Page 64 of Teaching the Kot'oll Coach

The other team sends a goalie to smack the floatball away, which... is flying my way.

Or more accurately, flying to another player of their team.

She drives her ship over there to catch the floatball while I stomp on the peddle, lifting the bat to my best effort. It is a long bat for me, which... gets heavy.

Telke’s voice comes from the earbud again. “Hold with both hands until you’re ready to hit. Like baseball bat, something like that.”

I take a breath. “Then I can’t control the ship. I don’t have four hands.”

“Just go straight and bounce against the wall.”

“Fuck no!”

The wall of the field is a force-field that’s transparent and will bounce things that hit it back like an actual wall. Even though I know the ship is designed to slam on things, I’m going to treasure my life a bit more than that.

I hold the bat with both hands, regardless. Just because I strapped the bat doesn’t mean it is lightweight.

I control the ship with my elbow. At least I’m going mostly straight, so that doesn’t require a lot of control.

Getting close, I reach my bat to the floatball, but the other female teacher is quicker. Or technically, has a longer tentacle arm.

She smacks the ball, but I poke it right after the floatball leaves her bat. The ball weakly flies to where I poke it.

I hurry to grab the handle to steer the ship, but another of my team is quicker and takes charge soon enough.

“Go, team!” Telke’s cheer is powerful as always. He may be the most excited one in the field.

He is a distance away from the floatball, though, leaving plenty of room for the others to play. Maybe he knows he’d be too competitive and aggressive for everyone to learn the game.

I chase the ball and try to control everything, but this floatball thing... I need more hands. Telke makes it look a lot easier than it actually is.

He chases the ball at times, but looks like he is taking his time and controlling himself. There are flames in his eyes that burn from afar. He is a wild ball of energy. The way he looks at the floatball even when he isn’t chasing it...

I shiver when his gaze sets me on fire even when he isn’t even looking at me. The intensity in him pulses in the air and echoes its way to me.

When he pinned me to the wall that day, was his gaze as intense?

I shake my head. What am I even thinking? I should be—

“Winnie!”

I blink to focus on the game, but...

“Oof!” I barely lift the bat quick enough before the floatball hits me in the face. It bounces off and spares my poor face. It must hurt to get splatted like that. Apparently, I didn’t learn after I almost got smacked earlier.

A few staff fight to stifle their laughs while my cheeks grow even hotter.

Telke shrugs. “Maybe it’s getting dark now. Before the floatball can actually hit someone, let’s call it a day. We’ve gone through the rules and the basics anyway. I suggest that the teams can practice on their own. If you guys need help, just let me know. I hope everyone will enjoy floatball as much as possible.”

His two upper arms are in the air, and so is the bat, so... his passion for this sport is showing and that’s strangely attractive.

Even though I should focus on keeping our distance, he has a way of pulling me in with his charm.

And... Ossa, the mean orange cat, likes Telke too...

Chapter 28

Telke

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