1. Kick (Thomas Muller)

in which they arrive in Berlin

The past week had literally flown by for the US Soccer Team. The girls had been given only one day of practice, and then it was off to Berlin, Germany, where they were either doomed or were going to have the best time of their lives.

Since most of the other girls' times were consumed in masquerade ball details, it was just Hope and Libby that were sane in this situation.

The coaches had already sent them emails regarding transportation and activities that were planned, with an individual email regarding interviews and optional practices, which Libby had groaned seeing that her list achieved the longest length.

Libby had decided, along with Hope, that they were ordering dresses that had been already fit for them instead of going dress shopping. It was such a pain and Libby didn't care much.

Needles to say, the dress was absolutely and utterly horrid. Libby had hoped for a dress that went similar with the theme of the party, blue and black, but Libby's dress was an outrageous red, sure to catch the attention of everyone, which is what she wanted the least out of all of this. And to add on the fact that it came down to her feet, not even a cute little dress like everyone elses.

Hope, on the other hand, was lucky, as she usually was. Her dress was cut above her knees, in a light blue and silver material, that was strapless and just perfectly matched with Hope's muscular body.

They both spun around in their dresses, Hope being flattered by all of the team, and Libby tripped and scrambling back up to be judged by her team.

"You look hot!" Hope cheered as Libby angrily ripped off the dress. She was kind of hoping to actually rip it off, in hopes that it would tear and she wouldn't have to go.

But it was her that convinced Hope to come as well, so it would be rude to back away now.

"Yeah right, and I'm going to play forward really well!" Libby joked, plopping down on the couch in her shorts and sports bra. The whole team was at Hope's house, preparing for their trip to Germany. All the bags were packed and they were leaving in a couple of hours.

The team decided it was best not to sleep, but doze it out in the 15 hour plane ride. They had all modeled their dresses, spilled their secrets, and even pulled off a game of truth or dare.

On the outside, Libby didn't show it, but she was extremely excited to go to Germany. It was on her bucket list to play some soccer there, and she was determined to do so.

The only problem was that there was no day she had that was free for her to play. Even if she wanted to it wuld have to be the day of the ball. But Libby had set her mind to it and she would even risk not attending the ball to play.

As the hours were wasted playing incredulous but hilarious games, Libby felt more and more tired.

Finally the time had come and she slipped on some sweatpants and a jacket. Libby mentally whacked herself for packing her sneakers in the car and resorted to stealing someof Hope's worn out flip flops.

She looked rough, but she was okay with that.

They piled into a traveling bus, and were off, only to board a plane in thirty minutes after they left the house.

It was unsual for the plane to be quiet, but the rest of the team had fallen asleep in an instant, and Libby was left awake, as if the sleepiness had vanished, making a mental schedule of her days, and stressing out about how this trip was going to work out.

Holidays were great...

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It was a couple of hours before their bus arrived in Berlin, and Thomas was growing more and more frantic.

He didn't know why, though. Maybe it was the thought of being around girls for the first time after breaking up with Lisa, or the thought of not having much to do once he got there.

Thomas's suit was similar to the teams, black tuxedos with a Germany flag colored bowtie. Their masks were all different though and they each thoroughly enjoyed putting them on and scaring everyone else.

Thomas thought he looked ridiculous wearing his outfit, his teammates bellowing with laughter as he had walked out with it on.

Bastian's wasn't any better. He actually resembled a clown with his mask being a perpetually neon orange, with strange embellishments around the eyes.

He had merely shrugged and continued wearing it around the bus. Thomas disregarded the whole mask thing and continued to ponder on this ball.

Why were they traveling there a week early, he thought. No one seemed to ask any questions about this mysterious event, but the news channels had more than enough to say about it.

Thomas began to think that this was just a stunt for more popularity for the World Cup.

As they arrived in Berlin, Thomas couldn't help but notice the grins on everyone elses faces. His mouth also formed into a smile as they swiftly avoided the fans and cameras and went straight into a hotel.

There seemed to be dozens of team, each gathered around a different desk, getting room keys and registering. The hotel was large, like more i credible than he had ever seen.

He waved at a few of the players he knew, getting high fives and pats on the back. It was weird for his team to see female footballers, because he was used to seeing just men playing the sport, but it was cool to see and this made him slightly more excited and nervous about the ball.

He saw Brazil's team enter, and then a female team from what he thought the USA team was, each looking distraught, but intrigued by anything they saw around.

Chuckling to himself, Thomas trailed behind his team, still glancing back at the collection of teams.

They each were handed cards and told to find a roomate. Thomas glanced around, not sure of whether he was welcome to be someones roomate. Finally, after an awkward minute, Bastian trotted over to Thomas and slapped him on the head.

"Eh, I'm not carrying all these bags myself, you lazy butt." Bastian snickered, pointing at their loads of bags.

"No not you!" Thomas joked as he pulled his luggage into the elevator. Bastian smirked,

"I'm pretty sure you should be thanking me," Bastian teased. The elevator doors opened and they got out, struggling with fitting through the doors.

"You know, Basti, I'd think, with the way you packed, you were staying here for the rest of your life!"

"How'd you know?" Bastian said sarcastically, flipping onto one of the beds, his arms under his head. Bastian grabbed the remote and flipped on the tv, only to find the news channel on with cameras all around this hotel.

Looking at Thomas wth a scared face, Bastian stood up and closed the curtains and double checked the locked doors.

Thomas laughed and follow his lead, and sooner than later he found himself asleep, dreaming about clowns showing up to the ball.

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A/N

Hey guys, I hoped you enjoyed reading this filler chapter. Sorry, it's a tad boring, but I don't want to rush this story. I have the next chapter written and will be publishing it in two days. (THE 21ST OKAY PLS BE THERE WOW IT'S GONNA BE FUN OKAY ILY) It is when they meet for the first time, so be sure to hang on and not judge too harshly by this chapter.

I'm so appalled by the outcome of this and you guys never fail to make my day. Like, I really have been having a better life once I started this, so thank you guys.

ILY ALL DON'T FORGET TO VOTE AND COMMENT AND SHARE THIS PLEASE :*

MWAH xoxo

---------------------> WOW DAT BROMANCE DOE