People You know

"Bye bitch"

When they were kids, the image of Ennen Roscoe with her arms folded and a concerned look on her face always scared the shit out of Karima.
Now adults, things hadn't changed that much.
Well they have . But between them...not that much.
So when Karima turned around to look at one of the people who had betrayed her the most, she was surprised to see Ennen looking quite worried as well.
"Um sorry," the younger one of them cleared her throat. "It's just to say that I don't want things to be awkward in training so I just want to...start over if that's um, ok with you."

Did they change roles or something?

Karima has always been the awkward, shy one.
Ennen was the lovable, confident one who got along with everyone. Ying and Yang a teacher once called them.

As Karima hadn't got a car yet, she had to get picked up by Mead and an unusually quiet Van de Donk who apparently "hadn't gotten her coffee yet".
Training was a bit different but similar to Karima's first session with Portland.
Lucy, Lieke Ennen and Karima were all singled out by Alex and given a round of applause for their first training session with the team.
Drills weren't bad. Karima wasn't surprised to see Ennen still be the fastest at sprints. She was rarely ever outran.
The Community Shield against Man City wasn't until next week anyway so Karima didn't have her debut as her main worry. There were others obviously.
Training was only for two hours and Karima came home where she eventually switched her phone on for the first time today and saw a whole host of missed calls from Cole, Emma, Carli and of course Emily .
She ignored all them though and Karima hit on another person who had called her to FaceTime and gave a tired, but genuine smile as her favourite midfielder popped up on the screen.

"Hey dude!" Tobin waved and the screen was blurry so Karima asked if she could FaceTime her again on the laptop.
Taking a while to load the laptop, Karima gave another smile to Heath when she appeared on her screen again.
"How're you Tobin?" Karima asked. "Sorry for not calling you sooner."
Tobin laughed. "I'm good dude. It's ok. Know you've been busy. So I'm not gonna take up too much of your time. You trained already? What's the team like?"
Karima gave a grateful grin for someone asking and wanting to know how she felt. "It's quite good actually. Yeah I've already trained. Can't believe Alex Scott's my coach!"
Tobin laughed at her former teammate's excitement. "Good, good." She then remembered something. "Oh right yeah! I've got two pieces of news to share with you that I've not really told anyone else."
"Seriously? You only called me for that?" Karima teased.
Giving a chuckle, Tobin joked "Shut up you! Should be grateful I'm sharing this with you!"
They both laughed and once that subsided, Karima suddenly began to feel nervous. "Okay so...what's the first piece of news?"
She was surprised to see Tobin look a bit... sad? "Well as you know, I've retired from international football. After some more thinking, I've also decided to hang up my boots in my club career as well."
Karima nodded with tears now streaming down her face. She already missed Heath's mindful presence so badly. Now she was never going to play with her again?
Seeing Mendoza's state, Tobin's face became a lot more cheerful. "Oh don't worry Dozy! I'll always be around for you to confide in. Don't ever forget that."
Karima nodded. Tobin smiled. "Good." Then the midfielder appeared to be speaking to someone off screen. "Can I tell her Chris?" Karima frowned. Tell her what? Just then, Tobin appeared again and was waving a gold band on her finger. Karima gasped."Are you...?"
Heath laughed. "Getting married? Yep. We just felt it was right." Christen had now appeared on the screen and after waving to Karima, snuggled up to her fiancée . "You're invited." Tobin told her. Karima was honoured. "Oh thank you so much! I'm honestly honoured."
The couple laughed before Christen left to "Clean up Tobin's mess." After that, Tobin's face became a lot more serious. "Don't want to waste your time as I said but seriously we've  all missed you." Then Karima didn't know whether there was a pause or a glitch. "Especially her."
Knowing who she was talking about, Karima quietly nodded. "Have you spoke to her?" Tobin had never been so quiet. Lying through her teeth, Karima told her "I've been too busy to as of now but I'm going to speak to her in a while."
Tobin nodded. "Good. She's really missed you. Everyone needs the USWNT favourite current couple to be happy." While she knew this was only supposed to make her feel better, Karima cringed .
"Well I need to go know Tobs. Really missed speaking to you and see you soon!" She hastily babbled before ending the call.

Scrolling through her messages, Karima saw Emily's message.

Hey hope you're settling well in London. Look can we talk when you're free? I think this whole situation needs to be properly addressed.

Karima gulped. Seeing Emily type so formally was...rare. Then again she was likely still very upset. She had every right to be. Honestly Karima, she thought to herself, how do you manage to fuck up every good thing you have?

Karima thought about replying back. However she did the pussy move. And decided against it. Then the door opened and Ennen has reappeared. Karima hadn't even noticed she'd went. Roscoe appeared to be in a huff as she stormed past her and went straight to her room. Karima thought nothing of it. For once, she had her own problems to contend with.

Karima decided to contact someone else. Dialling Cole's phone number, she would be surprised if he picked up. It was still the morning over there. Yet to her surprise he did.
"Nice to hear from you." Karima shouldn't have been surprised by his coldness. She'd deserved it. Yet she was still hurt.

K: Look I can explain...
C: What? Not telling anyone you went? Rami was hysterical. He didn't know where you went. As for your wife, you think it's perfectly ok to tell her the day you leave? Are you delusional? What did you expect her to react like?

Karima winced. This was just the beginning.

C: In fact I can't...I cannot. Just when things were going well Karima, you fuck it up. For everything. So you know what? I'm not gonna bother. Wasting my time. Because everything  with you goes one ear and out the other. So I'm done. Speaking to you. Speak to me when you can woman up and don't bother speaking to Em because I don't think she wants to hear from you either. Bye bitch.

WHAT THE FUCK?

Karima was stunned by Spritt. She swore he was the one person she could confide in. Now? He didn't even want to hear from her. If Cole was that mad, what were the others gonna be like?