General pov: October 23rd 2016
It was the next day, and the articles and comments were going crazy.
"Grayson Grows Up Fast: Teen Sensation Shrugs Off Tabloid Scrutiny With Hat-Trick Heroics"
"12 Seconds to History: Richard Grayson Breaks Records and Doubts in Equal Measure"
"From Doubts to Glory: Wonderkid Grayson Stuns Norwich With Fastest Goal in Championship History"
Instantly, as if they were possessed, the articles which had put so much doubt on him did a complete 180 and started praising him like he was the next Messi. And with that, the comments also followed quickly.
@Brighton4eva: "Imagine marking this kid. You blink, it's 1–0, you turn your head and then he's scored a hat-trick, what a baller"
@Beansontoast: Critics said he was distracted by kissing a girl… well, today he kissed Norwich goodbye. What a baller.
@Seaguuuullllssss: All those headlines last week about his private life… where are they now? Man's silenced everyone.
But it still won't change everyone's mind.
@h8er: Fastest goal ever, sure. But if he's already caught up in tabloid drama at 16, his head's not in the right place.
@proofoflife: One game doesn't make him Messi. Let's see him do it in the Prem.
And there were even some questions from Hughton's Interview after the game that were about him.
"What are your thoughts on Richards' 12-second goal, and then the following hat-trick? I mean, these achievements are insane for a 16-year-old"
"It was a wonderful goal, one of those moments that happen maybe once in a career. Richard reacted quickly, showed composure, and took his chance. That kind of instinct is rare, especially at his age. And we know Dick can score goals; he's been doing it since the start of the season. But it's not just the goals — it's his work rate, his movement, his willingness to learn, that is what keeps on impressing me"
And then he was asked a question that genuinely made Hughton a bit mad.
"And what are your thoughts on Dick being spotted kissing and causing some drama before the Norwich game?"
"*Sigh* Dick is a young man as well as a footballer. He's entitled to a private life, and I don't think it has any bearing on what he does on the pitch, which he just proved. What matters to us is his professionalism — and he's been nothing short of exceptional, like he always is. I mean, the boy is just 16, leave him alone to live out his teenage life without having to look over his shoulder."
Yet Dick didn't care about the comments, articles, or even the interview (although he was thankful). Instead, he was lying in his bed, his headphones blasting music to try to drown out his thoughts. Yet, no matter what he did, his thoughts kept going back to the conversation with Rebecca, where they had decided to break up. Currently, the song "Scientist" by Coldplay was playing, and he was silently singing along to the lyrics, something to stop the sadder thoughts of what could have been.
But honestly, there was a small part of Dick that was kind of thankful that they broke up. They just had such a different view of their futures together that he had realised they wouldn't have worked. They had a good run, dated for like 4 and a half months, and they had their…fun. But their ideals and dreams of the future were just too different. DIck wanted a future with him as a global football star, someone that the next generation would want to be, like how Messi and Ronaldo are now. While Rebecca just wanted a calm and normal life, going day to day with no paparazzi trying to get her.
Dick was now just absorbed in the music, listening to his favourite soul songs, right now Cheek to Cheek by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong was playing, and it totally transported him away from these thoughts.
He took a deep breath and exhaled. He continued to do this until he felt something lick his feet, which made him jump and fall out of his bed. He threw his headphones off and looked angrily up at his dad, and was even about to curse him out, before he looked down and saw a tiny German Shepherd puppy looking at him. The puppy had its head tilted sideways, its hazelnut brown eyes staring up at him while its ears flopped over. Dick had to fight the urge to gasp, his heart clenched, and he swept the dog into his arms with a smile on his face.
He looked at his dad, his eyes lighting up with joy as he asked.
"Where did you get the puppy? WHY did you get the puppy? Can we keep *checks the gender* her?"
His dad laughed before he said
"Well, I got her from one of the guys at the construction site. His German Shepherd recently got pregnant, so he offered me one for a cheaper price. And I got her because I know you're feeling a bit sad with Rebecca and everything, so I got her a way to cheer you up. But that also means that YOU have to take care of her, she's your dog, not mine, got it?"
"Sir, yes, sir. She and I are going to be best friends from now on"
Dick then looked down at the puppy, who just tilted her head before licking him on the face, causing them both to laugh. His dad then said
"Well, she's going to need a name. Got any Ideas?"
Dick thought about it for a while before he remembered the German shepherd that was in Call of Duty: Ghosts, which was named.
