| Cody |

With my head hung low, I make for the front door of the school building, not caring if I bump into anyone along the way. I get outside, and fill my lungs greedily with fresh air, not realizing how suffocated I felt until I escaped.

I take my phone out of my pocket as my other hand stays in my pocket, tightening around the pill bottle. I scroll through my contacts, deciding who to call, until I land on the name of the only person I feel like I could speak to. I call her, holding the phone to my ear as I listen to the line connect and begin to ring.

| Jack |

I get back to the locker room from flushing my friends pills, only to find that she's suddenly not there anymore. I notice her bag is also gone and I get my phone out of my own locker, deciding that I need to call her, until I'm interrupted.

"Are you looking for Cody?"

"I am. Where is she?"

"She said she was sick. She went home. We've to start without her." Joanna informs me. I don't believe a word she says, knowing that my friend was perfectly fine just 15 minutes ago when we were alone in here.

Despite the niggling feelings of doubt that are eating away at my stomach and my chest, I have to admit that I have no evidence that Jo did anything wrong, and that I have to get to practice. I'll just have to talk to Cody at home.

_____________

I make the long walk home, wishing I had brought my car today but I'm ecstatic when I finally make it to the house I share with my best friend. I get my keys out of my pocket, my bag already falling from my shoulders, and I let it, too tired to pick it back up once it hits the ground. Opening the door, I'm met with the adults watching TV, their backs to me until they hear the front door click behind me. I don't think anything is wrong until Alex stands up, closing the distance between us, her brows furrowed.

"Where's Cody?"

"What? I thought she was here." I mumble to my best friends mother, who almost immediately begins to panic and Tobin approaches to try and calm her down.

"Why would you think she's here?" Hope asks, as Kelley turns off the TV and I have the full attention of all the grown ups, all of their eyes on me.

"Because-" I pause before I say Joanna's name, and something starts to click. I know she said something to my friend.

"Because?" Alex queries, while the other look confused. I tell Alex, and the others, everything that happened from taking the bottle to flush the pills to coming back and Jo telling me her excuses for why Cody was gone.

A minute later I feel my phone buzz in the back pocket of my pants, and I take it out to see I have a text from a number I didn't know I still had.

'911. Phone me. ASAP.'

"I'm sure she'll turn up Alex, don't worry." Kelley tries to comfort her friend, but it's obvious that it doesnt work. Meanwhile I exit the tense situation that's brewing and exit to the backyard, pressing call and listening to the ringing tone. The request is answered mere seconds later.

"Jack?"

"Hey, Kristie. What is it? I'm in the middle of something." I tell the player, glancing back to the house to make sure nobody is at the window listening.

"I have Cody."

"Oh, thank fuck." I sigh in relief, taking the phone away from my ear for a moment as I release a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Why is she with you?"

"She called me, asked me to pick her up. She sounded upset so I dropped everything I was doing. Jack, she had pills with her."

"Get them away from her!" I yell down the phone, unfortunately gaining the attention of the adults in the house, and I hear the backdoor opening as I internally scold myself.

"Just bring her back here, okay?"

"We're on the way."

I hang up the call, and finally turn to see a wall of soccer players all staring at me. Hope with her arms crossed and Alex clearly trying not to freak out. I get it though, she's extremely protective of her daughter and I'd hate to be the fool that wrongs Cody.

"Jack?" Alex asks, but I know it's more than that. She's asking if I know where Cody is.

"She's with Kristie, she's safe." I tell my friend's mother, watching as she visibly relaxes and leans into Tobin who wraps an arm around her waist.

_____________

| Kristie |

Earlier that day.

I wake up, solemn with the fact that Cody doesn't want to talk to me, I have to go home. I go through my morning routine and start to pack my bag. Due to procastination, by the time I've packed and I'm finally ready to go home, it's the afternoon. I dump my bags at the door of my hotel room and my phone goes off. I consider ignoring it until I look at the caller ID and see that it's the one person I've been dying to talk to - Cody.

"Hello?" I ask, timidly. I'm sure she dialled me by mistake and I'm afraid that she'll just hang up.

"Um..Krissy?" I hear Cody sigh, and speak under her breath. My brow furrows, she's not used her nickname for me for months and she sounds upset. I drop everything that I'm doing as I freeze where I stand.

"Cody? What's wrong?"

"Can you pick me up?" I don't even hesitate. I tell her I'll be there soon when she tells me she's at school, I grab they keys of my rental and leave.

When I get there, she's pacing on the sidewalk, her head down as she pats her hand against her pocket. She doesn't see my until I honk and she practically runs to the car. Once she gets in, she orders me to drive, 'just drive'.

"Am I taking you home?" I ask her, breaking the awkward silence as Cody stares out of the window, her leg bouncing constantly since she climbed into my car.

"No! Please, Krissy, don't!" The sheer volume of her voice startles me, and I lose control of the car for a second. "Sorry...just please, don't. I can't go back there. My mom thinks I'm at practice." Cody mumbles the last part, turning her attention back to the view from the passenger seat window, but I still hear it.

"Why are you not at practice, Cody?" I eventually ask as I pull into the hotel parking lot, stopping the car. She doesn't answer though, and I make my way out of the car, to the hotel and to my room, Cody following behind me. When we finally get to my room, the teen makes her way to my bed, shoulders slumping as she sits. It's eerily quiet as she feels around in her pocket, finally pulling something out.

"Cody, why do you have a pill bottle?" I ask her, sternly, which makes her look at me. Finally.

