Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to ABC Disney, Shonda Rhimes and the TV show Scandal. All credit to them.
"What was that all about?" Harrison asks.
"Oh nothing. I think I've found a way to stick it to the Coach after all." He says as they head into the school.
"Really? How is that?"
"His daughter."
"What?!" Harrison says choking on his gatorade.
"You heard me. I said his daughter. Now I need to develop a plan on getting her attention."
"And what exactly do you plan to do with his daughter? Although I doubt she will even entertain you for longer than a minute."
"Are you trying to say I have no game?" Fitz says laughing as they sit at one of the tables in the courtyard.
"He must have some game all the girls he's been with."
"That's right, remind him who the king is around here Huck."
"Yeah ok, I'll give you that but she's not some dumb cheerleader. She's actually a bit of a geek and a little uppity."
"Uppity? How the hell do you figure that?" Fitz says laughing.
"You know, the too good for you type. I mean she's on the swim team, like how many black people do you know that are actually on the swim team?"
They all laugh.
"Didn't you just find out who she was the same time I did? How do you know all of this?"
"I didn't know who she was but I have been peeping her on the low-"
"Shh. Shh. Save it, there she is with Abby." Fitz says cutting him off.
"So. They are way over there why do we have to be quiet?"
"Because I need to concentrate. Forget it, she is just a means to an end, watch me work my magic." Fitz says getting up and running over to where she was walking with Abby.
"Hey Abby. You coming to the game tomorrow?"
"You know I never miss a game." She says smiling at him.
"Ok, you know I had to make sure. Well..I'll see you there. Tell your mom I said hello." He flashes her his best smile before walking off.
"Who was that Abby?" Olivia says watching him walk away.
"Shit Liv, I forgot to introduce you. That was Fitz Grant, he is the star of the basketball team." She says casually.
"Oh ok." Olivia says nonchalantly.
She played off her interest in him for Abby's sake but she wanted to know more. She glanced in his direction one last time before they got to her car.
"Was that your great plan?" Huck asked sarcastically.
"No, just a piece of it. By completely ignoring her I planted a seed. She will be dying to find out anything she can about me. Knowing her type though, she would never approach me so I will find her after the game." He says confidently.
"Umm that sounds like the dumbest plan I've ever heard. How do you even know that she will be at the game?"
"Her dad is the coach. If she is as uppity as you say she is then she and the rest of her family will be there being all supportive and shit."
"If by some miracle you are right and this works, then what? Date her just to spite her dad?" Harrison asks confused.
"Something like that but I was thinking more on a bigger scale. I can't give away my whole plan right now it's still too soon."
"You are horrible." Harrison laughed. "I'll catch you guys tomorrow I have to get home."
"Alright, later. Huck you need a ride today or are you good?" Fitz asked getting up.
"Nah man I'm good. I'll walk."
"Don't be ridiculous. I can drop you off."
"You sure?"
"Let's roll."
"So what do you think of the school so far Liv?" Abby asked on the way home.
She and Abby had been neighbors since her sophomore year. Their parents got along quickly and so did they. They were inseparable on weekends but now that they went to the same school she was excited.
She continued to attend the private school that her parents enrolled her in until about a month ago when she and Abby finally convinced them that she wouldn't be receiving a lesser education by attending public school. Especially one of the top public schools in the city.
Her mother was easy to win over but it was her father who took a little more work. He wanted weekly written reports on what she learned from each of her classes and she had to host a study session on Thursdays. It was a lot but she could handle it.
"It's fine. Everyone seems nice."
"Any boys catch your eye yet?"
"Abby.."
"What Liv? It's been two months since you and Mark broke up. Don't you think it's time to move on?"
"We didn't break up Abby, he dumped me with no explanation after two years. I don't know if I'll ever be able to move on." She says sighing.
"I get it. He was your first love." Olivia gives her a look. "Ok, your first everything but you have to get back out there. What about Fitz?"
"Who's Fitz?" Olivia asks pretending like she forgot him already.
"You know, tall handsome basketball player I forgot to introduce you to less than twenty minutes ago."
"Ohh him. Yeah he looks like the ultimate jock that probably always gets his way. No thanks. Not to mention he does play for my dad." She says putting her car in park and getting out.
"That's right. I know daddy Pope ain't having that." Abby says laughing. "That's alright we will find you someone else and soon because I want to double date."
"Whatever. I'll see you in the morning and try not to be late. I know I won't hear the end of that tonight."
"I'll try. Damn you for having the strictest parents ever!" She says heading towards her house.
Olivia shakes her head and goes inside. She hangs her keys up and goes to speak to her father in his office.
"Hey, I'm home. You wanted to see me?" She says sitting in the chair in front of his desk.
"So you switched schools to be late? Did we not raise you to be on time?"
"It was one time dad. I told you that in gym earlier."
"I don't believe in one time mistakes. Especially when I know you know better. Do I need to have you leave with me in the mornings?"
"No, sir." She says making sure to keep good eye contact with him so that he knew she was paying attention.
"I don't want you to think I'm on your case no reason Olivia. Your mother and I worked hard to get where we are. We don't want you to get distracted when you are at the finish line. Ok." He ssure standing and giving her a kiss on the forehead.
