Chapter 4: Crossbar Challenge

Savi mentioning the two assists he got in that match was enough to highlight that memory among all his memory logs.

His last match with Ravenwood Academy was against a school that they ended up trashing eight goals to nothing.

A weak team like that left absolutely no impression of him so he didn't even bother to keep the name of the school in mind.

"Even I can't believe this is a mere coincidence," Adrian uttered, staring at Savi like he was in some sort of trance.

"Huh?" Savi responded the expression on his face now one of confusion. "What are you even saying? I asked you what you're doing here."

"Why else do you think I would be here?" Adrian retorted. "I'm here because this is going to be my new school starting from next term."

"Is he speaking the truth?" Savi asked, turning to Eric who responded with a nod.

He turned to Noelle afterward and she also responded with a nod.

"Well, would you look at that? When you were busy destroying us, you never thought that you would find yourself here afterwards, did you?" Savi smiled in satisfaction.

"Yeah, I can't believe fate can be so twisted," Adrian said, forcing a smile through his teeth.

"Hey, what's your name?"

That was a sudden question from Noelle prompting Adrian to turn to him.

"You haven't told me yours." He retorted with a bit of playfulness.

"Noelle Rayez, yours?" She responded instantly.

He was suddenly taken aback as he didn't expect to respond so bluntly.

"Adrian Nero." He uttered, accepting his defeat.

"Another one," Oscar commented.

"What position did you usually play at your former school?" Noelle asked.

Her full focus seemed to be on Adrian right now.

"Central attacking midfield." He responded.

"You don't say," Savi commented.

"Why are you asking me all these questions?" Adrian asked as he was confused by Noelle suddenly paying attention to him.

"The Intercontinental Cup is next year, and we want to win it." She responded quite nonchalantly before turning to her tablet which was still sitting under the tree.

Hearing her say that, Adrian tried really hard to stop himself from laughing out loud, he had to resort to biting his lips to make sure not even a giggle slipped out.

"You want to win the Intercontinental Cup with the players from this school?" He asked, trying as much as possible to conceal the sarcasm in his question.

"Yes." She responded with a nod as she made her way to the tree to pick up her tablet.

She turned around after that to gesture something to Oscar who left soon after.

"The only problem is that the school board doesn't really take sports seriously, so we're lacking a lot of things that other schools competing in the tournament normally have." She said as she made her way to Adrian.

"I think you're lacking way more than a lot of things." Adrian retorted.

'I thought I could still find a way to win the tournament even after leaving Ravenwood but why did I have to find myself in this school among all schools.'

"It makes sense that you would speak like that and view us with contempt," Noelle said just after stopping in front of him. "I understand; after all, no one thinks that highly of a team that can easily put six goals past. However, it is also important to understand the full situation before making your judgement."

"What do you mean?"

"Here, Noelle, the balls you asked for," Oscar said as he dragged along the long white bag that was supposedly filled with footballs.

Getting to Noelle, he dropped the bag of balls in front of her before shifting to the side.

The bag slumped to the ground allowing two balls to slowly roll out from it.

One of the balls rolled straight to Noelle's feet, and without hesitation, she bent down and picked it up before turning to Adrian.

"How about a friendly competition?" She asked, offering him the ball.

"Friendly competition?" Adrian responded as he took the ball from her.

"Yeah, a crossbar challenge."

"Well, if it's a crossbar challenge, then there's nothing…."

"From the halfway line."

That last bit was enough to leave Adrian quite shocked. A crossbar challenge was okay, but one that required shooting from the halfway line was a bit too extreme.

"Are you sure that's what you want to do?" Adrian asked, trying to make sure he didn't hear it wrong.

"Yes, very sure." She nodded.

"I see." He sighed before turning to the three standing by the side. "So which one of you am I competing with?"

"Don't look at them, your competitor is standing right in front of you."

"Huh?"

He quickly turned to her, the awe on his face spelt quite visibly before turning back to the three to see all of them nod in affirmation.

'What an interesting day this has been.'

Accepting Noelle's challenge, Adrian soon found himself on the pitch alongside her.

Both of them had five balls each in front of them and were just waiting for the mutual agreement from each other to begin.

"You know the drill, whoever hits the crossbar the most in five tries wins." She uttered as she turned to him.

"Mmm." Adrian nodded.

"So do you go first or do I…."

"I'll do it." He said before proceeding to pick a ball from one of his five balls.

Afterwards, he proceeded to roll the ball to the halfway line right on the kickoff spot.

With the ball now in position, he slowly took two steps backwards before taking in a deep breath.

He closed up on the ball in no time after that, and with his left foot, he sent the ball flying.

"Left-footed," Noelle noted.

He lifted the ball nicely with more finesse than shot power and that was all he needed.

The ball flew straight toward the center of the crossbar smashing on it before falling into the goalpost.

Witnessing that, Noelle couldn't help but smile.

"He's good." Eric nodded in applause.

"Did you not understand any of the words we spoke earlier?" Savi snapped.

He let out a scornful sigh afterwards before walking away from him.

Eric was too stunned to say anything and just watched him as he made his way to the other side of the pitch.

"Did my response really irritate him that much?"

"It's your turn now," Adrian said as he walked past his opponent who responded with a nod.

Grabbing a ball from her stock, Noelle dropped it on the halfway line just on the edge of the kickoff circle to the left.

'The fact that she so confidently challenged me means that she's capable of something.' Adrian said inwardly as he watched her take three steps backwards.

'However, there's no way…..'

He never got the chance to finish that thought as Noelle closed up on the ball right at that ball and, with her left foot, created something magical.

He wasn't yet born to see Roberto Carlos' banana free kick against France live so he could only watch clips of it.

However, right before, something almost of the same form seemed to have occurred.

Unlike Adrian who was quite careful with his shot, Noelle struck hers with quite a lot of shot power.

For a moment, it looked like the ball was going straight, but then it suddenly curved to the right, grazing the edge of the crossbar before falling off.

Adrian was left stunned and speechless; he was expecting something from her, but surely not something of this level.

"I think I owe her an apology."