Megan wakes up early this morning.

She immediately feels the two strong arms around her, as her head is resting on the other girl's thorax. Their relationship never has been easy, especially since after all that has been happening lately. But they somehow make it work, not making too many promises, or even be officials or anything. There's just 'us', and then the rest matters more than anything. In this conflicted atmosphere, Megan is happy to have the girl by her side to calm her down.

As the sun is slowly rising, Megan caresses her arm, her fingers touching every part of the tattoo that relies on the other girl's arm. She then lifts her chin, in order to reach the girl's neck, leaving a few kisses. As the only answer, the brunette hugs her tighter, slightly groaning because she never likes getting up early.

The defender smirks.

"Kailen"

The goalkeeper opens her eyes, before closing them again. Too early for her, Megan thinks to herself, smirking, as she softly caresses the girl's jaw.

To be honest, the first time Megan met Kailen, she thought she was a bitch. Now that she knows her better, she knows she was right : there is nobody as sassy, mean and cold as she is, but her qualities somehow are making up for it. For example, the fact that the brunette is overprotective with her, caring, possessive and also selfless, makes Megan fall for her more and more every minute they spend together. Maybe it isn't love yet, but it's pretty close from it.

After a few minutes, Megan straightens a little bit, kissing Kailen's jaw again. The brunette smiles, her hand slipping on the hollow of the blonde's back.

"I thought you had practice this morning" Kailen says, hiding her face with one of her hand, while the other remains in that position.

Megan smirks. "It got cancelled because of the rain." she settles, before getting closer to the Canadian, who looks down at her lips. "Do you want me to leave because you're fed up with me ?"

That only makes the goalie smirk, before she pulls Megan closer and kiss her. As their lips are moving together, there is a knock on the door.

Either girl has to say a single word to know what they have to do. Megan is a smart girl : she knows that, since she's in Kailen's dorm, in Stanford, and that her roommate spends her time with her boyfriend, she has to hide because it's probably one of Kailen's teammates. Megan hurries to put something on, before disappearing under the bed, since there is a big cover on it. Kailen hides her, before getting dressed as well and open the door.

Megan only hears footsteps, but she immediately knows there are two people more than Kailen and her, at least.

"I need to talk to you" a voice Megan doesn't recognize says.

"What do you want, Sam ?" Kailen asks, bitchy. "You know I don't do early mornings."

The blonde sighs, before saying :

"The seniors are up to something"

"What do you mean ?"

Another voice rises, and Megan immediately recognizes Melissa Henderson, because that girl has come quite often in UCLA to visit her boyfriend. She was supposed to become a Bruin, but then her dad got sick and she had to chose Stanford in order to stay close to him. With Kailen, Melissa is one of the only people Megan doesn't despise.

Melissa says :

"Hope called a part-team meeting as we speak. I only know that her, Carli, Jess and Cap are about to come up with something to penalize UCLA so that we're sure to advance to the final without them in the final four"

"Woah, that's..." Kailen starts, knowing very well that Megan is here and listening.

"Stupid !" both Melissa and Sam exclaim in the same time.

"Even thought we haven't cheated last year, we deserved the punishment" Sam then says, and Megan can hear her sit on the bed. She holds her breath back, as Kailen puts some music to make her feel safer. The middy sighs. "I don't understand why they are trying to play it dirty, especially since we're a good team !"

There is a small silence, before Melissa breaks it :

"Furthermore, Shel and Kop have tried to plead against that idea, but they just threatened them. I mean, they're pushing it too far, but they remains our teammates."

"Why does Shelina always speaks up against them tho ?" Kailen asks, confused.

"Well, she's too valuable of a player to be kicked out of the team" Sam settles, before adding : "Plus, she is the next one in line to be the team's captain when Hope, Car, Jess and Cap will retire"

Silence again.

"But" Kailen says, trying to hide her nervousness. "Do you know what they are planning ?"

Melissa must've shaken her head or done something else, because Megan can hear the girls sighs. The blonde then says :

"I heard they had something on Allie Long."

"Makes sense" Sam lets out, before explaining : "They're attacking UCLA's most valuable players.

"We are attacking them, Sammy" Melissa says in a sad voice. "We're part of that team too."

"I never thought it would turn out like this, to be honest" MewTwo settles, her voice saddening a little bit.

After that, Kailen argues that she needs to get ready for training, so her two teammates walk out of the dorm.

As soon as the door closes, Megan get away from the bed, walking around the apartment looking for her clothes. Kailen watches her doing so, arms crossed against her chest. The goalie looks fed up.

"Where are you going ?" she asks, nervous.

"I gotta warn Al" Megan says, before looking up at the girl. "Do you know where my panties are ?"

"Uhm, on the ground here" Kailen says, pointing out the Sponge Bob panties. She then shakes her head, following the blonde with her eyes. "And you know you can't warn her, right ? Because they'll start wondering how you know that."

"I can just say I heard a rumor" Megan lets out, hurrying to get ready. After the room remains silent for a while, she looks up at Kailen, who looks a little bit terrified. The blonde, after grabbing her bag and jacket, wraps her arms around Kailen's neck, kissing her jawline again (because of the obvious height difference). "Don't worry, they will never find out about us. As long as you keep the secret, I will too."

The goalie sighs.

