ғᴏᴏᴛsᴛᴇᴘs | ᴋᴍ ✔︎

Divided Friends

For my ex, who involuntarily taught me that anger can fuel positivity. Now, fuck off.

| Cody |

"Jack? What the fuck are you doing here?!"  I quietly yell at my best friend, who furrows her brow.

"I'm playing for Chelsea?"

"Why did you not tell me?" I ask when she releases my hand and starts her walk to her teammates, ignoring my question as she wishes me good luck.

"You good?" Leah asks, her hands on my shoulders once again, steering me to the rest of my new team. "You look...actually, I don't know what that look is." She jokes as she motions to my face.

"That's Jack." I tell Leah, some of our other teammates overhearing, offering me encouraging pats on my back.

"The one that Jordan told us about?" Leah asks and I only offer a small nod. "Right. Well, for now, I need you to forget about her. She's not Jack, the girl you grew up with. She's..." Leah trails off, looking for the name of the back of Jack's jersey. "She's Carter, Chelsea's new recruit."

"You don't have to worry, I'm not going easy on her."

"Just keep your head straight, don't give away any needless fouls."

Nodding in agreement, we all seperate into our respective positions on the field, watching as the Chelsea players line up in their own half of the field, two of their forwards waiting for the referee to signal the start of the game.

| Alex |

"I can't believe Cody didn't know!" Jordan half-yells. "If looks could kill...well-"

"We get it, Jordan." Kim slaps her teammates head, hoping to get her to shut up.

I watch alongside my friends as Cody begins her first game as a professional, Hope obviously feeling the same amount of pride I feel when she looks at Jack. It was a shared opinion with the US National team that the two best friends could go pro, and to see it now is amazing. Yet it's somehow weird, and worrying, that they're not on the same team. For the first time in a long time, the two best friends are enemies, in terms of the rivalry between Arsenal and Chelsea.

The game starts at a good pace, both teams eager to make an early impact, nobody shying out of tackles - Cody and Jack including. Thankfully, with Cody being a forward and Jack being a left sided wide midfielder, they're not near each other very much.

Hope, Kelley, Tobin and I choke back on our laughter as we listen to Jordan and Kim scream and yell at their teammates from the stands. It's clear to anyone watching them that they'd definitely rather be on the field.

"Leah! Man!" Jordan yells, and her girlfriend hears and quickly drops back to properly cover the gap in defence, and just in time as Ingle tries to play a through ball for Jack to run onto, and Leah intercepts. She doesn't panic as she lifts her head to look for an open teammate.

| Cody |

"Idaho!" Leah yells from the backline.

She fakes right but goes left, taking the ball away from an oncoming Bachmann, before sending me on my way.

I follow the flight of the ball, aware that Andersson is in step with me as we travel down Chelsea's left flank. I raise my head, not seeing any of my teammates in the box yet, and decide my best option is to hold up the play. I get the ball at the corner, preparing to turn my body, when I feel someone colliding with my knee, sending me to the ground.