Obsession

Secret: Chapter 23

They were up against the Blue Badgers – one of their opponents in the preliminary rounds whose team was under the strict training regimen of a new coach. They had successfully made it to the elimination rounds and the true extent of the team's improvement was put on show for everyone to see.

The game had kept the audience at the edge of their seats, and it was now the eighty-eighth minute.

Despite the tensions of the last week, Gabriel hadn't yet lost his place as the team's main striker, and everyone was still counting on him. People from the crowd still chanted his name expecting the ball to come to him but as the troublesome members of his team would have it, Gabriel had barely had possession of the ball throughout the entirety of the game thus far. It hadn't been in his possession long enough for him to score a goal and it was beginning to grate on his nerves.

Tensions were running high, and the crowd was on their feet as the eighty-eighth minute ticked away. The Shaw Stallions and the Blue Badgers were tied 1-1, and Nico Hoffman had been the saving grace to score them one. However, Gabriel had no intention of letting the game end on such a note, and still, there was a lack of communication between his teammates and him, and somehow, the power dynamic had shifted in favour of Nico Hoffman, Rod Maxime, and Coby Becker. They'd had most of the Stallions' possession during the game, and only one of them had been able to secure a goal.

"Gabriel! Gabriel! Gabriel!" the crowd – supporters of the Shaw Stallions chanted, stomping their feet, and clapping their hands to some rhythm.

"Bring it home, Gabe!" someone shouted from the crowd.

At that moment, he'd made eye contact with Nico Hoffman, the latter's expression turning to one of distaste. Nico was bent on blasting Gabriel's reputation to smithereens even at the cost of their continued participation in the tournament and this was something many of the team had realized a little too late. But there were still ninety seconds on the clock if they could work a miracle, provided Gabriel managed to pull off one of his crazy stunts.

Gabriel made eye contact with Chris and Josh, and a few other members of the team who were playing for the game, and not out of some personal vendetta stacked against a single player. They moved in, closing the distance between each other and surrounding a player from the Blue Badgers advancing to the Stallions' net, dribbling the ball around other players.

The Blue Badger player suddenly kicked the ball, and it went soaring, the crowd on the edge of their seats, silence sweeping over them as the ball went spinning – hurtling toward the Stallions' goalkeeper. The goalkeeper ran forward and caught the ball, and in a last-minute attempt to score one, he tried a risky thing and kicked the ball across the field.

The crowd went wild as the ball made it all the way across to the other team's net, but the goalkeeper there, successfully blocked it, and knocked it away. Screams erupted as spectators caught on, and the crowd saw that Chris and Gabriel were already hurtling across to the other side. Chris kicked the ball back to the net and the goalkeeper blocked it again.

A player from the other team had finally caught up and he jumped to headbutt the ball farther away, narrowly missing it by mere fingertips.

Gabriel jumped for it, his body almost horizontal to the ground, he kicked the ball, and it went sailing through the air, spinning at top speed, it grazed the fingertips of the Blue Badgers' goalkeeper, the momentum of the spin and the subtle contact knocking it slightly off the intended trajectory. The ball bounced into the net at the very top most corner.

Gabriel landed with a soft thud as the crowd and the supporters of the Shaw Stallions erupted with victorious screams of disbelief, celebration, and relief.