"Y/N, welcome! It's nice to finally meet you in person," Bev hugged you with a smile. "The team's waiting for me to start the meeting, but I'll come get you in a minute. I'm sure Jessie and Kadeisha'll be excited to see you."
You nodded, leaning against the wall. "Alright."
The last few hours had been tiring, to say the least. You'd gotten no sleep before your early flight, and some stupid guy with a hacking cough had kept you up on the plane. Safe to say, your sleep schedule was fucked.
"Hey," Bev poked her head out the door. "We're ready for you now."
You rubbed your eyes before pushing off the wall with your heel, following the shorter woman into the room. "Hallo, mijn name is Y/N Y/L/N, attacking Midfielder for Chelse- ow."
"Y/N!" Jessie exclaimed, jumping into you with your fellow Blue Kadeisha Buchanan hot on her heels. "You didn't tell me you were coming!"
"I forgot," you shrugged, deciding to push your fellow Midfielder's buttons. "I mean, I told Magda and Pernille, but je just sorta slipped mijn mind."
Janine laughed as she pulled you into a friendly hug. The two of you had met through Jessie a few years ago, but never really had a friendship of your own. "It's nice to see you again, Y/N. If annoying Jeff is one of your hobbies, I think you'll fit right in."
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Fit in you did. You quickly found your place in the squad among Jessie, Janine, and Jordyn, anytime and any place whether it be in the morning at breakfast or night during team bonding.
"Y/N!" Jordyn called, a bright grin on her face that definitely shouldn't be there at eight in the morning. "Sit with me!"
"Ja, ja, I'm comin'," you squinted, sliding in next to her. "Honestly, it's too... early..."
Your internal clock hadn't had time to reset, and you were out like a light.
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"Hey, Barry," Jessie shook you awake with a soft smile. "We're here, get up."
"I hate that nickname," you stuck out your tongue as you followed her out. "Stop calling me that. There's plenty of people faster than me."
"No, there isn't," she retorted, bumping you jokingly with her shoulder. "You outran Christen Press, and she's no slowpoke."
"Enough chit-chat, children!" Sinc chided, sporting an amused smirk. "We've got work to do if we wanna beat Australia!"
"Ja, Mom."
Jessie gasped. "Ooooh, I'm gonna tell Magda and Pernille you've replaced them with Sinc!"
You stopped dead in your tracks before turning and grabbing the back of the shorter woman's jersey, pulling it over her head in a practiced motion that you'd done out of anger on the pitch multiple times. "Je will do nee such thing."
Your best friend tripped and landed sprawled out in front of the drinks cooler. "Hey!"
"Go cry about it," you teased, crouching down to pat her on the back before heading off to join the others who were laughing about your club teammates' current situation. "Like je always do."
"I was starting to the you weren't Canadian," Kailen said, patting you on the arm with a grin. "Good to see Bev didn't get you mixed up for another player. It'd be a shame if you ended up playing for the Netherlands."
The Manager looked offended. "I don't mix people up!"
"Mhmm," the Keeper looked unconvinced. "Whatever you say, coach."
Bev cleared her throat. "Um, anyways... let's get to work!"
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"Y/N! Stooooooop!" Sabrina panicked as you sprinted past one of the yellow team's Defenders and into the box. "I don't get paid enough to deal with this!"
You pivoted to the left, watching cheekily as she dove the wrong way before tapping the ball in swiftly. "Sorry. Je snooze, je lose."
"Nice, Y/N!" Allysha cheered from down the field. "Keep bullying them, it's funny as hell!"
"No, it's not!" Ashley complained, pushing the left-back with her knuckles. "Bev, can we switch Y/N with Julia?"
Julia gaped. "HEY!"
"No, you can't switch just because it's 10-nil," Bev laughed. "Practice is over anyway. Go shower, you all stink."
"Aye aye, captain!" you and Janine saluted stupidly, jogging past the coach who groaned in annoyance.
"You two are the worst together, I swear."
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"Barry, Bev wants to talk to you," Julia informed you as she trudged into your shared room. "Said it's important."
"Ah, schijt," you swore, recalling all the stupid things you and Janine had done over the past few days. "Er, oké. Dank je."
You, Jessie, and Janine were inseparable, seldom found individually. Either you and Jessie were studying together, you and Janine were playing pranks together, or Janine was annoying Jessie. That's probably what the two were doing right now, actually.
You couldn't help but feel a twinge of nervousness as you rapped your knuckles against the door. What could Bev possibly have to say?
"Come in!" she called, giving you a kind smile as you slipped through the door. "Y/N, good to see you. How have you been settling in so far?"
You were slightly caught off-guard. "Er... goed?"
"Nice," she patted the top of your hand reassuringly. "You're not in any trouble. I just wanted to tell you that you'll be in the starting lineup tomorrow against Australia."
"Oh, oké," you nodded absent-mindedly. "Dank je—wait what?"
The manager chuckled. "You heard me. You've displayed extreme ball control and speed, the latter of which is completely unrivaled in the women's game. I want to see how well you'd do in a real match on international level, and an unimportant friendly is just perfect."
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By the time this comes out, it'll probably already be 2024. It's December 4th right now. Honestly, it's so freeing to just be able to right and not worry about posting.
Also, yall are the best, and thank you to those of you who have sent me DMs to check up on me. It warms my heart, more than you'll ever know ❤ thanks so much!
As always, hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading!
