Later, Erika went straight home after that emotional split and went straight to her room. The first thing she did was to call her best friend to tell her what happened, "You guys broke up?!" Chris exclaimed.

"He broke up with me," Erika clarified, and she was crying.

"Why?"

"He'll be leaving anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"His tryouts are moved to this weekend," Erika said.

Chris looked taken aback. "Oh! wow, so you're not gonna tell him? ever?"

"We just broke up. There's no reason for me to tell him what happened to me. Besides, it's better that way anyway."

"I guess you're right."

"Erika, honey, I'm home," Celine came back from her trip.

"I have to go. Let's talk again tomorrow." Erika closed her video call out of panic.

"Are you here?" The mother went to her room without knocking and saw her daughter wiping her tears.

"Mom, hey!"

"Sweetie, what's wrong?" Celine walked towards her daughter. "Are you crying?"

"Shay and I just broke up today," Erika answered.

"What? Oh! my, sweetie, I'm sorry." Her mother hugged her tightly, not knowing that that was not the only one her teenage daughter was crying about. "It'll be okay."

----

It was Monday, and the teenage girl arrived at school, walking through the hallways. She felt creeped out, looking left, right, straight ahead and glancing over her shoulder of every guy she passed by. Because to her, any of them took advantage of her last Friday.

Once, Erika got to her locker and took her books out. Her best friend came. "Hey! Are you okay?" Chris asked.

"Not really, I didn't get enough sleep last night. Plus, I'm so on edge," Erika said. "Now that I'm in school, I feel like everyone is looking at me."

"I don't think anyone knows anything. Just relax first. By the way, how are you doing so far after the breakup?"

"Honestly, I don't know how I feel. I mean, it is sad that three years of relationship ended, but then I am relieved that I don't have to worry about Shay knowing."

"I guess you're right. Anyway, did you tell your mom?"

"About the party? No way."

"You mean not yet?" Chris lifted a brow.

"What about the party?" Shay appeared with Jio, which caught them off gaurd.

Erika was startled that her ex-boyfriend was standing behind her. "Nothing," she responded numbly, then turned her back from him. "Come on, Chris."

"Hey, can we talk?" Shay asked her with his voice cracked.

"There's nothing else we should talk about," Erika stated. After that, she walked away with Chris while Shay felt dejected by her manner as he was not used to Erika being aloof towards him.

Later, in class, when the teacher was talking in front of the student, the poor girl couldn't focus. Voices became audible to her, and she was getting paranoid as she looked at the boys in the classroom and asked herself that it could be any of them.

Once the bell rang, Erika was back to reality and quickly took her things, then rushed out of the class by holding books tightly to her chest, even putting her head down.

Then came lunch time, and the two girls were sitting together in the cafeteria. Erika couldn't eat her food. She was still gazing at every boy that just happened to look at her way, "Can you relax?" Chris whispered to her.

"I'm sorry, I feel like I'm losing my mind, as long as I don't know who... did it to me. It's hard to pretend that nothing is wrong."

"You have to talk to someone, a counselor, or your mom. This is a huge problem for you. You can't really avoid this, even pretending it. you don't deserve to go through this," her best friend urged her.

"I've never imagined that this stuff would happen to me..."

"Who does? You have to know that it's not your fault. You didn't ask for it."

"Just thinking about telling anyone, even my parents... I can't, I just can't do it."

"I get it, but you can't live like this."

"Alright, my only hope right now is that no one here knows, other than us, about this."

-----

Shay had dinner with his father in the retired soccer player's house with his wife and their ten-year-old son. He was quiet because he was still hurting, "Duke, are you alright?" his mentor asked him. "You haven't said anything since we sat down."

"Yeah, just have a lot in my mind, that's all," he lied.

"My son has to take his exams early before leaving for the tryouts," the boy's father interjected. "So that he could get his diploma."

"I see. Well, go easy on yourself," Vido advised. "And focus on that first. I know you're going to be busy this week, so eat right and get plenty of rest, okay?"

"Yes, Vido."

"Enough about that for tonight. So Duke, aside from soccer, what do you like to do?" Mrs. Core asked

"I don't know, soccer is all I know, I like to stay active and work out by running every morning. Lift some weights in my free time, and I like to go outdoors, too."

"I see. You know, you're a good-looking guy, I'm sure girls fall for you," Mrs. Core added.

"Honey..." Vido groaned that his wife was very straightforward to the young man's personal life.

