golden blonde¹

he had known

right after salma finished recounting a story about frido and ingrid, elena sighed heavily.

"i haven't talked to so many of you in forever, god i miss ingrid's cooking," elena lies down underneath a pile of blankets, snuggling herself warmly as salma laughs at her.

"you've got to visit mapi and alexia soon, they're missing you like crazy," salma says eyeing the label on the cough medicine they brought.

"mapi's been driving jana crazy, says that you need to call her soon," laia grabs a bottled water from the fridge.

elena hums quietly. she should have called mapi ages ago. it was unlike them to go this long without talking.

"speaking of people i haven't talked to in a long time, have any of you heard from rory?" elena asks, her eyes closed.

she only opens them when laia starts coughing violently, water dripping from her chin.

salma laughs at the defender, before turning back to elena. "aurora?"

elena eyes codina suspiciously, the girl still trying to stop coughing.

"yeah... she hasn't called in a while. i meant to ask alexia the other day but i forgot," elena says slowly. "have i infected you codina?"

the defender's face is bright red, but she shakes her head.

"water went down the wrong pipe," she coughs out weakly.

elena isn't entirely convinced, but she simply raises her eyebrows before turning back to her conversation with salma.

"i'm sure she's in the countryside taking photos somewhere, you could always call her."

elena nods, "yeah, i'll probably call her soon."

despite being sick for the next two days of training, elena battles through it. her performances during training are enough to earn her a start against argentina.

it's clear though that jorge doesn't trust her enough to operate in a single pivot, with maite starting alongside her.

elena doesn't have anything against the madrid player, but she just become another obstacle that elena had to overcome.

really, the double pivot wasn't needed. they battered argentina 7-0, elena getting two assists with salma getting a hat trick. the cherry on top? elena played the full 90, where as her other pivot got subbed off in the 54th minute.

however, elena can't seem to escape her cold that she caught, constantly lagging behind her peers during training. she can't fully tell if jorge has taken notice, but she's 99% sure that his assistants have, and are purposely witholding the piece of information that would allow elena to rest and recover.

"you're late."

laia doesn't even look up from her phone, but salma does turn when olga makes her comment.

"be glad i even showed," elena weakly retorted. she was wearing her team issued tracksuit, matching alongside her teammates.

she just prayed that jorge didn't notice her arriving a few minutes late.

olga throws up her hands in a surrendering motion.

"chalk it up with him."

elena's eyes sweep over to her very pissed looking coach. as soon as his eyes lock with hers, elena turns away quickly.

"let's just get this over with, i need to take a nap before we play," elena whispered as everyone filed out of the hotel lobby.

the walk is fairly quiet, some girls choose to mingle, but most shy away from the conversation.

laia is more than enough company for elena, even if she is more silent than usual.

she's dropped the phone for the stroll, just humming a happy tune.

the team stops at a park, everyone disperses into their own little groups, elena takes a seat by the bench underneath a tree for the shade. she tries to stop a coughing fit to rise, but it bubbles up her throat and elena groans as she throws her head back in pain.

"did you take your medicine before we left?" laia questions softly.

"get away from me, i don't want to get you sick."

it was honestly a miracle how elena had managed to not infect anyone with her cold yet.

codina chuckles lightly before placing a hand to elena's forehead.

"i'll take that as a no; why didn't you take your medicine?"

"i was feeling fine, i woke up on time actually, but then i took a short nap that turned out longer than expected," elena says, her voice just above a whisper. "really, when i said you all should be glad i even came, i meant it. i feel like shit."

the defender sighs as her cold hand leaves elena's forehead.

"anything i can do to help relieve your unending pain?" she asks in a teasing tone.

"tell me about your girlfriend," elena smirks.

"what- no, no. you've got it all mixed up! i do not- i don't have a girlfriend!" she sputters out frantically.

"you're really going to deny a dying little girl her death wish?" elena pouts sarcastically.

"i hate you el," laia playfully hits the back of elena's head before running off, causing the girl to wince.

"hey! come back!"

elena plays against japan, despite her body screaming at her, telling her that she needs to recover. they score early, but japan hold strong in their defense afterwards, leaving no clear chances for the spaniards to attack.

at last, elena is subbed off in the 71st minute. the relief on her face when she sees the number three in red is evident on her face.

"next time, think twice before you even attempt to hide anything from me. we aren't running a charity here." jorge sneers as elena stiffly claps his hand.

he did know.

he knew that elena had been suffering from a cold.

so why hadn't he prohibited her to play, why had he allowed her to even practice instead of resting?

was he trying to make her suffer?

elena couldn't come up with any other reason as to why he wouldn't tell her to stop pushing herself.

it was an unwelcome conclusion, to say the least.

-

short one but it's actually somewhat important to the plot? congratulating myself because i was able to write this in about two days. sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors :( hope you enjoyed this chapter though!

remember to leave a vote and comment! don't be a silent reader!

qotd: who do you think aurora is? 🤔