It was after school and Eden was at her first cheer leading practice. The training times varied for cheer leader practice just like how it varied for the boys' football team who were training in the field next to them that afternoon. Sometimes training was before and sometimes was after school. Closer to official games, their practice sessions could be both before and after school. She was now standing in line next to Lena listening to Gabriela who was the head cheer leader explaining what they were doing. They were warming up in pairs. She paired up with Lena gladly and as she was warming up she glanced at the field next to them looking at how the boys were training.

There were new recruits joining them that day. Luigi was training them while the main team was being trained by Gianluca. Luigi was closer to the girls' field and Gianluca was farther away so it was clearer for Eden to see what Luigi was upto.

Eden's eyes were following Luigi around the field. He was so authoritative, quite serious and strict. She saw a very harsh side of him there. Eden also paid attention to Gianluca. He demonstrated leadership skills that Luigi did. He also was quite authoritative.

Eden turned to Lena. She noticed that she was looking at Gianluca and even cringing as she saw him order people around and shouting at them "These boys are so harsh."

Lena turned to Eden and said "I am glad your brother is not sporty and does not want to join the football team. I bet he is happy with the hiking team. There he does not have to cope with the pressures of what those boys are going through there."

Eden said "I know. He did not even want to join the hikers but I persuaded him to join some sport club to meet new people. I am glad he is not joining this football team... Are they always this mean?"

Lena said "I am new to the school. I have seen how Luigi treats those who he trains. He was a captain in our old school but here he is happy being vice captain. I know his style. I agree he is harsh..."

Eden said "What about your boyfriend? Did you know he was like this?"

Lena said as she was looking at the field "I knew he was a strict leader... But I had never seen him in action before in football." She then closed her eyes "Damn..." She then opened her eyes and looked away "I don't think I can watch any more."

Eden said "I think I want to go over and have a word with them... They need to cool down..."

Lena shook hear head "No. Don't do that. Are you mad? They are the football team... They have authority over the cheerleaders. We do not want to make them mad. Trust me."

Eden asked "What do you mean they have authority over us? I do not follow. We are the cheerleaders. They are the football team."

Lena said "Well. This is a private school Eden. This school and my old school have the same system. The system here is a bit different to your old school that was a public school as you mentioned to me before..."

Eden said "And... How is this school different to my old school when it comes to relations between Cheerleaders and footballers? I mean I have nothing to compare it to really. In my old school we only had basketball and baseball. No football. We cheered for the basketball team and baseball team. They had no authority over us..."

Lena said "In this school. They make the rules. We are part of their team really. We cheer for the football team only. They manage our team. That is the way the school works. We have Gabriela as head cheer leader. She is working below Luigi and Gianluca. And now there is tension between us. Gabriela wants to be part of the astronomy club in the Irish School. As part of her initiation there she has to cheer for all the baseball home games this season. Gabriela told me that Gianluca and Luigi spent awhile arguing with her over it in the football captain's office. They finally accepted it. But she says there is tension. If we give them any excuse they may give us strikes and will sanction us. What if they give us extra laps to run or worse?"

Eden said "Seriously? Are they that unreasonable?"

Lena looked around "I hope they don't hear you calling them unreasonable. We don't want to make them angry..."

Eden said "I do not understand why they should manage us. Why can't we be independent?"

Lena said "Thats the school's tradition. We are supporting the football team. So they get to tell us what to do..."

Eden said "I think these guys have big enough egos as it is. They do not need their egos to get bigger... I say we tell them exactly what we think of their methods in training. So what? They give us a few extra laps."

Lena shook her head "No. It doesn't end there. I told you we are part of their team. They also set up training sessions for us at times. They train us when they demand it and they can also take it out on us... They can also issue reports to our coaches and headmaster. So we need to do as they ask."

