Naomi blows her whistle. "That's time, good job, guys."
"Kairo lane you are the last player that will advance to the second day, and for the other three of you guys, please take your things and leave."
One of the eliminated players lashed out. "Seriously… no lets do it again.. I almost had it, you aren't serious, letting him join, right?"
He points at Kairo, "He's the worst player here, and the worst player in the country. An elite club like this doesn't need him. Come on."
Kairo drops his head his sweat drops of his face. "You're right said Kairo.
"But I have a goal, and that's my drive."
The boy walks over to Kairo and grabs his shirt.
"You have a goal, come on, guys, he said it himself, he doesn't belong here."
Noah starts to walk up to them.
"He belongs here more than you three."
The boy tightens his grip on kairo shirt
"He got a task, and he finished it, didn't he?" said Noah
The boy didn't answer, more like he couldn't
"It seems that you're the lowest ranking here."
The boy lets go of Kairo and swings his hands. "I need another chance to prove my worth."
Noah gets closer to them.
"What if we were in a real match? In front of the goal, would you beg the ref for a redo because you lost the ball?"
The boy starts to get upset.
He walks up to him and stops in front of him, "fuck the elimination i say you should be stripped of your right to play football ever again."
He screams and swings at Noah, but he dodges the attack and steps in closer, grabs his shirt, lifts him off the ground, and head buts him.
He Collapses.
"That's enough, both of you said Naomi.
The other two eliminated players rush in and take up the one on the ground and leave.
" Thanks, " said Kairo to Noah.
"I didn't do it for you I just hate people who play the victim when they lose."
Noah, if you ever do something like that again, you will be kicked out of here. You got that.
"Yes, I understand, Miss Vale."
"OK then, out of the 120 of you, only 100 of you guys remain."
"I wanted to drop more than that, but I guess this will do," she turns and starts to walk slowly.
"You have the rest of the day off, get to know each other and the facilities."
"You guys can't leave here. If you do, you're eliminated.....lunch will be here soon."
"Can you tell us the reason why we played that game? I know you just said you wanted to drop the numbers, was that all though?" said a player.
Naomi stops and turns around. "Actually That's a good question. You guys didn't just play to eliminate each other, the square you guys made and played in mirrors, the penalty box."
"The eighteen on the outside represent the opposing team inside your area, while the prisoners represent us trapped and under pressure," she said while looking at them.
"What do you mean?" someone asked.
"There's nothing more dangerous in football than your enemy inside your penalty box; they are unpredictable. They can shoot pass, or fake, and you won't know when it's going to happen."
She walks up to them closer, "So your job is to get the ball no matter what, that's why you guys played that game."
"oh I understand that, but shouldn't that be the goalie or defense job?" someone asked.
"And why do you think that?" Naomi asked.
"Because of our roles, remember strikers attack, midfielders create, and defenders and goalies defend the goal, so we play that stupid game for no reason, shouldn't the defenders and goalies be the ones to do that game?"
"Listen, whoever told you that crap doesn't know one shit about football. All players on a team have two main jobs: to make their team score and to stop the other team from scoring. Midfielder, striker, defender, or goalie, you all should protect the goal."
"So whatever you learn throw it away because at FC BLAU NORE we dominate."
Naomi walks away.
Eli walks up to Kairo. "Good job on making it to day 2."
"Thank you"
"I thought you were gonna give up."
"I almost did, but then I remembered I had a drive and a goal."
Eli starts to smile, "Good stick to that, I don't want you going home kairo."
"I wont" said Kairo
[Later I Naomi's Room]
She's standing in front of her window with her phone against her right ear.
"Just finished, we have 100 of them."
A voice on the other end, "And Kairo,"
"Yes, he's in it. He was the last one but the best one."
"Did he pull off something today?" the voice asked.
"I don't know how to explain it, but he was different, like he wasn't himself."
"Good, we don't need him to be himself, we need him to evolve."