don’t want any of you girls pulling something.”
They set to work stretching. Gunter started off slow and was surprised to see that his side was holding out quite nicely, but after five minutes and the run it began to sting. As he stood panting he noticed that there were a few other students sitting on the bleachers watching them. Gunter couldn’t help but notice a cute blond girl sitting near the middle.
“She seems quite cute, do you know who she is?”
“I do very well,” said Ryan with a wry grin.
“She’s your sister isn’t she?”
“Indeed she is.”
Gunter smiled. “I had better turn my attention elsewhere, hey?”
“She’s big enough to look after herself, but I do warn you that I take anyone who hurts my sister very seriously.”
“No doubt. I have a little sister too. I know what it’s like.”
“Wait until she gets to my sister’s age, things get a lot harder then.”
“I can imagine.”
The coach let them rest for a of couple minutes before he had them on the field performing various training exercises. He stood on the sidelines and took notes. He seemed to be quite impressed by what he was seeing, but it was hard to tell because his facial expression didn’t change much. After the basic exercises, he had them do some scrums. They were strenuous, Mary was right when she said the sport was brutal. His body and side were really feeling it now.
After a half an hour the try outs were finished and the coach gathered them all before him. “We seem to have some good talent this year and you, boy,” he said pointing to Gunter, “seem to have some potential.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Your accent sounds different.”
“Yes, I’m from Sweden, sir.”
“For a long stay I hope?”
“Until the end of the year, sir.”
“Good, we could use someone with your skills.”
Ryan was smiling that his friend was doing well, but seemed to be disappointed that the spotlight wasn’t on him. “What about me, sir?”
“Don’t worry, son. This team would get no where without you.”
“Right you are, sir.”
After he had freshened up and changed, Gunter waited outside for Mary to come and pick him up. Ryan came past with his sister in tow.
“Debbie,” said Ryan. “I would like you to meet Gunter. Gunter, I would like you to meet my little sister Debbie.” Ryan stepped back and pretended to be interested in his cellphone. Gunter felt a little surprised that Ryan would go this far, but he wasn’t complaining.
“Hi,” she said. Her voice was soft and gentle.
“Hey.” His voice cracked a bit and he felt embarrassed.
“Ryan says you’re going to be in the team?”
“I am yes.”
“You should be careful about your wound,” she said with a little concern on her face. “You don’t want to aggravate it too much.”
“How did you know about that?”
“Read it in the newspaper.”
“Ah, how are old are you?”
“15.”
“You’re really cute.” His ears went red. He realized a little too late that it was most probably not a good idea to say such a thing in front of her brother, but when he gave him a quick look he just winked.
She blushed. “I think you are too.”
Gunter chuckled.
She looked over his shoulder. “My mom is here, talk to you tomorrow.”
“I look forward to it.”
She smiled and ran off.
As soon as Gunter was in the car he was on the phone to Siswe. “You would never guess what happened to me today?”
Mary and Amy looked at each other.
“What happened?” asked Siswe.
“I met a really amazing girl!”
Mary and Amy laughed.
“You did?” Siswe laughed. “Ow... Don’t make me laugh it hurts my shoulder.”
Gunter told Siswe about the whole training session. Siswe was really impressed and happy for him.
“So tell me, when do you think you’ll be ready to come back to school?” Gunter hoped it wouldn’t be long now.
“The doctor is saying that Thursday or Friday would be best, but I’m pushing for Wednesday. I’ll see how I feel.”
“Sounds good to me, buddy.”
Tuesday 2nd April
Gunter, Fred and Ryan sat down for second break as usual. Gunter had left over lasagna in his lunch box. He was halfway through it when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. The first few weeks of his stay had made him so paranoid that when he turned around he prepared himself to see anyone, but was relieved and happy to see that it was Debbie. She smiled sweetly.
He returned the smile.
“How about the chat we were talking about?” she asked.
“Sure...” He looked at Ryan for approval. The red-headed kid nodded. Gunter smiled even more, but the big guy had him worried. Why was he so supportive of him seeing his sister? It didn’t make sense.