Eden said "This is so unfair. I love cheerleading. Otherwise I would have left the team. I do not like these boys having so much authority over our team. I take it these girls really must love cheerleading to put up with this regime. How can they do this? So what is the point of a coach. I see the coaches here only coach us in certain sessions and try to leave us unsupervised mostly in some training days after instructing us in the locker room."

Lena said "As cheerleaders we get so many academic benefits. Because we train so hard we get so many rewards. Good references and extra credits we can show on college applications. We also get invited to have some academic opportunities and attend some events they only make available to athletes like us who train this many hours. There are some good summer internships only available for athletes like cheerleaders. We work hard. We work independently and see benefits too."

Eden said "I don't know. These benefits don't really tempt me. I juts love cheerleading. maybe its the acrobatics aspects and gymnastics elements of it that pulls me in. I also love the team work that cheerleaders put in. I do not put up with the attitude of jocks for sure..."

Gabriela said "Warm up finished. People come forward."

Eden and Lena walked to Gabriela and they got on with their practice. Once they did their routine a few times, Gabriela said "Alright girls. Great job. Let's go one more time and then we can call it a day."

As they were getting close to the end of the last routine, Eden looked at Luigi being harsher than before. It was awful. Just then Gabriela said "All done. Excellent job. Let's get back to the locker room." The girl's team then started making their way to towards the locker rooms.

Lena said "Eden. Let's go."

Eden was busy looking at the boys team. She could not believe how strict Luigi was.

Lena looked around "The girls have left. Let's follow them Eden." She then gasped as she saw Eden started walking towards the boys' team's train field. Lena followed Eden "Where are you going? That is not the direction of the locker rooms."

Eden said "I need to have a word with your brother."

Lena was about to protest, when Gianluca noticed her and shouted "Lena."

Lena automatically turned to Gianluca. He seemed to have stopped running around with his team. He was standing not too far from his team and with his hands over his hips. He waved her over motioning to her to come to him. He was training his team abit further away from Luigi. Lena could not believe she had managed to land herself in the middle of the boys' training field. She felt awkward. She had to go to him. Refusing to go to him when he had asked was a violation in some ways. He was the captain of the football team and managed the cheerleaders too. She could not disobey his orders in sports. As Lena walked to Gianluca surprisingly none of his team members looked at Lena. They looked too busy with training. It made sense. If they looked distracted Gianluca was going to make them pay for it for sure. She had seen enough of his discipline methods that day.

When Lena reached Gianluca he looked at her intensely "Hi... I am surprised to see you here."

Lena wanted to say "Me too." She said honestly "I followed Eden here. She wanted to talk to Luigi I think..."

Gianluca frowned "So didn't you want to talk to me?"

Lena noticed he did not seem very happy. She said quickly "I did. I mean... I did want to talk to you... I actually had some questions about the cheerleading handbook... But I did not want to disturb you in the middle of your training session. You know.. You are busy..." She was not lying. She did want to talk to him about some of the cheerleading practice arrangements that Gianluca as captain had put in place. Gabriela had explained to her about them but she had questions.

Gianluca turned and shouted some orders and the boys carried on training with the new instructions. He turned to her "They seem to manage fine when I tell them what to do... We can talk Lena. Do you want to get a glass of water." He pointed to the water cooler in the far side of the field that had paper cups nearby.

Lena felt her cheeks heating up. What was going on? She felt like she was suddenly on a date with Gianluca and he was going to get a drink with her. She replied nervously "I guess so..."

Gianluca said "Great. We can drink and then talk..."

Lena said "Yes. Let's do that." She then thought to herself "Great. I just have ended up in the middle of the football training field where I am not supposed to be with Gianluca..." As Lena followed Gianluca, she turned to see where Eden was at now. Eden had not managed to talk to Luigi yet. He had decided to lead his team of new recruits to a more far side of the training field where they were near the stands. The recruits had just started sprinting up and down the field as he was shouting at them."

Eden called "Luigi..."

