Season 5 Sidestory

Maria's POV:

It's been almost 2 days since that incident, Anne has been avoiding social contacts and holed up inside her room. I bit my nail feeling anxious regarding the whole situation. "Is this her so-called home?" I thought to myself. These were her 'friends'? Hateful...I knew I shouldn't have trusted Anne's words when we spoke last time. She trusts people easily, and this was the result of her trust. Tsk, how can that ungrateful bitch hurt my poor child? But I knew that Anne will forgive her anyways, after all she is an idiot. If it were me...I would have....agh! This is irritating me! She is even ignoring my calls! Should I call her brothers to take an update? Nevermind…..I should just sit still and wait for a miracle.

When Anne decided to move away from her toxic family, I was genuinely happy for her, thinking that she would finally find her happiness. But look at her, being slaves to these insignificant people who can't even solve their own problems and whine like children. "And to think that Anne was praising these dumbasses", the mere thought of it, ignited my anger. Where is the loyalty? These people don't even deserve her, yet...yet she is doing so much for them. And even consider them as good friends...whereas I am just a sidekick. I bit my lower lip feeling wrong.

Me: I hate you Anne…..(I murmured to myself even though I didn't mean it, but it was unfair that even after doing so much for her….she never considered me as a friend.)

No…..what am I even thinking?.....I don't have time for such meaningless thoughts. I choose to become her sidekick on my free will, and have much better things to do. I should start making a move now that the iron is hot. Anyways, it's far better to be a useful sidekick than a useless 'friend'. I thought while walking towards the football club.

One thing caught my interest, after that incident, it felt like the team had lost its charm. Jules was kicked out of the club and none of the teammates protested against it. Everyone supported Anne when it was needed. I don't know if these people are pretending to be nice or are actually good.

I sat in the clubhouse, nobody seems to mention anything regarding that day, but all faces were gloomy, as if energy had been drained from their body. "It's so dark and cold" I thought to myself. Julie sat beside me, her eyes lost in her thoughts. Anne was right, when she said that Julie has a blinding light in her, she was like an Angel who is innocent and pure. She radiated positivity that can attract people towards her and give them solace. There was a sarcastic smile over my lips, as I stared at Julie. "Stupid Anne." Who cares about such blinding light when darkness can't even reach out to it? Anne always thinks highly regarding meaningless things. You need someone who will stay beside you and push you out of the darkness. It doesn't matter if the person is dark themselves, as long as they can help you through your dark times and make you feel your worth instead of a person who has high moral values but you cannot even reach out to them.

Julie was too innocent to be tainted by our dirt. Anne will never realize that she is the one who keeps people together because of her wisdom that came from her hardship instead of Julie who was raised with care and purity. What's the point of being a moth towards a light, when you will get burned by the fire?.....I would prefer the shade under the trees and the cool breeze it gives me. "I miss Anne….." I hope she is fine. I am tired of waiting for her, should I go and meet her? I stood up from the seat and paced around a bit before walking towards the door, till now I haven't started socializing with any of these people and neither did I have any interest. My original intention of joining the team was to bring Anne back to her former self but now…..I don't know what should be done.

I was about to walk out of the club room, when I noticed something odd, there was a shadow near the door which disappeared as soon as it heard my advancing footsteps. This wasn't the first time, rather this is happening since yesterday. It feels like someone is spying on us but there is no malicious intent. Out of curiosity, I stood near the door, to find out the rat. A girl with twin ponytails ran towards the main building of school, for a second she turned back to check something when our eyes met. She feels embarrassed and stops, then dusts her clothes to act confident as if she wasn't caught red handed. Then instead of running away, she started advancing towards me, as she stood in front of me and placed her hands on her hips and frowned while demanding.

Lotte: Where is your captain? I want to meet her. (She pouts)

Me: Hey Captain, someone came to meet you. (I said while my eyes were fixed on the girl)

Julie: Hm? (She walks up to us and notices Lotte)

Victoria: What brings you here? (She raised her brow as the other team members joined in)

Lotte: I want to join the team. (She said with her guards up)

Bella: Whaaaaat?...you? (She looks surprised) Don't tell me that you are trying to play a prank or something.

Choon Hee: Lotte, if you think that you can mess around here, then you are wrong. (She sighed)

Lotte: I am not messing around!! I just want to join the team because...(she pouts)

Hope: Because? (She tilts her head)

Lotte: (her cheeks were flustered as she feels embarrassed) Because this is the only method to spend time with Anne sis. I miss her...(she bit her lower lip holding back her tears)

Me: (for a second I could understand her desperation) Are you sure that you want to join the team kiddo?

Lotte: Lotte isn't a kid! (She pouts) And I never step back from my commitment! Don't doubt me!

Irina: Can we trust her? After all the pranks she has played on us? (She sighed)

Bella: she once glued up the pages of my novel. (She folds her arms glaring at Lotte)

Irina: She put chewing gum in my hair 2-3 years back and I had to cut them off. (She sulks) My beautiful long hair…..

