"I got it!"

Helmut made a dive towards the ground, smiling as he knocked the ball upwards into the air. The pass was perfect, and the ball fell down right towards Gordon, who raised his hands and prepared to set it. "Chris!" he called, jumping up and setting the ball into the air.

Chris ran forward, bringing his arms back as he prepared to leap after it. "Yeah, I got it…" He jumped up, towering over the blockers on the other side of the net. They didn't even come close to being able to touch the ball, and Chris spiked it down with the force of a canon. One of the others managed to get to it, but it shanked right off of his arm and out of bounds.

Gordon nodded in approval. "Nice spike. And Helmut, that pass was perfect," he said before turning towards the members on the other side of the net. "You managed to get in front of Chris quickly enough, but remember, blocking isn't about height. It's about timing. If you keep just trying to stop him at his peak, you're going to fail. And nice hustle and technique trying to dig up that spike. Nothing you could have done about that. It was just too powerful."

Everyone either nodded or smiled at the advice or praise given, except Chris who just yawned and cracked his neck. "Are we almost done here?" he asked.

"I'd like to run one more set," Gordon said. "Let's switch up the team this time. I'll go over to the other side. Helmut, I'd like you to try and get some more sets in. And Chris… just keep doing what you're doing. Don't slouch."

"Got it!" Helmut said, nodding.

"Whatever," Chris said scratching the back of his head.

As Gordon crossed over to the other side of the net to switch with the other setter, he heard the door to the gym open. He looked over and saw one of the other players making their way towards him. "Uh, Gordon. There's some girl outside who says she wants to talk to you," he said.

Gordon snorted. "Tell her we're busy right now. Or to wait until practice is over." He didn't have time to entertain another admirer. When he was in practice, he focused on practice.

"Are you sure? Because she ugh… she seems like she knows you. She said that she's a friend of your cousins," the boy said. Gordon raised an eyebrow. A friend of his cousins? Even if that were true, why in the world should he have cared? He never gave two cents about the gaggle of idiots he surrounded himself with.

Gordon was about to tell him to turn her away again, but then the doors opened once more. A young woman who looked about sixteen made her way towards them. She had wavy reddish brown ombre hair tied into a high ponytail that went slightly past her shoulders, brown skin, and orange eyes.

She wore a pair of black rectangular glasses, a black t-shirt with a fox symbol on it, a red short sleeved jacket, blue jeans, and red and white tennis shoes. She also had on a pair of red headphones with fox ears on them. "Hello there. It's nice to officially meet you Gordon," she said smiling.

Gordon looked the girl up and down curiously. There was something familiar about her, but he couldn't quite remember. Which meant she probably wasn't worth the effort. He smiled however. "Well, I'd say the pleasure is mine, but I'm at a bit of a disadvantage here. You seem to know who I am, but I don't know you."

The girl adjusting her glasses. "Akielah. Akielah Lahiffe," she introduced. "And I'm honestly not surprised you don't remember me. We didn't talk last time, and seeing as how you don't think that highly of Olivier I probably slipped right out of your memory."

Ah, so she was a friend of his cousin. Even more of a reason not to waste his time with her. "I thought you looked familiar. Sorry for not remembering you," he said, still keeping up his friendly tone. "I'd love to catch up with you, but I'm afraid right now we're in the middle of practice. If it's alright then-"

"You know, you don't have to keep up the fake face. I was pretty close with Olivier, he told me all about you," she said looking amused. "And I'm not planning on wasting your time. I just want to pitch a proposition I think will help both of us out."

Gordon stared at her for a moment, and then let out a breath. When he looked back towards her it was with a glare. "What do you want?" he asked, irritated. If she wanted a frank conversation, then she was going to get it. Especially if it was going to get her out of here quicker.

"In short, I want an interview," she said. Gordon opened his mouth, but she held her hands up. "And before you say you don't have time, I'm not just asking for a favor. I'm offering a deal. I'll help you out with something, and you help me out."

Gordon raised an eyebrow. "And what could you possibly help me out with?" There was nothing she could realistically offer than he couldn't get himself.

"This."

She handed him a notepad, and Gordon skimmed over it. It looked like they were… notes. Notes on Lowerton. They were set to face them this weekend. He scoffed and then looked back up at her. "You think this is worth a favor? You think I haven't already done my own research on them?" he asked.

"Not anything this thorough," Akielah assured. "Those aren't just their star players and numbers, it's every single detail that could possibly come into place. Formations, favored strategies, major and minor injuries. If it'll come into play, you're going to find it written down right there."

Gordon took another look at it, flipped through a few of the pages. She was right. He didn't know how but she had dug up a number of things he hadn't bothered to. Not because he couldn't mind you, but he had to prioritize his time. Little things like this could potentially affect the outcome, but not so much that he couldn't afford to risk going without them.

Still, this was… impressive.

"So, you can do your research. But info on one team we were already going to crush is hardly worth a favor from me." If she was asking him for a favor in the first place, then she either knew what a favor from him was really worth, or she was incredibly naive. He had a feeling that she was the former.

