Rachel Daly - Dashed Hopes

Dashed Hopes - Part Three

You loved bunking with Mary, she was always so full of life - dragging you into TikToks one after the other, playing pranks and joking around; she didn't realise she was giving you so much confidence the more you hung out with her. Laying on your beds she was busy editing your latest dance when Rachel knocked on the door. Rolling over to face the window so you didn't have to look at her she showed Mary something on her phone "I thought we could do this?" she asked quietly "oh me and (y/n) just recorded this one soz" her voice a little blunt but Mary was often like that so you didn't know if it was intentional or not. "Ah, okay" Rachel replied sounding disappointed as she left the room. The atmosphere was nothing like what was portrayed on their accounts last tournament but I suppose she only has herself to blame for that. Everyone on the team knew by now what she had done and they all sided with you, she wasn't outkast but there was definitely an eerie atmosphere around camp whenever she was in the room. You tried really hard not to feel guilty, if you hadn't of told people what really happened then you would be miserable and living a lie, watching her live her best life while pretending you broke up with her and that wouldn't have been fair on you.

Sitting with the other newbies at dinner one evening you chatted about your experience so far. Ebony had been called up to replace an injury and had had your back since Rachel left, she was your best friend in Houston and knew every gorey detail of your break up. Having her on the team made you feel a whole lot more settled and knowing for sure that someone had your back 100%. Ebony scoffed as the defender come striker approached your table and asked if you can try and get on for the sake of the team. She had tried to talk to you in the past few days but you were still too angry to give her the time of day, Rachel nodded understandably and walked away to sit by herself to eat dinner. You couldn't help the guilt rising and decided to approach her, rolling your eyes at your own conscience making you a push over. "Look, this is my first senior call up and I'm gonna do what I need to do to cement my place on this team. I'm not gonna let you ruin this for me so I'll be civil but I'm not gonna pretend I like you." Rachel nodded and put her hands up like she accepted the very tiny olive branch you were offering.

Another day of training you were paired together, someone clearly thought you needed to work with each other which you guess is a feasible assumption. Hitting each other with the pads was quite therapeutic until he sleeve rose up uncovering your matching tattoo still in full view on her arm. You'd had yours covered a week after she left with the Houston H hand sign. "Thought you would have covered that by now" you said pointing at the Roman numerals of your Dash shirt number. Rachel shook her head "my tattoos are my story and you're part of it whether you like it or not" she shrugged. Bit of a weird reply but you didn't argue. "I bet Becky loves that!" you said in jest. "She doesn't know what it's for" she shrugged again, clearly not enjoying this interaction. You didn't know that she had booked to get it covered but couldn't go through with it before camp, Jordan informed you of this later in the day when you mentioned it.

During all the training sessions before the tournament started you did what you were told to do and kept your head down, whatever you were doing was impressing the boss as you worked your way into the starting line up and into Rachel's usual position. She was benched. It was like the ultimate karma and it felt amazing but it became routine at the 70 minute mark for her to replace you as a super sub. Game after game she was chasing after you for lead goal scorer, trying desperately to prove her worth to Sarina and the team. As soon as she caught up with you, the next game came around and you ploughed through the rankings again. Managing your first hattrick in the Group 16 game you proudly walked away with the match ball; Sarina had allowed you to play all 90 minutes and Rachel came on to replace Russo this time and assisted your last goal. She didn't mean to, she went for goal but you got in the way and made it yours. Sneaky behaviour but it's all team work until it came to her - she wasn't about to take away your last chance of a hattrick! Walking around the field with the team to clap the travelling fans you borrowed a sharpie from one of them and made your way around the squad asking them to sign your ball. There was one signature left to get and you can guess who it was!

Slowing down your pace to catch Rachel at the back of the group with Millie who walked off as she watched you approach. "Can you sign this please?" throwing her the ball and sharpie. "I don't think I should, you stole my goal" she said with a forced smile, "I think it's a fair trade - you stole my wedding, I steal your goal" you shrugged with a cheeky smile. Rachel laughed and agreed with you, "in fact, I think you owe me a few more" you nudged her gently. "Don't get cocky now!" she said with seriousness. "Far too late for that, I'm going for golden boot!" catching the ball she threw back at you with her scribble on. "Yeah? Well I'm gonna give you a run for your money!" she grabbed your shoulders from behind. "I'm not threatened by you old lady, enjoy your last World Cup yeah" turning around you winked before jogging off backwards, making the 'I'm watching you' sign as you went and revelling in the fact you have so many more tournaments to look forward to while her time is nearly up.