"Yes, dad. I know and I will do better."
"Go on and get ready for dinner. Your mother is almost finished."
"Olivia, how was school today?" Her mother asked while they ate dinner.
"It was fine."
"And you honey, how was practice?"
"Good. I feel like the boys are coming around but one of them is going to be a little harder to break than I thought. The real test will be tomorrow night's game." He says taking a bite of his food. "Speaking of the game, you two will be present won't you?"
"You know I'll be there. I made sure I wasn't on call." Maya says smiling.
"Olivia?" He questions.
She swallows hard. "Umm."
"Of course she is coming. She never misses a game."
"I don't want to pressure her if she doesn't want to come. Although, I would be disappointed not seeing my two ladies supporting me in the stands."
"Of course I'll be there dad. I wouldn't miss it. I'm done with dinner. May I be dismissed?"
"Yes, go ahead. Don't forget to wash your dishes before you put them in the dishwasher."
"Yes, dad." She says rolling her eyes.
When Olivia got to her room she flopped down on the bed. She was tired of going through the same motions with her parents, with life. At least when she was with Mark she got a break from them every now and then but since their breakup she'd been stuck at home. She just wanted to have some type of fun outside of them. She loved her parents and the way they supported her but sometimes it was too much.
She started to wonder about Fitz. What was it short for? Fitzgerald, Fitzpatrick? What was he like? She bet he knew how to have fun and he looked like the best kisser.
"No, Olivia." She said aloud to herself and shaking her head. "He is not your type."
She pushes herself up and goes to take her shower and wrap her hair before her mom came to remind her. It was like the end of the world if she went to bed with her hair unwrapped.
"Dad! You home?!" He yells out.
No response.
"Of course not." He says to himself as he walks goes in the kitchen and pulls out his already prepared dinner and puts in the microwave. He sees a note on the counter from his dad.
"Out of town until next week. Don't fuck up. -Big Gerry"
Fitz grabs the note and balls it up. It was times like these that he wished his mother hadn't walked out on them or that he had a sibling. His father constantly said he worked hard for the fancy things in life but he never worked towards building their relationship. He never attended his games until Fitz started getting media attention. Even then he stopped attending until the playoffs because to him that was when it really mattered. He would be lying if he said it wasn't a lonely way to live.
He would never forget his mother leaving them when he was five to be with her boyfriend and never looking back. He never saw women the same again. Never allowed anyone to get close enough to break his heart. The only family he knew was his brothers on the basketball team and hell would freeze over before he let coach Pope come between that. He would run him and his daughter out of the school first.
Olivia woke up before her alarm as usual and text Abby to make sure she was awake.
Liv: Abby get your ass up.
She set her phone down and started her morning stretching. If she didn't stretch in the morning she would be tight all day and her swim during lunch would be out of sync. She's finishing her stretch when she sees her phone go off.
Abby: Ughhhh.
She laughs out loud then replies.
Liv: lol I'm leaving in one hour with or without you.
Abby: Ok, ok. I'm getting up.
Fitz was never one to sleep in. He was always up around five and he either ran then went to the gym to get shots up or he went to the gym first and then lifted weights. He didn't have a set schedule it was whatever he felt like doing when he woke up.
Today he decided to do a light run since it was game day then go to the gym and shoot around. He arrived at the gym at six thirty and it was already unlocked for him. The one thing he had to give coach Pope credit for was not ruining his morning routine. He always made sure the gym was open for him and didn't bother him in the mornings as he did his drills. After about an hour he finished, stretched and left to go get ready for class.
Abby and Olivia left at good time but listening to Abby they stopped by Starbucks drive thru and got stuck in the line. By the time they made it to school she had two minutes to get to class or she was going to be late for the second morning in a row. She parks and jogs to class quickly slipping in before the teacher shuts the door.
"Look who just made it. Welcome Ms. Pope."
Fitz looks up from his phone when he hears the teacher say Pope. How did he not know she was in his class he wondered.
"My apologies Sir. I hit some traffic on the way in this morning." She says looking for somewhere to sit.
"Great." She says under her breath when the only available seat is next to Fitz. She sits down and pulls out her phone out so she can fix her hair. Her mother always said appearances are important since most people, whether they'll admit to it or not, judge you based off of your looks.
So full of herself Fitz thought to himself.
"Ms Pope. You barely make it to my class and now you have your phone out as I go over the homework assignment. Is my class not important?"
"Of course it is important Sir. I didn't mean to give you the impression that it wasn't. I had something in my eye and needed my phone to act as a mirror so that I could remove it." She answered in a clear precise tone.
"Is that right?" He says not believing her. "Well see me after class."
"May I ask why?" She replies not understanding what the problem was.
"To discuss your tardiness."
"With all due respect Sir, I don't see what the issue is here. I was late one time and today no matter how close I cut it, I was on time. So how can we need to discuss my tardiness." She said as her skills from the debate team started to show.
"You are right Ms Pope, this is not something that we need to discuss."
She smirked a little mentally patting herself on the back for victory.
