A Language All Our Own

Off to the bench we go

"My deal," Ashlyn says with a chuckle. "My deal is that I'm a confused girl from Florida who just happens to be pretty decent at blocking flying objects from a net."

"No seriously, I want to know," Ali says with a serious face.

"Okay well I was born and raised in- do you want to get under the covers? It's kinda cold in here."

Ali shakes her head no. "I'm good, thanks."

"Okay well I was born and raised in Florida, and I actually started playing soccer and a summer camp I went to for kids from families with addiction problems."

Ali nodded and tried not to look to surprised. She had already got the feeling that she was raised in a far different environment than Ashlyn.

"So yeah, one of the police officers who ran the camp noticed that I was keeping up with the boys, and he invited me to tryout for the team his son played on. So I played along and went and I made it as the goalkeeper. So this guy- Officer Scott- would pick me up and take me to the games and practices and stuff for like three years until my parents sobered up a little. I loved the game, but hated my teammates. They were kind of relentless, and I had to put my guard up in order to get through it. I guess I still haven't put it down." Ashlyn shrugs.

"What about college and after that?"

"Oh. Well I started playing with the girls in high school- there weren't too many club opportunities for girls so thats the first time I actually got to play with a girls team. High school was good, there was soccer during the week, surfing on the weekends. I got to play with the youth national teams a bit, and my school was really supportive as far as having me keep up with classwork. After I played with the national teams I got recruited to UNC on a full ride. I ended up tearing both my knees up pretty bad, so it was a bit of a bust but it kept me working. And now after struggling to get it together, I finally made it here- until you gave me a concussion." Ashlyn smirks.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Ali says, her voice a mix of remorse and sarcasm. She instantly regrets it- it was her fault after all.

Just as the awkwardness begins to settle, Jill walks in the room.

"Glad to see you've made a friend Ash," she says in her thick English accent, touched with a bit of the American dialect. "How are you both feeling?"

Ali is somewhat shocked at her coaches presence and suddenly feels very awkward sitting in Ashlyn's bed. "I'm doing alright. My pain has been getting better throughout the night, and they stitched me up pretty good," Ashlyn says, pointing to the gash on her head.

"And you Kriegy? How do you feel?"

"My head still feels pretty heavy, but I can't complain."

Jill nods. "How long have you two been up? The doctor said that you would both surely be asleep through the night."

Ash and Ali look at each other, then at the clock. It was already almost six.

"Oh, just an hour maybe," Ashlyn says, covering for Ali. "We both got a good amount of sleep."

"Oh that's excellent," Jill says, pulling out her phone. "Because we have training at eight and the doctor cleared both of you to be released so you can observe."

Ali internally groans. The last thing she wanted to do was get out of bed, and she doubted her ability to even walk with the condition her head was in.

"Oh that's great!" Ali exclaims with maybe too make enthusiasm. She can feel Ashlyn's eyes seering into the back of her head.

"Dawn will be here at 7:30 to drive you guys over, Megan left some gear for you both in the suitcase over there," Jill says, motioning to Ali's team suitcase sitting neatly in the corner of the room. "I'll see you then!"

They both half sarcastically wave to her as she exits the room.

"Seriously?" Ashlyn says, slightly annoyed at the prospect of having to get up after the events the previous night. She struggles to get her legs out of the covers then puts her feet on the cold tile ground. Ali waits on the bed, convincing herself that she can wait a few more minutes.

Rummaging through the suitcase, Ashlyn notices a silver medal loose in the netting of the top. She curiously pulls it out.

"The World Cup medal? Seriously?"

Ali shrugs. "I really don't care about it, and it's a good reminder for me to never let that happen again."

"Have you ever taken it out?"

"Nope. I took it off right after the ceremony, put in in there, and it hasn't come out since."

Ashlyn scoffs, and puts it back in its place. She pulls out each of their practice shirts and shorts, which Megan had nicely folded. "Here," she says, chucking the ball of clothes at Ali. "Off to the bench we go."