20
Because he’s so disciplined, Ben is still in the gym at seven o’clock the next morning. He leaves me tucked up under the covers, thinking I might drift off again, but when I’m still awake an hour later I give up and get up, deciding I might as well join him.
I’ve thrown on one of his T-shirts, though it’s more like a dress on me. ‘I hope you don’t mind.’
He looks me up and down and grins. ‘Absolutely not. It’s one of my favourites but I like it even more on you.’
I climb up on to the exercise bike and start a steady pedal while he works his upper body with chest presses. But not wanting to be too distracting, I leave him to it after a half-hour cycle and head outside for a dip in the pool. As a little treat to help push him through the rest of his workout, I strip down to nothing before jumping into the water naked, knowing he can see me through the gym’s massive windows. As I sink under the surface I can picture the smile creeping over his lips.
If he wasn’t so serious about his fitness, he’d probably race out and join me, but we can come back to that later, after today’s team-building meet-up in the park. For now, I do a few lengths, then shower, dress and head home to Dad’s, to change into something more appropriate for an afternoon with Crawford United.
There’s good news waiting at home, so much so that I don’t think Dad notices I’m still wearing the same dress I went out in. He proudly spins his laptop round to show me the club’s bank balance, which is now standing at over ￡10,000.
‘We’ve just sold our one hundredth season ticket,’ he says proudly. ‘This has made me a very happy man. That’s a hundred people who now believe in our team.’
‘That’s incredible.’ I do a quick calculation in my head to see how much debt this still leaves us with. We’ve still got a way to go but at least we’re making progress.
‘Some of the clubs we’ll be playing only pull in that many fans after being established for years,’ Dad says. ‘They’ll be very pleased to see our lot turn up and double the earnings they make on match day food and drinks. It should mean we get a warm welcome at the majority of places.’
‘It’s meant to be a pretty friendly league anyway,’ I remind him. ‘I can’t wait to get started on the competitive matches. That’s when this is going to start feeling really real.’
‘Forty-nine days and counting,’ he says, smiling. It feels like forever and yet no time at all.
Back up in my room, I change into leggings and a running vest, then I gather up my revision notes from yesterday and add them to the rest of my exam prep. I’m not entirely sure what to do with the thick wedge of paper now I don’t have any more facts to memorise. I don’t want to just throw all my hard work away, but will I realistically ever read any of it again? I end up stuffing it in a box and sliding it under my bed.
Ben texts me while I’m tidying up. ‘Fancy another spin in the Mercedes later?’
‘Of course,’I write back immediately. ‘Where to this time?’
‘There’s a really nice restaurant about an hour away.’
‘Sounds good. I’ll wear something warm this time.’
‘Just wear your normal clothes. I’ll lend you extras for the journey.’
Same gold sandals it is then, plus my favourite jeans. All I need to do now is choose a top to go with them. I start rifling through my wardrobe to see what I feel sexiest in.
By the time I rejoin Dad in the kitchen, he’s finished putting together a list of team-building games for this afternoon’s session with our players. Cassie’s going to be late, as it’s her Saturday Kickers club’s annual friendly tournament, so he’s stepped in to help with the planning. As we walk to the park, he tells me what he’s got in mind– and luckily his ideas go down a treat.
To kick things off, he gives the players a list of ten exercises. Number one is a burpee, number two is a crouch back to standing, three is a high knee jump, four is to turn in a circle on the spot... you get the picture. As he explains what each number is, he gets everyone to do the corresponding action, but they only get one run-through of it. Then he lines everyone up and calls out numbers at random and anyone he catches not doing the right exercise for its assigned number is eliminated.
The game is over really quickly– ten is a lot to remember. After Dad’s called out just three Elliot is the only one still standing, and that’s only because the others went wrong before he’d even reacted.
‘We’ll go again,’ Dad says. ‘And this time you’ll do it in teams. If one of you goes out, you’re all out, okay? So split yourselves into six teams of four– Ben and Lily, you can join in and make up the numbers– and let’s see if you can do any better this time.’
The answer’s no. This time Elliot wipes my team out on the first command, quickly followed by Levi, Adio, Ben and Bailey, leaving only Nico’s team standing.
‘Again,’ Dad says. ‘And this time try to think of a way to beat the system.’
