In the changing room, the Westminster youths sang celebration songs to mark their victory. Keep in mind that this doesn't change their standing in the league table. They were still in third place; nevertheless, they were happy that the season was finally over. And the back-to-back matches were wearing on them. Winston and Oswin were sitting on the bench, with Oswin scrolling up and down on his phone.
"Oswin, am I still in second spot?" Winston said with anxiety; He glanced at his teammate who was dancing and typing on his phone.
"Wow, you're lucky, Wis, you're still in the second spot, although Sebastian has blown out. He is now at 20."
Winston exhaled in relief; while he desired first place, he acknowledged his absence from some games. And he hoped that the spot—he is at — would entice some big club to give him a chance, "good for him,"
"Not me, that son of bitch, would have been dusted if he played with me and you," Oswin said, standing up with his hand over his waist. He turned around and placed his feet on the bench and looked at Winston, "My friend, this calls for a celebration,"
"I agree to that, huddle up team, C'mon, although we are not in second spot or first. But I am proud to say, I got the best team in the league—I hope to see you all next season. If you don't get scouted by the bigger team, don't sweat it, we still have space for you. Like Oswin said, "It's time to celebrate, wash up, and we've a surprise for you."
As the entire room erupted, youths began banging doors and drumming sounds filled the air. The youths kept on celebrating; Winston went into the showers. As the water poured down from his head, a relief washed over me. A major anxiety for young athletes in the junior league is the prospect of being scouted. This scouting process commences post-season, requiring clubs to submit a form for any youth player they wish to scout. Scouts for the club will list the young players they're interested in, and they'll receive information about each player. The reason was to ensure financial sustainability and maintain competitive balance. And this process allows the Federation of Football Association to monitor the transition, of course, some bigger clubs were fined for not following this regulation.
And now Winston had to prepare himself for the scouts; he hoped Westminster would pick him up again. But something tells him, they would not scout him—the last time he saw "scouts" was on their second training day. Closing the showers, Winston quickly got dressed and walked out first than his teammates. After being congratulated by the head coach and the club staff. Winston sat down and slouched on his bus seat. He accessed the core system, truthfully not expecting significant results given his lack of intense effort during the match.
Ding!
[Nethen Essence: 95%]
[Voltage Core: 95%]
Winston stood up and glanced around the bus—his eyes widened, he leaned on the bus seat in front of him. He pondered a way to upgrade the last five percent of these awakenings. For a while he stood at that position and recalled the head coach saying they would celebrate. Oswin, who stood there in the bus hallway, snapped Winston back, brow furrowed, "You're okay, Wis? What are you daydreaming about?" Oswin rubbing his chin, "Don't tell me you're thinking about that girl from the hotel,"
Winston looked at Oswin and laughed, shaking his head, he let Oswin pass to his seat. "No, I'm thinking about something else. O, you seem pretty relaxed—aren't you nervous about the end-of-season scouts?"
"Not really, for now I want to relax and I will take Atlas' advice and focus on my training. And besides, I am sure there would be some team that will scout me, and Wis…. the senior team will scout you for sure,"
"Wait, you have a connection on the Federation of Football Association," Winston said, furrowing his brows,
"No, and you might laugh at this, but I'm usually right about these things."
Winston looked at Oswin and saw he was serious about this statement, "I would hold you to that, bro,"
As the bus drove away from the stadium, Winston and Oswin continued their conversation. The conversation touched upon their lives and also included some extremely dangerous or mortifying incidents they encountered. Until Oswin fell asleep snoring, Winston slouched on his seat—he wondered if the area they were heading to have grounds where he could perform rigorous drills to boost the last five percent.
After some time passed, the bus parked at a beautiful resort hotel located on the left side of the coast of Hartford city. At noon, with the sun setting, they arrived, and the head coach encouraged them to enjoy the buffet and downtown. He mentioned that their day of enjoyment ends tomorrow, after which they will return to Westminster city. "Shit, we are finally here," Oswin said, stretching himself.
Yeah, what are you going to do? The head coach mentioned there's a buffet, and I saw a carnival when we got here,"
"Oh yeah, I might hit the buffet later than the carnival later, how about you?" Oswin said, walking out of the bus.
"I am thinking of sleeping, I am tired,"
The head coach gave them some wrist watches, and let them go inside the hotel. They stayed at the Celestial Bridge hotel, a moderately rated hotel situated by the sea in Hartford City. After verifying his information at the receptionist's desk. Winston asked the receptionist about the rooftop football field. She informed him that the private pitch at the top of the building was accessible only to guests occupying the elite suites above the fiftieth floor. Since Winston's suite was located below that level, access was denied. The receptionist's unconcerned answer to Winston's price question left him speechless. "150 thousand," after he thanked the receptionist who handed him his keycard. Winston walked to the elevator, still pondering how he could enter the private rooftop field on the upper floor.
"Thank God we have finalized the merger, the wife has been calling non-stop,"
"Oh, right, she's pregnant. Shouldn't your mother or sister be with her?"
"They are, but she is closer to her due date—and we planned I will be there when she went to the paternity,"
"Damn, congrats, man,"
"Thanks, how about you and Jennifer?"
"You know, we're taking it slow. She just broke up with her ex, so she wanted to take it slow. So when we get back—I am planning on taking her to dinner,"
"Nice, make sure you take her to that expensive restaurant up in Heatherwood Lane, but make sure to book in advance, the food there is top-tier,"
"Yeah, I've heard of that restaurant. I'll definitely book it—hold on, let me write it down. Oh, and when I was at the reception desk, I saw that no one was using the rooftop pitch. Wanna play a few matches?" the man in the suit turned around and saw Winston.
"Oh, look, we have one of the hotel staff boy here with us, he will carry our stuff,"
The man turned back and greeted Winston, "Hey?"
Winston just nodded back at the man when Winston glanced down and noticed he was wearing the club tracksuit, and it collaborated with the hotel building colors.
After pressing the rooftop button, the suited men resumed their conversation. Winston leaned back on the silver elevator, happy that now he had a way to enter the rooftop football ground. His next step was to figure out how to exceed his capabilities to finish the final 5% of the Nethen essence and Voltage core. He leaned against the elevator wall just as a noise resounded from the elevator doors.