Your choice changes what happens next
Two names on the board
Coach Mira wrote ISHA on the whiteboard. Isha, fifteen, stopped picking mud from her boot. Then Mira wrote REN beside it. Two names, one cramped box headed CAPTAINS. Outside, a loose fence panel applauded in the wind. Inside, nobody did. Ren tilted his chair until it knocked the wall.
Bell Street had reached Saturday's Lantern Yard youth cup, a four-team neighbourhood tournament with a final and a third-place match. Isha had organised winter training while Ren was away helping his family move. Since returning, he had scored goals, renamed their warm-up "the queue for sadness" and become the person everyone watched. "You both notice things," Mira said. "Different things." The adult coach tapped the board once, then went to unlock the ball cage.
Isha wanted to be captain, not the person who reminded the captain about bus times. Ren looked ready with an excellent reply to any complaint. Teammates pretended to examine their laces. She could divide the work here, before the room invented an arrangement, or ask what he wanted without an audience.