Have Hope

6

Y/N POV

I've been here for three weeks now, and today we have our first friendly match against France. During the last three weeks, I was drafted as a first round pick for the Portland Thorns, and signed a two year contract with them.

I've been calling my Aunt and Mom daily, keeping them updated. All of my teammates were super proud of me, and I will be playing on the Thorns with Tobin, Alex, Allie, Lindsey, and Sonnett next season.

Alex and I's relationship has not improved in the slightest. We continue to piss each other off everyday, and are always super competitive during scrimmages. I've started to blossom amazing friendships with all the girls on the team (save for Alex) and I was quickly starting to think of them as my second home, and my family. 

Yes, even Alex.

The team celebrated New Year's together which was super fun. We weren't allowed to drink though, which sucked, but whatever.

Over the past few weeks, our team has grown to become a strong force to be reckoned with. We still have a long ass way to go though.

Last week, the team moved to train in France, where our friendly match against the French is being held. France is pretty amazing- at least from a bit I've seen. 

We haven't had anytime to go exploring though because we've been busy training and preparing for this game.

I think it was a pretty ballsy move by Jill to have us train in sunny California, and then move us to Europe to play our first match in the freezing cold. The highest it was going to get was about 45 degrees. As a kid from the southwest, that's cold as shit.

Right now, we were on the bus, driving towards the stadium. Moral was high, along with everyone's nerves. I did my best not to show it, but I was terrified. Even though it's a friendly, this is my debut game with the USWNT, and that was a lot of pressure. Especially because I really don't want to let my team down.

The team did a press campaign with Nike last week, and that was really the first time I was actually introduced to the world, and my god, it was daunting. Sure, there were plenty of stories about me when camp first started, about how the USWNT got a new goalkeeper after Hope Solo quit, but that was nothing compared to the videos and interviews we had in the days leading up to today's game.

This would be the first time I got to wear the US crest on a jersey with my name on it, on the field.

I was really nervous. The stakes were high, and there were so many people I could let down if I fucked this up. My team. Jill. My Mom. My Aunt. America. No big deal.

I had called my mom last night, basically having a panic attack about today, and she told me not to worry, and that even if the game didn't go my way, she was still extremely proud of me. My Mom is always the sweetest, most understanding person.

Another thing that added to my nervousness was the fact that since late last week, Alex seemed to be in a mood. More than usual at least. She seemed more sad than angry, and honestly, I was pretty worried about her. I wonder if something happened between her and Servando. Ugh. Fuck that guy.

Alex is one of our best forwards, and if she isn't on her A game, we stand no chance of winning.

My nervousness was multiplied by a gazillion as we entered the locker room to change into our warm up kits. Kick off was in half an hour. 

Once everyone was ready to go, we followed the trainers out onto the field, where the French were warming up on their half. The crowd cheered when they saw us, but I kept my game face on.