Number on me

10. Deneb

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Maxine kept her eyes closed, feeling extremely peaceful in the comfort of her hospital bed. She took a moment to come to her senses. She heard the constant beeping of the machine she assumed to be a heart monitor. She also felt a slight ache in her wrist, which made sense after just waking up from her wrist surgery.

She scrunched her eyebrows when she heard a voice. She failed to open her eyes and realised that she wasn't as awake as she thought. Upon hearing a second voice, she finally managed to get a look of her room.

The first thing she noticed, was the giant teddy bear sitting on the edge of her bed. Her eyebrows furrowed a bit further when she saw the helium unicorn ballon floating near the bed.

'Hey sleepyhead', a voice said from the chair. Maxine tried to point her head to the sound, but had to take a second, for she was still struggling to wake up. As an answer, she managed to get out some sort of grunt.

A few laughs.

Confused, as she only told her coach about her surgery, and there seemed to be at least three people in her room, Maxine finally managed to fully focus on her room, and sat up a bit more straight. Kim, Leah, Viv, Beth and Lia looked back at her.

'What are you guys doing here?' Max said with an extremely groggy voice.

'You're 18 years old with no family in a new country, did you think we would let you wake up from surgery alone?' Lia responded with a soft voice and a sweet smile. Max was still confused, as she didn't know how they even knew about her surgery. Kim seemed to read her mind.

'I'm your skipper, Leah your vice-captain. Did you really think Jonas wouldn't let me and Leah know that you were about to have a surgery?' Max leaned back, feeling slightly stupid as Kim made a lot of sense. She was so used to figuring things out on her own, she didn't realise her medical updates would obviously be shared with the team captain.

As she closed her eyes, she remembered her catastrophic last training, and the fact that she still hadn't apologised to anyone in this room. She bit her lip, not sure how to start.

'I wanted to say, to you all really, I'm really sorry for Saturday, it wasn't okay and I know that. It won't happen again I promise.'

A quick look between Lia and Leah. And Beth with the answer, that sounded somewhat rehearsed, making Maxine wonder if this has been topic of conversation before she woke up.

'No one is mad at you Maxine, we are all a bit worried about you, and the way you left training didn't help. Please, if you don't feel alright, talk to one of us next time?' Maxine just nodded, feeling like a stone made her way in her throat.
Viv opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Maxine's surgeon walked in.

'Hey, good to see you awake! How are you feeling? She said, looking way fresher than Max was feeling.

'Alright', Maxine responded, not really over the conversation she had with her teammates.

'The surgery went well. I saw a lot of wear and tear, but your bone didn't sustain any further damage, did you use your wrist in exercises at all lately?' Maxine turned red, knowing she couldn't lie with her teammates present, who had all seen her do push- and pull-ups. Her guilty look was enough answer for the doctor.

'Maxine I need you to actually take it easy this time. Any strain for the first two weeks could seriously damage the bone, or even break it again. If you can't be responsible with your body I will advice you don't train at all for a while.'
Maxine seemed to have lost her voice, feeling both guilty and lost, and she hated both options the doc was giving her.

Kim answered for her; 'we'll make sure she doesn't use her arm in exercises for those two weeks. And I'll tell our coach to rule her out for the games as well.'

Leaning back in her pillow annoyed, Maxine closed her eyes while her teammates talked to her doctor a bit more. This wasn't the way Max had planned it. She figured she would have been the only one at arsenal to know she shouldn't be playing or using her arm, and now everyone would know, effectively prolonging the time she wouldn't be playing.

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Maxine was being driven home by Beth and Viv. The car ride was relatively silent, with only some small conversations every once in awhile.

In the hospital, Maxine had received the sternest talking to she ever had, from her five visitors. It was all about putting her body first, about how health is important and about how she should have talked to them about the pain in her wrist.
Maxine was polite, nodded yes and you're right, and prayed for it to be over quick. It was not.

Now, Beth and Viv pulled up to Maxine's flat for the first time, after not letting her walk home, despite Maxine's protests. Not trying to be rude and sending them on their way, Maxine offered them a tour in her apartment.

She showed them the kitchen and living area, where they looked at her black book shelf a bit funny. She showed her spare room, that desperately needed work, and then walked to her bedroom. She wanted to walk back to the living space when Beth raised her voice; 'that medal, in front of your bed, is it a special one?'

On the wall opposite of Maxine's bed, a singular medal was hanged. Most athletes would chose to present a medal with a nice memory in their home; perhaps the first one they ever won, or the most special one. Maxine was different, the medal in her bedroom wasn't even gold, it was silver.
Maxine was in France, playing in an international youth tournament at the u17 level, when she was 15 years old. She had an amazing tournament, giving many assists and even scoring a direct corner kick, which went viral online.
The team made it to the finals, to play against Spain. The game was rough, with the Spanish girls dominating the first half. The Dutch girls managed to come back to 3-2 when in the 86th minute Maxine's striker was pulled down in the box.

Maxine had always excelled at penalties, being practically unfazed by the pressure many felt in those moments. She too, the ball and got ready to shoot it the way she had many times before. She missed. The ball hit the post, bouncing off for the Spanish defenders to clear. Her team lost 3-2, brining home the silver.

Other athletes might try and forget the devastating loss, especially if they had played such an important part in it. Maxine wasn't like other athletes, she wanted the constant reminder, the constant pain. The medal on her wall reminded her of a feeling she never wanted to experience again. It motivated her to get out of bed in the morning, to train to the fullest every single day, to be better.

'Yeah, it is a really special one.'

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Hey guys!

I'm currently on holidays which is why I'm not updating as much. I will keep working on it tho :)
Wishing you all the best remainder of summer <3

Xx Belle