The Prodigy | The Matildas

16. They Both Knew

The London weather poured down on us, each player on the field wet from the rain. My pigtails and green ribbons were soaked, drooping down sadly. 

We're winning so far, courtesy of a goal scored by Sam in the first half. The Lionesses were in possession of the ball for most of the time, meaning I had blocked a ton of goals. 

I'm really proud of my clean sheet, even though it cost me bruises all over my arms, as well as my purple goalie jersey, which is now stained with green. 

Alessia Russo charges down the field with the ball, but I quickly come between her and the ball, blocking her from stealing it back, and waiting until it goes out of bounds. Turning around, I offer Alessia a cheeky but shy smile. Ahhhh, she's so coool.

Charli scores us another goal, putting us up to 2-0. For the rest of the game, I managed to save the any goals from the England team. 

At full-time, it's official. We won against the Lionesses!

We go around, talking a bit with the Lionesses and congratulating each other. 

"Rina!" Jess yells, throwing her arm over my shoulder. I stumble a bit, almost falling over due to the unexpected force of her arm. "You were so good!"

I grin at her. "I was wasn't I?"

"Now don't get cocky." She lightly smacked the back of my head, some stray strands of hair falling out of my braids on impact. 

Alessia walks up to us. "Hey Jess, who's this?" She smiles so brightly and I just want to fangirl.

"Lessi! This is Katerina, she's from Chelsea. Rina, this is Alessia." 

I shyly wave at her. 

Alessia laughs, "you had some really good saves tonight." She complimented me!

***

I'm still beaming with joy by time I return back to the Matildas, who are all gathered, waiting for the bus back to the hotel. I had changed out of my soaked, grass-stained jersey, and into a thick hoodie and trackies. 

Once the bus arrives, I plop down in the seat next to Viney, before she and I begin chatting about what we would play tonight. Viney had brought some cards against humanities so we'll probably play that. 

Early on, I had learnt that Sam likes to be quiet on bus rides, either sleeping or listening to music, so Viney and I always sit together on bus rides now. She and I both liked talking during bus rides, plus we share a room together in the hotel for this camp, so it only made sense. 

The hotel hallways were super warm and cosy, Viney and I were near the back as the team walked back to their rooms. "Why are you skipping?" Sam said as she finally noticed my weird movements. 

"I'm trying to generate more body heat." I said as I jumped up and down more. It felt colder than usual, even though I was wearing thick clothing.

When I turned back to Viney, her face looked kind of blurred out. I looked back to Sam's figure, which faded into the background.

And then, everything went black. 

Third Person 

Kat's body crumpled into the carpeted floor, both Cortnee and Sam rushing to her in worry. 

"KitKat?" Sam gentle shook her shoulder, but the teenager never responded. "Kat?" The girl remained still. 

Cortnee placed the back of her hand against Kat's neck, "she's freezing." The girl's lips were slightly blue, heavy dark circles were under her eyes. She looked exhausted.

"Go get the medics-"

"No, no, I'm fine, I'm up." A cold hand wrapped around Sam's wrist, the teenager finally stirring. 

Sam's face scrunched in worry, "KitKat, you just fainted-"

"I'm fine."

Shaking her head, Sam dug her key-card out of her pocket before handing it to Cortnee. "Let's switch rooms just for tonight, so I can look after this child. I'm rooming with Cait, but just tell her something came up."

"Hey-"

Cortnee nods, heading towards Kat and her's room first to grab her stuff. Sam helps Kat off the floor, bringing the girl into her room before disappearing for a minute or two to grab her own stuff from her and Caitlin's room.

"Here I grabbed a sandwich from my room for you." Sam says as she gets back to the room, putting down her stuff and handing an egg and lettuce sandwich to the teenager.

Kat sits on her bed, holding the sandwich which is still wrapped in plastic. She turns it around, observing the sandwich, observing it's packaging. "I'm not hungry. I still feel queasy."

"Even more of a reason to eat." Sam replies. "Besides, you have to eat. If this happens again, you might have to sit out on a few games."

Nodding, Kat hesitantly unwraps the sandwich, nibbling on the bread. 

"Do you know why you fainted?" Sam asks. Kat shook her head but she did know. They both knew by now. But neither of them want to say it. "Well, clearly you didn't pass out from meeting Alessia Russo." She jokes. 

"She was super sweet." 

"What and I'm not?! You weren't this excited to meet me on the first day of camp."

"Well, I was more worried that I wouldn't be able to block a single goal against you." 

"And look at you now. Getting a clean sheet in a game against someone like Alessia Russo."

The two keep talking as Kat slowly devours the sandwich, an innocent little discussion between two people who considered each other family.