SUNSHINE

forty-seven

[ What? Four chapters in a span of a week? This one is a long one, but it's probably one of my favorite chapters thus far, so enjoy! ] 

It was finally a game day for the United States Women's National Team, and they were all buzzing with excitement. They had not had a game day since they closed out their season in early December the last calendar year. Casey felt great, the coaches monitoring her after she had disclosed her incident over the break to them. Her ankle was strong and she had not had symptoms of a concussion in weeks, so she was in her starting position as usual.

Vlatko was putting Riley Rhodes in at centerback with Sauerbrunn.

Casey had been put in charge of music as usual, everyone had loved her hype, game day playlist since she joined the team three years ago. She kept it updated, but every single song from her freshman year of high school until now was on that playlist.

The same playlist she made with Riley when they were growing up.

Every single player in the locker room was singing along and jamming out, but Casey could not bring herself to. She kept staring glances at Riley, who was vibing with the rest of the team. They had barely spoken a single word to one another over the past couple weeks, speaking to each other only when they had to. Alex could tell it bothered her and tried to talk to her, but she just brushed her off. Not in a mean way, but she did not want to be reminded of what she thought were better times.

They went out on the field and warmed up, Casey, Ashlyn, and Adrianna heading to the net and stretching out and getting their legs moving. The stadium was already full of thousands of fans waiting for the first game of the tournament, USA fans overwhelming compared to the Japanese fans. The Outlaws were already hype behind the net, the drums overwhelmingly loud. It was a good thing though, it gave the players some confidence while they warmed up.

"Alright, we're not gonna go crazy, you guys have worked pretty hard the last couple weeks. Let's run the usual drills and then stay loose." Their coach told the three of them, and they got to work. Casey put her gloves on and went through the cones and caught the ball that was drilled at her, then turned and slid to dive for a ball toward the corner. She got back into line next to Ashlyn.

"Casey you good?" She asked discreetly, and she just shrugged.

"Yeah, yeah." She responded with a sigh, stretching out her legs some more as they waited. "It's just that I don't think I can listen to that playlist as long as she's on the team."

"That's the same playlist as it was three years ago, wasn't it." Ashlyn commented, and she just nodded. "Cheer up. You're getting your one hundredth cap."

"Already?" She asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, we just don't celebrate them during tournaments. You don't keep track of how many caps you have?" She responded with a laugh herself.

"Nah, I'm just here to play the game." She answered with a smile as she went up again, and knowing it was her one hundredth cap put the pep back in her step. She went back to playing like herself, jamming to the music blasting in the stadium and having a good time as she warmed up with her teammates. When they all got together to do some final sprints, she and Alex did their usual stints before heading into the locker room on a high note.

"Alright ladies!" Casey yelled, standing on top of the bench that was in the middle of the locker room as soon as they were all in their uniforms. It was a tradition she started in the middle of last season, and it got the players pumped up for the game. "We've got some work to do! Time to unleash the hounds!" She bellowed, and everyone started banging on the lockers, barking and howling. They all started chanting "U-S-A" as 'Fight Night' started playing over the loudspeakers in the locker room. Vlatko then walked in and they all started clapping.