Chapter 271 - Basketball Turned Into A Fight

Catherine and her two best friends, Eline and Mira were approaching. Josh haven't been to school while Mike was injured. Although friends, Dan felt out of place if he went along with the three girls. Therefore, as passive as he is, he didn't come with them, leaving only the three of them.

Meanwhile, Eline and Mira seemed nervous as they looked at Teren. Catherine was the only one who could come up to Teren and talk to him.

"You're a bit early."

Catherine waved and said upon arrival.

"Did you fix the trouble you caused?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you can ask Nick about it if you think I'm lying."

Teren casually replied. Catherine glanced at Nick and saw him nod so that's that.

"But unfortunately, it seemed that there are other people at the court."

Catherine pointed.

"Oh, about that, we are actually going to invite them for a match." Teren said with a smile, a bit excited.

"Wait, but you're just new..."

"It's my idea." Nick butted in and said.

Teren noticed that Catherine didn't immediately assume that the match he was talking about was about something like a deathmatch. Well, it's been long since she had seen his brutality, unlike Nick, so the latter can't be blamed for it.

"We heard it, you want a match?"

At that moment, Sean, with a ball squeezed with his wrist and his waist, came to them with an inspecting look.

"Look... cute chicks..."

Packboy elbowed Sam to which the latter got embarrassed.

"What do you want me to do? Talk to them?"

"Heh! You're such a wimp, let me show you how to get cute chicks!"

Packboy stood up and stepped forward and introduces himself.

"Hello, girls, my name's Pack."

He smiled in an attempt to look dashing.

"Ew... is he sexually harassing us?"

Eline whispered to Mira.

"..." Packboy's confidence was shattered in an instant before Sean placed his hand and pushed him away.

"Anyway, have we met somewhere?"

It was a common pickup line that Catherine and her friends thought it was for them when Teren answered.

"No, I don't think so."

But Teren just plainly shook his head. Nick and the others have no idea if he was lying or not since they don't know who Sean is.

Catherine is a hundred percent sure that Teren is Hat Guy. But she doesn't know the other people.

"You're from the Mershen High, right? Heh, a bunch of nerds."

Sean commented with a smirk as he glanced at Nick.

'Except this dude... he looks tough.'

He completely forgot his suspicion of Teren.

"We, nerds? What a low-IQ insult is that?" the first to rebuke was Catherine, "I think your school doesn't teach you enough, eh?"

"Heh, I have no time for small chatter, woman. So, are you up for a match?" Sean ignored Catherine and looked Nick as he ignored Teren.

"Woman!?"

A nerve popped out of Catherine's forehead while Mira was holding her down. Meanwhile, Eline was pulling her so that the two of them can fight this prick.

"Well, yeah."

Nick stayed undisturbed but he was actually raring to defeat these guys.

"There's only two of us, pick your best men." he confidently said.

"Hoh, you think highly of yourself." Sean has a weird pride so instead of doing what Nick said, he asked the team, "Who wants to go first?"

"Me!"

Packboy raised his hand, wanting to recover his image by showing his skills. He then pulled Sam's wrist and raised it too.

"What the fuck are you doing!?"

Sam, who seemed unnerved by the presence of cute girls, got angry at Pack.

This made the rest laugh except for the glasses guy who has been silent since the start.

"Sam, you should have confidence. Girls will come swooning over you if you act straight." Gomaro easily raised Sam's body since Pack was having trouble.

"Tsk! Fine...!"

Since it's only a two-on-two match, they are only using half of the court. Standing outside of the three-point line, Teren and Nick were the first to go offense since Pack and Sam want to 'give' them the advantage.

"Okay, once you got the ball, give it to me."

Nick said to Teren which made the rest confused.

"Is that guy belittling us by telling us his plan?"

Pack asked Sam while Sean thought the same.

"Okay," Teren readied himself as he looked at Pack who holds the ball. Pack then threw it to him, signaling the start of the match.

He easily caught it even though this is the first time he caught a pass. But there's one problem that he found.

