Pancakes | (bxb) ✔️

Chapter 25

Axel's POV

The sound of shoes squeaking, balls bouncing as opponents eye each other up. I've missed this so much, the environment of a basketball tournament.

"Hey, did you hear? Number 8 of the Blue Koyas is going to be playing on one of the teams today" I hear a guy say and I smirk. I still have no idea how word got around, but I think it's funny when people are talking about me without knowing I'm listening to them.

"Yeah, I heard. I hope it's just a rumour though" the other guy says and I hold in a laugh.

"Nah dude. He probably stopped playing after he disappeared, so he's probably out of his prime. How sick would it be if we beat him?" the guy says excitedly and I smirk.

"What are you smirking about?" I hear Jay ask as he comes to stand beside me.

I smile, "They're talking about mysterious number 8 and I just think it's funny when people are talking about me, not knowing that I'm listening. It's like when people talk shit about you in another language, but you actually understand what they're saying" I say and Jay laughs.

"You're adorable"

"Oi, Captain. Stop flirting with your boyfriend and get your ass over here" Vincent says as the other boys snicker. I wave Jay goodbye and walk over to them, whacking Vincent on the head as I walk by.

"Okay, so you guys are playing the Water Turtles today. They're the team that made it to the semifinals last year, so make sure you be careful about them" Coach says and we nod.

"It won't be a problem, we have the country's best player on our team" Yohan says and I hear sounds of agreement coming from the rest of the team.

"Just because we have Axel, doesn't mean that you guys can slack off. Even with the country's best player, we can't win if the rest of the team doesn't try" Tom says and they all shut up. I'm grateful for Tom because even though I have the captain's title, he acts more like it than I do. I'm more like an assistant coach.

"It's time, boys. Let's go" Coach says as we head to the court we're playing on. I look up and see Pete, Franco, Tyler, Jack, Jay, May, Dan, Jason and Mace sitting on the stands. I wave to them and they all start a chant that they horribly messed up. They stop and glare at each other accusingly and I laugh.

"Axel, get on the court. The game's about to start" Coach says and I nod, taking off my hoodie to reveal my jersey number, number 8.

I head onto the court and I hear guys from the other team snicker.

"He's starting? But he's tiny"

"He's going to get pummelled, I almost feel bad for the kid"

"Should we go easy on them?"

I roll my eyes at the typical comments. I heard them all the time when I first started at the Blue Koyas, but they shut up when we won the championship.

We get in our positions, Tom doing the jump ball and I stand off to the side. The whistle blows and the ball is thrown. Tom jumps and gets the ball easily, passing it to Yohan. Yohan dribbles a bit before he passes it to me and I dribble past all the guys on the other team and jump. I dunk the ball and land, the gym goes silent. Even the people on the other courts stopped their game and are looking at me with wide eyes.

"I didn't know you can dunk" I hear Gregory say, and I shrug.

"Didn't get a chance to do it during practice"

Everyone seems to recover from their shock and resumes what they were doing. The other team dribbles the ball and passes to the guy I'm guarding, probably assuming that it'll be easy to get past me because of my height. I quickly jump and catch the ball before the guy can get it, and I dribble to the three-point line. I jump and shoot, the ball going in with a swish.