The Prodigy | The Matildas

2. I'm not a child Sam!

The next two days passed by in a blur, Sam and I becoming a lot closer in those days. In a way, she's kind of the big sister I never had. And by that I mean she bullies me.

"Come on KitKat! You can do better than that!" She yelled at me. I was taking the maximum speed test, the staff wanting me to reach my peak speed. "Yelling at me won't make me faster Sammy!" I push my legs as fast as I can, frustration pent up about the criticism on my speed. As I come off the field, Sam meets me.

"See, yelling did make you faster." Quite early on, Sam realised that I did not take feedback well. And by that, I mean when I am given criticism, I burn with spite and pettiness to prove them wrong, usually resulting in me doing better than before. Sam exploited this as much as possible.

"How do you feel about meeting the rest of the Matildas tomorrow?" She nudged my shoulders. I was the only one who had a true purpose in coming early to camp, Sam just tagged along, sometimes joining in on the training. By sometimes, I mean always. We played a lot of penalties together. "Ah, not too excited. Like I'm excited to meet them- but not going to lie, I'm quite intimidated."

"Nah what'd you mean? The other girls will love ya."

"I don't know, how much do you love for a 15 year old child prodigy to come onto the national team after only playing for 3 years. I'd be pretty pissed." Sam looks at me shocked.

"You've only been training for 3 years?!" Whelp I guess I forgot to tell Sam that. "Ok well, yeah I'd look at you with a bit of jealousy, but it's good that you're, well, good. When one is a great player, it makes us a great team."

Guess I never thought about it that way. I was never that much of a team player until now. I performed solos for ballet, I didn't play in a band for guitar, and I normally didn't need to communicate with the team that much back in my school's football team.

"Ok yeah, that makes me feel a lot better. Thanks Sammy."

"I'm glad it made you feel better. Cause this is the perfect moment." She took my shoulders, and spun me around.

"Hey newbie." Goddammit is everyone gonna come early or what?

"Macca, great to see you again!" Sam went in for a hug as I awkwardly stood there, looking anywhere but at the pair as they catch up real quick. "Great to be back!"

"Hey Mac, see you've already met the newbie." Tony walked up to the trio, "Macca, this is Katerina Steele, a new goalkeeper. Kat, this is Macca, I'm sure you know of her."

"Yep, I do." I say awkwardly shuffling on my feet. "Since there's three of you, why don't you girls play a few friendlies on the field?" Tony said, before heading off. "One more thing, Kat, the staff are preparing for an ice bath later."

I turned to both Sam and Macca. "Goddammit, I was really hoping he'd forget." They both laughed at my pain as I sulked.

***

Sam and Macca were playing against each other, whilst I was goalkeeping for everyone. If Sam scored, she wins, if Macca scores, she wins, and if neither do, I win. I don't know how long we had been playing but after Sam tried to shoot 5 times and Macca twice, they'd both given up.

"Damn Kat, Sam was right, you're really good." Macca said, putting on her gears. We had decided to switch since we were getting nowhere with this. Macca was keeping, and Sam and I were now shooting.

Sam had the ball, dribbling it towards the goal, blocking me in the meanwhile, before trying to shoot, which, of course Macca blocked. When she blocked the ball, I ran for it before just kicking it immediately. It got in. "Yess!" I celebrated, jumping up and down. "I'm so surprised that made it, I haven't shot a goal in ages."

"Come on Macca, how'd you lose to KitKat, she trains less than you." Sam teased. "You know you also lost right?" I deadpan.

"It's not as easy as you think." Macca smirks, taking off her gloves, "care to give it a try?" She holds them out to Sam, giving her a challenge. And Sam being Sam, "Yeah, I'll show ya."

Long story short, Macca immediately shot a goal, and I let her, not even bothering to try get the ball, just laughing at Sam's defeat. "See, KitKat's on my side."

Sam shot an exaggerated face, "damn and I thought you loved me KitKat." She held her heart like she was in pain. "Nah, you dissed on our job."

"Kat! The ice baths are ready!" Tony yelled from inside.

"Fuck!"

"Language, KitKat!" "I'm not a child Sam!"

"Sam, Macca, you too, you've been playing for 2 hours!"

"FUCK"

***

"Oh my god just get in." Macca and I have been in the ice bath for almost 5 minutes and Sam was still resisting the ice bath. "Once, you're in its not that bad anyways."

"Nah she's like this every time. We usually just wait for someone to push her in." Macca said, already used to this.

"Hah, but this time, there's no one to push me in" Sam stuck her tongue out. "I can't believe that you think I'm the child here" I waddle towards Macca. She subtly tilts her head at Sam.

I look at Sam, still leaning against the edge of the inflatable pool, looking back at us. Only this time, Ellie Carpenter is standing behind her, smirking. She nods in acknowledgement of my new presence before harshly pushing Sam into the pool.

"PFFT AHAHAHHA" Ellie burst out laughing as Sam resurfaced, shivering. "Dammit, why is it always you Ellie?"

She ignores Sam, walking towards the me at the other end of the pool. "Hey, I'm Ellie. We've heard a lot about you Kat." What?

Both Sam and Macca are avoiding eye contact. "Yeah they've been talking about a new recruit on the group chat, all good things nothing bad." So that's why Macca wasn't too surprised to see me.

"Ugh, this is so embarrassing." My words are muffled as I bury my face into my hands.

"Don't be, the entire team is excited to meet you." Shit, that's even worse.

"What have you doneeeee." I whine as I sink into the ice bath, the water muffling the laughs of the other girl.