Christina: Tell me. Smh, she put itching powder in my clothes. (She pouts)

Choon Hee: And you deserved it. (She smirks)

Christina: Hey! (She tries to refute)

Lotte: I am sorry. (She lowers her head) I admit that I have been a naughty kid….but can you give me another chance. (Her eyes stared at the grass because of the burden of her guilt)

Victoria: (she sighed and then looked at Julie) What shall we do?

Julie: (she stares at Lotte for a second then grinned) What else? If Anne trusts her, there must be a reason right? (She hugs Lotte tightly) Welcome to the family!

Me: (I frowned slightly) Family?..... isn't that…..

Julie: What's wrong with it? (She tilts her head feeling confused)

Me: No….. nothing. (I smiled faintly)

Which idiot will call a mere football team their family?....is this some type of joke? Even Anne will find it ridiculous. I am sure they will get over this momentary 'bond' and get at each other's throat like our last team, so there is no point of getting flattered by useless emotions.

Lotte: (she goes red with embarrassment as she tries to push Julie's away even though she enjoyed the hug) Hey! I am not your toy! Keep your stinky face away from me!

Julie: Aww….but you are so cute…..(she says pouting and sulking)

Lotte: (she hesitates for a second) F-Fine…..you can hug me….

Julie: Hehe. (She hugs her tightly) Lotte is a sweet child.

Lotte: Enough!!! Now leave me!!! (She puffs her cheeks angrily)

Irina: Cute.

Hope: Can I hug her as well? (She smiles)

Choon Hee: Me too. (Raises her hand)

Bella: She should let me pull her cheeks as revenge. (She smirks)

Christina: So, we have nine members now. And need two more huh. (She sighed)

Ratree: Uhm….(She pops out of nowhere) may I join?

Victoria: (shivers) Aren't you that creep who keeps on stalking us?

Ratree: (she acts innocent) I think you got the wrong person. I only follow Anne.

Irina: THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT ANY BETTER YOU MORON! (She shouts)

Ratree: Tsk. You need teammates or not? (She folds her arms)

Julie: (she leaves Lotte and glares at Ratree) Not at the cost of someone's comfort.

Ratree: (she grabs Julie's legs) Please!! I beg you!! I will be a good child!! I promise!!! I will just take some pictures and won't act like a creep!!! (She starts crying comically) Pleassssssseeeeeeeeeee, Anne is my museeeeeeee!!! Waaaaaaaaaa!!!!

Julie: F-Fine….j-just get up. (She feels uncomfortable)

Ratree: (she stands up and wipes her tears then shakes hands with Julie) Thank you for adding me to the team! I will make sure to disappoint you…..I mean not to disappoint you. (She grins)

Julie: (she shakes hands feeling uncomfortable) Welcome to the team…..haha…..

Victoria: Uhm Julie…..are you sure about this?.....agh nevermind. (She sighed) I guess we just need one more member.

Me: We already have Jules right? So doesn't it mean that the team is complete? (I clapped my hands together with a meaningful look and a smirk over my face)

I wanted to check their reactions, to my surprise instead of being happy that their team was finally complete. Their faces turn dark hearing Jules' name as they glared at me.

Irina: Hey Maria, aren't you…. Anne's childhood friend? (She raised her brow)

Me: Uhm….Yeah….why do you ask? (I felt confused)

Hope: Then don't take the name of that traitor Jules. (She bit her lower lip) If you truly care for Anne, you should know better.

Julie: Jules is no longer a part of our team, unless she apologizes to Anne and Anne asks us to take Jules back in the team, no one will even mention her name here. And if someone wants her to return to the team, they are free to leave. (She says)

Victoria: I agree. (She replied as her phone rings, she picks up the phone and looks at us) Looks like the jerseys are ready, I ordered one extra just in case. (She said while disconnecting the call and placing it in her pocket) I need to go and pay the remaining amount.

Me: (Hearing their words made me realise one thing, I understood why Anne trusts them and for some reason, I felt that they can actually help her out) Hey guys….I am sorry for being rude. But…..do you people really want to help Anne?

Hope: We do, after all she has always been beside us, unconditionally. (She smiled)

Irina: Yeah, we want to repay our debts. (She nods in agreement)

Christina: She is our friend, so of course we will help her out. (She grins as others nod)

Me: Then….why don't you help her join the team? (I smiled)

Julie: What are you saying?....she has already made it clear that she doesn't want to play football. (She frowned)

Me: I have known Anne since she was 4 years old. She is a shy girl, and doesn't know how to express her needs. She just needs a push. (I sighed) Football has been running deep in her blood since her childhood. It's her life, and how can she stay away from her life? Just because of a tragic incident, she keeps on blaming herself. (I bit my lower lip) So I beg you, please help her out. (I stared at them with sadness in my eyes)

Victoria: (she clears her throat) What do you want us to do?

Me: Well ….(I smirked while playfully twirling my hair) I might have a plan or two.

To be continued....