AUTHOR'S NOTE: 3-day weekends mean a lot of things: more sleep, less school, and most importantly: more updates!! Remember, you all have the right to hit me in the head with a football if I say something stupid "Defenders can never score goals" or anything else like that.
THANKS FOR ALL THE VOTES AND COMMENTS!!
*ARIANNA'S POV*
"ARIANNA! ARE YOU HERE?" I heard his voice from the tunnel behind me and I instantly froze. He couldn't be here? How did he get here so fast? I knew he was going to be worried, but did he really come here? I was planning to call him after practice; I didn't think he would be here before practice ended! I closed my eyes, slowly turned around and prayed that I was hallucinating.
"ARIANNA!"
I opened my eyes and sighed, nope, he was really here. I sent an apologetic glance at Pep Guardiola before running to Cristiano. "Cristiano! What are you doing here? You aren't supposed to be here! Didn't you see my note?! I told you I was fine!"
But he didn't listen to a word I said, as soon as he got to me, he pulled me into a bone crushing hug. "Your note didn't explain a thing! I was about to be charged with attempt to murder because Mourinho he kept stalling time. Don't you dare ever do that again!"
I sighed into his chest, "I was going to call you after practice, but you're so impatient and stubborn!"
"That reminds me..." He let go of me and walked purposefully towards Pep. Oh no...
"Good evening Mr. Ronaldo," Pep said as he approached him.
"Good evening, I'm here to take Arianna back to Real Madrid. She is an assistant manager at Madrid and will be as long as I can do anything about it. There must have been some misunderstanding because when her contract was signed, it was tied to mine and that means as long as I'm at Madrid, so is she. I apologize for any inconvenience, but you will need to find a new assistant."
"I'm sorry but it seems as though you are the one with a misunderstanding, as per her contract, as long as you are playing, she is guaranteed a job, but not necessarily at Real Madrid." Pep looked through multiple papers before he pulled out a copy of my contract. "She didn't sign a contract with Real Madrid like you did; she signed one with La Liga."
Cristiano's eyebrows furrowed as he frowned, deep in thought, trying to recall our last contract signing.
*FLASHBACK- CRISTIANO's POV*
It was the year 2009 and I was signing my five year contract for Real Madrid. I shifted nervously in my seat; Arianna, who was next to me, gave me a reassuring smile.
"Alright Mr. Ronaldo, after signing this you will officially become a part of Real Madrid," the man in front of me told me. He handed me the contract and I quickly skimmed through it again.
I frowned in confusion and annoyance, "There isn't anything about Arianna in here," I stated as I looked up at the man.
He looked back at me puzzled, "She is the Manchester United B Team manager; she will be staying there, of course."
"No, that is not what we discussed. She was to come with me and become a coach at Madrid! I am not leaving her alone in England while I'm in Spain." I said angered.
"Cristiano, it's fine. I can't be with you everywhere." Arianna said, trying to calm me down.
"I'm sorry Mr. Ronaldo, we can't change the contract now."
I looked at Arianna, who was pleading me to sign the papers, then I glanced back at the man. "No." I stated.
"Excuse me?" he asked.
"If Arianna doesn't coach, then I won't play!" I told him with a determined look on my face.
"Cristiano!" I looked at Arianna. She gave me an alarmed look, "You can't do that Cris, I'll be perfectly fine at Manchester,"
"No," I told her, I looked back at the man, "we come as a packaged deal."
The man pinched he nose, muttered something about stubborn footballers and sighed, "ok, we can make her a separate contract that is tied to yours. Therefore, as long as one of you has a job in La Liga, the other will as well."
I nodded.
*END FLASHBACK*
"No," Cristiano said as he took multiple deep breaths. "That's not possible, no, no, no."
Pep sighed at him, "She is ours; she made the choice to sign the contract that was given to her."
Cristiano stopped abruptly and looked at Pep in shock, "She made the choice?"
"Well, she wasn't forced to sign the contract. She could have refused, but she signed the contract the day it was offered to her." Pep elaborated.
I was staring at the floor, but I could feel Cristiano's intense glare burning holes in me. I slowly looked up at him and almost broke down. I could see the tears threatening to spill from his eyes as he asked a simple question, "Why?" I bit my lip to prevent myself from crying. "Do you not like Madrid? Was it because of something someone said? Who is it? I'll teach them a lesson!"
"No Cris, I love Madrid and I wish I could stay but I can. I was helpless." I replied, struggling to keep my voice from cracking.
"Then why? Why did you CHOOSE to leave the team? To leave me?"
"I did it for you Cristiano, there was no other way." I admitted, finally letting the tears flow freely. "I wanted to stay but the cost of stay was too much and I couldn't do that to you!"
"What are you talking about?" He asked me, "How is any of this helping me? Do I look happy with this Arianna?"
Instead of answering him, I turned to Pep, "Can I see a copy of my contract?" I asked him. He handed me the copy he was holding; I flipped through the contract and pointed at a line at the bottom of the page.
You must comply with all set in this contract with La Liga. A broken contract will result in the loss of your job and Mr. Cristiano Ronaldo will not be able to play in La Liga in the seasons following the date the contract was broken.
He looks up from the contract and stared at me in disbelief. "We would have found some way around it." I shook my head, he was still trying to believe that I could be on his team. "We could have..we could have moved back to England and I could have joined some other team. Maybe Manchester would take me back..." Cristiano rambled on hopelessly.
I pulled him into a hug as tears started to roll down his cheeks. I could feel him shaking as he sobbed. "I'm sorry, it's all my fault. I'm the reason you had to leave. If I had been more specific about you in my contract that day, then this wouldn't happen. I promised to protect you...and now I'm failing..."
