Part 2
"You got a game today honey?" Bella asked her boyfriend, who was wearing their engineering team's jersey uniform. They were in the latter's apartment as Phineas and Kelly geared up for their game against the HRM guys; Stacy was also there with her.
"Oh yeah." Phineas nodded, then gestured at his outfit. "What'cha think?"
Bella looked at his attire - it's a light blue jersey with FALCONS embroidered in the front with the number 8 below it. There's also a small Nike logo on the left chest and a falcon logo on the right. In the back is Phineas' surname embroidered proudly on top of the 8. As for the shorts, it's also in light blue with black and white stripes on the side and an 8 on the left thigh. He's also wearing white leg sleeves and instead of his usual Dame 4s, Phineas opted for a pair of blue UA Curry 3's that match his jersey colors.
"Damn you sure look well-equipped." His girlfriend whistled in amusement.
"I try my best." The couple made their way to the living room when they could see Stacy and Kelly ripping at each other's throats – a common scene in their apartment. Ignoring the altercation, Phineas asked. "Are you gonna watch today?"
"Not the first one, coz we've got a game at that time. But I'll watch your next game against the ICT guys." She turned to the other couple and tried to calm them down. "Alright Stace, I believe your babe's gotta catch a game."
The long-haired brunette rolled her eyes, "Yeah right, as well as catching the attention of one of the cheerleaders there."
"How many times do I have to tell you there are no cheerleaders there?!" Kelly wailed, grabbing his raven locks in shame. Phineas shook his head; his roommate is so easy to mess around with.
"C'mon man, let them hate. But we're gonna gun for that championship." He escorted a flustered Kelly out of their unit, with their girlfriends trailing behind.
"Why can't he understand sarcasm anyway?" Stacy complained.
"Search me GF, but let's just say we're the girlfriends of two of the most popular pick-up players in campus." Bella shrugged. Based on experience, she can relate to how the brunette is feeling the jealous mood.
"On that we can agree." Stacy conceded.
After dropping Stacy off in the annex gymnasium, where she was practicing the nursing cheer dance team, Bella drove to the soccer fields. It's only 8am, about an hour before the game starts, when she already saw the ICT Lady Surfers warming up for the game against the nursing girls team. Bianca was also there, watching the players go over their usual runs.
"Hey B. What's up?" She greeted the blue-haired soccer captain.
"They're already like this when I arrived. That ME junior Claire told me they were already here at around 6:30." Bianca replied.
Bella's jaw dropped; how can a simple sports fest soccer team beat them in practice? "That early?!" Bianca nodded. "And I thought 7am practice was early enough."
The whistle blew, with possession on the nursing team. The Surfers played tight defense on them, combined with their passing, they made sure their opponent had a hard time intercepting passes. This was all part of Bella's game plan - playing a 4-3-1-2 formation, a formation she's used to playing in the varsity team. Adding the fact that most of her players were former varsity players in high school, and she's coaching a well experienced team that almost didn't need her coaching. She and Bianca were simply there watching, just to make sure they stick to the playbook and make adjustments on the fly.
Two hours later, the Surfers won the match 3-1 and Bella and Bianca couldn't have been more proud. They made it to the qualifying round, where their next game is in 3 days.
"Great job girls!" Bella cheered. The rest of the team huddled together and started to do a victory dance.
"So who's hungry? My treat!" Bianca offered. The girls went ballistic, in which the soccer captain can only take as a yes.
"Alright then!"
Back in the engineering gymnasium, the Falcons have won their first game of the day, defeating the HRM team 78-72. Phineas played poorly, scoring only 8 points and 5 assists in 18 minutes of play. Kelly faired better with 14 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and a block. He and the rest of the team were headed to a hangout spot backstage with the team when someone called his attention.
"Phineas!" Phineas turned around to see a short-haired redhead girl. She's wearing a blue engineering department shirt, black leggings, and has a camera dangling by her neck; Phineas guessed her as one of the photographers covering their games.
"Oh hey there." He replied sheepishly.
Reggie rolled his eyes. "Come on man, let's go!"
"I'll follow suit." The redhead answered, gesturing his teammates to go on without him. Begrudgingly, the rest of the team left Phineas with the brunette.
Once the guys were out of earshot, Phineas spoke up. "Sorry about that. I…I didn't get your name?"
"Joanna Rogers, but you can call me Jona." The girl smiled as she outstretched her hand.
"Nice to meet you Jona." Phineas continued, shaking Jona's hand. There was a long silence which made the scene a bit awkward for the two of them.
"How come I don't usually see you around the CE building?" Jona broke the silence.
"I usually have split schedules, where one day I'd have all morning classes, the next its an afternoon to evening one. I also work on my OJT on Saturdays at a bus garage." Phineas explained.
"Please tell."
During the three hour layoff, Phineas and Jona hung out at the courtside cafeteria, talking about each other's lives and watching the other teams play. The redhead learned that Jona is also a freshman who takes mechanical engineering and is a photojournalist for the school paper, where she's currently covering the engineering side of the sports fest. When the rest of the team returned, Phineas introduced Jona to them, of which some of the players already knew of. Jona was easy-going with the guys and got along with them nicely; she likes to flirt with them even though some of them were already taken, Phineas included.
