DRIVE

Chapter 1 – Chicken Wing

In retrospect, perhaps joining a soccer team wasn't one of Nico's brightest ideas.

As he stepped onto the artificial turf to watch the training currently taking place, Nico looked from player to player, trying to judge the length of the pitch by calculating how long it would take him to walk up to them.

The answer was two hours. To Nico, it felt as if it would have taken him two whole hours to walk up to the player nearest him, which made him feel as if he'd been standing in the middle of a well-sprinkled desert.

"We train Mondays and Thursdays," said a voice to his right.

Nico turned to Jason, hoping his eyes would convey his trepidation.

Jason flashed him a blinding smile. Damn Jason and his disarming charisma.

A whistle blew in the distance and Nico's eyes were drawn back to the pitch. The coach—the only one wearing black amidst a sea of crisp white uniforms—was yelling at one of the players, then took off his shoe and chucked it right over. The player in question ducked right on time, barely missing the shoe projectile, but instead of complaining, he merely walked over with his head down, looking utterly subdued.

"Don't worry about that," said Jason. "Coach Hedge is one of the best we've ever had. We're lucky he decided to join us, actually."

But Nico wasn't so sure. Coach Hedge proceeded to belittle the player nearest him for passing instead of driving. He asked him whether he owned a driver's license. Then, he took off his other shoe and this time, he caught the player right on the head.

"And you're sure it's fun?" Nico asked hesitantly, his eyes on Coach Hedge imitating the player who he was now calling a chicken wing.

Jason smiled confidently, and Nico suddenly wanted to be him. He'd known Jason for a few years now, but he'd never looked more PR than he did now. Perhaps that had to do with Jason being the Captain of the team. In his personal experience, Nico had come to the conclusion that captains did seem to take their role a bit more seriously than strictly necessary.

"He's just very passionate about soccer," Jason explained, ignoring the way Coach Hedge forced the chicken wing player to wave his arms up and down, pretending they were wings.

Nico frowned, wondering what kind of colorful names Coach Hedge would call him if he decided to join the club, when he suddenly heard a loud whistle coming from a different pitch, followed by a bout of urgent gasps.

Nico looked up right on time as a ball landed and bounced near him. Jason made a move to catch the ball, but Nico's basketball instincts kicked in and he quickly caught it in his hands before it bounced a second time. His wrist gave a nasty jolt as he caught the ball, and Nico had a hard time ignoring the painful memory of his fateful injury, but he quickly put on a brave smile, hoping Jason hadn't noticed a thing.

He wasn't expecting the eruption of giggles that followed. Nico's eyes searched the area until he found the source of the unnerving yet unmistakable noise of girls laughing.

On the next pitch, directly adjacent to the one Nico was currently scouting, a female team began to gather around. Nico could discern broad smiles on the girls' faces as they patted each other's backs in camaraderie. Some of the girls were looking straight at him, beckoning him with dainty fingers to come over, some of them shaking their heads, muttering in disapproval at Nico catching the ball with his hands.

"Sorry! Ball?" he heard one of the girls yell.

Nico looked around, trying to spot the one who had spoken, but he couldn't possibly discern her amidst the sea of black and gold uniforms that were all turned his way.

The whistle on the girl's side of the pitch went off again and the few girls who had been looking at Nico turned away instantly. Within seconds, they began to gather around a single male form dressed in pure gold standing in the center of the pitch.

"What's happening there?" Nico asked curiously.

"Oh, that. They're called the Valkyries. One of the female teams. They have a league and everything. Quite professional. Will Solace coaches them. He used to play with us a few years back. He's moved on from playing, apparently."

Nico could have sworn there was a bit of bitterness in the way Jason spoke about the Valkyries and their coach, but it might just have been his imagination.

Nico's eyes zeroed in on the coach in question. He was smiling and clapping his hands earnestly, praising the players.

"What kind of a wing move was that, Valdez? A chicken wing move?" yelled Coach Hedge from somewhere behind Nico, but Nico refused to turn. Instead, his eyes remained on the coach of the girls' team.

"What a pass. What—a—pass," Nico heard Will Solace say as he approached one of the girls and offered her a high five.

The girl laughed awkwardly, then raised her hand to meet Will's.

"I fucked up, though," said another girl loudly, "I panicked and…" Nico couldn't hear the rest of what she was saying.

Their coach began to speak, gesticulating excitedly. He stood at least a head above the rest, his broad frame setting him apart from the others. The girls laughed as if on cue, then fell completely silent as their coach kept speaking.

"Nico?" Jason asked.

"Huh?" Nico turned. Jason was looking curiously at him. "Sorry. I didn't know girls could play soccer—I mean, I didn't know girls had soccer clubs too."

Jason heaved a sigh. "Yeah, I mean. Don't get me wrong. My girlfriend plays for one of the female teams, and they do bring an audience. But it's just not the same. Lots of the guys have girlfriends playing in different clubs, but it's just for fun. We are serious about soccer."

Again, Nico was surprised to hear the slight bitterness in Jason's voice. He made it sound as if girls playing soccer wasn't meant to be taken seriously, which most certainly did not sound like the Jason he knew at all.

Another bout of giggles brought Nico out of his reverie, and when Nico turned, the girls had broken into small teams, each with their own ball, and began to do passes.

Nico, who still held one of their balls in his hand, looked at Jason, wondering what he should do with it.

Before Jason could reply though, a voice cut through the field.

"Grace!"

Nico turned. The Valkyrie's coach, Will Solace, was jogging up to them.

"Oh, lord," whispered Jason, almost to himself, looking suddenly uncomfortable.

Nico didn't know what that was about. Will Solace looked nice enough. He had blonde hair, striking blue eyes and a genuinely pleasant smile. He was barely panting by the time he had run up to them, which Nico thought praise-worthy.

"How's it going?" Solace asked, offering a hand to Jason, who took it with only the slightest trepidation.

"Monday training, same old same old," Jason replied dryly.

Will Solace turned to Nico, then broke into an even wider smile. "New recruit?"

Nico didn't know whether he should reply or not. Fortunately, Jason took over and explained the situation. Nico was just there to watch. He was new to soccer. He might join. He used to play basketball. That didn't work out. He looks like a fast runner.

That pretty much summed up Nico's entire existence, he thought sardonically.

But when Nico looked up at Will, he was smiling. If possible, his smile was even brighter than Jason's.

"Well, then you'll be in good hands. Jason's the best captain, and Coach Hedge is simply the best."

"Thank you," Nico said stupidly, which he instantly regretted.

Will smiled. "Can I have that ball back? One of my wings kicked it over, sorry about that. But man, she's got a mean kick."

"If you can call that a kick," Jason muttered.

Nico turned to him, surprised, but fortunately, Will didn't seem to have heard him.

Nico offered the ball back to Will, who let it drop on the ground and began to do a serious bout of keep-ups—knee, foot, knee, chest, head, chest, knee, foot—then held the ball up on his motherfucking forehead before he let it drop down to the ground for good.

"Thanks," he said, winking at Nico and Jason. "Hope to see you around, Nico. See ya, Jason."

Nico watched Will jog back to his pitch. Next to him, Jason sighed.

"Show off," he whispered, then turned to Nico with a fresh smile on his face as if nothing had happened. "So, how about it?"

That evening, Nico forwarded the monthly payment to Jason's account, who would in turn, send Nico the details of his membership.

"Welcome to Olympus," said Jason over the phone. "Looking forward to having you on our team."

Nico didn't reply. He dropped his phone on his bed as he began to undress, wondering if the Valkyries also trained every Mondays and Thursdays.