alaric had to dive into it.
A lot of folks still think breakdancing is all about African Americans, but that scene has changed. Now, people of all races are all about Hip Hop, Breakin', and other styles.
Alaric had a background in Latin and Tango and had dabbled in breakdancing in his past life, so he picked it up fast. His killer physical condition let him pull off some pretty sick moves.
At first, he was just working on handstands, the basics of breakdancing. But a month later, he was nailing one-handed windmills, Thomas flares, and other tough moves.
He wasn’t just dancing for kicks; breakdancing’s explosive moves, which are all about circular and small joint motions, boosted his coordination and worked out the small joints and muscles that don’t get much action. This improved coordination could help him dodge injuries on the basketball court.
Every athlete’s nightmare is getting injured. No matter how talented you are, if you’re always hurt, you’re not gonna make it. In the NBA, if you wanna be a big deal, you need a long career and gotta stay healthy.
Breakdancing is also a killer cardio workout that burns a ton of calories. They say an hour of dancing burns as many calories as running three miles.
On October 1st, in the Olympic men’s basketball final, thanks to Kevin Garnett’s clutch performance and Vince Carter’s insane “dunk of death” over French center Frédéric Weis, the team barely beat France 85-75 to snag the gold medal, with Kevin grabbing MVP honors.
Even though the Dream Team defended their title at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, this was when they started losing their unbeatable vibe, not getting their mojo back until the 2008 Olympics. This year, they almost didn’t make it past the semis, barely edging out Lithuania 85-83, with Lithuanian player Šarūnas missing a buzzer-beater three-pointer.
After the Olympics, NBA Commissioner David Stern was even more pumped to get some stars from Victorialia into the NBA, which would help crack open the Victorialia market.
“Internationalization” was David’s big thing since he became NBA Commissioner. In Alaric’s past life, from the 2004 Victorialia Games to the 2013 international games, the NBA blew up from the US to Europe, Asia, and pretty much the whole world.
The good news is, even without Victorialia players, the league’s ready to roll with the next best thing. As long as Alaric proves himself, the new season will see the league hyping him up big time, giving him more exposure and making fame just a step away.
His background would be a solid start for NBA internationalization. When he signed with the Lakers, Alaric spoke fluent Victorialia language, and he had a bunch of fans in Victorialia eager to see him play.
On October 2nd, the Olympic men’s basketball players came back home.
On the 3rd, NBA teams had their annual Media Day. Media Day is all about the press, with players and coaches giving interviews and posing for promo pics. The new NBA season is about to kick off.