Invite

That day I went to sleep early. When I woke up next day, my brother wasn't home. Mom said he went to work in the shop. Then, we proceeded to have breakfast. As we were eating, mom started to talk about a movie that she saw on the TV last night. After hearing for some minutes she talk about how good and amazing the movie was, we finished eating and headed to Netz Highschool. As I got in class, Pedro came walking my way. Just as he was about to say something, the bell rang.

Our class have about 25 students. Of these, only about 7 or 8 would pay attention to class, me included. The rest would be talking, using their cellphones or just doing nothing.

As class was going on normally, a few minutes before the first interval, Pedro tossed a paper my way. I grabbed it and started to unfold. There was a note in it, saying 'need to talk to you. Wait for me in the interval.'

After reading this, I looked his way. He was already looking at me. I nodded once, to show that I would do as he wrote.

A few minutes later the bell rang and I got up and waited for him. He just passed by me and said "follow me".

After going to somewhere empty, he put up a serious expression and started to talk.

"Igor, as I told you yesterday, our opponent in the semi-finals is Deens Highschool. I remember telling you that they are a strong team. But do you know how strong they are?"

Feeling perplexed, I shook my head.

"They are stronger than Morries. And tactically speaking, they are more organized and smart. They don't really just hold the ball as Morries and try to play beautifully. They are much more objective and fast. Do you see the problem the team is facing?"

"Yes, I do. But if you guys won over Morries, playing counter-attack against them could work."

"Well, it's possible. But I don't believe we have a chance of win this way. Without Tomas, still injured, and having no proper creator midfielder, our attack power becomes very weak. Being honest with you, we wining over Morries was really a lucky strike."

Seeing that Pedro didn't continue to talk, I asked him:

"So, what do you plan on doing?"

At this moment, he looked at my eyes for some instants, then said:

"I do have a plan that could work. But... I would need your help with it."

"My help?.."

"Yes. Igor, what I mean is..." He paused for a moment and put his hands on my shoulder "please, come play with the team."

I was silent. I just kept staring at him, like if I was processing the information.

Seeing that I didn't answer, Pedro continued to talk

"Just the semi-finals. I remember you playing when you were young, and you always were very good. And you are smart. With you in the midfield, I think we could win."

I still didn't answer. I was still thinking of what to do.

"C'mon Igor. Help us, just this time. We've never reached this far"

"I'll think about it" after saying that, I just turned and went to the cafeteria to eat. I didn't really notice, but none of the guys came to eat with me today. As the bell rang, I went to class. But for the rest of the day, I wasn't really paying attention to what the teacher was saying. I just kept silent for the rest of the class, daydreaming.

...

The bell rang again. This time, it was marking the end of today's last class. This was a very expected time, and laugher could already be heard through the room. But me, I just said brief goodbyes to my friends and took off.

I exited the building of the school and started to head home, feeling strange. The time seemed to be to little and, for some reason, I felt really nervous. This was going on inside my head, till someone pulled my arm and woke me up.

"Heyyy Igor. Are you listening? Hello, Earth calling!!"

"Uh?" As I looked over, I saw Angie right at my side.

"What happened to you? Are you awake?"

"Oh, sorry. What did you say?"

"I said that mom is not home today, so I'm going to eat some burgers for lunch. Wanna join me?"

Seeing her, I thought that I really needed to do something different, to distract me for a while.

"Oh, okay, seems good. Let's go, I'm hungry."

We were walking and talking till we got there. After eating, we started to walk home. As we were walking, Angie suddenly stopped and said to me

"Oh, wait a little. I want an ice cream."

Saying that, she turned and walked to the side. Following her figure, I saw the ice cream store. 'Actually, I want an ice cream too.'

I walked over and bought one for me.

Angie, seeing that I had one ice cream too, said

"Common, let's sit for a while. So that we can eat calmly."

I nodded. Right in front of the shop, there was a park. We found a bench under the shadow of a tree and sit.

Having nothing to do for the first time in a hour, I remembered Pedro. Then, thoughts started to flood my Ming again.

Seeing that I was silent for a while now, Angie said

"Hey men, what happened to you today? You seem a little off."

"Well... it's just that Pedro asked me to play for them in the upcoming semi-finals."

Angie made a surprised face. Needless to tell, she seemed really surprised.

"Oh? And what you answered?"

"I didn't. I said I would think about it.'

"And... Did you think over it already?"

"Well, I've been thinking. It's just that... I don't really know what to do."

Seeing that I didn't continue to speak, she did.

"And just this is enough to put you off?"

"Ahn?" I didn't expect that.

"Well, it seems a pretty simple question to me." She said, confidently.

"Do you want to play football with them?"

"Hm...-"

"Don't think over it. Just answer me, 'yes' or 'no'?"

"Uh? Well, Yes, I do. But... playing football again after all this time... I don't know..."

"Igor... You're overthinking it. If you want to play, just do. I know that you like and are used to think things well before doing anything, but sometimes... you just have to do it, you know? Act first, think later."

I was thinking about her words. They sounded good, but... were they?