Luigi turned around. He raised an eyebrow "Hello Eden. Have you missed me already? We were in every single lesson today yet you missed me when I was not with you for one hour it seems."

Eden shook her head as she stood in front of him "I did not miss you, for your information..."

Luigi said "Really? Well. So you just came over to keep me company? That is nice of you."

Eden said "No. I did not come here to keep you company. I came to tell you that I just got a glimpse of your jock side of life and was not disappointed... You are a total typical jock..."

Luigi smirked "Thank you. I try not to disappoint..."

Eden said "Do you seriously think how you act is acceptable? Why do you act in such a harsh way?"

Luigi asked "Harsh you say? I have been taking it so easy on these guys. Believe me." He then turned to the boys who were running up and down the field "Now, enough with the flat land training. It is time to climb the stairs of the stands. Run up the steps, reach the top of the stands and then run down the steps and keep your speed up."

Eden gasped "I can't believe you..."

Luigi said "I can't believe me too. Such leniency..."

Eden said "Such leniency? I have been watching your training session for the last hour. You have been working these guys very hard without any break. They are new recruits..."

Luigi turned to the boys and shouted "Run faster up and down. What is the matter with you?"

Eden could not believe him "Can't you see you put off new recruits for your team this way?"

Luigi said "You are right. I could put them off with such training..." He turned to recruits and shouted " Break's over guys. Come pick up some weights from here and carry them with you up and down. One weight in each hand."

Eden was noticing how he was making it worse as she was telling him how wrong he was. He not only was not listening to what she was saying but he was making it much worse.

Eden said "You know what? Carry on... With your hash training. See how many recruits you will have left by tomorrow morning."

Luigi turned to the recruits and shouted "Stop. Training is over... Come down the steps, put the weights away. Make your way to the locker room now. Have a well deserved rest afterwards...."

Eden said "All of them would resign in the earliest opportunity with the dreadful way you just treated them..."

Luigi said "You want to bet..."

Eden said "I do..."

Luigi shouted at the group of boys who were now slowly leaving the stands making their way to the locker rooms. "You are all hired."

The boys started cheering and jumping up and down to Eden's surprise. She over heard them saying "Man. Luigi Alessandrini, the legend approved us... What an honour... Luigi one of the best in the state... He said we are in... Let's go celebrate.... Luigi is a true champion. He just let us in... We are in..."

Eden did not know how popular and well known Luigi was in the football circle. She had heard from Lena that Luigi felt since he was from a rival team some team members may have difficulty accepting him as their vice captain. They seemed to be accepting willingly and singing him praises. In a way she did admire Luigi for having gained so much respect among the kids in the new school who used to see him as their rival. He must have worked hard. Jocks had life easy in academia but had to work hard in the sports world to get to high places.

Luigi looked at Eden's unreadable expression. He then turned to the guys and shouted with a serious tone "If any of you want to quit, come to me now to speak right now. I don't accept resignations tomorrow. You will have to wait until next month's recruitment slot to come and resign if leaving is your wish..."

Eden had expected some of them to at least take the chance to resign but to her surprise not even one of them came to Luigi to take up the offer or rather generous offer he was giving them. They mostly shouted "No sir" or "No way" or similar chants as they walked away.

Eden was looking at the recruits walking away in shock. How could they not take the chance to free themselves of the training sessions ran by this guy?

Luigi said sarcastically "Wow. Look at the long line of guys waiting to resign... I think we should issue ordering tickets for these guys to wait in line patiently and not jump the queue. Maybe you can help me with that Eden. Who is number one in line?"

Eden said "How can they put up with your barbaric training regime? How can they welcome it?"

Luigi shrugged "I do not give the recruits more than they can handle... They knew the kind of standards that was expected of them when they signed up. I just make sure I put them to their limits and challenge them every day until they reach their full potential. Kind of like you with your studying. You get straight A's by not just doing your best but taking the extra mile every day too, revising harder and harder when you approach assessments and more."