"What? I'm just curious if he has a girlfriend?"

"Yeah, but we just broke up," Shay answered, trying not to look sad that time, yet Rome looked proud.

The Core couple noticed hit expression right away, "Oh! that's too bad. I'm sorry to hear that," Mrs. Core said softly.

"It's okay... It's for the best." The young soccer player looked down to his food.

After dinner, Shay was starting at some picture on the wall by the shrine that were Super Tundra pictures years ago. The longer he stared at them, the more it made him conflicted about his dreams, yet at the same time, he really wanted to be in the team.

"Four season juice, Duke?" Vido offered a drink to the young man.

"Thanks," Shay replied as he took the glass and had a sip. "By the way, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"It's uhm... Kinda personal."

Vido became wide-eyed yet, just try to be open-minded as to what the question was going to be. "That's alright."

"Dad told me that you and your wife have been together since high school. Was it hard to be in a relationship and be a Super Tundra player?" Shay asked.

"Oh, well... It was," Vido answered, then glanced towards his wife, who was preparing dessert for them. "We decided to stay together when I started playing for the team while she had to go to college in Austrailia. We barely talk to each other that a year later, we broke up."

"That must've suck."

"It did. Although, in the end, we work it out. We met again, and decided to be together again, then we got married, and now, we have a son."

"I notice," Shay muttered, then looked away.

"But in my time, there was no Skype or Messenger to keep in touch with my wife back then," Vido added.

"Yeah, but wouldn't that interfere with your training and the game?"

"Absolutely not, I would've loved my wife's support back then. Listen, Duke, I know you're a talented and determined young man. So, let me tell you something that I wish I had known a long time ago. Being a Super Tundra player is not everything. Do you get that?"

Shay understood his mentor's words of wisdom, that he nodded in response. "Yup."

"Come on, let's get back to the dining area to get dessert."

The next day, Shay was walking in the corridor to get to his locker, thinking about what Vido told him. All of a sudden, he heard familiar voices talking nearby that caught his attention.

One of them was Trevor's. "I feel bad about what happened in the party," he said. "How's Erika doing?"

"She's still... dwelling over it." The other one was Chris.

"God. I feel bad. Some party."

"It's not your fault."

"Do you guys know who did 'it' to her?" Trevor asked.

"Did what to Erika?" Shay interjected as he went to them.

Chris and Trevor froze when when they saw him. "Shay? How long were you standing there?" the girl asked nervously.

"Not long. What are you guys talking about? What happened to Erika? Did what to her?" he interrogated.

"He doesn't know?" Trevor asked Chris.

"Know what?"

"It's nothing." Chris gave this eye contact to Trevor, telling him that Shay had no clue what happened to his ex-girlfriend.

"They just broke a vase while they're dancing." Trevor played along.

"Uhm, we have to go. We have a project to work on." The loyal best friend walked away and dragged Trevor with her, leaving Shay wondering what the hell was that.

Later, Shay was in the soccer field by himself just kicking some ball to the net in his free time. "Yo!" Jio came over.

"Hey, man." He stopped playing and sat on the bleachers with his buddy.

"You look ready for the tryouts."

"Yeah," Shay sighed as he wiped the sweats off from his face and drank some water from his tumblr.

Jio noticed his tone. "You okay? You look bummed."

"Honestly, I don't know. I feel like I made a mistake for breaking up with Erika. I don't like it now that we're not talking, and she's ignoring me. She even blocked my number and everything else."

"What do you expect? that you guys will stay friends after that?"

"No, I'm saying that I regret breaking up with her," Shay huffed. "I miss her."

"It's been four days. It's never easy to get over a three years relationship, especially when you were the one who ended it."

Shay glared at him. "Not helping," he grumbled.

"Just saying. But I don't get it. You did that so you can focus on being in Super Tundra."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that I stop loving her." After that, Shay exasperated and put his hand on his face. "What the hell was I thinking? I don't want to break up with her."

"There it is. I knew it." His best friend comprehended Shay's problem was.

"I had to do it. She's gonna be in this prestigious ballet school out of town anyway, while I'm gonna move to LA and go around the world."

"That doesn't mean you guys can't work it out. I mean, the people who went to war can work it out with the people they love. Why can't you guys?"

"Not all of them," Shay mumbled.

"Dude..."

"Okay, I get it. Maybe I should've talked to her about it first before breaking up with her."

"Yup." Jio nodded.

"I hope it's not too late to fix things with her."