| Jack |

Cody and I arrive at the respectable family home that's hosting this not-so-respectable party. It's the typical high school party, teenagers acting like adults, getting so drunk they can barely stand, beer games on any available surface, and body shots galore.

I take my best friends hand and lead her to the kitchen, grabbing us both an unopened beer each, and handing hers off to her. I see the girl I'm here for, dancing with her friends in the limited space that has been created for a makeshift dancefloor. When she waves me over I check on Cody, turning to see that she's already talking up a storm with a girl who looks familiar but I'm not sure where from. I tap my friend on the shoulder, letting her know where I'll be if she needs me.

| Cody |

"Excuse me?" I turn from my best friend as she looks for the girl she has a crush on, turning to see a girl who can't be more than two years older than I am. "Are you Alex's kid?"

Oh, great. I visibly cringe, and I'm about to leave the girl standing there when she grabs my arm gently.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. I've just heard a lot about you from a teammate of mine." She defends herself, and that's when I really look to at her face, she looks familiar.

"Your teammate?"

"Tobin."

And it clicks.

"Shit. You're Ellie Carpenter." I blurt out, so classy. Thankfully she laughs it off.

"I am."

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm wingwoman, but apparently I'm not needed." She nods in the direction of her friend who is making out with a guy in the corner of the room. "Plus I wasn't called up to the Australia team this time. What are you doing here?"

" Same, actually." I point to Jack who's dancing with the girl she came here for.

Ellie and I decide to go into the backyard since things were getting crowded, and rowdy with the hormonal drunk teens.

"So, Tobin talks about me?" I ask her, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

"She does. She says you're sick on the field. I'd love to see that one day."

We spend the next hour getting to know each other, although I could listen to her talk for days, that accent is amazing.

"I'm gonna get a water, do you want anything?" I ask her as I stand up, heading to the door.

"No, I'm good, thanks."

I leave her, fully intent on returning to her. I grab a bottle of water - unopened, I'm keeping my promise to my mom to be careful, that is until someone I can't see, grabs my arm and drags me backwards into a bedroom. I fight them off, pushing the culprit away, only to see Joanna standing infront of me, clearly absolutely wasted.

"What the fuck, Jo?!"

"Shut the fuck up. I'm tired of you walking around like you're royalty!"

She's persistent in her attempts to hit me, swinging aimlessly in her drunken state until she manages to grab me and shove me up against the wall, which is when I freeze, getting a flashback to the monster who raised me. Right now, I don't see Jo, I see him, and it makes me sick.

"Stop it! Leave me the fuck alone!" Is all I manage to yell at her, barely able to raise my hand to push her away when the door flies open, and I expect it to be Jack, but I'm still equally relieved when I see it's Ellie.

"The hell?! Back the fuck off!" She doesn't give Jo a second to heed her warning, instead grabbing her by the collar and yanking her backwards, away from me and out the room.

When Ellie comes back, I'm still in the same spot I was in when Jo had her hands all over me, and I watch as she approaches me cautiously, like shes walking towards an injured bunny.

"Cody...Cody? Are you okay? Why did you just freeze like that?"

I decide to come clean with her, since 'I'm not drunk, I swear' sounded pathetic, I told her about my past, the people who raised me, I didn't leave anything out.

"We should get you home, love." She states, not even asking but I don't disagree and we both look for Jack, who is busy making out with her girl - the name of which I still don't know, but knowing my best friend she won't be around for long. Ellie decides to help me distract myself, so we take pictures, get to know each other more, and end up flirting with each other. I'm not sure if it's a serious flirting but I'm happy that she's willing to spend her time distracting me.

When Jack is finally finished sucking faces with 'that girl', who she'll be forever known as, Ellie decides to take us home, since she's been drinking water all night. We get to our house, and Jack stumbles in, not very quietly and I'm not surprised when I see Ali stand at the front door to see if I'm even here.

"I know we only met tonight, but you're pretty chill, so what about a deal?" Ellie asks, and I'm immediately intrigued, so I turn to face her from my seat in her car.

"A deal?"

"Yeah. You're a Thorns fan, right?"

"I am. But don't tell my mom." I joke, listening to the Aussie laughing.

"Your secret is safe with me, maybe not with Tobin but definitely with me. Anyway, we'll make a deal that if Portland win the Championship, I'll take you out on a date?" I pretend to think about her proposal, already knowing my answer the second those words left her mouth.

"Deal. We both know you'll win anyway." I smile at her, and she sends one back, we exchange numbers before I get out of her car. She waits until I meet Ali at the front door before driving

| Alex |

We're having a waterbreak during our training here in Arizona, the team is shaping up well and we're all confident for our games against Brazil and Australia. There's not as many rookies called up this time, Jill obviously going for the tried and tested squad, not that any of us are complaining. The only person complaining is Ashlyn.

"Ugh. I miss Ali." She groans as she falls to the ground dramatically, making a few of us laugh.

"Oh. My. AHHH! Alex, Alex, Alex!!!" I look to see Kelley jumping up and down in her spot, her phone in hand, gaining the attention of all the girls here, not just me.

"What is it?"

"Have you been on instagram lately?" she asks, while looking up from her phone, a massive grin plastered on her face.

"No, why?"

"Do you know a..." she trails off, looking at her phone, "Ellie Carpenter?"

I shake my head 'no' but Tobin, Kling and Emily say they know her, she's an Aussie who plays for Portland. After asking why, Kelley shows me her phone.

"I smell a romance brewing. They're so cute!"

