Give Me the Ball, I Want to Go Home

"Are you looking for this?"

A girl wearing the same Dongchuan Middle School uniform as Hu Lai stood at the entrance to the secret base, one foot resting on a soccer ball as she looked at him.

Hu Lai did not look at the girl first. Instead, his gaze went to the soccer ball.

He recognized it. It was indeed his ball.

Only then did his eyes move to the girl's face, and he recognized her as Li Qingqing, the transfer student who had joined their class today.

"Give me back my ball." Hu Lai pointed at the soccer ball beneath Li Qingqing's foot.

Li Qingqing smiled. "Sure. As long as you can steal it from under my feet."

Hu Lai grinned when he heard that. "Let me tell you, I'm really good at soccer. Don't say I'm a guy bullying a..."

As he spoke, he walked toward Li Qingqing, unhurried at first.

But just as he was about to reach her, he suddenly stabbed a foot at the soccer ball beneath her feet!

"...girl! Huh?"

His unexpected poke missed the ball entirely, slicing through nothing but air.

Like a falling leaf, Li Qingqing drifted past him instead of losing the ball, appearing behind him.

Hu Lai turned his head and watched the ball fall from the air, landing once more at Li Qingqing's feet.

"Wow, you're so sneaky! Good thing I reacted fast!" Li Qingqing exclaimed, though an excited smile was on her face. Then she beckoned to Hu Lai. "Come again!"

Hu Lai turned and lunged at Li Qingqing... or rather, at the ball beneath her feet.

But he still failed to take the ball this time.

Li Qingqing first feinted backward, dragging the ball back with her right foot before suddenly knocking it behind Hu Lai. The ball slipped right through his legs!

At the same time, Li Qingqing lightly hopped backward to evade his challenge, then burst forward again, circling around Hu Lai and catching up to the ball.

"Come on, come on!" Li Qingqing shouted excitedly.

She had spent the entire summer transferring schools and moving house. After arriving in a new environment where she knew no one, she had not played soccer with anyone in a long time.

Now, with the ball under her control and someone to battle against, every cell in her body seemed to moan with pleasure. It was the thrill and excitement of regaining freedom after being caged for too long.

Hu Lai turned to look at Li Qingqing, his expression gradually becoming serious. "Don't say I didn't warn you. I'm getting serious now."

Li Qingqing nodded. "Okay."

"Let me tell you, when I get serious, even I'm afraid of myself!"

"Then come on!" Li Qingqing got into position as well.

Hu Lai charged forward, then Li Qingqing dribbled right past him.

"This time, I was seriously serious!"

"Again!"

"Very well, woman. You have successfully angered me. You will pay the... price!"

"Keep going! I refuse to believe I..."

"Hey!"

"Damn..."

Hu Lai tried every trick he had. Several times, he even resorted to American football tactics—trying to tackle Li Qingqing with his hands. But Li Qingqing was as nimble as a butterfly, always dodging before he could touch her. In the end, not only did Hu Lai fail to grab her, he also fell flat on his face. His school uniform was covered in mud, leaving him in a thoroughly miserable state.

After Hu Lai fell to the ground again, he did not get back up. He simply sat there in silence, none of his earlier bluster remaining.

Li Qingqing felt as though she had only just warmed up and had been waiting for Hu Lai to continue, only to see him acting so strangely.

Watching Hu Lai sit there with his head lowered, she suddenly wondered if she had gone too far.

Then she remembered what Hu Lai's deskmate had said to her during PE class that afternoon.

If soccer brought you no joy at all, would you still like it?

Hu Lai had never been able to take the ball from under her feet. It was perfectly normal for him to suddenly not want to play anymore.

Thinking this, Li Qingqing guiltily dribbled the ball toward Hu Lai, intending to comfort him a little. After all, setting aside physical contact, there were not many people who could steal the ball from beneath her feet, so Hu Lai had no reason to be discouraged...

"Hey, are you mad?" she asked cautiously.

"No."

