My Cure - Mallory Pugh/USWNT (Sequel to Attached)

Chapter 38

Morgana's POV

I went to go pick up Mal at the airport, I cried. 

I hated being away from her while cleaning yesterday, and specially while reading that note. 

We spent the next few days together, cleaning out the house and then we went on our big vacation. 

The suspect that we were together was huge now, because we traveled to all of these European countries together. 

We figured why not just pull the trigger and say it. 

But we waited until we got home. 

Sanchez had texted us a few times about randos that had gotten into our after party after we won the Concacaf championship and how they were going to release pictures of us. How she talked to them I'll never know, but it's either us say it or the randos expose us. 

So the first thing I did was tell my parents, who said they had very high suspicions. That made us all laugh, and they didn't treat us any differently. It was still the same. 

And the next thing that we did was get a picture of us from Sanchez, who somehow got one from the randos. Still, no idea how she got in contact with them. 

Then I posted it and put as the caption a Taylor Swift lyric: 'I hate accidents, except when we went from friends to this.' 

The world went crazy after that.

There was 2 sides to this. The people that thought we were together, and the people who thought I was with Sanchez for whatever reason. 

We went back to Chicago where I scored once a game every game, keeping up my absurd streak of scoring for club and country. I had the record by far, passing Carli Lloyd. It was insane to pass her, as she's one of the greatest soccer players ever. 

Then we went to play Nigeria, where we had a new girl join the squad. 

Her and Sanchez became fast friends. 

We won both of those games, and when we came home we remained in first place in the NWSL standings. 

We literally only lost 3 games all season, and those were all when Mal, Alyssa and I went on international duty. We missed more games, but they won those. 

We were 15-3-4, which was the best record the NWSL has ever had. 

We clinched our playoff spot early, and I finished the regular season with 22 goals, a new league record. 

My life was sweeter than fiction right now, so unreal. It was too good to be true, but the good things kept coming. 

We were set to play England and Spain overseas, so we headed there. These games were just a few weeks before the NWSL championship, which we really wanted to be in. 

So here we are now, in England. Wembley Stadium. 

It's game day, and I am literally petrified. 

After training the past week, we all explored London, and it was so fun to do in our little group. 

But I'm still nervous, because England is supposed to be really good. They won the Euros, and we won the Concacaf, which is known to be a bit easier. 

I took a deep breath before stepping onto the field for the pledge of allegiance. 

In USWNT games, there;s almost no continuity to anything, like there's no home stadium, different hotels all the time. I guess that's how it is on an away game, but we usually only play one or two in a row and can go home  after. This time we had to travel for almost 2 weeks with the team, no going home. 

But the pledge was always there, and it was the perfect time for me to gather all my thoughts and worries and put them away. 

Then we took our starting picture, another thing I could count on. Something that always made me laugh. 

I took a deep breath as I looked out to the packed stands, but this time they weren't there to cheer for me. They were there to cheer against me. 

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TV Broadcast 

"Morgana LaRue. Many think of her to be the best player in the wield right now. At just 20 years old. Do you agree, Sebastian?" Asked Julie Foudy. 

"I'm going to have to agree, Julie. She's got a crazy scoring streak for club and country. She's done things and broken records already, at 20, that not even players like Carli Lloyd, or Alex Morgan, or even Abby Wambach have done." 

"She really is just phenomenal. And we'll see how she does against England. In recent games, she's been known to throw the team on her back and carry them to a win in recent games. Club and country." Julie said.  

"She's become the glue for this USA side. She is just so dominant. And to think just a year ago she was only on the U-20 squad. Crazy. Many wonder what could have happened if Vlatko had taken a look at her after she scored 4 goals against Japan in a friendly in early 2021. Maybe, she could have gotten them through the Olympics with more than a bronze." 

"I think things worked out exactly as they should have for her. I mean she's the hometown hero. She's the hero of the SheBelieves Cup. She's the missing piece in this rebuilding stage. I don't think she's going anywhere any time soon."