Chapter 1
June 23, 2024
"Oh come on!" Alex punched her bag and stood up, beginning to pace back and forth in the locker room.
"Al, what's wrong?" Mallory walked over to Alex and rubbed her arms, trying to calm her teammate down. "Whatever you're missing, I'm sure someone has an extra."
"I'm missing pink pre wrap, Pugh!" Alex yells and catches the attention of some of her teammates. Some of the rookies gasp, knowing Alex always wears pink during games. The veterans look concerned, knowing their captain can't go out stressed out. It's the Olympic Qualifying Finals, and the team need their leading goal scorer focused and ready to strike.
"Alex, calm down. I'm sure Coach has some extra. I'll go get some and you stay here, okay?" Mal leaves while Alex sits on the bench and runs her hands through her hair.
Alex used to never be nervous before a game. She was always the controlled, centered one of the group. But ever since the 2016 Olympics, more than fifteen of her teammates retired, three of them being the previous year. One of those three is her bestfriend, Tobin. Alex doesn't know what to do without Tobin to be there for her. Ever since Tobin left, she has been off her game, only scoring a couple goals and having one assist. She hasn't heard from Tobin in months, and that is starting to affect her as well. She reached out to Tobin a lot, but she would never get a response.
Alex is also the oldest player on the pitch, being one of very few from the 2015 World Cup roster still playing and the only one from the 2012 Olympic roster playing. She is now the captain. She needs to start to pull it together, not just for her but for her team.
The team starts to file out for warm-ups and Mallory finally shows up with a brand new roll of pink pre wrap.
"Here." Mal tosses Alex the pre wrap and Alex takes it and quickly tries to fix it so she can begin warm-ups.
Mallory notices Alex stressed, so she sits down beside her and pats her back.
"Hey it's okay. We'll win, no need to be nervous."
"Thanks Pugh. It means a lot." Alex sighs and slows down. She tries to stop her leg from shaking.
"Look, I know you miss the old team. I do too, trust me. And I know I'm not them and all, but I'm going to step it up. You can count on me, and you can come to me whenever." Alex smiles and nods a silent 'Thank you.'
Mallory stands up and walks towards the door," I'll tell Coach you had to roll out a muscle. Let's go qualify for the Olympics."
Mall leaves and Alex fixes her hair. She takes deep breathes, preparing herself for the game. As she's walking towards the field she stops and looks at a picture hanging on the wall. It's of the 2015 team after winning the World Cup. Alex smiles, as she is reliving the old memories she has made with that team. All the game-winning goals, the agonizing defeats, the drive of coming back from injury, the love the team had shared. It was all coming back to her.
The chants from the audience snapped her back to reality. Alex takes one final look at the picture before heading out. She walks out and the cries of the crowd get louder, almost deafening. At that moment, she knows why she is still playing.
"Time to start a new legacy."
.
Alex looks up at the clock and sweat rolls down her face. Tied game. 3-3. Four minutes left. Her team needed to make a move and they needed to fast. She was bordering the backline when Pugh won a ball and lofted it into space.
'This is my chance. I have to finish this.'
Alex caught up to it right outside the eighteen. The keeper came out and she knew it was now or never. she chipped the ball, hoping it would get over.
Alex stood as the world slowed down. She watched the ball sail over the goalkeeper and hit the back of the net. She had just scored. She had just won the Olympic Qualifying for her team. The crowd goes insane as her teammates run up and hug her. Alex smiled and tears came into her eyes as she finally got one back.
Mal ran up and jumped on Alex, hugging her so tight. Alex hugged back whispering," Knew I could count on you without. I hope now you know that you can count on me too." Mallory smiles and makes her way back to her starting position, knowing she got to her captain.
.
The ref blew the final whistle, ending the game 4-3, with the US winning. As the team walked the field, all of the cheers were going towards the forward, the one who led the team to a victory.
After shaking hands with the opposing team, Alex began making her trek to the locker room to shower up. She was just entering the tunnel when she heard the chants of her name coming from some familiar voices. She looked up, and she saw the faces of Rapinoe, Lauren, and Sydney yelling and screaming her name. Joy overcame her as she scanned the rows around them. She couldn't believe it. The retired team of 2015 were there. Abby, Heather, and Kelley were jumping up and down. Ashlyn, Kriegs, Christen, and Julie were waving flags and a poster with her name on it. Even Hope and Carli came, and they were waving. She waved at them and the rest of the team, but she didn't see the face she was looking for. When Alex started to get disappointed, she heard a familiar voice yell," Hey can I get your autograph, Lex?"
Alex looked down and there she was, in front of her, leaning down and holding out one of my jerseys, flashing her big goofy grin. There she was. Her bestfriend.
"Tobin."