"Olivia! Olivia!"

I don't want to wake up, I thought to myself. I want to keep listening to this dreamy voice calling my name forever. It has such a musicality, such a heavenly quality that I would be content listening to it for the rest of my life. "Olivia! David!"

David? Why would he be calling for David? He should only call my name. This is my dream.

"Olivia! David! Where are you?"

I don't want to wake up.

"Oh my God." The voice was suddenly much closer. "Olivia? Baby, are you okay? Open your eyes."

I should, I thought. The voice was telling me to.

I opened my eyes and Neymar slowly came to focus. He breathed a sigh of relief. He looked like a dream but he was real. His hands were on my shoulders and his face looked worried.

"Neymar?" I heard someone shift next to me.

"Are you guys okay?" Neymar asked glancing at David.

"Never better." David answered. "Glad you found us."

"Olivia?" Neymar looked at me questioningly.

I realized I hadn't yet spoken. "I'm fine." I whispered and he leaned down to wrap me in a tight hug.

"You had me so worried." He whispered in my ear. "Don't do that to me ever again."

"I'm sorry." I started tracing circles with my finger on his back. He pulled back and kissed me lightly on the lips.

"Are you ready to head back?" He asked me.

I nodded and he started helping David put everything back in his backpack. I crawled from under the bush and tried standing up with the help of a nearby tree branch. My whole body hurt as I tried to walk a few steps. Neymar was by my side in a second. "Can you walk?" He asked me.

I nodded. "I'll be fine." I smiled reassuringly although I felt far from it. He eyed me carefully before joining David once again in gathering our things.

"Our clothes are still wet, there's no point in putting them on." David said as he shoved our shirts in his backpack. "Besides it's sunny now."

"If you're cold—" Neymar started.

"No, no I'm okay." I said.

"What happened guys?" He asked us as he gave his hand to David and pulled him up. David let out a groan.

"We got lost." David told him and then sneezed loudly.

"We wanted to call you but we didn't have signal in our phones so we decided to head towards a shelter."

"You know you are nowhere near one, right? I've been looking for you for almost two whole hours." Neymar said looking at his watch.

"Our map was old. The trails have changed and then the rain started and we lost the path." I said as David sneezed again.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. It's nothing." He said quickly but his nose was red and he looked like he had difficulty breathing.

"You guys are sure you can walk? It's a long way." Neymar asked.

We both nodded. I was ready to get out of here.

"Is everyone else alright?" I asked Neymar.

"Far from it."

~

"Reckless. Irresponsible. Immature. Foolish." Scolari said looking at us.

"Is he gonna go through the whole list of synonyms?" I heard Peter mutter.

"Unbelievable." Scolari continued. "Imagine my confusion when I go to the fields for morning practice and half the team is missing. And then I get a call you are all stranded in a mountain. On an excursion! Not only did you all miss practice but your actions have made us an international joke." He spat as he threw a newspaper our way.

I didn't understand the title but a picture of the team was in the front page.

"I have no idea what you were all thinking. We are here for a very important reason and this is to win the World Cup. I would expect you to at least take it seriously. But no, this is apparently too much to ask! I thought you were all adults, professionals, but as it seems I have to treat you like babies! I'm extremely disappointed. None of you have behaved in a way worthy of the Seleção. Not even you." He turned to Thiago.

Thiago looked down without saying anything.

"So this is it. All your privileges are revoked. You are not to leave Granja Comary again unless I say so. And now get ready for practice." He finally said and left the locker room.

I looked around at the exhausted faces. Dani, Peter and Marcelo who spend the whole night looking for me and David, Hulk and Oscar who reached the other shelter a little before sunrise only to discover their generator was broken too and they couldn't call for an ambulance. Thiago and Bernard who run all the way back to the parking lot in the heavy rain. Marina who had stayed with Carlito and did everything she could for him. Neymar who spent the whole night in the parking lot and then came to our aid the first chance he got. And David who looked so worn out and droopy.

Everyone started getting up to go to the field.

