DENIM STERLING I: The dream begins.

The next day he woke up really early, mainly because he had slept for so long the previous evening. He immediately went out for a light jog which would put his mind in place and help put him in the best form for the match. When he came back from his run, it was already half past 6, on entering into the house he saw Alana in her pink nightgown scratching her head.

" Hey Stranger" he initiated the conversation.

" ah shut up, just tell me you miss me"

" You wish, so what have you been up to"

"working and attending to a really clingy boyfriend, yesterday was our anniversary you know"

"Didn't know you had a thing for the clingy ones and you got married without even telling me!?, I feel betrayed🥺"

"You do know that it's not only married couples that do anniversaries right"

"Whatever, quit feeling like I missed you okay, the house was real quiet without you around. Where's alicia"

"she didn't come home,she spent the night at her boyfriend's place"

After she'd answer the question, noticing that Denim walked off without saying a word, she knew he was upset and she followed behind him.

" Hey Denim are you okay" she asked.

" Yeah I'm cool" He replied.

"we've been together for so long and you think I wouldn't notice that you're angry"

"Fine, Alana we've been together for well over three years, we used to do everything together and we used to see each other alot and talk about lot's of things and it's just sad knowing that our relationship will never be the same again and even now you guys just go out for days without at least letting me know that is not cool alright"

" that's not true you know I'll always be your best friend" she said while hugging Denim and pecking him on the cheek.

" I'm sorry for not telling you den, I thought maybe you have other things to focus on "

"Alana I'm leaving soon, probably by next week and I'm not going to ask if you're going follow me or not, that would be selfish of me. Listen you have a new best friend now and that's your boyfriend and I'd like to meet him someday, it's really painful you know, it's like raising your daughter with all the love in you then watch her get taken away by some random dude"

" you do know that I'm older than you right, I understand you Denim, we're growing apart and frankly it's normal, I can't be with you for as long as you want me to be but I'll definitely miss you"

" now go prepare you've got a match to play" she said while slapping my butt

" OK , I told you to stop slapping my tushie, you witch"

He went straight in for a nice shower with cold water and made sure to arrange a different set of jersey as he had forgotten to wash the one he wore the previous day. After kitting up in his pre match wears he took his bag and went outside.

When he came outside the room, he saw Alana at the dining table eating toast and saw his food by the side, toast and milk. After eating it was already almost eight in the morning so he said his good byes to Alana and he drove off to the stadium.

**************************

Meanwhile Dana and her dad were discussing about denim.

" So dad anything else you found out about him"

"Nothing actually except that he has no record with any football academy around here"

" Oh okay so what"

" Dana this means he didn't Train with any academy"

" woah that one's strange so he kind of like became this good on his own and how the fuck does he keep form, c'mon dad you didn't think I would believe that right"

" Shut up Dana I've been making calls since yesterday and the only thing I could find out was that he was the best player on his high school team before he dropped out"

" Yeah, I need to get my hands on that boy" the man said before picking his phone and making a call, they spoke for a while before he aborted the call.

" I've spoken with gordon" he said to Dana

" why not just talk to the director and what did Gordon say"

" he doubts his game intelligence and he wants some match footages of him playing, so I guess we'll make the decision today after the match"

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Somewhere else on the stands, there was a man in a football cap making a phone call while conversing in Spanish.

"Hola Eva, ¿estás en el club?"

"Hey eva, are you at the club"

"si estoy en la oficina que le pasa señor santiago"

"yeah I'm in the office what's the matter Mr Santiago"

"¿Puedo hablar con el director deportivo?"

" can I talk to the sporting director?"

" Espera un minuto señor santiago"

" hold on for a minute Mr Santiago"

Few minutes later

" Hey santiago what's going on" a strong male voice with a subtle Spanish accent came from the other side of the phone.

" Javier I think I found Valencia a good player, his name is Denim by the way"

" how good"

" He's starting his tryouts match now but all I can say for now is that he's better than any setpiece taker we have at the club right now, I've sent you some clips of his freekicks"

" Okay lemme check them out man I'll call you later"

" Okay then his match is starting now" santiago said before hanging the phone.

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"Okay lads here's the plan" coach Alphonso said loudly in his usual commanding voice.

Denim who had been doing some simple warm up exercises stood straight and paid rapt attention to the man.

" So lads we'll be having three matches today as you all know. Group A will face group C and group B will face group D for the first round and then the winners face each other. First two matches will be this morning and they will last for 60 minutes each and the final match will be in the evening and that one will go on for 90 minutes. You'll have some few minutes to know your teammates and also captains for each group should step out now and if you're a group A or group C player, move into the dressing room and match out when you hear the whistle".

" The playing teams went into the dressing room to prepare and discuss their game plans and they decide on one on one marking with quick transitions from defense to attack."