GEM TALENT

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Stone and Adam looked very closely at William's completely serious and highly determined face, and they quickly realized deep in their caring hearts that they simply couldn't hold William back or force him not to go back to his beautiful, lifelong dream.

They had initially hoped that he would patiently join them in the quiet, highly respected university classrooms so they could all build their bright futures together, but they knew perfectly well that true friendship meant fully accepting each other's brave choices.

They both took a very deep, calming breath, smiled warmly at their courageous friend, and they both strongly promised to always stand by him through thick and thin, heavily swearing that they would remain his absolute biggest fans even if the professional football journey isn't going fine in the unknown future.

William felt a massive, powerful wave of pure joy and total relief wash completely over his heavy chest when he heard their incredibly comforting words, and he deeply thanked his loyal friends for every single piece of support they had generously given him during his darkest, most confusing days.

They happily finished the very last sweet drops of their cold drinks inside the small, brightly lit shop, and a very comfortable, highly peaceful silence briefly fell over the round wooden table before William finally decided to speak up again and suggest a fun activity.

William looked out of the large glass window at the bright, sunny afternoon sky, and since he was feeling very happy and completely free from his heavy, stressful academic worries, he smiled broadly and brightly asked,

"Should we quickly go to the beautiful, sandy beach today to properly celebrate my brand new decision?"

As soon as those specific, innocent words left his mouth, Adam and Stone quickly looked directly at each other with wide, playful eyes, and they immediately burst into loud, uncontrollable laughter that echoed happily and loudly throughout the entire small shop.

Adam pointed a teasing, playful finger straight at William's chest, and Stone jokingly hit the wooden table with his hand as they both loudly teased him and said, "Because of that girl abi?"

They all laughed so incredibly hard that their stomachs actually started to hurt, and William also gladly joined them in the loud, joyful laughter because his highly observant friends actually knew exactly what was truly hidden deep in his busy mind.

He had accidentally met a very kind, extremely pretty girl walking slowly near the ocean shore just a few weeks ago, and he had secretly and desperately hoped to catch a quick glimpse of her beautiful face there again today, but he knew perfectly well that he could absolutely never hide a single, tiny secret from his closest, smartest brothers.

However, after their loud, joyful laughter finally died down completely and they happily wiped the warm tears of joy from their tired eyes, Adam gently shook his head slowly and politely turned down the highly tempting and fun invitation.

Adam looked at William with a very apologetic, soft smile and carefully explained,

"I really wanted to do some very important and highly urgent tasks at home today, so I absolutely cannot go to the beach with you right now, so not today William."

Right after Adam spoke his honest truth, Stone also gently nodded his head in complete agreement with his friend and softly said,

"I also really want to quickly finish my heavy university assignment this afternoon before it gets totally dark, because the strict lecturer will actually grade us directly with that specific homework, so maybe we can all go together next time when we are completely free."

William totally understood their highly busy and heavily packed student schedules, and he clearly knew that he had absolutely no other choice but to go directly back home right now, because he certainly does not want to go to the crowded, noisy beach all alone without his best friends to keep him good and funny company.

He smiled brightly, nodded his head gently to show he completely agreed with their smart, responsible choices, and then he firmly said,

"That is perfectly fine, guys, so I will just go back home right now to properly wash and completely clean my dirty training kits, and I will also take a very good, long rest to properly prepare my mind for tomorrow's big meeting."

After properly finishing their sweet drinks and happily paying the friendly shop owner at the front counter, the three happy friends finally stood up slowly from the round table, hugged each other very warmly like true brothers, and peacefully departed ways outside the small shop, and then each of them walked calmly and went directly to their respective houses.

William quickly walked to the side of the busy, noisy city road and easily boarded a fast, bright yellow taxi, and he rested his tired head gently against the cool glass window as the careful driver drove him safely back to his quiet, empty apartment building.

When he finally got home and unlocked his heavy wooden front door, his empty stomach began to rumble very loudly and angrily, so he walked straight into the small, clean kitchen and carefully prepared his delicious, warm food to properly feed his highly hungry and totally exhausted athletic body.

After perfectly preparing the tasty, spicy food and placing his hot plate gently on the small living room table, he quickly grabbed the black remote control, happily switched on the large, flat television set, and went straight to the highly exciting sports channel to carefully watch the thrilling football highlights of the championship.

As William slowly ate his delicious, warm food, his tired eyes suddenly widened in pure shock and total amazement, because he actually saw himself running highly gracefully on the bright green pitch when he was still playing wonderfully and magically with Blackpool just a few months ago.

The loud, highly excited television commentator was heavily and passionately praising the magical way he completely handled the busy, highly crowded midfield, and William watched very closely as the bright screen clearly showed all of his most beautiful goals and his smartest, most perfect assists.

The bright television screen vividly showed a very tough, highly difficult match where the stubborn, aggressive enemy team was deeply defending with a very tight, heavy lowblock, but William easily broke their strong, thick defense by magically playing a very quick, sharp one-two pass with his highly talented striker.

The quick, incredibly smooth transition from slow, careful defending to a massive, rapid counter attack was completely flawless, and William was the absolute mastermind who perfectly orchestrated the entire beautiful, legendary move.

He watched himself easily keep safe, total possession of the round leather ball perfectly in the middle of the pitch, totally ignoring the loud, aggressive shouts of the angry opponents before making a brilliant, lightning-fast interception to successfully steal a loose, careless pass from the enemy midfielder.

Right after he bravely stole the ball, he quickly noticed his fast, energetic winger making a very smart, overlapping run down the left side, so William immediately delivered a perfect, splitting through ball that completely tore the enemy defense apart without the winger ever being caught offside by the strict, observant referee.

The fast winger easily caught the amazing pass, ran deeply and quickly toward the edge of the highly dangerous penalty area, and quickly curled a beautiful, high cross directly into the crowded box, and William ran very fast to the near post to smash the ball directly into the net.

The amazing, highly thrilling highlights skipped to another exciting moment where Blackpool was under heavy, intense defensive pressure, and William bravely ran back to his own defensive half to execute a clean, fierce, sliding tackle that perfectly stopped a dangerous enemy striker from easily scoring.

The loose ball quickly bounced high up into the bright blue sky, and William jumped incredibly high over everyone else to perform a massive, powerful clearance that totally saved his beloved team from conceding a terrible, painful goal.

The busy sports channel then beautifully showed William standing highly focused and totally calm behind the round ball for a very important, highly crucial free kick, and he powerfully bent the fast shot right into the top corner of the net, leaving the diving, totally surprised goalkeeper completely helpless on the green grass.

Finally, the television showed a perfectly taken, high corner kick where William beautifully assisted his tall, strong defender for a massive, game-winning header, totally proving to the entire world that he was a true, legendary master of the beautiful sport.

Seeing all of these amazing, highly glorious moments brightly displayed on the television screen made a massive, burning fire ignite rapidly inside William's young heart, strongly reminding him of exactly who he truly is and what he is completely capable of achieving on the pitch.

He gently placed his completely empty food plate down on the glass table, tightened his strong fists with total determination, and as he stared intensely at his own sweaty, brightly smiling face on the television screen, this beautiful memory made him finally decide his ultimate goal.

He took a very deep, highly powerful breath, completely ready to conquer the sporting world once again, and he firmly and proudly said to the quiet, empty room, "I want to get my form back."