ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴏ
'ғᴏᴜʟᴇᴅ'
ᴄʜᴇᴇʀs ᴀɴᴅ ᴡʜɪsᴛʟᴇs ᴇʀᴜᴘᴛᴇᴅ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ sᴛᴀᴅɪᴜᴍ, as the Newcastle and arsenal team walked out of the tunnel alongside eachother.
Each of the players marched out with big cocky grins, but in reality, they were all scared of the other team, knowing their ability and having seeing their previous matches.
The geordies stood in a line beside the other team, glancing at the players in red.
Arsenal.
Ray's eyes scanned the line beside her, desperately searching for one of her friends, not having been able to spot her in the tunnel, but instead only meeting a pair of light blue eyes.
She gave a slight sheepish smile, sighing, before giving up on her mission to try find Beth.
Or she did, until Brooke tapped her shoulder repeatedly, whispering and nodding to the middle, where their friend was stood, "There's Beth."
She was looking back at them both with a grin, waving quickly before turning back to face the crowd.
---------
Before getting into positions, Brooke and Ray said their goodbyes, also both waving at Noah who was at the front of the crowd in the stands.
"Good luck. Don't get fouled, babes," Brooke joked, yelling over the cheers so she could be heard.
Raven scoffed, "Same to you, sweet cheeks." She joked back, both of them chuckling, before getting into their right positions.
Soon, the starting whistle blew loudly, announcing the beginning of the game, each player moving, knowing not to stand still at the start of a game.
By half time, no team had gotten even remotely close to scoring a goal, no one on the pitch being given a chance by the nasty defenders on both sides.
As the team all jogged into the changing room, Raven sighed, quite clearly annoyed that it was nil-nil, curling up onto the bench.
"Don't worry, man we'll do better after this break," A teammate nudged her in the arm, giving her an optimistic smile.
"Thanks." She replied, clasping their hands together in a thank you.
"Noah's gotta be fucking screaming right now." Brooke told her, downing her bottle of lucozade and sitting down beside her.
"He probably is," Ray laughed, recalling the way that her friend yelled whenever she or Brooke got the ball, "Could you hear him yelling?"
"Anyone on the other side of the country could have heard that boy's scream."
They both bursted into laughter, Raven downing half a bottle of water, trying to stay hydrated.
"I need the loo, I'll be back, don't worry," Brooke announced to her friend.
Her friend let out a soft giggle, as the brunette jogged down to the toilets, leaving Ray alone with the rest of her teammates.
Just then, Ray's phone started ringing, without even having to look at who it was, she picked it up, also noticing that it was a FaceTime.
"Hey, Barbie, what do you want?"
"Thats not very nice to say to someone who just watched that shit of a half-match. Why wouldn't you just shoot?! I had no cheers to do that whole fifty minutes." Noah complained, running a hand through his hair as he walked.
"You don't think I tried that?!" Ray rolled her eyes at him, "Arsenal's good. Their line-up's tricky, especially that blonde defender."
"Which one?" Noah asked, furrowing his eyebrows at the phone camera, Ray shrugging, trying to remember her name.
She knew the surname started with a W, but she was too focused on the game to even try to read it properly, "No clue. But, she had me marked almost that whole time! She's proper tricky."
"Nah, man, you'll be fine. You and Brooke are like the best football players I know!"
She held in a chortle at her friend's words of reassurance, "We're like the only ones you know."
A smile skimmed Noah's features, "Oh. Well, still! You're pretty good."
Ray let out a small 'thanks' before narrowing her eyes and scanning the screen.
"Where are you going?" She asked, taking note of the fact that he was walking somewhere.
"I need food, man," He sighed, looking around, and seeming completely lost, "But I don't know where the shop is."
Ray let out a loud sigh, hopping to her feet, "Where are you?"
"No, no it's fine, don't worry, I'll just ask someone, innit?"
He looked around, seemingly trying to find anyone that looked approachable, as Ray searched the screen for any hint that showed her where he was, rushing out of the changing room.
Noah then bumped into someone, dropping his phone to the ground, "Shit sorry."
