"How was training today?"

As soon as Will entered his house, he was greeted by a masculine voice. As soon as he heard the voice, he looked up sharply and saw a man who could only be described as an older version of him sitting on the couch.

"Dad!" Will exclaimed as he rushed over to the couch and gave his dad a passionate handshake and a hug. "You weren’t supposed to be back till next week."

"I decided to cut my trip short. Your mum told me what happened so I decided to come back so I could help if you got released."

Will smiled when he heard his dad’s response. His dad had supported him every step of the way in his football journey. From when he was just a child and was accepted into Middlesbrough’s academy, till now. He had always been there.

"Thank you," Will said sincerely. "But it wasn’t necessary."

"No it was," Gary said. "We have to plan our next steps from here. I’ll talk to some of my friends and have them ask around if we can get you in a trial. It’s a little late for that but even if it is a League One club, then we’ll have to take it."

Will smiled at his dad’s concern. "No, I meant you really didn’t have to because I just had a talk with the head coach, and I’ll be staying for the next year, which is when my contract ends."

"That’s great," Gary smiled almost immediately. Then he frowned again. "But that’s just a year. We have to make plans for if they release you again. No offense, but you aren’t exactly the hottest cake around if they were willing to release you."

"We don’t need to worry about that. I have a year. One year to show them that I’m not the type of player to be released. I’ll show them," Will said.

Gary stared at him for a few moments before nodding slightly. "Alright, I believe you."

"Ugh." A feminine voice sounded from further inside the house. "You guys make me want to gag. If you’re done with your mushy father-son moment, get your asses over here so we can eat. I’m starving."

Will turned his head in the direction the voice came from and saw that the dining table was completely set up with four plates in front of four chairs, and the meal in the middle of the table. Will’s mum sat in one of the chairs on the right side of the table, right next to the head of the table while there was a girl that looked about fifteen years of age sitting opposite her.

She had blonde hair, like Will, but that was as far as their resemblance went. While Will was a carbon copy of his father, she was like a younger version of his mother.

"Janet. Always a pleasure to hear your voice," Will said with a stiff smile. The tone of his voice told everyone that he did not at all mean what he said.

"Nice to see you too, brother," Janet returned the stiff smile. "Now get your bottom here so we can start eating. We’ve been waiting forever for you to arrive."

"You guys waited for me?" Will raised an eyebrow. Usually, if he took too long to arrive, they’d just leave his meal in the fridge or something.

"No. No. We didn’t wait for you. We just like our food getting cold. Cos we like eating cold food," Janet said with a deadpan expression, causing Sandra to chuckle a bit.

"I always forget how much I really like you," Will muttered under his breath as he walked over to his seat and sat down.

Will and Gary took their seats, the soft scrapes of their chairs against the ground reverberating inside of the otherwise silent room. Sandra opened one of the pots and the rich aroma spread around the room, causing Will’s stomach to rumble softly, making him realize how hungry he actually was.

A few moments passed in silence. Nobody spoke. Everyone got served and the sound of cutlery clinking created an oddly calming rhythm inside the room.

Will quite liked the silence. It was good and it allowed him to think properly, even while eating. Unfortunately, all good things, as they say, come to an end.

Janet broke the silence.

"So." She stabbed her fork into a piece of chicken and brought it to her lips. "Future superstar. How does it feel to almost get dropped?"

"Okay. We’re going straight into that?" Will answered without looking up from his plate.

"I’m serious. I need to hear about it," Janet said. "Everyone’s been acting mysterious lately. Mum wouldn’t even tell me what happened properly."

"Because it wasn’t your business to spread around school," Sandra replied while shooting Janet a look.

"I wouldn’t spread it," Janet said. Then paused because of the three knowing gazes directed at her. "Okay maybe a little, but only to the people I like which, as you all know, are not much at all."

"Doesn’t matter how many people you spread it to, you’re still spreading it," Will muttered.

Gary cleared his throat loudly and turned to face Janet from the head of the table. "That’s enough for now. We’ll talk about this when everyone’s finished eating."

Will sighed and finally dug into his food. He really didn’t waste any time with it and ate with the ferocity of a man who was hungry from an intense training session. The manner with which he ate drew a few weird glances from his family, but Will didn’t care. In his mind, it was only him and his food, his food and him. And he wasn’t going to let a few weird glances get in the way of him and his food.

Unfortunately for Will, his euphoria and fantasy world was destroyed by the soft voice of his mother who asked him a question.

"So, what did the coach actually say today?" Sandra asked softly.

"He said that I was a fighter. Apparently, that’s why he didn’t release me," Will said. He was going to continue talking, but then he was interrupted by Janet.

"You must not be a very good fighter then, if you almost got released from the team," Janet said while cocking her head to the side.

Will gave her a bombastic side eye.

"Do you mind?"

"What?" Janet said. "I’m giving you good feedback. One might even say that I’m helping with your character development."

"Anyways," Will ignored her and turned his attention back to Sandra. "He said he was going to give me a chance to fight. This weekend, we have a friendly against trialists so he’s going to start me and then we’ll see what happens from there."

"That’s great!" Sandra exclaimed with a smile.

"Not really," Will shook his head. "It’s just a friendly and then it’s against trialists. He probably won’t take it seriously. He just said it to get me motivated or something. But it is a starting point so I have to give my all."

"You’ll drop a masterclass and show him how good you are," Gary said. "I believe in you."

"Thanks, dad," Will said with a smile.

"Yuck." Janet stuck out her tongue. "You’re going to make me vomit everything I just ate."

"Oh, shut up."

That was the last of the conversation about Will and his current situation in the football team. As dinner passed, the family talked about the things happening in their respective lives before parting.

As soon as they separated, Will went to his room, changed into his nightwear and collapsed on his bed. He was already feeling tired before the intense training session, and he had no time to rest after it.

He went to meet with David almost immediately after the session, and when he came home he was ambushed for dinner, so now that he could sleep, he didn’t waste any time. He hadn’t even laid on the bed for more than ten minutes when he fell asleep.