So it Goes : Erik Durm 🗸

:CHAPTER 5:

"Stefanie?" says a familiar voice.

Stefanie turns around and sees Marco with the figure who she made eye contact with when she walked outside. "Marco," she says, "Do you work here?"

Marco laughs and replies, "I technically train here; I'm one of the players."
Stefanie lightly blushes at her mistake, "Oh, then you were probably the one who put that flyer on the board near the lobby, right?"

"Yeah, that was me," he says while scratching the back of his head.

Isabel finally pipes up from her position next to Stefanie, "Ok, what the heck is going on here; how do you know each other?"

Stefanie looks down slightly, forgetting that the other girl is with them, "Oh, so we live in the same apartment building and we bumped into each other, like, twice in the elevator."

"Hm," Isabel replies, "Well, thanks Marco, I didn't want to go a whole season working by myself." She turns towards Stefanie and continues to talk, "Now, I got to explain to this newbie what goes on around here. Bye boys."

As the pair start to walk off, Marco calls out to them, "How about starting with introducing the team to her; maybe she wants to make some friends?"

Isabel turns around, Stefanie following her. "Ok, sure. When is your break?"
"Right now."

Isabel rolls her eyes as Marco starts introducing the figure next to him, "So to start, this is Erik-"

"ISAAA!" Yells a very boyish voice.

"Oh god, that is no other than wunderkinder Christian Mate Pulisic," Isabel says while rolling her eyes. A guy jogs over, smiling. He is just slightly taller than Stefanie, with brown hair, looking (and sounding) very American. He greets everyone, giving the two guys bro hugs and giving Isabel a normal hug. Then he turns to Stefanie.

"And who are you?" He asks with a smirk.

"I'm Stefanie, Isabel's new photography partner," says Stefanie meekly, not wanting all the attention to herself.

"Well, hi there. I'm Christian Pulisic, one of two famous things that Hershey, Pennsylvania birthed-"

"A city can't birth things, dummkopf," Isabel interrupts.

"Anyway-" Christian starts before being interrupted by a whistle.

"Well, looks like that's our cue to head back to practice," says Marco.

"Say, Isabel, are you going to the preseason party tomorrow at Roman's place?" asks Christian.

"Um, yeah, of course," she responds. Her eyes start shining as she turns to Stefanie, "Hey! That would be a great way to meet more people! You should come too, since you are technically part of the team now."

Stefanie looks at her and shrugs her shoulders, "Why not? It sounds like fun." Isabel smiles at her as the boys start retreating back to their practice.

"Well then you two, see you tomorrow," calls out Marco, followed by a "see you" from Christian. Isabel walks away to grab her things as Stefanie looks out to the field. She sees Erik turn around and make eye contact with her, before winking. She could feel her cheeks immediately flare up, and she looks to the ground. When she looks back up, he's gone, mixing into a sea of yellow and black. What was that? She wonders.