on the REBOUND (On Hold)

Chapter 19

"Renn, Haywood, there you are! Can we focus on the task at hand? Come on, we haven't all day!" Longan says sternly as he approaches us, standing precariously near the edge of the ball pit, his demeanour not unlike that of a strict parent. "Let's quickly pick the sticks and get outta here." Piffle, the guy seriously needs to learn how to loosen up.

Exchanging a naughty glance with Renn, we rush towards Longan McDonald without warning and give him a forceful push off the edge! Hahaha! He yelps in surprise as he falls backward into the huge colourful swimming pool of floorballs... And all I remember are Renn's cheeky cackles and the almighty yank on my arm before I hurtle down the ball pit with Longan.

We explode into the sea of balls. Ouwheeee! It hurts like crazy because they aren't the soft plastic ones that are usually found in kiddy ball pits. How dare that bloody clown pull me down with him! Scrambling shakily to my feet and trying to balance on the moving earth beneath, I begin pelting Longan with the arsenal of balls at my disposal before he can get up.

"Go Haywood, go Haywood, go!" Renn cheered me on as I hit Longan on the nose with a neon green ball.

"Why you little -"

Longan pounces at me like a tiger and pins me beneath him.

"Renn, save me! I can't breathe! He's...too...heavy!"

"Come on Haywood you got this!" Renn tries to help by chucking a few balls in his direction.

And of all the things Longan could have done, the silly boy decides to tickle me. Which is cute, but isn't effective on me at all.

"Shit, are you serious? You're not ticklish?" Longan pokes me hard on my waist several times.

"No. But let's see if you are!" I jab him on the waist lightly and he springs from me as though he'd received an electric shock. Well, well. This is gonna be fun.

"No, please, Haywood, no." Longan backs away from me as quickly as he can but I've launched myself onto him and gone into full tickling mode. He thrashes wildly under my relentless attack and gasps for air between his giggles like a fish out of water.

I must say I'm really having a great time. Longan McDonald looks pretty adorable when he's squirming under my touch.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" A loud voice booms from above. "BALL PIT'S NOT OPEN TILL 11!"

I hastily retract my fingers from Longan and look up to see a large man with an angry red face appear beside a nervous Renn. Judging from his air of authority and the bright yellow shirt emblazoned with the words "Floorball Megastore", he's probably the manager. Ah we're in deep shit.

"Oh hi, Mr K!" Longan jovially waves at the angry man.

"Logan!" Mr K's anger dissipates as quickly as dew under the morning sun. "It's so good to see you! Come, come, you gotta see the new batch of Fatpipe sticks that came in yesterday."

Renn and I are clearly bewildered at the sudden change in attitude. Turns out that Mr K is a huge HUGE fan and sponsor of Longan. Wow, someone actually idolizes him. I can't believe it.

After 30 minutes of trying out the new sticks, Renn and I decided on getting couple sticks since we are forward partners

This is her stick. Mine is exactly the same, but with a green blade.