What Happens In Brazil Stays With Him.

Chapter 1

"Sophia!! You're going to be late for your first day!" Papai (dad) exclaims from the kitchen.

I slip into my Jordans and run down the staircase, into the kitchen. At the island, which is in the middle of our kitchen, sits my good ol' grandma, papai, mamãe (mom) and Michael, my younger brother.

"Good morning!" I greet as I give each of them a kiss on their cheek and grab an apple from off the counter.

"Do you think you'll meet Neymar Jr and Coutinho Soso?" Michael asks, excitement laced in his tone as I take a bite out of the apple

I let out a chuckle and ruffle his hair.
"Well, I don't think I'll be interviewing anyone on my first day at work baby." His bright smile drops and I feel a little guilty.

"But hey, maybe later on right? And I promise I will get their autographs for us." He nods and I take another bite out of the apple.

Almost done with the apple, I clutch onto my backpack strap on my left shoulder and throw the core of the apple into the trash bin.

"I should get going," I announce, earning everybody's attention.

"C'mon, I'll drop you off." Papai says as he chugs down the last bit of his coffee, folds the newspaper and stands up from his seat.

"No no dad, I think I can manage."

"Ah, look at that, our baby girl has finally grown up," he says as he fake cries and wipes a fake tear away.

Gosh, the dramatics of my family.

"Haha! Very funny." I playfully roll my eyes and walk towards the front door. Behind me I hear mamãe, grandma and papi laughing.

"Bye Michael! Love you!!" I call behind me and before I close the door I hear something about good luck...Neymar Jr and Philippe Coutinho.

Definitely Michael.

* * * * * *

Instead of taking my car, I opt for a refreshing, early morning walk. And besides, San Francisco always has traffic in the morning.

I don't think I've introduced myself to everyone. I am Sophia. I am half Brazilian and half American. My dad-or Papai, as my brother and I are supposed to address him as-is Brazilian and my mom-or mamãe-is American. Dad is from Rio de Janeiro and mom is from San Francisco. I have one younger sibling, Michael. I am older than him by fifteen years. Yes, fifteen.

For about three years of my life, I wanted a brother or sister, maybe even both but my parents didn't want another child. Until one night I heard my parents talking in their room, about another child. Everyone expected me to be happy, since I've wanted a sibling for a such a long time but which fifteen year old wants a sibling. By fifteen you understand your parents throughly, and yourself too. You realise what you want in life, and a sibling was definitely not part of that category. So yeah, I thought they were just discussing, but it turns out that night they sat me down and told me that mom is pregnant. I think they expected me to dance and throw a party, but all I did was say "okay".

They allowed me to go back to my room and begin my night routine-which was basically brushing my teeth, changing into pyjamas and going to sleep-but what I did was ponder upon the thought of not being the only child anymore. My dad always told me that I was quite mature for my age and I did believe him, but when this news was out I couldn't help but feel sad about not being the only child.

A few months passed and I got used to seeing mom's belly grow and hearing her vomit all the time and how she would crave the most weirdest stuff ever at the most ungodly hours of the day or night. And somewhere, inside my heart I just couldn't wait for this baby to come home. They didn't reveal the gender to anyone because they wanted it to be a surprise.

When Michael was born, I was estatic. He was the most handsome baby I had ever seen. And he was hilarious. I took care of him alongside my mother and all he did was grow, grow, grow and grow. And now he is nine years old with his cute Brazilian features and I absolutely love him! We watch soccer/football together, play football together, read together, shop together, raid our Ice-cream collection together and many other things that a younger brother and older sister would do.

You must be wondering, where am I going. Well I'm sure by now you figured that I absolutely love football and almost all of the players but if didn't know that...now you do.

I am a journalist and writer. I've been to university to study journalism and have graduated last fall. However, I prefer being a writer more than a journalist. I've written alot of sports blogs and columns in the local newspaper and just recently, I had applied for the junior writer's position at the World Soccer Magazine. And guess what?

I got the position!

This means I get to interview football superstars and write about them too. I also get to travel the world, which is a bonus. I've played for a few teams while in Uni, and was the captain of our University's team for two years straight.

Looking at the tall skyscraper in front of me, I feel excited but nervous at the same time. I hope I'm not underdressed because I have no idea what employees at World Soccer wear; formal or casual. I chose the latter. I glanced down at my Blue and white Jordans, folded black ripped jeans and my tucked in white shirt that says 10 on it, and decide not to care about what they think of my dressing sense.

I push open the big glass door and immediately feel the high temperature of the air conditioning cool my hot skin after the long walk I just took. The reception area is uh....let's just say I have never seen a more busier place before. However it's really big, and with it's white and black colors it seems larger. It has a few football posters and balls hung from the ceiling, to my left, there are two French doors, which I presume leads to the printing workshop. Beside the French doors is a round black and white football themed table along with four little barstools which all sits on a green rug that looks like grass. Further away from the barstools and table is a huge staircase leading up to the offices. To my right there's two elevators and a classic white bench sits in the middle.

People are walking back and forth from the elevators to the printers to the stairs and vice versa. Some are at the reception area but they soon walk disperse. I don't realise I have been deep in thought until someone behind me clears their throat. I turn around and am hit with a strong, manly cologne, two bottle green eyes, messy hair and a pearly white smile.

"Erm, I'm sorry, you're blocking the way." Oh my damn! That voice. It was deep yet husky at the same time.

"Oh sorry," I say and move aside but he remains standing on that spot.

"It's understandable. I was gawking at the place when I first stepped foot here." Oh he works here. Ha! My soon to be colleague.

"I'm sorry to cut this conversation short but I really must get to work. Uh, how about I make it up to you over lunch?"

"How do you know that I'm about to begin working here? And that I will be around for lunch?" I say, slightly taken back by the sudden move.

This time however, he smirks and steps closer to me and whispers gently into my ear,
"That's for me to know and for you to find out." He steps back, winks and runs up the steps but not before talking to the receptionist.

Okayy, that's one way to start my day.

* * * * * *

Hey people!

The main character's name is Sophia but I don't have a surname for her just yet. And I'm thinking that the name Sophia is not Brazilian enough for the character (no offence to anyone whose name is Sophia!!!) I just might change her name, & If I do I'll say so in an authors note. And please vote, comment and share.

Okay, that's it for today.

Love,
Tazzie_012