DROPPING WALLS (MANXMAN) ~UNDER REVIEW~

Thomas is pissed, he wants revenge!

The training on Monday morning was very intense. Thomas watching by the benches and the tryouts going as fast and strong as they could. Thomas was going to take his brace off only when they were about to leave and the boy felt really prejudiced; not having soccer to focus on, he had to pay attention to what had happened at Vizanno's during the weekend. The players were training on their field and and Thomas felt his gaze falling on the man's form more often than he expected.
"Do you want to go see their training?" Asked Thomas' coach, the boy looked at the man, he didn't realize the other was watching him. "You can go, tomorrow you'll be back with us, it's going to be good if you can steal some of their technique." The man told him, Thomas forced a smile and used his crunches to get to the other field.
Like every time he had been coached by the main coach, the man was screaming orders, offenses and advices. The main team moved fast and strong, all of the eighteen men doing their drills and pushing harder, even to their standards.
Thomas sat by the sidelines and watched, it was nice to just observe them moving, how effortless they got the ball and passed it among them, how direct their passes were. The boy felt overwhelmed and he hold his breath as he saw Sir dribble one of his teammates and kick the ball to the goal from a crazy distance, and scoring! The man was incredible, he couldn't believe someone would ever question his ability.
The coach gave them a break and Lucas was the first to spot him.
"Why are you still wearing that thing?" The man asked about his brace.
"I'll take it before we leave. I'll only train tomorrow."
"How are you feeling? On Friday they'll select the first tryouts to play with the players..." Said Lucas and Thomas heart skipped a beat, he knew everything about this opportunity. "The boys who make the cut will have to work hard, they'll play twice during the weekend, are you looking Foward to this?" Asked the man, Thomas just nodded, but the truth he wasn't.
Half of the tryouts had debuted already, only the not that good ones had stayed benched, and Thomas hadn't played yet... He didn't think to debut playing for the main team was a good idea, he would be playing against professionals, after a injury, and his talent was unknown to the public... Even if he felt prepared, he was a tryout, and tryouts debuted on tryout games.
"Isabella wants to make a meeting with you, and the other players, since her company will manage most of this boys... Does anyone know she'll represent you?"
"Tim, he was happy, he'll pay for one of Isabella's interns to manage him. Why don't have I to pay?" Asked the boy and Lucas laughed.
"You can't afford her. She makes a real nice money with those two... She'll make with you soon." Said Lucas.
Thomas considered how much the woman costed, based on how much Vizanno spent on a night club he could agree that she was expensive.
"I have to talk to Vizanno." Said Thomas, he got up and leaped to where Vizanno was stretching carefree. The boy tried but he couldn't ignore the legs muscles bulging as the man flexed them, the big arms and the long dark hair. He hated that he noticed those things so quickly.
"I checked my bank balance, I still haven't gotten my money back." Said the boy and Vizanno acknowledged him for the first time, he looked surprised.
"Oh, I forgot." He said, Thomas waited for something more." I'll do it when I get to my phone... Thank you by the way, I didn't thanked you before." The boy didn't say nothing, just turned and went back to Lucas who watched them curious.
"What was that?" Asked the man ad Thomas shrugged.
"I went to pick him up in a club last Saturday, that's why I was at his house, I had to pay his bill and it was ridiculously expensive, I asked him to pay me back." Said Thomas and Lucas laughed.
"There's no way he'll ever learn to avoid this things!" Said Lucas and Thomas felt sad for a few seconds, Vizanno had everything, and he could lose everything so easily!

On the following day the boys spent the morning talking about their future as athletes, their options in case they didn't make the cut and how to deal with the pressure of the process.
Most of the boys had got managers and they would have someone helping them go through the journey more easily, but the main focus of that conversation was sponsors.
As the management needed the boys working to get money, the boys needed to work in publicity, but the team could not allowed the boys to sign a deal where they would have to be exclusive of a brand that was different from the one sponsoring the Unity's team. In case the boys did that, the contract with the team would be suspended and they would no longer be part of the tryouts.
Thomas was fine with that, he didn't want to be a poster boy for a company he didn't believed in. But he could see that some of his teammates were upset with those news; Tim and the boy had been socializing more with the other tryouts, to make the living situation easier, and as they talked Thomas learnt that some of the boys were signing to represent lots of brands, getting paid well, he only thought how those boys could deal with all the pressure of being a model/actor when they were in trial for a unique opportunity.
When the boys left for lunch the first things Thomas did was to call Isabella.
"Tell me you won't make me do all types of commercials and I won't have time to practice?" The woman laughed in the other side.
"You don't have to worry about this, I won't make you accept all the options that come your way, I'll show all of them and advise you, but I want you to do only one or two projects and both of them are going to pay well and won't bug your schedule, priority here is your game Mr. That's what you do, you play, the rest is the rest." Thomas thanked her and hang up, she knew how to use her words.
During lunch the guys gathered on the game room to watch the some of reportage made on them.
It was a emotional, intense ride, clips from their parents and friends, relatives. Thomas just observed as 10 of the boys were exposed to the public and to their mates, a full special with tears, stories, criticism from the club. They followed the alphabet order, and T would be one of the last ones. He was glad.

