Familiar Faces

The door creaked open.

Felix stepped in first, hands in his pockets. He scanned the room casually, then his eyes landed on Sebastian.

His expression instantly shifted.

"You've got to be kidding me," he muttered. "Look who decided to show up."

Sebastian looked up from where he was sorting his clothes and raised an eyebrow, half-smiling. Before he could respond, more voices echoed from the hallway.

"Who are you talking to?" came Diego's voice as he stepped in.

Then Martin appeared behind him, peering past the doorway. His eyes lit up.

"Sebastian! I knew you'd get selected!"

Felix, already standing a few steps into the room, turned back toward them with a dry look. "You were just hoping."

Martin walked in fully, waving him off. "Hoping? He literally had as many goal contributions as the three of us combined."

Diego raised his hands defensively. "Hey, don't drag me into this. I'm a defender."

Felix gave a low chuckle. "Goal contributions aren't everything. As you can see, Diego's here."

"Hello? In case you all forgot, I'm a flipping defender!!" Diego glared at him, wondering why he was catching strays.

Felix turned back toward Martin. "My point is, there was no guarantee Sebastian would be selected."

Sebastian, still seated on his bed and arranging his clothes in the wardrobe, looked up and replied evenly, "But there was."

Felix narrowed his eyes slightly. "What is it?"

Sebastian gave a small smile. "You getting selected. That was the only guarantee Martin needed."

Felix blinked. His face tightened, and he stepped closer.

"What's that supposed to mean? You think you're better than me?"

Sebastian didn't even flinch. "Your words, not mine."

Felix scoffed. "You're really annoying, you know that, right?"

Sebastian gave a shrug and a little smirk. "If you say so."

I'm going to really enjoy messing with this kid, he thought, looking at Felix with the smirk still on his face.

He then turned back to his things and continued arranging them like nothing had happened.

Felix frowned, suddenly noticing the open wardrobe, the unzipped bags, and the clothes already half unpacked.

"Wait. What are you doing?"

Sebastian looked over his shoulder. "What does it look like? I'm arranging my things."

Felix blinked again, then his eyes widened. "This is your room? Like, you're staying here??"

Sebastian zipped up one of the side compartments on his bag. "Yup. This is my room, so…"

Felix took a step back, visibly distressed. "Oh no. Oooh no, no, NO! Dammit!! I can't be roommates with you."

Sebastian looked over at him, grinned, and gave a small wave. "Oh, so you're my roommate. Hello, roomie."

Off to the side, Martin and Diego stood shoulder to shoulder, watching it all unfold like a scene from a comedy sketch.

Martin leaned toward Diego and whispered, "This is fun to watch, don't you think?"

Diego grinned. "Yup. I couldn't agree more."

"Nope," Felix said, turning for the door. "I can't do this. I can't live with this guy."

He pulled the door open, stepped out, and banged it shut behind him.

The room fell quiet for a second.

Sebastian turned toward the other two. "And the two of you are roommates?"

"Yeah," Martin nodded. "We're in the room before yours."

Sebastian gave a satisfied nod. "Alright."

He looked around at the mess still lying across his bed and desk.

"You guys already toured the place?"

"Yeah," Diego nodded. "Even saw the games room."

Sebastian perked up a little. "Yeah, Tobias told me all about it."

"But did he tell you how awesome it was?" Diego said quickly. "It has everything. Ping pong, foosball tables, and even multiple televisions with PlayStation 3s."

Martin nodded. "Yeah, we met some boys there. Some of them were playing FIFA 11."

Diego pointed back with his thumb. "It's on the first floor. We plan on going back there. You could come with us if you want."

Sebastian looked around at his things again. "Nah, guys. I'll check it out later. Right now I just want to sort out everything."

He paused, then looked up. "Is there anything I need to know?"

Martin nodded. "Yeah, dinner is from 6:30 to 8:30, and lights out is by 10pm."

Diego added, "Also, we've got training tomorrow at 9am. And I can't lie, I'm a little nervous about it."

"Me too," Martin said.

Sebastian exhaled softly. "We just have to wait and see how it is."

Diego stretched. "Yeah. Anyways, I'm off. Heading back to the games room."

"I'm going with him," Martin said as he turned for the door.