Meanwhile it's almost 4 in the afternoon and Bella and Princess were on their way to the engineering courts to watch Phineas and the Engineering Blue Falcons play against their department's team, the ICT Yellow Furies, which was due to start within the hour. The two saw the redhead doing some warmups before approaching a redhead woman sitting by their bench, offering him some water. From her body language, she's trying to flirt with Phineas, yet the redhead seems to act friendly to her. This made Bella jealous to the core; from 30 meters away, she glared at the girl who now offered to wipe Phineas' sweaty forehead.
"Yo Bella, looks like someone's trying to steal your man." Princess commented. If looks could kill, Bella would've buried the mystery girl 6 feet under for flirting with her Phineas.
"I'm not jelling Princess!" she denied, although the blush in her cheeks proved otherwise.
"Yes you are." Princess riposted, "Look at you. You're so red you can give Phineas' hair a run for his money!"
Bella glared at the brunette, "I hate you." The two friends walked towards the Falcons' bench, and once Phineas caught his girlfriend's eye, she let him know her feelings through verbal thrashing.
"What the hell is this?!" she ranted.
"What? I just finished doing my shootaround and Jona's kind enough to get my stuff." Phineas explained. He knew he had to defend himself from Bella's easy to assume mindset whenever he's with another girl. Even though I'm annoyed at her rants, I find it cute that she gets all worked up. he thought.
"Come on babe, you know you're the only girl I need. You and Stacy got to chill aight?" He added sarcastically.
Jona perked up, wondering who's this girl Phineas was arguing with. "Is she your girlfriend, Phin?" Phineas nodded.
"Yep. Jona this is Isabella, my girlfriend. Babe, this is Jona, she's a photographer for the school paper. She's covering our side of the sports events." He introduced the two girls to one another, and they shared a quick hug.
Bella blushed, "I'm sorry if I assumed too quickly. It's just….I kinda get jealous easily when you're with another girl." she always felt embarrassed whenever her boyfriend makes friends with another girl and goes flat out jealous on him.
"Well, I'm glad that my girlfriend gets jealous when I'm with another girl, even though said girl is a new friend of mine." Phineas smirked. For this game, he would be starting at shooting guard, because their usual starter, 6'2" ECE senior Jamal Grant, was out with a wrist sprain. Once he heard the horn blow, signaling 5 minutes before tip off, Phineas got up for the team huddle.
"Go out there and kick some ass dude!" Jona patted his shoulder before heading to the sidelines to cover the action.
He then turned to his raven haired girlfriend. "Just talk nonstop trash if I have possession, love you!" he said before giving her a quick kiss on her lips.
"Love you too hun."
The game started without a hitch and Phineas went off strong. Redeeming himself from the abysmal performance earlier, he scored the team's first 11 points in just over two minutes. Bella and Princess sat a few rows behind courtside, where the ICT crowd was also sitting. From the 'Defense!' chants to trash talking her boyfriend whenever he's in possession, the raven haired teen was certainly one of the loudest among the crowd. But perhaps the most prominent trash talk that Bella puts out is whenever Phineas is at the free throw line. Phineas saw the foul line often, thanks to his clever foul drawing skills.
"YOU SHOOT BRICKS!" Bella shouted, just as Phineas made his 2nd free throw. As he made his way towards where she's sitting, the redhead gave her a smug smile. Bella grinned back at him like the Cheshire Cat.
"Oh no you didn't girl!" Princess remarked. She knew that it was pretty much over for their team.
"Yes, yes I did just that." her friend smirked.
In the second half, Phineas and the Falcons continued their onslaught as they started the 3rd quarter with a 10-0 run. Offensively, they thrived at running a slow grinded out game, but defensively, it was even better. Whenever the ball is with the opponent's best perimeter player, Phineas would constantly stick to him, trying to shut him down. He's also adept at running around screens, hounding the opposing team's best shooter.
The Falcons eventually won this game 84-75, finishing the elimination round with an 8-2 record, earning them the 2nd seed. Phineas became the man of the game with 24 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, and 2 steals.
1 week later
In the final four matchups, the Falcons were against the 4th seed Education Green Rangers, whom they swept in two games. Phineas thrived in these games, averaging over 22 points and 8 assists while only playing 20 minutes per game. Bella would always watch him play and talk trash, which enables him to play at a high level. This meant the Falcons would play against the Accountancy Black Panthers, a team seeking to three-peat.
As for the Lady Surfers, their team made the semis but lost a tough game against the education team. Even though her team lost, Bella was more than proud of the girls' effort in making the semis, a feat the CICT hasn't attained in 6 years. She was ecstatic that for a freshman, she coached this team whose players have a serious potential in making the varsity team.
One night at the Nosh-Ole Mexican Jewish Café, Phineas took Bella out on their first date since classes resumed.
"If I ain't winning that title for myself, I'm doing it for you." he declared.
"Aww, but hun, I don't need a trophy to impress me. You alone are more than enough to do that." Bella smiled.
"God, I'm so lucky to have you babe." Phineas gazed at her lovingly.
"You always have me." she added, before pecking his cheek.
The couple simply enjoyed the night out in each other's company. Despite being busy with their respective department's teams during this stretch, it has been capped off by them not caring about sports for just one night. Because tomorrow is a big game for Phineas, and Bella was aware of it.
A/N: For reference, the basketball games are 40 minutes long, 10 minutes per quarter.