Chapter 18 – A New Hero at Elland Road?
The stadium shook as if alive, as if the entire city of Leeds had converged upon Elland Road and poured every ounce of their soul into one thundering roar.
Nathan barely had time to think before he was tackled by his teammates.
First Marco. Then Tyler. Then the entire squad.
"Haha—!! W-Wait—!" Nathan laughed and yelped, crushed under the weight of arms, jerseys, and sweaty bodies.
Then — whoosh! —
they lifted him into the air like a trophy.
"Oi, careful, he's still got games to play!" Jamal Carter shouted, laughing breathlessly.
But no one listened.
Up and down, they tossed him like a child's toy, and Nathan could only laugh — a raw, unfiltered sound that seemed to split the sky.
Tears stung the corners of his eyes, though whether from laughter, relief, or the sheer overwhelming madness of it all, he couldn't say.
The fans chanted his name now, over and over, an endless echo:
"NA-THAN PER-RY! NA-THAN PER-RY!"
For a fleeting moment, suspended midair, he felt invincible.
Like he could float forever.
The locker room was pure chaos.
Boots flew across the floor. Shirts were ripped off and twirled like flags. Someone popped a soda bottle —
PSHHHT! —
showering half the room in sticky sweetness.
"NATHAN, YOU BEAUTY!"
Marco roared, leaping onto a bench and pointing dramatically like a mad general.
"YOU SAVED US!"
Nathan collapsed onto a seat, still struggling to catch his breath. Slaps — too hard to be called friendly — hammered his back and shoulders.
"Oof—! Guys, guys, my ribs...!"
Tyler dropped beside him, arm slung over his shoulders. "Ribs? Mate, you're gonna need a new spine after carrying us all night."
The laughter that followed filled every inch of the cramped room, a living, breathing thing.
Then — a sharp, commanding CLAP! CLAP!
Coach Grayson entered, a rare smile tugging at the corners of his usually stern mouth.
The room fell into an expectant silence.
Grayson surveyed them — this collection of exhausted warriors — with a gleam of pride in his sharp eyes.
"Congratulations, champions..." he said slowly, voice like iron wrapped in velvet. "But—"
He let the word hang.
"...this is just the beginning. Not the end."
Silence. Not solemn — energized. Every player nodded, a fire reigniting behind their sweat-soaked faces.
Nathan's heart pounded anew, a different kind of excitement now curling through him.
The beginning...
Not the end.
The bus ride back to the academy was a rolling, tumbling avalanche of noise.
Jamal drummed an improvised beat on the back of a seat.
Tyler and Marco re-enacted the final penalty in loud, terrible accents, drawing groans and howls of laughter from everyone.
"Nah, nah, nah— you gotta fall dramatically after you shoot, mate!" Tyler said, clutching his chest and flopping over an empty seat. "Sell it to the crowd!"
Nathan leaned his forehead against the cool windowpane, smiling as he listened.
But even amid the laughter, a different conversation buzzed.
The 119th-minute equalizer.
His penalty.
The headlines.
Already they were talking about it, replaying it, immortalizing it.
Nathan closed his eyes.
He could still feel it — the ball leaving his boot, the stadium gasping, the net rippling.
A memory stitched into the very fabric of who he was now.
I'm no longer the coach's son trying to prove he belongs.
I'm Nathan Perry. I'm here.
The days that followed were a whirlwind Nathan barely remembered moving through.
Training sessions came thick and fast.
No celebrations. No parades.
Coach Grayson's philosophy was brutally clear: "Enjoy the win tonight — then lock it away. Tomorrow is a new battle."
They ran drills until their legs screamed.
Passing patterns, pressing traps, set-piece rehearsals — again and again and again.
Even in the brief moments of rest, Nathan heard the murmurs swirling around him.
Journalists crowding the academy's gates.
Fans waiting outside with shirts and posters.
His name in the papers:
"Wonder Kid Nathan Perry Saves Leeds in FA Cup Epic!"
"A New Hero at Elland Road?"
The first time he saw his own face splashed across the sports pages, he almost dropped his water bottle.
He wasn't sure he liked it.
The attention was... suffocating.
Heavy.