𝙄𝙣 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙌𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩 𝙈𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 - 𝘊𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘯 𝘍𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘥

𝙎𝙞𝙭. 𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘺

I sat in the changing rooms brushing through my hair before I would ask Steph to braid it. She'd help me with my hair before every game and if she was too busy, I'd ask Caitlin or Lia.

"Steph." I call the girl and she nods, ushering me over. I grab my comb and my hairties before running over to her and sliding onto the ground.

"Woah, calm it." She laughs at me while I turn around to face away from her.

"Helloo, Caitlin." I wave at her while she walks over to sit down inbetween Steph and Lia.

"Why're you so chirpy?" Caitlin asks, laughing at me.

"Can a girl not be excited to see one of her best friends?"

"I've made the best friend list?" Caitlin asks with an amused smile.

"Well, if you don't want to be on it I can cross your name off."

"No, no. I wanna stay on it. Who else is on this list?" Caitlin asks me.

"Rachel, Kristie, Steffy," I look up at the girl doing my hair and she smiles back at me, "Beth 'cause I can't escape her so I might aswell put her on there, you and Lia." I answer.

"I'm honoured." Caitlin rests her hand on her heart as she speaks while Lia smiles beside her.

"Me too." Lia smiles. Lia and I had grown close aswell, but it was more on default since she was always around Caitlin as the two were dating.

"I'm nearly done." Steph tells me when she sees me getting fidgety, knowing I was growing restless of having to stay still for so long. She'd grown to know me really well. She was good at reading people.

"Elena, can you not braid?" Caitlin asks me.

"No, never learnt." I shrug.

"It's easy, you can learn from a youtube video."

"Nah, I don't want to." I brush her suggestion off as Steph ties off the second french braid she'd done and placed the two infront of my shoulders to let me see them.

"But it's easier than having to get other people to do your hair." Caitlin says and I feel myself grow annoyed.

"I said I don't want to, Caitlin." I snap at the Australian as I stand up. I see the shocked look that Steph and Lia are giving me. I've never gotten angry infornt of the team, but they didn't get it. I had reasons behind why I didn't learn to do things like braid my hair. They wouldn't understand it though.

I shake my head and turn away. Steph tries grabbing my hand to pull me back to them, but I yank my hand away and walk to my cubby before pulling my phone out and ignoring everyone around me. I needed to calm down before I let my anger out onto the pitch.

The girls and I that were starting stood in our positions. Manu was in goal, Noelle, Lotte, Lia and Katie made up the back line, Kim, Jill and I made up the middle line and Beth, Viv and Caitlin made up the front.

Caitlin had tried to appologise to me when we were walking through the tunnel, but I had just told her to focus on the game and brushed her off. I could hear Lia telling her it was okay behind me as I walked quicker onto the pitch.

As I stood in position, I scanned over the United starting players. I noticed a few familiar faces and then one that made my stomach drop. I didn't think I'd have to face her for a while. Not until the Olympics, considering she'd most likely be chosen to represent her country.