"No Cristiano, I'm not leaving you. I'm still going to live with you. You're still here with me, nothing has changed. I'm still playing football, just with a different group of people. You will still see me every day. Honestly, what could happen to me when I'm here with all these other footballers? I'm still safe. No one could have done a better job than you."
He finally calmed down after a couple deep breaths, "ok, but I'll drop you off and pick you up to and from any place you need to go,"
"There really isn't a need for that..."
"No, that's the only way I can make sure you're safe," He said stubbornly.
I sighed, I would figure that out with him later. "Alright."
"Good, I'll just sit in the bleachers; tell me when practice is over." He said, looking satisfied.
"Actually, I can't have you in the stadium while the team is practicing, Mr. Ronaldo," Pep said.
Cristiano looked at him questioningly. "Cristiano, they can't have a Real Madrid player watching how they practice," I explained. "Go home, you must be tired from your practice and running around today; I'll meet you there. And yes, I'll be fine."
After thinking over it for a second, he sighed and nodded, "ok, I'll see you at home, love you and make sure you call me if there's a problem."
I smile at him, "I will, love you too." He turned around and exited the stadium.
I looked back the team practicing on the field and noticed Pep was still silent; I looked over at him and found him staring at me in awe. "What?" I asked cautiously.
He started chuckled and shook his head, "I just saw the powerful Cristiano Ronaldo break down in front of me because of a girl. Do you understand how powerful you are? You're like his super-secret weakness."
I eyed his suspiciously, "just so you know, if I ever have to choose between Cristiano and this team, it will always be Cristiano."
"I understand," Pep replied simply.
I nodded, " so are you going to introduce me to the team?" I asked.
"This isn't the team you're going to be coaching, this is the B Team. You are going to help coach the A team with me, so you will get to meet them tomorrow. But there is one other special person you will meet today, Amelia. She doesn't coach but she loves to visit and help out. And there she is," Pep pointed out a skinny girl walked into the stadium.
She had fair skin and semi-curly caramel brown hair; she looked very familiar. She was wearing a simple, pink athletic shirt and black yoga pants that went down till her calves. As she came closer, I recognized her as the female model for Spanish brand I drove by on my way here.
"Hi Pep, how's it going with the team?" She asked as walked closer.
"Hello Amelia, the team is working hard as always. This is Arianna; the new assistant manager I was talking about." Pep said as he introduced me to Amelia.
She turned to me and smiled, "Hi! Please call me Mia, and welcome to Barcelona!"
I smiled back. "Arianna Marie, it's a pleasure to meet you. Nice to know another girl here."
"Aright, now that you two are acquainted, you guys can walk around the field and get to know each other a little better. Arianna, you may also want to observe how a practice session is held because we will be starting tomorrow. You are free to leave as soon as practice is over." Pep explained.
"Yes Sir," I nodded at him.
He laughed, "there's no need to call me 'Sir,' although it sounds nice; just call me Pep."
"Ok Pep," I smile, it sounded weird, but I'll get used to it.
Mia tugged my arm and dragged me away, "You guys can talk later, I want to get to know my new friend!" I looked at her shocked; to be honest, I've never had friends outside Madrid before. My only friends are the WAGs from Real Madrid because they are the only people Cristiano and I trust not to take advantage of us. I was pulled away from my thoughts when Mia started talking again, "Sooo, Ronaldo huh?"
"Yeah...but how did you know?" I asked her.
"I saw him walking back to his car in the parking lot," she answers nonchalantly. There was an awkward silence as we walked towards the goal post. I looked at her and that's when everything clicked; the reason she seemed so familiar.
"But that's not a big deal for you, I mean, you're a Messi!" I said filling the silence. I finally remembered her face: Amelia Messi, Lionel Messi's younger sister, goal keeper for the Barcelona Women's team and Argentina's National Women's team, and one of the top models of Spain.
"Yah, I guess so," she said as she kicked a ball into the goal. For the rest of practice, Mia and I walked around the field and she explained how practice usually went and we got to know each other better. By the end of practice, it was like we had known each other for years; it felt nice to already know someone before meeting the team. Mia was so kind and energetic; I could tell that we were going to be friends for a long time.
When practice ended, I said bye to Pep and he reminded me that the A team's practice is from 2:00-6:00 PM tomorrow. I got in my car and got ready for the long drive home. It took me a little less time to get home since the roads were clear. After parking the car, I walked to the door and unlocked it; stepping inside I immediately went to the couch and flopped down on it.
"You're finally back," I heard Cristiano say from the kitchen. He walked over and sat down next to me, "How was it?"
"It went well, I met a new girl, Mia. She's the keeper for their women's team."
I saw him trying to recall the face of the goalie, "Messi?" He asked after a minute. I simply nodded, "Did she say anything to you?"
"No, she was extremely kind. She's going to be helping me with her brother's team until I get used to it."
Cristiano nodded, "Ok, but I can come over any time to show her that Ronaldo's are better than Messi's. Speaking of which, I have arrange a permanent taxi that will drive you to Barcelona every day. And I will pick you up, that way you don't have to drive."
"Cristiano, I told you I was fine; I drove today!"
"Please, it lets me know you're safe."
"I'm not a little girl anymore Cris, I can take care of myself," I said sitting up.
He wrapped me in a hug, "I know, but I still think of you as the little girl that I would get into fights for at school."
I smiled at the memory and closed my eyes, "I'm only two years younger." I yawned, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep in Cristiano's arms.
Yes! Early update! Remember, Mia Messi doesn't actually exist; if you try to look her up on Google, then you get some random girls with Facebook and Twitter accounts named 'Mia Messi' -trust me, I tried. Next chapter Arianna gets to meet Barcelona again!! Please leave me a comment telling me what you think of this chapter, and maybe click on the 'vote' button?
Love y'all,
Slytherin_Princess13 :)