Last Ride

Chapter 15

Hayley's pov

We just arrived at the stadium. It's game day! Everyone is pumped and ready to go. We head off the bus and head straight to the locker room. We all find out cubby's that has all our stuff layed out for us and we start getting ready.

While everyone is getting ready Jill goes over who's starting and gives us her little pep talk.
I was coming in after first half for Emily. We had a few minutes before we head out. I head over to Hope who was putting her gloves on. She takes a second to look up and realize it's me.

"So you're starting second half?" She asks

"Yep, going in for Emily at half I think, or shortly after it starts." I say

"You nervous?" She asks

"Little bit. I feel like I still have a lot to prove." I say

"It's good to have that mindset but don't be hard on yourself. In a way you already have proved yourself, Jill wouldn't have called you up if you didn't. Stay focused and play your best, that's all anyone asks." She says giving me a quick kiss on the cheek.

It's time to line up and take the field. We head onto the field. We go through both national anthems and we start stretching until it's time to take to the field. Starters headed to their positions while the rest of us headed to the bench. I take a seat next to Tobin and we talk and watch the game.

We we're doing pretty good on keeping the ball off of our size. We're about 20 minutes in and so far there have been no shots on our goal. We have had a few close shots that were on goal. Alex scored but the ref called offside so It didn't count.

Mexico was on our half pushing towards goal on the left side. Kelley is able to get the ball back and she passes the ball up to Lindsey, Christen, Alex and Mallory are running towards goal. Mallory was just ahead of her defender, Lindsey passes to Mallory, who pulls two defenders leaving Christen open in the middle, Mal sees It and nutmegs the defender to her right , giving Christen the perfect shot on goal with only the goalie to beat. Mal gets taken down from behind and Christen slots the ball in the bottom right corner, the goalie couldn't get there in time.

The stadium erupts in cheers and screaming. Mallory was still on the ground grabbing at her ankle so the ref called the training team. After a few minutes Mal was good to go and the game started again.

We we're just reaching half time and we we're headed towards the Mexico's half. Emily passed the ball up to Lindsey who was able to pass the ball to Alex, she's able to pass It to Mal, Mal reaches the box and crosses It and Alex heads It in for a second goal of the game so far. The stadium goes crazy again.

The ref blows her whistle signaling the half. We all head to the locker room and Jill goes over substitutions and does her second half pep talk. Soon enough it's time for us to head back out. I was getting subbed in right at the half so I was able to head onto the field. Hope and I walked together. We obviously knew people were watching us, the stadium is always packed and it's also televised, so there could be thousands more people watching It live or later.

"No concussions okay?" Says Hope  playfully and I can't help but laugh.

"Yeah let's hope I don't get one." I say patting her back before jogging over to where I'm supposed to be. I was on the right side, Becky was in the middle and kel was on the left.

The ref blows her whistle and the second half starts again. Mexico has the ball currently and is making their way towards our end. Everyone pushes back  to our side to try and get the ball back. They were coming up the left side, kel got caught off guard and was chasing the forward with the ball. Lindsey and Sammy also pulled back to help.

The Mexican forward crossed the ball to the right side to the other player and I slid and knocked the ball out of bounds ending their run towards our goal. They grabbed the ball for the throw in and they tried to pass on the right side again, I was able to get the ball and I headed back towards there side. Everyone pushed up and I could see Mal on the far right wide open, so I passed the ball over to her, she took a shot at goal and It slipped right passed the goalies fingertips.

Yes! Let's go!

Mal ran straight over to me and jumped up in my arms. I caught her and set her down after a few seconds and the rest of the team came over to congratulate her. After our little celebration we headed back so the game could start again.

The ref eventually blew her whistle signaling the end of the game. We shook hands with the other team and the refs and I stop in the middle of the field and take the hair-tie out of my hair so I can fix It. I felt someone out their hand on my back and and I look up to see Hope.

"That was an awesome cross." She says

"I was so scared I overshot It." I say chuckling

"It was perfect. I'm proud of you." She says

I sit down on the ground and take out my shin guards. Hope takes a seat next to me, taking another sip of water. I could hear some fans screaming Hope and I's name behind us.

"Should we go over there?" I ask

"Eh why not." She says

We both get up and head over to the stadium. We sign a few things for them and take a quick selfie with them.

"We should probably head back to the locker room, bus should be leaving soon." Says Hope

We say goodbye to the group of girls and head back to the locker room. We grab our stuff and head to the bus. I take a seat by the window and Hope sits next to me. Hope and I take a selfie and I post It to social media

Thanks for the love Hartford ❤️

The ride back was loud like normal, everyone was In their own little groups talking and laughing. Hope and I were already making some plans for next week when she comes to visit. I had a rodeo and she planned on coming and watching me. She was planning on staying for about a week.

We get back to the hotel and head up to our room. I get in the shower and Hope gets in after me. We head  down to dinner once we're all dressed and ready. After that we had the night to just chill so we went back up to our room and watched Netflix and cuddled.

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Sorry for the lack of updates! It's been a rough week haha but I'll try to get back to uploading more often!  Thanks for reading!