CHAPTER 504: HOW DO YOU FIND THE SPACE?

Alex sat in the dark. He watched the planets orbiting a giant sun.

He felt it. Since winning the Ballon d’Or, the gravity around him had increased. Defenders swarmed him. Fans grabbed him. The media orbited him.

"Mr. Finch," Mr. Kepler asked, pointing the red laser at Alex’s desk. "What happens when a star becomes too heavy?"

Alex blinked in the sudden red light.

"It collapses, Sir," Alex said. "It becomes a black hole. It consumes everything."

"Correct," Mr. Kepler clicked the slide. A picture of a black hole appeared. "Do not let your mass destroy you, Mr. Finch. Shine. Do not suck."

Mark sat next to Alex. Mark was wearing glow-in-the-dark stickers all over his face. They were shaped like stars and moons.

"I AM A CONSTELLATION!" Mark whispered. "I AM THE BIG DIPPER!"

"Mark," Alex whispered. "You look like a radioactive dalmatian."

"I am guiding ships to safety!" Mark argued. "I am the North Star! Follow me to the cafeteria!"

The bell rang. The lights turned on.

Alex packed his bag. The lesson was clear. Be a sun, not a black hole. Give energy, do not just take it.

Tonight was a big game. A classic rivalry.

Arsenal vs Manchester United.

The Emirates Stadium.

United were dangerous. They were unpredictable. They had fast wingers and a midfield that liked to fight.

Alex walked out to the car park.

Milo was waiting.

Milo was dressed as... an Alien.

He was wearing a green morph suit that covered his entire body, including his face. He had large black plastic eyes glued on. He was holding a ray gun made of a hair dryer and tin foil.

"TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER!" Milo screamed in a high-pitched voice. "GREETINGS EARTHLINGS! ALEX! I AM SELLING MOON ROCKS! THEY GRANT WISHES! THEY ARE JUST BURNT BISCUITS! BUT THEY ARE FROM SPACE! (Technically everything is from space)."

"Milo, you are terrifying," Alex said.

"I AM ZOG FROM NEPTUNE!" Milo beeped. "I COME TO WATCH THE FOOTBALL! DO YOU PLAY FOOTBALL ON NEPTUNE? NO! WE PLAY GRAVITY BALL! IT IS VERY HEAVY!"

"Get in the car, Zog," Alex sighed.

They drove to the stadium.

Steve, the manager, was waiting in the dressing room.

"Manchester United," Steve said. "They are quick on the transition. Rashford. Garnacho. Hojlund. They want you to attack so they can run behind you."

He looked at Alex.

"Professor. They will mark you tight. Casemiro and Mainoo will be your shadows. They will try to suffocate you."

"Gravity," Alex whispered.

"What?" Steve asked.

"They are pulled to me," Alex said. "I am the massive object."

"Okay," Steve nodded slowly. "Use that. If they are looking at you, they are not looking at the others."

The Emirates Stadium.

It was a Saturday night kickoff. The atmosphere was electric.

Alex stood in the tunnel.

Bruno Fernandes stood next to him. The United captain. He looked intense. He was already complaining to the referee about the tunnel lighting.

"Too bright," Bruno muttered. "It hurts my eyes."

"It is the spotlight," Alex said.

Bruno looked at him. "Funny. Let us see if you laugh when we counter."

Mark stood behind Alex. Mark was peeling a glow-in-the-dark star off his forehead.

"It is stuck," Mark whispered. "I think I am permanently a star now."

"You were always a star, Speed," Alex smiled.

The whistle blew.

The game started.

United played exactly as predicted. They sat deep. They waited.

Arsenal controlled the ball.

Tick. Tock.

But every time Alex got the ball, three red shirts surrounded him. Casemiro, Mainoo, and McTominay. They formed a cage.

"I cannot move!" Alex yelled. "The gravity is too strong!"

In the fifteenth minute, Alex lost the ball. Casemiro tackled him hard.

Casemiro launched a long pass.

Marcus Rashford was running.

He was fast. He raced past Ben White.

Rashford cut inside. He smashed the ball near post.

Goal.

Zero one. Manchester United.

The away fans went wild. Rashford pointed to his temple. Mentality.

"Focus!" Alex shouted. "Reset the orbit!"

Arsenal restarted.

Rico tried to help. He dribbled. He danced. But United were disciplined. They clogged the middle.

"There is no space!" Rico complained. "It is like a crowded elevator!"

Alex stood in the center circle.

He thought about Mr. Kepler.

Massive objects pull everything towards them.

If three players were marking Alex, that meant three players were not marking someone else.

"I need to be the sun," Alex thought. "I need to draw them in, then release the light."

Thirty fifth minute.

Alex got the ball.

He did not pass. He stood still.

Casemiro came. Mainoo came. Even Bruno came back to help.

Three players converged on Alex.

