One day I'll have it all. // Williamson

No more Villanueva

She didn't say a word to my mother, though. She simply hung up at her face, throwing the phone away and into the river streaming nearby.

"Katie, my phone!" I yelled in protest, walking to go get it, but she grabbed my arm so I couldn't leave, spinning me around so I'd face her again.

"Hey. We'll buy you a new one. One she doesn't have the number to. Yeah?" She said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "Fuck her. Family's only family when they deserve it. You don't need her."

With a trembling breath, I leaned into Katie's embrace, allowing her comforting presence to envelop me. "Thank you," I whispered softly. I had no tears to cry and thank god. I hated crying. Especially when there were people around.

Katie held me close, her arms wrapped tightly around me. "We're family now. Yeah?" I nodded against Katie's shoulder, feeling a surge of gratitude and relief wash over me at her words. "I'll be your sister, and Beth can be your mom, and Viv your dad, and Kim your alcoholic aunt, and Lotte's that weird cousin asking you for your phone at family dinners." Katie joked, and I rolled my eyes, my laugh almost silent against her shoulder. But I was sincere.

"That's so fucking stupid," I replied, snuffling a little.

Katie chuckled softly, her laughter a warm balm to my wounded soul. "Yeah, well, we finna be a pretty fucked up family, but at least we're not assholes," she quipped. "I'll ask Jonas if we can change the name on your jerseys. No more 'Villanueva'. Only Valentina. Yeah?"

"Yeah," I replied softly, my voice filled with gratitude as I met Katie's gaze. "I'd like that."

"Good. You wanna go do some penalties now? I can be the goalie."

My eyes widened at her words. Katie and I always fought about that every time we played together outside of training, which happened quite a lot. Whenever we did some sort of gathering with the girls, we were the two kids playing in the garden, using trees as goal cages and messing up our clothes.

She never wanted to be the goalkeeper, though. Not that she was bad at it, she just liked to score against me too much. But here she was, volunteering just to make me feel better. I blinked back tears.

Katie was a cunty little shit on the pitch, and an annoying big sister off of it.

But behind that, there was a heart of gold, a friend who stood by me when I needed her the most. Despite her tough exterior and penchant for annoying me, Katie had a kindness and loyalty that knew no bounds.

"You'd be the goalie? Just for me?" I asked, my eyes softening. Katie rolled her eyes, smirking.

"Don't go all emotional on me or I change my mind, " she teased, but her eyes betrayed the warmth and affection she held for me. "Yeah, just for you. Now, come on. Let's go kick some balls and forget about all this shit for a while."

I couldn't help but smile at Katie's teasing yet heartfelt gesture. With a nod, I followed Katie as she led the way to her place. She climbed the stairs of her building while I waited for her outside, then came back minutes later with a football in her hands.

We walked back to the park facing her apartment, finding two trees spaced enough together to make a pretend goal, and spent the next hour or so shooting the ball at each other.

It was nothing but serious, as always when I was hanging out with Katie, but it helped me so much. We trash-talked each other and celebrated 'top corner' goals as if we had just won the World Cup. It was stupid, and we both ruined our pants, but we didn't care.

We only stopped playing when the Sun started casting down. Exhausted and satisfied, we walked back to Katie's place, chugging a glass of ice-cold water each.