Kassey is walking on an hallway, trying to find the right room number.

There is not a lot of people in the great campus of UCLA, and it makes sense : there are two weeks left before the beginning of school. The reason of Kassey's early presence also makes absolute sense : she had a choice. Either she stayed in her dysfunctional foster family she hates, or she flies across the country to start her new life early.

The huge box she holds in her arms is the only one she has : no fancy objects, no childhood toys, no family photos. Just her and a box full of clothes.

When she reaches the final floor, she sigh : next time, start by the last floor. She looks at the number on the dorms, rolling her eyes. C'mon Kass, it's only a freaking number. 345 has to be in here. Her thoughts taking over her mind, she barely even hears the voice calling her right behind her.

She turns around and meets Lindsey Horan, who she already has seen because they played together at Harvard for a few months. Pretty delivered to have found someone she knows, Kassey lets out a loud sigh.

"Room number ?" Lindsey asks, pointing at the box Kassey is holding.

The blonde immediately answers in a bored voice : "345".

"I know" Lindsey smirks jokingly. She then shakes her head. "That's my room too : we're roommates."

"Oh." is all the blonde comes up with.

The trip across the country really made her tired, and it shows : the dark circles she has under her eyes and her short and cold answers are some signals. Lindsey, who obviously understands the struggle, doesn't take it against her.

So she says :

"C'mon, this way"

The two girls walk across the corridor to finally reach room 345. Lindsey opens the door, before giving Kassey the third keys to the dorm. The blonde gives her a thankful look, as she walks toward the vacant bed. She realizes that the two others are occupied, which means Lindsey is not her only roommate.

And that freaks her out.

Kassey has never been good with people : she usually just stay out of everything involving human beings, except for soccer. She doesn't care about having teammates, because they make her better. But since her relationship with Janine Beckie ended for the second and final time, she doesn't want anything to do with people anymore. Boys or girls, they're all the same : they end up breaking her heart in pieces.

Lindsey notices Kassey's horrified face and smirks.

"Don't worry, Sonnett is cool" she says, trying to make the girl feel comfortable here. As the blonde is looking around her, the middy adds : "Both of us are kind of annoying but you will love us either way."

The newly arrived nods.

"Are we the only girls already here ?" Kassey asks, frowning.

"Uhm" Lindsey starts, thinking. "I think some of our teammates already are here, but very few. Why ?"

"I don't know"

"I can still ask on the group chat if they want to play a little soccer this afternoon ? You gotta fight that jet-lag girl" the brunette jokes.

For the first time since she got here, Kassey shyly smiles.

"That'd be fun."

"Oh, and the team can't wait to meet you !" Lindsey says in a joyful tone. "You'll see, we're fun."

"I bet."

As Kassey is getting her stuffs ready, Lindsey writes on the group chat.

Jane, Rose and Rachel are the only other girls on campus yet. And when they get to the soccer field, they immediately get exited : three months without an actual ball at your feet in a soccer field like this is too much time.

*

Kristie rolls her eyes.

On her car are Steph, Abby, Megan and Sam, as they all are heading back to school. It wasn't in the blonde's idea to go back that early, especially since Steph's dogs love her so much, but Sam insisted : she wanted to get the season ready, especially the rookie pick-up. Kristie, on the other hand, has not even began to think about it. She was counting on Julie's help to pick the only rookie they need this year.

As the music - some Drake, as usual - is playing quite loudly in the car and that the three girls in the back are dancing and singing like crazy - aka Steph, Sam and Megan - Kristie and Abby are just looking at the road.

"So" Kristie lets out, quite fed up with the three girls already. "Exited about this year, Dahlkemper ?"

Since Abby is Steph's girlfriend, and that Kristie considers the brunette as her sister, it's a little bit like if the defender was her sister-in-law : she always is questioning her in order to figure out if she is taking good car of her best friend, which she always is. In the beginning, Kristie thought that Abby was too silent and judgmental. Later on, she actually started to like her meaningful and calming silences.

The young defender shakes her head.