Alex waited. He held the ball until he could smell Casemiro’s cologne.

Then, he released it.

He flicked a pass over their heads.

It landed in the huge space they had vacated.

Rice ran onto it.

Rice drove forward. He was free.

He passed to Saka.

Saka cut inside and curled it.

Onana saved it.

"Better!" Steve shouted from the sideline. "Use the gravity!"

Halftime. Zero one.

"They are obsessed with you," Steve said to Alex. "They are terrified of the Ballon d’Or. Use their fear. Drag them out of position."

"I will take them for a walk," Alex said.

Second half.

Alex changed his movement.

He stopped coming short. He started drifting wide. He went to the left wing.

Casemiro followed him. Mainoo followed him.

This left a giant hole in the middle of the pitch.

Fifty fifth minute.

Alex was on the touchline. He had two defenders on him.

He saw the empty space in the center.

He saw Mark making a run into that space.

Alex did a "Cruyff Turn". He spun away from the sideline.

He hit a diagonal pass back into the center.

Mark collected it.

Mark had acres of space.

"I AM A COMET!" Mark screamed.

He ran straight at the defense.

He saw Maguire stepping up.

Mark pushed the ball past Maguire.

"MEEP MEEP!" Mark yelled.

He was one on one with Onana.

Mark did not shoot. He rounded the keeper.

He walked it in.

Goal.

One one.

Mark ran to the corner. He started spinning in circles.

"I AM ORBITING!" Mark shouted. "I AM A SATELLITE OF GOALS!"

Alex ran over. "The space opened up!"

"Because you took the gravity away!" Mark laughed. "You took the heavy people with you!"

United were confused. Their man-marking system was broken.

Ten Hag was screaming on the sideline. "Stay in the middle! Do not follow him!"

But they could not help it. Alex was the magnet.

Seventy fifth minute.

The game was tied.

Arsenal pushed for the winner.

Alex moved back to the center.

He got the ball thirty yards out.

The United defense backed off. They were scared of the pass.

"Shoot!" the crowd screamed.

Alex looked at the goal.

He saw the top corner.

He remembered the laser pointer in the dark classroom.

Precision.

He did not smash it. He did not curl it.

He struck it with a "Laser Technique". Straight. Hard. No spin.

The ball flew like a beam of light.

Onana didn’t even move. He just watched it.

It hit the stanchion in the top corner. The metal bar inside the net.

PING.

It sounded like a bell ringing.

GOAL.

Two one. Arsenal.

The Emirates erupted.

Alex stood there. He blew on his finger like it was a smoking gun (or a laser).

"Physics," Alex whispered.

Rico jumped on him. "That was a rocket! You sent it to space!"

"Zog would be proud," Alex laughed.

The final ten minutes were tense. United threw everyone forward. Even Maguire played as a striker.

But Arsenal held the orbit. They kept the ball. They kept the structure.

The final whistle blew.

Arsenal 2. Manchester United 1.

Another big win.

Alex walked off the pitch.

Bruno Fernandes walked past. He was shaking his head.

"How do you find the space?" Bruno asked. "We had three men on you."

"Gravity," Alex smiled. "It works both ways."

Milo ran onto the pitch. He was still wearing the green alien suit, but he had ripped the face part so he could breathe.

"THE ALIEN HAS LANDED!" Milo screamed. "WE CONQUERED EARTH! ALEX! THE LASER! I AM SELLING MOON DUST! IT IS JUST DUST FROM THE CAR PARK! BUT IT IS MAGICAL!"

"Milo, you are sweating in that suit," Alex laughed.

"ALIENS DO NOT SWEAT!" Milo yelled. "WE GLOW!"

They walked into the dressing room.

The team was celebrating.

Alex sat down. He checked his phone.

A text from Maya.

"Astronomy analysis: Correct. You utilized your gravitational pull to create a vacuum in the midfield. Mark’s velocity into that vacuum was optimal. Also, Mr. Kepler says you forgot your textbook. It is on your desk. Please don’t let Mark draw stars in it."

Alex smiled.

He looked at Mark.

Mark was trying to stick the glow-in-the-dark star back onto his forehead.

"It won’t stick!" Mark complained. "I have lost my shine!"

"You shone enough today," Alex said.

"I was a comet," Mark agreed. "Fast and bright. And hungry. Do comets eat pizza?"

"I think this one does," Alex said.

They walked out of the stadium.

The London night was dark, but the stars were visible above the city lights.

Alex looked up.

He was the Golden Boy. The Center of the Universe for Arsenal.

It was a heavy burden. Gravity was heavy.

But with friends like Mark, Rico, and Milo... he didn’t have to carry it alone.

They were his constellation.

"Let’s go home," Alex said. "Zog is driving."

"SHOTGUN!" Mark yelled.

"NO, I AM THE CAPTAIN OF THE SPACESHIP!" Milo argued.