𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 - Book 1

~Chapter 3~

                                                                                          Gavi

     The sun was excruciatingly hot. I could feel my skin burning as I hustled across the practice field, sweat dripping from my nose. We had only been practicing for an hour, and I was already exhausted.

     Pedri ran alongside me, nudging me to move faster.

     "I know, you idiot," I snapped at him. He held his hands up in surrender and I shoved him away playfully. He was my best friend. I couldn't deny it, even if sometimes he got on my nerves.

     Our first La Liga game was tomorrow, and I was extremely nervous. I had been hurt the majority of the previous season, so this was a bit of unfamiliar territory for me. I didn't want to upset my coach or my team on our first big day of the year.

     I was so lucky to play for Barcelona. I had always dreamed of it since I was a little boy, living in my small village. I used to think I would never play professional soccer, but now here I was. Living my dreams out. I was only 19. I had plenty of years left to thrive.

     The team moved on to drills. I dribbled the ball in and out of the cones, careful as not to mess with my leg too seriously. I still wasn't up to 100% skill yet.

     After my turn, Pedri rambled up to me, followed by João Felix and Hector Fort. The three of them were stopped over Hector's phone, smirking and giggling as they seemingly scrolled through Instagram.

     "What's so funny?" I asked, hobbling over to them. Coach had blown the whistle, so we were granted a small water break. Not like I wanted to get water.

     "Yo, guess who's going to be at our game tomorrow," Pedri laughed, snatching Hector's phone and shoving it in my face aggressively.

     I squinted to make out the words in front of me.

     "That's Princess Leonor," I confirmed, giving them all puzzled glances.

     "No duh," João laughed, hitting me with his arm.

     "She posted on her Instagram 20 minutes ago. Her sister was wearing Felix's jersey," Pedri exclaimed, showing me again.

     The future queen of Spain and her younger sister would be attending our first match of the season. Who would have ever thought.

     "Yeah, right. Probably forced to come," I joked.

     Hector shook his head and said, "Infanta Sofia is a huge soccer fan. Haven't you heard that she plays herself?"

     I shrugged before replying, "Hmm, didn't know."

     Pedri laughed again and thrusted the phone back into Hector's hands.

     "We'll see if they actually turn up. That would give me a reason to play well," he laughed, and the others joined him.

     "Whatever. Let's get back to practicing," I muttered, unimpressed. It wasn't like I hadn't met the king of Spain before.

     Practice continued as normal. I hit some nasty shots, and even scored when playing 7x7.

     The Barcelona heat was getting to me. By the end of practice, I had chugged a full water bottle and eaten two granola bars, courtesy of Pedri. Sweat was dripping out of every pore on my body, or at least it felt like it.

     "Does anyone need a ride?" João questioned in the locker room. Lamine Yamal raised his hand first, and I followed suit. I had walked today. It was nice enough.

     After we grabbed our bags and made our way out of the back of the practice stadium to avoid crazy fan girls, we hustle to João's car. A Mercedes. Beautiful car if you ask me.

     Since Lamine is only 17, he typically gets a ride to practice. Him and João carpool often.

     "It's a hot one, shit," João muttered, immediately pulling his hands off of his black steering wheel. After it cooled down, he put the car into reverse and backed us out of the parking lot. Barcelona was busy for being a hot day. Tons of tourists and locals walked up and down the sidewalks. I saw a man holding a sign for hotdogs. That would sound delicious right about now.

     João dropped Lamine off first at his home. The youngster said his goodbyes and told us good luck for the game tomorrow. He also said not to stress it, which I'm sure I would do anyways.

     I scooted into the front seat and placed my bag on the floor.

     "I can't believe the future queen is coming to watch us play," João crowed, fluffing up his brown fluffy hair. He didn't look at me, instead keeping his eyes keen on the road.

     "It's probably not true," I added quietly. It wasn't. Some rumor.

     "Stop being such a party pooper, man" he snapped, this time turning to face me. João was pretty easy to make mad.

     I held my hands up in defense.

    In a few minutes time, I was standing outside of my house. João helped me unload my gear and carry it up the front steps.

     "Thanks man," I said, giving him a quick handshake before unlocking my door.

     "Anytime. See you tomorrow for the big game?" He joked, shoving my shoulder.

     "Unless something happens to me," I laugh, and that's his cue to leave. He pulls his car away and speeds down the road back into the city.

     I'm left standing on my front walkway, watching the hustle and bustle of the city around me.

This is a filler chapter but whatever, it'll get good in the next chapter or so. I'm probably gonna switch POV's quite a bit. I'm also only gonna write like one or two chapters a day since I'm busy and all