Play Chapter 002

Training

XXX International School Singapore

15 January 2020 6.29 pm

Inside the dormitory, a very awkward scene was happening.

Catherine was currently blushing to the tips of her ears, with Arche half-dressed in his room (bottom half. it’s the bottom half that is dressed.), and her gingerly wrapping his wounds, two bodies coming within very close contact with each other. Just before it was done, when she was doing the final wrap around Arche’s slender, muscular frame, Catherine’s best friend walked in.

If she thought things could not get any worse, it did. She released her hold on the gauze and shoved Arche away violently, and running to the other side of the room, face still as red as a tomato.

“I see. There’s no need to be shy of these things. I shall not interrupt you two with your … intimacy.” the blonde- haired girl walked away casually, long legs making an easy feat of covering the long distance to through the corridors, with a teasing smile on her face. She tried to explain the situation to the girl, but she whispered something Arche could not catch to Catherine, and if possible, she blushed even more. Catherine returned, this time behind Arche, tying up the last of the gauze.

“If you think shoving a patient is very funny, you are a sick lady.” Arche muttered, seemingly hurt when she shoved him away from her, and he was busy surveying the room at the same time. He saw many paintings of abstract places hanging all around the room, all in monochrome, in contrast to the maroon walls of the room.

“You drew all of these?” Arche asked, referring to the drawings, while Catherine agreed, with embarrassment in her tone. He smiled strikingly and casually, as if he did not know of how enticing he smiles. She looked away from his face, not knowing what to say next.

“You want to learn basketball as well?” Arche asked casually, changing the topic for her.

“Eh?” her voice was filled with shock, not sure of how to respond with the comment. She thought of it for a while, and decided that since she had nothing better to do for her free time other than drawing, so she nodded her head gently.

“I see. Then, let me brief you on how I will be teaching you. Every day, please wake up at five-thirty am, and report in front of the stadium with sportswear. After school, please come to the deserted area behind the warehouse one hour after lessons. I will be waiting at the aforementioned places, and please tell me if you need a break or something like that.” the whole training regime sounds serious and professional, even though he was her age, he was also very mature.

The next morning, she reported exactly at 5.30 am, and she saw his unclear shadow in the night, with only small, yellow lights lighting up the whole of the large stadium.

“Let us start by your stamina up for the intense sport basketball is. Every day, the running time and intensity is going to be different, so do not be surprised by any of it.” his voice was strict, yet warm as well, so even in the large, unlit stadium, she felt comfortable.

One full hour later, Catherine was lying on the floor, panting madly, and Arche, who was running beside her all the time, did not look even the least bit tired. Maybe, Catherine thought, maybe it is because he is a super-fit guy, especially when he has such a taut body… she unknowingly blushed, remembering the time when he undressed, revealing a washboard stomach and well-toned arm muscles.

“Come on, and let’s get changed.” Arche stretched out a hand, in which Catherine took gingerly. They went off to change (separately), and they attended lessons as usual, even though Catherine was yawning halfway through class. Arche looks completely unaffected at all; in fact, he looks to be those who can focus more after morning exercise. For her, it was not exercise; it was pure torture. She was always decent in the sports section, but after today’s lessons, she thought twice on her athletic abilities.

In the afternoon, after the lessons have ended, he took out two basketballs from his bag (who knows how he does that) and passed one to Catherine.

“Let us start by learning how to carry the ball; the technical term for it is dribbling, and if you cannot do this without fluency, none of the other stuff matters.” Arche was acting like a full-time coach already, and he was not even warmed up yet. She got into a squatting position, and started bouncing the ball, one minute on each side. To Arche, this was only simple warm-up exercises. “To learn the true essence of dribbling, you must do it everywhere you go. Practice bouncing it up stairs, down the stairs, sitting down, lying in bed, crapping in your toilet… when there is space for bouncing it, you do it.” the afternoon’s lessons were relatively easy compared to the morning’s; perhaps because he did not want to tire her out the first day, and without basic dribbling, he cannot continue on with any other lessons.

After he ended his relatively short lesson, the duo left for the basketball court, where Arche spotted a another guy, around his height, playing around with ridiculous yet amazing passes. He could not score much, yet the support he provided was enough to cover for his scoring, and more.

After the match, the guy came over and headed straight for Arche. When they came over, they met face to face, looking at each other tensely. Before they broke out into laughter.

“Catherine, please meet Nais Pioneer. This is the guy I’m going to recruit, along with a few others to form the basketball team in school.” Arche announced, making his goal clear to her. “Yeah, and now they realised they lacked one.” Nais pointed out, and they both laughed hardly. It was fun, watching these two guys make fun of each other, and she suddenly remembered Celine walking into her room when she was wrapping up Arche and his washboard stomach… enough of the ridiculous sidetracking, she thought, and let me explain it to her clearly. She told Arche he was looking for her friend, and immediately he asked if it was the tall, 190 so cm gal. she agreed; Celine was abnormally tall. “Suitable to be a centre,” as Arche said. “Well, the girls need a team as well, right? So let us all do the manhunt together.” Nais added, and it made sense. “But…what about the managers? Coaches? Equipment? And the premises?” she popped question after question, doubtful if the school team idea, however good, is feasible.

“I’ll be the coach for both the male and female teams, you can be the manager for our team and leader for the girls’, and there are two indoor basketball courts in finishing stages at the other end of the school, and the equipment… well, I could do the sponsorship…but there is going to be a lot of issues, but everything should iron out in the end.” Arche explained patiently to a flustered Catherine, which got more and more bewildered along the way.

“You mean all these is planned out, and we only have the team members left to find?” Catherine blurted out, voice filled with disbelief.

“Yes. And we really need the good players only.” Arche already turned his attention to the basketball court, surveying their playing methods and skill levels. He seemed to have spotted one very powerful player, playing as a strong forward, and he seems to have a perfect layup; no matter who or how many comes to block him, he manages to pull it off. Arche went forth to the guy, and spoke with him. Just a minute’s worth of work, and he got his name and contact number. Apparently he has a way with many people.

“Ranvier Lavou, 191 cm, 78 kg. We found our power forward.” Arche announced to Catherine and Nais, before the Ranvier guy appeared behind him, and said ,”What’s up, dudes? Name‘s Ranvier, came from Italy. Buon pomeriggio.” other than the Italian words, he seemingly had no particular accent. “C’mon guys, lets start locating all of the other people!” Nais enthusiastically shouted, and the three guys and one girl headed off, scouting for talents for the basketball team.

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