Hu Lai kept his head down, but from his tone, Li Qingqing still felt that the boy before her was probably angry.

"Um, don't be..." Li Qingqing was about to continue comforting him when she suddenly saw Hu Lai, sitting on the ground, plant both hands behind him and launch himself forward like a spring. At the same time, his right foot shot viciously toward the ball by Li Qingqing's foot!

Li Qingqing was right next to Hu Lai. At such close range, it was almost impossible to dodge. Combined with Hu Lai's sudden ambush, this move seemed certain to succeed!

But Li Qingqing's body reacted as if by instinct. Her left foot swiftly knocked the ball to the right, barely avoiding Hu Lai's right foot!

"Now!" Hu Lai shouted. His supporting hands pushed hard again, twisting his body like a pretzel and swinging his left leg around from the outside!

So his right foot had merely been a feint. This sweep with his left foot was his real intention!

He had forced Li Qingqing into a hasty reaction with the feint. When his left foot swept over, she surely would not be able to avoid it.

But just as his left foot was about to sweep the ball, the toes of Li Qingqing's right foot subtly flicked upward, lightly lifting the ball she had knocked over with her left foot. Her right foot rose with the ball, and because they moved at the same speed, it looked as though the ball were hovering on the top of her left foot.

Just after her right foot rose, Hu Lai's left leg swept through beneath Li Qingqing's foot, grazing the sole of her shoe.

It made Li Qingqing stagger slightly when she landed, but she did not lose control of the ball.

To guard against any follow-up attack from Hu Lai, Li Qingqing turned and retreated with the ball until she was five meters away. Only then did she let out a breath. "Wow! So underhanded!"

Because of that tackle, Hu Lai rolled across the ground. This time, the front, back, left, and right sides of his clothes and pants were all smeared with black mud. Though the ground had baked in the sun all day, only the surface moisture had evaporated. After the two of them had torn it up, the clearing had turned into a muddy vegetable patch.

Hu Lai, looking like a mud monkey, was dejected. "Why can't I steal it even like this...?"

Li Qingqing did not let down her guard. Standing far away, she said, "It would be strange if you could. Your body coordination is terrible. You can't even make your movements flow together."

"Nonsense! I'm a striker. How could a striker possibly be good at stealing the ball?" Hu Lai argued from where he sat on the ground.

Li Qingqing kicked the ball directly to him.

Hu Lai froze for a moment. He had not expected her to return the ball so easily. He had thought he had to win it from under her feet.

"You try to get past me," Li Qingqing told him.

"You said it..." Hu Lai climbed up from the ground and pointed at Li Qingqing. "I'm a really amazing..."

Once again, before he could finish, he suddenly charged at Li Qingqing with the ball.

Then he stepped to the left, but Li Qingqing did not move.

Sure enough, Hu Lai's left foot swept over the ball without touching it.

Then his right foot stepped toward the ball.

Li Qingqing still did not move.

This time, Hu Lai's right foot touched the ball, but instead of nudging it, he planted his foot directly on top of it. His turn to the right was cut short, and momentum threw him off balance. He toppled sideways onto the ground.

He sat on the ball like it was a chair.

As he fell, his left foot touched the ball, and it slowly rolled toward Li Qingqing, finally stopping after touching her foot.

Li Qingqing looked down at the culprit that had caused Hu Lai's fall, then raised her head to look at Hu Lai lying on the ground.

"The ground's too slippery. It rained last night..." Hu Lai explained awkwardly.

Li Qingqing kicked the ball back to him again.

Hu Lai climbed to his feet, received the ball, and launched another charge at Li Qingqing.

After Hu Lai's tenth failed attempt to get past Li Qingqing, the ball rolled back to her feet while Hu Lai sat on the ground. Without looking at her, he defended himself, "Actually, I'm a poacher-type striker. Getting on the end of chances and shooting is what I'm best at. Dribbling past people isn't..."

But Li Qingqing shook her head. "Your deskmate was right. You're not suited for soccer. Your coordination is too poor. You can't play soccer well like that."

