Five days later, Albert and Heather are both made to don aprons to prepare breakfast by Lana. As they start preparing the ingredients for making pancakes... Albert starts dreading what comes next.

"Cooking these pancakes reminds me of what you said the other day about the NBA aprons: you were implying that the second apron was something teams actively sought to avoid, without telling me why!" Albert vents at Heather while wearing an apron.

"We were all too preoccupied with the draft, and making draft-day trading comparisons across sports, to address the NBA salary cap properly!" Heather retorts.

"All I know about it is there are five levels, but no more than that!"

"But now that teams are about to negotiate with impending free agents, or to re-sign their own players..."

"Heather, tell us what each level can and cannot do!" Lana scolds her. "I have the feeling that it will be a long summer if you don't tell us that!"

"A team has the most freedom to operate if they stay between the cap floor and the cap. Exceptions start to matter around the cap..."

"Up to this point, no problem. But what happens when a team gets past the cap?" Lana asks her.

"This is where the other three levels kick in. Some of these exceptions, most notably the mid-level one, depends on how much over the cap you are!"

While Albert continues to mix and stir what, hopefully, would become pancakes, Heather thinks hard of what restrictions are imposed on luxury taxpayers, and, of course, the teams hitting the first and second aprons.

But she keeps talking about the implications of the cap for young teams going into the signing period that's about to start, even as Albert starts cooking the first pancake:

"Every year, there are those teams whose young players are due for a raise but can't pay what it takes to hold on to them. Like it's no secret that..." Heather is about to name a player in that precise scenario, along with his team.

"I don't want to hear about signing or trade rumors!" Albert interrupts his younger sister while he flips the first pancake. "Sure, I watched the NFL Draft back in April, but I didn't follow trade or signing rumors too closely!"

There are just so many complications that Albert just won't understand until everyone at home knows about the restrictions of each cap level! Heather seems to be losing patience regarding, well, the NBA cap levels, while she prepares other fillings to put into the pancakes.

"The mid-level exception is split into two categories: non-taxpayer and taxpayer, with the non-taxpayer being the bigger one, and..."

"Why is there a tax? Why couldn't that damned league just put a hard cap, rather than these five levels? At the highest of these levels if necessary?" Albert screams at his little sister, while flipping a second pancake.

Cody enters the kitchen, then turns to the kids. "The owners asked for that every time for decades, since before either of you were born, actually! But the NBPA is the one who holds the most responsibility for this mess of a salary cap structure!"

"But why does the NBPA even want a soft cap to begin with?" Lana asks as her son prepares to leave the kitchen.

"Let's say that, while a hard cap would make things easier for front offices as well as owners, players feel it would limit what they could earn!"

"This Is going to be my last pancake for today!" Albert yells at his sister, while he flips the second pancake.

Albert finishes cooking the pancake, which is undercooked on one side. He leaves the kitchen as soon as his dad tells him about why this ridiculously complex cap structure even exists in the first place. And dashing to his room much like a wide receiver, or cornerback, at VA football games.

This is raising far too many questions even when, once again, I keep hearing about the league's cap having 5 levels! I feel like Heather is yakking over and over about what I hate most of the sport! Albert ruminates as his mom's face shows signs that his behavior in the kitchen has been a little disappointing.

"Al, why did you leave the kitchen when there are still pancakes to make?" Lana frowns her brows while yelling at him.

"Heather kept yakking about stuff such as the mid-level exception, and the two aprons, implying that the second is much worse than the first, without telling us the difference between the two!"

"Did you learn anything new?"

"There's a luxury tax, and there's a mid-level exception that can be used to go over the cap, which comes in two flavors..."

"Don't worry if you don't understand everything right away. I'm as confused as you are, but this is no reason to storm off the kitchen! All I understand 'bout NBA trading that you don't is that multi-way trades are often needed to make it work!"

"Fine..."

Heather then texts him a link to a chart telling him about all 5 cap levels. The luxury tax, the first and second aprons. However, the luxury tax only seems to impact teams financially so long as they don't hit the first apron.

However, her own thoughts turn to the consequences of the second apron, with very little thought given to what happens when in the first apron but below the second. It makes me wonder how the hell teams can even survive being in the second apron in the long run... Some teams will desperately want to either avoid it, such as the team who picked at #23 a few nights ago, or try to get back down to the first apron if they're already in the second apron. They can only re-sign their own players, draft picks or minimums, and even then, there are players they can't sign to a minimum. They can only trade players one at a time, can't take back more salary than they send away, and can't use a trade exception. That must absolutely suck for teams that spend too much. But the real issue is that, if they stay within it for 2 of the next 4 years afterward, their first-rounder, seven years after they first entered it, will be moved to the end of the first round.

But at the same tine, it dawns on Albert that his sister's obsession is bordering on unhealthy levels, and yet, he doesn't feel like confronting her on that count just yet. Perhaps, for now, I should avoid talking about NBA trading with her, but that means avoiding her completely, at least until the buzz has died down. So this means I need to learn more about her practicing schedule...

Albert: I'd like to know when you practice this summer, please...

Heather: Why? If anything, you're the one whose schedule I must know!

But at the same time, he can't help but think about the timeslots he can for sure block off. However, he knows that he can't take any of these for granted long-term.

