"What's with you?" George raised an eyebrow at Tyler who started acting weird all of a sudden.

Tyler looked up at him, then he looked around and saw some of the other senior players in the bus chuckling at his earlier behavior. He awkwardly rubbed his nose turned to face George. "I'm just excited to play is all".

"Well, contain your excitement". George scoffed and then turned back to face his seat.

"What's up with you?" Tyler asked. George was behaving a little off. The time for him to get nervous before games had passed. Last season was when he broke through to the first team. Now, he was an active squad member. He didn't play every week but he got minutes here and there so he was used to playing with the first team.

"I'm just a bit frustrated". George said. "I'm a striker, not a fucking winger. I just don't get why I keep getting played out of position".

Tyler was silent for a few seconds, then he opened his mouth to say something, and then he closed it because he simply did not know what to say. He wanted to tell George to be happy that he was even playing at all, just like he was but then he realized that he really wouldn't feel as happy if Adi Hutter kept deploying him in the position.

In the end, he concluded that there was simply nothing that he could say to that. He instead patted George's back a couple of times, then turned on his phone and but his ear buds into his ears.

When the bus pulled into the stadium, Tyler got a taste of the star life that he watched from TV. Paparazzi, cameras, everything that he had only seen from behind the TV screen appeared in front of him. As soon as he stepped out of the bus, the shutters of the cameras went off and the shining white light made him use his hand to cover his eyes.

Carlos Henrique chuckled from behind him and waved to one of the cameras.

"You'll get used to it". He said before he started walking inside the stadium.

Tyler turned to George who wasn't as courteous to the cameras as Carlos Henrique was. He flat out ignored them and just walked inside the stadium. Tyler made sure to stick with George and mimic his nonchalant expression as he stepped into the locker room.

As he walked deeper into the stadium, Tyler kept looking around, marveling at some of the sights that he stumbled into. When he got into the locker room, he was a bit marveled by what was in front of him. It was so much better than what was in the performance center.

The sitting areas were arranged numerically, so his station was just beside Minamino's locker. He spared a glance towards where Minamino's supplies were supposed to be and touched the seat. He liked Minamino a lot, but at the same time he wouldn't be here if he didn't get injured.

He then turned his attention to his locker. It was open and it had his jersey neatly arranged inside it. He smiled as he felt the fabric of his jersey and then the socks, and then he heaved a sigh. He felt the fabric that spelled his name behind the jersey and sighed again. He was finally playing at a big stage. In front of over thirty thousand people, he was going to play football.

As Tyler was feeling around the jersey, Dennis Zakaria walked over to him and sat down beside him. "Nervous much?"

"I'm excited, really". Tyler said. "It just still feels kind of..."

"Not real?" Zakaria said. "I felt the same when I made my professional debut. But it's very much real and it's up to you to make sure that the reality of it is fortunate not unfortunate".

Tyler nodded. "I know, I have to do well".

"No pressure though". Zakaria smiled. "You're just seventeen, nobody is expecting to see you come here and have a perfect performance. It's okay if you have a bit of a stinker, no one's expecting an English seventeen year old who hasn't been here for up to a year to come out and start playing like prime Messi or Ronaldo. I know you, and I see how you are in training so I know that you're going to make it a thing for you to have a good game or a perfect match but I don't need you putting that type of pressure on yourself, you understand?"

"Yeah". Tyler nodded his head. Zakaria smiled, then clapped Tyler's shoulder before leaving to go to his locker.

"Alright boys". Adi Hutter said as he entered the room. "Today we're playing against a significantly weaker side, but I need you all not to get cocky or expect that it's going to be a walkover win for us". Adi said. "Remember, the man at the bottom of the mountain has nothing to lose, but everything to gain. Today, that man is Paris FC. If they lose, nothing happens because everyone expects them to lose anyway, so they have nothing to lose. If they win, it means the world for them because they've defied odds, they've slayed giants, there's so many metaphors that could be used. And we, we're the ones at the top of the mountain because there's nothing to gain and everything to lose. And we can't afford to lose everything, do you understand?"

"Yes coach!" Everyone shouted at once.

Tyler, along with the rest of the players changed into their training gear and went onto the pitch to warm up for the match. By now, the starting lineup should've been made public to everyone.

As he stepped out onto the pitch for the first time in his career, Tyler heard the roar of the crowd as he stepped out onto the pitch. His heart pounded as he heard the cheers that virtually came from all directions.

'I really can't let them down' Tyler thought to himself as he moved to start stretching for the match.

A/N:

15 golden tickets! Whopee. Bonus chapter coming out later today

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