Even under the scrutinising gazes of the students, Adrian didn't show any signs of embarrassment or nervousness. He just stood there, his eyes locked onto Eric who was also looking at him.
Their confrontation lasted for a few seconds before both of them looked away at the same time.
Adrian was now looking at Oscar who was taking the lead to walk up to him with everyone else following from behind.
Oscar stopped in front of him and scanned him from head to toe with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Do you want to join our team?" He asked the moment he was done checking Adrian out.
The people behind him couldn't help but sigh in exasperation the moment he asked that question.
"Shouldn't you be asking him who he is first?" Someone spoke up.
"Huh? Does that matter? Wouldn't we know after he joins the team?"
"How do you even know he's good enough to join our team?" Henry facepalmed himself.
Of course, he himself knew he was more than good enough to join their team.
"I don't know, it's just my….. intuition." Oscar kept nodding as he spoke with his gaze still on Adrian.
Henry couldn't help but shake his head in exasperation after getting that response.
He shifted his gaze to Adrian, who had not said a thing all this time, before turning back to Oscar.
"Okay, let's say your intuition is indeed correct and he can join our team. However, he has to be a student of the school to join the team. He doesn't look like he's…."
"Yeah, I was about to say the same thing." Someone chimed in.
"But…"
Before Oscar could finish what he wanted to say, a playful whistle was heard before an equally playful voice followed.
"Look who's here."
At that moment, everyone immediately shifted their gazes away from Adrian, looking behind him with burning eyes.
Adrian was curious as to who could elicit such reactions from them, so he turned around to take a look.
The moment he saw that figure, his body froze. Even though it had been three years and she had undergone slight changes in face and body, he could tell it was her in one glance.
However, the young woman who was currently walking toward him gave off a different feeling compared to the warm charm he was used to.
Most people would look out of place in a situation like this where there were a lot of boys training on the pitch. However, that really couldn't be applied to her.
She was wearing white track pants with a white jacket, which was left unzipped, showing the black shirt she was wearing underneath.
She had her long dark hair tied back in a ponytail. Her brown eyes seemed to have lost the lustre he used to remember.
"Oh, hey, coach!" Oscar called out the moment he spotted her.
"Coach?" Adrian was dumbfounded.
Before he could say anything to the person who had gotten a little closer to him, she responded to Oscar with a perfunctory nod before proceeding to walk past him, not sparing him so much as a glance.
Adrian froze.
It was so cold that he had almost had the illusion that he was actually freezing.
"Noelle….was that really you?" Adrian muttered under his breath before turning around.
He thought no one heard what he said but Henry was now looking at him with a strange expression.
"Do you know her?" He couldn't help but ask after a while.
"Huh?" Adrian turned to him with a confused expression.
"I mean our coach."
"She's really your coach?"
"Mhm." Henry nodded. "It's thanks to her that we were able to win our last two matches. Otherwise, we would still be on a losing loop."
By this time, the other boys had all gathered around Noelle, even Oscar who seemed to be fixated on Adrian just a few minutes ago.
So, it was just Henry and Adrian standing there now.
Hearing what Henry said, Adrian turned to the cold-faced Noelle with a thoughtful expression.
He was actually surprised, not by the fact that she was able to coach the team and lead them to two victories. After all, one of the reasons they were able to become close at a young age was that they had similar interests.
What he was surprised about was that, given her personality, where she wouldn't sit down if she could lie down, she still chose to take up a physically and mentally draining task like this.
From what he knew, the coaches of the other Schools were the teachers, so he was curious as to how she was able to get the approval of the higher-ups when there were obviously teachers who wanted to take up this task.
Adrian was still in thought when Henry asked a question.
"Hey, do you really want to join our team?"
Adrian didn't say anything and just responded with a nod.
"But you have to be a student…."
Before Henry could finish what he wanted to say, Adrian had already walked away, heading toward Noelle.
His mouth opened in an 'O' before he closed it.
Adrian was indeed here to join the team, and no matter the reason why Noelle was acting like she didn't know him, he had to at least register first.
It was a good thing that she was the team's coach, he would be able to figure it out sooner or later.
He was thinking this as he stopped in front of Noelle, who was now sitting on a recliner, working on a tablet.
There was no longer anyone around her as she had chased them all away to go do their own things for the time being.
Noelle was busy trying to organise her game plan for the next match when a shadow was suddenly towering over her.
Her hand on the tablet's screen paused for a moment before she slowly looked up.
Adrian had locked onto her face the moment she looked up and just as they made eye contact, he saw her face scrunch up in displeasure for a moment before returning to normal.
'What about me does she suddenly find displeasing?' Adrian was stumped and couldn't help but think.
Noelle didn't pay him any attention beyond confirming who he was before she lowered her head and continued what she was doing on the tablet.
"I heard you wanted to join the team." She spoke before Adrian could say anything.
"That's correct."
"You have to be a student of Sino High School to be eligible to join the team."
He might have misheard the first time, but not the second. Adrian was stumped by how there wasn't the slightest fluctuation in her voice; she was really treating him like a stranger.
This wasn't how he envisioned his homecoming.
'What is going on?!'
Noelle didn't receive any response from Adrian for a while, but she didn't get angry and just repeated what she had just said.
The dispirited Adrian could only tell her that there was nothing to worry about.
Noelle responded with a nod before getting up from her seat still holding onto the tablet.
"Follow me." She said before walking away.
When they got to the other end of the pitch, Noelle turned to Eric who was resting with his back against the post.
"Help me make sure they don't try to do anything stupid."
"You don't have to worry." Eric shot her a charming smile.
This was a smile that always made a lot of the girls in the school feel like their hearts were floating away, but Noelle maintained her cold expression and nodded at him before walking off.
However, just because Noelle didn't react to that didn't mean that the person behind him wouldn't.
Just before walking past him, Adrian glared at him, but Eric only responded with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. In his eyes, Adrian could see, mockery.
However, he couldn't be bothered about that and hurried to catch up with Noelle.
"Noelle." He called out as soon as they were a distance away from the pitch.
There was no response from Noelle so he continued speaking.
"Noelle, I am talking to you."
"Do you think this is fun? If you're unhappy about something just come out and say it. What's with the silent treatment? Nobody…."
Adrian was still in the middle of his speech when Noelle suddenly stopped walking and turned to him with a displeased expression.
"Keep quiet."
Just as her voice reached his ears, he suddenly felt his body stiffen. He made eye contact with her at that moment and saw a purple glint.
'Oh, no!' He screamed internally before his mind suddenly began to go blank.
It was like the feeling of suddenly getting your consciousness overridden while you are in a semi-conscious state.