The month before school ended was a complete daze. Mia had so many final papers, exams, and presentations, it had been really challenging to keep up with everything. But after Mia's group success in Shanghai and re-found confidence, it was almost like they acted on autopilot and were able to step up to the plate and bang everything out without a hitch.
The FIFA World Cup in South Africa had also started, making it even harder to concentrate for class. The whole country had seemed to shut down as summer approached, and all everyone cared about was watching the soccer matches. After all Mia was in Spain, a soccer Mecca.
Mia clearly remembered the first day of the tournament. The opening game was Mexico vs. South Africa, so naturally she was really excited about it and had worn her Mexico jersey. The game was to start right after class and they had been waiting impatiently for the professor to arrive. After ten minutes of not showing up, someone got bored and pulled up Shakira's anthem song for the cup on YouTube, displaying the video on the presentation screen.
Another girl from Mexico got really excited and started dancing to it and the next thing she knew, she was pulling Mia up with her to dance on the professor's desk! Mia couldn't believe it when she saw herself up there, standing in front of the entire class. Everyone started cheering and Mia decided to just go with it and do the dance for Waka Waka.
Thank God they had stepped down in time before the professor arrived. Mia wasn't able to concentrate one bit afterwards, and it didn't help that her phone had lit up throughout the entire lecture with messages from her classmates on their group chat. Someone had even gotten the performance on video and she hoped it wouldn't turn up in the wrong hands one day.
Leo had asked her about it after class. He said they could hear all the commotion going on from his classroom and when Mia explained it to him he stared at her in shock. "That was you? Mia, I'm so proud. My baby's all grown up now," he had joked.
Throughout the tournament, Mia found herself not only watching the Mexico games, but almost every other game since there was always someone from class dragging people to a bar to see their own country play. And when their countries played against each other, it was always a funny scene to witness with all the trash talk and bickering going around.
The trip from Shanghai had created a tight bond around the students, and for the first time Mia felt like she actually had friends. Not to mention an amazing boyfriend that continued to surprise her at every corner. So when MBS announced their graduation party, it hit really hard that her number was really coming up this time.
Slowly yet surely, all of Mia's teams she usually rooted for were eliminated. First Mexico, followed by Brazil, and Argentina. All of the Latin American countries, of course. That's when Leo reminded her there was still Spain. Duh!She decided to back them up full force and even ended up buying the red and yellow jersey. After all, how cool would it be to actually be in Spain if they won?
The day of the final between Spain and The Netherlands, Leo invited Mia over to his home to watch the game. He had picked her up early and they spent the afternoon lounging in the pool and soaking up the sun. That was until the twins showed up and demanded to play chicken fight with them. They had decided boys against girls but it was never a fair game since Leo would always manage to drown Mia before stealing kisses from her. Even Max had joined them and the playing field became more even between the two brothers. Mia couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so much.
They quickly changed out of their bathing suits before the game started and watched the final on a huge screen with his entire family and friends. Mia watched Leo agonize over the games for hours. Her hand became sore after he had held onto it so tightly and clutched it even harder during close calls. He didn't let her leave his side, claiming she was his good luck charm, and it was at that moment she realized she had never felt closer to him.
When Spain finally won the championship in overtime it was pure madness. Mia had never seen anything like it. They had caught a ride downtown to Cibeles with some friends and witnessed the Madrileños practically destroy their city. Firecrackers were going off on every corner, guys were streaking and jumping into water fountains, people were getting into fights and even destroying signs from the metro stations.
Mia and Leo ended up walking all the way back to her apartment since the trains weren't running, and it took more than an hour. At some point she had feared for her life walking through a sea of drunken chaos, but with Leo by her side she knew she would be safe. In the end, it would be yet another treasured experience in her growing bank of memories from Spain.