Life's Not Fair

Chapter 22

2019 January

"Ona is calling you Lia!" Leila shouted.

"Okay! Can you answer? I'll be there in a second!" I respond. I gently pick up the cat and set her down on the couch and go to meet Leila who is on the phone.

"Hey Ona! What's up?"

"Hey Lia, I really messed up," she rushes out.

"Woah, slow down. What happened?" I ask.

"You saw the new signing? For Manchester, Anette, well we were like friends or whatever and I ruined it all."

"What makes you think you ruined it?" I ask her. This whole conversation is just confusing and her sporadic storytelling does not help.

"I told her she had a negative mindset and it led to a fight."

"I fight with Leila all the time, it's part of being friends Ona. Just talk to her."

"I tried! She's like, avoiding me."

"I think you are being dramatic."

"I'm not! I was braiding her hair before games and now she has Leah do it, she is just ignoring me!"

"Ona, you can't braid hair very well, and just send her a text or something, don't do it in front of the whole team."

"Well it was like once because we have had two games, but it's also international break now so there's that."

"Okay, I can teach you braiding over camp and then, when you get back to Manchester, you can help her with it or something. Just give her some space, Ona. You can talk to her again after break, it's not like she is going anywhere," I say.

"Yeah, okay. Thank you Lia." She hung up and I look over to Leila.

"Do you remember when we were watching the Olympics with Ona?" I ask her.

"Yeah, why?"

"The gymnastics part especially."

"What about it all, Lia?"

"That Swedish one, do you remember her?"

"Lia, there were several Swedish gymnasts," Leila points out.

"Anette Adaberg."

"Oh! That's the one Ona had a crush on!"

"I know! They are teammates now!"

"No way. She plays football!"

"Yeah, that's who Ona was calling about, she was freaking out about a little fight they had."

"Oh my gosh, I cannot wait to tease her about that!" She shouts.

"Maybe don't, she is really nervous about the whole thing."

"Fine, I won't. But one day, one day I will."

"Wouldn't expect anything less of you," I laugh. We were leaving for camp tomorrow and I think Leila forgot because she has done nothing to prepare for the trip to Cartagena. "By the way, you do know we leave tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You have not packed a single thing, and it's almost 10."

"I don't see a problem," Leila shrugs.

"We are leaving in 12 hours. Go pack some stuff!" I laugh.

"Twelve hours is a long time, Lia. Chill."

"We have to sleep at some point," I tell her.

"Sleep is for the weak, I won't make us late, actually Alexia won't let us be late. We all know that she is going to be making sure everyone here is at the airport on time."

"True, Mama Lex isn't going to leave anyone behind," I joke.

"See! Nothing to worry about," Leila smiles.

"Lia! Lia! Wake up!" I roll over and check the clock, 8:57.

"Leila, we have an hour before we have to leave, what is it?" I groan.

"The flight is at 10, not when we were supposed to leave for the airport!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Alexia just called me asking where we were, you know she is always early for everything."

"I'll be in the car in five minutes," I say. I quickly throw on a Barca sweatshirt and some leggings before brushing my teeth. I grab my suitcase and run to the car.

"Let's go! It's a thirty minute drive to the airport!" Leila shouts.

"I'm coming!" She starts driving to the airport and I answer Alexia's call.

"When did you think the flight was?" She asks.

"Closer to noon, and then we would drive to the airport at ten," I answer.

"When are you two getting here?" Alexia asks.

"GPS says nine twenty-five but we could probably get there sooner if we speed," Leila says.

"Don't speed, Leila," Alexia scolds. I whisper to Leila that she should speed and get us there as quickly as possible.

"I won't!" Leila says.

We get there at nine fifteen and we race through security. We get to the gate at nine forty five after waiting in security for half an hour.

"There they are!" Patri shouts. I wave and see Alexia shake her head at us getting there as the plane was boarding.

"Hey! We made it just in time!" I smile.

"You two," Alexia says, hugging us. "Are going to kill me."

"That's my job!" I tell her.

"Someone has to keep you young," Leila says.

"I'm younger than you are Leila," Alexia says.

"True, but it is never a bad thing to be young!"

"Get on the plane you two, apparently I need to be supervising you to make sure you get places on time."

"Low blow Ale!" I say, I grab my suitcase nonetheless and follow Patri onto the plane.

We got to the hotel around the same time as the girls from Madrid.

"Lola! Vir!" I shout. I go over and hug the two of them. "How is Toni doing?"

"I knew that was who you actually missed!" Lola says.

"I can miss all of you, I just worry about him more than you guy."

"He is doing fine," Vir assured me.

"Good, and how are you both?"

"Good, I hear you almost missed the flight here," Lola says.

"Wow, yeah. Leila and I got there just in time to board," I smile.

"Do you know if Ona is here yet?" I ask.

"Probably not, she's coming from England," Vir says.

"She better get here soon," I mumble.