Field of Dreams: Year 1

Training

Olivia's POV:

"Are you going to post that?" I asked Paige as I saw her taking a picture of mine and Blake's favorite place. It was even more beautiful than before. The grass was a little less icy, the nets were perfectly stretched, and the sky had breathtaking shades that were there before, but then...they had more saturation. I felt the spring slowly coming. Even though it was the beginning of February...

"Of course, not," she replied, taking a few more shots. "I'm not that dumb," I smiled to her irony. "It's ethereal here!" she then exclaimed, seeing the real pitch. Not the one from the phone screen. "Woah," she kneeled and touched the grass. "Who takes care of this field?" she asked as she was still kneeling down with her phone going from her left to fright right.

"We don't know," I shrugged. "When we first started, Blake told me that she had come here every time she wanted to be alone, or do something alone," I said what my friend had told me, which made me remember how much we'd gone through, and we were still friends. After the fight, to clarify.

(I've done it once again. It's a Pinterest photo. Credit to Dominasas.)

@the.best.trio Day one...
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"Okay, so we are continuing with physical training from where we left," Blake came from behind and told me. "And from where we'll begin," she made a sign for Paige to stand up. She did so, but she hesitated for a second. I felt that she had liked the grass of the pitch. "We are only waiting for Mr. Nicolas to arrive," she informed us.

"He could've gotten lost," Paige suggested, still admiring and looking around the pitch.

"When we are at the end of the world," I mocked Blake, who gave me a death stare.

"At least it's fascinating," Paige added, easing the tension by slowly walking around us.

"Look," I pointed, and Blake turned her head to see Mr. Nicolas walking towards us. The only thing that he had brought with him was a simple ball. A football. "Here's Mr. Nicolas," this time Paige looked at his direction, getting out of her little trance.

We started walking towards the middle-aged man, who was wearing a sports gray tracksuit, and on his feet I saw some sports shoes. I recognised the ball in his hands. It was a replica of the one of the two balls used in the 2022 World Cup!

(You all know whose leg that is. Pinterest once again. Credit to Fervin.)

"Are you ready for an intense football training?" we heard him shout, which made us smile and get ready for both the best and worst time of the day. "Where are your cleats?" he asked as us soon as he came closer to us. Paige looked lost.

"Cleats are the football shoes," I explained. "With the little mountains, as I call them, on the underside," Mr. Nicolas gave me a sign to give him five, and I did so. It was a little cringy, but the thing that The Daniel Nicolas wanted to give me high five was the thing that erased all of the awkwardness.

"Never mind," he brushed it off quickly. "Tomorrow, we'll use the training time to go and buy you the clea-" he couldn't finish his thought because we heard a throat being cleared really insistingly. We all turned to that direction.

"With permission," Blake retrieved her normal voice, and Mr. Nicolas made her a kind gesture to continue. "I've found these tryouts for a women's team that will happen in April," she shared. I looked at Mr. Nicolas, who returned the look. "So I don't think we have much time to waste from our trainings," she explained. "Because there might be a scout," she said, and I looked to Mr. Nicolas once again. I saw that spark in his eye. "So are we doing it?"

"And why not!" our new coach exclaimed, still with that spark in his left eye. What was it abou? I think I returned to my l-don't-know-self. "Okay," he suddenly got serious, and looked at all of us. We returned the gaze. "We'll go to buy you cleats on Saturday at the mall. I know a shop that sell cleats with very high q-"

"How much money do we need to come with?" Paige asked.

"Only Liv is training for a player," Blake tried to explain. "Only she does need cle-" then she got interrupted.

"All of you need cleats," was the unexpected combination of words Blake hadn't expected to hear. "It doesn't matter if you are a player, a coach, or a referee. You need to know how to play football."

"What?! I have to train as well?" he nodded.
"As I said," he began. "Every coach needs to know how to play football and be in physical form. And the referee too," he directed to both my friends.

"But yet," Paige started again. "How much money do we need for the football boots?" I think that she hadn't remembered the specific name. We have time about that too.

"Nothing," he just said, the ball falling right between his feet. "I'll buy you the cleats," he repeated for Paige. She thanked him with gaze and a slight gesture of her hands. But as soon as he said that, we just looked at him confused. "Don't look at me like that!" he suddenly joked.

"But, Mr.Nicolas," I started. "Buying cleats for all of us will be very expens-" he interrupted me with a gesture of his hand.

"Take it as an investment in the future-" then, he got interrupted.

"That's what you told me on the day of the Barcelona match," and I looked at her, going through the memories once again. A single name repeating in my head for a few seconds before the heavy voice of our teacher came to my ears once again.

"An I clear?" I nodded as Blake and Paige, not actually understanding what was happening, but I still felt that guilt in my stomach. He was so nice that evening. Stopping to say "hi". Giving me that heartfelt note. My numbness. His numbness. It just wasn't right for me to ignore him like that.

"If we want to get Liv in form for the tryouts, you two," he pointed at Blake and Paige. "Also have to get physically stronger and work on your fields," he explained. "And Olivia," he turned to me. "I expect the highest from you. You have potential," he looked at all of us. "You all have potential," he told us clearly. "We just need to work our butts of until the spring vacation tryouts," we sighed a little. "And after that, of course," he took the ball from the ground.

A/N-I know that it was a little boring chapter, but it'll will get more interesting from now on too.