The morning light hits the room, Ellie wakes up without her alarm. Still dazed, she looked up at the wall with her mind lingered over yesterday's situation. She blushed and immediately used both of her hands to cup her face. "Get it together Ellie, he's just a friend." She cleared up her mind and began to get ready, but feelings can be thrown away easily, they said.
She walked down the hallway and someone tapped on her shoulder. She was startled and was taken back from her deep thought. She turned her head around and was relieved it was just Charlotte playing around, "What happened?" Charlotte says, "You looked so deep in your thought." Ellie just laughs it off. "Nothing, just thinking." Charlotte, still unconvinced, adds, "Are you sure? Did someone bother you?"
As they were walking, Ellie spotted Gabriel who was about to enter the classroom and blushed. Charlotte looked at her and grinned at her. "Ooh... I'd get it." She put her arm across Ellie's shoulder and fastened their step. Ellie, getting caught off guard, didn't realize they were nearing Gabriel. "Hey Gabriel," Charlotte says while dragging Ellie. Gabriel looked at them and smile. "Good morning, it seems like both of you off a good start today," Gabriel says. Ellie finally looked up, Gabriel was right in front of her. She looks at Charlotte and just realizes there's a huge between her and the two of them. Then she asked, "Charlotte, how tall are you?" Charlotte didn't expect that question directly say, "I think 5'6 feet if I remember correctly, why?"
Before she able to answers, Gabriel told them they should go inside first because they were standing in front of the main door. They sat down together, then Ellie continued her speech. "Nothing, it's just that I realized you were quite tall went you were standing next to Gabriel." Gabriel entered their conversation. "Or you're just a bit on the small side." They got caught off guard, but Charlotte was trying hard to hold her laugh and Ellie hit Gabriel on the shoulder. Gabriel lets out a chuckle and tries to make amends, but he can hardly do it while they are still laughing.
He quickly apologized, but Ellie just gave him a deadly gaze. After a bit of persuasion, Ellie finally forgives him, though none of them actually take it seriously. Gabriel opened a new talk: "I almost forgot, aren't you the one you stopped the ruckus at the bar yesterday? Tell us something." Ellie also became interested and paid attention to Charlotte.
"Ooh, that girl, she's just got hit on by some dude who is actually the boyfriend of my friend. Can't lie, but her tomboyish side does attract quite the attention," Charlotte adds.
"So that friend of yours started a fight or what?" Ellie asked her.
"Something like that," Charlotte said, "The girl didn't actually pay attention, but the guy kept on opening his mouth. I think my friend must have noticed his attention." She sighs, "I just want to introduce her since she joined one of my departments. Because of those horny jack*ss everything is ruined."
Gabriel just listened to her talk, then Arthur finally decided to show up late, right before the professor was about to enter the room. He sat next to Gabriel and calmly said, "good morning."
"Dude, you're late. The f*ck take you so long?" Gabriel whispered to him.
Arthur leaned on his chair and said "I am just a bit busy, you know. Clapping some a..." and immediately got stopped by Gabriel. "I heard enough, you can stop." Meanwhile, Arthur grinned when he looked at Gabriel. He just let out his sigh and looked at Arthur and smirked. "dumb*ss" Arthur smirked back at him, "Jack*ss." before looking in front.
The hour went by. Arthur had already put his head on the table, just Gabriel, Ellie and Charlotte kept their heads straight. Despite that, Ellie can't help but to take a quick glance at Gabriel with her side eyes. Is it love or just a hidden desire? She had never felt like this before. Of course, many guys try to hit on her before, but she always rejects them.
Soon before she realizes, the class is already ended. Charlotte suggested they eat together to continue the story, but Gabriel told them to proceed first so he could wake Arthur up. Likewise, he stands up and slightly hit his head and Arthur wakes up.
As they walk, Arthur suddenly remembers they have a senior and junior battle later for the basketball club. "I'm going to have fun with them, especially that tall motherf*cker." says Arthur. Gabriel just warned him not to go too far as hurting them or else he'd be the one to take the punishment. Being a troublemaker, Arthur couldn't care less about it anymore. Gabriel just gave him another warning before they met up again with Ellie and Charlotte with an edition of Allias was sitting with them.
Charlotte was waving her hand to them. Gabriel was a bit taken back, but Arthur let out a grin. "Well... well, looks like the chum is desperate to get more attention, huh." Allias just looked at him while sitting down and excused himself, not wanting to cause trouble. But Arthur stopped him, "Whoa, slow down there, dumbf*ck. Respect your senior went he's talking." Charlotte immediately scolds Arthur and Allias moves along, keeping his emotion steady.
"The f*ck was that for?" Charlotte pushed Arthur's shoulder. Clearly she was mad at him.
"Why was he sitting here in the first place anyway?" He asked her back.
Charlotte raised her voice: "He was a friend of mine back at my elementary school! What is your problem with trying to get on people's backs?" Arthur just brushed it off. It's not like he cares about it anyway. Gabriel stared at him. "I'm at Charlotte's side this time, dude. That's way too much messing around." Charlotte packed her bag and Ellie followed along. She and Gabriel exchanged eye contact while he muttered "sorry" slowly before she caught up with Charlotte.
Arthur didn't even care and went straight to the counter to order some food. Meanwhile, Gabriel tagged along behind him. "Can't you just wait until that match today?" he said. "Can you just stop causing trouble anywhere you go?"
Arthur looked at him with his hands in his pockets, "Since when did you become so much like a b*tch?" Gabriel stared at him again but their eyes locked on to each other, "You'd better stop what you're doing Arthur, stop causing trouble, or I'll stop you myself." Arthur took his food and walk away before saying "I would like to see you try... Jack*ss."
