the secret game // uswnt

Chapter 1

Raelynn
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The day my life really changed started off like any other, really. 

I woke up early, got changed, ate breakfast. By then, the family dog, Finn, knew it was time for his walk. Also by that point, at least one of the little kids were awake, usually the youngest, my one-year-old sister, Jules, and sometimes one of the triplets. I put Jules in the stroller and take her and Finn and whoever else is awake for a walk around the block. On that particular day, it was just her. 

When I get back, I help my dad with breakfast while my step-mom makes lunches for the little kids. 

By the time everyone is downstairs, breakfast us usually pretty much done or on the table, that day it was on the table a few minutes early. 

Then I watch TV and help get the kids out the door. 

The high schoolers leave first; my brother Easton is a senior, so he can drive my sister Lexi to school since she's only a sophomore. 

Next, the twins, Kate and Niko, are in 7th grade, so they get the bus to middle school, and then pretty much every single day, Luke and Kinsley almost miss the bus to elementary school. Luke is 7 years old, Kinsley 11, so in second and fifth grade respectively. 

But that's not where it ends. On warm or cool mornings, I'll walk the triplets, Harlow, Livvy and Audrey, to school, but on those cold mornings, I'll drive them on my way to practice. The three prefer to walk, because they said driving 'isn't fun.' So I go on two walks every morning; one with Finn and Jules, the other with the girls. 

Then I head to practice with Racing Louisville. 

This particular day, it was different. 

I woke up a little bit earlier than usual to double and triple check to make sure I had everything in my suitcase. Then I went on with my typical morning, but instead of walking the triplets to school, we got into my dad's car to drop them off, and then we went to go pick up my best friend to go to the airport. 

Savannah Demelo is my best friend in the whole world. We've played together for the last season and a half. We were drafted together after knowing eavh other for a few years since we played together on the U-20 Squad. At the time, I was 15 and she was 20, but it was nice to see a familiar face on the first day of practice at Racing years later. 

I ended up struggling with injuries for a while. I got my first call into USWNT camp when I was 16, but I didn't play. Then I tore my ACL, played for two months, made it back to the U-20's, then I broke my foot. By the time I was 18, I'd had two major surgeries, but that didn't stop me. I almost accepted an offer to play at UCLA, but I turned it down to go straight into my career with Racing Louisville. It made sense because my family had lived in Louisville for four years at that point since I had been recruited to play for Racing's academy when I was a Freshman in high school. My dad moved us all there just for my career.

I'd lived in Southern Alabama for most of my life, so my accent is thick and my dad's old southern money is more than I can even begin to fathom even though I live just outside of Louisville in a ginormous mansion almost, with a whole bunch of siblings and a whole gym inside of my house and basketball court in the back. 

Sav tapped on my shoulder repeatedly, trying to snap me back into reality. 

"We're here Raelynn." She said. "Are you excited?" 

"Yep." I smiled, opening my door. 

I said bye to my dad, and he helped Sav and I get our stuff from the trunk and then the two of us headed inside the airport. 

I'm convinced stepping into that airport was my portal to a different world.