One Chain, Two Wrongs • Neymar

Chapter 3 - Pitch

"Neymar!" Bartra yelled.

I turned to towards my left and saw the ball flying straight at me. I jumped a bit and hit it harshly with my head and sent it straight into the net past Claudio. I received some claps and hugs from the guys on my team for the day then I heard someone else yell my name. Luis.

I ran off the pitch to meet him. He placed his sunglasses on his head and then faced to greet me once again.

"Neymar," he spoke.

"Coach," I answered.

"You're starting in the next three games."

"Really," I let out a genuine smile.

I've finally been getting off the bench lately and I had the most goals scored on the team, even more than Leo. I've managed to impress the coach finally and show him what I'm capable of, I cannot wait to keep impressing him and earn my title.

"Yes," he simply spoke. "Good job out there. Tell the guys to quit the match and start doing some laps."

I didn't get a little speech praising my skills, but I'm happy I get to start off. I ran back onto the pitch and called the couple of guys that I was playing with to start jogging while the guys who were jogging around the field got to play a little game next.

I ran out to the border of the field and came to a halt. I looked around the training grounds and some of the guys started running together, a couple of them came up to me and I told them to go run without me. I wanted some time to actually focus on the training, better myself. I wanted to keep what I have going, no distractions for now.

I ran two laps before slowing down around behind one of the nets. Gerard went to go to talk to Shakira.

Shakira and friend.

Shakira and mystery girl.

Mystery girl who was now by the pitch. She was probably going to meet the team. Privileges of being friends with football players. I was pushed by someone, Jordi jokingly. He put his arms up as if to ask me what was wrong, but then he turned around without letting me shrug him off.

I caught Luis eyeing me so I started running again. I was about to pass by them when the girl turned around to look at something Gerard was pointing at. Shakira didn't even notice me either so I managed to finish the lap without running into them. When I got to the opposite side I heard Gerard call out my name.

I clenched my teeth and shut my eyes before turning around and facing the three of them. She finally acknowledged me.

I ran across the pitch to the three of them.

Shakira instantly leaned in and left a kiss on my cheek and I greeted Gerard. The mystery girl had her right hand on her left elbow, looking at me with a straight face.

"Hi," I greeted her.

"Neymar," Shakira started. "This is an old friend of mine, Mariana."

So long 'mystery girl.'

"Nice to meet you," I spoke.

"Likewise," she smiled and held her hand out for me to shake.

"Are you from Colombia?" I asked after shaking her hand.

"I am," Mariana spoke. "But I was raised in Madrid, Brasília, and Sheffield in England for a bit."

"That's interesting," I said. "How do you two know each other?"

"I used to babysit her," Shakira let out a smile. "Yeah, I've known this girl since she was crawling. She's your age, Neymar. I used to babysit her as a kid, our families were close, till she and her mom moved out of the country. We kept in touch," she let out a chuckle and brought Mariana closer to her.

"My babysitter was Shakira," Mariana smiled.

"If anyone asks, we're the same age," Shakira added and laughed.

"So what are you doing in Spain?" I ask.

"Mariana, here, came to visit her beloved 'sister,'" Gerard answered for her.

"That's true," Mariana nodded and bit her lip. "I was gonna visit for about a week but I've been invited to stay for as long as I please."

"That's very nice of you two," I say.

"She's practically family," Gerard spoke.

"Precisely," Shakira spoke. "Anyway we brought her here to meet a couple of the guys, she's a big fan surprisingly."

"Really? Not a Madridista?" I smirk.

"Blaugrana inside and out," she smirked back at me.

I could see Gerard gesturing for someone to come over behind me out of the corner of my eye, and I say see since I didn't take my eyes off Mariana.

"You can show her around a bit," Shakira interrupted my trance. "With Gerard or another teammate. Please, take her off my hands for a bit," she joked.

"I'd love to see Barcelona a bit more," Mariana smiled back at me. "If you're ever free."

"I'd love to show you around," I almost bit my lip but decided against it.

I heard Iniesta and Xavi behind me and Marc shouting out, but his voice was getting closer. I looked to where Luis was standing before and saw him eyeing the group of us.

"Well," I looked back at the two women. "I should probably go. See you later, Shakira. It was nice meeting you, Mariana."

"Alright, see you," Shakira spoke.

"Neymar," Mariana uttered with a nod.

I looked over at Gerard and gave him a nod before going off and starting another lap. I passed by Luis and he didn't say anything, appreciating me going back to work. I saw him head over to Gerard and the crowd, about to start asking people to get back to their training.

I was running when someone came up next to me.

"Leo," I spoke.

"Should I go over?" He asked, speaking about Gerard and Mariana.

"Luis seems to be breaking it up already," I said.

"I'll meet the mystery girl some other time."

I laughed at his choice of words.

"Mystery girl, huh?"