It all started with a match. One simple match. Just a match between Argentina and Saudi Arabia. The match on November 22nd.
.
Then, she discovered the thing called World Cup. The World Cup (with capital letters). The one thing that united the world...
"Okay, enough with the running," I sighed and stopped the exercise right beside the already sitting Paige (she didn't even care that it was a little cold). She was touching the grass once again. I think she liked the feeling even the first time. "As we are almost at the end of today's training, I'll only demonstrate you what we are going to do tomorrow," he dropped the ball to the floor once again, but this time it just tapped the floor two times, and he put his leg on it.
"Where did you get the ball?" Blake asked, also sitting down to get a deserved rest. "I've been trying to buy one for our trainings for so long, but there weren't any left," she revealed. I heard this for the first time and looked at her.
"A friend of mine was so generous to give it to me as a present after the World Cup ended," we looked at him startled as we assimilated what he had just said.
"Mr. Nicolas," Paige said for the first time. "Do you mean that..." she pointed at the ball. "This is one of the two official match balls for The World Cup?" she stressed on the last three words. "Like, other players had touched it?" he nodded. And we just looked between ourselves a few consecutive times.
"He thought it would be nice to surprise me for my birthday, and-" he interrupted himself. "That's how I got this," he pointed at the ball. "And since it was just staying at my home, I decided to put it into use," he shrugged. "I want only the best energy during my trainings," he revealed. "And what can be a better wave of energy than a World Cup ball itself," he was right, though.
"But you didn't have to do that," I suddenly joined. "This is literary a relic that should be put and guarded somewhere," I protested a little too much.
"Well, that's right," he agreed. "But each person has different methods of saving relics," he said afterwards. "And mine is to put it into action," I shrugged and sat beside my friends, who both hit me at the shoulder and scolded me for almost depriving them from the privilege to play with a real match ball.
***
"Do we have any Math homework?" I got my things and turned to Paige, who was in the same Math class with me.
"Yeah, I we have to solve the seven problems on page 156 from the textbook," she informed me, and I thanked her with a slight nod. "Did you do that Physics homework?" she asked me then. "Because I'm stuck on question 13, and I have no idea of how I'm going to get it right," she took her favorite tote bag since we had come right after we finished school.
"Let's our teacher himself," I proposed and turned my head to find Mr. Nicolas.
"No, Liv," Paige held my hand. "It's embarrassing!" she hissed.
"Asking your teacher for help with your homework is embarrassing?" I asked confused.
"Yes," she hissed once again. "When he is our coach, it's embarrassing!"
"And what now?" I asked sarcastically. "You're going to torture yourself with every question or problem you cannot answer or solve from now on?" I continued. "Because Mr. Nicolas is our coach?" she looked down a bit, and I took that as a chance to ask our teacher about the situation. "Mr. Nicol-" I interrupted myself I saw he was already near us. He looked a little lost in his own world. "Mr. Nicolas?" I waved my hand before his eyes. "Are you okay?" he looked at me.
"I heard you commenting about your homework assignments, and I remembered about the message about you plagiarising," he shared, still having that lost type of gaze. "I was thinking about who may have done that with," he turned to us. "I forgot to ask you," Blake came to us, and I looked at Paige because I knew what he was going to ask us. "Do you have any idea who might've done it" I paled.
"Yeah, A-" I stopped her.
We don't know," I said abruptly. "We don't have any suspects in mind," Paige stared at me with an are-you-kidding-me look as I lied. "And besides," I wanted to change the topic as I felt Blake's hand on mine. "We are fine, and that's what matters," I finally let out. "It's in the past already," I pretended to shrug it off. He didn't seem to calm down but probably decided not to ask or rethink it again that day. I felt Paige's stare on my neck as I nodded to Blake that it was fine.
"Okay, then," Paige started, and I turned to her. Very familiar guilt coming to me again. "Do you two," she directed to me and Blake. "Want to come and watch the Barcelona v Villarreal match?" she asked, and I looked at Blake, who seemed to like the idea.
"I'm in," I agreed. "Do you want to come as well, Mr. Nicolas?" I turned to him. "It's on the twelfth, right?" Paige confirmed.
"I don't think I'll be able," he kind of rejected. "I'll have a lot of work since we organise all the materials right now. You know, lessons, presentations, and endless stuff," I understood him. "But since tomorrow is Saturday, we can go to get your cleats before the training? If you're not busy, of course," he proposed.
"We don't have much work," the other confirmed with slight nods. "So it's going to be fine by me," I agreed. "And on Sunday, we'll go to Paige's to watch the match," that was the schedule.
"Okay, so I'll send you an email where we'll meet tomorrow," he threw the ball in the air a little. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said for goodbye, and we waved at him in return.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
