**Set in a generic big North American City** Chapter 1: "How was your day Hun?" A sweet voice calls out, awakening me from my thoughts. With shock I realize that I'm home. The short walk always surprises me ever since I've changed schools. Of course, back in Argentina everything was different, and a longer walk was fine when you had a gang of kids swarming you. Of course, back in Argentina, football meant football. Back in Argentina when you played football you got a red card for shoulder-checking your opponents. That's how I got so good at football... by drawing fouls. And in my old town, being good at football meant that you were popular. Now my walk home is lonely, but at least short. Routines are good though, and putting on a good smile for my mother means more than just a routine to her. "Hey mom!" I say, although she can clearly tell my disappointment. Like a circus clown with multiple faces she goes from smiles to frowns. "You didn't get accepted." She said. "Worse." I reply. "Football means a different thing here." I was worried about that from the start. When they said football, they meant the kind with a quarterback. Not the real kind… or 'soccer' as they call it. "Papa will be upset." I say, dreading dinner. "No he won't." My mom shoots back sensing a challenge to keep me happy. "Mom. When he finds out that his son is entering an education without football he'll go ballistic!" I practically scream. My mom sighs. Something she does a lot when she feels defeated, and it instantly makes me feel bad. As she's walking towards the house she speaks words that were going to change the situation at school, permanently. "Your father will be extremely happy when he comes home and finds out that there's a new football team at school." I wait for the other shoe to drop. "And that his son will be the coach!" Suddenly I wish I didn't play football.
Chapter 2: "It sure is cold here." I think to myself as I sit lonely on a bench in the backfield. My mom's crazy idea for me to start a soccer team here went amazingly well with my father. He more than encouraged me to do it. But who cares? No one will come. No one cares about football. People only care about a brown cone shaped ball falling into their hands as they run past a line into a different zone. Coming here in full team Argentina gear was probably a bad idea too. If someone decided to come, they'd probably leave when they say me in blue and white. Apparently there's no blue and white team that has a quarterback on it. Has NO ONE ever heard of world cup? Apparently not, since the one time I brought it up someone replied; "Isn't that what the Cardinals won?" Living in North America is good for my parents though, as they were wanting a change, and when my father was offered an amazing job in an office here, they took it and we moved. "Excuse me?" A British accent startles me and brings me back to reality. I whip around to see a slim kid in a tie-dye shirt shirt and jeans leaning against the school. "Yeah?" I question, wondering who he thinks he is going here when the office told me I could have the field after school. They did make an announcement about anyone wanting to join a 'soccer' team to come here. What does he want? "Have you seen anyone with a round white ball here recently?" He asks, seeming almost nervous. "Yup." I replay, and as I flick my hidden ball into the air, head it, and catch it, while looking straight into his eyes say "You're point being...?" "Woa." is all he can manage. "I... I came... I..." He mumbles clearly embarrassed. I all of a sudden have some shock and embarrassment of my own, because I realize that he came to join the football team. I got a member, but I've already put him off-balance and embarrassed him!
Chapter 3: "I'm Kosei." I say to him, trying to end the awkward silence. "What's your name?" "Zac." He says smiling. "My cousin is called Kosei too!" "Cool!" I reply. "You want to play football? The kind without a quarterback." I ask, and without waiting for a reply slug the ball at him. It's a horrible strike, and starts to curl away from him towards the street. I grimace as he sticks his hand out to get it but misses by a mile. "NO!!! MY BALL!!" I scream. Literally inches from the road though, a figure flies through the air, catching it and landing hard on the grass. He bounces up with all smiles though and introduces himself. "I'm Jason!" shocked, I manage to mumble a question directed to him. "Do you play keeper?" "Never heard of it!" He replays running down from the road towards Zac and I. "But I play wide receiver on the football team! By the way, if you were aiming at Zac with that throw, I recommend that you ask him for some throwing tips." "Why him?" I ask. "Because he's the QB!" He says punching Zac friendly on the shoulder. Everything saddling makes sense. Zac, the popular leader of the school's American Football team. The guy who always walks around in beach clothes with a crowd of chicks following him. Jason, Zac's endlessly cheery brother who's a year younger, but is just as popular. I'm forced to sit down as I take in this one fact; The two most popular athletes in the school want me to teach them football.