Hu Lai suddenly looked up and glared at Li Qingqing. "What does that fat guy know? He doesn't even watch soccer matches. What does he know about 'coordination'?"

"I could tell from watching you," Li Qingqing said.

Yesterday, she had watched Hu Lai train alone from the window for a while. His movements when receiving the ball had been stiff, giving off a very uncoordinated feeling. That was why he had made so many poor touches.

After practicing against Hu Lai today, she was even more certain of her judgment.

This person had a serious problem with body coordination.

"Coordination is the ability to complete a technical movement through the coordinated cooperation of all parts of your body. Take controlling the ball, for example. You need to observe with your eyes, think with your brain, move your body, then use the right amount of force and the appropriate range of motion to receive the ball..."

At that point, Li Qingqing suddenly smashed the ball toward the uneven stone wall of the raised platform.

After the ball struck it hard, it rebounded in an unpredictable direction.

Before Hu Lai could react, Li Qingqing had already sprinted over and raised her foot to bring the ball under control.

It had been hit with tremendous force, yet Li Qingqing controlled it effortlessly, as if the soccer ball marked with Hu Lai's name actually belonged to her and obeyed only her.

Hu Lai felt a little jealous, and a little discouraged too—he could not even compare to a girl...

"If your coordination is poor, you might end up controlling that ball into your own face."

Hu Lai remembered his secret training here yesterday. The bridge of his nose still seemed to ache faintly.

"Some people think coordination is just agility, but it is more than that. It also includes balance. In a match, coordination is even more important when you're up against opponents. If you can't even perform movements properly while playing alone, how can you do them properly while battling someone in a match? Have you ever wanted to hit a powerful shot, swung your leg hard, but failed to put any power into it—or even made yourself fall over?" Li Qingqing asked Hu Lai.

Hu Lai nodded, then immediately argued, "Only occasionally. Very occasionally!"

"That's a sign of poor coordination." Li Qingqing did not care about his excuse and continued, "Coordination is a fundamental ability for soccer players. It is the link that connects a player's tactical and technical abilities. Strength, endurance, technique, speed, agility... all those abilities need coordination to bring them together. Someone with poor coordination can never play soccer well—how could people who trip themselves up while performing moves on the field possibly become professional players?"

At this point, Li Qingqing suddenly realized that the boy before her was not a professional player. He had probably never even received proper soccer training in his life. Her words were too harsh for him.

So she coughed and added, "Of course, if you're just playing for fun and entertaining yourself, then there's no problem..."

But Hu Lai suddenly asked, "What if I want to join our school soccer team?"

Li Qingqing had not expected Hu Lai to ask such a question... Then she thought of her father's strict standards and shook her head. "No chance."

Hu Lai did not believe her. "Just because you say there's no chance means there's no chance?"

"Which has higher standards, playing around in PE class or joining the school team?" Li Qingqing countered. "You can't even get into the soccer games during your class PE lessons, yet you want to join the school team and play matches against other schools? I said it's fine if you're playing for fun. If you're playing for fun, just kick the ball around however you want... What?"

Li Qingqing saw Hu Lai waving at her.

"Give me the ball. I want to go home."

The boy covered in mud slowly climbed up from the ground.

Li Qingqing watched Hu Lai bend into the grass and hide the soccer ball among it. His butt-up pose was still comical, but this time, Li Qingqing did not laugh.

She wondered whether her words—"You can't even get into the soccer games during your class PE lessons"—had hurt the boy.

She still remembered what Hu Lai had been like during PE class.

Even though no one would let him play, he still stood on the sidelines and watched the game.

He really cared about this...

After hiding the ball, Hu Lai did not say goodbye to Li Qingqing. He simply got on his battered bicycle and rode away unsteadily.

In Li Qingqing's eyes, Hu Lai's retreating figure at that moment overlapped with the lonely figure standing on the sidelines during PE class.

The setting sun stretched his shadow long across the ground, all the way to the girl's feet.