'The ball is so light...'

This made Teren pause which made the defense team actually go forth to try and steal the ball. But before Sam could even get near, Teren imitated Pack's pass earlier and gave it to Nick.

Swoosh* the ball went over everyone's head with an insane speed. Teren thought that he gave it just a little force.

Bam*

"Don't worry, I got it!"

But Nick jumped at a height that the opposing players need to tilt their heads to see him.

"Oh, good job, Nick!"

Teren said with a smile to which Nick replied with a thumbs up before saying.

"Watch and learn... literally."

He then dribbled his way towards the ring but was blocked by Pack and Sam. Nick didn't mean to do it but his Spirit strengthens his flexibility, reaction, and coordination. With these factors along with his natural stamina, strength, and speed, he's like a monster at sports, especially at basketball which he grew up playing.

Nick passed Sam in a blink of an eye before he made a feint, making Pack drop on his back. Nick then jump and slammed.

Bam*

He swiftly landed and went to Teren for a high-five.

"Woah..."

Gomaro muttered. Is Nick a professional basketball player? If so, isn't it too low for him to show his skills to them?

"Bull, let's go in or these two idiots will just further embarrass themselves."

Sean looked at Gomaro to which the latter nodded. As they went in, they heard a familiar voice.

"What? It's already starting?"

Hearing this, many eyes fell upon her before she jumped and flipped over the tall barricade.

"Let me in!"

She said upon entrance.

"T-the Boss?"

Sean stuttered before he continued.

"Why are you here?"

Gomaro flinched after seeing this girl with a blonde ponytail. The others felt the same pressure, even the glasses guy as a bead of sweat trickled from their forehead.

Meanwhile, Catherine and her friends were wondering where they have seen this girl.

Trisha ignored Sean and went straight to Teren.

"So nostalgic, huh? Even though it's only been less than two months." she placed her elbow on Teren's shoulder with a smile.

"It's only been less than two months? Honestly, so much happened that I thought it's been a year already."

Teren casually replied before Catherine went there and asked.

"Excuse me, but who are you?"

Even Eline and Mira looked at their side to see that Catherine was gone. Even Catherine herself didn't know why she walked up like that. She was compelled to for some reason.

"Haa..! Boss...?"

Chihua just arrived at the scene catching his breath which was becoming a normal occurrence normal.

Ignoring another person calling out to her again, Trisha pointed at Catherine with an amused look.

"Who's this girl? Your new girlfriend?"

'And you rejected me?'

She looked at Teren with that question in her head. Strangely, Teren understood this and replied.

"No, she's my... friend."

Teren looked away after saying that last word. He didn't know why but it was fucking embarrassing.

"Yeah... his friend." Catherine muttered with a nod. A complicated feeling arose within her.

'Hmm... maybe because I don't know whether I should be happy or not for a psychopath like him to treat me like a friend.'

"Ah, just a friend. Why are you getting riled up, girl? Come on, get out of the court, we'll play ball."

Catherine's face twitched.

"My name's Catherine...!"

At that moment, Teren found pity in Catherine.

'Now that I think about it, this is the first time that Catherine encountered a person who's tough in and out. Meanwhile, she's just acting tough to be tough.' he thought as if he knew all about Catherine.

"Oh my god, I haven't had a Cat before. You're so cute."

Trisha removed her elbow on Teren's shoulder and caressed Catherine's head. At the next moment, she slapped Trisha's hand away.

"Don't touch me."

Meanwhile, on the side, Pack was crying in Sam's arms.

"Why is a dude like that so popular with pretty girls even though I'm thousand times more handsome than him? Sob.."

"Wow... the nerve of this guy... also, get off me!"

"Cat, you're so cute when you're angry." Trisha then looked down on Catherine with her arms crossed below her chest, this is more effective considering that she's taller by a few inches, "But, don't abuse the fact that your Teren's friend."

"Abuse?"

Catherine didn't know why but her blood was boiling just by the sight of Trisha looking down on her.