Getting Through Life

Chapter 31: The face-off

The match against Ireland in Wembley went great. Well, for us anyways. We won 3-0, with two goals from Hempo and one from Lucy. Fun fact: Hannah, who was the goalkeeper for that match, got an assist! 

Katie wasn't so happy we beat them, but she was happy to see us again. And yes, with us I mean just Leah, Lotte, Beth and Alessia. I was standing somewhere far, far away from that interaction, because I laughed twice when her shots got blocked. I'm not taking any chances with that woman.

I hadn't played but was benched as I expected. But only sitting there, getting to experience that, was something I wouldn't trade for the world.

Sarina talked to me, and she said that if I wanted, I'd start against the USA. This being only a friendly, she said she wanted to give me a chance to prove myself, and that way Mary and Hannah could get a rest too.

I told her that I was in fact ready, but informed her about their team as well. Meaning that they practically have my whole family playing for them and I wanted Sarina to know that. But she said she already knew and if I was ready, she'd trust me to keep it professional.

Carli is included too, but we're back on talking terms. We'll never be best friends, but I can hold a conversation with her and that's enough for me at this point.

So, I'm the starting goalkeeper this time. The match is in two days, so I'm very excited.

We arrived yesterday evening, here in Portland. The three of them already sent Leah and me hundreds of messages, asking if we've arrived yet, but we were asleep as soon as our heads hit our pillows. We agreed we'd answer them later someday, but not now.

I woke up today, and just went through a normal routine. We had breakfast and then training, ate some lunch, and got back to our hotel. I was sitting in Leah's room now, and that's when I decided to finally answer my annoying family. I quickly asked her if she was alright with it, and she was.

So, I called mom.

"Finally! What took you so long to answer me?", she picked up.

"Or me? Yeah, or me?", I heard in the background. They must have been sitting together.

"Uhm, hello?", what happened to hello? My name is? What a way to be greeted, right?

"Hello? Are you there?", mom asked as if I didn't hear her right.

"Oh yeah, I'm here. Thanks for asking me how I've been. I'm good, Leah's here. Do you want to talk to her too?", I asked while I gave Leah a wink and my phone.

"Well, that's, if,...", she stuttered but Leah interrupted her.

"Hi, Alex! Yeah, I'm good too! Oh, that's nice to hear! Alright, here's Louise back!", she shouted down the line but I was laughing too hard so I couldn't say anything anymore. So, instead of giving them a chance to talk, I just hung up again.

"Louise, don't!", Leah laughed.

"Oops", I cried out. Seconds later, my phone rang again. Only this time, it was a Facetime request from Lisa.

"Oh, let me have a second, I can't breathe", I wiped some stray tears. I'm actually curious if they learned their lesson.

"Hello?", I finally picked up again.

"Louise! How nice to hear from you! How have you been!", Lisa asked excited.

"Lisa! I'm fine, how are you!", I responded genuinely interested.

"I'm great. Look, I'm sorry mom has no manners, but she's furious right now and Tobin and I don't want to be the scapegoats... So guess what? You're it!", she shouted while I heard two people laugh and then a door was thrown closed.