this is me trying

Chapter 9 - Fighting

Eva: just arrived. All in plenty of time. See you out there <3

I walked into our locker room, to see most of the girls already there. I sat at my designated locker for the day, my jersey printed behind me.

"Hey," Keira said, sitting next to me.

"Hey," I responded.

"So..."

"So...?"

"How do you feel?"

"With what?" I asked.

"Going up against, you know, Ona." She whispered the Ona part quite quietly, and I laughed slightly. Only a few of the Manchester girls knew that Ona and I were official. Not just a thing but actually together. Hayley, Ellie, Georgia, Lucy and Keira were the only ones I told, not wanting to make it a big deal, and let it get out earlier than I wanted, even post the twitter problem.

"I don't know how anyone does it," I responded.

"I did it a few times," Keira said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, we versed Lyon in the Champions League, in 2018, I think. It was the semi final, and they were two huge matches for us. We drew the first one, and lost the second. Although I tried so hard to just focus on the match, at points it was hard, cause I saw her on the other team. I saw the person I loved most on the other side and even though I wanted to win, so badly, I also didn't want her to lose. It was a really hard mental battle."

"How did you get through it?"

"Well, Lucy came home, and that helped," Keira laughed.

"Yeah, that must've been nice."

"It was, and we have both sort of said that if we ever move, we'll try to do it together."

"Would you still want to move?"

"Yeah. I do."

Keira and my conversation was soon cut short, as Gareth relayed a game plan to us all in the locker room. I would start in the midfield, with Georgia and Keira. Georgia in the 10, Keira in the 6 and I would be the central midfielder. I liked this formation. I liked how it worked. I preferred being in the 8 than the 6, and Keira was best in the 6, and Georgia in the 10.

Our defenders were Lucy, Alanna, Alex, and Demi, with Hayley, Janine and Ellen up at the top.

When I looked online, Ona was starting for United, as I knew she would. I knew that this game didn't matter too much, but I still wanted it to be okay.

As we lined up, I was at the back, and across from me, on the United side, was Ona. She looked at me, smiling softly. I wanted to reach out and grab her hand, but I didn't.

"Good luck," she mouthed to me, before we were about to head out.

"Good luck," I replied.

As the game started, somehow we started well. We had possession, and as Hayley streamed down the right wing, she crossed it into me. I was making a lead at the top of the box, and I hit the ball hard. It glided through the air, landing in the back of the net. We were up within the first two minutes. I put my hands over my face, laughing slightly as it went in. But I soon high fived the girls, and we went back to our kick off positions. By now, most of them knew I didn't like to touch, but it was disguised under the quirk that I didn't like sweat, especially during games. I knew that I would have to explain at some point, but I couldn't. Not yet at least.

The game soon continued, and possession was evenly shared between us and them. Ona was playing like a beast up the right hand side, and she also looked happy. So, incredibly happy. I loved seeing her in her element, even if we were on polar sides.