"This is more of something I think I need to discuss with your father."
Her smile faded quickly and she swallowed hard.
"That won't be necessary."
"It's very necessary, now if it's okay with you I would like to continue with the rest of my class. Can I do that now?" The teacher asked annoyed.
"Yes, Sir."
Fitz was shocked to see how the mention of her father changed her whole demeanor. She went from confident to somewhat scared in a matter of seconds. He made a mental note of it and when she looked in his direction he turned his head back to the front.
She rolled her eyes. She didn't have time to worry about what his problem was she had to come up with a way too convince her father that this wasn't her fault.
The bell rang and she got up quickly and left without saying a word to the teacher. It was ten thirty and she couldn't wait to get to the pool.
"Hey Liv!" She heard Abby yell.
"Wassup." She said stopping and waiting for her to catch up.
"Did you make it?"
"Make it?" She repeated confused.
"To class. Last I saw you you were jogging towards first period."
"Oh yeah, I made it but I need to swim now so I'll catch you later." She says as she walked away.
She wasn't mad at Abby but she did feel like some of this was partly her fault. She digs in her purse looking for the keys to her locker when something knocks her down.
"Oh shit. Sorry, I didn't even see you there."
"You should really watch where you are going-" She stops mid sentence when she makes eye contact with the person she had been trying to avoid.
"I could say the same thing to you but I'm less of a snob." He says helping her up.
"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked arching her eyebrow at him.
"It means clearly neither one of us was paying attention so for you to act like this is all my fault is the typical thing that someone like you would do."
"Like me?"
"You know, the I'm better than you type, that belives everyone around them should cater to their existence." Fitz said as he took a bite out of his apple.
"I have no idea what you are talking about and really don't have time to entertain your type." He gives her a raised eyebrow expression. "You know, the I've got everything figured out type, that walks around like they know everything when in reality they are more lost than the rest of us. Now, if you'd excuse me."
She tried to step around him and he stepped in front of her then she tried to go the opposite direction and he stepped in front of her again. Finally, she just stood there and crossed her arms and he moved to the side and let her walk by. He couldn't help but smile at how feisty she was. This is going to be more interesting than I thought he thinks to himself.
After her Calculus class she saw her dad left her a message to come see him in his office before she left. She had a free period and usually went home to study or hang out with Abby since was done for the day.
She figured her teacher probably already gave her father a ear full and he wanted to talk now since she wouldn't see him before the game. She hears a ball in the gym and figured the guys were already in there shooting around but she was surprised to see that it was only Fitz. He had his sleeves rolled up and he was shooting around in his dress clothes. She walled quickly past him and into her father's office.
"You wanted to see me dad?"
"Have a seat Olivia."
She swallows hard and takes a seat.
"Your teacher tells me that you tried to embarrass him in front of the class today."
"I did-"
"Did I say you could speak?" He yelled cutting her off.
Fitz stopped shooting the ball when he heard yelling. He moved closer to the door to see what he could hear.
"I asked you a question Olivia."
"No Sir, you did not say I could speak." She said trying to hide her anger. She hated when he yelled at her like she was a small child but she knew she could never win the battle of words with him.
"Now that that's clear, I can continue."
Fitz shakes his head. What an ass he thinks to himself.
"Did we not just have this talk last night? I guess you took that to mean, show up late anyway then antagonize the teacher in front of the whole class." Rowan said disappointed in her behavior. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I wasn't late dad and if he said that I was he is lying. I didn't antagonize him I simply asked him a question there's a big difference."
"Are you trying to insult my intelligence? Do you think I am stupid?"
"No sir."
"You weren't late but you were on time and if you're on time you're what?"
"Late." She says barely above a whisper.
"What?"
"If you're on time you're late."
"That's what I thought. You will follow me here every morning for the next week or possibly longer until you can prove you know how to be on time."
"But dad that is ridiculous-" She starts to protest.
"Olivia." He says in his no nonsense tone.
"Yes, dad." She says getting up and leaving his office.
Fitz scrambles down the hall and walks like he was just coming back into the gym from the locker room. He watches her walk away.
"Olivia! Hold on a second."
She turns around she looks at Fitz first wondering why her was staring at her but he quickly starts shooting around again like nothing happened.
"Yes, dad?" She says turning towards him.
"Make sure mom rides with you to the game so that she and I can ride home together."
"Ok. I'll see you tonight. Good luck."
"Thanks sweetheart. See you later."
She turns and leaves.
"Grant, don't you have a class or somewhere you need to be right now?"
"Nope. This is my pregame ritual." He says as he continues shooting.
"Not today it isn't. I'm trying to focus and that basketball is driving me crazy. Go somewhere else until the team meets up here in a hour."
"What? No. I'm not going anywhere."
Rowan goes over to him and stands in his face.
"I said leave my gym now. If I have to repeat myself you can forget about playing in the game tonight."
Fitz balls his free hand in a fist.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Rowan says not even flinching.
Fitz backs up and throws the ball angrily across the gym. He snatches his blazer and backpack and storms out.
A/N: Thank you everyone that expressed interest! Here is the latest chapter. Let me know what you think. Until next time.