“Shoot!"

Max kicked the ball with full force and beamed in satisfaction when it went in. He was nearly half the field away and the ball still went in easily. His tail wagged; he still hadn't lost his touch.

“Andrew, man your post! You four, left wing!" he barked to his juniors. They went to position quickly.

The ball was kicked, and Max moved aside to let his juniors play. He watched in confidence as Jeremy took control of it and ran towards the goal. Before the other team could catch it, he passed it to Nick, who quickly caught it and shot.

The ball didn't go in, but Nick was quick to run towards where it was going.

“Nick, pass the ball! Pass the ball!"

The cat passed the ball but kept running as a backup. The other team was close to their post, but Andrew caught the ball before it could go in.

Just before Andrew could throw it back to the field, the whistle was blown and everyone stopped.

Max clapped his hands. “Okay everyone, time's up! Go back to the podiums."

Everyone did so and walked towards the podiums where the others were sitting next to the football field. The rest of his juniors were already there as they had played before. He chuckled a little when he saw Nick with a defeated expression on his face walking towards the podium. He took a few steps and picked the ball up, then walked along towards the podium.

The coach was, well, he didn't smile a lot, but Max already knew him enough to tell that he was satisfied with the game. And he himself was, too. The new batch seemed to catch up quite well. Everyone without fur was sweating and the ones who had fur had their tongues out. Max was tempted to do the same, but he held back. Instead, he breathed heavily.

“I expected a good game from you," The coach started. Everyone looked at him as they sat down. “and a good game I got. Today I see a lot of improvement from our last meeting. Well done."

All of them clapped their hands.

Max caught sight of Nick smiling in satisfaction. He stood next to the coach with Andy.

The coach continued. “However, we still have work to be done. As you know, the Inter-Uni is just around the corner, and if you want to make it in, we still need to keep improving. As with traditions, the first-year batch is responsible for getting us into the Inter-Uni as we pave our way up to the nationals. We still have around three months so keep up the good work and keep on improving."

Everyone clapped their hands again, and this time the coach smiled. “Thank you for coming today. Have a great weekend."

Max was about to head to the changing room, but the coach stopped him. “Hey Rob,"

“Yes, sir?" He took his water bottle and gulped it.

“I don't think I'll be coming to supervise next week, so I want you to take my place when I'm gone, alright?"

“Got it. Why, though?"

“My wife's delivering any day now, and I wanna be there when she does. Even when she does before next Friday, I'll take a few days off."

Max walked next to him. “Sure thing. Is it a boy or a girl?"

His coach laughed. “No idea. We wanted to keep it a secret until they're coming. I kind of wish it's a boy."

“I fear the little one's gonna get your wrath." The dog laughed along.

“My wrath is legendary, I know." He chuckled as he took his bag from the podium seat. “Anyway, till the week after."

“Till the week after."

The coach patted his shoulder and went away. Some of the juniors chirped “thanks, sir" as he passed by.

Max took the stairs and went inside the changing room. Some of the juniors had already left or were in the showers, leaving the changing room deserted. The dog took his jersey off and put it on his bag, then took his towel and headed to the showers.

He was smelly today.

“Nice kick, mate." Andy greeted him. In the shower stall next to him, Octo nodded with a smile.

“Thanks," Max turned an empty shower on and put his towel on the hanger, turning the water on and ignoring the stares he got.

Sometimes he liked to show off a bit. He was hot and he knew it, thank you.

His tail wagged a little as the warm water rained down onto his body, his fur softening as the water flowed. He took his shampoo and applied it to his body, earning a few glances from the others.

He nearly chuckled.

“Hey, uh, Max."

Turning his head to the source of the sound, he saw Nick a few stalls behind him. He nodded to acknowledge him. Weird, Nick always left early and never had a shower here.

“Um, sorry about earlier. I should've made it in, I—"

Max put his finger on his mouth, instantly shutting the cat up. He then smiled, “First time taking shower here?"

“Er, yeah."

Max rubbed his back as far as he could reach. “First rule of taking shower here: don't talk to anyone when it's full."

