RANDOM FUN FACTS ABOUT CADE’S PARTNER IN CRIME: BLAKE CANDADE:
Blake is usually a good kid to talk to, except right before a soccer game. He gets really, really intense and fired up. He has a routine: he sits quietly with eyes closed, feet tapping rapidly. Then he tries to visualize him making great plays and leading his team to win. He always struggles to visualize however and gets really mad if you try to distract him, even though he can’t visualize that well when he has quiet. After the failed visualizing, he gets up and does this shadow boxing thing for a good ten minutes to get fired up. I wouldn’t suggest talking to him at this point because he will get really upset.
Blake is also not someone you want to talk to after the game. If they lose, you will hear a long speech about the twenty things he and the team should have done differently, and you don’t want to disagree, and for goodness sake’s don’t say anything good about the other team. If his team wins, it’s even worse. You will get a recap of the ENTIRE game with highlights of his best plays as he will demonstrate.
Blake is a diehard fan of the Cashes Dade soccer team. He thinks about every country first and foremost in terms of soccer. If you mention any country he will tell you what happened in the last soccer game against them. If they’re a rival of Cashes Dade you will get a complete history of their series. At random times Blake will be reminded of some great play Cashes Dade made or some tragic loss. You have to be careful not to do or say anything that reminds him of soccer.
Blake can and will turn anything into a competition. He will race you to a table that’s only ten feet away. He’ll count how many steps he can jump over and challenge you to get as many as he does. He will go for the most ridiculous jumps. He’ll ask you, “Do you think I could make that jump?” He’s not really asking what you think. He wants you to say, “No way.” Then you’ll see this crazy intense look come across his face before he does some insane jump. Then he’ll turn back with arms out wide and ask if you think you can do it.
Blake has a really interesting method for studying for a test. He takes about a half-hour deciding where he will study. He takes another hour talking about how he has to study for the test while basically stalling because he doesn’t want to get started. Next, he finally decides he better get started by hanging his head with a long, dramatic sigh. Thirty minutes later he sits down to study, with a drink, a snack, and a book about soccer. He studies by re-writing his notes and drawing pictures. He doesn’t really understand anything until he sees how it works in writing or in a picture. Then he can understand any subject as well as anyone. He studies hard for fifteen minutes, then gets up and kicks around a mini soccer ball in his room trying to score against a mini soccer goal. Then he goes back to studying for fifteen minutes. It works pretty well for him as long as he doesn’t wait too long to get started before the test.
Blake is always on the move, even when he sleeps, if he sleeps at all, which is a widely held myth among the students at Cashes Dade School. Blake is constantly running, or half-running until he has to sit down. He likes to stand a lot and walk around in school which helps him concentrate better. Teachers would let him do that for that reason until the aliens took over. They enforced a rule that you have to sit completely still. He still taps his feet and shifts in his chair while sitting through long lessons.
Blake is also a great tag player. He’s not as legendary as Cade, but he’s still really tough to catch. He’s a fast runner and can fly past you just when you think you’re about to get him. He also is really good at tagging people when he’s it. He’ll come up with a play in his mind, then chase you into a trap. You think you’re getting away from him, but he’s leading you to an exact point where in a sudden rush he will catch up to you. If all you have to do is tag him, you might be able to catch him. But trying to actually capture him when he’s running at you, is pretty much impossible, because he runs with a mysterious power, something the dark spirits will soon discover…
