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...
"What. Is. That?" I looked up from my computer and saw a familiar face in front of me. An angry face. "I asked," my daughter said again and put her phone on the desk. I glanced at it, but I didn't see much. It was a video. That was the only thing I saw from the little peek.
"I'm asking the same," I returned with a question. In answer, she just slid the phone closer to me. I closed my laptop and took the phone. Before playing the video, I just directed my gaze to her for a second with a glimpse of skepticism in it. Then, I tapped the screen, and my jaw dropped.
There were my ex best friend and the three students that I (obviously) treated too easily. The thing I saw shocked me. The three girls were passing the ball between themselves in a way that showed...unity. They were playing as if they were one whole. Like it was the only thing that existed in their lives. Like the was nothing else. Nothing. And Daniel. He was standing up like the fool he ever was. Thinking he is better than everyone.
"Why are you showing me this?" I asked, almost disgusted, and tossed the phone back to her. Why was I disgusted?
"I know exactly where that is," she replied, not answering my question. "And I can definitely take you there if you want," she shrugged so innocently that I could believe she hadn't done anything to ruin her classmates' lives. Why was that actually? I just listened to what she said about them, and that was i- "Even today," she raised her tone a little, understanding that I'd zoned out. "We can go when you finish with..." she pointed to my folders. "Whatever you are doing," we're her last words. I nodded, and she smiled proudly and going out of the room without saying anything more. I sat on my chair, and there was only one thing circling in my head at that moment.
"I have to end this once and forever."
***
"So..." I started, looking around the place where I'd been brought to. "This is the place where they...train?" it sounded like disgust again. I don't know why. It just lets out with this exact intonation.
"Yes," she replied. "I'm not impressed also," she looked around with the same emotion in her eyes, however. "So," she started and looked at me. "What are you gonna do about it?" she then looked me in the eyes. There was something I couldn't read in them. Something...scary? I looked at her also. What was I supposed to do? It was a normal pitch. Like the one I used to play on when I was younger...
"What am I supposed to do?!" I returned helplessly and a little (you know that before-becoming-angry fase, right?) frustrated. Her gaze froze. Literally. A few seconds after, she moved it and looked towards the pitch once again.
"What you're supposed to do," I didn't know what that meant. Again. She saw that I didn't have any clue of what she was talking about. "Figure it out," were the words that confused me even more. "Do anything you would like. Just prevent them from playing here," she explained. "They can't. And they won't."
***
Paige's POV (we are back with one of her point of views):
"Wait," Liv pulled me for my sweatshirt, and we knelt down behind some bushes. I death stared her. "Look," she said to both me and Blake and pointed somewhere before us.
I turned to see what had caused her to become so aggressive and for me to get my leg scratched with a stick of the bush (this was one of those that lived even in winter, you know) we were kneeling behind.
"Isn't that..." I suddenly started feeling dizzy. Ava was there. And there was a man with her. Who was he? Liv nodded. "But who is the man?" I asked. "And why are they just standing there like they are Egyptian statues?" was my second question.
"I don't know," Liv answered in synchrony with Blake. They chuckled. "But seriously," Blake continued. "Who is the man who is standing beside Ava?" she joined the discussion. "It's hard to tell from the back, but I think I've seen him before. I don't know why," I looked at her. Liv too. What?
"Why are we kneeling and whispering?" I jumped on my place. Fortunately, I wasn't the only one to do that. Mr. Nicolas had the amazing prowess of scaring us by appearing from who knows where.
"We are wondering who that man is," Blake pointed to Ava. "Beside Ava," she clarified. "And why they are on the pitch."
"No way," he shifted a bit and moved closer to the bush, so he could see better. We looked at each other. "That's Mateo!" he turned his head to us, his hands still on the bush. "Mr. Moore," he clarified as he understood we didn't know who Mateo was. We looked at each other again. This time with shock in our gazes. "I knew that I'd seen her somewhere!" he exclaimed a few seconds later and turned to us. "Four months ago, I bumped in him. It was ancient," he started the story, moving some of the grass blades with his fingers. "His wallet fell, and I saw a picture of a little girl. I knew the girl was familiar from somewhere. I didn't know from where, however," I started to connect the parts. "I attempted to ask, but he just took it and walked off with some excuse that wasn't worth remembering," now, Liv and Blake also knew what he was trying to say.
"She is Mr. Moore's daughter!" Blake said first, trying to keep the volume down, so we don't get caught. "That's why I thought Mr. Moore was familiar from somewhere!" now, Mr. Nicolas looked at her with eyes filled with confusion. "I'll explain another time, but the thing is," she started fidgeting her fingers. "How couldn't understand that Mateo Moore was the Mateo Moore I knew?" Liv and I hugged her from each side.
"It's not your fault," Liv whispered. "You were a kid then. Like," Liv started the reasoning. "You couldn't have remembered everyone's faces and names," I nodded. "The real question is..." she turned to face me and Mr. Nicolas, who was a little behind me on the left. "What more are they capable of?" we all looked to each other, not knowing what could happen next.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
(Pinterest. Credit to DUHH.ITZZ.NANO)
@the.best.trio Studying and coffee make an amazing combination... Liked by thirty-two
