Amaru-
You're seventeen, and everything you've ever worked for is finally within reach.
Getting scouted by Arsenal-your dream club-should feel like the beginning of everything. Instead, it's also the end of everything you've known. New city, new school, new life. No one here knows who you are, and you're not allowed to tell them.
Joe Montemurro sees something in you-something worth protecting. You're not eighteen yet, which means no contracts in the spotlight, no media announcements, no headlines. Not yet. So while the world stays in the dark, you train quietly with Arsenal Women-playing behind closed doors, building chemistry in matches no one will ever see.
On the pitch, you belong. It's fast, focused, and honest. No masks, no games-just football.
School is the opposite.
At your new school, there's an unspoken hierarchy, and at the top of it stands Lauren-"Miss Popular." She doesn't just rule the students; she bends the whole place around her. People follow. Teachers look the other way. And you? You're new. Quiet. An easy target.
What starts as whispers turns into something worse.
Every day becomes something to survive. Bruises you learn to hide. Words you pretend don't stick. You keep your head down, count the hours, and remind yourself that once the final bell rings, you get to leave it all behind-even if just for a little while.
Because after school, you step back into your real life. The one where you're not invisible. The one where you matter.
The one where you're fighting for a future no one else knows about.
But secrets don't stay buried forever.
And neither do cracks.
*Trying to update at least once a day*