Blood dripped from my nose, staining the grass. Ray rushed over with a wipe, gently tending to my face. She turned towards the player who struck the ball.
"Fuck off."
He raised both of his hands up and back up with a smile.
"Relax, we're just playing around."
His golden eyes stared predatorily at me.
"Right, jester?"
I slowly rose up and stepped forward, nose still bleeding, eyes locked onto my golden-eyed enemy.
"Just stay out of my way. I have nothing to prove to you."
I turned my back and set the ball up for a free kick. I breathed in and launched the ball. BAM! Another ball clashed into mine, causing it to veer off and miss. Mocking laughter followed, the same guy strolled up beside me, oozing with arrogance.
"A striker who can't score? How pathetic."
He leaned in and placed his hand on my shoulder. I quickly slapped his hand off of me and stepped closer to him and faced him.
"Who do you think you are?"
The guy grinned, his eyes blazing.
"King."
"Kinda cringe but get ready to be dethroned, "King"."
Yoichi ran up to defuse the tension.
"Sakura, I'm sorry. That's Jaylon, he's new. He didn't mean-"
I didn't even look at him before cutting him off. I still stared directly into Jaylon's eyes.
"Never heard of him."
"Whoa, You don't know who I am?"
He spread his arms with theatrical pride.
"Then let me leave my signature, I'll use your blood as ink."
In his words, golden energy flared around him. Chains shimmered into existence and coiled like snakes around my throat.
"Wow, you're theatrical."
Yoichi tapped me and tried to defuse the situation once again.
"Sakura, I can tell you about the others on the team and-"
I raised my hand to stop Yoichi from speaking.
"Sorry, but I don't care about anyone on his team. I only care about one thing and that's becoming a pro."
Just as my words echoed into silence. FWEEET! The coach blew his whistle and walked onto the field.
"Alright boys, scrimmage time. Let's see who's ready to kill."
I turned my gaze back to Jaylon and he responded with a grin, the battlefield drawn for us to prove who was superior.