Surprise MotherFather!

Like a dark-skinned goddess that decided to grace humanity with her presence.

She had long black hair, neatly packed in a half ponytail with face-framing tendrils in front.

She had no makeup on and casual clothes—jeans with a white blouse with white sneakers—but to Lukas, she looked mesmerizing.

"Hey Jo. João is over there." Lukas responded, trying his best to keep his cool as he pointed to João who was sitting in one corner of the classroom scrolling through his phone.

"Thanks." She replied as she flashed a smile before walking towards João.

"Wow." Lukas was smitten.

* * *

Saturday, Riederwald academy.

This was Lukas' second session with the Eintracht Frankfurt academy.

The scene was lively. The Eintracht U19 team had just finished their warm-up at one side of the field, and were performing pass and shoot drills.

The U17 players were gradually converging at the opposite end of the same field to start their warm-up routines.

Lukas was juggling the ball by the touchline.

"58..59..60..61..62—Alright, alright, fine, I get your point. You are better at juggling." Christian said as he stuck out his leg to interrupt Lukas.

BOOM*

Lukas launched the ball upward immediately he saw Christian's foot.

It felt like the ball spent an eternity up there.

A blonde boy in the U19 squad, nudged the player next to him and pointed at Lukas.

He had been watching Lukas out the corner of his eye since he started juggling, and just saw Lukas hit the ball way up.

They both stood and watched as Lukas cushioned the ball with his chest.

Then to his left thigh, his right thigh.

Then he launched the ball once more.

"Ten bucks says it was a fluke." The kid next to the blonde hair boy said.

"Sure. It didn't look like a fluke." The blonde boy replied as he shook hands with the boy next to him.

Lukas didn't try to use his chest this time.

The ball came all the way down, but as if he had a sensor attached to his foot, Lukas used the inside of his foot to caress the ball just as it touched the ground.

A soft *thud* sounded as the ball moved what looked like a couple inches before stopping.

"Oooof."

Some of the players on the pitch were amazedat Lukas' first touch.

Lukas, who had been engrained in his show, now looked around, as he felt the amount of eyes on him.

Both some staff for the U19 team were whispering to each other as they looked at him.

"Who's that kid? I don't remember our academy having someone like that?"

"I heard he's a new trainee. He's here for a 2-week tryouts with the U17."

"U17? If he's that good with the ball, he should at least be with us. How many people in our team do you think can do what he just did?"

"I'll talk to the coach."

The U19 staff already wanted him on their team, but the U19 players had mixed reactions to what they just saw.

"Wow. That is impressive. I don't think I can do that." One U19 player said

"It's a fluke. I doubt he'll be in the U17 if he was really that good." Another responded.

"You think you can control the ball how he did? Twice? Even by accident?"

"You owe me €10, Marvin." The blonde kid said to the boy he had made the bet with.

"That doesn't count, Alex. He didn't control it like he did the first time." Marvin tried to argue.

"Ohh don't be shameless Marvin. He controlled the ball." Alex countered.

"Alright fine. Double or nothing?"

"You sound like a gambling addict. But I'll indulge you today. What is the best this time?" Alex replied.

"I heard the staff talking about a surprise match against the U17 today. That's why they made us train at the same time. If he is this good in a game, I'll give you €20." Marvin proposed the new bet.

"How do we even judge that? A goal? He might not be an attacker. An assist? You can't define how good he is just because his attackers can't capitalize on chances he creates. So how will we judge it?"

"Come on. We'll both watch. If he's good, we'll both know."

"Alright then. As long as you don't chicken out this time."

"Also, if he doesn't play at all, I win." Marvin said.

"Sure, Marv. I think coach Seb might even start him."

The boys shook on it for the second time.

Lukas was completely unaware that he was building generational wealth for someone else.

FWEEE*

Coach Seb's whistle blew to conclude the U17 warm-up.

"Alright boys. Some of you might have already guessed what would happen today after you saw the U19 players on the field, but today's a match day.

We will be playing a surprise match against the U19 team. Two 30-minute halves.

We're going to put everything we've practiced this week into action." Coach Sebastian explained after he had his team's attention.

Some players were surprised, some already guessed it would happen.

Lukas, on the other hand, was indifferent — or rather, appeared to be.

He was sitting on the ground, legs flat down with his arms supporting his upper body as he looked at coach Sebastian.

"Wow! A match against the U19 team. I wanna see how good they are compared to the U17." Lukas was excited inside, but kept his cool—he had an image to maintain.

"These are the guys starting:" Coach Sebastian took a piece of paper his assistant just handed to him and read off it.

"Marlon will be in goal.

Niklas and Maurice will be in the center back position. Johannes in left back and Natnael in right back.

Shayan will play in front of the centre backs as the defensive midfielder. And Philip and Christian will play in Centre midfield.

Keziah and Sahin will be the two centre forwards.

We're trying our new formation today."

Some students looked confused.

They counted the names called on their fingers.

"Coach, is there a mistake? You only called 10 people in total." Shayan asked, seemingly confused.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to change it. Lukas. You will be playing in the attacking midfield role. Link up with Christian to drop back to center midfield when possible.

I have seen your vision, passing, and finishing skills yesterday. I wanna see if you can put it to practice in a real match."

"What? He's starting?"

"Wednesday was literally his first day here and he starts in a match against the U19?"

The players were talking, but they couldn't speak up.

No one wanted his dissatisfaction to be heard by the coach.

"Yes coach." Lukas responded as he stood up from the ground.

Just slightly, he flashed a grin. It was so subtle that no noticed — except the coach.

"Look at him. He really is confident huh. I can't wait to see what you do on the pitch." Coach Sebastian thought.

At the other end of the pitch, a similar conversation was taking place.

Coach Meier, the head coach of the U19 team had just announced the match against the U17 and was now calling out the starting lineups.

"Amil in goal. Derek, Maurice, Akram, and Yannis in defense. Bekir, Jonah, and Marvin in midfield. And Alex, Rafail, and Jasha, up top. I want us to dominate this game. No rookie mistakes allowed."

"Yes coach." The players responded as the ones whose name weren't called looked a bit disappointed.

"And Marvin," coach Meier called out.

"Huh? Me? Yes coach?" Marvin responded, acting confused.

"Yes, you. No flashy footwork. I need neat football, not flashy one." Coach Meier instructed, his eyes stern with warning.

"Yes coach." Marvin responded.

At the U17 side, the starting players were ready.

"Boys, we've trained enough to know what and what not to do on the pitch. Don't let them organise. They're older, yes, but that doesn't mean they're better than you. Most of you played with and against them already, so you should know what they're capable of. Don't let them treat you like kids. Go there, and fight to win." Coach Sebastian was giving his own version of a pep talk.

The players gathered around the coach as he spoke, then started dispersing to their positions.

Some jumped to stretch their calves, others pounded their feet on the turf as if getting their boots accustomed to the pitch. Niklas and Maurice—the two center backs for the U17 team—were whispering something to each other.

Lukas, stood a few feet behind the two center forwards who were standing in the center circle.

He was adjusting his training shorts as he stared at the U19 team they were about to face.

It felt like his nerves were tingling.

"What is this feeling?" Lukas thought as he barely managed to suppress a smile that was starting to creep up on his lips.

He felt like he was about to have fun for the first time in his long life.