GEM TALENT

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When the second morning finally arrived with a cool and gentle breeze blowing softly through his slightly open bedroom window, William woke up very early while it was still quite dark and peaceful outside.

He quickly jumped out of his warm, comfortable bed without hitting the snooze button, deeply and strongly determined to completely change his very bad experience from the confusing day before.

He knew that he woke up early so he could meet the lecture and also sit in the front so he could easily enjoy the lecture properly. He carefully told his own mind that sitting very close to the wooden chalkboard was his absolute only chance to clearly hear the teacher and fully understand the complex science topics that had previously confused him so much.

After quickly brushing his teeth with freezing cold water to wake himself up and throwing on his neat, plain school clothes, he rapidly ran out of his quiet apartment building into the busy street.

He immediately flagged down and took a fast yellow taxi, loudly and nervously telling the older driver to speed up as much as legally possible so he would absolutely not be late for his important class.

As soon as the fast taxi finally arrived at the tall, massive iron gates of the beautiful university campus, William quickly paid his required fare, firmly grabbed his heavy backpack, and practically ran all the way across the wide green courtyard. He was completely out of breath as he ran directly to the exact hall where they have the second lecture of the week, and his heart was beating very fast inside his chest as he pushed the heavy wooden door wide open.

Truly, when he bravely stepped inside the large, echoing room, he happily met only a very few people sitting quietly in the class, which easily allowed him to proudly claim a perfect, comfortable seat right in the very center of the front row.

The smart, old lecturer came in so early as well, carrying a huge stack of thick, heavy books and immediately writing long, confusing mathematical formulas on the giant chalkboard before the loud school bell even rang.

William quickly opened his fresh, clean notebook and firmly gripped his smooth blue pen, completely ready and eager to absorb every single important word, but as the teacher officially started speaking, a very heavy wave of sadness suddenly hit him.

He quickly realized with a painful sinking feeling in his stomach that he didn't get anything in the class at all, because the big scientific words sounded exactly like a totally foreign, alien language to his tired ears.

The long, drawn-out class actually looks and feels more boring and tiring as time goes on, making his heavy eyelids drop slowly as he struggled desperately just to stay awake in his front-row seat.

As he sat there silently staring blankly at the spinning, confusing numbers on the dusty board, William starts to deeply think about his bright, exciting football career again, because his brain simply refused to accept the boring chemistry lesson.

He suddenly found out with a sharp, emotional pain in his chest that being a highly successful chemist is so much more than just having it deeply in mind and going very early to morning classes every day.

He clearly realized that finding true success is actually about exactly what your mind is passionately and naturally connected with, and his own mind was completely disconnected from the quiet science lab.

While the loud, scratching voice of the serious lecturer continued to echo loudly through the large lecture hall, William completely zoned out of reality and started thinking very deeply about his amazing past contribution to Blackpool's historical and thrilling qualification.

He gently closed his tired eyes for a brief, quiet second and vividly remembered the exact, wonderful feeling of running extremely fast down the green grassy wing, skillfully dribbling past big, strong defenders with total ease.

He remembered clearly how he beautifully sent a perfect, curling cross directly into the dangerous penalty box to completely help his beloved team win a very crucial, life-changing match in front of thousands of people.

He remembered the loud, deafening roar of the deeply excited fans when they finally secured their proud spot in the big tournament, and he realized just how much his intense hard work and natural, raw talent had truly mattered on that magical pitch.

A sudden, powerful, and shocking thought rushed rapidly into his busy mind, making his young heart race with a totally different kind of massive excitement, as he deeply wondered what would actually happen if Blackpool suddenly wants him back in their team right now.

If the friendly manager and his supportive old teammates called him today and kindly offered him a fair, honest chance to wear their bright, colorful jersey once again, he knew in the absolute bottom of his soul that he would gladly accept them without a single second of hesitation.

The pure, natural joy of playing the beautiful game was a bright, wild fire that still burned very strongly inside his chest, and he began to clearly see that trying to forcefully love chemistry was like trying to force a wild bird to swim in the deep ocean.

He thought about all these heavy, emotional feelings very well, carefully turning the happy, glorious football memories over and over in his mind like a precious, shiny gold coin.

However, as the sweet, thrilling memories of the loud football stadium slowly faded away and the harsh, boring reality of the quiet chemistry classroom quickly returned, a dark cloud of fear firmly covered his thoughts.

"What will the judging people call me, a total failure?" William thought painfully and quietly to himself as he looked down sadly at the totally blank page of his notebook, feeling completely trapped by his own bold choices.

He worried deeply that if he stubbornly continues with being a struggling chemist in the unknown future just to prove a point, and he eventually doesn't make it because the work is too hard, what will the harsh people say? They would certainly laugh cruelly and point their fingers at him, loudly calling him a foolish boy who wasted his youthful energy chasing a strange dream that he was simply never smart enough to successfully achieve.

And if I suddenly decided to quit being a chemist right now, the harsh people will definitely say I am a weak coward who simply runs away when things get a little bit difficult, William thought sadly while the boring lecture was still going on right in front of his face. He felt exactly like a helpless prisoner who is tightly locked between two very heavy iron doors, knowing that whatever big choice he makes, the cruel, unforgiving public will always find a terrible reason to judge and mock his family name.

He desperately wanted to find a safe, clear way out of this painful mental trap, but he quickly realized that he doesn't have an answer yet, so he just forced his tired eyes to stay open and focused entirely on the boring lecture which he completely doesn't understand at all.

He watched the older teacher's mouth moving very quickly, but the complex, advanced words just bounced right off his highly confused brain, leaving him completely empty and heavily frustrated as the clock ticked painfully slowly on the white wall.

When the lecturer left the class, William quickly packed his completely empty notebook into his heavy bag and moved quickly to the second lecture hall, deeply thinking there will be a positive change in his learning experience.

He actively chose another perfectly good seat in the very front row and waited patiently for the next teacher to arrive, but sadly, it was still exactly the same confusing and boring thing all over again.

The new professor spoke just as fast, the thick science textbooks looked just as scary, and the complex topics felt completely impossible to grasp, which finally broke the very last tiny piece of hope in William's tired heart.

After the second exhausting lecture finally came to a merciful and quiet end, William did not wait around to meet his friends, and he immediately left the massive campus after the lecture because he simply needed to be completely alone.

He slowly walked out of the giant iron gates with his head looking down sadly at the gray concrete floor, needing total silence to carefully give his entire career path a very serious and heavy second thought.

As he walked slowly down the noisy city streets, completely ignoring the loudly honking cars and the busy crowds of people around him, the two conflicting sides of his life battled fiercely inside his mind, pulling his soul in two totally different directions.

He felt a deep, paralyzing suspense as he realized he was standing right at the most important, life-changing crossroad of his entire young life, and the heavy question bounced wildly inside his brain with every single step he took.

"Footballer or a Chemist?" he quietly whispered to the empty, passing wind, knowing completely that his very next choice would permanently define his future, but totally unsure of which difficult, challenging path he should finally take.