Waking up in the morning the first thought on my head was of last night. I kept going over it in my head and I realized I wasn't the only one who behaved weirdly. Juninho asked me some strange questions as well.

And there was the whole football thing too. I played again. Granted it was for two minutes, but everything came back to me, like it hadn't been almost three years since I last touched a ball.

I knew it very well that when I took this internship about football, I would have to deal with it, but I thought I could avoid playing, with excuses, like I did all this time. The thought that when the ball was presented at my feet, I would jump at the opportunity to play without even thinking twice hadn't crossed my mind. And yet that is what happened. And most of all I felt guilt. Guilt at how much I missed the game.

I shook it off quickly. I had a new day ahead of me, one that was full with activities as well. I looked towards Marina's side but she wasn't there. I stood up and walked to the bathroom to wash myself before going for breakfast.

When I walked in the restaurant it was empty. I looked at my phone and saw that it was pretty early in the morning, breakfast hadn't even started yet but I was hungry. There wasn't even anyone in the kitchen. I sat on one of the chairs and waited.

"Breakfast isn't for another hour honey." I heard a woman's voice. I turned around to see the cook.

"Good morning. I know, I will wait." I said.

"Do you want me to fix you something?" She asked gently.

"You can?" I asked.

"Sure. I was about to make breakfast for another early bird as well."

"In that case yes, thank you." I said. She smiled and walked towards the kitchen. "Can I help?" I asked.

She nodded. "What are we making?" I asked her.

"Scrambled eggs, bacon and pancakes."

"This isn't very Brazilian." I commented. Yesterday's breakfast had been the traditional Brazilian breakfast.

"Yeah, American influences." She smiled. It made sense that everyone would love pancakes.

"How many eggs?" I asked opening the fridge.

"Half a dozen. And how many you want."

"6? Are we feeding a giant?" I asked bringing her the eggs."

"Worse. A footballer." She laughed.

She separated the egg whites from the yolks, using only two yolks. After finishing the omelet she went on to make the bacon.

"Are they allowed to have bacon?" I asked.

"They haven't yet started practices. Technically they are on vacation."

"Oh, by the way I am Olivia."

"I am Meerene." She said. "You are one of the physics students, right?"

I nodded.

"So what would you like to eat?" She asked me.

"Some pancakes? And coffee."

She nodded and started making the pancake mix. When she finished, she gave me a plate of pancakes and some jam and I sat on one of the tables.

"These are delicious, Meerene!" I said, my mouth full.

"Thank you." She said as she was preparing the giant tray for the footballer. Once she was done she came and sat with me. "I hope it doesn't get cold." She said looking at the tray.

"That's his problem." I said, still eating my pancakes.

She chuckled. As I ate my food I wondered where Marina was. When I went to bed last night she hadn't come back and she wasn't there in the morning either. She wasn't at breakfast or in the living room, so were was she?

"That's it. I am going to take it to his room." Meerene said, standing up. She picked up the tray and walked towards the players' rooms. But before she reached the door, it opened and a guy walked in. They started talking in Portuguese. He turned around and walked back through the same door and she set the tray on one of the tables.

"What happened?" I asked.

"He's coming."

I nodded. I'd finally see the mysterious football player that had everyone walking on their tiptoes.

My phone rang. "Come to the room." Marina sent in a text.

I stood up. Meerene turned to look at me. "I have to go to my room for a second." I said. "See you later Meerene and thanks for breakfast." She smiled.

~*~

"Bom dia!" I said entering my room.

Marina turned to look at me. She was sitting on the floor, looking pale and hungover. She was a mess.

"What happened?" I asked.

"We had a little too much to drink yesterday." She said.

"With Mr. Jones?" I asked in disbelief.

"No, he left pretty early."

"Let me get you some water." I said and poured her some cold water from our mini fridge. "Did you come back now?"

"No, a couple hours ago. I was in Peter's and Alex's room."

"How are they?" I asked as she sipped the water.

"As bad as I am. At least Peter is. I have the worse headache."

"What are we going to do? We have the meeting with the coaches in an hour. If we get you some breakfast?" I asked.

"No, no breakfast." She said. She looked like she was about to puke. I dragged her towards the toilet and held her hair up.

"Oh God." I signed.

"I can't make that meeting." She said. I nodded in agreement.

"Can you take a shower? Can you stand?" I asked her.

"I need to sleep it off." She answered me.

"Okay, let me get you into bed." I said.

She fell asleep almost immediately. I walked towards the boys' room and knocked on the door. Alex opened and let me in. I heard the water running.

"You look a lot better than Marina." I noticed.

"I didn't drink half as much as them."

"How is Peter?"

