dear highschool. i hate you. occasionally

send off (not her last)

the week passed by she was still on thin ice with sabrina but her girlfriend was trying to make the best of it knowing her girlfriend was off for 2 weeks with the senior team for training camp. emily and rowan hung out frequently and talked a lot. they day before rowans flight sabrina came over. "ugh. i'm gonna miss you" she groaned into her side. "me too babe me too" she said. truth was rowan was actually grateful to get away from her life for a bit. to be with people who cared about soccer and were mature. she just wanted to focus on her game. sabrina sat on rowans bed as she packed. she pulled out her us soccer suit case and began packing. she pulled out all of the training gear she needed. which wasn't much since she would get new training gear when she got there. she packed her favorite practice cleats and her good luck cleats. extra like day clothes. all of her toiletries and that. in her soccer bag which would be used as her carry on contained her lap top, school stuff so she could work on school work. snacks and books and what not. plus her ball of course. "okay well ik gonna leave so you can get some rest. but i love you and you'll kill it okay?" she kissed her girlfriend one more time before leaving. when sabrina got in the car she felt her eyes water. she already was begeninh to feel distant with her girlfriend and now adding this and emily into the mix was just adding too much onto sabrina plate. but she drove off knowing that this was rowans dream. rowan went to sleep that night but she couldn't. she tossed and turned. she wondered how it was going to be. how were the girls. we're they mean? would they help her out? she began to stress herself out so much she cried. this was her dream and here she was crying herself to sleep. it didn't seem right. her dad heard her and walked into her room. he held her there. stroking her hair until she finally fell into a sleep. her dad knocked on her door the next morning. "ro ro. babe it's time to get up" he said softly. she nodded as she woke up. they both avoided the topic of the night before. she got up reluctantly but felt the rush of knowing what today was. she hoped into the bathroom and brushed her teeth and hair. tossing it into her usual messy low ponytail. she changed into her signature outfit. green shorts black zip up. nike socks and slides. she grabbed her phone and tossed it into her soccer bag. and pulled her suit case and back pack along with her. they stopped quickly at the keva juice and headed to the airport. "hey. you're gonna do amazing. i love you ro. no matter what you're always my baby girl." her dad told her. she pulled her suit case out and trecked into the airport. once she boarded the plane she put her earbuds in and settled in on the empty flight to san fransico. before take off she looked at her phone once more. she smiled at the text from emily. "if you don't out run those senior citizens girllll i swear" it read. rowan laughed loudly. she want nervous anymore. she was ready. she looked down at the us soccer crest on her jacket. "it's time rowan" she said to herself.
her flight was smooth and filled with homework. she got off the plane and walked quickly out. she hopped into her taxi and started the way to the team hotel. unfortunately her flight did get in later than the other girls so she had to miss the first like practice session which was just like a loose practice but she would be there for team meeting. when she got there the whole team was in the lobby just hanging out. she took a quick breath and walked in. "rowan!" pia called. she embraced her. "hi"'rowan smiked. "everyone gather around!" pia called. "everyone this is rowan sanchez. she's 15 years old. and is a left middy. i'm excited to have you and i hope the rest of you are as well. let's make her feel welcome" pia said clapping her hands. rowan stood there awkwardly. "hi. i'm hope solo. i'm your roommate this camp" someone greeted. "hi. and uh cool" rowan greeted her. "hey rowan. i'm amy-" "rodriguez. and your lauren cheney and tobin heath and abby wambach-" rowan listed off everyone. "wow. you've done your research" abby laughed. "uh sorry i just i've watched you guys for years and well yeah" rowan said looking down at the floor embarrassed. "come on ro. let's head up to our room"
hope said. rowan nodded. "hey so i got all your gear and set it on your bed" "thanks hope. you didn't have to do that" rowan smiled at the girls kindness. "eh. don't worry about it." hope shrugged it off. they got into the room and rowan unpacked. then collapsed on the bed. "ooo girl if your already tired from that you're gonna have a hard time at training" hope teased. rowan laughed. "so hope. can i ask you a question?" rowan asked. "of course" "what are the girls like?" rowan asked. "well they're all really cool and you'll get close with them quick" hope informed her. "well i hope i didn't embarrass myself to much down there" rowan said getting red because she already felt embarrassed. "hey rowan. can i tell you a secret?" hope said. "hmmm" "we totally fan girled over you too" hope told her. "no way. really?" rowan asked not believing her. "yep. we watched all of your u-20 games" hope admitted. rowan sat there in disbelief. "come on" hope laughed. the two headed down to dinner and hope made rowan stick with her. she took her seat with hope at a table with carli abby alex tobin arod and cheney. "so ro. do you have boyfriend or a girlfriend?" lauren pried. "uh yeah i have a girlfriend" rowan chuckled. "what's she like?" alex asked. "uh dramatic" rowan and the girls laughed. "uh no no she's she's cool" rowan shrugged almost as if she was trying to convince herself of that. the girls raised their eyebrows skeptically. they gave her a "well talk about this later look" once dinner was done rowan and hope headed back up after team meeting. rowan sat there and did home work while hope read. "sooo how was your first kinda day?" hope asked. "honestly. i really like everyone. i'm excited to get on the pitch with you guys. i feel like i can learn a lot." rowan told her. then they headed to bed.
