They Don't Know About Us

|22|

"Mal guess what we're doing today?" "What?" "Beep test!" "Noooo Whyyyy?"

We now have been at UCLA for a while and have settled in nicely during our time here. We had been doing well in our matches so far and the team was working nicely together. Although a big struggle is balancing school work with Bruins training and then also National Team camp, but I was getting by for the most part.

I chuckle as Mal slouches her shoulders and throws her head back as a whine escapes her mouth, "Not looking forward to it I suspect?" Mal glares at me as we come onto the field, "Not at all. I don't know even know how you even like it. It's like the worst 15 minutes of my life". I snort, "I don't like the beep test I just find it funny how much you hate it".

That earns me a shove from Mal as I laugh as she huffs off to the bench to sit down on the bench putting on her cleats. I plop down on the grass beside my favourite Canadian as I go to pull on my own boots, "Hey Freckles". She chuckles as she tightens her laces, "Hey Lee how are you?" I shrug as I smirk at the introvert, "Fine. Ready to smoke you in the beep test today". She finishes tying her laces as she cocks an eyebrow at me, "Is that a challenge?" I hold out a hand to her, "Winner buys the loser dinner?" I could see Jessie think for a bit, biting her lip before shaking my hand, "Deal".

We did a quick stretch and just passed a ball around to loosen up and get ready for the beep test. Eventually the time had come for the dreaded beep test. Jessie and I stood beside each other so we could pace with each other. Due to both of us coming from running backgrounds we were obviously able to time our runs and not tire ourselves out too quickly. The numbers were slowly starting to dwindle down the longer we went on. When we got to around 67, Mal and Hailee had dropped leaving us the only two left.

"Ready to give up yet?" I breath out as I take a deep breath as we just finished 70. She just scoffs and smiles as she uses her shirt to wipe the sweat off her face. Subconsciously my eyes traced down to her now exposed stomach racking over her slim figure. I drag my eyes away but when I look back up to Jess her smile tells me that I've been caught. If anyone saw me I would blame my red face on the running. But I'm eventually saved by the beep sounding telling us to run.

I run two more and I know I'm done, "Okay thats it. I'm done. Go on without me Jess!" I pant dramatically as I drop to the floor. She chuckles for a bit before he had to continue running. The whole team cheers her on as she gets to 72. When she got back to the line she was hunched over trying to breath. "Cmon Jess one more!" I shout as I cheer her on. She looks at me and nods before taking off at the beep and finishing it out before dropping out as well.

Coach gives us a little while to recover and said that for the rest of training we would just work on set pieces so we wouldn't be over exerted. I could see Jessie still trying to catch her breath so I stood up and out my hand on her back, "Stand up straight. It will help the air get to your lungs better". She listens and does as I say while I raise her hands above her head while she breathes. "Here I would have thought you would have known this with your running background" I tease as her breathing evens out. "I was about to do it" she huffs out as she rolls her eyes. "Well I would be in the wrong course if I didn't tell you too" I joke. "That's right. I forgot about that" she nods.

"What are you planning on doing with that anyways?" She asks as she gulps down water. I shrug, "Well I always like the idea of helping people so I could be a paramedic or something but I more leaning towards sports medicine". That causes her to grin, "I could totally see you being a team physio or a medic". "I don't know maybe" I shrug, "it's one option I guess". "Why? Have you thought about doing something else?" Jessie asks as we sit down on the grass. "It's....it's nothing" I sigh as I take a drink. She opens her mouth to ask but coach Cromwell calls us over to continue training. Saving me from the conversation.