Chereads / My Brother Was a Football Genius / Chapter 3 - The underdog

Chapter 3 - The underdog

That night, I did everything I would do in a normal day, but a felt happier. In the past, it would be more difficult for Angie to cheer me up, but after some time, I think she got more experienced in it. Sometimes, I thought she knew me better than myself.

The next 2 days were Saturday and Sunday. In Saturday, I just played videogames and watched TV series. My brother and mom were in the shop, doing whatever they needed to do there.

The next day, me, Bruno and mom went to the mall. I don't know why, but they seemed happy. We stopped at a barbecue restaurant to lunch. The meat was amazingly good, which made our mood even better. After eating, we went shopping. Mom purchased some clothes, Bruno got himself sneakers and I brought new headphones. By the time we were out, it was already past 4PM.

After getting home, we all went do our own things till dinner. After dinner, I went to sleep, feeling a little sad that the weekend was already over.

The next day, as I arrived at school, I saw that the guys were being surrounded by some of ours classmates. Seeing that, I went to take a look at what happened. Just as I approached, I heard someone saying:

"Who would have thought that you guys would really win over Morries? What a good game! Even more, you guys have already reached the semi-finals! Congrats!!"

Someone else added:

"Well, but you can't deny that it was somewhat of a lucky strike. After all, you only scored because of Morrie's keeper mistake... such good luck!"

Hearing that, I was surprised. 'So they actually managed to win that game!'

"Hey Pedro"

"Did you heard it Igor?" He asked back, clearly excited.

"Yeah, I did. Who is your next opponent?"

"Probably Deens Highschool. They were the champions of te last 2 tournaments."

"Oh... it seems you guys will be busy from now on, right?"

"Very busy"

As the conversation ended, the bell rang and everyone walked back to their tables.

The rest of the day went normal. After class ended, I stayed some little more to talk with my friends, going home to lunch right after. As I got home, I saw Bruno talking to someone I didn't know. He seemed pretty serious. I entered home and walked to the kitchen to have lunch. A few minutes later Bruno joined me at the table.

"Who was he?" I asked

"Someone from the bank. He was trying to make do investments trough them."

"These guys are so annoying." I said back, letting out a little laugh.

Bruno smiled back and nodded "Yes, they are."

Bruno's POV

As I and Igor ended lunch, I went to wash the plates. I normally would dislike such chores, but today a appreciated it. 'So that's how it is, Old Simon? Interesting'. He showing up made think about our last meeting. At that time, he was still the auxiliary coach of São Paulo FC. It had been 2 days since my condition was discovered. Simon, besides being called by me Old Simon, is not really old. He's only 39. He was the coach when I enrolled their youth team of São Paulo FC. After one year, he was promotted to be the first team auxiliary coach and brought me along. We stayed there for 2 years, until 'that' happened. After that, he stayed at São Paulo till today, when he received a offer to be the head coach of Guarani. Nobody knew of anything related to that yet, besides me. Because... he just invited me to be his auxiliary coach. He talked to me how good the facilities there where, how strong their youth team was and how he saw good prospects for the team. But I said I would answer him in 10 days. Because there's still something I had to do.

That day, around 4PM, I left home. My destination was Netz Highschool. After a few minutes of walk, I saw the school building. I kept walking some more, till a got to their football field. The first thing I saw was the team in the center of the field, apparently talking about the training. I waited for some minutes and they all started walking to their locker room. I kept on waiting. A few minutes later, I saw some started to get out. Then, I saw my brother's friend, Pedro, getting out.

'Just who I was waiting for...'

We knew each other thanks to my brother Igor. We were not friends or anything, but we would see each other quite frequently. He seemed to a good guy, besides his sturdy building and fierce looks.

I started to walk in his direction, till he saw me. He seemed very surprised.

"Bruno... how are you? Long time no see. Do you need something?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. But, actually, I do need something of you."

"Oh. Just say it. What can I help you with?"

"Pedro, I just got to know that Netz has reached the semi-finals. Is that right?"

Appearing a little confused, Pedro answered

"Yes. Will play Deens Highschool next game."

"They're a tough opponent. What are your thoughts on the game?"

"Hmmm... it'll be a very hard game. I believe the key to the win will be our defense."

"I think it will be an amazingly hard game. Low prospects of your team wining."

A little trow off guard, Pedro asked back

"What's your point? Why did you come here?"

'He didn't argue. He knows it's truth.'

Seeing that I smiled and started to tell him my thoughts.

Igor's POV

When my brother returned home, it was already past 5PM. But he didn't start a conversation with me, so I just kept playing videogames. Some minutes later, my mom came back from the shop and started to talk about how difficult it was to manage the shop alone today, and how it seemed that it was unusually busy today. As she was saying that, she made funny jokes and expression, making me and Bruno laugh a lot.

After taking a shower, mom told me dinner was ready. As we all set on the table, it was unexpectedly Bruno who started the conversation. And even more unexpectedly, it was about football.

"It was such a shame for Brazil to get eliminated in the world cup."

I looked at mom, just to see her looking back at me. We were both surprised. She then said

"Yes, it was. But it was months ago already."

"Yeah. I was just thinking about the game. Men, besides being superior, Brazil played in Belgium's hand during the holy match." he looked at me and asked "Don't you agree?"

"Hmm.... Yes?"

"You call talk about how well Courtouis, Lukaku, De Bruyne and Hazard played. You can talk about the bad game of some brazillian players. But it doesn't change that fact that their coach, Tite, made the wrong decisions and was completely seen trough by Belgium's coach, Martinez."

Feeling a little off, I agreed. I didn't remember the game very well, but it's probably the truth.

After this short conversation, Bruno himself started to change the topics, which let me utterly confused.

'What the hell is he doing?'