"Olex is in the house!" Kelley shouts as Alex and I make our way into the food room where the team's having breakfast before weight training.

"Kelley, if you don't shut up, I may accidently forget to spot you today," I say glaring at the defender who soon stops talking. Alex sits down on our usual table while I get myself some food

"Hey Jill, did you manage to get my meal?" I ask coach

"yep, the kitchen we're more than happy to prepare it for you, her let me go grab it now," She says and goes to the back to get my two plates of food

"perfect Jill, your the best," I say smiling at this delicious meal in front of me

"oh I know, now go eat your food," She says and shoos me off.

I practically skip towards my seat and sit down before grabbing my knife and fork

"Why the fuck do you have so much food!" Allie says in shock looking at my plates

"We're doing weight so I need this to make sure I get that extra muscle gain but don't burn too much off," I say digging in to this meal

"what's actually on there," Kelley says to me

"a lot of chicken a lot of sweet potatoes and a shit ton of broccoli," I say

"is that not a bit... dry?" Ali says starting at my plate in confusion

"maybe, but it's the best meal for building muscle mass I've found," I say and continuing to chow down on this feast

"It's 10 in the morning, how can you stomach that," Allie says covering her mouth

"I've eaten and drank a lot worse than this Allie," I say chuckling thinking about all the shales and experimental meals I've made over the years

"I don't even want to know," She says shaking her head.

Once the team's finished eating and gone back to their room to change, we all head onto the bus for the trip to the gym we're using.

It's pretty short and I just chat with Alex and Christen the whole time, trying to get to know the forwards a little better.

We get off the bus and everyone seems to be in good spirits which makes my life a little easier today, Jill said I don't have to follow the trainer's plan I can stick to my usual workout since changing my routines not a good idea.

So while the girls are all given their instructions I head to the lat pulldown first since it's one of my favourite machines to use and probably my favourite muscle group to work on too.

I spend the next hour or so going around the machines and working on my different muscles groups when Jill calls us all into the middle.

"We are going to do a little challenge now in two teams, so Toni can you stand over here please," Jill says pointing to the spot next to her, I do as I'm told and stand by her side.

"can you pick 3 other people," She asks me

"Alright then, Alex, Christen and Mal?" I say not really sure what I've chosen these people for.

"Okay great, Toni you put this on your chest and Becky you put this on yours" Jill says handing us a tracker with a chest strap.

"We are going to do circuits, 50 pushups, 50 sit-ups, 25 pull-ups, tire flip to the end of the room and 50!battle ropes," Jill says making everyone groan

"How is that fair Jill! It's literally 4 v 18 here" Mal says complaining about how it's unfair

"Have you seen who's in your team Mal?" Allie says pointing at me

"Okay, teams are fair," she says making everyone laugh

"Okay so you can't do them at the same time, one has to be completed before you can start the next, you can change people whenever you want but only one person can be doing it for your team. Everyone understand?" Jill asks the groups

"one question, what's the prize?" I ask getting a murmur of agrees from everyone else

"they get to choose where we eat when we win the tournament," Jill says making everyone excited.

"right let's get going, Toni and Becky if you flick on your trackers please," She asks, I look down at my chest and turn it on.

"you've got 2 minutes to figure out who's doing what," Jill tells us

"okay well you're obviously doing the pull-ups, tire flips and battle ropes so we'll split the rest up between us," Alex says

"fine with me," I say thinking they would've just made me do it all.

"on your marks, get set, go!" Jill says and blows her whistle

Christen goes up first, pumping out 30 solid press-ups before she turned and switches out with Alex. The teams are very close right now but they are in the lead having chosen to put Becky first with Crystal.

They start their sit-ups and we are still on press up number 40.

"Come on Lex! You got this!" I shout trying to pump her up.

She finishes soon and Mal starts the sit-ups straight away, powering through about 40 before she switches with Christen

"well done Mal, that was great," I say to the younger forward

The others have already started on the tire flips, getting Lindsey to do this, they've almost made it to the end when Christen finishes.

"Go, Toni!" Alex shouts as I pick up the true and flip it all the way down the room

"is that even human?" I hear someone says as I finish it in almost recorded time for myself.

I go to the pull-up up bar where Julie has now started doing her teams, I don't know what number they're on so I just pump them out as quick as possible.

