“Sasha Alexeev has approved your friend request.”

Huh, so she really approved it. It is late so I lie down on my mattress and at that moment my ID start to ring.

“Who calls at this hour?” Emma complains.

I hurriedly walk off to the bathroom so as not to disturb Emma and then I press accept. Obviously, I know who calls. Sasha must want to know why I sent a friend request, I thought that could wait until tomorrow.

“Hello, Sasha.” I give her hologram a smile. Her dirty blonde hair is free from the ponytail.

“Why did you send me a friend request?” More accusation than question really. She’s in her pyjamas just like myself.

“I have looked at your player profile, both stats and injuries, and I believe I can help you. I will do my best to prevent further injuries and teach you how to develop your attributes.”

I let that hang for a while to give Sasha a chance to think before I go on.

“I think you can become a great player Sasha; you are only 18 years old and you already have good attributes. Not to mention your physique, it will give you a significant advantage as a centre back.” I pull on my assistant manager powers to sound persuasive and confident.

“Is there really a point to it? I’ll just get injured again.” Sasha is clearly sad and reluctant “Maybe you should focus on someone else instead. Besides didn’t you notice, my HHI is 45.” Now she looks positively embarrassed. A stubborn little girl but I’m close, just a little push and she will topple.

“I don’t care about your HHI in the least, keep your numbers in the yellow and I promise to stick by you.” I say with certainty. That’s the truth but should she become a red I will hightail it as fast as possible.

The resolution of holograms is good, so good in fact I notice how flustered Sasha is. I don’t think I said anything strange. I can imagine she don’t have too many friends given her low score, anyone below 50 is on shacky grounds.

“Thanks, ehm, Alicia. I need to go now, bye.” *Click* Okay, she is a strange one. She didn’t appear this meek during training.

I sneak back to bed and embrace the comfort of sleep.

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“Gyyaah!” I scream. What the fuck is going on?

“Haha, sorry Alicia I couldn’t resist.” Emma leans out of her bed and holds one of my feet in her hands. Aha I see what’s up, she is engaging in torture, another word for tickling my foot.

“This is the worst way to wake up, you’ve outdone yourself miss green.” Despite Emmas annoying antics I’m in a good mood. I look forward to work, so much to do.

I shower and go about my usual activities in the morning. I’ve decided to match the players and go for a ponytail, my light brown hair is manageable enough after a good shower.

“What’s with you, you’ve never worn your hair like that have you?” No, private obvious I have not.

“No.”

“I can tell. Sit down so I can redo it for you.” How do you mess up making a ponytail? Not even I would manage that but it will go faster if I just obey.

“You have work today?” Is she cosplaying a hairdresser? Even include the mandatory small talk that makes the entire experience a pain.

“Yes.”

“Who called you last night?” She smirks in an annoying fashion. So, this was your angle huh?

“A football player from the team. I added her to my friend list.” Her hands stop for a moment and her eyes open to full capacity.

Emma immediately stop playing with my hair, she checks on her ID. “Sasha Alexeev, 18 years, HHI 45.”

“Yep, that’s her.” I say in a casual manner.

“HHI 45 is on the low side but not enough to be a problem. Be sure to introduce me at some point.” Why? Sometimes I’m not sure what Emma is thinking, Sasha probably lives a good way off so there will probably not be an occasion to actually meet.

“Maybe.” I should probably head out soon. I want to have some time with Luciana before practice. I hope I’ve not overstepped some lines, wouldn’t be the first time in my life where I fail to adhere to social protocols.

I sit in the familiar armchair and enter the commands that catapult me to my place of work.

I’m way early so it’s possible Luciana has yet to show. Scratch that, her office door is open and I hear her tapping away at something.

“Morning Luciana.” She looks up with bit of surprise in her face.

“You’re early Alicia.”

“I know, was hoping to catch you before the players show up.” I take a seat in a chair close to her desk.

“Tell me about Sasha.”

Luciana nods knowingly. “I expected you to ask me about her. A very injury prone player with high potential, if only we can get her to play regularly a lot will be won.”

“How about you leave her to me? I can give her the attention needed to keep injuries at bay and develop her skills. I think she will need support to keep morale up too.”

“Fine, she’s yours but I will expect results and you still have your job with corners.”

“I understand, I’ll get it done coach.” I grin at my boss. I think I will forget to tell her about the whole friend request thing, no need to bore her with details.