The final story assignment of 2024-2025, starting from the Create an Emotion lesson.

The ball was rolling towards Bob Kane as he was approaching the goal area.

Bob’s entire body surged with excitement. “If I pass the ball to John, he will most definitely score, then we’ll win the championship!” Bob thought, as his eyes were getting bigger, and an unremovable smile was glued to his shining face.

It was the 2018 UK Football Championship finals. The massive scoreboard wrote 2-2 in bright red neon lights. Inter-Coast FC were facing off against Manshine City.

Just as he was about to pass, his mind suddenly gave him a new thought.

“What if I scored the goal myself, and I got all the glory? Then, I would be the hero of my team! I’ve always been outshined by the rest of my teammates, so this could be my chance to assert dominance! I’ll prove my worth here and now!” Bob thought, as his smile suddenly faded like a mirage, his eyes seemed empty, almost like he was having challenge based concentration, the flow.

Over the course of a second, all of his past experiences were flashing in his mind. The time when he was about to score, but his teammate Fin Pinoshi took the ball from him and scored himself.

There was also the time when he was making perfect passes the whole game, with no one complimenting him at all, but when he made one bad pass, his whole team started flaming him as if he had done bad the whole game.

There were also countless times when he was forced to let his teammates shoot the penalties that he had won, or when he was subbed off for one minor mistake.

Bob pulled back his leg as he thought of all the glory to come after this goal.

His foot was locked in place. His foot made contact with the ball.

But as he did that, Inter-Coast FC’s goalkeeper Ensiliola Darleenez slid down onto the grass with his legs spread wide open… ”“BBBPPPPP!”

As Bob looked up, he saw the ball flying in the sky. He saw his life flash before his eyes.

Inter-Coast FC centre back Brennan Johnson beautifully touched the ball with a backheel touch and cleared it to the other side.

Bob’s entire body couldn’t move. He collapsed onto the ground and stared at the blurry pitch.

The game wasn’t even over yet, but Bob’s eyes were already as red as a tomato. He knew the grave mistake he had just committed. He knew his time as a starter would be over. In fact, he even thought that his days as a player on Machine City CF were over.

He was on his knees as he watched opposing attacking midfielder Sae Itoshi blissfully perform a jump touch to trap the ball, then beautifully volleyed it in the back of Manshine City’s net.

BEEP BEEP!!!!!!!

Now the whole of Manshine City (including coach Bellingham) were yelling their guts out at Bob, “Oi Bob! Why’d ya do that bruh? If ya passed the ball to me, we could’ve won just like that!” John yelled, as his coach ragefully pushed Bob.

Bob felt so guilty that he couldn’t even use the effort to make a single facial expression. He just let everyone yell and push him, as he stared at the ground. Knowing full well he would get kicked off the starting 11.

Just like he had predicted, Bob got kicked out of Manshine City CF.

He looked everywhere for a replacement club, but none of them wanted him after doing research on Bob and finding his absolutely diabolical miss.

He even tried looking in other cities, suffering from rejection after rejection after rejection.

It seemed like the world would never let him forget about it.

Until, he was playing football at midnight one day, alone. Until a mysterious man wearing a black coat and holding a board, saw Bob nonchalantly score an amazing freekick from 30 meters out. As Bob didn’t even smile. The freekick had an absolutely breathtaking curve, almost like a world class level freekick.

This freekick attracted the attention of the mysterious man. So he started slowly walking up to Bob.

Bob saw him, and was about to run away, thinking that he could have been a criminal, or a drug addict. But just before Bob could run away, the man said in a friendly tone

“Hey! I’m a scout from London x Gen football club. I just saw your freekick. It was wonderful! I was wondering if you could go on trial for a spot on our u-20 squad!”

Bob was speechless. London x Gen was the most prestigious club in Europe. So he obviously said yes with no hesitation.

As Bob went home that night, he was smiling from ear to ear. Even when he tried to hold it in, he couldn’t. And as soon as he entered his doorstep, he instantly rushed to his parents to tell them this sensational news.

“Mum! Dad! I got scouted into the most prestigious club in Europe!"

His parents thought he was joking at first. “What? You mean London x Gen? You must’ve had little sleep last night, there’s no way that would happen, would it?” Bob’s mum said, looking slightly concerned.

“No ma! I’m being serious! I was playing football 30 minutes ago, when a mysterious man started creeping towards me. I thought he was a weirdo at first, but before I could run away, he asked me if I could go on trial for London x Gen! So of course I accepted!” Bob energetically replied.

Bob’s mum, with her eyes wide open and her mouth looking like an “o” shape, replied “Oh, then I’m so proud of you dear! Make sure you do your best at the tryouts!”

A few days passed. Bob received a letter from London x Gen football club. The letter read:

“Dear Kane, Bob:

Please arrive at the London x Gen Football Club Training Grounds (X Park), on the 26th March (Friday) at 12 a.m. in the morning. Further information will be given at the X Park.

Sincerely,

London X Gen FC”

The 26th of March was one week away. So Bob used that time to re-sharpen his football skills. As even though his freekicks were near world class level, he had barely trained any of the other set pieces and basic techniques.

A week had passed. Bob felt excited and nervous at the same time. He woke up early and headed to London x Gen FC.

“Goodbye, sweetie! Make sure you do your best! But just keep in mind, it doesn’t matter whether you win or lose. Because you will always be my little Bob. And I will always be by your side! Nothing will ever change that!” Bob’s mother said, after hugging Bob tightly.

Those somber words gave Bob a new reason to win.

As Bob arrived at Paris x Gen. Shocked at how massive and futuristic the grounds looked. With bright lights shining onto the massive building. He had always known how breathtaking the grounds were, but seeing it in person gave him a whole new perspective on it.

As Bob entered the stadium through a massive red tunnel and even more bright red lights shining in the tunnel. Bob also saw the words “London x Gen” engraved onto the walls with bold black text. And the club’s crest printed onto neon lights at the end of the huge tunnel.

As he reached the end of the tunnel, he was met with a massive circle room. The room was dark. With the only lights being dim ones on the edges of the walls. And the club’s crest engraved onto the ground of the room

The room was filled with dozens of other football players around the same age as him. But the people who really caught his eye were Sae Itoshi, Fin Pintoshi, and Brennan Johnson. As soon as he saw those three players, his mind instantly brought him back to the life changing incident. But he wasn’t about to let that distract him from the challenges ahead. In fact, this was just more motivation to do good at the tryouts.

As Bob kept gazing at his surroundings, he suddenly heard a loud swishing sound. As Bob turned to see what it was, he saw a massive black and grey door open, with smoke spraying out from the ground.

As the smoke disappeared, Bob saw the same man who scouted him emerge from the smoke. The man held up a mic he was holding, and said “Hello, unpolished treasures. My name is Jonathan Waffle. I’m the lead scout for the London x Gen football club. We’ve picked you 150 players to participate in our tryouts. Whoever’s at the top after these tryouts, will be guaranteed a spot on the London x Gen Football Club’s U20 team. Good luck to all of you. I wish you the best in these tryouts…”

“Please enter through the gate.” a robotic voice said from the speakers.

Jonathan then disappeared into the massive door.

Diabolical Miss