As I already know the secret, I don’t say anything, to give the others a chance to figure it out for themselves. And it’s Bailey who first works out that if each team member only memorises a couple of actions rather than everyone trying to remember everything, those people can lead the rest of their team through the right moves.
The other teams catch on not long after Bailey starts winning every round, and by the end of it all twenty-two players, plus Ben and me, are getting it right every time.
Dad applauds us. ‘Well done, guys. Hopefully this has shown you how much more effective it is when you work together, but how each one of you has an important role in the team.’
Next up is an adult version of hot potato. This time we have four groups of six, and each group is given two balls. Starting in a small ring, the two players with the balls must throw them to another team member and each time a catch is made, that person has to take one step backwards and widen the circle. It’s the only time we’re allowed to move our feet.
‘If a ball is dropped, it goes out of play,’ Dad explains. ‘So once you’ve dropped both, your circle is frozen. The winning team will have the biggest circle at the end of one minute, so spread out and give yourselves plenty of room.’
Bailey joins myself, Elliot, Aaron and two of the reserve players.
‘Do we have a plan?’ Elliot asks.
‘To beat my brother,’ Bailey replies, just loud enough for Ben to hear.
I look over to see Ben mouthing ‘not a chance’, accompanied by a self-assured grin.
Dad starts a timer and it’s quickly apparent that the hardest thing this time is making sure the two balls don’t hit each other in the middle. Two teams are frozen instantly when a clash throws both balls in directions that make them impossible to catch. It leaves only my team and Ben’s in the running.
‘We need a system,’ Bailey says, his voice full of urgency.
Aaron suggests calling out ‘go’ each time we have a ball safely in our hands so the other one can be tossed. I notice Ben’s team have the same idea.
When Dad blows his whistle it’s impossible to say whose circle is bigger. He tries counting how many strides it takes for him to get from one side of each circle to the other, but concludes he can’t do this with any level of accuracy. So he declares it a draw and suggests we move on to version B.
‘What were we supposed to learn this time?’ Jacob asks.
‘To never drop the ball,’ Dad replies with a grin.
For the next version, we’ll be kicking rather than throwing the ball, so we need it to land as close as possible to our team members’ feet. If no one can reach the ball, it goes out of play, which is not so difficult for a footballer, but is much more of a challenge for me. This time, it’s fair to say Ben’s team– he’s got Jamie and Craig with him too– make a significantly bigger circle than the rest of us.
‘Hard luck, bro,’ he says, clapping Bailey on the shoulder.
‘It’s not over yet,’ Bailey reminds him.
Cassie arrives in time for the final challenge, but signals to Dad to just carry on with things. He sets down two cones around thirty metres apart and tells us two teams will compete at a time in this game, owing to the number of footballs needed. He moves my team and Ben’s to the starting line and gives us five balls each. On Dad’s whistle, we’re to balance one ball between the chests and backs of each team member, then all six of us must try to reach the other cone without dropping a ball.
If one drops, the whole team must go back to the beginning. No hands are allowed once our balls are in place. I look over at Ben and he winks at me. Game on, I know he’s thinking.
It’s harder than you might think– and even harder once Elliot and I get the giggles. Because he’s so tall, the ball between us is nearer his bum than his back, so after a few false starts, we have a quick reshuffle to put him at the back, me at the front and everyone else in height order between.
Ben’s team have already made good progress thanks to their coordinated march, with Levi calling out ‘left, right, left, right’ to keep them all in perfect timing.
‘We’ve just got to go for it now,’ Bailey says. ‘Elliot, you drive us from the back and the rest of us will just have to make sure we keep up with him.’
It does prove effective, and Elliot propels us over the finish line just a few steps ahead of Ben’s team.
‘I knew you had to be better at something,’ Ben teases his brother.
‘Being balanced?’ Bailey quips back.
Ben makes an ‘ooh’ shape with his mouth. ‘I walked into that one,’ he says, laughing.
While Dad lines up the next two heats, I grab my phone so I can film them. I think it’s nice to show our fans that the team has a fun side as well on our social media.
Cassie takes back over from Dad after that and leads the team through some more football-specific challenges. All in all it’s a brilliant session and it’s so gratifying to see the smiles on everyone’s faces at the end of it.
Dad and I are both on a high as we walk back to the house, though for me this is as much to do with what I know is coming next as the fun that’s been had already. I’ll be heading over to Ben’s just as soon as I’ve got changed and I can’t wait to see what our next evening together brings.