| Cody |

"Is the new teenager with Alex Morgan really her kid? Or just a desperate individual after some money and attention?"

Im not even telling you wrote that.

"This is bad. Is this bad, Hope?" I look the the ex-pro who glances at me before returning to her phone. She bites her lip while slightly shaking her head. She doesn't know what to say, that much I can see.

I'm about to burden her with more questions, questions only Alex can answer, when the referee's whistle cuts me off, signalling the start of the game.

Not a lot happened during the game.

That's not to say it was boring, Alex set Tobin up for a goal, the only goal of the game and Ali got injured. It didn't look too bad but that doesn't count for anything.

"Come on, the team is gonna be a while, so we'll meet them back at the house, lets go you two." Hope commands us, and we follow. All the way out the stadium into a mosh pit of reporters and camera flashes. I hear question after question, but I'm blinded by the flashes, I let Hope guide Jack and I through the crowd obviously being well adapted to this. But I can't ignore what's being shouted at me.

"Is it true you're a golddigger?"

"Who is your friend? Is she your girlfriend?"

"Are you her kid? Or is this just a charity act?"

"What gave you the inspiration to involve yourself in Morgan's life like this?"

I felt Hope hold onto me tighter, maybe because I was getting mad, or because she was. Either way none of us talk, we just try to push past the reporters and make it to Jack's car in one piece. Feeling like I can finally breathe again when I hear the engine roar to life, I let myself slump back into the seat, finally relaxing for the drive back home.

| Alex |

Tensions are still running high in the locker room, most of the girls feeling like we deserved more from the 1-0 win, some feeling Canada played rougher than usual, which didn't go down well considering it was a friendly game.

"Fucking Canadians." Ali grumbles as she sits on the trainers table off to the side of the room, her knee wrapped up in icepacks.

I turn my phone back on, deciding that I'll just play music through my Beats to calm down, until the thing blows up, going off constantly and I see notifications from every single social app I'm on.

"Um...Alex." I hear Kelley, so I turn and face my best friend who hands me her phone. I look at her confused but she motions for me to look at the screen, it's a video already loaded and ready to go, so I hit play to find that it's a short video of Cody, Jack and Hope. They're leaving the stadium and based on what they're wearing it's from today. I hear what's being yelled towards my daughter which pisses me off to new heights, while my phone is still going off not helping my stress levels at all.

I hand Kelley back her phone, and my attention snaps to Press, who tells me I need to go on Twitter, so I do. And I don't like what I see.

"Yeah right, she's obvs after Alex's money. golddigging bitch"

"she should leave the team alone, they dont need that shit hanging around"

"attention seekers like this should just die"

One in particular caught my eye.

Because I knew who it was.

Joanna. The captain of my daughters team. I really thought she would have learned her lesson when Jack slapped her, but apparently not.

"@CaptJo - that lil bitch is on my team. Correction WAS* on my team"

"@CaptJo - ya'll right. she's not Alex's daughter. she just loves the attention"

"@CaptJo - Hope you dont come back to school @CodyMaxwell stay wherever tf u are"

"@CaptJo - was asked if @CodyMaxwell is good at soccer. she wishes. she's not good at anything, why u think she's stuck to @alexmorgan13?"

I close the app, deciding to switch my phone back off, not wanting to deal with the bullshit that is modern journalism and Twitter users with too much to say. I wait for Kelley and we head out together, since Tobin left with Press.

"Are you jealous?"

"Jealous?"

"Wow. You and Tobin are both clueless. Are you jealous that Pressy is away with Tobin?"

"No, why would I be? I'm more focused on getting home and seeing how Cody is doing." I say, and my friend nods. "Tobin's a grown woman, she can spend time with whoever she wants to but right now my only priorityis my daughter." I finish, sounding confident though I'm not, but I can't demand that Tobin spends all of her time with me, who wants to be that girl?

When Kels and I get home, it's quiet inside, but we hear talking coming from outside in the backyard.

We both shower, seperately, and meet back in the kitchen, making dinner for us, Hope and the teens, while we let it simmer we pour ourselves a glass of wine, walking outside to see Hope sitting on the steps leading to the backdoor, while Cody and Jack play 1v1 in the backyard.