Akielah waved her finger. "Oh, how little you think of me. I'd never approach the great Gordon Graham De Vanily with such a flimsy offer. I know just how snobbishly high your standards are," she said before pulling out a notebook. "These are the next five teams you'll be facing. Assuming you win of course. If you get past that, I'll start on the ones up until state," she said.

Gordon looked at her skeptically. "Are you saying you'll be willing to scout and give us info on every team we're going to face until state?" he asked.

"If states are as far as you're planning to go, then sure. But if you've got the idea to go to nationals then I'm totally game for that," she said casually.

Gordon hummed. So, she wasn't naive after all. "I'll admit that this is rather impressive. But I'm fairly confident that with or without this, we are more than capable of making our way to nationals. So why, pray tell, should I accept this offer?" he asked.

"Because, you always do every single thing in your power to win, no matter how trivial it is," Akieleh said, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't know you personally, but based on what Olivier's told me you're the type that just can't help but do everything to guarantee a W. If it even gives you a single more percent chance of success, you take it. That's just how you are. And this will make a very likely winning streak pretty much a certainty."

Gordon stared her down, and she just smirked back at him in response. She was a sly one, he'd give her that. "And, if I did accept this offer, what would you expect in return?"

"An interview with the major."

He grunted. "I can't promise you that."

"Oh I know. I just wanted to make a big offer so the next one doesn't seem as dramatic. I want an interview with your parents. Preferably with you and your brother too. The whole family would be a big score I think," she explained. "But I'd settle for just mom and pops if you're not up for it."

Gordon once again looked skeptical. "You're offering me information about every single team up until nationals, in exchange for an interview? For what, the school paper?"

"My blog," she said, crossing her arms. "I want to be a reporter some day, and we don't all have stupid rich parents to kickstart every single thing we wanna do. I figure having a personal interview with the famous Graham De Vanily family will get more than a few eyes looking my way. Give me a good foothold to jump from."

Gordon didn't get the sense she was lying, but it was hard to tell. She was a bit hard to read, even for him. There were plenty of reporters who tried to get to him, his parents, and his brothers and spin some wild story about them doing business with disreputable people or getting into illegal affairs. All were untrue.

His mother and father could be downright ruthless at times, but when it came to the family reputation they didn't do anything that could harm it in any significant way.

Still, he had to be cautious. "I'll talk to them about this, and get back to you. Now if you'd excuse us, I'd like to wrap up practice," he said, turning around. "Also, I feel like I should note that if you are serious about helping us all the way up until nationals, then we will in all likelihood be coming across Olivier." He didn't want her wussing out or withholding anything valuable just because she was close to that moron.

She waved her hand. "I know, I know. But it doesn't really matter," she said simply. "Olivier is doing everything he can to follow his passions, and I'm doing the same thing. And he isn't the type of guy to get hung up on something like this. Whether it's him, or anyone else, you'll have full info on everyone you come across."

"Good to know. Now, have a good day. No need to come back here. If I feel like following up on this little offer of yours, I'll come to you."

Akeilah laughed. "Yeah okay. When you're ready to talk again I texted you my number. Don't ask how I got it, just consider it another point on my resume," she said before turning to leave. "Au revoir," she said, waving as she walked out.

Gordon scowled and looked over his shoulder as she left. When he got back to the court, the others looked at him curiously. "Who was that girl?" Helmut asked.

"Trouble…" he answered.

Akielah clicked her tongue as she walked down the hall and looked through her phone. She knew he was going to take the bait. He was too obsessed with winning to pass up on it. So she would have to get working on looking up every potential team they could deal with up until the championships.

The way Gordon had looked at her made her think she had gotten in his head a little. Which was sort of amusing to her. It wasn't like anything she said was a lie. She had been totally straight up with him. But considering who he was, maybe it was just a new experience for him.

She found herself giggling at the thought. Working with him would be pretty amusing. So could the look on Olivier's face when she saw him again. Her parents were going to contact her and let them know they were in the states now. But she would probably leave out this little deal she had going until later.

Olivier would be all worried about her being close to his cousin. He was a sweet boy, but he could be so naive. Just because he had a hard time dealing with his cousin, didn't mean she would. She knew how to handle herself, and Gordon if it came down to it. This whole scheme of hers would be timing consuming, but it would be worth it.

Being around the guys on the team? Well that would just be a bonus.

A/N: Introducing Akielah Lahiffe! Daughter of Nino and Alya! Originally I had planned for her to be the love interest for Beat, but since I thought Fran had a lot more interesting dynamic with him I decided to rework her character a bit. She's going to be playing an active role helping out Gordon and the rest of his team as kind of like a manager and strategist. I think with her being friends with Olivier it'll be interesting on Gordon's end since he'll naturally going to be weary of her. I also just think Olivier having an old friend/sister figure who's a bit more sly would bounce of his really polite/slightly naive personality would be a clash.

I'm gonna drop some more info on her later, but if you guys have questions feel free to ask them! I plan for her to have her own character arc going on the side of things between Olivier and Gordon!