"You know what's after volleyball," says Ann.

"I'm up for volleyball," replies Ykielle. "Sorry, mate. I'm just substituting anyway, but Crucifijo needs me on the volleyball team, so go on ahead."

"Well, I ain't a hat to go on ahead, but whatever. See ya," Ann waves.

"Bye?"

Ann proceeds to the field.

"Yo, Ysobel. How'd the match go?" she asks.

"Shatap," says Ysobel. "We got fourth because Mr. Roviç, one of the teachers on the Navio side, decided not to call out the fact that Navio had more players after someone got injured. Again."

"Yeeks," Ann replies.

I'm glad we didn't play against Navio...

"Of the nine members on our team, two got injured yesterday. One healed, but now we had to use a substitute goalie. Now, three were injured and I, playing mid, noticed six on Navio."

"You should've told someone," Ann suggests.

"Nah, it's too late. We'll be using the field for the rest of the day, and many of the good footballers will be in the 100-metre dash, so there's no time anymore."

"We can play half-court, and it'd still be fair for both-"

"They're injured, Ann. They're injured."

Ysobel's right... Wait, why am I suggesting Campana should've won? Navio needs their chance...

"See ya. Hope you... Nah, you're against Cangrejo. Hope you lose?"

First, Crucifijo. Next, Navio. Third, Campana. And I will never cheer for Cangrejo shit unless they suddenly become worse than Navio next year and we win today.

"Shatap, boi, shatap."

Ann enters the field. The Crucifijo team was warming up.

"Heya, Jorge. Sorry for being late," Ann says.

"It's fine," Jorge replies. "Are you okay? Can you still play?"

"If you really want me to, then yeah, just not as defense."

"I think it's better if you sub," suggests Sofia.

"Well, I do want to play, but if it's better that I don't, then I won't," says Ann.

"Can you see fine with that on?" asks Mandee.

"Yeah, I can. You know how when you hold your finger close to your eye, it sorta double-visions and lets you see through? Case here."

"Thing is, you do wear glasses, so I think it's better that you don't play," says Mandee.

"She isn't wearing glasses," Rica argues.

"No, I think she means her vision will be blurry," Gabriela asserts.

"Well, since I wanna play, but it's better that I don't, I'll stay on the sub bench. But as soon as one of you gets injured or dizzy, let me know... Unless you play defense."

"Alright," says Jorge. "Who's taking-"

"I'll play," says Marie.

"Alright. You'll be playing mid, so please don't screw up."

"C! R-U-C! I-F-I! J---O! CRU-CI-FI-JO!" cheers an eavesdropping Chieli.

"To the field," says Jorge.

"Wait," says Rica. "Are we playing with 7 again, like with Campana? Cangrejo's complete."

"Well, then count me in!" Ann exclaims.

"I'm in," says Aaliyah.

"So am I," says Kit.

"Striker," says Rosalind.

"What's our formation gonna be?" Joycelin asks.

"I think we should do this," Ann suggests. She grabs her Jatorade, sips, then grabs the whiteboard on wheels and the marker close by. Finally, she draws her plan, complete with labels for who's where, as well as roles marked with different coloured markers, black being the sketch of the field and goalposts.

"We position the strikers, Jorge, Joycelin, and Rosalind just a few inches before the halfway mark. We then position the midfielders, me, Marie, Rica, and Kit in a concave row. Then, we just have the defenders back row in a line; they can change their position at any time, so it doesn't really matter."

"Wait, why concave for the midfielders?" Rica asks.

"That's so that if one of the strikers has trouble keeping the ball in possession, she can always turn back and pass it to one of us. People will always try to crowd near the person in possession, so I placed you and I on the back mid row, because we can do long passes. Meanwhile, the people on the side are people we can pass to at any time, in case our front is blocked."

"Ann, I think you used permanent marker," says Mandee.

Ann picks up one of the markers and checks the label. Then, she takes the whiteboard eraser and erases the corner of the field.

"Though it's a permanent marker, I don't think the ink has dried yet," she replies.

"What happened to the corner of the field?" asks one of the Cangrejo. It was now a black void. Ann redraws the corner.

"Now it's back," says the same Cangrejo girl. "What's happening?"

"Let's head out now," says Jorge.

"Rock, paper, scissors," says Coach Caesar. Jorge and Rubye of Cangrejo move to the centre.

"Scissors," says Rubye.

"Scissors," says Jorge.

"Tie," says Joycelin.

"Rock... Paper... Scissors... Shoot!"

"Paper," says Rubye.

"Rock," says Jorge.

"Aww," says Aaliyah.

They line up to high-five the Cangrejos. Or rather, the Cangrejos high-five them.

"Left side," says Rubye.

"We get the cheerleaders side," says Mandee.

"Careful," says Kit. "Look to your left."

There were also Cangrejo cheerleaders on that side, though only half as many.

"We only have one cheerleader why?" asks Aaliyah.

"Nope, there's also the subs," says Rosalind.

"So that's just two Cangrejo cheerleaders..." says Kit.

"Positions," says Jorge.

Two Cangrejos, Rubye and Freida, position beside the ball, Freida in possession.

Coach Caesar blows his whistle.