Little Sanchez // USWNT

Chapter 12

2 trips to the hospital, 8 days, and 23 stitches later, I'm finally debuting for the USWNT. 

I'm set to sub in for a midfielder around the 65th minute. Ashley is starting, but Vlatko wants us on the field at the same time, at least for a little bit. 

But when Lindsey Horan got hurt early in the game, Vlatko put me in. 

"WOOO Sanchez Jr!" Kelley said. "Go get em, Junior!" 

"Go kill it, Mini Sanchez!" Hatch said. 

Vlatko talked strategy with me for a minute, telling me what I'm supposed to do. 

"You're gonna do great." He said, and I stepped up to the middle. 

Lindsey had stayed in but was limping too much to run. So she walked off and gave me a hug as she passed me. 

I ran to Ashley to give her a high five before getting to my real spot. 

"Entering the match, making her US Women's National Team debut, number 23, Ainsley Sanchez!" 

The crowd cheered and I got the chills. 

I had a few nice runs. I megged a girl and then gave the ball up to Ashley, who took a shot but missed. I also broke the defenders' ankles like crazy. 

At halftime, everybody was impressed with what I could do. 

"Shoulda shown us that in practice, kid." Becky said, giving me a fist bump. 

"Saving it all for here, I guess." I smiled, and received a few more pats on the back and words of praise. 

After halftime, we went out just as we ended the half, which was basically how we started but I was in instead of Linds. 

Taking the field again, I had all the nerves in the world. 

I bit my nails as I stood in the middle of the field talking to Ash. 

"And make sure if I go high, then you stay back a bit. You don't have to stay back to where Andi is, but you have to cover the whole relative middle until I get back. If someone gets a break away, chase her down-" 

"Ash, I know what I'm doing. I've played soccer my whole life." I laughed. 

"I just really want you to do well." 

"I get that." 

"And I really want you to score!" 

"I really want that too!" 

"Okay go take your spot before we get yelled at." 

"Okay." 

I ran to my spot and a few seconds later the whistle blew, starting the second half. 

By the 60th minute, the score was still 0-0. It was a pretty even game. Even chances, possession, shots, shots on target. 

But one thing Germany didn't have on their side was the Sanchez sisters. 

I stole the ball at midfield, passing it off to Ashley who was open. She rolled a defender, gave it back to me after I made a run. I was wide freaking open somehow, so I yelled like crazy for that ball. She was mobbed by late defenders right after she passed me the ball, and I took one touch and blasted the ball at the net. 

It looked like it was going out, but I knew what it was about to do. 

It curved slightly, making it impossible to save in the upper right corner. 

"LITTLE SANCHEZ!" Mallory screamed. 

The crowd was going crazy already, but you best believe they went even more insane when I took off at a run and admittedly taking inspiration from the great Sam Kerr, doing a cartwheel straight into 2 back hand springs. 

Barely 3 seconds after I landed, I got tackled down to the ground by my sister. 

"That was insane!" She laughed. 

"DAMNNNN!" Kelley yelled. "Sanchez Jr's a gymnast! Who knew!"

"That might be the best goal I've ever seen."  Alex said. 

"Dude....Little Sanchez....." Mallory gave me her hand to pull me up, and Alex did the same for Ashley. 

"I can't believe that." Said Ashley, throwing her arm around my shoulders. "You're insane kid." 

"That's all you, Ash." 

Trinity was subbed in and she scored a beautiful goal, and we were up 2-0. 

Everybody celebrated, like crazy, because it was towards the very end of the game and it basically secured our win. 

"Not bad, Yrina." I said, patting her on the shoulder as I ran by. 

I haven't spoken to her at all since she showed up at the hospital. That's a whole lot of days. Like about a week. 

Because I feel guilty about her literally saving her life, but I ride my stupid high horse and I'm too fucking stubborn to thank her. 

When the game was over, I realized I had to go back to school, back to my normal life. I had to see Edelman and James and all of the annoying people from school I hate. And I also have to leave behind Mallory, Kelley and everybody. 

But I really don't know if I can say bye to my sister again for a long extended period of time. 

I knew I had to thank the girls for everything, and I knew somewhere in the back of my mind that I had to thank Trinity. 

After the game, everybody went nuts for me. And I had to go do the press conference. 

After that, we went back for our last night at the hotel. 

"Fuck, Mallory." I sighed as I zipped up my suitcase. 

"What's wrong, Little Sanchez?" She asked. 

"I don't want my time here to be done." I said. "I don't wanna leave you or Kelley or Ashley. I hate saying goodbye." 

"But we'll see you soon, I promise. Aren't you going to D.C. for Christmas break anyway?" 

"Yes, but I still have a few more weeks. And with the way life is going right now I won't live to see Thanksgiving." I joked. 

"Don't joke about that, Little Sanchez." 

"It's true though!" I laughed. 

"But I can't lose you!" She said, tackling me onto my bed and tickling me. "I need you! I love you!" 

"You've got a whole other life! You don't need me!" My extremely ticklish self said through giggles. 

"Doesn't mean you're not my best friend!" 

"Stop!" 

"What?" 

"I can't breathe!" I laughed. "And your hand is not in an-" 

"Sorry." But she kept tickling me, so much to the point where I was gasping for air. 

"What is going on here?" Ashley said, busting into our room. 

"I....can't....breathe....." I giggled. 

"Mallory, are you trying to get with my sister?" Laughed Ashley. "Your hand is a little high on her....stomach....there." 

"She's my Little Sanchez." Mal said, finally giving it a rest. 

They started talking about something I didn't care about, and after giving myself time to recover I had to take care of one more thing. 

"I'll be back in a minute." I said, and slipped out before they could ask questions.