"I am very disappointed in you guys. I expected better from all of you." Mr. Jones said when it was just Peter, Marina and me. "Marina though... you were remarkable. Your actions may have saved that man's life."

Marina nodded but she looked like she was about to cry. This must have been so hard on her, I thought.

"Now I talked with Scolari and he said that you three can take the day off." Mr. Jones said. "So I suggest you go back to your rooms and rest." He added before walking out as well.

Marina sat on a bench and started crying. Peter put his hands on her back to console her.

"Scolari is mad at us." I observed. "He just kicked us out of practice."

"I don't even care about that right now." Marina said, in between sobs. "I just hope Carlito pulls through."

"How was he, when you left him?" Peter asked her.

"Comatose." Marina whispered. "I... there was nothing more I could do."

"You did everything you could." Peter told her, wrapping his arm around her. Marina rested her head on his chest, trying to calm herself.

"Let's go to our room." I told them and they nodded. On our way we run into David and Dr. Runco.

"Scolari told me to rest." David informed us. I was glad, because he looked really out of shape.

Dr. Runco approached me and put his hand on my forehead. "I think you have a fever, Olivia."

"I feel fine." I told him.

"Come with me." He ordered.

"I'll find you later." I told Marina and Peter before I followed David and Dr. Runco to the infirmary.

"That was really irresponsible of you guys. Leaving the group like that." Dr. Runco told us, as he let us in. "On the bed." He told David.

"We didn't mean to get lost! We'd have come back with plenty of time to spare if our map wasn't outdated and we weren't caught in a hurricane!" David said.

Dr. Runco only shook his head in disappointment before using his stethoscope to check David's chest.

I knew David was right but I also couldn't help but feel like the 'adults' only saw these as excuses. It was true we got lost because of the map. It was true that the rain had slowed us down and then made us lose the trail completely. It was true we couldn't go on in the downpour. All of these things were true but somehow they didn't matter. The why and the how didn't matter. The only thing that matter was that we had one thing to do and we didn't do it. We only had to not embarrass the Seleção and we had failed.

"Everything sounds good. It's only a mild cold." Dr. Runco said as he took a thermometer and gave it to David. "Liv, your turn." He said and I sat down on the bed, raising my shirt. "Deep breaths." He said. "Good." He told me when he was finished. He took the thermometer back from David. "You have a little temperature too. I recommend rest for the reminder of the day and you'll probably be ready for practice tomorrow."

After Dr. Runco gave us both aspirin and asked us to come back in the afternoon we headed towards our rooms.

"I'm so tired." David said.

I nodded. "We really screwed up." I said.

"I know."

"Just how bad is it? With the press."

"It's not that bad. They don't even mention us two getting lost. They mainly said that the team was stranded in the mountain on their day off and their actions helped save someone's life."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"Well, Scolari knows the whole truth. And you know, everyone says we shouldn't have been there in the first place, which I guess is my fault."

"No it isn't. I mean we all wanted to go."

"Whatever. What's done is done."

"I hope that's the end of it. But Scolari kicked us out of practice."

"He did?" David turned to look at me.

I nodded.

"Well he can't kick us out of practice; he has to take it out on someone."

"I hope he doesn't kick us out for good."

"He wouldn't. The old guy loves you." David joked, messing up my hair, as we reached his room. "You know, he told me it was really irresponsible to leave the group to hook up with my girlfriend."

"He did?" I asked, my mouth open in shock.

David grinned. "Apparently they all thought we wanted some privacy and ditched everyone else. Could they be any more wrong? How they can't see what's going on with you and Neymar is beyond me. You guys are so obvious."

"No we aren't. We are being really careful. It's only because you are in the loop about it, that you think we're obvious."

"As if."

"Well they think I'm your girlfriend. So case in point."

"No it's not that. It's the fact that you are a girl and my friend and I am generally adorable, so why wouldn't they assume I have charmed the pants off of you?" David said as he opened the door to his room.

"Yeah, why wouldn't they?" I said ironically.

"See ya later, trouble maker."

I smiled at him, as he closed his door, thinking about how right he was. I was a trouble maker.