"ro ro" hope gently nudged the sleeping middy. "huh? oh" she squinted at the bright light. she rubbed the sleep from her eyes (unsuccessfully) with the back of her hand. she headed into the bathroom and got ready. brushed her teeth and hair and washing her face. she tossed her hair into the usual messy ponytail. "okay so today we're all wearing the black shorts and the blue tops" hope informed her. rowan nodded and changed quickly. she grabbed her bag and they headed to the meal room. "good morning!" christie greeted nicely and everyone laughed at rowan who still was rubbing at her eyes. "come on ro" hope giggled and led her to the food. they ate quickly and hopped on the bus. hope took rowan to sit with her as she explained the bus seat situation. "oh that's actually kinda cool" rowan said. once they arrive at the training fields they warmed up and everyone was quickly impressed with rowans competence and skills. "she's really good" barney whispered to hope. "yeah she is" hope said proudly. training was difficulty filled with a lot of fitness testing but rowan easily excelled. she was fresh and fit and young. "hey good work today ro. you really showed up" abby told her. "thanks ab" rowan smiled. "look at my little nugget making friends" hope joked. "whatever" rowan smiled nudging her. "they really like you ro. you did amazing today" hope told her. "thanks hope." rowan said. the afternoon work out was different. she was confident but the senior level is a totally different level. they had slot of experience. they had a lot of knowledge. so rowan had to learn how to play around that. at the end of the practice she felt totally defeated. pia pulled her aside. "hey ro. how was the first day?" pai asked. "uhh good good. they're amazing" rowan said. "look ro i know you feel defeated right now but you did good. those are phenomenal players who have a lot of experience. so i'm proud of you. one day rowan that's gonna be you. your gonna be that veteran player who's schooling the younger ones. so take this time to learn from these people okay?" "ok. thanks pia" rowan smiled. "you good?" hope asked as rowan took her sport next to her on the bus. "yeah. i think so" rowan said genuinely. camp life was great. the girls were phenomenal very inclusive. always asking her to hang out and including her in conversations. offering to help her with her homework and making themselves available if she ever had any questions. and the younger ones like kelley and tobin snd alex and chen and arod we're there too and they definitely acted like older sisters but also as friends too. she was a studio 90 sensation.
"hello and welcome back to studio 90. today we are here with new young player. rowan sanchez!" everyone clapped. "hi. thanks for having me" "so rowan how was your first camp?" "awesome. the girls are incredible the soccer and level of soccer is amazing and i just really feel like i'm learning a lot." "how are you getting along with the girls?" "very well i think. they are super inclusive and nice. always offering their help and i truly feel like a younger sister. they all gave me their numbers and emails and all that and instructed me to text them all the time and everything and they're just phenomenal. i hope one day i'll get to play with them" "do you think you have a chance?" "i think anything's possible uh i might be a bit of a long shot haha but it's just been awesome to be here for camp and learn from
these players" "so how has it been trying to balance the school work and the training and all that?" "uh it's been hard. but i've been getting it done. you know the school work unfortunately has to get done even though i'd much rather just play soccer and hang out. but the girls have been really supportive about it. barney has been helping me right my essay from english and i think she's gonna help me get an A!" "that's great. well rowan we'll let you go and hopefully we'll see you soon"
rowan sat in the ice bath reading her book for englush and annotating. meanwhile the rest of the girls were talking but quietly so she could focus. although rowan could definitely still hear them. "so what do you think?" tobin asked abby. "i think she's good and i think pia is gonna keep her. she's not a complete player yet. but imagine her after a year or two when she's a little more developed." abby said. "she'll be dangerous" christie finished. "yeah i agree. her shots this time around were solid with that experience and more training especially at this level shittttt shell be a beast" hope said. "the youth teams babied her. even though she was always the best. here we need to make sure that she keeps up her performance with ours" abby said. "i want her around" alex smiled and tobin nodded her head in agreement. rowan smiled and blushed but looked down into her book. did they really mean that? she thought.
all good things have to come to an end and sadly camp did too. they all gathered in the lobby rowan getting their early with hope. pia pulled all the girls aside earlier during that day but rowan was last. "hey ro. could you come with me" rowan hopped up and gave hope one last look for confidence before disappearing behind the door. "okay i want to get straight to the point. you're staying on this team. you'll be attending world cup quals and probably the friendlies after that. but listen. you lack experience rowan. that's something you can't just train so bringing you along you might be more of a bench player right now. okay but it's only temporary" pia told her. "thank you so much. i'd be happy even if i was just your guys water girl" rowan said as pia laughed and dismissed her. when she walked out everyone looked at her. she just simply nodded before saying her goodbyes. before she could leave everyone checked with her. "you have our numbers right? you'll check in with us? i'm serious-" "yeah guys. don't worry" rowan assured them. she hugged every girl and when she hugged hope it was different. "i'll miss you champ. but i'll see you soon" hope said holding her. "bye hope. i love you" rowan said before exiting the lobby. "aww look who turned our big bad goalkeeper into a softie!" abby teased.
"she's just she's" "rowan" everyone finished. they had created this new bond with the young superstar. this feeling to protect her at all costs but to give her what she needed. wether it be tough love or real love. they wanted to provide it for her. and they would. they would become rowans family soon enough.