"Fine."

"So, I see you on Sunday ?" Megan asks, pecking the girl's lips.

Kailen rolls her eyes. "Sure, princess."

"Stop calling me that !" the blonde says, grinning.

The brunette shrugs.

"Suits you perfectly" she argues, smirking.

"See you, dork" Megan says, before pecking Kailen's lips a final time.

The defender knows it is her duty to protect her own, even though it is quite risky because the team might find out about her weird relationship with Kailen.

*

"We need to find a way to beat them at their own game"

Ash is walking in circles, like she's been for the past ten minutes or so.

Part of the team is gathered in the locker room - some players are missing because of exams they have to take on - trying to process the bomb Megan just dropped. Maybe the goalkeeper looks the most angry about the situation, but Tobin is swallowing her harsh words because she knows it wouldn't help. The current situation is quite frustrating to her : first they stole Laure from her, and now they're trying to bring her best friend, her almost sister, Allie. But since she is already suspended and doesn't want to aggravate her cause, she remains silent. Silence is also the new prerogative of Kelsey, Julie, Lindsey and Maro.

But Lindsey, on the other hand, immediately reacts :

"They can't take Allie too" the forward settles, annoyed.

"Linds" the midfielder tries to calm her down, because she knows how quickly the younger girl can lose it.

"Looms, I'm not letting them ruin you as well" Lindsey insists, fierce. "We need to find a way to stop them from taking everything away from us."

"They hurt us, we hurt them" Ash simplifies.

"That's not a good way of doing things" Julie argues, setting her jaw.

"Sure, JJ, we should just watch them prevent us from getting to the finals, what an outstanding idea" Kristie sarcastically lets out, rolling her eyes.

Janine gives her a bow in the ribs. Maro, who doesn't understand much about the whole situation, just listens, as Ash is losing it little by little. Kristie looks at Julie, an apologizing look in her eyes.

The blonde only nods, before saying :

"Yeah, but shouldn't we be smarter than that ?"

"Not necessarily smarter" Becky says, and all eyes are now on her. "But more subtle ? Definitely. I think I've got an idea."

*

Once the meeting is over, Kristie takes her phone out of her pocket, looking for the contact's number.

"Hey" she says as soon as the person picks the phone up. "Are you okay ?"

"Yes, yes, I'm good" Sam answers in a quiet voice, as if she is scared someone might hear her. As soon as she hears her sister's voice, Kristie feels better. "What about you ? Did something happen ?"

"I'm good, Sammy"

There is a small silence, before the younger sister says :

"You know, I should've warned you sooner, I know, but I think my team is planning something against-"

"Allie, I know" Kristie interrupts her. She then smiles a little bit. "But thanks for taking the initiative in telling me. It means a lot."

"It makes me sick to have lost my friends because of what university I chose" Sam says, and her voice immediately changes in something more sad.

Kristie sighs.

"Look" she starts, trying to find the right words. "Abby has been thinking a lot about texting you because she misses her friend. Plus, don't worry about Steph, she will recover and come around, maybe sooner than you think. You know how Hoodrat is."

The younger girl chuckles.

"I hope you're right" she says. Then, she seems to remember something interesting, because she says : "So, people say you have found a new girl ?"

Kristie frowns. "Who told you that ?" she coldly asks.

"Nobody, but thanks, you just did" Sam says, smirking.

The blonde starts laughing, because this time Sammy got her. That makes her remember the good old days, when Steph and the two sisters would laugh like that all day long, pissing their parents off.

Kristie shakes her head.

"Do you know what they planned on Allie ?" she asks, trying to change the subject.

She can easily imagine her sister smirk, but since the new subject is very important, Sam decided not to insist on her sister's new love interest, as she says :

"I don't know much, honestly. But I know it has something to do with her past, before she came to UCLA"

"Mmh" Kristie lets out, thoughtful.

"Oh" Sam adds, as if she just remembered an important detail. "They also mentioned what Becky did to disqualify us last year. I don't know much more for now, but you should also investigate, because nobody wants to tell us what your captain did."

"Okay, thanks Sammy. I will see you soon, okay ?"

"Sure. Love you."

"Love you, MewTwo" Kristie says, before hanging off the phone.

Once she's put it in her pocket again, she realizes she's already reached the building in which she has a meeting with someone. She comes in, before immediately head to the main gymnastics hall, that is hosting the women's volleyball team, who is practicing for an important game tomorrow.

Kristie immediately spots Laure, who is giving instructions to her teammates, before noticing her presence and jog toward her.

"Hey, what's up ?" the French asks.

The soccer girl immediately notices the dark circles under Laure's eyes, as well as how tired her face looks.

"Just came by to give you this" Kristie says, handing Laure tickets.

"What is this ?" the French asks, taking a look at the one ticket she has in hands.

"Your chance to redeem yourself" the blonde lets out, mysterious. "See you around."

"See you" Laure manages to say before the blonde is gone.

Once Kristie has exited the room, Laure takes another look at the ticket ; those are the entrance for the game the Bruins have against USC in four days, right before they travel to Harvard. The French girl sighs : here's her chance to talk to Tobin about what happened with Alex Morgan the other day.

She puts the ticket in her bag, before jogging back to her teammates, who are waiting for her to start to play.