Chapter 26 - Let's Go Make History
The sky over Elland Road was the color of steel—low-hanging clouds threatening rain, the kind that soaked you not all at once, but drop by drop, until your skin felt heavy.
The air buzzed, thick with anticipation.
Inside the tunnel, beneath the pounding rhythm of 36,000 hearts beating as one, Nathan Perry stood still.
Ahead of him, Arsenal's starting eleven looked carved from something clinical and cold—Saliba, Zinchenko, Partey, Ødegaard, Trossard, Saka… names that played under stadium lights all across Europe, that filled highlight reels and jersey sales from Tokyo to Toronto.
But Nathan didn't look at the names.
He looked at the faces.
Calm. Sharp. Efficient.
Then he whispered under his breath, not to anyone else, but to himself.
"This isn't just another game…
It's the gateway to glory."
—
Headlines crackled across sports networks, blogs, and message boards:
"Can Leeds pull it off?"
-
TWO DAYS AGO
-
Extra shooting drills. Replays of Arsenal's last ten matches.
Coach Grayson noticed.
"Nathan," he said one afternoon after a rain-soaked session, "it doesn't matter how young you are."
Nathan wiped sweat from his brow, breathing hard. "Then what does?"
Grayson's eyes didn't waver. "What matters… is growing at the right moment."
—
Now, as the teams emerged onto the pitch, Elland Road erupted.
BOOM!!
Flags waving. Rain falling.
Nathan stepped onto the grass and breathed it all in.
The cold sting of drizzle. The roar of the crowd. The scent of damp earth and adrenaline.
His heartbeat didn't race—it drummed.
Marco jogged up beside him, rolling his neck.
"Tell me you're not nervous," he said.
Nathan cracked a small smile. "I'm not."
Marco grinned. "Liar. Let's go make history."