The lost triplets

chapter 21

Alex gulped as he stood watching multiple first years make their way onto the field.

Last night when he told everyone, they had all been really proud of him especially Lorenzo. He found himself not wanting to dissapoint Lorenzo.

His words stuck in his mind "well done Alexander, im sure you will do great, I'm proud of you either way"

He didn't trust the man, not in the slightest but it still felt nice knowing he was doing something that made him proud.

He looked up and saw Skye and James watching from the stand. A few other first years were sat watching their friends too.  Nico was at hockey practice tonight and Leo and Lorenzo were at work so they were watching.

There was also several girls, mostly seniors, who had come just to see Marco.

"Alexander get a move on or I'll kick you out of the trials" Marco shouted from across the field.

Alex gulped and quickly made his way to the rest of the group.

"Now first years listen up. We have our own first year team, you will play against other schools and if you're good enough next year you can try out for the official school team. Marco here is  the captain and he will be helping me judge. He will also be running you through a few warm ups" the coach announced.

Everyone seemed excited and listened carefully as Marco have instructions. Alex wasn't able to think straight though. He was extremely nervous. He finally did the exercise with ease. It wasn't too hard.

"Right now you are going to run the track twice. We will be cutting the last 6 players" the coach announced.

Everyone took their positions and in in seconds the coach blew his whistle.

Alex blocked everything out. He wanted to do well so he just imagined himself to be running from the druggies. He had been running all his life and was very fast. He had to be fast or they would hurt him or worse he wouldn't get back quick enough and they would hurt Skye and James. He found himself glancing at Skye and James, they both were smiling and watching him with admiration.

In the end Alex finished first. The 6 to finish last were sent away. Alex was quite pleased with himself and it seemed the coach was too as he congratulated Alex quite a bit. Marco just glared.

They then did dribbling, Alex was just as good, he was only good because he was used to dodging round druggies who always tried to grab him. In his mind the cones were the druggies.

Marco then took over and the coach who had been laid back and relaxed with them went and sat down.

"Right.  you will go in the goals first, everyone line up you get 3 chances to score a goal, you will all be going in the next" Marco ordered pointing to a random boy

Alex managed to get 1 goal. He wasn't strong enough to get enough power behind the kick. The only reason he did score was because the boy in the goal didn't think he was going to score on the third time considering how bad he had been the first two attempts and wasn't paying attention.

In response to this Marco decided to approach the boy "you could have easily stopped that but you chose to be ignorant, you clearly don't have what it takes since you seem so confident in your abilities that you don't even pay attention" he had snapped making the boy cower away "you're not good enough. You can leave" he then added, the boy was upset by this but did as he was told, Marco had scared him.  Marco turned away and looked at Alex with a glare, he walked towards him and spoke quietly so the others didn't hear "and as for you, that was pathetic. Get yourself in goal"

It was his turn to go in the goal. He was beyond nervous.

Suddenly balls came flying at him and he found himself back in the basement taking the hits. He  treated it like he was blocking the hits landing on Skye and James. He let himself get hit, he defended the goals with tears running down his face.

He blocked everything out until he heard the coach "are you okay Alexander, you're not hurt are you" the coach had spotted the boys tears and had jumped in. Marco had seen it too but he had found it amusing.

"I'm fine sir" Alex whispered in response.

The tryouts continued and soon they were divided into two teams and played a game. After that the coach told them they would find out tommorow.

Alexander rushed to James and Skye, he had been away from them longer than he was comfortable with. Skye hugged him straight away also not liking how long they had been seperated in a public area.

"You three, let's go"

The triplets gulped, a car ride home with just Marco sounded like a terrible idea.

They did as they were told though and followed Marco.

Suprisingly the car ride was quite, he didn't say anything to them. It shocked them as he never missed an opportunity to insult them.

The triplets never let their guard down and were thankful when they finally arrived back. They didn't waste anytime getting out of the car, unfortunately for Skye she tripped. "Stupid bitch" Marco muttered so only she could hear.

Alex and James rushed to help her, they thought the tears were because she had hurt herself as they never heard Marco's words.

"Where does it hurt" James quietly asked as Alex looked her over for any cuts.

"I'm fine" she said not wanting to show weakness, she stood up and wiped her eyes. She didn't like crying and yet she had been crying a lot more recently.

The three of them then went inside. They were shocked to see Rafael eagerly waiting. Rafael had been in his office but when he heard the door open he left hoping it was the triplets. He had missed them greatly, it was just Marco though who muttered a greeting as he walked past and up to his room.

For Alex though, it brought back memories of when he was late back and they would stand waiting at the door to beat him. How he would be cornered and then beaten or worse dragged down to the basement.