Just as he promised, Adrian showed up the next morning and he was ten minutes early.
This time, the security personnel didn't stop him and allowed him to enter the school premises with no difficulty.
The sun was still slowly rising from the east, but with his sharp eyes, he could see that three people were standing on the pitch, one of whom he could tell was Noelle.
Without further ado, he made his way to the football pitch.
The closer he got, he could see that the two people beside Noelle were neither of the three he had met yesterday.
One of them was wearing a black football kit and the other one was wearing a pair of black jacket and track pants.
The one in track pants was jumping at a slow rate as a part of a warmup routine, while the other one was staring off into the distance.
Noelle was the first to spot Adrian and she waved at him the moment she did.
"Hey!" She called.
Responding to her call, Adrian returned her wave as he quickly closed down on them.
"Hey." He said just after stopping in front of her.
Just like the person jumping behind her, he was wearing a pair of black jackets and track pants except that he had neat purple outlines on the sleeves.
"Good morning." She greeted.
Sending his presence, the one jumping behind Noelle suddenly stopped jumping.
"Hmm, is this the new classmate you all spoke about?" He asked as he took a step closer to the two.
"Yes." Noelle nodded.
Getting that response, he proceeded to slowly scan Adrian from head to toe.
"I see." He said, his face relaxing into a smile.
"Let me introduce you," Noelle uttered before turning to Adrian. "Adrian, this is Leron Kell. Leron this is…."
"Adrian Nero," Leron interjected. "Oscar told me last night."
"Oh."
Leron Kell was someone who gave off some sort of friendly aura, at least that was the way people saw it as he always seemed to have a smile on his face.
Adrian, on the other hand, was seeing something else. The expression on his face and his smile, for some reason, seemed to come off as condescending to him.
"Hello." Adrian reluctantly said to him before switching his gaze to the person at the back who didn't seem to be interested in what they were talking about.
Noticing the shift in his attention, Noelle quickly followed his gaze.
"Over there is Henry Melon." She disclosed before the question would be asked.
"Hi." Henry turned to their direction to say.
Adrian responded to him with a smile.
Unlike Leron, who gave off serious extrovert energy, Henry had an air of aloofness around him, one that was different from Noelle's; he looked way less depressing than she usually looks, at least.
That one word was all Henry said before turning away from them, like a device that was momentarily unplugged during charge to do something before the plug was returned.
'I suppose that one likes keeping to himself.' Adrian thought before turning to Noelle.
"Is this everyone?" He asked, the sarcasm in his voice quite evident.
"Don't worry, they'll all be here soon." She responded.
"In the meantime, you can have a chat with me," Leron said as he took a step closer.
"A chat?"
"Mm." He nodded. "Both Oscar and Savi said you're a good fit for our central attacking midfielder."
"Yeah, that is my preferred position."
"I know, but I know players like you can be very flexible. What other position can you play?"
Getting asked that question, Adrian had to pause for a bit as what he was seeing now was quite different from what he was expecting after his first impression of him.
He expected some sort of sarcastic hostility, at least, but he seemed to be quite genuine in trying to find out what other positions he could play.
'Maybe I might have misjudged but I still can't get behind the way his face looks most of the time.'
"Well, I've played as a centre forward, a right winger and as a normal central midfielder before; they weren't that bad." He responded.
While he was saying all that, Noelle seemed to be flickering with his tablet as if she was noting down something.
"I see." Leron uttered.
"What about you?"
"Huh?"
"What position or positions do you usually prefer?" Adrian asked, trying to make the most of a conversation that he wasn't initially interested in.
'That's true, I forgot to ask the others this question yesterday. Well, I'll still find out today.'
"I've played as a centre forward, left winger, and even attacking midfielder across a good number of trial and class matches." He disclosed. "However, according to Noelle, the centre forward position suits me better, and I'm not complaining; the more goals that come from me, the better." He smiled.
"A centre forward, huh," Adrian muttered as he found his gaze falling to his legs.
Right at that moment, Leron suddenly turned around, the smile on his face now brighter.
"Looks like everyone else is here."
"Huh?"
Adrian turned toward the area to see a group of students heading toward the pitch.
Among them were Oscar, Savi and Eric. Oscar seemed to be dragging along the same bag he used to deliver footballs to Noelle yesterday and they seemed to be filled with balls this time too.
Savi was also dragging along the same bag but it seemed to contain something else other than balls.
Eric was walking in between the two with his arms folded behind his back.
Other than the three there were other classmates of theirs.
Noe Sentes, a well-known poker face with short dark hair and brown eyes. He was walking behind the three reluctantly listening to their conversation as he would describe it.
Other than him there was the redhead of the class, Normer Lino and beside him was his best friend, Fredines Ramsey.
The last students from the second-year class were the twins Leo and Nuno, both of whom had curly dark hair and freckles on their left cheeks.
The only student from another class among the crowd was Mendez Perez, a timid-looking boy with dark hair and green eyes.
"Is that everyone?" Adrian asked as he watched them get closer.
Leron slowly scanned everyone before shaking his head.
"We're missing one person." He disclosed.
"Who?"
"The team Noelle chose has two first-year students, one of them is missing. Maybe he's going to arrive late to make sure he stands out, he likes doing things like that to stand out according to his classmates, not me."
"I'm sure you also see me that way."
That voice came from the left prompting Adrian to turn there.
The other first-year student was a boy with weirdly blueish dark hair and dashing blue eyes. He had a very peculiar face that brought him endless attention from the girls in his class. The only thing was that his expression seemed to be quite stoic.
Well, it seemed that way until he turned to Noelle, and his face was suddenly all smiles.
"Good morning, Noelle." He greeted as he made his way to her.
"Morning." She responded.
Watching him, Leron couldn't help but sigh.
"Let me introduce you to this brat," Leron said before turning to Adrian. "Adrian Nero, meet Adrian Eston."
"Huh?" The younger Adrian reacted as he turned to Adrian.
"Hmm, it's been a while since I've met another Adrian," Adrian commented with a smile.
"Trus me, that's not the only thing you two have in common." Leron leaned closer to him to whisper.
"Adrian." The younger Adrian muttered before turning to Noelle. "Is he the one you spoke about, the one that…"
"Yes, the one you have to compete with for a spot," Noelle interjected.
"Compete with?" Adrian muttered.
'Oh, I see.'