“Oh," Nick looked around. There were some people who looked at him in curiosity. “Uh,"

“Only talk when it's less crowded." The dog continued with a smile. “Talk to me later outside."

“Uh, right. Sorry."

Max winked his right eye, then continued scrubbing his body. He caught someone staring at him, then he posed to let them get a better view, caressing his abs as the shampoo washed away.

He saw Octo shaking his head as he passed. He just grinned.

After he was done, he shook off his body to get the water away and took his towel, then walked to the blower room.

“It's nice to show off, isn't it?"

When he was done, Max saw Andy grinning and Octo smiling amusedly at him. He just laughed. Andy punched him when he opened his locker.

“Yo, that hurts like hell." He faked a hurt expression and gripped his upper arm where Andy punched him. “Ow, I think my arm's gonna fall off."

“Ye ought to take this punishment, for you have brought sin upon this land." The lion laughed and kept punching him.

Max just laughed along and put his trousers on. Next to them, Octo chuckled.

“You got any plans, Max?" the panther asked.

Andy stopped punching Max and put his t-shirt on. “See? Ye've made the big bad panther want to ask you out already."

“Shut up." Octo kicked the lion, making Andy laugh again.

“Not really." The German Shepherd shrugged, then he put his baggy t-shirt on. “I wanna go to the library to return the books I borrowed. And maybe getting some books I can use to do my German homework."

Octo raised his eyebrows. “Aren't you German?"

“Dude, I'm like a hundred generation down. I can't speak German." Max sighed. “No one in the family can. Been that way since I was born."

“That's unfortunate of you." Andy closed his locker after pulling his bag. “Anyway, it's Friday, mate. We're gonna hit the bars later tonight. Wanna come along?"

“Didn't the team wanna hang out at your place?"

“Change of plan. I didn't have enough booze, so we decided to hit the bars."

“Or, you know, Andy didn't want anyone to read his porn mags again." Octo kicked the lion's feet. Andy yelped, “Hey!"

Max chuckled. “Nah, go have fun. The homework's due next week." He pulled his bag out and closed his locker, mindful of his wet towel. “Although maybe I'll come if I finish it before you get home. The one down Harry Street, right?"

They nodded.

“I'll tell you later whether I go or not."

“Nice."

“Is John coming along?"

“Yep."

“Uh, Max?"

The dog turned around and saw Nick and Andrew walking towards him, the former having his ears almost flat. “Hey, dude. You wanna ask something?"

“No, it's just…" Nick pulled his bag tighter. “Sorry for not making it in."

“He feels bad, you know, about that kick," Andrew said.

“That's fine, mistakes are made." Max chuckled and gestured to them to follow him outside, Andy and Octo leading the way. “You didn't make the ball go in, sure, but you were quick to act and chase the ball again. It could've been stolen by the other team if you hadn't done so." He put his hand around the cat's neck, the cat only reaching up to his upper chest. “But, what mistake did you make when you kicked the ball?"

“Um, the ball went too right."

“So, what can you do to avoid that?"

“Kick it more to the left?"

“Yes, because?"

Nick went quiet and scratched his ear.

Max smiled. “You need to compensate for the possible air resistance. Did you notice that the wind was blowing from your left?" He made gestures with his hand. “Not only you need to shoot straight, but a little bit more to the left. Feel the force of the wind, then adjust your kick towards where the wind was blowing. It's fine if you went too left, but if the wind was strong enough, the ball will turn slightly to the right than the otherwise straight direction."

“Oh yeah, I didn't think of that." The cat looked at him. “But how can I feel the wind?"

“You're a cat, you can do that. Just feel it around you." Max let him go. “The problem, ball went too right. The cause, wind. The solution, calculate air resistance. Well, not calculate mathematically, just feel the wind and adjust from there. Keep exercising and you might make the team, squirt." He ruffled the cat's hair, then glanced at Andrew. “You too, Andrew."

Nick beamed brightly at him, his ears now pointed up. “Thanks, Max. See you next exercise!"

Max chuckled. “Later." Then he caught up with Octo and Andy who were several steps in front of him.

“What was that?" Andy asked, not glancing up from his phone.

“Just some junior asking a question." The dog scratched his neck. “What time is it?"