Gabriel lets out a small growl, trying to keep with Arthur already way ahead of him. They went straight to the basketball hall. Most of the member are excited about seeing the match. In particular, Gabriel and Arthur team up. Some of them are still eating and some are already warming up.
"This is the attention I want," says Arthur. Both of them walked in and everyone, including the third year, looked at them. In the meantime, the first year batch felt nervous, but Allias remained calm, getting his mind ready before coming face to face with Arthur again.
After a few minutes of waiting and warming up, the junior and the senior stand in the middle of the court and have a face off before getting into their position. It was Gabriel and Allias at the start, their height almost the same. While Arthur was right behind Gabriel, ready to make a move.
The whistle was blown, the ball was thrown. Both Allias and Gabriel jumped to catch the ball but Allias gained the upper hand with his height. Everyone begins to move swiftly, though the junior has less coordination. He passed the ball to his teammates, but Arthur, who was playing aggressively snatched it away, knocking the defender before making a dunk, ending the first second of the game.
The spectator was cheering. Arthur walked past Allias. "Try to keep up chum. Ooh... don't hurt yourself either." Allias gave Arthur a side eye before he bumped on his shoulder. Arthur smirked and Gabriel looked at him, "Control yourself, get your head in the game." Arthur stretched himself, "Relax bud, I know what I do."
The game started again. Allias turned to his team, giving them a strategy. Then they went into position, the whistle blew again and the ball was in Allias' hand this time. Suddenly, the juniors locked on to their target, making a way for him to pass. Likewise, Arthur passed through his guards and went straight to Allias. He blocked Allias' way but Allias remained calm and dribbled his way out, trying to make a space before he finally shot a 2 point for the team.
The crowd cheered on him, he lowered his head and looked at Arthur, "Keep up and try not to slip," before he backed away. Arthur was a bit enraged, but Gabriel grabbed his shoulder. "Just focus." he said, and Arthur clicked his tongue.
The crowd grew larger as time passed. They continue back the game each time getting back to back. Gabriel with his best pass, Allias with the long shot and Arthur with the aggressive dunk. The score just keep increasing, the play becomes more and more intense.
(After almost 90 minutes)
The score was down to 99-98, the clocked show 50 seconds left on the board. All of them on their stand with their last remaining energy. Although the senior was on the winning side, Allias tried to remain calm. The sweat running down their faces, the breath gets heavier and loud enough to be heard. Allias once again asked his team to pass the ball to him.
The remaining time becomes their chance for a comeback. Allias went on the offensive and Gabriel tried to go for a defensive play, but Allias' height just hard to be blocked, and he got passed and Arthur went heads on. Then they got into a hard collision. Both of them fell down but Arthur had it worse. He backed away, but twisted his ankle, he curled and groaned as he clutched his ankle. Gabriel quickly went to aid Arthur as he slung an arm over his shoulder to support Arthur's weight.
Allias also offered to help but, Arthur smacked his hands away. Gabriel reassured Allias and brought Arthur to the bench and the other student quickly put an ice on the injured ankle. Arthur was pissed, but he quickly got put back down by Gabriel. "Just rest dumb*ss, how are you going to play like that. I'll handle him," he said. Arthur looked at him, "You better be jack*ss."
With 27 seconds on the clock, Gabriel locked in to hold the score. The crowd gets hyped again after the short silence. It was finally a 1 on 1 between Allias and Gabriel. Both were tired and on their last remaining strength, the whistle blew and Allias went straight for an offensive play, dribbling the ball and passed it to his teammate. Pushing through Gabriel's team's defenses before he got the ball back. They went neck to neck, as the clocked was down to 7 seconds. Allias used his height for a dunk, but Gabriel reached out his hand to block. The adrenaline was rushing, the crowd kept on cheering, the time was running out, and Gabriel's hand reached the ball.
Allias screamed out and used all his strength to push the ball inside the hoop. The clocked ring, the final score was 99-100. Both of them landed on their backs and the crowd went wild as the teammate helped them to get sat down. They looked at each other, Gabriel smirked and held a fist and Allias accepted it. "Nice game," he said. Allias gets up and pulls Gabriel up and says, "Thank you," before the team cheered him.
Gabriel went back to the bench. Arthur looked at him. "You looked rough, why didn't you just play offensively instead?" Gabriel brushed it off. "I don't like getting too worked up," he said. Before going out of the court to wash up his sweat in the nearby washing area.
After all that, they all dismissed, but the match was still on people's topics. Allias was lying down on the floor as Charlotte sat beside him. "You did well today, nobody thought you'd be able to defeat them. Especially those 2 people." Allias gets up and sits beside her. "I got lucky. If Arthur hadn't injured his ankle in the collision, my teammates and I could've lost. But, I can't lie. It's fun." His face remained unchanged with the serious face.
Charlotte smiled at him and stood up before dropping a bottle of energy drink to him. "I'll treat you to something good when we have time," she said before walking away with a smile on her face.
As for Gabriel, Ellie went to look for him in the washing area. "Here, take this," she said. Handing him a towel and a bottle of water. Gabriel was startled but laughed it off. "I didn't hear you coming, thank you." Ellie leaned on the dry sink with her hands on the back supporting her body. "You did really well although your team lost. You should play more offensive," she said. Gabriel shrugged it off and smiled at her, "I don't want to get too worked up." He finished drying out the water before they walked back together, speaking casually along the way and laughing.
But Arthur wasn't that good. In an enraged state, he punched the locker door, leaving a dent on it. "That motherf*cker, don't think I'm going to let you go that easily," while holding his fist, completely pissed about what happened on the court.