"Throwing up uncontrollably."

"He won't make the meeting either?"

He nodded negatively. "Marina?"

I nodded too. "She is sleeping. How about you?"

"I will be there. I'm okay now."

I nodded, not knowing how to answer that. "I missed a hell of a night ha?"

"No, not really." He said. "I mean, Marina and Peter will probably tell you a different tale."

"Are you always the sober one?" I asked him.

"Probably yeah. It's kind of lame I know."

I smiled.

"I take it you aren't?" he asked me.

"No." I nodded. I had a very good alcohol tolerance. But I never drank so much I had to throw up. I liked the buzz but I hated puking.

Peter walked out the bathroom in his boxers. He wasn't as ripped as a football player would be but he was hiding decent abs beneath the dark clothes he always wore.

"Kill me." He said collapsing in his bed.

"Mr. Jones probably will." Alex noted.

"Speaking of Mr. Jones we should go." I said. "Umm, Peter?"

"Yeah?" he said. He had his eyes covered with his hand.

"Maybe you should go sleep in our room too. Marina is already asleep, but I don't want to leave her alone in case she needs something."

"Okay." Peter said. "Help me up please."

We helped him and took him in my room where he collapsed on my bed once again.

"You're going to have to burn those seats." Alex commented as we walked towards the meeting and we both burst out laughing.

~*~

The meeting went great. They were a little disapproving of Marina and Peter at first but as soon as the meeting started their absence was forgotten. We met with assistant coach Ben Coto, who was head of the attack and assistant coach Gus Stewart who was head of the midfield zone. It was a very interesting meeting and the coaches answered all of my questions. I think they were happy to see I was interested and the conversation flowed. Alex made a very good impression as well. When we were done with the meeting Mr. Jones told us we did a good job.

"Hello guys! How is it going?" Mr. Alavas approached us. We greeted him. "Come to the living room, some of the players just got here."

We followed him quickly. I was excited to meet them so I could match the name to the face and the position each of them played.

"David!" Mr. Alavas said entering the living room. He hugged a tall guy with curly hair and they started talking in Portuguese. I looked around, there were a few players and family members socializing with each other.

"Come here guys, meet David Luiz!" Mr. Alavas told us. David Luiz, central midfielder, plays for Paris Saint-Germain, I recalled.

"Hello guys!" He said. After the necessary introductions were made we explained what we were doing here. He seemed enthusiastic at the prospect. He in turn introduced as to some of the other players, Hulk, Bernard, Luis Gustavo and Thiago Silva. Soon everyone had started conversations. Mr. Jones was talking with Felipe Scolari and Mr. Alavas while Alex was conversing with Luiz about something other than football. And I found myself talking with Thiago Silva.

He was very nice and funny, we talked about football a lot but he also asked me a lot of questions about our project and physics in general. Soon the room started to clear and the family members left the compound. It was a little before lunch and some of the players and Alex and me went to the game room. Bernard and Alex started playing soccer on the xbox while the others were cheering and David played a match on the foosball table against Thiago. Everything was about football always! I was astonished at how nice everyone was. They welcomed us immediately and made us a part of the team.

"Goal!" Fred yelled and I saw that Alex had scored one against Bernard.

"Irmão!" I heard from behind me and both David and Thiago run towards the door.

Juninho was there. They hugged him tightly. Not only they knew him but they were friends of his I realized.

"Hey Juninho." I said.

"Por que ela está te chamando Juninho?" David asked him.

"Não digo o meu nome verdadeiro, por favor!" he answered him.

Both David and Thiago started laughing. "What happened?" I asked since I didn't understand anything they said.

"Nothing, I will be right back." Juninho said and went to greet the others. David and Thiago resumed playing.

"Seriously what did you say to him?" I asked. Could he have told them about yesterday?, I wondered.

"Nothing really. So how do you know Juninho?" he asked.

They both looked like they would start laughing any minute. I started feeling bad and I wanted to leave. "I don't." I said. "Just saw him around, once or twice." If he wanted to tell them about the pool yesterday, by all means he could go ahead. And they could all make fun of me together. I didn't really care. I've had people mocking me for one reason or the other my whole life. I could handle it. "I've got to go." I said and almost run towards the door.

They must have realized something was wrong because they both followed me. "We're sorry! Olivia!" Thiago yelled after me. A hand stopped me in the living room.

"Why are you laughing at me?" I asked.

"We're not, really!" David said. "We were laughing with him!" he said pointing at Juninho who approached us.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Você tem que dizer a verdade!" Thiago told him.

"Stop speaking in Portuguese! It's rude!" I yelled and started walking away again. They continued arguing in Portuguese and no one came after me this time.