Chapter 26: A Date and a Call-Up
Ananya got up from her sofa as she heard a familiar car horn outside. She looked out the window and got out to meet Aryan.
Aryan got out of the car and saw Ananya approaching from the adjacent wing. "Hey," she said when she had gotten close.
"Hey," Aryan replied. They both stood there not knowing what to say, the adrenaline of the match fading into awkwardness..
Priya, who saw their interaction from the driver's seat, laughed before she left them alone, heading inside with Riya.
"How was the game?" Ananya said, finally breaking the silence..
"Well, we won," Aryan said, scratching the back of his neck.
"Well, that's great," Ananya added. The silence crept its way up again as it got unusually tense between them.
Come on Ananya, get it together. Why are you acting like this? You're older than him, shouldn't you act a bit mature in this instance? Ananya's inward thoughts screamed.
"You know, I'm free tomorrow," Aryan said, which brought Ananya out of her thoughts.
"Don't you need to rest?" she said with concern in her eyes, knowing he had just played a high-intensity match.
Aryan smiled and replied, "Well, the game wasn't that taxing on my body, just my nerves. I'm still full of energy, so I think by tomorrow I'll be fine."
"Okay, then tomorrow," Ananya said, a smile breaking across her face.
"Yeah, tomorrow. Bye Anu," Aryan said while waving at her before he went inside.
"You know, Ananya is a very nice girl," Priya, who had been watching everything after she had gotten inside, said while standing by the window.
"Come on Ma, I'm 14, okay?" Aryan said, rolling his eyes before heading upstairs.
Priya looked at him with a smile as he headed upstairs.
Aryan got inside his room and decided to take a bath before he checked the rewards. After he finished bathing, washing away the dirt and sweat of the Wankhede pitch, Aryan sat on his bed and opened the holographic interface.
[PLAYER INFO]
NAME: ARYAN SHARMA
AGE: 14 (4 MONTHS TO 15)
HEIGHT: 1.81m (5'11")
PROFESSION: CRICKETER
STATUS: YOUTH PROSPECT
TEAM: Mumbai U19
SYSTEM EVALUATION: Youth Prospect
PLAYER RATING: 66/100
POSITION: Fast-Bowling All-Rounder
POTENTIAL: 87
LEGEND POINTS: 6300/67,000 to LV 5
STAT POINTS: 22
[STATS]
Speed: 70
Footwork: 65
Spatial Awareness: 65
Technique: 65
Batting: 66
Bowling: 64
Physical Strength: 64
Weak Zone Proficiency: 3 stars
Shot Creativity: 4 stars
[SKILLS POSSESSED]
Cover Drive: 85% Completion
Helicopter Shot: 50% Completion
Switch Hit: 70% Completion
Reverse Paddle: 50% Completion
[TRAITS]
Improviser: Equipped
Gap Piercer: Equipped
Blitz: Equipped
Aryan navigated his way to the shining red dot which was the notification hub. After he clicked on it, a number of messages passed by. Aryan went to the achievement hub and clicked on it.
[Score your first Hat-trick]
Reward:
+15 Stat Points
+2 Recovery Elixirs and 1 Intelligence Elixir
Aryan saw the Intelligence Elixir and asked the System the uses of that drug.
[The Intelligence Elixir stimulates and boosts normal cognitive functions as well as Cricketing IQ (reading the game, anticipating field placements, and bowler psychology).]
Aryan nodded as the System explained. Aryan read a bit of the notifications and cleared some of the useless ones.
Aryan, after he was done clearing out the useless notifications, went to the Warehouse tab and retrieved an Intelligence and a Recovery elixir. Following the System's instructions, Aryan drank both of them together.
Aryan felt a wave coursing through his veins. He felt his brain thumping excessively before it subsided into a state of hyper-clarity.
Aryan after this saw that his eyesight had improved; the world seemed sharper, and he could remember minute details from the match—the seam position of the ball, the slight shift in the batsman's grip—with perfect clarity.
"Guess it worked," Aryan said with a smile before going down for dinner.
Aryan stood at the door of Ananya's house the next day. He rang the doorbell and waited a bit before it opened. Aryan turned around and it hit him.
He stared at Ananya who wore a white embroidered kurti with blue jeans and simple sandals. Aryan stared at her for a while before he realized he was staring too much.
Ananya, who was enjoying the attention, giggled a bit. "Um, uh sorry, you look stunning," Aryan said as he tried to compose himself.
Ananya was still smiling at Aryan's reaction. "Thanks. You look good too," she said.
Aryan, who wore a white polo shirt with a pair of white sneakers and black jeans, was not looking shabby at all.