"Can you get these away from me?" I hear her mumble, tears threatening to spill from her eyes and I take the bottle, noting how her grip tightened slightly as I tried to pry the bottle from her hands. I go to the bathroom and flush them, throwing the empty bottle in the trash.

"Can you tell me what's going on? Why are you not at practice?" I try again, hoping that she'll finally open up. I watch her carefully as she quickly wipes her eyes. Clearly hoping I don't notice the tears running down her cheeks, but I do. I move to sit next to her, putting my hand on her thigh, stopping it from bouncing. "Cody, what's wrong?" It takes her a few minutes before she begins to explain to me everything that I've miss, and it's a lot. I start to wonder if I'd stayed in some kind of way, would she be using? I shrug it off, ignoring my own thoughts, my own selfishness and focusing on the upset girl on my bed, the girl I fell for. Not to mention all the bullshit with her Captain, the irony being that she didn't want to go home to the one person I know who could fix this. Cody breaks down, clearly overcome with emotion that she hasn't faced in a while, she cries until she falls asleep. I take that time to call Jack, they're best friends, it's a safe bet that Jack knows what's going on with Cody.

____________

I finally get Cody awake, which was harder than I thought it would be - she sleeps like she's dead. I actually had to check a few times, just to make sure she was still breathing. I let her freshen up, and borrow a shirt after she showered, before we got in my car and started our journey back to her house. After driving for almost 30 minutes, we finally pull up to our destination, and Cody speaks up.

"Thanks, Kristie." The brunette says, so softly that if I hadn't turned the engine off I wouldn't have heard her.

"You don't have to thank me, Cody. I'll always be there for you. Whether you like it or not." I nudge her playfully, happy when she laughs even if that happiness doesn't quite make it to her eyes. "Come on, everyone is probably worried about you."

We walk to the door, myself standing behind Cody, who knocks on the door. It's a few seconds before Alex opens the door, greeting Cody in a seriously tight hug. I don't miss the confused expressions on everybody else's faces, except Jack, when they see that Cody and I are on speaking terms. Cody, being passive aggressive in nature, I'm sure they were expecting something different. It confuses them further when Jack invites me in, happy that I took care of Cody, and she grabs her friends wrist and drags her upstairs.

"Alex, we need to talk." I gain her attention as Tobin stands, trying to usher me out of the house, only to stop when Alex tells her to. Instead, the midfielder guides me to the couch, and sits me down, while I go over everything that Cody told me, especially about Joanna and when I'm finished talking, Alex and Hope look like they could kill, while Kelley and Tobin are trying to calm their partners down. It's a futile attempt, and Hope storms into the kitchen, KO following her and I'm left with the beloved Talex.

"Alex, if you're gonna solve this...issue, you need to do it soon." Tobin tells her girlfriend, watching carefully.

"She's right, you're on the roster for the upcoming friendlies."

"My daughter is more important!" Alex begins to pace while Tobin and I share scared glances with one another.

______________

The next day.

| Cody |

In the car with Jack, as Alex and Tobin drive us to school, I get the opportunity to go over yesterday's events. I'm feeling a lot of different emotions - disappointed that I let Jo get to me to that extent. Angry, that I just left the locker room and that I cared about other peoples opinions on me and my family. Happy that Kristie was there for me - and pride. I've never felt this proud before, all because I didn't use, I didn't drink. When I woke up today, I still felt like shit, but I felt so relieved that I didn't get high, I didn't disappoint myself and so many people just by using. It gives me hope, that I can continue to stay clean.

"Why are Tobin and Alex driving us?" My friend whispers to me. Not knowing why, I just shrug.

Tobin pulls up outside the building and just like yesterday, Jo and her posse of morons are standing watch. Jack and I climb out the car, preparing to say goodbye to the adults, when we both notice that Alex got out of the car too.

"Mom? Where are you going?" I ask, but she ignores me and walks away. When I see that she's heading in Jo's direction I try and go after her, to stop her, but I'm held back. "Tobin, let me go."

"No. Just let your mom handle this." My favorite player tells me, continuing to anchor me in place. I only stop writhing in her arms when I see the look of determination on her face. Seeing that she has every confidence in my mom, I cease, happy when she finally lets me go.

She hugs Jack and I goodbye as Alex comes back over, still not looking happy but looking a lot less stressed. She hugs Jack goodbye before she turns to me.

"Be good, baby. I'll see you later okay?" I only nod in response, glancing over her shoulder to see that Jo is nowhere in sight. "I love you, baby girl." Once again my mom kisses my forehead before she get in the car with Tobin and leaves.

"What. The. Fuck. Was. That?" Jack asks, clearly as confused as I am.

___________

"I'll see you at home." I tell my best friend after final bell goes and the school day is finally over. I close my locker after dumping the books I wont be needing at home, only for Jack to pull me backwards as I make my way to the door.

"Nope. We have practice." She states, as if it's obvious, and doesn't let me go.

"Jack, I can't-"

"We're going to practice, Cody." Jack glares at me and it's obvious that she's been taking lessons from her adoptive mother because that look scared the shit outta me. We get to the locker room, Jack making me walk in first, and nothing is out of place. Nobody even looks up at us as we enter and it's clear that Jo kept her little 'conversation' with me a secret from the team.

Jo herself doesn't even object to my being there, she simply glares at my best friend and I, before she grabs her water and leaves.

"See? Told you it'd be fine." Jack tells me. I don't answer her, I'm too busy wondering what my mom whispered to Joanna this morning to make her change so suddenly.