Mother of Pearl: A Floyd Leech x OC Fanfiction [ON HIATUS]

Chapter 49

I don't know what I was watching, but I wouldn't call it basketball. It was more like an awkward mix of Keep-Away or Monkey-in-the- Middle. All of this was because Floyd was absolutely dominating the court. He wasn't going easy at all.

I think this is an even worse beating from when he played me...

"Geez! Why is he so into it today?!" a raspy voice from a teammate exclaimed. They were taking a small water break after a 3v3 drill against the wild merman.

My condolences... I sighed as I looked over what I had gather for Ace in previous drills. It wasn't terrible. He was able to cross the court seven times in one minute in the basic drill and he showed fabulous control during the dribble conditioning drills. The suicide drill was a train wreck, however. I scribbled down some notes in the margins.

"Hey. Hey~ Leafy Sea Dragon did you see what I did?" Floyd gleefully bounded over. His hair was sticking to his forehead from all the sweat. "Those little guppies were so easy to beat!"

"Well, when you keep dunking on them it does become child's play," I commented as I tucked my pen back behind my ear.

"That means you were watching me, right~," Floyd gave me a cheeky smile. I paused for a moment.

This little punk! How do I respond to that without sounding like I'm a flustered mess?!

...Chill Viv. Just state it nonchalantly.

I cleared my throat and shrugged, "Ace wasn't playing, so I didn't need to record anything."

"Did you record anything for me?"

"No."

Floyd's mood visibly dropped, "Eh~? Why not?"

"Because I'm only here to record Ace's stats," I reiterated.

"Hmph," he pouted.

"Next teams to play! Ace, Jamil, and Victor against James, Fredrick, and Darian! On the court!" the coach yelled out.

"Duty calls! I grinned. I took my pen from behind my ear and got ready to record Ace's shot-to-score ratio.

"Leafy Sea Dragon~," Floyd whined.

"Hey Leech! Get to the lay-up drill!" the coach ordered.

"Tch," Floyd clicked his tongue and sat next to me. "If Leafy isn't going to watch me, then I don't feel like it."

"Ugh, fine. Everyone else at my whistle!" the coach blew into his whistle and the next round of practice began.

"Leafy~ can I squeeze you?" Floyd leaned over me.

"No," I quickly muttered out. I followed Ace's movements with care. I tallied each shot on the basket he himself made from the total his team had. Each assist and block of his was also marked down. My eyes went back and forth from the paper to the scrimmage. I was getting tunnel vision to keep up with the fast pace. I could feel Floyd's stare from my left. My braids fell in my face to shield me from his heterochromatic eyes. The sound of sneakers squeaking filled my ears.

"Hey Leafy. How can you see through all that seaweed in your face?"

"Huh?" I turned my head slightly in his direction to show I was listening. "Seaweed? What are you -"

I stopped mid-sentence as I felt something graze against my face. My braids were pushed behind my ears. I turned to face him fully with wide eyes.

"I much rather prefer to see Leafy Sea Dragon's face than all the seaweed they hide in. Hehe~" Floyd gave a toothy grin to show off his sharp choppers.

I felt my face and neck heat up as my mouth dropped. "I-I...Y-you-!"

"HEY WATCH OUT!!" someone yelled.

I turned my head to see a basketball hurtling towards my head. "Crap!" I crossed my arms in front of my face, bracing myself for an impact that never came.

"Are you okay Leafy Sea Dragon?"

I lowered my arms to see that Floyd had reached across me and palmed the basketball inches from my face. My mouth hung open as I processed what just happened. Floyd threw the ball back to the Scarabia player who lost control of the ball.

"Viv! You alright?" Ace called out. He ran over to me as his teammate got scolded.

"Uh, yeah. Floyd stopped it before I got hit," I assured. I was half dazed trying to figure out the situation myself.

Ace sighed, "Thank goodness. I didn't want to think about what Prefect Yuu would do if they saw I got you hurt from helping me."

"Meh, the worst that would have happened is I got a broken nose or something," I waved it off.

"Trappola! Leech! Get over here now!" the coach projected across the gymnasium.

"Ah, it's probably the closing huddle," Ace surmised. "You can go back to Ramshackle if you want Viv. I'll grab whatever you wrote tomorrow."

"Sounds good," I gave him a thumbs up. Ace went off with Floyd in tow. I got up and gave a big stretch. Sitting on bleachers absolutely destroyed my spine. I hummed to myself as I gathered my things together.

Floyd really saved my hide there...again. That makes, what? Two times he stopped something from smacking me in the face? Gosh darn it. I should do something to thank that Pool Noodle... But I really don't want to...But Nan said to always repay kindness...Aggh!

I roughly scratched the root of my braids as I went to exit the gym. As I put my hand on the door, the coach's booming voice made me jump a bit. "Vivienne Abiba!" I slowly turned around to see the huddle of basketball players dispersing. Only Ace remained next to the overly muscled teacher. He waved me over and I heaved a sigh. Ace shot me a half-hearted smile when I got closer.

"Yes sir?" I got a closer look at the coach. His red and gold track suit made his body-builder physique more obnoxious. His semi-pompadour connected to his beard to frame his boxy smirk.

"Do you know who I am?" he crossed his arms. I squeezed my lips into a line as I shook my head. "Of course not, cause you're never in PE."

"Well sir, that's because- "

"Yeah, yeah. Crowley and the nurse told me there are medical reasons why you are exempt from my class," he cut me off, "but I still think a key part of a budding magician's career is to be physically strong! Or else my name isn't Ashton Vargas!"

I felt my jaw drop slightly as I watched this man. Before I could even think twice my feet took a step back from his boisterous behavior.

"Now, Trappola here tells me the reason you were viewing the practice was to record some base stats for him. Is that right?"

"Y-yes..." I squeaked. He held out his hand, an arrow shaped bracelet glinted off his wrist. I looked from his hand to his expected face. Without exchanging any words, I robotically pulled the notebook I had been using out and turned it to the corresponding page. I gently offered it to Coach Vargas who took it with as much fervor as a track star in a relay.

He scanned over the page and then looked me dead in the eyes. "Have you managed basketball before?"

I felt my heartrate go up. "Not basketball, per-say. I used to manage my old school's hockey team," I muttered.

"Then how come you have such detailed notes on how to improve each skill?"

"M-my, well, I have-had-have an older brother who played, and our dad was really into it so I just, kind of, paid attention to them?"

He puckered his lips as he scanned the page once more. I swayed in place as I looked about the gym. Team members were exiting the lockers and going about their business. Ace was still next to me tapping his foot.

Coach Vargas got our attention, including those in the gym at the time as he slapped my notebook. "AHA! This is great!"

"My stats?" Ace prodded.

"Great Sevens, no. You have a long way to go Trappola," Vargas shut Ace down. "No, I say we found our new manager!"

"Saywhat now?"