"Riley, that's going to be her name"
"Sounds good to me"
Dick then got a ride with his dad to the closest pet store, where they bought food, a pretty pink collar, and Dick even brought Riley with them and let her choose some toys for her to chew on and even more things they needed. They then made an appointment with the vet for a checkup and to get her chipped and vaccinated. But Jack could tell his son was happy; at least Riley could take his mind off the whole Rebecca thing, so he just smiled and looked back to the road.
—--------------------------------------
Dick pov, 25th of October
*bark bark*
I opened my eyes to see Riley, staring up at me from the bottom of my bed. I reached my left hand down and pulled her up into my bed. She licked my face before burrowing herself under the duvet and lying in a ball right next to my stomach and onto my right arm. I gave her a scratch behind her ears before pulling out my phone, which just greeted me with a photo of me and Rebecca on one of our dates. I sighed before changing it to a photo my dad took yesterday, of me in the car holding Riley, who had her sleepy head on my shoulder while I was smiling. I then opened up my social media, and practically every message was about how big today's game was. If we managed to beat Southampton, we'd go to the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup.
And the other news, which Mendes shared with me yesterday. I was now valued at 60 million pounds, a pretty large sum for a 16-year-old and Mendes even said that if this had been the prem, then I would have cost even more. But honestly, that was the least of my worries right now. I instead opened up YouTube and watched the last couple of Southampton games so I could get a better look at what they played like, so I could add onto my mental notes from the tactical viewing I did with the team.
I finished watching the highlights before I got out of bed, leaving Riley under the Duvet where she had made her home base. Then, while scratching my stomach, I stepped into the kitchen and made myself some scrambled eggs on toast with tabasco on top. I then got ready, gave Riley a couple of kisses goodbye, and stepped into my dad's car before driving to the stadium.
—---------------------------------------------
General pov Brighton vs Southampton, Amex stadium
*TWEEEET*
Dick passed the ball back and was about to run down before he spotted three midfielders tie around him in a U shape, making sure he barely had any room to breathe. He looked around before grunting and jogging down the pitch, and feeling the pressure start to slightly release off of him. Dick kept his head on a swivel, trying his best to look for an opening, but he just couldn't see a way out.
A couple of minutes passed, and Dick had barely gotten to touch the ball. He had it a couple of times and was even able to facilitate an attack, but then his passing lanes just got cut off. So now Dick had finally escaped the clutches of the tight leash that Southampton had put on him. Dick received the ball deep in his own half from Sidwell and immediately spun around and started running. He left Azaz in the dust as he flew past him with a simple fake before continuing his run. And just as he was about to reach the defence, he felt an arm grab him from behind, and a leg come around him to sweep him off his feet. Dick felt himself go airborne before smacking into the ground chest-first.
The air left his lungs, and he just lay on the ground for a bit, looking up at the sky in disbelief. Dick saw the ref give Fellows a yellow card, but not before Sidwell could give him a piece of his mind. He got all up in his business, even shoving him and yelling at him before coming and helping Dick up off the floor. Dick wiped himself off, but there was a large green stain stuck to his shirt. He ignored it and whispered to himself in Italian.
"Gli spacco la testa, quel pezzo di merda"
("I'll fucking cave his head in, that fucking piece of shit.")
He put the ball down, but it was like 40 yards away, so he let Sidwell take it before running into the box to try and get the header. Dick was trying to find a good spot before he felt something pulling on him. He looked back and saw the Southampton defender, Jelert, sneakily grabbing the back of his shirt. Dick swept his hand behind him and pushed him back, and looked around again, only to feel him pulling again. The ball was flying in, so Dick stopped, jumped slightly backwards into Jelert, throwing the defender off balance, before jumping up and managing to connect his head to the ball and getting it on target.
But that was as far as it got before the goalkeeper made a miraculous save and pushed it out. The stadium and Dick groaned while Dick ran out to try to get the ball, only for a Southampton player to boot it away.
More time passed, and it was tense. Southampton had a lot of close chances, but Brighton's defence was just playing too well today. Meanwhile, Brighton had been slightly stiff on attack, which was mostly due to Southampton locking down Dick, who usually was the conduit through which Brighton focused their attack. Dick had a couple of chances, but every time he got close, he was mowed down like a piece of grass by a Southampton player. However, one point of anger for the Brighton fans was that the referee had been quite forgiving with the yellow cards and hadn't given them out as much as he should.
Now it was halftime, and Dick and the Brighton team were in the locker rooms, with Hughton going through different strategies on the whiteboard. Dick was munching on a banana, focused on the board, but his mind was still playing the first half and focusing on how he could have done better. He didn't pay any attention to the medical people looking at and massaging his legs, making sure that after the first half, he wasn't injured.
