Page 63 of Teaching the Kot'oll Coach

These floatball ships are designed to bump against each other, but I still can’t find the appeal.

“Winnie! Chase the ball and send it into the goal!” Telke shouts again, seemingly a bit too excited about it, even more than me, who is in the game.

I step on the gas and lift my bat, the floatball is a few seconds away when a player from another team shows up to smack the ball away from their side.

“Speed up and bump him out of the way!” Telke’s voice comes again.

I roll my eyes at him. I know the ship makes it fair for smaller beings like me to be competitive, but...

I close my eyes as the ship bumps, swinging my bat at where the floatball should be at.

“Hey! You aren’t supposed to be smacking me!” The male teacher grunts as he ducks.

My bat hits something and before I know it, there’s a beep at the goal.

Telke blows the whistle. “Ayo! It’s a goal!”

I guess... I scored something.

The other teacher, who I probably almost smacked on the head laughs. “Maybe this is the move for the game.”

My cheeks grow hot, and I take the bat close to me again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you. I’m just bad at controlling all these things at once.”

“It’s okay. I’m trying my best too.”

I drive my ship back to my side before the next round. It’s not tired in the sense that I’ll have to run around, but my hands are tired, and so is my brain.

Telke says, “Everyone, do you need a break? We’ll continue for a bit more later and call it a day.”

Someone should define what’s ‘a bit more’ in Telke’s head.

But all of us land our ships and get out of them, regardless. It is getting dark, so I guess we won’t be staying here for long.

Telke grins as I go to him, where the bench with our bags and water bottles sits. He lifts one of his hands to me with his palm out. “You are actually pretty good at it!”

I give him a high five. “Thank you. Though I lucked out for sure. I almost slapped others with the bat.”

He chuckles. “I know, but that’s even more impressive. Imagine smacking a floatball with your eyes closed, that’s some planet-level skill.”

I roll my eyes and sip on my water. I’d smack his arm if there weren’t others around. He loves to mess with me.

He rests his hands on his waist with a big smile. It almost feels like we’re back to before things get awkward between us. He is always the happy one.

It doesn’t take long before he checks his watch and gets everyone back on the floatball ship.

I strap the bat on my hand again. Even though I’d love to see Telke happy, I’m not sure whether this floatball thing is a good idea.

But Telke seems to be having so much fun...

Oh... He hops onto the last ship with a bat in his hand. I guess he is going to have even more fun.

“Hiya! Let’s go!” He blows the whistle and almost blows out my eardrums.

I start the ship with the bat as the game system drops the floatball to the center of the field from above.

Focus and... to smack—

Before I even get close, Telke’s already there, he swings his bat and the floatball goes flying to the goal.

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