"What's she like?" I ask the Thorns players that are here, and I sigh in relief when they all say good things about her, and she's closer to Cody's age.

But the caption on my daughter's post catches my attention.

"What does she mean by 'My Hero'?" I ask, mainly talking to myself, but my teammates shrug anyway.

A few hours later, after practice has ended and I've showered, ate and now I'm relaxing, well...trying to. I can't stop thinking about my daughter's post, and what it means. So I decide to Facetime her, she answers eventually, smiling brightly when she sees me, and I can't stop the smile on my face either.

"Hey mom! What's up?"

"Hey sweetie. Just relaxing for a while, decided to check in. How are you?"

"I'm good, you?"

"That's good. How was the party?" I ask, and watch as my daughters demeanour changes from one of joy and ease, to anxiety and a serious need to look anywhere but at the screen. I'm thankful that she seems to be the worlds worst liar. "Cody? What happened last night? And why is Ellie your hero?"

"Oh...Um. You seen that, huh?" She asks and I nod, patiently waiting for her real answer, "That's nothing, just an inside joke, no big deal." I shake my head, and I sigh. When I look back at the screen, she's biting her lip, obviously close to breaking.

"Baby girl, you can tell me anything, you know that, right?" I tell my daughter, watching as she nods, starting to tear up as Tobin walks in. She stays quiet, sitting on the bed opposite mine, staying out of view. My attention is brought back to the Facetime call when I hear my daughter sigh shakily.

"Um...okay..where to start." She chuckles humorlessly, "I met Ellie." I see Tobin silently cheer which makes me smile, as does the smile on my baby girls face.

"You like her?"

"Mom, don't interrupt." I laugh as she rolls her eyes, but I let her continue.

"We we're chilling, getting to know each other while Jack was with the girl she likes, I left Ellie to go get a bottled water, and uh..." I glance at Tobin, both of us sharing a worried look, before turning back to Cody. "Someone pulled me towards an empty room, but I couldn't see who it was at first. When I pushed them away, I seen that it was Joanna." She says, clearing her throat, visibly uncomfortable. "She uh..She..."

"Take your time, baby." I try and soothe my daughter, miles away from her.

"She tried to hit me, and get me to the ground. No matter how many times I told her to stop, she just...she kept trying, and when she pushed me against a wall it triggered me." She says, head down with a look of shame which breaks my heart. "So I froze, I couldn't move, mom. I could only yell at her to stop." I glance at Tobin, to see she's as angry as she was when the man that raised my daughter punched her to the ground.

"Then what happened?"

"I guess Ellie heard. She came in, dragged Jo out the room and-"

My daughter is interrupted by a knock on the door, and she turns, yelling behind her.

"I'm fine Ali, I'm talking to my mom...Okay, thanks!" I smile, loving how much Ali cares for my daughter.

"Anyway, yeah. I was having a panic attack when Ellie came back in. She stayed with me the entire night, mom. She said Tobin talks about me so she knew who I was already." I glance at Tobin to see her wide eyed and I laugh.

"She talks about you, huh?" I appear to ask my daughter, but I'm really asking Tobin, who just shrugs.

"Guess so. Anyway, she's a little under two years older. So we made a deal, that if Portland wins the Chamionship, we'll go on a date." She mumbles at the end, making me laugh at how innocent she is. "Plus, she reps Portland - what's not to love?!"

"Ouch. Thanks, sweetheart."

"Sorry mom." I laugh as my daughter grins at me, obviously not sorry at all. "I have to go though, Ali won't stop shouting that dinner is ready and she's threatening to send Hope to come get me, so bye! Love you mom, kick ass!"

"Language! Or I'll be the one to send Hope after you! Goodnight baby girl, I love you too."

I close my laptop, sighing. I'm happy she met Ellie, knowing she's a good person from all the things Tobin, Kling and Emily have told me, but I'm still worried. Worried about her flashbacks, her panic attacks and how quickly her mood changes. I'm completely lost in my thoughts when Tobin wraps her arms around me, which helps me to relax.

"Ellie really is a good kid, Lex. If it's a friendship or more, she'll look out for Cody." she whispers in my ear, "She won't play with her feelings like Kristie did."

I pull away from Tobin, unhappy with the serious shade my teammates are throwing at Mewis because she respected my daughter's age.

"Go easy on Mewis, she did the right thing."

The next night I get another Facetime call, this time from Ali, and I answer to hear that she's in the middle of an argument with my daughter, which is surprising because those two are so close now.

"She's your mother, Cody. You're telling her!"

"Uh, no. I'm not. It's not important, I'm not even going to say yes, Ali!" I hear Cody yell back.

"What do you mean you're not going to say yes? You're not even going to think about it?"

"I mean exactly that. They only want me because Alex is my mom, and you know that's the truth, Ali!" Things start to get a little heated, so I intervene, meaning Ali is no longer the target of my daughter's rage.

"What's going on?"

"Oh. Hey mom. How's camp?" I watch my daughter wear the fakest smile I've ever seen, trying to change the subject, while Ali stands in the background, clearly as unimpressed as I am.

"What's going on, Cody?"

"Nothing. What's going on with you?"

"Ali, do I have to fly back to Idaho?"

"Yes–"

"No, mom, you don't." My daughter cuts off my teammate, while glaring at her.

"Then tell me what's going on." I ask for the final time, because if she doesn't answer me I will definitely show up in Idaho for some answers, but when my daughter sighs, throwing her head back in annoyance I know she's cracked.

"It started a few weeks ago..."