— I've finally done it... — I muttered, wiping my sweat-soaked forehead.
— You only managed it once, what makes you think it was just luck? Try again, at least 3 out of 10 shots should end up in the squad — Arthur corrected, with a professional voice.
Arthur placed the ball outside the area again, preparing to take another free kick. Upon shooting, it ended up in the middle of the goal, again. His coach was right, it was a lucky shot; in a real match, luck doesn't always appear so easily.
Hours later, Arthur is locked in his room after dinner, watching a random match on his cell phone, a Borussia Dortmund against Bayer 04 Leverkusen, a first division Bundesliga match.
The Borussia Dortmund player makes an amazing play, receiving the ball with his back to the goal, instead of controlling it since he had the Bayer 04 Leverkusen defender behind him. The Borussia Dortmund player redirected the trajectory with a subtle touch backwards over the defender, there the striker appeared unmarked and headed it in.
Arthur was astonished, How? Not only was it a great goal, but the play was clearly of impressive quality, obviously from first division teams. The play was too intelligent, the player was incredibly intelligent and creative in a pinch, in addition to Arthur's great doubt. How? How did he know the striker was going to be there? Why did they synchronize so well? Well, plays that he won't understand even if he breaks his head for hours. He turned off the cell phone after the final whistle, lying in bed, tomorrow will be a very long day.
The next day, Arthur woke up early, upon leaving the room, he saw his mother with a sad expression, she greeted him with that warm voice but with a discouraged tone. — Art, good morning, dear... — She said, trying to sound normal, but she was stiff.
— Good morning, Mom — Arthur said, trying to sound normal but couldn't help but look down. Arman has surely already gone to work, Aria is still sleeping.
Arthur had a tense breakfast, about 2 hours passed. Arthur gets ready, the taxi would arrive in half an hour, sadly he won't be able to say goodbye to his father. He goes down the stairs and tries to say goodbye to his mother without making a drama "Well... Mom... I have to go..." he said with a trembling voice, Sylvia couldn't help but hold back the tension. She quickly closed the distance, hugging her son, breaking down in tears right there.
— Art... my child... please be careful, I'm going to miss you so much... — She said between hiccups, sobbing while caressing his head.
Arthur tried to hold back the tears, it's too painful to see the warm and protective figure crying before him. He manages to hold it back, and with a trembling voice — Don't worry m-mom... I'll take good care of myself... Please... don't cry — He said with a trembling voice.
A few hours later, already in the afternoon, Arthur arrives at the port, dragging his suitcase while checking when his ferry departs. It departs at approximately 9 p.m., Arthur leans back in one of the chairs at the port, and checks his cell phone, he finds a message from his mother saying goodbye and asking him to keep in touch, Arman sent him a message "Arthur, keep in touch with your mother, she won't be able to rest if she doesn't know you're okay".
4 DAYS LATER...
Arthur gets off the train that was heading to Munich, Arthur upon getting off, finds himself at the train station, he meets his scheduled guide to take him, Anja, the girl with short blonde hair and brown eyes greets him while commenting — Hallo, bist du Arthur Sokolov? — Arthur didn't understand anything, he doesn't know German, Arthur asks — Uh... can you repeat that? — The girl realizes that Arthur is not German, she offers him some headphones while saying — Put that in you ears, it can translate all on real time — She replied in English, Arthur nodded and put on the headphones, now he could communicate with her.
Arthur followed the girl through the streets of Munich, they were beautiful in their own way, — The educational center you are going to is called "IASPH", without the acronyms it is International Advanced Soccer and Psychology Highschool, it is a center specialized in psychology and sports, especially in soccer. Since the educational center is huge, there are classes from Z to A, it is automatically assigned to the student, that is, your class is 1Z due to your performance and there is not much to talk about your history. — Arthur assimilated the information, and with doubt says — Is it bad to be in the last class of all? — Anja turned to him and responds with professional calm — Technically yes, when you finish you will not have job offers or in your case, football offers, the higher you are the better, and an average is made, that is, if your first 3 courses are between D and Z, but the last one you are in A, people may be interested, but what really matters is your third year. Understood? — Arthur nodded.
After a few minutes of walking, they arrive at the place, it is a great place, Arthur formally says goodbye to Anja, and continues on his way, he arrives at the 1Z class, upon entering he sees several figures. The first to receive him is surely the teacher, her features are black hair and violet eyes, it's impressive.
— Good morning, Arthur Sokolov, take your seat, it's the first day for everyone here. — Arthur nodded formally, sits next to the window, his seatmate sits down, Arthur remains rigid, why is he huge? The black-haired subject gives him a smile, although Arthur feels it's just a fake smile. The boy's eyes are blood-like eyes, and his height, from Arthur's perspective, easily exceeds one meter ninety.
— Good morning. — Said the red-eyed boy. — My name is Sonny, I'm from Spain, and you? — Said the figure, showing false curiosity.
Arthur felt that the gaze analyzed him to the soul — My name is Arthur... From Russia — he tried to sound normal, but his trembling voice betrayed him, Sonny nodded interested.
— Don't you find the teacher very strange? She seems... to see us as an experiment more than students. —
A blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl in the front row, raises her hand, feigning a friendly smile — Professor Mery, could we all do an initial presentation? — All the murmurs ceased instantly, most people looked towards the professor.
— You're right, who wants to introduce themselves first? — She said in a flat voice, without showing any kind of emotion.
— I want to. — The boy from the back of the room raised his hand, a boy with blond hair and brown eyes, and got up from his seat — My name is Carl, I'm from the United States. I'm a central defender — He explained with a confident and proud voice. Mery nods and points to the black-haired, dark blue-eyed boy. The boy gets up without nervousness, and explains — My name is Vert, I'm from Japan, my dream is to be a soccer player. Nice to meet you. — He sat down again, other students began to introduce themselves.
— I'm Oliver, from France, my dream is to be a central defender, a pleasure. — Said the somewhat muscular boy in the back with somewhat curly hair, dark purple hair, and brown eyes.
— My name is Sonny, from Spain — Sonny said in a flat voice, although he showed a smile. He sat down again.
— My name is Kermin, from Germany, Ein Vergnügen, meine Damen. — Said the boy with short blond hair, with an arrogant smile. And he sat down dramatically.
— My name is Alice, from England, a pleasure to meet you — Said the girl from the beginning of the front row, smiling kindly.
The presentations continued, each student introducing themselves.
Professor Mery continued, explaining. — I have to tell you that there are two types of students, regular students and sports students, sports students focus more on sports than on studies, clearly grades still matter but they come for sports, regular students are common students. The class captain is Tarmi. — Everyone turned to the subject with green hair and brown eyes, he was paying attention, he is too cold, in his presentation he barely said anything.
Mery continues — Tarmi will choose the lineup and substitutes, so any complaints go to him and not to me. He is only going to make the first lineup, the rest of the lineups, changes in the match will be made by me. So, you will have to fight for the starting position. — She explained, in a flat and cold tone. Arthur felt very nervous.
Will he be able to get into the starting lineup? Will he be able to stand out in any match?"