"Thanks for everything," Sebastian said. "I'll see you guys later."

"Sure."

"Later."

They stepped out and closed the door behind them.

Sebastian returned to his unpacking, trying to get his things in order.

A few minutes later, the door opened again.

Felix stepped back in and walked straight to his corner of the room without saying a word or even looking at Sebastian.

Sebastian, placing his shoes in the wardrobe, smirked. "You couldn't do anything about it, could you?"

Felix dropped his bag onto the bed and replied without missing a beat, "No. No, I could not."

Sebastian turned slightly, voice even. "We're going to be roommates for a while, if nothing changes. So you better get used to me, roomie."

Felix let out a quiet tch and sat on the edge of his bed.

Sebastian shook his head, smiling as he turned back to his wardrobe.

Some minutes later, Sebastian finished arranging the last of his things and closed the wardrobe. He glanced at the small digital clock by the side of his bed.

7:12pm.

He considered asking Felix if he wanted to go get dinner together, but the boy was lying on his bed with an earpiece in, bobbing his head slightly to whatever was playing on his MP3. Sebastian figured it wasn't worth disturbing him.

Instead, he stepped out and made his way down to the first floor, where the games room was. It wasn't hard to find, as the layout of the building was pretty straightforward, and the sound of animated chatter and bursts of laughter led him right there.

He peeked inside and spotted Martin and Diego on beanbags in front of one of the TVs, both of them locked into a heated match of FIFA.

"Hey, you guys coming down for dinner?"

Diego didn't even glance up. "We're in the middle of this game, man. Go ahead. We'll eat later."

Martin gave a quick wave without breaking focus. "Yeah, we're good. You go first."

Sebastian nodded and made his way toward the cafeteria. It was located directly below the game room on the ground floor.

The cafeteria was wide and brightly lit, with long rows of tables arranged neatly across the tiled floor. One side had a serving area behind a low glass partition, where a few kitchen staff were busy working. The air smelled faintly of tomato sauce, grilled chicken, and something sweet baking further inside.

A few boys were already scattered around the room, grabbing food or chatting quietly as they ate. Sebastian recognized none of them. He didn't go over, and no one came to him either, though he heard a couple of hushed whispers as he walked past.

"Who's that?"

"New guy, maybe?"

At the counter, a woman behind the serving line smiled at him. "Are you new?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?" Sebastian asked, curious if there was something he did that gave it away.

"I haven't seen you before. And I'm pretty sure I would remember a boy with eyes as peculiar as yours." She said while staring at his piercing grey eyes.

She smiled warmly, then gestured to the chalkboard just on the counter. "Here's the dinner menu for tonight."

Sebastian glanced at the menu.

There was a surprising amount of variety, from spaghetti Bolognese and grilled chicken to baked salmon and even vegetarian options. Side dishes and desserts were listed too, including things like garlic bread, garden salad, and some kind of chocolate pudding.

Ohh, Sebastian thought, that's a lot. I guess this isn't the best academy in Sweden for no reason.

"I'll have the grilled chicken with mashed potatoes," he said, adding, "some garlic bread too... and apple juice."

"I'll have the grilled chicken with mashed potatoes," Sebastian said, then added, "some garlic bread too... and apple juice."

The server nodded and quickly plated his food. A few moments later, he had his tray in hand. He scanned the room again and walked to an empty table near the window, sitting alone.

He ate quietly, not minding the lack of conversation. The food was warm and decent, and the silence gave him a moment to reflect on the long day.

Once done, he returned his tray, thanked the staff, and made his way back upstairs.

He noticed Felix wasn't in the room when he got back.

Sebastian sat on his bed and glanced around. With everything now arranged, he didn't feel like heading back to the games room. But he didn't want to just lie around either.

He reached into his drawer for one of the books he'd brought from home to keep himself busy when he got bored. I knew they'd come in handy.

Time passed. The pages turned. After a while, he stretched, placed the book down, and got up to take a bath.

The warm water helped him relax even further. He returned to the room refreshed and changed into a loose t-shirt and a pair of black shorts. 

He dropped onto his bed and checked the small digital clock by his side.

9:23pm.

He set the alarm for 5:00am.

Then he rolled onto his back, exhaled once, and closed his eyes.