Come As You Are | E. Sonnett

four

As soon as the bus doors opened, Emily was the first to sprint to Vlatko and get her key card, before running off and grabbing her bags from under the bus.

Emily's plan was to go as fast as she could and beat Tobin and Christen to their room. Once she was there, she would be able to leave her things there and find Lindsey or one of her other friends, then hang out with them, go to dinner with them, and not return to her own room until Tobin and Christen would be asleep.

Emily was able to run up to the room before Tobin could reach her, and she dropped her things off, but as she opened the door to exit, Tobin and Christen entered, Tobin grabbing the younger girl who was trying to leave with both arms, and picking her up.

"Oh no you don't!" Tobin chuckled. "Sit." She said.

"No!" Sonnett yelled, kicking and squirming in Tobin's arms, wanting nothing more than for the older girl to let her go.

Christen laughed. "Toby has been telling me about this for like a month and a half."

"Quit moving!" Tobin growled at Emily.

"Fine." Emily sighed, gasping for air. "I'll tell you everything. Just let me go."

"Alright." Tobin nodded hesitantly. "Chris, stand by the door." Tobin motioned. This was going to make Emily's plan a lot more difficult.

Tobin released the younger girl, who took a few deep breaths and regrouped before nodding.

"Okay, you want the truth?" Emily asked, laying eyes on the door that separated their hotel room from the room next to them.

Tobin nodded.

"Too bad!" Emily said with a smirk, sprinting through the door between the two hotel rooms. This was a roulette-type decision, as she had no clue which players were in the adjoining room.

"Sorry to barge in!" Sonnett called when she saw Kelley and Alex in the room, staring confusedly at her as she sprinted out of their hotel room rather than her own. Normally Emily would be worried about this, because if Kelley or Alex heard what was going on, they would surely be trying the same things as Christen and Tobin were, but Emily was too worried about running away to think about it.

Tobin and Christen tried to run after Emily, but they were too late and Emily was already in the elevator headed to the lobby by the time they realized what had happened. Instead they elected to take the stairs.

The elevator doors to the lobby opened and Emily sprinted out, relieved when she laid eyes on Mal Pugh, the youngest of most friend groups on the national team.

Emily sprinted up to the younger soccer player and grabbed her. "I need your key card." She spat.

"What?" Mal mumbled confusedly, taken back.

"Just give me the card, and if Tobs and Christen ask you, you never saw me."

Mal shrugged and handed the card to Emily, who immediately took it and got back on the elevator, making her way to Mal's room.

The moment the elevator doors closed behind her, Tobin and Christen came sprinting into the lobby, looking around for any sign of Emily.

"Look." Christen gestured, catching her breath. "It's Mal."

The two girls nodded to each other before making their way up to their younger teammate.

"Mal." Tobin said with a smirk. "Where is she?"

Mal's face grew immediately more red. "Um." Mal Pugh was great company to keep, and a great friend, but she couldn't lie to save her life. "I have no clue who you're talking about."