early january 2023
the first day back at arsenal had elena buzzing. her break was perfect and she was happier than ever to get back to football here at arsenal.
she grabs her stuff from the trunk and walks into the now familiar building beside lia and caitlin.
"welcome back girls, quickly get changed and before we head out onto the pitch jonas wants everyone in the briefing room," a staff member tells the trio.
the girls split up as they enter the changing rooms. everyone had their own little cubbies and they were sorted by the time you were at the club. people such as leah, kim and katie were on the earlier end, which meant they had spent more years here, while people like laura, frida and elena were at the end.
there were two things that elena immediately noticed, the locker next to katie's, which was jordan's, was now cleared out.
the second thing was that there was someone next to her, which didn't make sense at first. she was next to frida and then she'd have an empty locker to her left.
the kit read the number 21, but as far as elena was aware, there was no number 21 here at arsenal.
someone tapped on her shoulder, elena recognized her as one of the newer staff members.
"the housing director wants to speak with you in the conference room," she told elena.
the spaniard hurriedly puts on her training top before following the staff member outside, completely missing the brunette that had just walked pass her.
"elena, welcome!" the man exclaims as soon as elena enters the room. "don't worry, i won't take up much of your time." he hands elena a couple of papers.
elena skims through the papers, but she doesn't fully understand the meaning of them all.
"we've found you an apartment to live in for the remainder of the season, and you'll be housed with one of the new signings."
elena nods. she knew that her time with lia and caitlin wasn't permanent, but she wasn't really looking forward to moving all her stuff to someplace new. besides, she had actually grown to love living with the pair.
"who will i be living with?" elena asks still flipping through the numerous amount of papers.
"well, i misspoke earlier, she isn't really a new signing. we had her out on loan at everton but now with the injuries and all we've recalled her. gio queiroz? she's a brazilian forward, i'm sure your teammates have mentioned her before," he says rather quickly.
all it takes for elena to drop the papers in her hand is that one name.
this could not be happening right now. no way.
elena hurried to pick up the papers off the floor, "sorry, how clumsy of me. i really must get to the briefing room now, thank you," she muttered politely as she ran out of the room.
"don't lose those papers! they've got your apartment information and everything!" he yells after her.
elena can't comprehend any instructions right now, her vision is blurred, maybe from tears? she can't really tell.
how could she have been so stupid?
she should have known.
it all comes back to her now.
leah's dinner party. rafa was telling the team about a new signing that arsenal made, how she went on loan. but elena had completely let the words fly over her.
this was disasterous. she could not spend another six months living in a small apartment with gio queiroz, no way in hell.
like elena said, her ex-girlfriend wasn't a bad person, but their relationship hadn't exactly ended on good terms.
she keeps her head low as she runs back into the changing rooms. she went six months without anyone seeing her break down, and now was not the time to break down.
"fuck!" she swore to herself as she ran into someone, effectively knocking herself down on the ground once more.
"min fejl! min fejl! jeg ledte ikke efter, hvor jeg skulle hen (my bad! my bad! i wasn't looking where i was going!)" a foreign voice exclaimed.
"shit, sorry, fuck," elena groaned as she picked up the papers once more. "i'm really sorry about that," she muttered as she finally looked up to meet glistening blue eyes.
elena closed her eyes, inhaling a strong rosey perfume and chastised herself quietly once more. so much for making a good impression on the new signings. the girl, who had the blondest hair elena had probably ever seen was definitely someone elena had never seen around at arsenal before, but elena felt like she had seen her somewhere else before.
"you're one of the new signings right?" elena asked quickly. the girl nodded, opening her mouth to respond before elena cut her off again.
"you got a place to live now right? from the housing director?" elena was desperate. if she could get this girl to switch with her, then she wouldn't have to live with gio. whoever this girl may have been paired with would be better than living with gio, anyone would have been better than gio.
elena just wasn't in the right headspace to confront her past, especially now that she had a new girlfriend and all.
the girl nods as elena motions for her to follow. "you've got your papers?"
"yes, i just got the papers from him. why? is there something wrong?" she asks slowly; elena could tell she wasn't a native speaker, but instead of speaking slower, she kept bombarding the poor girl with more questions.
