Trouble in Paradise

Arya thought she was being foolish, there was definitely nothing wrong enough to make her very wary, she had seen Derek and what he could do and he was not a lethal threat. The other day was just her eyes plying tricks on her because she banged her head

But there was something slightly off about him today, she could see it and her body could equally feel it. She looked away almost as quickly as their eyes met.

Derek smiled and raised his hands to wave at her, but her eyes were back on the game. He proceeded to stretch his hand like he never intended to wave.

Derek's team managed to hold their opponents off into the second half. At half time, the coach had sent the assistant coach over to the white team.

He was so overjoyed with this new talent and he wanted to be around this team more, without allowing much discussion between the players.

He gave a few instructions while fawning over Derek and they were soon back on the pitch. The second half started without any action. The defense on both sides were not giving their opponents any chances.

With the match coming to a close, the coach made a few substitutions. Three players were swapped from the white team and two from the red team.

It was like the substitutions had immediately brought life back into the game, the ball was quickly moving again, quick passes from the white team.

They were edging closer to the goal post with Lancer leading the attack as usual, his face portrayed his frustration. If it happened more than two times it definitely wasn't a coincidence.

This was probably the last chance he was going to get in the game, missing it was not an option because his reputation would take a great hit.

Lancer charged forward with the ball, the defender who rushed at him was quickly beaten with a precise double pass with his teammate.

Now the ball was back to Lancer and with all the defenders beaten, it was two against one. Then Lancer started running to the left wing with the ball.

What Lancer was doing was out of the ordinary, but no one was ready to question him. After all he was their star striker.

His teammate stood on the other side waiting for a pass from Lancer but he knew that was wishful thinking, Lancer never passed when he saw a clear shot at goal.

All he ever did was to slam the ball into the back of the net.

Derek followed Lancer with his eyes, not moving an inch from where he stood. He was in a crouched position, ready to leap for the ball as soon Lancer shoots.

Lancer had almost gone all the way to the side, then without stopping, he shot the ball. Such a move would have caught any keeper by surprise, but not Derek.

He could see the ball leave Lancers' leg and hurtle through the air, the ball was faster than usual but lately that wasn't a problem for Derek.

Jumping in the air, he caught the ball in one hand. The crowd couldn't get enough of this new mysterious goalie.

While the crowd was wild with excitement, only the coaches' professional eyes had seen the spin Lancer had added to his shot and how the goalie caught it with flair.

While the crowd was still going wild, Derek sighted a figure in red surrounded with whites and he instinctively threw the ball.

He could see the person clearly; it was one of the subs who had just got on the field. He aimed the ball to perfectly land in front of the player

The ball flew high and far, it travelled the entire length of half the pitch and landed just in front of the player in the red shirt.

As the ball dropped in his front, he started to run. The white shirts began to chase him, but the distraction from the cheers in the crowd had given him a head start.

And even though this new player didn't look it he was quite fast. It was only a matter of seconds before he sunk the ball into the back of the net.

Two to nil.

The score on the score board changed, the ref blew the whistle to signal the end of the game. As the crowd erupted in chants, the whites sunk to the floor.

There was a look of utter devastation on Lancer's face, he could not believe it. He was now convinced it wasn't a coincidence, Derek was something else to catch his shots like that.

"Man, you were amazing out there" Chuck patted Derek on the back, even though he was on the opposing team. He was thrilled at Derek's performance

Back in the changing room, the other players from both the opposing team and his own team either winked at Derek or gave him thumbs up.

This didn't change the fact that he was still the weak Rank F student that could get bullied by other students but, it gave him enough recognition to cut the bullying to a bare minimum.

He had dented Lancers' reputation and a lot of people were really grateful for this, this in turn had raised his reputation as almost all the first years now knew him.

Derek was deep in thought as he walked side by side with Chuck back to the dorms. The most he had ever caught was a Frisbee and though the Frisbee moved a lot slower than the ball he had failed to catch it a few times in the past.

He could sense the various changes in his body. At first, he had thought the ball had moved slowly earlier, but he later realized that he was the one who had gotten faster.

His sight had become even clearer and his sense of smell was even keener. It was like his body had undergone a total transformation ever since that day.

The memory came rushing back, the beast with the club had attacked, trying to land the killing blow. But his body had moved fast, faster than it ever had before.

After that day, Derek had gone out to the field or any empty space he could find to replicate what had happened but he hadn't been able to.

Which brought him to the conclusion that it was a dream, whatever had happened wasn't real.

Derek suddenly felt a tug at his collar, bringing him to a complete halt. He had been so lost in his thoughts; he had almost forgotten that he wasn't alone.

"What did you do that for" Derek asked angrily, turning to face Chuck. He felt like punching him in the face. Chuck silently pointed out front.

Derek turned again and saw three people, two were leaning on one of the walls of a nearby building while the third stood in the middle of the path, blocking any passage.

Derek could clearly see their faces from where they stood; it was Lancer, Jerry and another student he recognized clearly. They were usually a team of four, but Derek couldn't see the fourth anywhere.

PE was the last class for the day and most of the students had already returned to the dorms. Derek as usual had stayed behind so he could walk back in silence but Chuck always had to annoyingly pop up like a pimple.

Derek was quickly regretting his decision to leave last and pass through the silent route which people hardly came through.

He already knew that Lancer would try to pick on him following the day's event, but he didn't expect it to happen so quickly.

Derek continued forward and when he got to where Lancer stood, he kept on walking like he didn't see him there.

Lancer grabbed him by the collar and threw him back

"Where do you think you are going to?"

Chuck hadn't tried to get past Lancer alongside Derek, he waited behind, just a few inches from Lancer. He usually tried his best to avoid anything that brought trouble.

"I don't have to report my whereabouts to you, do I?" Derek retorted. He knew he was no match for Lancer, but he was not going to let him have his way.

"Derek, what are you doing?" Chuck cried out.

"You there" Lancer's attention was now turned to Chuck "You were on my team, right?" Chuck nodded nervously.

"Why are you frolicking with the opponent" Lancer asked, now ignoring Derek who was standing right in front of him.

'It was only a game' was what Chuck was going to say, but he kept his mouth shut.

"I see, so you both worked together to make me lose, to make me look bad in front of the students? You traitor. You played for my team on purpose, so you could make me lose, right?" Lancer hollered

"That doesn't even make sense, can you hear yourself?" Derek asked in disgust.

"How dare you peasant talk to me in that manner" Lancer retorted and flung his hand at Derek's face.