She took his hand and led him away to one of the benches. They sat in the courtyard. It was very hot outside, but luckily the bench was next to a tree and it covered them in some cool shade. They sat down together. Her hand felt so soft.
“I looked for you during first break,” he said.
“I was caught up with some friend’s problems, sorry. I’ll try dodge them next time, okay?”
“Totally okay with me,” he replied. He mentally kicked himself for not thinking of something better to say. He couldn’t help but stare into her wondrous green eyes.
She laughed. “I love your accent.”
“I like yours too.”
“Tell me more about your country. I’m fascinated by the place, but I don’t know very much about it.”
“Hmm... It’s very cold and very traditional. Even though we are a modern country we try to live by the old ways and be modest and humble.”
“Very interesting.” She hadn’t looked away from him once. Gunter could feel the blood rushing to his face. He hoped it wasn’t showing too much.
“Thank you, I like your country too.”
“Seriously?” She seemed a little shocked.
“It has it’s problems for sure, but if it has people like Siswe, Melody, your brother and the Johnsons in it than it can’t be too bad right?”
“For sure.”
“But that’s not all.” he said with a wry grin.
“Really?” she asked with a frown.
“Yes. If the rest of the country is as half as beautiful as you are then it really can’t be that bad.”
“Aw you’re sweet...” She blushed and turned away. “And what you say is true.”
The bell rang.
She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and ran off. Gunter just stood there dumbfounded. He had never had this sort of effect on a girl before. Fred came up to him. “Your Nordic charm seems to be doing wonders, my brother.”
Gunter laughed. “It seems that way.” A small part of him wondered if it was a good idea getting involved with a girl when he wasn’t going to be staying there for very long, but he didn’t want to ruin the moment of happiness, and pushed it away from his mind. If things got any more serious between then they would deal with it then.
Wednesday 3rdApril
It was humid that morning, and Gunter stopped on his way to the entrance of the school to take off his school blazer. He knew he was supposed to wear it at all times, but he was sweating badly. While he was doing that he spotted a figure coming down the road. He waited a few seconds to see what it was. When it was close enough to see, Gunter couldn’t believe his eyes, it was Siswe and he was riding the Super Slipstream 3300. That wasn’t the amazing part though. He was riding it with one working arm and the other was still in a sling. Gunter ran over to meet him. Siswe stopped next to him, and almost fell off trying to balance the bike with one hand. Gunter grabbed the bike and stead
ied him.
“Are you crazy?” asked Gunter. “You trying to get yourself killed?”
Siswe smiled. “Wahoo! That felt good. Don’t worry I know how to ride a bike.”
“Let me push your bike in. We’re going to be late for class if we don’t move it.”
“Thank you, Gunter. And thanks so much for the bike, it’s amazing.”
“It’s a pleasure.”
They slowly made their way to the bike shed.
“The bike ride has got me thinking.” Siswe seemed to be having a hard time catching his breath.
“Yes?”
“I want to ride bikes professionally.”
“Great idea! I think you’d do well.”
“I think so too, there’s going to be a bike race soon, and I’m going to start training as soon as possible.”
Gunter liked Siswe’s determination. “Do you think it’s a good idea with your arm?”
“Maybe you’re right. I almost fell a few times trying to keep balance.”
“I’m sure we’ll think of some way to get you in shape before the time.”
12:00pm - Second break
“I love art class,” said Siswe as they made their way in to the courtyard.
“Me too, it’s my favourite class.” They had just spent the last hour making a huge hand painting. Siswe had some yellow paint on his sling, Gunter had some red across his forehead.
“You’re a great artist even though you could only use one arm.”
“Not as good as you!”
They went and sat by Ryan and Fred like they normally did. Gunter sat down and looked around. He couldn’t see Debbie anywhere. He hadn’t seen her during first break either.
“Sorry I forgot to tell you,” said Ryan, noticing his friend’s searching. “Debbie came down with bad stomach cramps last night.”
“That’s not good,” replied Gunter. “Tell her that I hope she gets better soon.”
“Thanks. I’m sure she will appreciate that, but on another