1. Kick (Thomas Muller)

in which the headlines bite them in the butt

All of them, excluding Philipp and Mesut, had trouble the next week.

To add on to the intensive training, Libby was being forced to sit down at interviews and explain the picture in the elevator. Her, and the whole team had to smile and nod, and shake off all rumors kindly, without flipping out on live television at the accusations pointed at them.

It was hard. 

Bastian, on the other hand, was beginning to sense a tension between him and Sarah. Deep down inside, Bastian wanted to end it, but he was too scared to. He still loved her, of course. She was perfect, but it was getting tiring to see Hope every day and have her hate him.

And it was hard for Hope too. She felt bad because of what she had been doing between Manuel and Bastian.

Bastian entered his house, after his training ended the following week, to find Sarah sitting down on the seat, with a newspaper in her hands, tears rolling down her face.

"Sarah?" Bastian looked at her with a worried expression. Sarah stood up gingerly, wiping her pale face.

"Bastian, I can't do this anymore." She said, taking a deep breath. 

It hit Bastian like a big pang in the face.

"What?" He said even though he understood what she was saying. Sarah handed him the paper.

BASTIAN SCHWEINSTEIGER AND HOPE SOLO- THE NIGHT AFTER THE BALL

Bastian's insides were screaming. He knew the article knew what had actually happened the night of the ball. Did Hope tell everyone? 

He quickly shook his head at the thought, it was probably someone else who saw...he could never imagine Hope doing such a thing. In the past month they had known each other, he knew that he trusted her with his life, as he often did with people he had recently known.

It was one of his flaws.

"So...it's true." Sarah whispered her eyes wide. Bastian held his hand up to her face, to wipe away the tears. Sarah shook her head, standing back, disgusted by his hand.

"Basti, I love you," She started, obviously choosing her words carefully, "but I don't think this is good for either of us."

Bastian stood with tears almost forcing their way out, still not realizing what was happening. He didn't know if this was good or bad.

"I-I..." Bastian started to say. Sarah just kissed him on the cheek and walked out of the house, probably gone forever. He noticed everything, as he was walking up the stairs.

He noticed how empty the house was, with Sarah's stuff all gone, and how alone he was.

The headline didn't impact Hope as much, she just persevered through all the hate she was recieving, and stayed in the house all day. She was used to it, anyway, after all of the drama with other boys she had before this year.

The only thought that lit her up, was that Bastian and his girlfriend were through. But she quickly scolded herself for thinking this. Was she that daft?

Bastian would probably hate her now, for ruining his perfect relationship. He probably thought that Hope had told the press all of the information, which was a lie, of course.

Life was a little better for Manuel. He had started to notice Hope was distancing herself, and he was okay with that. It was just that he wanted to get to know her better, even if they weren't more than friends. He had Kathrin anyway, and he loved her, so Hope wasn't a concern.

Thomas continually tried to get closer to Libby, but every single time, she shook him off and pretended like nothing happened.

The next day at training, Libby was trying to perform a skill, but failing. Thomas had ran up to her, holding a second ball.