The Golden Boy and The Girl Next Door (A Kylian Mbappé Fanfiction)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Sapphie groggily opened her eyes and peered at the digital clock in front of her. Its bright red numbers flashed 8:17 PM.

"Shoot!" she yelled, bolting upright from the chair. Almost knocking it over in her haste to get ready.

The game started at 8:30PM!

Her thoughts raced as fast as her pulse. How could she have slept through her alarms?

Pierre had been clear – he didn't want to give her any chance to mess this up. But now she was seriously at risk of missing the biggest game of the season!

She had fallen asleep at the small table in her room, her braids poking out at odd angles from sleeping on top of her open textbooks. She had been up late studying for her upcoming final exams—after a sleepless night crying over what was happening with Kylian.,

Sapphie ran to the bathroom and turned on the shower, not even waiting for the water to warm up before stepping in. The cold spray shocked her fully awake. "Stupid, stupid!" she chided herself as she lathered body wash onto her scrubber at lightning speed.

After the quickest shower of her life, Sapphie flung open the curtain and grabbed a towel. She sprinted back into the bedroom, dripping water everywhere, and started throwing clothes around in her rush to get dressed. Jeans, shirt, socks – she pulled them on haphazardly without even looking.

Where were her shoes? Had she packed them? Brushing her teeth as fast as she could, Sapphie scanned the room in panic. There, under the desk – one sneaker. The other was nowhere to be seen. No time to look further. She'd have to go barefoot if needed.

Grabbing her phone, satchel and room key, Sapphie burst out the door at a run. She had less than an hour to make it to the arena.

Please don't let Pierre fire me for this, she prayed as the elevator arrived agonizingly slowly. Her career was riding on making it in time...

Thankfully traffic was light as Sapphie sped towards the stadium. In her rearview mirror, she noticed headlights that seemed to be gaining on her unusually fast.

Squinting, she saw it was a dark sedan. At first, she thought it was just another car that had joined the traffic. But as it pulled up beside her at the next light, she gasped. "That's the same car from last night," she said aloud to the empty vehicle.

Her thoughts started racing. What were the chances of the same nondescript car following her? An uneasy feeling crept over her skin.

As the light turned green, the sedan suddenly accelerated, pulling up right next to her driver's side door. That's when Sapphie saw the enormous camera emerge from the passenger window.

"Smile for the camera!" a man yelled, snapping photos rapid-fire at her shocked expression.

Oh no, had Pierre...?

"Leave me alone!" Sapphie shouted, slamming her palm on the horn. She swerved to put distance between them but the sedan matched her speed.

"We know all about you and Kylian," the photographer taunted over the roar of the engines. "Care to comment on your little romance?"

Oh Lord, no...this is exactly what she had been afraid of.

Blinding camera flashes bombarded Sapphie as she squinted, tears of panic and frustration welled on her eyes.

How do these strangers know about them? Hadn't she done what he wanted?

She had to get away before they caused an accident or something, but the sedan clung to her rear bumper like a parasite.