Steal My Heart (Victor Blade)

Chapter 7

A week had passed by since the bicycle accident with Victor. Although we hadn't talked about it again, our relationship had changed: we could finally stand each other, and working with him in French class hadn't been a total disaster.

I was still a bit startled by our conversation. After Colton's death, I had decided not to tell anyone about it, trying to avoid the pity in their eyes as much as I could. But in one night, I had told Victor, the boy I hated, everything.

I wasn't too scared about him telling other people. Working for the Fifth Sector, people steered away from him and he didn't have many, if any, friends, and either way, I don't think people would believe him. He held my secret and I held his; it was as simple as that.

I had thought about Victor's brother many times, wondering where he was and how he was doing. Knowing Victor didn't work for the Fifth Sector for mischievous intentions somehow relieved me. It made me feel a bit better, and I finally seemed to understand him.

As for the soccer team, many things had happened. I hadn't exactly asked, but Jade, Skye and Rosie kept talking about it all the time, and it was impossible to tune out.

The team had played a friendly match with team Eito, and they were supposed to lose the match 0-3. I had watched the match with my mum. Although I'd told her I really didn't want to, she turned it on anyways, and in the end, I had given up and watched it with her.

It was clear there was a rupture within the team. Most of the players didn't want to disobey the Fifth Sector, but Arion and his little friend JP had refused to give up. They'd kept kicking the ball at their teammates, trying to get them to play, in vain.

In the end, Riccardo had reacted and kicked the ball straight into cage, ending the match with a score of 1-3. My mum and I had watched the match in silence, until she had stood up, shook her head and walked away.

It pained her to see other teams go through what we'd gone through in Hokkaido, but there was nothing we could do. The Fifth Sector was too powerful, and that was that.

"Avril!" Jade called as my friends approached my locker.

"Hey guys. What's up?" I asked, grabbing my books and smiling.

"You'll never guess what happened, come!"

"Wha-" but I didn't have time to protest as Jade grabbed my arm and took off running.

We finally reached the football field, where the team were all surrounding a vaguely familiar silhouette.

"The team got a new coach." Skye finally said, taking deep breaths in between words.

"What happened to Travis?" I asked, remembering the old man who had been training the team.

"He got fired for disobeying the Fifth Sector's orders." Rosie sadly whispered as she took yet another picture of Riccardo.

"Ah." I said, furrowing my eyebrows sadly. That's what the Fifth Sector always did to coaches who wouldn't listen: fire them and run them out of town.

"Skye!" Arion and Jp approached us, quickly followed by Riccardo and Michael, a fairly irritating striker of the team.

"You'll never believe who the new coach is!" Jp jumped in joys

"Who?" Jade asked intrigued.

"Mark Evans!" Arion and Jp screamed simultaneously, jumping and screaming in joy.

"What? You mean the Mark Evans, goalkeeper and former captain of the Japanese team?" I asked, in shock.

"Precisely." Riccardo nodded thoughtfully. "You know your soccer, huh Avril?"

"She has like 34 brothers." Jade said apathetically as Skye and Rosie started laughing.

"I have 4 brothers Jade, 4." I smiled warmly at my friend who just rolled her eyes and laughed it off.

"Maybe you should be a manager too." Riccardo said looking at me as my blood froze. "You seem to know your soccer, and Gabi told me you know how to treat wounds."

I played with my hands nervously. It wasn't the first time I was asked, Jade had been pestering me about it for weeks. I used my mum and the moving boxes as an excuse, but I knew it would only hold her off for a couple of weeks. She clearly didn't buy my excuse, but didn't press me to know more. She hoped eventually I would open up to her.

"Sorry, my mum needs a lot of help, we still have moving boxes and stuff." I sheepishly said turning red.

"That's the official excuse." Jade said rolling her eyes. "Avril doesn't want to manage yet, but I'm sure I'll get her to agree at some point." She said holding her fist in the air.

"I frankly doubt it Jade." I thought but just laughed it off.

"Frankly, I wouldn't want to be around us either." Silence fell as Michael frowned. "Either way, I'm not going to the field by the river just because that guy asked me to. He's not our coach and he'll never be." He said, and then left to join Eugene and Ade, two other players from the team.

"What's he on about?" Skye asked, suddenly curious.

"The coach asked us all to meet him at the field by the river to train." Riccardo said, shaking his head still lost in thought. "It's all very weird. He was sent by the Fifth Sector, yet he comes and tells us he wants to play to win."

"That doesn't sound like the Fifth Sector at all." I agreed as Riccardo looked at me, eyes wide in shock.

"You know about the Fifth Sector?" I bit my lip, trying to repair the damage.

"Well... news travel fast, you know? And either way, Jade is like an audio diary about your adventures. She will not shut up about it." I said, looking at Jade mischievously.

"I can imagine." Riccardo chuckled, although I could tell it was forced.

"Well we're off to the pitch then!" Arion exclaimed. "Let's go Jp, I can't wait to train with Mark Evans!"

"Me neither!" His sidekick shouted as they ran together.

"Are you going?" Rosie asked suddenly blushing. She had an enormous crush on Riccardo, and couldn't think straight when she spoke to him.

"I don't know." He sighed, shaking his head.

He then left to join his other teammates, probably to discuss what to do.

"I have to get going." I finally said. I really didn't have anything to do, but I knew Jade would drag me to the soccer field, and to be honest, I needed to get away from all that drama.

"Atta girl. See you tomorrow!" My friends waved as I went towards my bike.

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A snow storm blew. Vision was fuzzy.
A football field. Screams. Blood. "It's all your fault." Echoed through the air, like a never ending plague.

I woke up in the middle of the night, covered in sweat and on the verge of a panic attack. I ran to the bathroom as my dog worriedly watched me, kneeled next to the WC and threw up my dinner.

I sat on the floor, legs crossed, head in my hands, as tears flowed down. Neige got gradually closer and started licking my all over, trying to cheer me up. I smiled through the tears, as I whispered to her.

"Come girl, let's take a walk."