Manny was surprised, to say the absolute least. Play for Diego? He'd never do so well, really-

But he found himself shirtless and in the goalie's spot soon enough, and having a great time. And it was fun. As much as the Mexican loved to watch soccer, he loved to play it more. He was careful to not slip like Diego had, but some of the shots were just plain crazy, and he fell multiple times. However, this was soccer. There was a supreme amount of no trying if the goalie didn't fall.

So Manuel fell, but he prevented the goal several times. In the end, it was the shirts team that lost, and as soon as everyone had all had a nice big group hug and high fives, practice had ended. Manny hadn't even noticed that two hours had passed since they'd arrived. Incredible, but now it seemed he'd played his temper away. He didn't mind as the rest of the team clapped him on the back and gave him high fives, but kept tabs on the coach. Coach didn't make any moves.

Soon enough, Manuel and Cata were back in her car, laughing about some plays and how the stoic guy, who Manny had learned his name was Arjan de Vries, had shucked off his jersey, but left the scarf. Where did someone find a scarf in Arizona, anyways? They decided he must have bought it from Target or something, when he lived up in Idaho or Montana or somewhere like that.

"So the party is at Luco's house this time," she explained as she followed someone out of the parking lot of the sports complex. "But he's broke and his parents are down in Peru or something like that. So we all have to bring food, and I think we should leave early before they bust open some liquor cabinet and screw each other over." Manuel nodded. "So have you got any idea for food we can get at Sam's Club under twenty bucks that won't make the two of us look like total cheapskates?"

"Don't they usually have some hot food table thing, with barbequed chicken and potato salad and soups?"

They debated pros and cons of bringing hot food to a party right after practice, and in the end, Cata sent a text to Luco that they would be bringing dessert. They picked up a few boxes of cookies and a loaf of bread, then went on their merry way through checkout after talking back to the self-checkout computer. Who didn't talk back to the dumb thing, anyways?

This was so mundane, it was ridiculous. If the freshman wasn't so unsure about Catalina's reactions, he might have tried to give her a hug or something, just to joke around, but he wasn't sure if she would snap or something. It was actually rather strange that her temper hadn't made a play of its own today. Maybe it was just because it was the start of the season.

But he didn't make a move, except to follow her back out to the curb in peaceful silence. "So I guess I haven't really paid attention much, but how are you?" he asked, putting the food in his lap as he sat down. His food. The others would be lucky if it made it to the house.

Cata blinked at him, starting the car. "I'm fine. Are you? Your mom still out of it?" Manny nodded a bit. "Positive?" He nodded again.

"Well, I'm pretty sure I'm fine~" he laughed. "My lips might not be, wanna check?" he teased, and Cata rolled her eyes.

"No thanks, little boy. That would be robbing a cradle, because you'd always want more after the first." She grinned, pulling out of their spot and taking off towards Luco's house. "Call me when you're sixteen."

"I'll be sure to do that," he snickered. "If only to make an old lady like you think you're still desirable."

Cata reached over and patted his thigh, clicking her tongue. "Trust me, I'll be way more desirable than you." Laughing quietly to herself, she pulled into a neighborhood of rather nice houses, though not mansions or something. "Stay away from any booze they might decide to pull out or I'm not driving you home."

Manuel nodded, uninterested in drinking anyways. His grandfather had given him some of his drink a couple times, and he hated the taste of each of them. So he was fine, picking up the cookies and leaving the bread, as she said she was saving it for later.

Walking up the the front door, they were greeted by Diego (who was suspiciously not limping or looking injured at all) and taken to the spacious living room, where they were the last to arrive, and Cata was not the only one who had brought an extra. In Manny's pocket, his phone vibrated, and pulling it out to glance at it, he grimaced. Incoming Text From: Toni blared at him from the device, and rather than read it, he pressed the 'dismiss' button, and dropped it back in his pocket.

And then Manny sat down and started making friends with the other teenagers, enjoying himself. Catalina sat on the back of the couch that he picked, and between the two of them caused a bunch of laughter, indeed little doofuses.

The party went uneventfully, to be completely honest. However, Luco did indeed bust into the liquor cabinet, at which point Cata, Manny, and Arjan each made their exits, as well as a few others. It was clear to see that the night wouldn't end well for some but would for a couple.

Cata drove the young Mexican home, and then left with a "better see you tomorrow, kiddo". Manny watched her turn around the corner, then headed up the steps to the dark house of his grandparents, where he and his mother still lived. She just couldn't move away, and Manny didn't think she'd do well with that, anyways.

Manuel slipped into the house quietly, making sure not to slam the door shut. It looked like Nana had fallen asleep on the couch while she was watching TV, and he sighed quietly, looking in the kitchen and the other rooms to see if his grandfather and mother were awake. It didn't seem that way, so he lightly put his backpack on his bed before going back down to his abuela and waking her up, murmuring quietly. "Let's get you to bed, abuela," he told her, helping her up and to her room. He couldn't just let her sleep on the couch, because then she'd have problems the next day. She was getting really old, now, and it was concerning. At least she wasn't having health problems... Yet.

The boy got his elderly grandmother to bed and made sure she was all right and that his grandfather had not awoken. After discovering that they were both quite asleep, he slipped out of their room to his own, clicking the door shut as quiet as humanly possible. Flicking on the lights, he picked up his backpack and moved it to his desk, finally pulling out his phone.

"So you've left me hanging here for eight hours and just now are going to look at my texts." Manuel nearly shrieked, jumping at the sound of Antonio's voice coming from his bed. He hadn't even looked, but yes, there was the angry-looking Spanish teenager, his green eyes narrowed and glaring at him. Yes, Antonio did look angry indeed.

