Olly sat on his window ledge, head against the crisp glass while he scribbled his thoughts (although lack thereof) down about coastal management. His house was at the end of a horseshoe of identical houses and Olly could see the other homes which were dimly lit by the orange glow of the streetlights. Olly's attitudes to his schoolwork were a stark contrast to his sister's, who made sure that she got everything finished to the best standards before half five. 

It was now quarter to eight.

Olly jabbed his ball point pen at the paper, the remaining concentration he had left trickling out of his brain like a leaky tap. He let out a quiet hiss of air as he set his homework aside, fully ready to deny its existence until the last possible minute the next day. His jean pocket buzzed loudly against the wood of the window ledge making Olly flinch. He pulled out his phone, face scrunching at the fluorescent light and Olly could see his reflection in the window against the darkness of his bedroom. "Yuck" he commented at the disheveled boy staring back and he turned down the screen brightness. The source of the buzz was a text message from an unknown number. Olly raised his dark eyebrows at the string of digits on the screen. Tapping the message, he fully expected it to be spam, an automated advertisement for PPI that Olly didn't need or insurance for a car that Olly didn't own. Instead, to his shock, it was a text from his new defensive partner Theo Nicholson.

Hi. It's Theo.

Olly blinked. "Shit" he muttered as he realised that Theo's text was sent from an iPhone therefore it would show him that Olly had seen his message. There was no chance of blanking it now. Olly didn't want to get worked up over the events at practice again and decided to take the gentle approach. He typed a reply.

Hi. How did you get my number???

Olly didn't really care, it would come in handy to have Theo's number now that they'd have to spend more time together, to their dismay. However, Olly couldn't deny that he was curious. Three grey dots skipped above the keyboard.

Ivy. She can get anyone's number. Creepy bitch.

That made sense, Theo's twin sister Ivy had a talent of finding out anyone's contact number although she wouldn't reveal how she does it. The Squirrels had a group chat on Facebook that Olly's teammates would message constantly, rarely about things actually relating to Vincit so Olly tended to mute it when they didn't have a game coming up. The only numbers of people on his team that he had in his contacts were Kathleen's, Evan's and Coach Anderson's. He was also forced to save Erin's number so she could get through to Rosie when Rosie's phone was on silent, as it usually was. Now Olly had Theo's, if not by choice.

Ohhh yeah. Should've guessed. It is a bit creepy ahahahah.

Theo's reply was almost instant.

Yh. Anyway I thought that we should probs do some extra practice if we actually want to place at the Championships.

Olly groaned. Partly because Theo was right and partly because the idea of having to spend more time with him than usual made Olly want to bang his head against a brick wall. Do it for the team Olly commanded himself. He was used to sacrifice and this one wasn't nearly as bad as the one's he had experienced in the past.

Yeah, you're probably right I guess. When??

This reply took longer so Olly spent the time going downstairs to get a packet of crisps. When he returned Theo's message glowed grey on his screen.

Tomorrow. Coach suggested we meet an hour before practice starts which means that I have to miss my extra catering class so don't fucking piss me off.

Olly scowled at the overly aggressive reply. Catering class? Out of all the subjects that Olly thought macho-man Theo Nicholson would study at college, catering didn't exactly come to mind. The reply still pissed Olly off and he abandoned his tolerant attitude in the dirt.

Jesus. Sorry for asking a question, arsehole.

Olly was left on read.