Snippets

Like Minded (Part 2)

It was close to the end of the second half when their team made another foul. The rivals were doing this on purpose. It was the 4th foul of the match. This time the rival captain was taking the direct hit. Rylen saw him clearly this time. It was the same guy Rylen saw making out in front of Enrique.

Her blood boiled when the captain winked at her. Channelling her anger, just like her father had always taught her, adrenaline pumped through her body. The ball came fast, the kick was powerful but predictable. Rylen jumped to the right, instead of catching it, she pushed it outside the boundary.

The crowd roared with applause, and Rylen smirked at the captain who was seething at her now. Before resuming the play Rylen mouthed 'Seville 9/16' to Juan, Torres saw it as well. She saw realization on Juan's face. Torres and he approached Sanchez who quickly improvised the strategy.

With 7 minutes remaining the Bulls were able to score a goal while their opponents hadn't. The Lions concentrated on Juan and Sanchez, the strikers while Torres and De Silva, the defenders took hold of the ball. The strikers played as defenders and the defenders were taking the strike. Rylen saw Lions goalkeeper confused the way De Silva, Torres, and Andres were dribbling the ball towards each other. While Juan, Sanchez, Guerra, and Iñíguez distracted the others to waste time.

The game ended with their team winning. Coach appreciated Rylen's presence of mind when Sanchez informed him of Rylen's memory. This strategy that was used against them last September while playing in Seville with a team.

When her parents came to congratulate her, Rylen was surprised to see Enrique and his parents along with them.

"Nice game," He told her as their parents fell in a conversation. Reyanna, on the other hand, played tonsil hockey with her very sweaty boyfriend. She had this weird liking for Juan when he was sweaty and grimy. To be honest it was gross more than anything. Reyanna was weird, more weird Roman and his one night stand. She had messed up siblings, but she was no one to say. Rylen disliked romance.

"Thanks. Guess you came to see your competition. It's your match next, I suppose?" Rylen asked.

Her heart was hammering in her chest. She was suddenly breathless. Maybe because she ran and screamed a lot. But that was 10 minutes ago, why now?

"Yeah. Tough, but not unbeatable," He said. There was a bit of a stutter, but Rylen found it better than it was in the book shop, and the party initially.

"No one is unbeatable," Rylen shrugged. "You okay?" She asked remembering the night at the party.

"Yeah. I'm good. You must think of me as a freak who can't take his alcohol," He looked down with a sad expression.

"Nah. Alcohol doesn't make you anything. You're shy but cool," Rylen said and bit her tongue for being so stupid, but the look on Enrique's face made up for it. Really?

"Um...no...no one ever said I was cool," He scratched the back of his head.

She didn't know why, but Rylen thought Enrique looked cute, despite the god awful glasses, when he scratched the back of his head like that. She hadn't seen him without them, but she was sure he would look cute even without that.

Where were these thoughts coming from? And cute? Seriously?

"You shouldn't worry about what others say. Most of them are mindless fucksuckers. I gotta go, can't stay all sweaty and sticky the rest of the day," Rylen said when she saw her team going to the dressing rooms.

"I think you look even more beautiful this way," Enrique blurted, and then slapped his mouth as his eyes widen in horror.

Rylen too couldn't speak, her face warmed up at his statement.