Kelley sits next to Hope, and I smile at the happiness on my friends face's as they share a kiss before Kelley hands Hope her own glass of wine, which she happily accepts.

"So, is Jack winning?"

"No, I'm sure Cody is winning." I sass my friend back, smirking at her while she raises an eyebrow at me.

"Now I see where Cody gets her attitude from. Like mother like daughter." Kelley snaps back with equal sass, making me laugh, until a voice cuts in.

"Damn straight, short stack." I look to see Cody smiling at Kelley, agreeing with the mother like daughter statement before her smile falls and she's being chased around the garden by Kelley, who does eventually manages to trip my child, before jumping on her and tickling her. "I'm sorry!"

The five of us stay in the garden after we eat dinner, Kelly, Hope and I deciding to help the teens with some of their touches and techniques, until Jack and Kelley let out a yawn, at the exact same time, which makes Hope chuckle.

"Come on you two, I think you both need sleep."

I watch Hope lead the sleepy duo back into the house and my daughter sits next to me on the steps. It's silent for a few minutes before I sigh.

"There's a few things we need to talk about Cody."

"I know."

"I'm proud of you." I start, easing myself into the difficult talk I'm about to have with Cody.

"Wait...what?" I chuckle at my daughter, finding her confused face absolutely adorable.

"You didn't react to anything those reporters and other people were shouting at you, a lot of people would have snapped, I know I did when I watched the video in the locker room. So I'm glad you didn't, I'm proud of you."

"Thanks mom." We share a small smile with one another, "But what else did you want to talk about?"

"You can see right through me already, huh?" I ask her, looking at my feet, hating that we have to talk about this. "There's a few things. You have to finish high school, where do you want to do that? Here or Orlando, and before you tell me your answer, Jack is staying here. Hope is going to continue to rent this place until Jack has graduated, then I think they'll move to Seattle. You don't have to decide right now, I want you to think about it. Also..." I sigh out before I continue, "I have to go back to Orlando in about a week to finish the season." I bite my lip as Cody's eyes snap to mine, an unreadable glint flashing across them before she looks away.

She takes a breath, readying herself to answer, until her phone cuts her off, and then my phone joins in. I share a look at my daughter, both of us obviously coming to the same conclusion - another news story.

We both unlock our respective phones, and I open the latest 'news' story, to see a picture of the jackass who claims to be Cody's father as he claims that I'm 'stealing away' his daughter, and that I'll 'run away to Orlando with her'. I'm not forcing my daughter to do anything, she's already done enough things that she hasn't wanted to do.

I lock my phone, taking Cody's off of her when I see that she's just staring at his face, and I put both phones in my pocket as I hold my hand out for her to take, and she does as I help her up off of the steps, walking her into the house with my arm around her shoulder, her arm around my waist as we plop down onto the couch, I turn the TV on, handing her the remote so that she can scroll through Netflix to find something to watch. We cant decide on anything so we go to the last thing watched and hit resume. I'm sure we don't get too far into the movie before we both fall asleep.

I groan as I hear my phone going off, feeling around for where the annoying noise is coming from, preparing to yell down the phone at whoever decided to wake me. I'm glad Cody hasn't woken up yet.

I stand, walking to kitchen when I hear my phone coming from there. I don't remember leaving it there. I see Tobin drinking coffee, wearing what she wore yesterday before the game.

"Oh...hey, Alex." She greets me, which is odd, she rarely calls me that, it's usually Lex.

"Hey, you just getting home?" I gesture to her clothes, and my heart sinks as I see her blush, biting her lip as she slowly nods, avoiding all eye contact with me.

Thankfully my phone starts to ring, I'm now excited to see who woke me, and thank them for saving me from this awkward morning talk with my friend. My friend. That's all she is.

I see my phone and walk over to it.

"I found it on the floor, so I just left it there, if you were wondering."

"Thanks." I say, trying to be nice, but also not wanting to talk to her right now.

I look at the caller ID and see it's Mr. Atkins, the social worker. Now I don't know if I should be excited or worried. Seeing I have three missed calls from him already, I hit the green button.

"Good morning Mr. Atkins." I say, deciding to remain positive and I see Tobin's head snap up to look at me from the corner of my eye, which I try my best to ignore.

"Yes, morning Miss Morgan. We need to talk..."