I drop down onto the floor having just finished my last one before running straight to the battle ropes, my arms are already aching and I know these 50 will be sore.

I keep my focus on my breathing blocking out the distracting sounds around me and not thinking about the burning in my arms.

"How many have I done!" I shout having lost count

"5 more!" Alex shouts back so I just give it everything I've got and finally end it.

"Aha! Team striker wins this one!" Mal shouts boasting to the others

"well we have a winner, you guys have the choice of the restaurant while you lot have to clean this place up!" Jill says making the others groan while we all smile smugly

"you lot can head to the changing rooms and get ready if you want," Jill says to us all

"Thanks Jill, but I'm going to help this lot pack up," I say giving her a small smile and helping the rest of the team with the cleanup operation.

I walk over to the tire that's sitting in the middle of the room and I'm getting ready to lift it when I see Alex pop up next to me.

"you didn't have to help out too, I was fine doing it by myself," I say as we bob flip the tire over

"no, you did the right thing going to help, it's what a captain should do," Alex says looking away from me

"Hey, you're a great co-captain, don't put yourself down I can see how the girls look up to you. This is just something that's been ingrained in me for as long as I can remember" I say thinking back to my time in foster care.

"if you don't mind me asking, what was it like growing up?" Alex says

"I mean my younger years weren't the best but they could've been worse. I lived in a group home with about 20 other boys and girls, there wasn't the stereotypical bully of the places, all the older one looked after us and made sure we were up and dressed in time for school and did all our homework." I tell Alex fixing the tire back up against the wall.

"the owner wasn't nice though, she neglected us most days, made the older kids do everything, cook, clean, grocery shopping. Basically everything she should've been doing." I say

"that's awful! Why did she take the job if she wasn't going to actually do it" Alex says looking at me in shock

"well, unfortunately, Lex, some people will do anything for money and even better if they don't have to actually work doing it," I say telling her the sad truth to many foster homes

"did you ever stay with families?" She asks as we walk out towards the chaining room.

"I did actually, I got fostered for the first time when I turned 9, they were really nice, had two kids of their own and wanted to make their family bigger but the mom couldn't get pregnant anymore. I stayed with them for about a month and I thought everything was going great but then one day they said I needed to pack my stuff because I was going back, no explanation, just chucked out like that" I say remembering how confused I felt

"that must have been awful for you," Alex says looking upset

"I did find it hard because I always thought it was something I did that made them not want me, I was too young to know it wasn't my fault" I explain

"After that, I think I ended up in another 12 homes maybe?" I say as more of a question not rendering how many I actually went to

"then did you just leave when you the end 18 or something," Alex asks

"Oh no this was by the time I was 15, the last home I was in they seemed really nice and then they found out I was gay and t-" I start to say but remember what actually happened and I don't want Alex to know that

"they found out I was gay and I ran away" I answer instead

"you ran away! Where did you go" Ales asks me shocked

"couch-surfed mostly when I was still in school but by this point, I had really gotten into my gym so my the time I was 18 and leaving high school a gym approached me and asked if I wanted to be a personal trainer there. I agreed obviously because I needed the money if I wanted to college and afford a place to stay" I tell her

"you went to college? What did you study?" she asks me curiously

"I took Law and criminal justice" I answer

"I thought you might have come down the social worker route," She says but she doesn't know about the conversation therapy so it would make much sense..

"Most people say that" I reply not really wanting to get into detail about it.

"you never said how you know Jill" Ales asks

"that stories for another time," I say since we've made it to the changing rooms and I need a shower. I'm very quick washing so I'm one of the first out meaning no one is here has to see my scars when I change.

I make sure to put my bra and top on quickly before putting in the rest of my clothes.

Once everyone has changed and gotten themselves looking somewhat respectable, we make our way back to the couch where I sit next to Alex again.

"I feel like I've stolen you from your bus buddy," I say making her laugh

"don't worry about it, it was Allie but she and Kelley sit next to each other now acting like right lunatics so I'm glad I'm nowhere year that," She says making me look up the bus to see them hitting each other on the arm

"yep, I totally see that," I say laughing myself as the coach leaves the gym.

I feel Alex lean her head against my shoulder so I do the same on her head and I soon feel my eyes closing into darkness.