score - Pablo Gavi

chapter 3

FIRST PERSON POV:

Practice was boring to watch. The boys are crazy talented, but I could have been able to see that by watching them from my TV. Later today I get to watch the youth teams which I am excited about, then tomorrow I get to meet the team. Yay.

I had about 2 hours before I had to watch the youth team, so I went to go do some grocery shopping down the road. I picked only the basics because I'm a basic person. I walked home, then just lounged around for an hour or so.

When the time came, I put my shoes back on, grabbed my bag, then headed next door. Mary said the youth team I was watching today was a mixed boys and girls team. I headed to the last field on the right and saw the team. They looked around 12-13, but were pretty short.

"Afternoon," one of the kids said.

"Hi," I said, smiling.

"Watcha doing," he said.

"I'm just here to watch you guys," I could not have said that more creepily, "I'm writing an article about FCB."

"Nice, do you play?" He asked me.

"I used to, then I got hurt," I told him. He kicked the ball to be, so I kicked it with my foot, did a circle around it with my foot, then kicked it back.

"Pretty good," a voice behind me said. I turned around and it was Gavi. Embarrassed, I smiled, then walked away to sit down.

"Alright, guys let's warm up, 15 laps," Gavi said, and nobody even complained. Is he the coach or something? After they were done running, Robert Lewandowski walked onto the field. The Robert Lewandowski along with two other coaches.

"Grab a band and a partner," one of the coaches said, and all the kids grabbed a band then started doing some sort of resistance training.

"What do you think?" Lewandowski asked me, now standing next to me.

"The kids are incredible, full of passion and dedication," I told him.

"Wait till you see them play," he said, crossing his arms.

"So are you coaching them?" I asked.

"Yes, I love helping out, but Gavi is here because he got in trouble for picking a fight," He explained.

"Well it's great how you're teaching them."

"Yep, hey! I didn't say stop, keep going!" He yelled at a few of the kids, then ran away. He's a dad. After 20 more minutes of watching them do shit with the bands, they finally started playing. I know the game of football quite well, but you wouldn't even need to know it to see how talented these kids are. They work so hard because they love what they do, and you can see that in how they play.

When practice was over, I was practically dripping with sweat, I can't imagine how those kids feel. Just before I walked out of the field, one of the kids tapped my back.

"Excuse me," a little girl said in the shyest voice I had ever heard, "some of the others and I were wondering if you would stay back to play with us. Lewy and Gavi don't want to. Only if you're not busy, of course."

Of course I'm not busy

"Are your coaches ok with it?" I asked. I really didn't want to, but how could I say no?

"Yeah, well, at least I think. Before you got here they said 'make the journalist feel welcome.' I think they want a good review." I laughed. I laughed at the fact they referred to me as 'the journalist', the way they exposed their coaches, and how they called it a review. Kids.

"Well ok, but only for a bit, it's almost sunset." I said. And after that we played football for almost two hours. I guess I lost track of time. My team was winning, and I was going for my penalty shot when I was stopped.

"Don't you think it's unfair? You against them?" Gavi said, walking on to the field.

"They're not that much better than me," I joked, even though they were.

"Alright, wrap it up," he said to the kids and I.

"Ok, if you make it we win, if you don't we lose," one of the children proposed. I backed up, got my running start, aimed for the corner, and made the goal. The kids on each team started jumping up and down cheering. I hadn't felt that proud of myself since I won the fifth grade spelling bee.

"I'll take care of the balls, you guys go home, it's past your bedtime," I told the kids, and they grabbed their stuff, said their goodbyes and left. I picked up the ball we were using and my bag, then headed to the equipment shed.

"Those kids love you, you know," Gavi said to me while I was walking out of the shed.

"They met me like 6 hours ago," I said.

"All practice they were asking if they could play with you, and they never stay after to play, you know," He told me.

"Why?" I asked, because I really didn't understand why they wanted to play with me so bad.

"Dunno, I mean, many of them don't leave La Masia that often, so when they meet new people with even an ounce of talent they get excited. Also coach told them if you said anything bad about them in the article they would all have a thousand push ups."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

He smiled. "Goodnight, Cleo."

I walked off.

Goodnight

A/N: Reminder that Barca plays tomorrow (December 31st) at 8am eastern time, 1pm UK time!