Eden knew he had a point. Eden had to hand it to him. She could not argue with his point. But it did not mean she was happy with how he treated others. He had to change his ways surely. Eden said "You rule like one tyrant king..."

Luigi asked "I rule like a tyrant king? Do I?" He smiled "I am a tyrant king and need my ice queen by my side to rule my kingdom..."

Eden said "Get over your ego..."

Luigi chuckled "You are annoyed because you lost the bet Eden... It happens... You need to pay up now. A bet is a bet..."

****

Lena was now drinking water from the paper cup that Gianluca had handed to her. It was ice cold.

Gianluca was drinking too from his cup while looking at her. He liked that she had come to him to talk to him. It was nice that for once she had initiated the steps towards a conversation.

He said "So tell me. What did you want to talk to me about?"

Lena said "I just had some questions ..."

He put away his paper cup in the bin.

Lena also put her paper cup in the bin and said "Can you ... tell me what the strikes system is?"

Gianluca said "Oh. The strikes system. As you know in our school every teacher or captain or vice captain have their own strikes system. We have our own..."

Lena said "I understand. But how does it work? What does each strike mean?"

Gianluca said "You will find out when you get strikes, what happens. Each person gets a different consequence for each strike. It varies."

Lena said "It varies?"

Gianluca nodded and then said in an amused tone with a smile "Yes. It does. Have you committed any offences recently and you are now wondering about the consequences? Is that why you are asking?

Lena shook her head "No. That is not why I asked... Thanks for answering. I think I should go."

As Lena was about to walk away, Gianluca said "Wait. I need to talk to you about something."

Lena said "Yes." She was wondering what he wanted.

Gianluca said slowly "I was wondering... Can we meet up this week at some point after school or maybe in the weekend? I want to meet up with you somewhere other than school or your house or my house?"

Lena asked"Another proper date?" She felt like her cheeks were heating up now.

Gianluca nodded "Yes. Another proper date. What do you think?" He was hoping she said yes.

Lena said shyly "Ok. Another date is fine with me..."

Gianluca felt relieved. He took a deep breath and asked "Great... Is there any day you have preference for?"

Lena shook her head "No. I don't mind... Any day is fine..."

Gianluca smiled "Thank you Lena..."

Lena smiled back. She was surprised that having a date made her feel almost excited now. She wanted to spend time with him. She said goodbye and walked to the girls' locker rooms. She thought back to their first date that had taken place shortly after she had said yes to Gianluca taking her out on a date and after she had been declared as his girlfriend. Back then she had been reluctant. Back then she was not sure. But now. She was sure. She felt like she wanted to get to know him more. She felt she had not really given Gianluca a chance to show her what he was like. She felt so safe with Gianluca. With a warm feeling she felt in her heart she felt that his beautiful smile also made her happy.

Gianluca watched Lena walk away with a mixture of feeling relieved and happy. He watched her join Eden who was now walking away from Luigi towards the girls' locker rooms. Lena had said she had just followed Eden onto the field. Gianluca liked that this girl who Luigi had picked had pushed Lena to put away her shyness and initiate a conversation for once in an unlikely place. He hoped that it was going to work out between Luigi and Eden. She seemed good for Luigi.

Gianluca then instructed the boys on his team to end their training and make their way to the locker rooms.

****

Gabriela got changed in the locker room and made her way outside. She had to go to the Irish school for the astronomy meet up that afternoon. It was going to be a short meeting. She made her way to the Irish school. She entered the meeting room and everyone else was already present. They were busy talking. Christian seemed to have waited for her to start the meeting. He stood up and everyone became silent. He explained about the new agenda for the next few weeks and the research projects they could choose from. He left them to think over the information and discuss it in the next meeting.

After the meeting finished, everyone started leaving. But Gabriela did not leave.

Christian was just collecting his notebooks and different diagrams and sheets of paper he had used in the meeting. He was putting them in his back pack.