"Ah, it's no bother, don't worry about it." The boy smiled, reaching down to pick up the dropped phone and handed it to him.
"Thanks," Noah grinned in reply, Ray listening to every word that was spoke through the phone. The boy's eyes widened as if he had finally remembered something, "Uh- do you know where the shop is, by any chance?"
Noah shook his head, with a small smile, "That's actually what I was trying to find."
Ray appeared behind the two, hanging up the FaceTime call that she was still on, "I'll show you guys."
Noah rolled his eyes, instantly knowing that the girl was gonna tease him about this little interaction any time she could, "Hey, Ray."
"Hi Noah," She smiled, before turning to the unknown blonde, before gesturing them to follow her as she began walking, "And..."
"Ben." He replied, "You're friends with my sister."
Ray gawked, knowing that she had remembered him from somewhere, "You're Beth's brother?"
"Yep," The boy nodded, glancing at Noah for a split second, as Raven smirked.
They stopped in their tracks after Raven, stopping outside of the shop, that was crowded with people.
"Here it is." The girl bowed playfully, slightly teasing, "Now, are you good getting back or do you need me to take you there too?"
"I think we'll be fine," Noah chuckled, playfully shoving Raven in the arm, making her slightly stumble backwards.
"Okay, fine, don't get lost," She grinned, before skipping back to the changing rooms and calling, "Me and Brooke need you back there to cheer us on."
They all giggled as they parted ways, Raven smirking at the newfound way to tease her best friend.
------------
The whistle blared announcing the start to the second half, Raven's head more in the game now than ever, after her coach's speech.
The second half started the same as the first, no one being able to keep possession of the ball for more than ten seconds, and the ball not even getting close to the goal.
Until, Ray saw the ball coming for her. She took her bottom lip into her mouth, giving the ball a touch and then dribbling it down the pitch.
Chants and cheers erupted from the crowd, the loudest from Noah and Ben, who were now sat beside each other.
She rushed down towards the goal, managing to dodge all players of the opposite team that were in her way.
She scanned her area, trying to find someone to pass the ball to, finding no one. Everyone was being marked. She swallowed thickly. This was it.
She slowed as she got nearer to the goal, everyone else on the team now cheering her on, not being able to get around the arsenal defenders. She swung back her leg, aiming straight for the goal.
But before her foot could make contact with the ball, it was gone. An Arsenal player had slid across the fake grass, knocking it out of bounds.
The geordie crowd sighed, while the gunners cheered. Ray let out a loud groan, running her hands over her face. She shook her head, before looking down at the girl who had kicked it out, seeing the blonde she had previously been talking about with Noah.
Raven muttered an insult under her breath, as the blonde gave her a cocky grin, jogging into the penalty circle.
At least it was a corner for Newcastle.
"You did good," Brooke assured her, patting her on the shoulder when they wandered into the D, "That Williamson girl is just slippy. Be careful."
So that's who it was. Williamson. Leah Williamson. Of course she had heard the name before, who hadn't?
Ray nodded, hardly even processing what her friend had said, her mind still pondering on the cruel slide-tackle made that had ruined her mindset completely.
She jumped in her spot, trying to focus on the ball and scoring, but as soon as the blonde girl had stood beside her, that was all thrown out the window.
"Weren't too good at not getting tackled, eh?" She heard the blonde whisper beside her, trying to annoy her, clearly noticing how irritated she already was.
She squinted at her focused face, acknowledging the way that Leah was moving and decided to stick out her foot.
It seemed as if the ground had been pulled out from right under Leah, as she fell to the floor, tripping forwards, somehow still being able to catch herself.
Ray smirked once she sensed Leah hit the ground, quickly putting up an act, spinning around and crouching down to her level, faking an apology, so that it wouldn't be counted as a foul.
She exhaled loudly, pretending to be concerned, before smirking and letting out a whisper of her own in the same exact mocking tone that Leah had prior, "Weren't too good at staying up, eh?"
Ray smiled, standing up and putting her hand out to help the blonde up. The girl bit the inside of her cheek, clearly annoyed at the stunt that Raven had decided to pull.
She groaned, wiping her hand on her red shirt, before taking the dark-skinned girl's one.