Of course! I took up the booster club on their offer of a free SAT administration, I must study for it! It's in two months, give or take, maybe if I invite Daisy and her gang to come over, I can keep Heather off my back! Albert then returns to the kitchen to ask his parents whether he can invite them over tonight around dinner time.

When he arrives at the dining room, Heather is almost done eating her pancakes, but his parents are slower to eat.

"Mom, dad, I'd like to invite my friends to come over to study for the SAT tonight!"

"Better this than to host a party!" Cody deadpans his son. "You better not waste the booster club's money!"

"I guess you're going to need it, because you probably took a hit too many in those... player-directed practices!" Heather then smirks.

"Heather, could you please stop making fun of my football position? You get hit some, too, as a basketball big! Granted, not always on purpose, but still..."

"I only started playing as a big last year because of my growth spurt..." Heather sighs, while Albert texts the others who took up on the booster club's offer of a free SAT. "But being hit as a basketball big just isn't the same as being hit as a tackle player in football!"

"But yes, we'll let you invite whoever you want tonight! It just seem to come out of the blue, though. Why wasn't I told about you taking the SAT on the booster club's dime?" Lana asks him, a little annoyed by this sudden request.

"It's in two months, I believe it was too early to tell you about that now... don't forget about dad being a VA booster!" Albert retorts.

"I'm just a small-time booster... but it's the least I can do with both of you playing for VA!"

Tonight, I won't be hearing about aprons, exceptions and all that stuff from Heather, Albert then starts cooking what's supposed to be his pancakes, a little late. Thank God for Daisy and her friends!

But then he clicks on the link Heather texted him about earlier, and he skims the columns related to the aprons. The first apron catches his eyes, because of the 6 restrictions such teams face. Bi-annual and non-taxpayer mid-level exceptions can't be used once you hit the first apron, nor can you receive a signed-and-traded player, receive more salary than you send out in a trade, sign a waived player whose previous salary was above the NTMLE, or use past trade exceptions. Pretty limiting, but contenders are willing to get past the first apron to win... if reading this can help me keep Heather off my back, so be it.

-------------------

But then, Albert invites the group over for another study session. As they start studying, they whip out more sample questions based on what the previous practice test revealed were their main areas of improvement.

So Anna and Daisy focus on the pre-calculus questions, while Rebecca is all over the place, as is Albert. Since he's aware of the holes he have in math, he buckles down on the math material he hasn't learned yet and that were covered in some practice questions he got wrong in the early stages of studying.

Finally, I can stay away from Heather! So much better! Albert then sighs after finishing a set of math practice questions.

It's here that they realize what makes Anna more troubled in her study of the SAT. Yet, she seemed to have the hang of pre-calculus questions as asked on the SAT, that is to say, not much that can be asked. Statistics, maybe some exponentials and logarithms.

"Why is it that I got this question wrong? There's some information missing that could change the meaning of what I could answer, had it been provided!" Anna laments over a wrong answer to a reading question.

"Anna, although asking yourself what would happen in certain scenarios is helpful outside of the test, you should put aside the outside knowledge you have when answering reading questions" Daisy explains to her, while attempting the question herself.

And there's the disconnect between the test and the real world, Anna sighs, while Albert attempts the set of questions attached to the passage right next to her. However, the trio of girls realize that Albert is so different from them. And he must also learn a few Algebra II notions as appropriate for the SAT, on top of any tricks for the reading and writing portions.

Which are tricks he learned at their first meeting, held last week, the day before the NBA Draft. But seeing that, for the time being, he can make the most gains by focusing on learning Algebra II and pre-calculus as relevant, he swiftly goes back to math questions after he finishes answering the set of questions attached to the passage that troubled Anna.

However, since he has a much longer way to go, his study plan just isn't the same as the other 3 girls, and it's not about fine-tuning in his case. He also needs to brush up on other components of the SAT's verbal component, but not today.

Near the end of this study session, after returning from a practice, Heather gasps upon seeing Albert studying with 3 girls, over whom she towers, she never saw at home before:

"Just... who are those girls?" Heather asks him, while in the middle of a stats question. "I never saw them here before!"

After he finishes answering the stats question, Albert starts introducing his three study companions, in alphabetical order. "This is Anna, Daisy and Rebecca respectively"

"Where do you know them from?" Heather asks him, not believing he would interact with them until now.

"I know Anna because, as a band musician, she performs at football games, Daisy because she was in my English section last year..."

"And Rebecca then?"

I hope Albert isn't taking advantage of them; Anna I knew was a quiz bowler, and Rebecca, a debater, but that's all I know about them. Daisy? Probably a friend of either one... Heather ruminates as she watches her brother struggle to think about how he knew Rebecca.

"At a study session with the other two?" Albert's tone seems to cast doubt on how he really knew Rebecca.

"Yeah, we study for the SAT together, until August. We all plan to take it paid for by the booster club!" Rebecca answers for him. "Before then, all I knew about him was he played defensive tackle but no more than that!"

"When, as I do, you play on the debate team without starring on it, people might know you as a brain, but you mostly live in your own world otherwise..." Daisy explains her predicament.

I guess, Albert is starting to recover from taking repeated hits! Good on him to study with Daisy... even though he'll obviously never be as smart as even her. But I see that he actually opened the link I sent him this morning, Heather keeps to herself as she goes to the bathroom. Even the debate equivalent of a rotation player is still going to be much smarter than most.