Weekend Goal

Chapter 2 - Rivals

Cooper is always banging on about loyalty, but he's a liar and a hypocrite; he wouldn't know loyalty if it jumped up and smacked him in his pretty face.

Sage has been going through a bit of a rough patch, and she had a few bad games, so what? We're a team, we stick together, support each other, we find a way to make it work, well, that's what Cooper used to say.

So you can imagine how I felt when I walked in for our first session of pre-season training to find that he's replaced Sage with some girl he found on the internet. She was stood there all wide-eyed, with a stupid grin on her face and stupidly long legs — I'm sure they helped sway Cooper's decision in allowing her to join our team. We don't need a replacement goalkeeper; we have Sage.

And I don't care how much Cooper tells me to play nice, or the other girls act like this Sanne persons new best friend, I am not getting involved. And I will not be her defender.

I won't lie the warm-up session is fun, and it feels good to loosen up, relieve some of the tension that's built up from the new arrival. But I won't give Cooper credit for coming up with it; I know how he spends hours watching YouTube videos of Arsenal.

"Here," Cooper says throwing a blue bib at me, and then one to Sanne.

"I'm not on her team," I protest, and I know I sound bitchy, but honestly I do not care.

"You don't agree with me, then leave," Cooper says yet again proving that he has no loyalty.

As if he thinks that he can speak to me like that, as if I haven't given everything to this club, we all have. If Cooper thinks he can just cast me aside because he has a new chick he picked up on the internet, then he's very much mistaken; I'm too stubborn for that.

But I'm also stubborn enough to not go along with what Cooper wants, so I'm not going to help defend Sanne or the goal. Honestly, I don't care if we win or lose. She doesn't belong here, and the sooner she realises, the better.

"Rose, what the hell are you doing?" Cooper shouts from the sidelines when I put no effort into stopping Kasey who comes charging up the right-hand side, heading for goal.

In fact, I feel oddly satisfied when Kasey sneaks the ball past Sanne into the back of the net, and she skids on the ground getting a face full of dirt in the process. I can tell that Sanne is pissed off at me, but I don't care, I'm pissed off at her too, but mainly I'm pissed off with Cooper. I don't know why he's so dumb. Why he thinks he's the only one who can have an opinion, the only one who can make decisions about the team. Why does he think he always knows what's best for us?

Despite my best efforts to ensure our team lose, we still win. Sanne is good; she's catching every ball that comes at her, and at the opposite end of the pitch, Sage is constantly picking the ball out of the back of the net.

"Good game," Willow says, slinging her arm over Sanne's shoulder, and they both go off to the changing room, smiles beaming.

"What's up with Rose? She'll be lucky to get in the reserves," I hear someone say from up ahead.

Well, if that's how they feel, then they can all get lost. If it weren't for me, we wouldn't have won half the games we did last season. I'm the one who's been here since the beginning, and now because we have Sanne with her stupid smile and stupidly long legs turn up, I'm not even fit for the first team.

I hang back; I don't want to go into the changing room with them, they're probably all talking about me anyway. Instead, I sit by the goal post and watch Cooper pack away all the stuff that we used for training, usually I'd offer to help him, but I just don't feel like it today. Thankfully he doesn't try to talk to me, I know he's pissed at me, but I'm kinda pissed at him too.

When I'm sure enough time has passed, I walk silently to the changing room; when I open the door it's empty, and I'm relieved. I can hear all the chatter from outside, Willow's voice is louder than everyone else, "we're going for afternoon tea," she announces, "welcome our new teammate."

"What about Rose? Shouldn't we wait for her?" Someone says.

"No, leave her be, she'll catch us up," Willow says, knowing full well that I won't catch them up. I won't go to afternoon tea with them.

The hot shower relieves the tension in my shoulders and neck, I know I shouldn't get so worked up about things, but I can't help it. Having someone new on the team isn't a bad thing, but it's the fact that Cooper didn't tell me before; it's not like he hasn't had the opportunity, he knows I don't like surprises.

I sit on the bench for a long time; it's not like I have anywhere else to be, I put my headphones in and listen to my guilty pleasure — One Direction because I am being a needy bitch and need someone to tell me that I'm beautiful.

"Fuck! Rose, what are you still doing here?" I hear Cooper's voice over the soothing sound of Harry Styles.

"Jesus, Cooper, don't you know how to knock?" I practically bite his head off.

"Rosie, why are you being like this?" he says tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

I really wish he wouldn't do that.
"It's not a big deal," he says. "Maybe this is what Sage needs, she'll have to fight for her place; it will give her something to focus on."

I know he's right, but I'm not going to tell him that I agree with him.

"Am I going to be fighting for my place on the team?" I ask, remembering what one of the girls said after training.

"C'mon Rosie, you know you're the best player on the team. Well, at least you were until Sanne turned up," he says backing away.

"Get out!" I shout, throwing a shin pad at him.

As if Cooper dared to say that to me, now more than ever, I am determined to keep my place on the team.