Elian's opened and the moment they did, he knew he was in big trouble. He had not yet looked at the mirror but he could tell just how red his eyes were. Elian quickly stood up, no, Elian quickly flew off his bed. He had overslept.
At first, he had had trouble sleeping, but after he had trained with Meta, he was quite tired and he felt mentally exhausted. When he finally lay on the bed to sleep, he slept like a baby. It felt like a blink to him and what? It was morning already?
Elian quickly dashed into the shower and he dashed out a minute later, his body still wet. He hurriedly put on his clothes and slung his sports bag across his shoulders then he took off, without eating. Without cleaning the water on his body.
Elian checked the time as he ran through the living room. The time showed 10:55 AM. His training was starting by 11:00 AM. Thankfully, his house wasn't far from the stadium. Even at that, the stadium was about a 10 minute walk from his house. Elian suddenly wondered why nobody in his house had even bothered to wake him up. Elian didn't like this situation at all. The U-19 team had very strict rules about discipline and their training time, if you came late, there would be serious penalties. Elian certainly didn't want to be the one to come late, after all he was having a very bad season already. If he came late now, it would reflect very badly on him.
Elian's mind suddenly went back to Meta. "Meta!" Elian screamed, his anger suddenly rising to a boiling point.
"Huh? You know I can hear you even if you whisper right? Why did you have to scream?" Meta asked, its voice nonchalant and uncaring.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" Elian asked, irritated by Meta's attitude.
"Don't yell at me. Besides I was sleeping. You know you and I have to get along right? If you are allowed to sleep, why can't I?" Meta replied. Elian was suddenly sure that Meta was grinning.
Elian's face turned red. This stupid bot was messing with him and he could totally do nothing about it, this shit was in his head.
"How are you really going to help me become a legend if you act this way?" Elian asked, feeling a bit sorry for himself.
"You have the system, that's its job. I have a bigger mission than that?
"Huh? What did you just say?" Elian asked, not sure of what he just heard. If anything, he knew these bots couldn't have a slip of tongue…hell! They didn't have a tongue! He knew there was a possibility they could act out of Programme, but they couldn't do something that they were not programmed to do. There was a difference.
"Alright, I'm sorry for playing such pranks with you." Meta said. "I have an idea instead. Why don't you use Body Enhancement so you could run all the way to the stadium?"
Elian found himself swaying to the second prank and he quickly used the system's core ability, running from his house down to the stadium in an instant. Those who saw him run were quite surprised. Normally, he was fast but coupled with the Awakening system's help, he was…
…Ultra-Fast?
***
Elian raced into the pitch. The time was 10:58, the training was about to start. Elian heaved a sigh of relief as he hurriedly put on his kit. When he was done, he dashed into the pitch and joined his teammates, hoping that the coach won't see him. But his luck didn't shine.
"Hey, Elian Slade! Why are you late to training?" Coach Mateo asked, his displeasure clear. After the rubbish Elian had played, he expected Elian to be the first to show up at the field today, training hard and showing remorse. But what? He came late and was even trying to cover up? What an undisciplined fellow!
Elian couldn't face Mateo's heavy gaze so he simply looked down, counting his toes inside is shoes. Elian wanted to say. "But technically speaking sir, I wasn't late to training, you were only about to start." But Elian couldn't dare to say that if he still loved this team and wanted to stay here.
Coach Mateo started chiding Elian and from there, he brought up Elian's bad performance the day before and his bad performances in all the 16 match days of this season. He couldn't stomach it any longer, Elian wasn't starting the next match.
Elian stared at the coach, is eyes pleading. "Sir, one last chance. I promise to…" Elian's voice trailed off as even he didn't know what he wanted to say. He promised to do what?
Elian was not the only one with this thought. And Dawson was certainly not the only one with this thought too, but he was the only one who hated Elian to the point of voicing it out.
"What? Elian? Did you swallow a frog? Why did your mouth suddenly snap shut? You promise to what?" Dawson had a sinister look on his face as he spoke. No one spoke. They knew it was cruel talking to their teammates like this, but it couldn't be helped, Elian was getting too relaxed and they definitely had to jolt him.
Elian looked up at Dawson and he saw Dawson flash a sinister smile at him. As if saying "This was long coming wasn't it?"