The King's View Academy squad was out on the training ground, warming up for the session.
"Can't believe coach signed us up for qualifiers for another tournament."
"Yeah, but if we play well, we've got a real shot at qualifying."
"Hey! Stop slacking and pick up the pace!" their captain snapped.
"Chill, captain. It's just warmups."
"You better take warmups seriously, Nate. Don't wanna see you pull a hamstring again."
"Yeah, yeah." Nate muttered to the guy next to him. "Dude's always so uptight."
"I heard that, jackass."
Training was brutal. By the end, the players collapsed on the grass, staring up at the sky as the late sun dipped toward the horizon.
"Wonder how those two are doing right now."
"Yeah..."
"Aren't you in Leon's class? How's it going?"
"He doesn't talk about it. None of us really bring it up."
"Still… I bet they're doing fine. Especially Che."
"Alright, enough about them." Adrian clapped his hands. "We've got a tournament to focus on. This could be our last shot at winning something for King's View. Let's lock in, yeah?"
The rest of the squad nodded, fired up by the pep talk. Maybe this was their moment.
Later, after training, Adrian headed out. Amelie was already waiting for him by the school gates.
"You're out early," he said.
"Finished my revision early, figured I'd wait for you."
"Aww, so cute," Nate teased, coming up from behind.
"Shut up," Adrian muttered.
They walked together, Nate and Adrian chatting about the tournament while Amelie stayed glued to her phone, earbuds in—the ones Adrian had promised to buy.
Eventually Nate turned off into his street, and Adrian was left walking with Amelie. The silence was awkward. She was in her own world, and he wasn't sure how to break it.
He tapped her shoulder, motioning for her to take the earbuds out.
"What?" she asked.
"Just… take those off. You're walking in the middle of the road with them on, it's not safe."
"If you wanted to talk to me, you could've just said so."
"No, I'm just saying—"
"Because I always walk with them, and I don't even play stuff that loud."
"Whatever. Anyway… I wanted to ask—have you talked to Che?"
"Not really. I called him yesterday though."
"Oh? What did he say?"
"Nothing big. Just checking up on him."
"And? How'd he sound?"
"Like normal, I guess."
"Hmm. Okay. I guess he's alright then."
"Why are you so concerned about him?"
"None of your business."
"Jeez, rude much? I was just asking."
"And didn't I tell you to stop texting him about random nonsense? You'll mess with his focus!" He gave her a light tap on the back of the head.
"That's none of your business either!"
They kept walking, Amelie still fuming a little, while Adrian's thoughts wandered—to when they first met Che, when he was new at King's View.