Bad Reputation - Mapi León

Chapter Fifteen

Mapi's eyes followed the fleeting figure of Jana, when she passed by the players in the tunnel to go stand at the benches, worrying about the therapist who had tears in her eyes. Until, her questions were answered when she noticed Lauren Hemp enter from the hallway, with a guilty look on her face.

"Focus, Mapi." Ana nudged the defender from behind, whispering in her ear which caused the blonde to snap out of her daze and stare forward.

"We're going to win this." Mapi repeated, which caused Ana to laugh incredulously at her teammate—wondering why she was so determined to win the game, after all it was only a friendly. Why was she treating it like a final?

"I like the passion, amiga." Caro laughed alongside Ana, also wondering the same as the tall blonde but chose not to comment on it. Whenever the defender had something on her mind, it meant something was important to her.

Yet, Mapi was wired to not speak up, at most times she didn't. Except from the controversy with the federation, the defender simply could not afford to keep her mouth shut.

Though Mapi wished to tell them why, she knew that her and Jana weren't anything. She also knew that they desperately needed to speak about it, but her mind pounded with spiralling questions. When was the right time?

"Vamos, chicas!"

Her mind was cut short, when the team left the tunnel and lined up in front of the crowd. Mapi couldn't seem to shake out of her mind, completely immersed into the events of the match and what Jana would think of her if they lost, if she lost against Lauren.

Eventually, the woman taking up her thoughts appeared in front of her, a baffled expression when Mapi didn't shake her hand and look at her with a hardened expression. Lauren shook her head in disbelief, and continued down the line.

"What was that all about?" Marta marched towards Mapi with confusion across her face, as her duty of captain while Alexia was away, she had to tend to each of her player's needs.

"It doesn't matter." Mapi shook off, continuing to pass the ball while sparing a glance back towards the City player, who was speaking to her teammates in a deep conversation while taking numerous glances towards Jana, on the sidelines.

"Whatever it is... Don't let it cloud your judgement today, hermana." The captain patted her shoulder and jogged past Mapi, still worried for the defender but decided to continue with training—knowing that they had a long time, till the match would be over.

That was exactly what happened twenty minutes into the first-half, when Lauren Hemp had scored a goal from outside the box after beating Mapi, who was caught in her own mind which worried her teammates and a certain woman on the sidelines.

"Is she okay?" Rosa wondered aloud, looking towards her friend who was sat on the bench with her fingers tracing over her lips in concern, "Are you okay?"

"She'll come back. Mapi just tripped up, it'll all be okay." Jana assured, she wasn't sure if it was Rosa or herself she was trying to convince, but neither woman spoke after that and soon her prayers were answered when Asisat scored the equaliser, five minutes later.

Back on the pitch, Mapi watched as the forward danced around her teammates and suddenly came face-to-face with her, the blonde stuck her foot out and watched as Lauren fell to the ground.

"Ref!" The English player yelled out desperately, but the referee shook her head and continued play which made Mapi smirk, "You stuck your foot out."

"Maybe you can't keep up." The defender shrugged in an antagonising manner, causing Lauren to curse at her which the blonde didn't understand and turn around.