Friends Always Win in the End!
by Ruwen Rouhs
Chapter 1
More than Teamplay
Severin stood two meters to the right corner of the penalty area waiting impatiently. He had positioned the football and let his eyes wander over the penalty area. Almost all the players of both teams had gathered there and waited for the free kick. Severin searched his team, the St. Sebastian Highschool Kickers, for a free man to pass the ball to. The students from St. Sebastian wore red shirts, while those from Lilienthal School wore green ones. The green and red dressed players had gathered close to or in the 5m area and were trying to get into the position either to make a goal or to prevent it.
Arash was standing at the height of the 5-meter area about 4 meters towards the corner flag. Severin searched for Arash. He searched for his eyes to signal that the free kick was meant for him. Since the first day they both played on the soccer team together the two understood each other by eye contact only. H and signals were not necessary. Already at the first match they had found out that they could communicate with looks, only. This was of great advantage as the other players couldn't read their intentions.
Severin flicked the ball over the cluster of players in the 5-meter area, Arash caught it with his chest and it landed in the short corner. "Goal! Goal!" The goalkeeper hadn't even had time to react. Some of Severin's teammates screamed, ran towards Arash and hugged him. While other gave Severin, the center, a thumb up. The score was 3:3 and the referee blew his whistle. St. Sebastian had won the high school tournament against 9 other school teams.
When Severin wanted to congratulate Arash, the skinny youngster was already on his way out of the stadium. "Hey Arash, congratulations, your goal saved us the championship. Why don't you join us in the shower? We'll go for ice cream afterwards."
"Can't Sev, I'm sorry but Dad's waiting!"
"Oh man, you're never coming along." Severin grumbled disappointed, "You always get picked up." When Arash shrugged apologetically, Severin asked, "And tomorrow after the last lesson? I'll invite you to celebrate our victory. It's on me. Tomorrow is the last day before summer vacation."
Severin was sweating when he arrived by bike at the ice parlor just 15 minutes away. As he tried to slip past Martha to get to the table with the coach and his team mates, she asked mockingly, "Today without your cr u sh?"
Martha was the chatter-box of the twelfth grade, but she was also the best-informed student in the upper secondary. She knew who dated whom. She knew which couple broke up. She even knew which couple will break up next. But she had not foreseen her own bad luck.
Martha had been Severin girlfriend for nearly for nearly half a year. Then it happened. Severin broke up with her. He didn't give even a reason. Well, he could have, certainly, but he didn't want to. One reason was that she was just toooo possessive. She made a scene if she even glanced at another girl. But that was not the main reason. She pestered him to go all the way, "I am on the pill! Please Sev, I want you to go all the way" she whispered to him again and again when they made out. He wasn't against sex, but….
Severin didn't even know himself why he didn't want to do Martha. He just said "Good Bye" and that was it, at least for Severin, however not for Martha. Since th e n she suspected he was more interested in boys, especially in Arash. She had tried to spread this rumor and even called him gay in front of others, "That guy is gay! I don't know why I've been trying to lay him for such a long time!" As "gay" was used in excess in school, nobody cared and tried to get to the bottom of the accusation.
At the coach's table Severin was welcomed with a big hello. Piet and Paul had already ordered beer. When he arrived without Arash in tow, Piet grinned, "Hi Sev, Arash is not with you? Does his father suspect he will get drunk?" Paul tried to do his friend up, "The sun is still shining, so Allah will see it. If Arash gets just one sip of beer he is bound to hell!" Waving, the coach invited Severin to take a seat next to him. He congratulated him for his moves during the game and engaged him in a conversation about the school team's next goals.
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