Chapter 62 - 60 - No Guarantees

Chapter 62: Chapter 60 - No Guarantees

Rafael felt Saturday’s minutes when he got out of bed.

His thighs carried a dull heaviness, and the first few steps were stiffer than usual, but after moving around for several minutes his stride began to loosen. Nothing sharp followed when he went downstairs, so he left it there.

His mother was already at the kitchen table with a mug beside her phone. She glanced up when he opened the fridge.

"Morning."

"Morning."

Rafael took out a bottle of water, sat opposite her and twisted the cap open.

Pale blue light appeared across his vision.

[MISSION COMPLETE: MAKE THE START COUNT]

[Objective Complete: 1 Goal Contribution]

[Bonus Objective Complete: FC Metz Victory]

[Rewards Available]

He selected the claim option.

[MISSION REWARD CLAIMED]

[Free Attribute Point ×1]

[Off-Ball Movement +0.2]

[Unassigned Free Attribute Points: 3]

Rafael stayed on the final line for a moment.

Three free points.

The last twenty minutes against Laval had given him something to think about. Once the match opened and the repeated runs accumulated, his second effort had not carried the same sharpness as the first.

Stamina was the obvious temptation.

One full senior start was not enough.

Rafael closed the panel.

His mother slid her phone across the table.

"Metz messaged last night."

Rafael opened it.

The education staff wanted to see them after Monday’s training, and the club had already spoken to his school about adjusting his timetable around first-team commitments.

He scrolled to the proposed meeting time.

"You can make Monday?"

"I already moved things around."

Rafael handed the phone back.

"If they let me stay where I am, I’d rather do that."

"So would I."

She picked up her mug again.

"We’ll see what they say tomorrow."

Rafael nodded and took another drink.

Monday morning put him among the players on the lighter post-match programme.

Caron and Perrin worked nearby, while Renaud joined much of the same recovery work after finishing the Laval match in Rafael’s place. Loïc and the players who had carried fewer minutes were farther out on the pitch doing more.

Rafael’s legs eased as the session went on.

One of the performance staff checked his numbers near the end, asked whether anything unusual had appeared overnight and moved on after Rafael said no.

There was no reason to turn recovery into anything more than recovery.

By the time Rafael had showered and changed, his mother was waiting near the main building with her work bag still over one shoulder.

"You finished?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Where are we going?"

Rafael pointed down the corridor, and they headed toward the education offices.

The staff member waiting for them had Rafael’s school details open on the desk.

"Afternoon. Come in."

His mother sat beside Rafael and placed her bag near her feet.

The man turned a proposed timetable around.

"We’ve already spoken to the school, and they can keep him where he is. What we’re changing is the week around football."

His mother leaned closer to the page.

Several periods had been moved, while two afternoon blocks were marked differently from the rest.

"If training or travel takes him out of school," the man continued, "we coordinate that directly. The work still has to be completed, but Rafael won’t be trying to sort every absence with individual teachers after the fact."

"And exams?" his mother asked.

"The same principle. We know the football schedule, the school knows the academic schedule, and if there’s a genuine clash, it gets dealt with before the day."

She nodded and kept reading.

Rafael turned the second sheet over.

"If my first-team schedule changes again?"

"We review this. More travel means we may need more flexibility. If your football schedule gets lighter, we move things back."

That was the part Rafael needed.

The staff member tapped the top of the first page.

"You can look at other arrangements later if this becomes difficult, but right now there’s no reason to change schools."

Rafael looked at his mother.

She raised her eyebrows slightly.

"I’ll stay."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

The route worked, the school already knew the academy and most of his life outside football was there. Moving because the possibility existed would only create another problem to solve.

His mother nodded. "Then that’s settled."

The staff member made a note.

"I’ll send this back today. Once they confirm the final version, both of you will get a copy before next Tuesday."

His mother picked up her bag.

"That was quicker than I expected."

"We’ve done this before."

They shook hands and left.

His mother checked the time almost immediately.

"I need to go."

"You’ve said that three times."

"Because you people keep scheduling things in the middle of my day."

Rafael smiled.

She adjusted the strap of her bag.

"You getting home yourself?"

"Yeah."

"All right. I’ll see you later."

She headed toward the exit.

That evening, Rafael sent one message into the group chat.

Rafael: Still at the same school. They’re changing some of my timetable around training.

Lucas replied first.

Lucas: So you get legal absences now

Rafael: And the work still follows me

Hugo: Tragic

Lucas: I would take the deal

A few seconds later Maxime appeared.

