Chapter 26

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Katie's POV

2 minutes of stoppage to go now. All or nothing, Katie Callahan. 

Score a goal here or go into PK's. 

Devon punted the ball out to me, and I received it at the midfield line exactly. 

Then I took off. Gone. 

I megged one defender, did a move around the second, and broke the ankles of the third. 

Then I shot, and I shot as hard as I could. 

An absolute rocket that curved into the top right corner. Just like my very first goal. 

I started crying then, I jumped in the air and everybody came running for me.

Other girls were crying too, and the group parted to let Devon in the celebration. 

I gave her a long hug, and she kept telling me she was so proud of me. The team let us have our moment, and then I realized I was missing someone. 

The ref yelled at us to stop wasting time, so as I ran by the bench, I kissed my hand and bleew it to Trinity, who did the same back. 

And then 30 seconds later, we were NWSL Champions. 

The was Trinity sprinted faster than I'd ever seen her sprint before to me made me weak, but I was already week because I was crying so much. 

"You're a hero. You're a hero, Katie. I love you. I love you so much." She said as she hugged me. It was more like a squeeze, because I couldn't breathe. 

The team huddled around me, and I was crying so hard I could barely tell what was going on. And the whole time, Trinity was hugging me. (She loosened her grip)

We shook hands with the Portland Thorns players after a minute.

They were all kind to me, and I made sure to be super nice to all of them because I felt kind of bad. But not really because we just won a championship. 

I'm absolutely burned, dead tired, but the adrenaline will keep me going for a little bit longer. 

The cameras hunted me down and asked me a million questions from singing the anthem to saving a goal to scoring the 2 biggest goals of the entire season. 

They also dubbed it the best performance in a single game by any player in history, which I doubt. It's just the novelty of it. 

I couldn't wipe the stupid smile off my face, and a lot of people noticed that. I couldn't believe we just did that. 

And for me, it was kind of a 'told you so' moment, because Ashley didn't believe me. 

We all got our medals, then we went to go lift the trophy all together. 

Then they announced the finals MVP. 

"And your 2022 NWSL Championship MVP is....midfielder Katie Callahan!" 

I bit my lip to hold back the tears as I went to go receive the award from the commissioner. 

Then I posed for a picture. Best picture of me ever? Probably not, but most meaningful? Yes. 

After that, I took about a million pictures with my teammates. 

Then we went back to the locker room, and everybody popped champagne and drank tons of beer and stuff Trinity and I can't have. 

Okay, I had a little bit. But not enough to notice. 

Kelley was blasting music from a huge speaker and everybody was signing and dancing. The cameras made their way in during Everytime We Touch by Cascada, but Trinity and I didn't realize, and we were singing the stupid song to each other. Stupid ass cameras had to get that, but I didn't care at the moment. I was just MVP in a championship game. I don't care about much right now. 

Roar by Katy Perry played, and then The Champion by Carrie Underwood. 

It was just a whole bunch of pop songs, and we went on screaming them for an hour and a half. Another one Trinity and I screamed loudly was We Found Love by Rihanna. That was one of my favorite songs when I was younger. I listened to it before every soccer game I played. 

I slipped out of the locker room to where our families were waiting for us. They all clapped for me, and I felt like it was a 4th grade game again. It was embarassing but there was no one else left. 

"Just to let you all know, you may be disappointed with the state of your daughter when she emerges from that locker room." I joked, and everybody laughed. 

Trinity's mom game me a hug, Adley was there as well, and then I turned to see my sister holding my niece. 

I jumped into Adley's arms, and he told me how proud of me he was. Then I hugged Kennedy for a long time. 

Then I made plans to go back to Adley's hotel when our whole party ended, because I knew I'd have to drive my roommates home. He said that would be fine, and he left as well as my sister. 

"THERE SHE IS!" Devon yelled when I walked back into the locker room. "WHAT'S UP, BIG SHOT!" 

"Big hot is what she meant to say!" Laughed Trinity. 

"Hell yeah!" Ash said, throwing her arm around my shoulder. "She's freakin' perfect!" 

"I wouldn't say perfect-" I was cut off by the team screaming their disapproval of that statement. 

"BOOO! Don't doubt yourself!" Yelled Kelley. 

"Bayley, she's perfect right?" Giggled Dev. "She's nice. Very nice. And she's so good at soccer! Did you see her tonight! On FIRE! And she's so hilariously funny and she's sooooo pretty! I'm like completely and totally in love with her." 

"No I am!" Argued Ashley. 

"No no! I love her most. She's my best friend but totally could be more." Trinity said. 

I looked over to my right, where Hatch was standing there watching this exchange with her eyes wide open, looking at me. 

"You two could totally make such a good couple." Sonnett said. "You totally should." 

"I've got-" I was cut off by someone grabbing me and whipping me around. 

"You don't have shit." Trinity said, leaning in for a kiss. 

"No, Trin." I said, putting her face away. "I have a boyfriend. I'm loyal. I'm sorry." 

An awkward silence fell over the locker room. 

It hurt to reject her, it really did. Badly. 

I walked away into another part of the locker room, ignoring everything the other girls were saying. 

"Katie?" Hatch asked, following behind me. 

"She knows I have a boyfriend! What possessed her to think that was okay?" I said, throwing my hands in the air. "I can't have one more person call us a couple! I have a boyfriend!" 

"It's alright, Katie. She's drunk She'll never remember it." She said, putting her hand on my shoulder. 

"But I'm not. I'll remember it." 

"That's true." 

"I just want to leave. I'm exhausted. I played 120 minutes, was up early with Ari, it's just been a tiring day. It's been hours of celebrating now, it's time to wrap it up." 

"Agreed." Sighed Hatch. "You can go if you want. I'm gonna slip out in a few minutes here." 

"I have to drive home Trin and Dev." 

"Oh shoot." 

"We just have to get everybody out of here." 

"Unplug the speaker." 

"Good idea." 


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Hey all! Hope you're enjoying the story! I am going on vacation next week, so I am going to try to update a bit more than usual for the rest of this week to make up for it! I will schedule a few parts for next week but because I'm inconsistent with my updates I'll only do a few. I'm gonna put up a few parts of this before the end of the week, one of Little Sanchez and one of Timeless! Thanks! 

my best friend....//Trinity RodmanWhere stories live. Discover now