The Rising Star - Alexia Putellas

Part 50

"Yo, Kell! Hurry up. We're going to be late for practice!" I looked at the older defender, who was hurrying around the room, looking for her cleats.

After years of preparing, it was finally time to start the world cup. The next five weeks will be exhausting, mentally and physically draining but it will all be worth it in the end when we hopefully lift that trophy in the air.

We had arrived two weeks beforehand so we could get acclimatized to the weather and time zone and had been training and preparing non-stop.

"I can't find my cleats!" She ran around the room, frantically looking everywhere for her cleats. Without saying anything I grabbed them from her bed and wiggled them in the air.

"Oh, there they are. Thanks Queenie." She grabbed her cleats and we finally went downstairs to get on the bus.

"What would you do without me?" I smirked at the defender, who just nudged my shoulder with hers.

"Hey, look who decided to finally join us!" Ash cheered when we finally had made it on the bus.

"Shut it Harris. We're still on time." Kelley grumbled.

Lately the normally bubbly defender wasn't so bubbly anymore. The last couple of weeks, even months, people and the media were openly doubting our back line and Alyssa, saying they were going to be the weak link of the group. As you can imagine, this frustrated a lot of my teammates, including me.

They weren't the only ones who received a lot of doubt. I was also on the receiving end of it as well. People asked themselves whether Jill had made a mistake of selecting me for this world cup, seeing as it will be my first. I tried my best to block it out and not let it affect me but I'm human so it didn't always work.

Today we had our last light training before our game against Thailand tomorrow. Spain and England had already played their first game. Both teams got away with a win. I had called both Alexia and Leah to congratulate them on it and they had wished me luck in return, saying that they would watch my game as well.

Kelley and I were resting in our room after training. We were both scrolling on our phones when we saw yet again another article about the doubts of this team.

"Are you kidding me?!" Kelley yelled out, startling me in the process. Almost sending my phone into the air. I looked at her with an 'what the fuck' look.

"Listen to this. Is this the weakest back line in history for the United States women? Will they cost the team their fourth star?" She read the article she came across.

"Kell, you know you shouldn't read those." I sighed.

"What if they're right? What if I am a weak link?"

"Hey, knock it off!" I got up from my bed and sat down on hers. "You are not a weak link. You're Kelley fucking O'Hara! You never gave them reasons to doubt you and you won't give them now. I'm sure of it. You've got an Olympic gold medal and a golden world cup medal to show for it. So don't doubt yourself." I told her sternly, hoping she would get the message.

"It's just I'm so tired of this narrative there pushing on us." She sighed.

"Well then, let's show them tomorrow that they are wrong. Let's shut that narrative down and shut them up." I held out my pinky for her to grab.

"A pinky promise? Really?"

"Grab the damn pinky, O'Hara." I chuckled but she followed my lead and smiled.

"Thanks, Queenie."

"Any time."

Twenty four hours later and here I was, standing in the tunnels waiting for my first ever world cup game. Weirdly enough, I didn't feel as nervous as I would have expected but then again I felt like we were prepared for almost anything.