Maxime: Has anyone finished the holiday reading

Lucas: why would you bring that up

The next messages had nothing to do with Rafael.

He left them arguing over how much reading had actually been assigned and put the phone down.

By Wednesday, Annecy had replaced Laval around Frescaty.

Rafael went through the attacking work with Renaud and Loïc as the staff changed combinations around them. Caron worked with one group, then another, while the forwards rotated according to whatever the next exercise required.

During one opposed sequence, Perrin received on the right with enough room to look up.

Rafael started outside the nearest centre-back.

The defender glanced toward the ball, and Rafael cut across his front.

Perrin drove the cross hard toward the near post. Rafael gained half a step, but the centre-back recovered through his shoulder just as the ball arrived.

Rafael stretched his right foot toward it while being pushed slightly away from goal.

The contact lifted the finish over the bar.

His momentum carried him another two steps before he regained his balance and turned back.

The assistant already had another ball moving through midfield.

Loïc entered several repetitions later and dropped underneath to combine before the attack broke down near the edge of the area.

Renaud took the central position after that.

Caron found him near the top of the box, and Renaud brought the pass across his body before the defender could settle. His next touch opened the angle, and the finish went low beyond the goalkeeper.

Renaud turned and jogged back as the ball was retrieved.

Nobody said anything about either finish.

Rafael waited for his group to come around again.

Thursday followed the same rhythm. The forwards trained, combinations changed and the session ended without anybody being handed a shirt for Saturday.

Friday gave Rafael the part he needed.

The travel group came through after the final preparation session, and he opened it at his locker while players were still changing.

His name was there.

Renaud and Loïc were travelling too.

Rafael checked the reporting time, saved it and put his phone into his bag.

His mother had left the school’s confirmation on the dining table by the time Rafael came home.

"They approved it," she said from the other side of the room.

Rafael picked up the pages.

The final timetable was almost identical to the version from Monday, with the adjusted periods confirmed and the club contact listed beside football-related absences.

He checked the first page, then the second.

"Looks fine."

"There’s another copy by the printer. Take one upstairs."

Rafael collected both and headed up.

One went beside his school books.

His travel bag was already open on the floor.

Packing took only a few minutes. Most of the match equipment came through the club, and Rafael had done enough senior trips by now that the small personal list no longer needed much thought.

He was closing the bag when his mother stopped at the doorway.

"I’ll be at work tomorrow."

"I know."

"Send me something when you’re done. Last time somebody at the hospital knew the score before you messaged me."

Rafael looked up. "Who?"

She ignored the question.

"Just message me."

"I will."

"Good luck."

"Thanks."

She continued down the hall.

Rafael plugged his phone in beside the bed.

The school timetable remained on the desk beside his books, while the travel bag sat ready beneath it.

Parc des Sports already had a crowd outside by the time the Metz squad entered the changing room on Saturday.

Inside, the usual pre-match noise took over. Tape tore near the treatment tables, boots struck the tiled floor and somebody farther down was asking a staff member where the rest of his kit had gone.

Rafael reached his place and put down his bag.

His warm-up clothing had been prepared with the rest of his things.

He sat and started changing.

At Saint-Symphorien the previous week, his starting shirt had been waiting among the match kit before the final meeting.

There wasn’t one here.

Rafael pulled on his socks and continued getting ready.

Loïc sat a few places away and checked around his own station.

"Rafa, you’ve got the black tape?"

Rafael found the roll beside his bag.

"Yeah."

"Throw it over."

He tossed it across, and Loïc caught it.

"Cheers."

The staff called everyone together a few minutes later.

Players turned their chairs toward the front while the head coach began with the goalkeeper and moved through the side.

When he reached the attack, Renaud’s name came through the middle.

The coach kept going.

Rafael listened as the substitutes followed, then watched the board when the staff moved directly into Annecy’s shape and the final instructions for the afternoon.

There was nothing to ask.

When the meeting ended, the starters reached for their match shirts while the substitutes pulled on warm-up tops.

Loïc tossed the tape back.

"Thanks."

Rafael caught it and dropped it beside his bag.

Caron and Renaud left with the first group, still talking as they disappeared into the corridor.

Rafael tightened his laces while the room emptied around him.

A member of staff appeared at the door a few moments later.

"Subs."

Loïc stood first.

Rafael pulled his training top over his head and followed.

The noise from Parc des Sports grew louder as they moved through the tunnel. Ahead of them, the starters were already approaching the pitch, with Renaud in the middle of the group beside Caron.

Rafael adjusted the sleeve of his training top and stepped outside with the substitutes.