The girl taking the corner, kicked it up in the air and Ray turned her attention away from Leah and to the ball that was now being kicked up.
Ray had the ball covered, Leah seemingly be knocked off completely by Raven's antics. The geordie gave it a touch, letting it land at her feet, before quickly making a shot past the goalkeeper into the top left corner of the goal.
The crowd cheered along with the Newcastle players, Brooke giving Ray a high-five and the other girls attacking her with hugs, as Noah went wild in the crowd. He really was their biggest fan.
By the 80th minute, Arsenal had gotten two more goals- Beth scoring one and Viv scoring the next. Brooke had also scored one more goal for Newcastle, so they were all tied up once again.
Raven hadn't gotten carded once and it looked like Noah was gonna win the bet -- Even though Leah and Raven had been playing dirtier and dirtier each minute. Both of them ready to fight the ball off one another once it got into the other's possession.
It was down to almost the 90th minute, both Ray and Leah becoming fed up of each other and how long it was taking for one team to score another goal.
It was getting dreadfully boring waiting for the ball to come back down the field.
That was until, Brooke ended up getting the ball, dribbling it down the pitch. Seeing that Ray was open, she made a nice clean pass to her.
Everyone in the stands were on the edge of their seats, watching Raven's moves carefully.
She sprinted down the pitch, ball close to her feet. She scanned the area, seeing an open pass, instantly passing it to her teammate.
Erin, her teammate, glanced around her, arsenal players circling her: there was no way she was getting this to the goal.
She kicked it back to Ray, who had moved into space since the pass, who quickly kicked it down the pitch, approaching the blue-eyed blonde once again.
Raven smirked, slowing slightly as she contemplated her next actions. She inspected the defender and how she stood, just awaiting Raven to run into her.
And that she did. Ray dribbled the ball over to Leah, quickly sliding it through her legs, mockingly pouting at her.
But before she could slide past, she was tripped up. The blonde had slid onto the floor after her, managing to bring Raven down with her by her ankles, clearly fed up with how the girl was playing.
"What the fuck was that?" Ray yelled, pushing at the girl, who was also on the floor, Leah only pushing back harder.
"You think you're so fucking funny," The blonde narrowed her eyes and Ray shrugged with a small smirk. She did infact think that.
Leah groaned, clambering to her feet, Raven beginning to do the same, but instead being dragged up by her jersey, hot breath fanning her face, as Williamson yelled at her.
The teammates around them, jogging up to them to try to pry them off one another. Ray pushed the blonde off of her, eyebrows furrowed as Leah stumbled backwards slightly. You could see the anger sparking in her eyes.
"What the hell are you playing at?!"
"What are you on about?" Ray yelled back at her feigning innocence as if she hadn't been fouling her all second-half (but in her defense, Leah was doing the same!).
The inched closer to one another, Ray reaching up to shove the girl harshly backwards, the whole two teams were trying to split them up. Even the crowd had gone quiet trying to figure out what was going on, due to the limited vision of the team blocking the view.
Raven took a deep breath, knowing that if she did anything spontaneous here, it would affect her chances of being let into the euros. Beth held her teammate back, giving her a reminder that there were scouts in the audience.
Leah sighed, looking down at the floor, realising that her anger had gotten the better of her, unclenching her fists. But all that progress was lost, after the referee held up a red card for Leah.
"A red?" She furrowed up her eyebrows, glaring at the black girl, who was looking back at her with fierce eyes.
The referee nodded his head as Leah groaned, pushing through her team, but not without one last glare and whisper directed towards Raven.
"Don't think my England team would want you after this."
That was Ray's last straw, she pounced at the girl, ramming her into the ground. In her defense, it wasn't her fault; the adrenaline got to her head...
Both Leah and Raven were throwing punches, turning on the ground, as Brooke and Beth tried to intervene, as well as the rest of the team.
After a whole minute or so of Williamson and Reids struggling on the ground, they were finally pulled apart, the referee holding up a red card for both players.
Raven groaned, sighing and harshly shoving past the blonde that followed after as loud boos came from Noah and Ben, who were in the crowd.