Cosmo's Luck // 𝐊𝐚𝐢 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐳

38.

"Cassie, come here!" My younger sister's hushed voice hisses behind me.

My heart drops as the back of my collar is roughly grabbed and yanked, like those annoying moments where you get your belt loop stuck on a door handle. If Rubi hadn't kept hold of my cloak, I would've fell straight on my ass! I swiftly gather myself to my feet, then brush my cloak down as I walk alongside her. All of the families are now making their way down to the pitch, and it's been a struggle trying to juggle conversation with all of them!

"Are you deaf? I've been calling you for ages!" Rubi scoffs, giving me a teasing smirk.

"I've been a bit occupied if you haven't noticed." I remark, holding my frame up briefly to show her. "What d'you want?"

"Can you get me into the apprenticeship?" She grins, elbowing my arm lightly as if that's going to persuade me. "Not your one though, photography is boring."

"You want the physiotherapy one?" I ask, ignoring her comment. "You'll have to talk to Aidan then, you've got a better chance with him."

"I don't know him, what do I say to him?" She scoffs, gesturing to him over everyone's heads. "Oh hey Aidan, you don't know me but can you get me into the apprenticeship?"

"Yeah, exactly." I nod, gaining a light shove from Rubi back. "Oi- stop it man!"

"Get taller then, you're meant to be the older sister." Rubi taunts, making our height difference clearly known by looking down at me with her eyes rather than moving her head. "What are you, 5'6?"

"Just about 5'7, actually." I correct her, shaking my head. "You're 5'10, you lanky shit."

As we all walk through the players tunnel and around the photographers waiting for us, the chatty families disperse out the exit like water coming out a pipe. Their faces all light up with glee and amazement as they step out onto the pitch, watching the sprinklers endless spin around like crazy. I go to follow them all out, but I'm surprised when I'm held on the sidelines, and my family are ushered forward further onto the pitch. A photographer catches Aidan by the upper arm just as he's about to go, causing him to look at their hand with a frown.

"We just want some photos of you guys in front of the tunnel." The photographer informs us, stepping back a little to give space. "You know, where it all started!"

Aww, that's quite cute! It's a shame we couldn't fit all of us in the photo, but that would be difficult getting everyone in such a small space. Me and Aidan stand in a pretty basic pose for our first photo; we simply hold up our certificates and smile to the cameras. Then we tried making it natural, but turns out that we can't force a normal conversation for our life when we've got people taking shots of us!

"If you could leave your certificates to the side, that would be great." A photographer tells us, pointing to the frames. "I just want a photo of you two throwing your hats and watching them, please?"

Without our frames? Sure, I guess? I hand my frame to Aidan, and he hesitantly takes them both away. Surely the certificates should be in the photo? I guess they are quite big, they could look like an eye sore to the camera. Aidan rejoins me, and on the count of 3 we start tossing our hats in the air.

"On your head, son!" Aidan cries out, catching his hat and then dunking it on my head, nearly knocking me straight off my feet. "Oh- Sorry! I didn't mean to be that harsh!"

"I don't even know why you thought that was a good idea in the first place!" I laugh, taking his hat off my head and swatting him with it.

Throwing our hats in the air is actually quite difficult, because the shape makes them whizz and fly all over the place. We did get the hang of it after a while, but it took a lot of steady aiming and hard arm work! We had to put them back on our heads in the end, otherwise there could have been a chance of us dislocating our shoulders!

"Wait! One last one!" The photographer pleads with a small smile. "Can you throw the hats in the air but looking towards us?

Behind the photographer, I notice some joyful faces light up and gasp. I never knew that watching someone throw a hat in the air could be so entertaining? I chuckle as people only just start to bring their phones out, wondering why it took them so long to realise only now that they wanted a photo.

"You know the drill, on the count!" The photographer calls to us, preparing themselves early as we take our hats off. "3, 2, 1!"

I make sure to keep my eyes on the camera, giving them my best smile as I throw the hat in the air with Aidan. The flashing and the ticking of the camera wins my attention, and I wait for the painful noise of our hats falling to the floor. Yet, they never seem to land. Aidan shifts on his feet, I think he's hooked on the same idea as I am. Have we thrown them backwards? They can't be caught of something, there's no way we'd throw them that high?

"Thanks guys!" The photographer nods, but their camera looks poised ready for another shot. "They landed behind you by the way, sorry for the inconvenience."

As me and Aidan turn around to collect our hats, we're greeted with the biggest shock of our lives. Standing behind us is team, and they were all posing for the cameras without us noticing them! I cover my mouth with a shaky hand, and it feels like my breath is caught in my throat. Aidan has crouched down in reaction, putting a hand down on the luscious grass to steady himself on his toes, his other hand over his mouth like me. The team stood there and laughed at our reaction for a second, then jogged over to us and joined in the moment that the photographers are sneakily catching behind our backs.

"Congratulations!" Thiago smiles, pulling Aidan up and giving him a hug.

"Told you we'd come back." Ben grins, pulling me into a huge as well.

Our hug merges into some kind of gathering, and we all put our arms around each other. My face feels like it's burning a new shade of beetroot as I try to take in everything that's happening right now. They're all here! All of them! How long have they been here?

"When did you guys get back?" I ask, looking around at them. "Oh- and it's nice to see you again, of course!"

"We were in your last photo!" Jorginho tells us, with an arm around Aidan. "I don't know how you didn't hear us behind you?"

"I was a bit confused when I didn't hear the hats land, being totally honest." Aidan smirks, his voice going quiet as he's still surprised.

At that moment, Mason jumps in from behind Aidan, thwacking the hat onto his head like he did to me. Aidan flinches as the hat covers his eyes, then turns around to see Mason for the first time since they went separate ways for a few weeks. Unlike the quiet, astonished reaction that Aidan gave the entire team, the two boys burst into bloke-like screaming, and the wrap their arms around each other and start jumping in circles. Everyone steps back to give them space, and they bounce and bound around like two puppies that have been reunited.

Then, my hat is softly placed on top my head, and my heart sinks to my stomach. As I readjust it with both hands, I turn around; I'm met with familiar green eyes that I haven't seen in way too long! Kai looks down at me with a smile, giggling like awkward school kids that have met at a party and never spoke before. My eyes feel like they're stinging, and I slowly wander into Kai's arms to give him a hug. The team stands back and claps for us, and I can sense the cameras shifting to get a closer glimpse.

"Well done, you deserve it." Kai tells me quietly, dipping his head lower to mine so I can hear him.

"Thank you." I giggle, holding back the happy tears. "And well done with your football, you did amazingly!"

"Thank you." He chuckles, giving me a little squeeze before letting me go. "Your family look excited."

The scenes that the families are about to cause...