They both got out and walked side by side as they waited for an auto-rickshaw since neither of them was of age to drive yet. They decided to go to Bandra.
They walked around the Bandstand promenade for a while with no specific destination in mind, enjoying the sea breeze.
They walked around for a while before they found a sea-facing cafe.
The cafe looked serene and it didn't have a lot of people. They found a place to sit after they entered the cafe.
"So what do you wanna do?" Aryan asked Ananya as he took a sip of the cold coffee he had ordered.
"It's a bit weird, but as of right now I don't even know what I'm going to do," Ananya responded, stirring her drink.
"I don't think it's weird," Aryan said as he raised his head. "Just take your time," he said with a smile that screamed assurance.
Aryan and Ananya talked some more before they realized that time had passed. They decided to take a BEST bus this time to savor the moment on the way back to the suburbs.
Ananya fell asleep on the bus as they went home, and Aryan couldn't help but admire how beautiful she was. He lifted a bit of hair off her face as she rested on his shoulders.
Aryan woke Ananya up as the bus reached their stop. They got down and decided to walk the rest of the distance home.
The walk home was a bit quiet. Their hands brushed against each other's as they walked. Ananya turned towards Aryan as they got to her doorstep.
"I had a great time," she said.
"Me too," Aryan replied with a smile.
"Then I'll see you tomorrow," she said before she entered.
"See you too," Aryan said before going.
"How did it go?" Priya asked with expectant eyes after Aryan had entered.
"It was nice," Aryan replied.
"Wait, it was nice?" Priya said.
"Yeah," Aryan answered again.
"That's all? No kissing, not even a peck on the cheek?" she said.
"Come on Mum, what are you thinking?" Aryan sulked.
"Okay, okay, I won't ask again but did you not even hold hands?" Priya said.
Aryan, who didn't look at her, sped up to his room.
"Look at him acting all shy," Priya said with a smirk.
Aryan lay on his bed while looking at Ananya's contact on his phone. "Huhhh," Aryan sighed before he texted her good-night.
Aryan rose up from his bed and took a shower. After the shower, Aryan did a yoga session to relieve the muscles of any stress. After that, Aryan went down for dinner.
Aryan woke up early the next day to fulfill his usual daily task. After a sweaty session of shadow batting, Aryan practiced a bit with the hanging ball. Aryan came home and took a bath.
After putting on some casual clothes, Aryan came down and had breakfast with Priya and Riya. After breakfast, Priya drove both of them to school.
School as usual went by without a hassle.
Aryan absorbed everything the teachers said with rapt attention; thanks to the Intelligence Elixir, he was retaining information effortlessly, which was good as nowadays he was getting less time to study.
"Hey Aryan, how are you doing at the Mumbai Academy?" Aryan's P.E. teacher asked him as they were in the school's gymnasium.
"I'm doing great, Sir," Aryan replied.
"Are you in the U16s?" Mr. Salvi, the P.E. teacher, asked.
"I'm actually with the U19s now," Aryan said, which drew the teacher's attention.
"Really?" Salvi asked.
"Yes," Aryan replied.
Salvi looked at him with a puzzling gaze. Aryan continued after sensing no other questions from the teacher.
The day passed like any other, but the twist was the final exam had been brought forward. Which meant Aryan had 2 weeks till finals.
Aryan, though, wasn't pressured because he felt he was well prepared.
Aryan, after school, took a bus to the BKC training ground.
During training, Coach Kulkarni pulled him aside and talked to him.
"Hey Aryan, your little freak show against Rizvi and in the nets has caught the attention of VVS Laxman (Head of Cricket at NCA)."
Aryan, who didn't know exactly what that meant for him right now, kept quiet for Coach Kulkarni to continue.
"From the look on your face, I'm assuming you don't know the gravity of this. He's the head of the National Cricket Academy and oversees the India U19 setup. He seems to have a favorable impression of you, so do well in the next zonal matches and I'm sure he'll call you for the High-Performance Camp and hopefully the U19 World Cup next year."
Aryan, who heard this, blanked out. "Me? But wait, the India U19? Woww."
Aryan's mind had gone bonkers as he started to fantasize about wearing the Blue Jersey.
Coach Kulkarni, who saw this, smacked him on the shoulder and brought him back.
"I told you so you could have a drive to push you to outdo yourself, not fantasize. Now get back there and help me top this group," Coach Kulkarni said with a smile before pushing Aryan towards the other players.
"Like a comet," Coach Kulkarni muttered.
"What did he say?" Kabir, one of the players closest to Aryan, asked.
"He said something about the India U19," Aryan said before running off, leaving Kabir to his thoughts.
"This guy," Kabir muttered before speeding up to follow Aryan.
(To be Continued)