Dick threw the peel in the bin, stretched a bit before getting ready to exit the locker room. The team all left, ready and armed with new strategies. The Southampton players were all looking tense, looking like they were ready to go to war.
Dick jumped a couple of times when he entered the pitch before speeding to his position on the pitch. The game started again when Southampton passed the ball. Dick sprinted after the ball like someone who had just entered the pitch. He kept the pressure for a while before dropping back since the ball had entered his half. The ball went out for a corner, and Murray said that he would drop back for defence, since that is what they planned. That's when Dick noticed it, Southampton pushed too far up, so there weren't enough defenders, they were too focused on getting a goal that they didn't think about leaving more than 3 defenders in the back.
The corner was punched out to Murray, who spotted dick and launched the ball up the field. Dick chested the ball down before running as quickly as he could right down the middle of the pitch. The three defenders were positioning themselves to face him, with one of them rushing towards him. Dick didn't slow down; in fact, he sped up and ran straight at the Southampton defender. Just when they got close, Dick Rainbow flicked the ball over the defender's head, before spinning past him, evading the hand that came to pull his shirt. Dick used his velvety first touch to softly take the ball with him. He kept his head up and ran forward.
Dick was then faced with the two other defenders, so he stopped and started doing rapid scissor kicks, causing them to go tense. He faked left before doing a rapid left-right combo, he got the ball past one player before nutmegging the second defender who lunged in to try and get the ball. Dick was now one against the goalie and was about to shoot the ball before he felt a sharp pain in his inner left knee, and he folded like a paper sheet, grabbing his knee and shouting in pain like he'd never felt before.
He took one hand away and saw the blood red streaks down his entire left leg. He let out a pained cry while the Quarshie stood over him and yelled something about him having to
"Get up and stop crying"
That's when Murray came flying in and pushed the defender with so much force that he flew to the ground. Sidwell then came in screaming at the player, as well as the other Southampton players who tried to get into it with Murray. The referee could not afford to be gentle with this call, so he whipped out the red card. While all that happened, the doctors for Brighton rushed onto the pitch and immediately went to work on Dick. They cooled his leg and checked out his knee, and for once in his life, Dick was thankful that his mom made him do gymnastics because it helped make the joint more flexible.
Dick had tears in his eyes, while the joint may have survived the assassination attack. Dick felt the cool spray on his leg, and when the doctors mentioned taking him off, he grabbed him by the arm and said
"I will play more of this game. I am not done yet"
Hughton looked down at Dick before he nodded and said
"Max 15 more minutes, let him shoot the penalty. He's determined for the win, so that's what he'll do"
The doctor closed his eyes, thinking it over, before nodding. He started taping Dicks leg and putting on the bandages while saying.
"Chris, this is a max 10-minute play on. No matter the outcome of the next ten minutes, he will be taken off"
They tightly wrapped the leg before letting Dick hobble on to the pitch to take the penalty. Thankfully Dicks right leg wasn't injured, which was his stronger leg, so he could kick the penalty. That's when he heard it, the roaring sound of applause coming from the stadium. He looked around and saw tens of thousands of Brighton fans giving him a standing ovation.
He stood above the ball, looking around and smiled. He took a couple of steps back and took a deep breath. This was it, if he could score this penalty, then he would be able to get Brighton to the quarter finals of the EFL cup, something that hadn't happened since the 1978-79 season.
*Tweeeet*
Dick exhaled and did a slow run up to the ball, ignoring the dull throbbing pain that was going through his leg. He smashed the ball in the upper right corner, and it was impossible to save. The goalie didn't even guess right, so the ball flew unabstructed into the goal.
The crowd roared, the ground rumbled, and his teammates came running towards him, but dick just fell to his knees, lifting his hands above his head and letting out a scream. His teammates all rushed him, being gentle but still rustling him and hugging him.
The game continued, and after 5 minutes, Dick was subbed off, and yet again, he was given a massive round of applause, and people were cheering his name. He raised his hands again, and the crowd just went crazier.
Dick sat down at the bench, refusing to go into the locker room for further diagnosis as he wanted to finish the game.
*BEEB BEEB BEEEEEEEP*
1-0 for Brighton, they had done it, they had finally gotten to the quarter finals again in the EFL cup. Dick was engulfed by teammates; everyone was hugging him and cheering him on, with most of the players crying in joy. The fans were also crying, everyone was cheering, chanting, and everything in between.
Dick was then brought out of his happy mindset by the doctors, who said they wanted to check on him some more, which was a bit more of a mood-ruiner.