On Wednesday the boys were invited to go to the club during the night to hang out with the players. The tension in the air since Thomas had scored on Fred was getting intense and the two groups needed to be a united front. Thomas didn't want to go, but he was going to, and he was taking easy during his training, he wanted to be 100 percent when he faced the main team again two days later.
When the boys got to the stadium all the players were there already, the tryouts spread themselves around the place talking to the older men, Thomas and Tim went to Lucas who were talking to a couple of his teammates.
"Hey you two." Said the man, he hugged them really quick and the boys greeted the other two players, they were both midfielders so Tim was very excited, Thomas participated the conversation easily, he loved soccer, it didn't matter the position.
"You guys definitely need to work on your midfield, the attack is good but the midfielder are better as individuals, but as a team not that much..." Said one of the men and Tim looked down, Thomas stared at the man.
"Same thing about the main team..." All of the three midfielders looked at him. And the tryout for that position just looked up surprised and worried. "If you guys did you work better the full back defense wouldn't have to struggle so hard every game, and Fred wouldn't have to save the team's ass all the time! Take the ball, pass to the strikers or score! It can't be that hard." Tim's eyes were wide but he was smiling, the men were looking at Thomas with the most condescending way they could and they only stopped when Lucas started laughing loudly!
"You're a very interesting creature Thomas! He's defending his teammates guys, that's the spirit! Let's grab something to drink you crazy little thing." Lucas put his arms around the boy's shoulder and dragged him. "You nuts dude, nice to see you being protective of you friend!" Said Lucas and Thomas freed himself.
"Your team thinks they are better than us, but Unity's been in the shit for a while and that's the current team's fault! Nobody's in position to judge anybody here." Thomas told him as he walked away. He knew Lucas would leave him alone, he was bothered, and even the lights bright and strong was pissing the boy off.
"Hope you saw that I paid you back." Thomas turned to see Vizanno next to him, with his back to the group of people an staring at Thomas.
"A deposit of thousands in your bank account is not something that passes unnoticed. Why do you spent so much money like that?" Asked the boy and Vizanno shrugged.
"Maybe you could help me?" Said Vizanno and Thomas looked at him curious, "you know, every weekend your friends..."
"They ain't my friends..."
"They go out with me and we have some fun, if you come along you can stop when I'm about to spent money without need."
"I'm not your babysitter, you're past the point to take care of yourself! I don't trust you." Said Thomas, he meant the statement. Nothing about Teddy Vizanno was trustworthy, his compliment, his support or friendship, his interests, even his kisses, the man was dangerous, unpredictable, and he was distraction.
"Why not?" Asked the man with a smile on his face. "Any particular reason?"
"I need to focus on my goal here, and when I'm near you I only want to punch your face. That's why!" Vizanno laughed and smiled again, he leaned in closer.
"You could try... I think we could do better things..." Thomas didn't let the man finish, he walked away, he didn't know where he was going, he just started walking.

"Anything wrong?" Asked Sir Elenon as Thomas sat heavily next to him.
"Personal things." Said the boy.
"Isn't it always the problem?" The older man commented and Thomas nodded. "What have you thought of the season so far? How am I doing?" Asked the man.
"You're a God." Said Thomas. The boy needed to tell what his thought were, it was who he was now. "You inspire me." The man smiled, they went quiet for a few seconds. "Can we talk about anything but soccer for a moment?" Asked the boy, he was afraid he would make the man disappointed on him, it had been a while since he last had a conversation that didn't involve soccer or his career and enjoyed it.
"Of course, I didn't know you could talk about other things." The man joked and the boy smiled. "Apart from soccer, what has been your favorite part about this whole experience?"
"Seeing Bee Tanzia live! For sure, that women was on fire and so incredible..." Explained the boy smiling happy.
"Where did it come from? I hear is from you grandma. She has an amazing taste."
The boy agreed and kept talking about his grandparents whom he adored. Sir listened and then himself started talking about his family.
The man was expected to be someone since he was a kid, his parents made him work harder than anyone, and unlikely Thomas, the man was grateful for their pressure, but unlike Thomas' parents Sir's were rich and had everything figured out, so their pressure didn't have hidden interests.
"Sir, how do you think I'm doing?" Asked the boy and the man stopped to think for a while.
"You're great on the field, you for sure can make some people like you, but you don't know how to make most people like you, you guard yourself too much boy, whatever made you this way is in the past, you need to remember that." Said the man and Thomas hated the advice. "Better get back inside, those friends of your can't see me without stacking me right away. Are you coming?" The boy shook his head, he needed to think by himself for a few minutes.