Chapter 1 (1/2)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The summer holidays were quickly coming to an end. So many things happened over the holidays that before Zhang Jun could even begin to wrap his head around them, two months had already passed. The only thing he knew for sure was just how fast time went by…

…

In the middle of the day, the sun hung high in the sky as it gloriously radiated light and heat onto the ground below. It was high noon and there were not many people out on the streets under the crazy hot weather. However, Zhang Jun was an exception. He stood there quietly, basking in the rays of the sun as if he was unfazed by the blazing heat. His mind, still deep in thought about his ending summer holidays until…

“That’s a dollar twenty for the paper. Are you going to buy it or what?” a grumpy voice asked. The old lady at the newsstand had just about had it with him staring blankly at her goods for sale. Zhang Jun immediately snapped out of his daydream. Embarrassed, he quickly paid for the paper and left.

As soon as he got home, he found Yang Pan already there, waiting for him. The two boys had been best friends since they were still crawling about and talking gibberish. They could and would talk about anything, if not everything with each other. But the one thing that the two boys talked about more than anything else, the one subject that got their hearts pumping and their blood boiling with excitement was soccer.

It was their mutual love for the game that made these two boys the best of friends for many years; like two peas in a pod. They could talk about it all day, every day and never tire of it. That would usually be the case every time they met up, but not this particular day.

Yang Pan was doing most of the talking this time. Meanwhile, his usually chatty best friend was being unusually silent, only responding or nodding when necessary. Yang Pan, of course, picked up on his best buddy’s unusual behavior.

“What’s up?”

Zhang Jun took a moment to piece together his words to reply his friend. And after a brief moment of silence, he finally mustered enough courage and spoke as calm as he could, “I’m transferring out of Kai Ta High School.”

“Transferring? Why?!” Yang Pan exclaimed. He was clearly shocked! They had never been in separate classes, much less separate schools ever since they could ever remember! “Bro, but we just won the nationals! There’s a trophy with our names on display in school! And now, you’re just going to leave?!”

“Look, I don’t want this as much as you do, but this isn’t my decision to make. Mom says the new school is closer to home. It’ll be easier for the family that way.”

“Then, what about the team, bro? What about our promise?”

Zhang Jun had a flashback of that epic night, which was the highlight of his summer—that night on Qingdao Island, when they became national champions of the country’s National Middle School Soccer Championship.

Zhang Jun remembered that night and how he triumphantly proposed to his fellow comrades. “Today, national middle school champions; tomorrow, national high school champions!”

“Yeah! Let’s become national high school champions!” the whole team roared in response. He remembered vividly how the stadium lights reflected off the sweat on their faces; their victorious screams; the excited cheers from the crowd in the stands, and the voices of triumph as well as joy, which filled the entire stadium as they celebrated their win that night.