"Excuse me for being busy, Toni!" he hissed. "What are you even doing in my room?"

"I said I was going to your house after school," Antonio said flatly. "I said it at the wall this morning, I said it to you in the lunch line, I sent you a text when I got on your bus and you didn't come. I've been texting you for hours. Just look."

Manuel glowered at the other, finally opening his phone and reading through the texts.

Incoming Text From: Toni
Hermano, I'm going to your house after school still, right?

Incoming Text From: Toni
Why aren't you on the bus? Are you sick?

Incoming Text From: Toni
Manuel, answer your phone.

Incoming Text From: Toni
Manuel, what is this about a date?

Incoming Text From: Toni
I'm waiting.

Incoming Text From: Toni
I'm not going anywhere, I'll just sit right here until you get here.

Incoming Text From: Toni
Still here.

Incoming Text From: Toni
If you don't come back by midnight I'm staying all night long.

Incoming Text From: Toni
Thirty minutes until you can't get rid of me.

He'd just recieved the last as he walked in. Now it was 11:50 at night, and he was really, really glad he didn't have the paper route tomorrow. "I was busy. And for all you knew, my phone might have been dead." Manuel wasn't in the mood for this, he'd felt so good walking in.

"Yes, that's true, but considering I saw it was fully charged when you had it out on the bus this morning, and you rarely text, I didn't think it was." Apparently Antonio wasn't in the mood for this. "And now I hear you had a date, as of this afternoon, but you and I were going to hang out after school today, and we always do this. What happened to brothers, huh?"

"That's what I want to know!" he snapped. "You're so busy with girls and all your other friends, making teams whenever you even look at them, and I've been left on my own! Why can't I have my own friends and hang out with them, huh?" He knew he was raising his voice, and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to calm down. "Look, I forgot, okay, and my phone was on silent during school. I met a friend at the coffee shop and then we went and played soccer. Is that so bad? No, I don't think so!"

Antonio frowned. "So that was your date? You had coffee and then went and played soccer? Manny, you do that all the time. With me."

"That's not important, and no, it wasn't a date, wherever you heard that from." Antonio rolled his eyes. "Look, Toni, I don't care. I don't even want to talk right now, and you're in the way of my bed."

Toni didn't move. "So what? I'm trying to be a friend and you won't let me. Who was it, huh?"

Manny narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms. "That's none of your business."

"The way you're acting makes me think otherwise. It's definitely my business, since you're keeping a secret. We swore not to do that, Manuel."

"It's definitely not your business, and you still never explained how you got in, though it looks like you climbed in my window, by the fact the screen is right there." Manuel nodded at the screen of his window, resting up against his bed. "It's too late to talk about this. Go home."

"I'm not leaving. Not until you tell me." Huffing, Antonio stretched across Manuel's bed. "Who was it? Was it a lady or a guy?"

Manuel grit his teeth. "It was Cata, okay? Happy?"

Antonio sat up, staring at him. "You went and played soccer with Catalina Verardi?" He seemed shocked, and somehow it just bothered Manuel more. "That's not even cool, she had practice today! She skipped Elites practice to play with you!"

"Don't act so shocked. She didn't skip practice." Manuel fought to keep a smirk off his face. This was something he had over Antonio, and Toni knew it as his eyes grew wide.

"Dios mio, you played soccer with the whole team?" If he were a girl, Antonio might have squealed and jumped up and down. He still might have, if he weren't aware that they were the only two awake in the house. "Did you try out?"

Manuel shook his head. "Today was the first day of practice, of course not. But I played, because Diego fell funny. So whatever. It was a one-time thing. It wasn't even a real practice, really." He would have said that they were all ridiculous goofballs, but... He wanted to keep that secret. It seemed like it was just something that he ought not share.

"Oh my gosh, that's insane!" Antonio laughed, his expression brilliant. "You have to te-"

"No," Manny cut off the other. "I won't tell you. Cata made me promise. So go home and get sleep, you have practice tomorrow." Antonio tried to protest, but he picked up the other's bag and shoved it into his hands. "Go away."

The Spaniard pouted a bit, but standing up, he opened the window behind him. "You're going to tell me sometime." He sounded so confident, and it was ridiculous. Stepping out of the window, Antonio fell to the ground with a crunch of rock and sand underfoot, then skulked away, turning homeward.

Manuel glowered after him, replacing the screen in his window and leaving it open. It was too hot in his room right now, and he wasn't sure if it was just him or if the house itself was hot. Picking up his water bottle, he took a long drink and finished the warm water, grimacing slightly. Warm water was just so different from cold, fresh water.

Oh well. Getting changed and ready for bed, he closed the curtains and set his alarm, then shut off the light and slipped into bed, irritated by the warm spot where Antonio had been sitting. He doubted he'd even moved a muscle.

Manuel was frustrated, with himself, with Antonio, with soccer, with school. He wished that there would just be a great big monsoon and it would pick up the school, carry it down to Sonora, Mexico, and just drop it there, leaving the whole student body delightedly school-less. Of course, maybe some people would be displeased, but he bet that the middle of nowhere in Mexico would love to have such a well-furnished school all of a sudden, and god, he needed to sleep.

Closing his eyes, Manuel thought for a while, not even noticing when his thoughts started to turn fuzzy around the edges and get a bit more surreal. It was silly, really, but at some point, his brain finally stopped thinking and he fell completely asleep, nice and empty thoughts all that was there. Nothing about the elite team and how suspicious it was that Diego didn't seem hurt at all, nothing about Antonio and his dumb face and pesky texts, nothing about how nice Cata had been or how dumb Luco had to be about drinking while his parents weren't home.

None of that was his problem, his problem was that stupid warm spot and that was it. Sweet dreams, Manuel.