CHAPTER 101: COUCH FAMILY.

Ethan stood in the virtual tunnel of Hillsborough Stadium, the ghost of his team’s heartbreaking defeat still hanging in the air.

The cup run was over.

The million-pound dream was dead.

This new offer... it wasn’t just a second chance.

It was a lifeline.

A high-stakes, all-or-nothing gamble for the one thing that could protect his team from its own brilliant, chaotic nature. The ’Composure’ trait.

He thought of the 6-2 meltdown against Burton.

He thought of his sister’s tired, hollowed-out eyes. He thought of the new, heavy weight of responsibility on his shoulders.

He took a deep breath, his decision hardening into a core of pure, unshakeable resolve. He opened the message thread and typed his reply.

Accept.

A new message came back almost instantly.

The Wager is set. The match will be scheduled for the first available date after your next league fixture. Details to follow. Good luck, Manager. You’re going to need it.

Ethan logged off, the weight of his decision settling over him.

He had just agreed to face a shark in his own ocean.

He emerged from the pod expecting the house to be quiet, the mood somber after the cup exit.

Instead, he was greeted by the sound of cheerful, upbeat music coming from the living room. He walked downstairs, a confused frown on his face.

The scene that met him was one of quiet, profound joy.

His father was in his armchair, a look of pure, unadulterated pride on his face. His mother was sitting on the sofa, her eyes shining with happy tears.

And standing in the middle of the room, holding a letter in her hand, was his sister, Sarah.

She wasn’t crying. She was beaming, a smile so bright and so genuine it seemed to light up the entire room.

"What’s... what’s going on?" Ethan asked, his own team’s defeat forgotten in the face of this strange, happy atmosphere.

"She got a job!" his father announced, his voice booming with a joy that shook the very foundations of the house. "A new job!"

Sarah looked at him, her eyes sparkling with a light he hadn’t seen since they were kids. "I got a job, Ethan," she said, her voice filled with a quiet, wonderful excitement. "I start on Monday."

Ethan was stunned. "But... I thought... after what happened..."

"I thought so too," she admitted. "I was just applying for anything, you know? Just to help out. But then I saw an ad. It wasn’t for a big corporate law firm. It was for a small, non-profit organization. They provide legal aid and support for young athletes who’ve been dropped from academies or suffered career-ending injuries."

She looked down at the letter in her hand, a look of wonder on her face. "It’s not as much money. It’s not as prestigious. But Ethan... it’s helping people. It’s using my skills for something that actually matters. They said my passion for the subject was... overwhelming."

The cloud that had been hanging over their family for weeks, for months, for years... it just evaporated.

The crushing weight of Sarah’s sacrifice was gone, replaced by the beautiful, brilliant light of her rediscovered passion.

"That’s... Sarah, that’s amazing," Ethan said, a huge, genuine grin spreading across his face.

"Wait a minute," his dad said, his face a picture of theatrical seriousness. "This calls for a celebration. A proper one. But a celebration requires supplies. And our official ’Celebrations Officer’ has just received his weekly pay."

He looked pointedly at Ethan.

Ethan just laughed, the last vestiges of his team’s defeat melting away.

"On it," he said.

He returned an hour later, his arms laden with bags. He hadn’t just bought a cake.

He had bought the most ridiculously decadent, chocolate-fudge-caramel-explosion cake he could find.

He had bought fancy sparkling juices, tubs of ice cream, and a bag of silly party hats that Gaffer immediately tried to claim as his own personal chew toys.

He had spent almost his entire week’s wages from CostMart.

And it was worth every single penny.

That night, the Couch family had a party. It wasn’t a big, loud affair.

It was a small, perfect, and joyous celebration of a new beginning.

They sat around the living room, eating cake straight from the box, the television off, their laughter filling the quiet house.

His dad told terrible jokes. His mom recounted embarrassing stories from their childhood.

And Sarah... Sarah just talked.

She talked about her new job, about the people she would be helping, about the plans she had, her voice filled with an energy and a passion that had been buried for years under the weight of responsibility.

Ethan just sat and watched, a feeling of deep, profound contentment washing over him.

He looked at his family, at their happy, smiling faces, and he knew, with a certainty that was as real as the cake in his hand, that he had made the right decision.

The wager against GridironGuru was a terrifying risk. But his family was worth it.

He had his team. His real team. And they had just secured their biggest victory yet.

He went to bed that night, his heart full, his mind clear.

The future was a scary, exciting, and unknown thing.

But for the first time in a long time, he felt ready for it. Whatever came next, he would face it. As a manager. As a son. As a brother. And as the proud, official ’Celebrations Officer’ of the Couch family.

.....

The week following the family’s "protest picnic" was one of the best of Ethan’s young life.

The dark cloud of his sister’s job loss had been replaced by the bright, hopeful light of her new beginning.

The crushing weight on his own shoulders had been lifted, not because the problem had vanished, but because his family, his real team, was facing it together.

This newfound sense of real-world peace had an unexpected side effect: it made him a better manager.

He entered the pod each day not with a desperate, escapist energy, but with a calm, clear-headed focus.