"no no, that's perfect," she pushed the door open to a now empty room. "could i swap with you? it's a really long story but i just can't live with the person i'm supposed to, is that alright?"
the girl didn't hesitate to nod, which left elena shocked. she had a whole speech and everything to convince the girl to swap their assignments, but despite her rash behavior and almost rude treatment, the girl happily handed her papers over to elena, who handed hers to the blonde girl.
elena exhaled shakily, sighing with relief.
"thank you, thank you so much." elena sat down at her cubby staring at the papers, before placing them behind her and putting her head in her hands.
she misses the way the girl stares at her with curiosity.
elena heard the door close, which must have meant the girl left and was now on the way to their team meeting, one which elena was definitely late for now.
"god elena. you continue to make a fool of yourself, again and again. pull yourself together," elena muttered angrily to herself, wiping off the tears that had dared to spill.
she gathers herself before heading out of the changing rooms with the intent to at least show up for the team briefing.
suprisingly, the blonde haired girl is outside waiting for her, which makes elena jump.
"you didn't have to wait, you know," she mumbled half-heartedly.
the girl only smiled at her, "i forgot where to go, first day here."
"right of course," elena internally slapped herself, leading the girl towards the briefing room.
they're the last two to arrive, elena mumbles a small apology as she rushes to sit by lia, who can tell immediately something is off. the swiss woman can't say anything about it, not now while jonas looks quite serious in front of all the girls.
the meeting kicked off, and elena stared blankly as their sporting director said some few words about jordan and her career. a slow realization dawned upon on the players.
jordan is leaving. she's leaving arsenal.
leah stands in a corner of the darkened room and she speaks a bit on jordan, how she was there for everyone and how everyone at arsenal respected her.
jordan recieves her bouquet of flowers as the players clap for her.
"obviously arsenal hasn't just been football, but it's been home for twelve years. i just couldn't have done it without all the girls over the years, but i think this group of girls has been the best i've every played with." she wipes the tears off of her face that are free flowing now.
"wearing the arsenal shirt has been the hugest honor of my life, i want you all to win the league and smash it, and yeah, good luck on the rest of the season girls."
a final round of applause littered the room as jordan walked out with clare wheately in tow. the attention focused back on jonas, who took center stage.
"as some of you probably have noticed, we've got some new signings, i expect everyone to make them feel welcome. we're running a bit behind schedule, but you all can introduce yourselves while we're out there okay? let's go." he motioned for everyone to hustle outdoors into the cold weather.
elena stared absentmindedly at the door in which everyone was currently exiting from.
"el? are you okay?" lia asks quietly holding the teenager's hands. "did something happen?"
elena turns her face away from lia, she couldn't let the swiss woman see her cry.
she had enough embarassment for today. first running into that new signing that literally sent her tumbling to the floor, and now crying in front of one of her teammates?
this day could not get any worse.
"i'm fine, let's go out," elena choked through her tears.
lia grabs her face, turning it and instantly elena recognizes the sympathy spreading on lia's face.
"shh, it's okay. come here," lia pulled the girl into a hug, which only made elena cry even more. "what's wrong little one?"
the tone of her voice instantly made elena associate with alexia's voice which she desperately needed right now. she needed someone who would understand her.
"i can't-" elena wheezed through her tears. "i can't talk-" elena cried into lia's shoulders. "not today, not today," she mumbled over and over again.
everytime she thought about gio, bad memories continued to flow through the walls she had so safely constructed into her mind. every second that passed only chipped away at that wall, which was inevitable going to fall, but elena wasn't ready for that wall to come down; she needed it to stay up.
"okay, okay, no talking i got it. you don't have to talk today alright? i'll talk for you, just stick by me. if you need anything, and i mean anything, you come to me alright?"
elena hiccuped before nodding. she followed lia out onto the pitch. for the second time today, she's late. however, her small frame can barely be seen because she's constantly hiding behind lia.
she ran through the drills efficiently, quickly, just as she had done before the break, if not better. but the spaniard was noticeably more quiet than usual. she averted her eyes from any brunette hair unless it was lia's ponytail.
conversations became the norm once everyone took a little water break. elena took her bottle, slowly drinking it from beside lia, who watched everyone carefully.
"hey," a dirty blonde waved in front of their faces. lia tried her best to not startle, but elena noticed the small jump in her eyebrows and the way her stance became overly defensive.
"i'm victoria pelova, you played against me in the champions league?"
a smile graced lia's face. "right, it's nice to meet you, i'm lia and this is elena," lia motioned behind her to elena, who gulped her water and managed to smile softly.
a familiar face was nice, she remembered playing against pelova in amsterdam and she seemed decent enough.
victoria waved at elena, "well it is nice meeting you two, i hope we become good friends!" she smiled; a smile which strangely left elena feeling a little more at ease.
