Fine Line ✸ Sam Kerr

II. You Came Out Of The Blue Like That

★ two ,
  you came out of
the blue like that.

MELBOURNE
       april 2022

*ੈ✩‧₊˚. ODESSA BUCKLEY sat on a bench inside the matilda's home ground building. her eyes grazing across the many, strung up photos of the past matildas. each generation of women representing the australian football team, each holding a label on their back.

there was something about a world cup that meant so much to odessa, being selected on the team, playing for her nation. it was dream she had held onto so tightly since she started netball when she was eight years old.

she wanted to wear that bright yellow and lined green netball dress, pair it with the teams matching white and pink asic's, she wanted to wear a yellow ribbon in her dark hair. she wished to represent her country as australia's goal attack, she nearly had that opportunity in 2019. being only nineteen years ago, it meant a lot to her, playing two quarters of goal shooter in game one and three quarters of goal attack in game two, before her ankle injury, that sustained her from continuing to play for the australian diamonds.

"ever played football before?" a player popped around the corner, making herself known. odessa's eyes shot towards the girl, sam kerr. australia's key striker.

odessa shook her head softly "too confusing, mum tried to teach me once. but i ended up flat on my face and broke my nose"

sam chuckled, she tapped the drink bottle in her hand. placing it between her legs as she took a seat beside odessa on the bench "you've had a lot of injuries over the years."

odessa shrugged "if you're not counting jarred fingers, snapped knees and rolled ankles. then breaking my nose and doing my ACL, are the only two injuries i've had."

"to be fair, i have broken my nose twice in football" sam nodded her head "never really knew how to take a hit to the face." she trailed off, her eyes drifting towards odessa's leg "how long until you're able to get back on court?"

odessa shifted in her seat "doctor said october is the earliest, march is the latest. so, i'm hoping for october. but the way it's going, and the lack of movement i get out of it, i'm not sure how long it'll take. . ."

sam sighed "if you're determined enough, i'm sure you'll be back and playing for the swifts by october."

odessa nodded her head "i just need to run, i don't want to sit back and do weights all day to built the muscle tissue up. i just want to run, shoot hoops and pray that it'll be fine when i wake up the following day"

"so why can't you?"

odessa let's her hands fall into her lap "because my mother wants my ACL to heal the way the doctor said it has to, and don't get me wrong, i understand that. but doing what i'm doing— i'm five months into healing and sometimes when i'm simply moving around i feel it pull."

sam shrugged "so do what you think will help it heal, you're mother can't control your body — don't tell her i said that, i love kat." her eyes widened in the end with a small smile "go for a run around the block"

"she'll know, trust me" odessa rubbed her face harshly "it's not like i can sneak behind her back, i'm not a crappy teenager anymore. she knows me better than anyone."