"Nice training man". Ayanfe said as they both exited the building. Omari smiled at him. His accent was flat and toneless. He tried to add a bit of diction to it but it sounded the same nevertheless.
"Thanks". Omari replied. "You weren't half bad either".
Ayanfe looked at him with a flat expression. "I didn't play at all".
"I know". Omari said. "I can sense that you'll become quite a player in the future. I have that gift".
Omari wasn't wrong. After two months, Ayanfe broke into the first team of the academy. One night, he was lucky enough to be playing a match that the manager of the first team, Michole Carrick was watching. He performed so well that he was allowed to travel with the match day squad.
When a string of unfortunate injuries hit the first team squad, he started a game and became the youngest keeper to keep a clean sheet in the history of football.
He went on to sign for Madrid White the next summer. Omari didn't know what happened after that but he didn't need a soothsayer to tell him that Ayanfe probably would've gone on to become one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
"Oh yeah?" Ayanfe smiled.
Omari nodded. The two of them went on chatting as if they'd known each other for years. They walked all the way to their school's dormitories, Ayanfe's temporary residence.
They said their goodbyes and Omari headed home. He remembered the first time that he'd headed home after practice, when he didn't have the system.
He was frustrated and tired. He was used to playing as an attacking midfielder, a box to box player. The head coach and the manager however, saw him as a left wing forward. It was so hard for him to adjust to the new position. He was always at the wrong place at the right time. Now things are different, he had the system!
"How was training today?" His mum
Asked as soon as he entered the living room.
She had long black hair which fell over her shoulder, down to the middle of her back. Her fair skin tone amplifying her aquamarine blue eyes. Her lips forming a smile as she saw Omari.
"It was alright". Omari said. He walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge, his hands finding their way to a cold bottle of water.
"Is that all?" His mother asked. "You're not eating anything.
Omari smiled and nodded. Without so much as another word, he went upstairs, dropped his things and soaked himself in a tub filled with cold water to prevent any sort of impending injuries.
After his 'bath', he collapsed on his bed and fell asleep. His body was already feeling the effects of his training.
***
Omari woke up with an impending feeling of gloom. He didn't know why, he just felt that he wasn't going to like how the day would turn out.
He twisted and turned on his bed. His back slowly lifting and his body slowly leaving his bed. He grabbed his phone from a table placed beside his bed. He checked the time on his phone.
Six thirty? That's early.
He went into the toilet and cleaned himself. He was about to put in his training outfit when his mom leered in through the door.
"Oh, you're up already. Just put in your school uniform then your dad will drop you off". His mom said, closing the door after her statement.
He didn't register anything that she said. His brain stopped working after he heard the word 'school'
Damnit! Do I really have to go
School wasn't exactly the best place for him during his past life. After he signed for Teeside, everybody turned on him, all his friends, and even the teachers.
His friends on the football team, the people that called him their brother on countless occasions, blamed him for overshadowing them during matches resulting in the scouts bit noticing their talents.
The teachers seemed to think that he'd become proud and pompous after signing for a professional football club and as such, decided to be mean first.
The only people that weren't mean to him was… her, and Ayanfe, of course.
His lips tilted upward when he realized that he was going to see her. Suddenly the gloom he was feeling about going to school was erased. He would see her, that was that mattered.
And learning stuff, of course. Most importantly though, he would see her. That alone made going to school worth it.
After thirty minutes, Omari was fully dressed in his school uniform. A white shirt, covered by a black blazer and plaid trousers. His bag was perched behind his back as he stood up from the breakfast table and walked outside alongside his dad.
"Have a great day at school". His mom called out as he left.
"Thanks mom". Omari replied, although he didn't feel like the day was going to go fine.
His dad drilled him off at school and after a few words of advice, drive off. Omari turned around and beheld the building in front of him.
Will Chamberlain High School!