Under | stephen curry

scrims

"Then, wanna come watch me play this week?" 

Protagonist's

And with that, I just know this guy will be over the moon once I say what he wants me to. I think hard, averting my gaze from his expectant eyes; stay strong, Lovi.

"Actually. . ." I trail off, still assessing the situation wherein, if I say yes—considering how he is—he may go overboard if I'm watching him play. Just like what others say, too much can be bad.

I look back at him who's patiently waiting for my answer.

Wait, but if I reject him, he might still use that as motivation to go overboard and possibly hurt himself while playing.

"I also have shit to do that day, but I'll try and come by." There we go, that's just right.

"Aight, you better," he says with a hint of excitement, making me chuckle.

--

"Again, let's recap our topic on stoichiometry—"

Knock knock

The sound from our classroom's front door interrupts the teacher's sentence, making several heads turn towards it. The school's basketball coach greets the authority, mouthing a couple of words after.

"Thompson, Curry, and Green, you're now excused." our teacher announces, letting them exit through the backdoor. Our classmates clapped in response, some even obnoxiously hollering and screaming good luck.

I catch Stephen's eyes for a split second before he leaves, giving him a reassuring eye smile before turning my attention back to the pile of reviewers on my desk.

"Alright, all of you, that's enough." I spin my pen, everything around me going mute.

--

Stephen's

"Five bucks; she won't come." I hear Dray make a bet with Klay, who on the other hand, keeps on insisting she would. "deal," I drop my shoulders dramatically, canceling my shooting motion. "Really, guys?" I say, turning to them with a sour face. "No need for that bro; I know I'm getting the five bucks." Klay says in an attempt to brighten me up.

"Get to practice," I say bitterly, throwing the ball at him and stealing his seat. Fishing out my phone, I go to a messaging app I barely even open.

LEE     ○offline

I stare at my phone blankly before shutting it off, a familiar calmness overtaking me. That's right, no distractions now, just like how it has always been; just me and the ball.

The sound of the whistle snaps me out of my solitude, asking everyone to gather in the middle of the court and meet the visiting school. I put on a slight smile, making my way towards them. I acknowledge the players we're against while also doing multiple secret handshakes with my teammates.

"Let's focus on the game," I voice out to Klay and Dray once I get next to them, and they can only give me a guilty smile.

The referee announced a few rules before arranging the tip-off, and with that, the game started.

Protagonist's

"This is cool and all, but—" Piona gives me the side-eye as I stare back at her blankly. "Why are you wearing a mask?" she asks, looking at me suspiciously as we clap along with the game's audience. "And that hood—" she adds, trying to rip it off my head as I fight back to keep it on. "Bruh stop, I can't be exposed—maybe later." I say in an attempt to explain.

She stands incredibly still this time, staring me down like a fucking npc, demanding answers. "Fine, you know how I'm always on the internet? So I read this article about a famous athlete who got injured because he was trying to be a show-off for her girlfriend, who decided to watch his game that day. . ." I blabbered and rapped on and on about my bullshit, earning a wheeze from her.

"Talk about 'overthinking not being the plan right now'." she mocks, repeating what I said to her back then word for word. "OKAY," I raise my voice jokingly, she got me good.

"Okay fine, keep the mask or the hoodie, but take THAT off." she says, pointing at my shades. "NO," "YES, YOU'RE EMBARRASSING." She snatches it off my face, only to put it on hers. "You say that, but then you wear it like a hypocrite." "that's right," she responds cheekily, smoldering right after. I let out a small 'ew' before turning my attention back to the game.

"Fuck you Piona, he's so fine." I say with a dead serious face, staring at his back; Curry 30, it read. "Don't say that with a blank expression, you scare me." she says, horrified.

Swoosh

Three points get added to our school's score on the board, "that was so hot," I say with total deadassery again, snatching my shades back from her as the game right in front of us reflected on it.

The enemy scores a two on the paint as they all head back towards our side of the court. Some sort of rotation takes place as the ball gets handed to Stephen, who proceeds to make some shiftyass moves, making way for a bucket.

"YO, HE FUCKING DID THAT!" I remove my suffocating black mask, the itch to be a hypeman winning over me. Thankfully, Piona slapped a handful of popcorn in my mouth, suppressing the loudness of my overly excited shout.

I munch on the popcorn, practically drowning and choking on it whilst I still try to cheer him on. Tears start to cloud my vision as I fight for my life versus the snack, Piona slapping my back as I do so. "Thanks for the popcorn—I almost died though." "yo'rhe werjlcome," she says, her mouth full of it.

I was getting so immersed in the game until a tallass man disrupted my perfect view. "Hey, can you go to the back? I'm shorter than you." I tap on his shoulder, calmly speaking. "Oh? Sorry—" he was about to move till he saw me. "Why you wearing sunglasses indoors? Weirdo." I'm guessing he was trying to playfight, but I wasn't having any of it.

"If you don't get your lankyass out of my face." I meant every word, but he still thinks I'm playing.

"Number one rule of a romance novel," I hear Piona dictate beside me before the man in front of us straight up passed out. "—when the female lead is watching the basketball game, the ball WILL hit her, so don't do what this man just did." Piona continues to narrate to thin air while I try so hard not to laugh my ass off; a couple of freshmen dragging the victim's body away.

I clutch my glasses, taking them off, and laughing with zero sound—my body just shaking there. I hold on to Piona for support, as she also tries her best not to laugh, digging her face into the bucket of popcorn.

"buddy?" I covered my mouth and slowly looked upfront; there he was, slightly panting with a smile so priceless, directed only at me. "you came,"