USWNT - High School

Chapter 36

A/N: Y'all O'Moe trash yet?

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Julie's POV

"Julie?" I heard my father's voice from downstairs, and I felt my stomach tighten. My mom was one thing, but dealing with my dad's disappointed looks, that's a whole other level.

"Julie, open up please." He continued as he was now standing outside of my bedroom door. I let out a deep sigh, and started making my way towards the door. I didn't bother to wipe my tears or make myself look respectable in any way whatsoever. I wanted him to see how much this hurt me, hoping they would eventually care about that at all.

I unlocked the door an walked back towards the bed again without opening it up for him, and by the time he entered I was with my back towards him. I felt him looking at me with those eyes, disappointment radiating off of him.

"Jules, come sit down." He spoke calm and collected, which only made me more upset. It was like the quiet before the storm kinda feeling, it had to be.

I obeyed eventually, figuring I'd have to deal with it at one point either way. I sat down next to him on the bed, doing my best to keep some distance. I wasn't as afraid of my dad as I were with my mom, there was no telling what she could do. My dad was usually more calm, not too many words. That's what scared me, he never talk, he kinda just keep his opinion to himself.

"So who is she?" He asked, an impossible expression to read on his face. I wasn't sure how he meant it, but it didn't sound like he was being mean or sarcastic or anything. The anticipation was killing me more than I could take, and I honestly just wanted to get the yelling over with.

"If you're going to yell at me I should inform you mom's taken care of that quite thoroughly." I tried keeping the sarcasm to a minimum, but it wasn't easy at this point. Sarcasm and humor is kinda how I always cope, a strange defense mechanism.

"I'm not." My dad spoke, still calm as ever. "But I want to know who she is." He repeated himself, and I wasn't about to make him ask me a third time. I swallowed nervously, trying to wrap my mind around where this conversation was headed.

"Uh, her name's Christen. She just moved here this year, and she's on the team." I told him the rough information, without taking it too far. Just the thought of Christen made my stomach tighten from the guilt I was feeling for letting her walk away. I can only imagine how terrible she must feel right now, and it's all my fault.

"How long have you been seeing her?" He continued asking, and I wasn't sure if he was trying to catch me in a lie or not. He didn't seem angry, but not pleased by the news either.

"I don't know, kinda since the begging of this year I guess, but we haven't really made it official yet." It felt weird talking about this with my dad, but I wanted to be honest. As opposing to my mother, from what I could make out form this, he seemed to be trying to understand so the least I could do was be honest in return.

"Not sure we ever will be after this though." I let the snarky comment slip , and I regretted it as soon as the words left my mouth. I meant what I said, but it wasn't fair. My dad turned to look at me, and to my surprise I could see more sadness than anger in his eyes. He sighed deeply before he spoke again.

"I don't support your mother's approach to this, but by not saying against her I'm just as bad." He sounded devastated over his own actions, and I was in complete shock. I had always just assume that he felt the same way as my mother, if not worse.

"I just want you to be happy, kiddo. You'll always be my little girl and I'll be protective no matter who captures your heart." His words were shocking, but also the most genuine and amazing words I could hear right now. My dad, who was not good with words or feelings in general much like myself, was now sitting here at the edge of tears it seems like, pouring his heart out.

"Dad, thank you so much. You have no idea how much that means to hear." I felt a tear fall down my cheek, but it was happy tears now. I suddenly felt great hope for the future, my future with the girl of my dreams.

"I love you, Julie. And she'll come around, just give her some time." He referred to my mother and even though I wanted to believe him I wasn't sure I could. As for right now, I chose to be happy with what I got. A supportive sister and a good father.

My dad stood up and started making his way out, before he suddenly turned around and reached for something in his back pocket.

"Oh, I almost forgot." He smiled as he handed me my phone, and I let out a relived sigh with a smile. I mouthed 'thank you' back at him, as I took the it and opened my messages as soon as possible. I had several from Christen, Lindsey and Moe, all basically wondering if I was alive.

"Julie?" My dad got my attention again, as he was now standing in the frame of the door.
I looked up at him, waiting for him to continue.

"I'd like to meet her sometime, whenever you do make it official." He spoke with a tiny smile on his face, and I mirrored his with a wide one now. I nodded eagerly, trying to contain my excitement, but failing greatly.

"You will." I said simple back, before he left the room with a smile. I was in awe of the whole conversation, and for a moment I just sat there going over it in my head to make sure it was actually happening. The next thought was to call Christen, make sure she was okay, and apologize nevertheless.

'Julie?' Christen answered my call after just a few seconds, her voice sounding like a mixture of happy and confused. I was beyond happy to hear she sounded okay.

"Hey, Chris. I'm so sorry, are you okay?" I asked over the phone, trying to keep my voice low in case my dad hadn't discussed the matter of giving me my phone back with my mother yet. I didn't want to get him in trouble.

'I'm okay, are you? Did you get you phone back, or is this conversation highly illegal?' She lowered her voice as well, and I couldn't help but smile at her cuteness. I don't think it was encouraged, but not illegal.

"It's okay, my dad approves." I said proud, feeling a great deal of happiness rush through as I spoke those words. Christen let out a surprised 'really' on the other end and I gladly confirmed it again. Hearing her happy made me feel even better.

'That's amazing, JJ.' She said sincere, and I was glad she sounded good now. I then realized what I had sent my friends out to do, and kinda hoped they did in fact have something to do with Christen's mood.

"So did you talk to Lindsey and Moe?" I asked, hearing a short chuckle on the other end. My heart must've skipped a beat at how cute it was.

'Yeah, they stopped by. We all had pizza together with Channing.' She spoke, and I was super thankful to my friends. 'I fear they might like her better than me though.' She added, giving me another moment of her heavenly laugh. I found myself laughing too now at her silly joke, wondering how it could ever be possible to like anyone more than I like her.