"Honestly ?" she asks, and Kristie nods. "I don't know. Yes and no."

Kristie quite understands what she means.

"Yah, too much pressure of being champions, that's it" the middy clears out, her eyes locked on the road.

"Yes, that and also the fact that Steph and I are going to get separated..." Abby says. She immediately regrets saying this, because she doesn't like to share her thoughts with people and usually just keep them for herself. "Anyway, it's gonna be a fun year."

"It will" Kristie lets out, thoughtful.

*

The early morning lights wake Julie up.

Her head is hurting pretty badly, probably because she's been sick forever. She takes her time to open her eyes, only to find an empty bed next to her. She then buries her head in the pillows : she didn't resist.

She did it again.

When she went to that party for some friends in Seattle, she surely didn't expect to cross the path of Haley Kopmeyer. Hardest thing about this is that Julie was the one breaking things off before they even started, but her feelings have increased ever since the goalie has left. And yesterday, Julie cracked.

Why can't I just be happy ?

She gets up, looking around her : the loft is empty, as the nice view of Seattle is right in front of her. She frowns : maybe she is out to get them breakfast. Julie has no two choices : either she runs away and avoids the awkward talk, or she stays and gets ready to get hurt again. As her burning skin is an handicap, she tries to remain calm.

The pain is too strong of her, so she has to get back to bed. That fucking goalie doesn't have any medication or what ? the defender thinks to herself, absolutely in pain. She then grabs her phone, that's almost out of battery, and sends her sister Olivia - with who she now has a great relationship - a text, asking her to bring some medications with her when she flies back from Sweden.

When the loft's door suddenly opens, Julie reacts by sitting down on the bed. Kop gets in, bags on her arms, closing the door. When she realizes the defender is still here, she looks shocked. She then says :

"You stayed ?"

Julie silently nods.

Is it possible to have brain cramps ? the blonde thinks to herself, as Kop immediately figures something is wrong. She takes a little box out of one of the bags and takes a medication out of it, putting it in a class of water. She then walks toward Julie, who is still sitting on the bed, and hands her the glass.

When she sees the blonde looking at the water with a confused face, Kop says :

"Don't be dramatic, it'll make your headache go away in a few minutes."

Julie looks up at her, before drinking the glass bottoms up, grinning.

"Thank you" she then says, handing the glass back at Kop.

Preseason has started already, and today obviously is not a day off, because they have a game the next day. The goalie is already in her Reign gear, getting ready for practice. As she ties her hair and puts her cleats on her bag, Julie sighs.

She needs to do this car drive to UCLA today, with an huge headache.

"Your gloves are there, by the way" the defender lets out, pointing at the black gloves with Haley's number and name on it.

The goalie, who has been looking for them for a few minutes already, rolls her eyes and gets them, putting them on her bag as well.

"You know I won't let you drive on your own for hours, right ?" she then asks, raising her eyebrows at the girl on her bed.

Julie sighs.

"I need to go back and help Kristie with the selection" the blonde explains. She then grins because of the pain, before saying : "Furthermore, what would I do here ? You're at training half of the time."

Kop rolls her eyes.

"I don't give a fuck about your stupid excuses : it's dangerous to drive when you have a headache. So you're not going."

"Excuse me ?"

The atmosphere immediately tenses up.

Of course Julie would argue that : Kop is not her girlfriend, and even if she was, she doesn't get to tell her what to do. As she is about to fight her, Julie realizes the goalie is calm and settled, which means she'd have the advantage. She can see in her serious hazel eyes that she truly cares, and Julie would lie if she said it didn't have any effect on her.

The goalie sighs.

"What I am saying is that I don't want your death on my conscience" Haley explains, closing her bag. "So you can either stay here and get some rest, or come with me at training as a spectator so we can grab coffee on our way there. But I am not letting you drive like that."

Julie is beaten.

"Fine" she lets out, fed up. "I'm coming."

Kop nods, before Julie gets out of bed. They don't know it yet, but they are about to spend an amazing day together.

One last day before Julie has to separate herself from the goalie again.