USWNT - High School

Chapter 16

Christen's POV

"It's Moe." Julie looked at me, putting the phone on speaker so I could hear. She looked terrified as she held it up in front of us.
"I'm at the hospital, everyone's here now. Kelley and Carli went in to see Hope, we don't really know much yet." Morgan spoke carefully and she sounded exhausted. I felt bad for her.
"Ok, how's everyone? How are you, are you okay?" Julie asked, sounding stressed now herself. She was worried about her friend, that's easy to see. I reached out and took her free hand in mine, squeezing it lightly.
"Good, considering. I'm a little shocked and confused still honestly, I mean I barely know these people and now we're here in this emotional situation and it's just a little much I suppose. Has anyone talked to Lindsay?" Moe sighed heavily on the other end. Julie squeezed my hand tighter, probably trying her best to stay strong for her friend.
"It's gonna be okay, Moe. And no, I haven't. I can call her, don't worry about that." Julie said back, trying to calm down Morgan.

"I'll let you know of anything changes, okay? Thank you, bye." Moe said, and we hung up after saying goodbye. Julie let out a deep breath I don't think she knew she was holding in. I met her eyes and easily saw how her brain was working full speed to figure this out.
"Are you okay?" I asked, knowing it's kind of a terrible question to ask. Of course she's not.
"I'm just worried about Moe. And Hope obviously, and Carli and you know." Julie buried her face in her hands.
She's such a caring person, always caring about everyone else. She makes sure everyone else stays happy and safe, but forgets herself.
"Well, I'm worried about you." I looked at her, and she met my eyes. She looked confused.
"You can't fix everything. This is probably one of those things you can't do anything about, so just think about yourself a little, okay?" I smiled, hoping she got what I was saying.
"For me?" I added, now getting a smile in return. "Anything for you." She sighed.

**

Kelley's POV

"Hey there, champ." Carli suddenly spoke up, leaning down next to Hope's seemingly asleep body. We had both just stared for what felt like forever, taking in the sight in front of us.
"It's me, Car." Carli continued, now trying to sound more cheerful in her words. The whole situation was surrealistic, and I honestly still wasn't sure if this is just some kind of a horrific nightmare. It felt that way.
"I'm here with Kelley." Carli again cut me out of my thoughts, and I saw she was now looking at me. Her eyes was begging for me to respond, to help her out. I couldn't say no.
I've heard people say that when you're in a coma you can hear what people say to you. I don't know if that is true or not, but I guess it's worth a shot. At least to help Carli deal.
"Hi, Solo." I said, doing everything I could to not let the tears come back. I noticed Carli wanted me to step closer, but my feet wouldn't move. I was frozen in my spot.
Carli stood up again, and walked back to where I was standing. She took my hand.
"It's okay." She whispered, her voice close to breaking under her breath. She gave me a pale smile and I let her lead me closer to the bed.

At first I couldn't get myself to look at Hope's face. I solely focused on her hands, the ones that have prevented so many goals, held my hands a thousand times, made me feel better. There was nothing I wanted more in the world in that exact moment tha for those hands to wipe away my tears and hug me tight.

"Kelley here is not mad at you for leaving, okay? But I am. Damn straight I am. I swear when you wake up, I'm gonna freaking kill you for leaving me. I've been so damn worried, Hope." Carli suddenly raised her voice, and I was taken aback by her words. She went from calm and collected, to a mess in like 0.3 seconds. I squeezed her hand tight and tried to stay collected for her now.

The two strong leaders of our team, both so completely out of their element. I hate this, I hate everything about this so deeply.

"I think what Carli is trying to say," I started speaking again, looking towards Carli to see if she was okay with me giving it a go. She nodded, desperately trying to keep the tears back. For once in her life, Carli Lloyd wasn't successful with what she tried to do.
"is that we all care about you so much, and when you leave like that, we worry. You can't keep running from the people that loves you, Hope." I knew I was talking about all of us in general, but the word 'love' still stood out to me. It came as a reflex, like there was no other word I could ever possibly use.
"Now you better wake up, cause we sure have a lot to talk about. And I just want you to know, I'm not mad. If anything, I hope you're not mad at me. There's a lot going on right now and I just-" I stopped myself. I felt a tear running down my cheek again, and my voice was now trembling under my breath.

I felt the need to explain myself, but I wasn't sure what I did really. Hope was the one that left and yes, I reacted in a way that probably was immature and unnecessary, but Hope was the one that ended us. Whatever we had, she was the one that stopped it. I had every right to do what I did next, at least I keep telling myself that. But here we are. Or here I am, explaining myself to Hope's unconscious body. Explaining something I don't even understand myself.

"She's not." Carli snapped me out of my thoughts, looking more calm now.
"She's not mad at you. I know that for a fact. She could never be, probably no matter what you did." She continued, letting out a short laugh as she shook her head slightly.
"She's in deep with you, O'Hara, and it's freaking her out. She doesn't know how to let people know she cares. Even though she does it every single day by just being herself. It's an evil circle she's gotten herself into." Carli now looked at Hope, and I for the first time since I entered the room, followed her gaze.

Hope's face looked pale and tired. Her eyes were closed, but they still seemed sad. She had a tube in her mouth, it looked uncomfortable. But most of all, she looked so helpless and small, so out of her character. I absolutely hated seeing her like that. I know she would hate that I saw her like that, cause she never want to let anyone in. She pretends to be so tough and fierce, but she's so genuine and goodhearted just beneath the surface.

"Come on, Hope. You're stronger than this." Carli now bent down next to her best friend, looking begging at the goalkeeper.
"Wake up."