"ook leuk om jou te ontmoeten (nice meeting you too)," elena echoed quietly. pelova grinned at her, clearly happy to see someone speaking her native language, even if the pronunciation was as bad as elena's was.
as she walked away, lia turned to face the spaniard, who began to play at the ball at her feet.
"she seems nice, hm?" elena only nodded. "let's hope the others are nice too," she stole the ball from elena, who froze in place at the word 'others'. just as quickly as lia stole the ball from her, elena shook off her thoughts, following the team back to their practice which had resumed.
it was a fun practice, they spent a lot more time playing games than actually training. their fixture against chelsea in the league was in ten days, so they had plenty of time to fine tune their performances.
she had managed to avoid gio pretty well. anytime the brazilian tried to make eye contact with her, elena immediately turned back to lia, listening to whatever conversations were going on around them.
in the locker room, elena slowly packed her things to match the pace of lia and caitlin. they were never in a rush to exit the locker room, but elena didn't want to be alone right now. she didn't want to put herself in a position where gio could come talk to her without prying eyes.
but of course gio didn't care about prying eyes.
"elena, hey. long time no see," she smiled gently. the same smile that was extremely disarming, the same smile that hooked elena in the first time.
elena couldn't say anything. she couldn't find the words to.
what was she supposed to say?
i'm glad i haven't seen you in ages.
not coming back to you was the best decision of my life.
i'm better now without you.
no, those would probably spark an argument.
since elena didn't respond, gio pressed on.
"how are you doing? i didn't know you played for arsenal." elena glared at the girl, looking at her for the first time all day.
she looked older, more matured. elena knew that she meant well, but she refused to give the girl the light of day.
"fine," she answered curtly.
"we haven't seen each other in what? almost two years? and all you have to say to me is 'fine'. wow, real mature el," she scoffed.
"it's elena," the spaniard coolly replied. "and i've matured plenty. for one, brunettes are no longer attractive to me anymore!" elena smiled sarcastically.
she noticed how gio's eyes narrowed, she knew that an argument was brewing. elena always did know how to set her off, but gio also knew how to do the same.
"you're being ridiculous, as always. anyways, how's jana doing? i haven't heard from her in a while," she smirked.
"none of your business, that's what." elena's internal body temperature rose tenfold every time she spoke to the girl. she looked around at everybody else holding their own conversations, completely unaware at the tension boiling between the two girls.
"i think i have a right to know, jana was once my best friend too you know," gio shrugged effortlessly.
"keep my sisters' name out of your mouth," elena gritted through her teeth. she grabbed her training bag and stormed pass the girl, out of the locker room.
elena exhaled shakily as she entered the empty lobby, unaware that a certain midfielder had followed her.
"hey wait! god you're a really fast walker," victoria pelova mumbled as she caught up with elena. the spaniard met her eyes with confusion. her dutch wasn't nearly that good; she should have told viv to teach her more than just basic greetings and insults.
"what do you want?" elena rather abruptly responded in dutch.
"i think we are together, wait no." victoria mumbled shaking her head. she pulled out some papers from her bag.
"like the papers. the blonde girl told me she swap with yours. sorry my english is not good."
"i'm the one you're living with?" elena asked even though she already knew the answer. victoria nodded happily, glad that her message got through to the spaniard.
"that's good," elena sighed contently. "really, that's really good."
elena stuck her hand out for a proper introduction.
"hi, nice to meet you victoria. my name is elena fernandez and i hope you'll like living with me for the next six months."
victoria shook it, albeit a little confused, but her face still harbored a soft smile.
the handshake seemed like more than just a greeting to elena.
victoria seemed already a million times better than what she was expecting. she was nice, a little more happy and energetic than elena was used to living with lia the past few months, but that kept her on her toes.
besides, she would need someone to teach her more dutch now that viv was about to get her surgery.
maybe they would be good friends.
-
for those of you who predicted gio, congrats! the clues weren't too bad were they? if you're wondering about their history, it actually won't play much of a part in the series and the main plot is wholly unaffected!
i hope you enjoyed this chapter!
vote and comment! please don't be a silent reader!
qotd: now that you've officially met victoria in this series, how do you think elena's friendship with her will develop based on what you've seen so far?