In the airport, music comes from a group of girls singing and trying to get some good sounds off boxes and anything they find around them. While the rest of her teammates are having fun and dragging other people's attention, Maro is sitting on the other side of the room with her computer, earphones on.

After a few minutes, someone walks toward her, before standing here, waiting for something to happen. When the German lifts her eyes, she immediately looks at her screen again. Nevertheless, she asks :

"Are you going to blame me again for trying to steal you from your boyfriend by breathing ?"

Julie sighs, before sitting down next to the brunette, who ignores her. The defender then slowly shakes her head, before saying :

"I owe you an apology". Her voice is not very reassured, and neither is she calm or relaxed. But the blonde doesn't fall apart when the German finally looks at her, surprised. She has her eyebrow raised, which means she wants her to go on. Julie takes a deep breath, and says : "You are not a couple breaker, and I am psychotic."

The German slowly nods, smiling.

"Thank you. Means a lot."

"You're welcome." Julie says, before getting up and joining the others.

Everybody but the injured/suspended are here. Overall, a relaxed atmosphere, as the girls are learning more and more about each other. Newbies and older girls are getting along pretty well, as they are waiting for the plane that will bring them to the other side of the country, as they are set to face Harvard in three days.

After Kelley's brilliant move against Hope Solo, the tension has intensified against the two teams. Of course the Stanford girls know it came from UCLA, because the Bruins wanted to get revenge. But they can't say anything because of what Kelsey have got on their star striker. In other words, they are going to be able to relax for a little while, even tho they are missing key players in Tobin, Becky and Ash.

When Julie comes back among them, Kelley immediately gets closer to her and ask :

"Will you tell me how you know Maro ?"

Julie frowns. "I don't want to-"

"As your current captain, I need to know what has been going on in order to avoid any tension in between players. So, Johnston, what happened with Maro that makes you tense up that much, uhn ?" Kelley rephrases, bossy.

The defender is short of excuse, so she brings herself to explain her delicate position :

"We went to high school together for two years, and I kinda had a crush on her" she quickly says, blushing a little bit. Kelley, on the other hand, is just smiling stupidly. But Julie is not in a mood to smile. Therefore, she quickly adds : "But now it's completely over, I am with Zach and-"

"Breathe, kid" the senior orders, looking at her straight in the eyes.

"I am breathing" Julie says, rolling her eyes. "It's just that I don't want anyone else to know because I never told Zach..."

"But did something actually happen ? Like, a kiss, sex...?" the brunette questions, confused.

"N-no, because I couldn't assume the fact to have fallen for a girl. Furthermore, she always has been protective with me, and didn't want to rush things. So she let me go, and I thought I was finally done with her. But now, she's back a-and...-"

"-And you realize things aren't actually done" Kelley sums up, a smirk on her face.

"There is nothing funny about that !" the defender exclaims, before burying her face in her hands. "I need to focus on the team right now, and all she does is just sticking around and... I don't know."

"JJ, it's fine." Kelley lets out, wrapping an arm around the younger girl's shoulder. She then has a smile on her lips again. "Whatever you decide to do, I will be here to have your back. I swear."

Julie looks at her, before hugging her.

"Thank you."

"That's what teammates are for".

Right after their embrace, they are called on the plane. This is the beginning on finding this team's roots all over again, Kelley thinks to herself, thoughtful.

*

Becky wakes up at the sound of coffee being made. When the opens her eyes and sees a short-less Shelina, that immediately puts a smile on her face. When she gets up and walks toward the Canadian, the brunette pretends to ignore her. So Becky wraps her arms around the brunette's waist, her lips finding the back of her neck.

Shelina smiles, before turning around and kissing Becky's lips with fierce and softness, as always. She then wraps her arms around the girl's neck, before saying :

"How did you sleep ?"

The captain smirks, before saying :

"I was exhausted last night. Thanks for picking me up and putting me to bed."

"You're welcome" Shelina sarcastically says, before rolling her eyes, and pecking Becky's lips a second time. "But do you know how hard it is to sleep so close to you in cute panties and not being able to have sex with you ?"

The blonde bursts into laughter.

"I can only imagine." she smirks, before adding : "You're so brave, babe"

"Mmh, I know" Shelina says, imitating some sort of princess.

But before she can have her third kiss of the morning, the dorm's door slams open, and both girls immediately regret not to have locked it yesterday.

