Clouding My Judgement

67

Term three was eight weeks long. Six of those weeks had passed. It was now the end of May. No one could believe it. They finished first year in June. They literally had a week left. It was all going so quickly.

However, Theo felt like it was going at a snail's pace. He hadn't heard from Naomi. Every time he asked one of the girls where she was, they said she was coming soon. Well soon wasn't soon enough. He wanted to see her now. He needed to talk to her now. He even considered dropping everything and driving down to her hometown just to talk to her.

He couldn't though, coursework and football were in the way. His coach was getting onto him more than usual, because they had an important match coming up and he needed to be on his A-game.

Theo was the team captain. This led to the coach putting on even more pressure on him. He had to lead his team to victory every time. He had so much pressure on him.

He was on scholarship because the university had scouted him when he was eighteen back in his hometown and wanted him to come and play for their team. He definitely didn't need the scholarship because his family were doing very well for themselves but the university insisted. He ended up pushing back the contract due to his sister but they didn't ask questions. He liked that and accepted.

He always enjoyed football. He played it from a young age, even getting his older sister to watch his matches to support him. He parents didn't think he would get far with it though, so his accounting and finance course was a back up. They never came to see his matches, only gave him the money to fund his hobby when he needed new boots or a new kit. They were always so busy. He had the option of doing sport and coaching as his course but he declined to keep in his parents good books. Even though Theo didn't get along with them, he still saw that they did always want the best for him.

His coach thought he could really get far with it so he's been trying to take it seriously, but when he sees Ollie and Elijah at training and they're constantly asking him if she's back yet, he couldn't focus. He couldn't help but confide in them about how he's worried she's going to drop out because of all of this and how he'll never get the chance to truly talk to her. To get everything off his chest, the right way this time.

His lack of focus was even showing when his coach reminded him that he needed to drive to Manchester tomorrow and Theo looked at him confused. That's when it was reiterated to him for the thousandth time that their final match for the end of the year was in Manchester. It wasn't going to be a hard match but it did definitely put Theo in a secure place in second year. This is because it would put him possibly in higher league teams good books for him to be one to look out for and potentially scout. He needed this if he wanted to take football as a serious career.

He was leaving tomorrow. He was there for a few days for meetings and obviously the match, but he'd be back for the last couple of days of term to celebrate not only the end of the academic year but also if they won and if not then drink away the loss.

He just hoped he could talk to her when he came back. He hoped he didn't miss her coming back and taking all her stuff and dropping out. That was his worst fear.