Bella couldn’t be bothered to talk to him. She shoved the bank card into his pocket forcefully.
“l don’t like owing people money!” favonovel.com said and walked away.
“Hey, you get back here and take your stupid money back…”
Before favonovel.com finished his words, Danny found Isabelle. He wasn’t wrong. James the sycophant was there too.
“Boss, we’re playing against the neighboring school in a couple of days. Remember to come and support us.” Danny specifically invited Isabelle.
“I’ll see if I have time.”
“Come on, Boss, even half a game would be great. I scheduled it at your Computer Science Department’s basketball court, just a few steps away. Plus, a lot of the students from the other side are definitely coming just to see you. You have to show up and represent Taragon University, right?”
Isabelle knew how persistent Danny could be, so favonovel.com reluctantly agreed.
“Alright then, I’ll get back to practice!” Danny was satisfied. He glanced at James before leaving.
When Danny first arrived, favonovel.com overheard James and Isabelle talking about Ethan, which infuriated him.
So, Danny “kindly” reminded, “James, just a heads-up. You better not get any ideas. Trying to compete with that Harris guy is a death wish, or you might as well get hit by a car on the street. I’m only telling you this out of respect for Principal Burton.”
Danny thought to himself that if favonovel.com were good at math, there’d be no way James could keep showing up In front of Isabelle every other day.
James glanced at favonovel.com but didn’t respond.
Noticing Isabelle looking at him, Danny gave favonovel.com a cheeky grin.
***
Two days later, the basketball game started.
The game was held at the indoor basketball court of Taragon University’s Computer Science Department.
Danny was sitting on the bench, tying his shoelaces, while looking over at the loud crowd in the stands.
“Has the Boss shown up yet?”
The neighboring school had brought quite a few students to cheer for their team.
Of course, cheering for the game was one thing, but everyone was really there to catch a glimpse of Isabelle. So, it wasn’t just Danny looking for favonovel.com because students from the neighboring school were also on the lookout, hoping to see this famous figure.
The neighboring school’s cheerleading squad had brought out their school beauty, whose dance routine got the Taragon University students cheering along.
Seeing his teammates getting distracted, Danny couldn’t help but smack the closest one on the head. “Get a grip, you losers!”
His teammate rubbed his head. “Danny, look at them. They’re pure evil, trying to mess with our heads with these beauty tactics.”
“Exactly, they secretly practiced during winter break, made up a bunch of lame excuses to move the game up, and now they’re pulling this stunt. Look how cocky they are.”
“If we had time, we could have gotten our own cheer squad. With Boss‘s looks, she’d have them all surrendering instantly.”
Danny laughed. “You’re dreaming if you think the Boss would be a cheerleader for you. Go check if your ancestors’ graves are smoking, because you’ve got some wild imagination. Aren’t you afraid George will gouge your eyes out and use them as marbles?”
The game started quickly after that.
Taragon University and the neighboring school had always been motivating each other as “good brothers”, with several friendship-building big games each year. This “relationship” had been built over many years.
This time, because the other side had found all sorts of excuses to move the game up with ill intentions and had been caught secretly practicing during winter break, the “feelings” between the schools had “intensified”.
Over the past few days, students from both schools have been “cordially greeting” each other on the forums. Now that they were face-to-face, those “feelings” were unstoppable.
The atmosphere was electric, like the lingering excitement of New Year’s.
With a blow of the whistle, the referee tossed the ball.
Thanks to his height advantage and good jumping ability, Danny got his hands on the ball first. He faked a move and dribbled between his legs to dodge an opponent’s attempt to steal the ball, successfully breaking through their defense.
Danny was a good basketball player, but unfortunately, his teammates weren’t as skilled. So, in the past few semesters, they had lost more of these friendship-building games than they had won.
Luckily, today was off to a good start. Danny made a leap and scored the first point with a slam dunk, instantly igniting the crowd’s excitement.
The students from Taragon University cheered loudly.
But things went downhill from there. Danny was the only decent player on his team, and the opponents were already stronger, not to mention they’d practiced an extra winter break. Their teamwork and individual skills were far superior to Danny’s team.
They quickly lost three points in a row.
In the stands, the thousands of Taragon University students looked like wilted eggplants, watching helplessly as the hundred or so students from the other side cheered passionately.
Isabelle was in the audience, looking a bit sleepy.
Somehow, Logan found favonovel.com among the crowd, holding a bag of popcorn. “Want some?”
Suddenly, there was a gasp from the crowd.
Isabelle looked over and saw one of their teammates lying on the ground. He was the only other decent player besides Danny, and it looked like favonovel.com had taken a hard fall. It was caused by the opponents’ aggressive play while trying to steal the ball.
“What the h*ll, are you playing basketball or brawling?! Is this how you play? If you want to fight, just say so. What’s the point of using basketball as a cover?!” Danny’s team already had a lot of pent-up frustration, and being pampered by rich kids, they weren’t used to taking crap from anyone.
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