“Almost 4.50 pm."

“Damn, the library's gonna close soon."

They arrived at the parking space. Andy out his car key out and got in. “Dog wants a ride?"

“The library's just a few minutes' walk from here."

Octo got in next to Andy and put his bag in the backseat. “It's gonna close soon, remember?"

“Oh yeah, right." Max opened the back door and got in. He then took his phone out and checked his WhatsUp. His team changed plans an hour ago; maybe he was too busy teaching his juniors. The PR 2016 group was buzzing with new messages, too. He chuckled and decided to open it.

There were lots of messages, most of them he didn't even know yet. PR 2016 was divided into three classes, and he got class A all of them, so he only knew those from class A.

A pinned message appeared; Tom had pinned a message. He tapped on it and saw it was a list of next week's homework.

Tch, German on Tuesday. Fuck, must it be that soon?

Sometimes he kind of envied Martin, Tom, Lucy, and many others in his class who could speak their ancestor's or their native language. But really, he just saw there was no need to. It had never been high in his priority list.

“Here we go, Max."

Max glanced up from his phone and saw the big sign of 'Library of the University of Barrowisle' above the building's entrance outside the window. The building itself was seemingly ancient yet well-preserved.

With a sigh, he took his bag and got out of the car. “Thanks, man."

“No probs. See ya."

“See ya."

Andy drove off, leaving Max alone in front of the library. It didn't seem to be closing; it looked like there were still many people inside and more still coming in. His ears drooped a little.

He gave another sigh out of tiredness and went inside.

It was still crowded, well, as crowded as a library could. He noticed some glances directed his way, followed by some whispers. Ignoring them, he walked towards the receptionist and noticed something.

Wait, wasn't that Tom?

He saw him taking books from someone and put it away, his smile visible. He then turned and crouched, but then he stood up again and their eyes met. The wolf looked surprised, but he quickly regained his composure.

Max smiled at him. “Hey."

“Uh, hey." Tom smiled back. There was a name tag on his pristine white shirt with his full name, Thomas L. Purnama. Behind him, the dog saw his tail wag. “How can I help you?"

“I wanna return the books I borrowed a week ago. I hope it's not too late." He put his bag on the table and took the books out.

“You're not too late. We're still open until 22."

“Wait, really?" Max looked at him. “Isn't the library open until 5?"

“The renovations are done, so now we're open from 8 to 22, mister…?"

“Kleinschmidt." Max chuckled. “Seriously, Tom?"

“Hey, I was being a good host." He said playfully. “So, you want to return some books?"

“Yeah. I borrowed some." The dog took his pocket out and picked his library card. “Here."

Tom took it and the books, then scanned them and put it on the tray behind him. “Thank you, Mr Kleinschmidt. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

He directed his glance to his bag.

The wolf kept on staring at him.

“Tom, the bag."

“Oh, right." He chuckled sheepishly. “You want to get in?"

“Yeah."

“Wait," he took out a key card and gave it to the dog. “Here's your key card. Number 138."

“Thank you." Max took it with mock grace, then chuckled. “So, you work here?"

“Part-time," Tom answered. “It's not much, but I like it here."

The dog closed his bag and slung it over his shoulder. “When's your shift?"

“Actually 12 to 17, Monday to Friday, but I opted for 11 to 16 on Tuesdays because we have class on 17, and 9 to 14 on Wednesdays. We have full classes on Thursday, so I moved to Saturday."

“Dude, you work on Saturday? That's rough."

“Well, I often come here anyway so it's not that bad." The wolf shrugged. “Now go away, you're holding the queue."

“Oh, sorry." He moved to the left. Just when he was about to head to the lockers, he remembered his homework. Well, might as well do it with the wolf. “Yo, Tom, your shift's gonna end soon, right? Can you help me with German?"

“Uh, well, sure." Tom nodded, then he looked flustered and his ears pinned down. Damn, he looked cute when he was flustered. “I'll go pack up first."

“Cool, meet me when you're done. I'll be in the corner near the computer section entrance."

Tom gave him a thumbs-up. Max then headed straight to the lockers, put his bag in, took out his headset and German textbook, and went inside.