Haley Kopmeyer walks into the room, and her facial expression goes from frustrated to actually shocked. Becky and Shelina immediately step away from each other, but it's too late : the goalie has seen them, and how intimate they are. As her grayish eyes are looking at the two girls one after the other, her mouth opens a little bit. Even though Becky knows Haley is Shelina's best friend on that team, she doesn't feel reassured : that girl also is Hope's right hand.

Fuck, Becky thinks, putting a pant on, as Shelina is looking for the right words.

"Haley, I-"

"Don't" the goalie harshly says, before staring at Becky with dark eyes.

The defender gets ready : ready to face all of the girl's angry words, as well as the 'get out of here', or 'I will tell the team everything and get her fired', or even 'that's all your fault if she gets ejected from the team'. But after a little moment of silence, Kop just stares at her best friend, and Becky can see honest friendship between the two.

The goalie closes the door behind her, before asking Shelina, eyes in the eyes :

"Does she make you happy ?"

Shelina walks toward the tall goalie, before standing right in front of her and look at her in the eyes. The intensity of this look is just unbelievable to Becky, who suddenly fears Shelina might lose someone she cares about because of her.

The two girls remain still.

"You know I wouldn't risk everything if not" Shelina articulates, her voice shaking a little bit. As if those words were too blurry, she adds : "I love her with all my heart."

"Good" the goalies says, serious as fuck.

With that said, she turns around and energetically walks toward Becky, before grabbing her neck and tackles her on the wall. She lets an audible sound, as Shelina rushes to try and make her stop. But Haley's eyes show her true intention, and there is nothing the Canadian can do but wait.

Becky tries to breathe but is having a hard time.

"One wrong step and you're going to have to deal with me, do you hear me ?" she aggressively says, raising her voice.

"Haley, please-" Shelina tries, but the goalie makes her a sign to stop.

"Do. You. Hear. Me ?" Kop slowly repeats.

Becky nods. "Y-yes."

When the goalie releases her, before giving her a little tap on the back, Becky has her hands on her neck, but isn't mad : she probably deserves that to cause so many sacrifices to Shelina. She then looks up at Haley, who starts walking in circle.

Shelina doesn't even dare to look at Becky.

"If the team finds out, we're both in big trouble" Haley says, as she is deeply thinking about a solution to this mess. Becky actually finds her more loyal than most of the people Shelina has considered as her friends : the girl just found out she kind of betrayed her by loving their biggest enemy and biggest threat to their team, but she is trying to come up with something clever to say. To help her friend. "You know Hope : if she or Cap or Cari ever find out, they're going to use it against them" she says, pointing at the Bruins' captain. "And they will not have mercy on you, Shel."

"I know."

"Are you sure it is a risk you're willing to take ?"

The Canadian stares at Becky, before grabbing her hand, a determined look on her face. When the goalie nods, she only says :

"I am."

"Then you better protect your secret from them" the goalie insists, before shaking her head. "I should go now."

"What did you come here to say ?" Shelina asks, curious.

The goalie stares at Becky, before shaking her head.

"Got it" the blonde says, before looking at Shelina, who doesn't really understand the situation. "She can't talk while I'm here, so I am the one going."

"No, you stay, I go" Haley immediately says, winking at them. "Ciao lovebirds, I will text you later Shel."

"Sure."

Once the brunette is gone, Shelina lets a loud sigh out.

"God I love her" she whispers, obviously talking about Haley.

"We need to be more careful, babe" Becky says, not really happy about what just happened. "We got lucky she is your friend. But next time won't be so lucky, so no meeting in each other's dorms anymore."

"We will find a way." Shelina promises.

We will find a way, Becky thinks, but she has a hard time believing in it.

*

Once the team finally touch down near Harvard, the airport is in a lock-down because of an incident, and the team is stucked in the inside. So the girls are resting, most of them sleeping. But Megan just can't seem to do so, so she looks for a free WiFi to use. Immediately after she does, she gets many texts from Kailen.

That puts a smile on her face, as she opens the conversation.

The last text dates from minutes ago. The blonde has an huge grin on her face, trying not to laugh out loud because she can't have her teammates figuring out she kind of is with someone, because she is seeing someone from Stanford.

Nevertheless, she decided to answer that poor girl :

.

The answer comes only seconds afterwards :

Megan frowns : how come she not know about something taking shape under her eyes ? the blonde thinks, a little bit angry.

There is an huge smile on Megan's face, so huge that her teammates immediately question her. After saying it's only her big sister Emily, Megan turns her phone off, wondering what will happen to Kelley if Kailen doesn't find out what her teammates are up to and tell her what it is all about.

She shakes her head, trying to get some rest as well.