Chapter 4: Ringggg! There's the bell. As I walk into class people immediately notice me. But who wouldn't notice me? I'm walking through the halls with the two most popular kids on either side of me! Yesterday went great. It turned out that Jason was an amazing keeper, and Zac could use his quarterback skills to make quick decisions on the field. The two of them were actually half decent players. What was really great though, was when Zac said he'd get some of his best friends to come out to play today. Who he'll bring I don't know since he seems to be buddies with almost everyone in the school, so he has a lot of variety to choose from. It also turned out that he lives very close to me, so this morning he walked to school with me. Win! "Hey punk! Who do you think you are walking with Zac!?" A deep voice yells as someone slams into me. Suddenly the person his being pinned down by about six people. Zac jogs over to me, and hoists me up with concern on his face. "Kosei! Are you alright?" He asks. "Fine. Who was that?" I shakily say. "Some jerk, seeing a new kid walking with me, and wanting to cause trouble. He's being dealt with. Don't worry. Are you sure you're alright though?" He responds. "I'm fine." I say, feeling a little more self-confident about standing. "He only knocked the wind out of me." "Ok." He says, dousing unsure. "See you at lunch." As I walk down the hallway toward my first class a person turns a corner and starts walking parallel to me. "You alright?" The person says. "I'm Oliver. I used to get treated like that a ton." "Yeah, fine." I say, ducking into my class. "He was certainly more friendly than that other jerk!" I mutter to myself, as I get ready for math.
Chapter 5: "Yo Kosei!" A voice calls out to me. I turn to see Brent chasing after me. "Wait up!" He pants. I don't know what he's following with me, as he lives in the exact opposite direction. "Sorry I missed you at the end of practice! Can I ask you something?" He says slowing down to my speed. Maybe it's mean that I'm not Stopping to hear him, so he doesn't have to walk back farther, but hey, I have to get home too. Practice was good today. We got a full 6 on 6 plus keepers in a scrimmage today because everyone showed up. In the last two weeks I've ran some football drills and games everyday after school, and amazingly, we have enough players to challenge a real team. No one will ever replace Jason in goal. He's practically a spider flying through the air to keep shots out of the net. He mainly has to only face shots from the sides anyways, because I have Alexandria and Zac in the middle of the field at the back, and together they're awesome. Zac is a downright natural defender, and Alexandria is so busy trying to impress Zac that she will put 2000% effort into every play. When she begged me to but her near him, I was more than happy to agree since oddly her focus level becomes nine times better when she's beside him. Brent is a beefy kid who I put on the far wing at left wing. After a long warmup his crossing is perfect, but he's slow, and get's nervous when he has the ball. I wonder what he wants. "Sup Brent? What's the matter?" I question. "Well..." He begins. "My friend goes to a school at the other end of the city, and they have what he says is a 'world class' soccer-sorry, football, team, and wants to play us really badly. I don't think we're ready, but I really want to play him. Can you think about it?" That interested me. Brent had been bragging about us. He's totally right that we're not ready for this, but I can't back down from a challenge. "Let me call Zac." I say, as I turn away, and start walking towards his house.
To my 3 or 4 readers: Sorry for the short chapter, but it's 2:34 am and I'm really tired. "Better win tonight Kosei!" "You'll do fine man!" "We're with you!" I brush away person after person, as I stride down the hallway. With modern technology it's simply amazing how fast word gets out. All Zac had to do was 'Tweet' about that game, and in three days the whole city seemed to know. What I didn't know when I agreed to this game, was that the other school has been a rival with us in everything since the TEACHERS were kids. Even though no one cares about football, they care about beating their rival. What worries me is how stressed everyone on the teem is. It will be a miracle if no one faints during the game. I'll admit though that with only a week of preparation, I'm nervous too. It'll be on a modified American-Football field at out school, so we'll at least have the crowd with us. As I stroll into homeroom, my science homework that I didn't do is the worst of my problems.