Faulty Trust || Katie McCabe

12

A week passed without my knowledge.

That was rhetorical. Obviously, I know a week has passed because I lived through that dreadful week. I was going through the motions though, numb to the pain I was actually feeling. I distanced myself from the people who cared, and I thought I was good at hiding the pain, but apparently I wasn't because after training for the first time since the fight, Wally showed up at my doorstep and I came undone.

I told her everything about Katie and me—the good, the bad, and what I hadn't told her beforehand. Wally held me the entire time, and I made a mental note to find a way to repay her; she was my closest friend and had always been there for me. She was my rock. She was the one who helped me get through the week.

Especially when our match against Aston Villa arrived. It was another agonisingly bad game; the team wasn't clicking and it was showing. All of us were frustrated with ourselves because we all knew we were better than this. Some more than others.

Jonas had lost the locker room; it was obvious to anyone who truly read into it. I hadn't realised when I first joined, but there were internal issues that were worrying. We hadn't exactly started the season off how we wanted to, and the way this match was going wasn't helping. I leaned back, resting my head against the wall, as Kyra picked at her fingers beside me. Neither of us were listening—not until a sharp voice snapped us out of our daze.

The next thing I knew, Leah was in front of us practically pouring her heart out about our shitperformance and how we needed to turn it around. My mouth hung open slightly; I knew Leah had this type of fight in her, and I knew she was passionate about this club, but I'd never exactly seen it in person. It was kind of scary, but very motivating at the same time. Her words cut into us and pumped us up; we came together as a team listening to the likes of Kim, who gave us last-minute tactics and such. We were a team through and through; it was time we showed that.

Our chances came of nothing in most of the second half, which was even more frustrating because of the fight we had in us. Nothing would just go into the net. It was annoying. That was until stoppage time began. We were tired, I was tired, and our time to turn around this performance was running out.

I watched as the battle in midfield dragged on; it had been brutal all game long and something had to give sooner or later. The next thing I knew, Vic executed a perfectly timed slide tackle, making me grin slightly as Caitlin picked up the ball and drove towards the net. Aston Villa's defence wasn't going to let that slide as they pressured her, so in return, Caitlin passed it back to Vic. That's when I spotted Katie's run, and my eyes widened as she overlapped Vic and hammered the ball into the roof of the net. Katie tripped over the defender that had failed to block her shot, and I let out a loud laugh of amusement before quickly celebrating with the team as we reset.

It was like the energy had completely shifted within the game. We had complete control, and all of a sudden Stina was on the breakaway looking for the match winner, which she came so desperately close to. The damn woodwork would be the death of us sooner or later.

With little time left, Lotte and I pressed our defensive line up high; she carried the ball to the right side of the box, looking to cross it inwards. Beth picked up on this calling for the ball, in which Lotte obliged. Defenders began closing down on Beth as soon as the ball was at her feet, leaving her no choice but to discard the ball to Alessia, who, by some blessing, was completely unmarked and struck the ball falling in the process. I held my breath; the world slowed as the ball travelled towards the keeper who mishandled it and let it hit the back of the net.

The Emirates erupted into celebrations. We'd just come back from a 2-0 deficit. My hands shot in the air as Kim, who was a few feet ahead of me, also raised her hands in triumph as we ran towards Alessia. She was engulfed in a hug by Beth before the rest of us ran into them, all of us full of adrenaline and relief. The ref blew her whistle trying to get us to reset, and we did, but we all needed a moment. We needed this.