Two weeks later

Lindsey and Emily are walking around campus.

Now that classes start in a few days (two, to be exact), most of their teammates already are here. They found each other again, and played little soccer with the ones who wanted. The only person missing was Kristie, and sometimes Julie, because the two blondes would help each other and get the season ready. Coach Hao came here one week ago, and the three of them are working their asses off.

The brunette starts smiling : tonight, there is a big party coming up in the whole University to celebrate the beginning of a new year, just like last year, and the year before. The girls are meeting just outside of the dorms, in a nice little place where nobody ever goes. Two bottles in alcohol each in hands, Emily and Lindsey hear their teammates talk.

Megan is the first person they see, and Emily immediately smirks, staring at her best friend's reaction. But nothing weird happens, as the defender walks toward them to welcome them. The rest of the girls all are here - except for Julie and Kristie, of course - and they have put some summer music on.

Lindsey smiles.

"Yo" she lets out.

The blonde in front of her seems to blush, before answering :

"Hey, how are you ?"

Since Lindsey has not seen Megan since last year, she quickly hugs her, before answering that everything was fine - which was the case, because she spent one month at Portland with Allie and Tobin, and their team, watching the games and even taking part to the training sessions with Sonnett too - and walk toward the rest of her friends.

She sits down in between Rose and Mal, who looks like their are in a deep discussion about dogs because the forward criticized Wilma.

But Lindsey's attention is not on them. Actually, her thoughts can't stop to bring her back to Megan, and she doesn't really understand why : they have been friends from the beginning, but when she saw her for the first time in months just five minutes ago, her heart flipped on her chest and started beating faster.

What the fuck, the middy thinks to herself, confused. Hopefully, Mal and Rose always are here to change the subject.

"So" Rose says, smirking. "I've heard that you and Jessie have been spending a lot of time together lately..."

That immediately upsets Mal, who fires back :

"She's just more interesting than both of you combined, so I like hanging out with her."

"Ooouh, kitty got claws !" Jane exclaims from the other side of Rose, laughing her ass off.

Rose is not very happy with that.

"What does she have that make her more interesting than us then ?" she asks, bitter.

The forward shakes her head.

"I don't know : she went through stuffs like me, so we can share point of views and opinions." she starts. When she realizes that it's not enough, she adds : "She lost her mom, just like me. I found out during this summer. She helped me get over it."

"Good for you" Rose sarcastically lets out, still bitter.

Jane wraps an arm around her friend, messing up with her, while Lindsey gives Mal an understanding look. Even though I am kind of shipping it though, the brunette thinks to herself, smirking. She knows Mal is not necessarily gay, but if she was, Jessie would be her kind : troubled, cute and artistic.

But she doesn't make any comment, because she'd rather see how things are evolving between the two to actually say something.

But Rose is not willing to let go like this, and now she has an excuse to do so : she won't get anything from Mal, so she gotta try with the rest of her friends. To do so, she turns to face Lindsey asking :

"What about you ? Someone in mind ?"

As she says that, some girls turn their heads to look toward them. Among them, Megan is now frowning.

"Mmh" the middy lets out.

That makes Emily's eyes go wide.

"Wait, there actually is someone you like ?" she asked, in shock.

Of course she is used to know everything about her best friend : that's the whole point about being bestie with someone. Lindsey starts smiling, and Emily guesses that she is joking. She hits her arm, shaking her head.

Lindsey is laughing very hard now.

"You should've seen your face, Sonny" she smirks, proud of herself.

"Jerk" Sonnett lets out, shaking her head again.

The youngsters then begin to talk about their holidays, as Lindsey is forcing her mind not to think about Megan, because it feels very weird to find her friend cute.

*

Hao lets herself fall on the couch, as Julie and Kristie still are on their feet, just in front of that screen, with they pens in hands.

"So, to sum it up : we have five defenders, four midfielders, three forwards and two goalkeepers. Which means..." Julie starts, thoughtful.

"... We need a forward."

The two blonde exchange a look, before looking at their coach.

The whole day has been about talking tactics, team mindset and unity. The two players and the coach are on the same page, very involved to make this year special. With all the veterans and big names gone, they surely are not favorite anymore. But they believe in each other : they're the Golden Youth, as Hao like to call them.

Julie has had a conversation on the phone with Kelsey Wys this past week, asking her for advice about the goalkeeping position : they need to have a starting keeper and a back-up. Kelsey obviously didn't have the same opinion. 'You don't necessary have to chose right now : let them train hard and compete for that spot, and during the easy games, try to alternate. But I believe Jane has something special.' Those were her words, and her being a mentor for both Mads and Jane helped a lot in the decision.

About the starting lineups, things got easier to figure out : a 15-players roster really reduce the choices that can be made. It's either 3-4-3, 4-3-3, or 4-4-2. Given to the fact that they should always have one player on the bench for each position, the second option is the best. Depth-wise, it also looks to be the greatest solution.

Julie is now frowning.

"We should evaluate which defender is better in the center or on the sides" Hao says, thinking out loud. "I think Sonnett is not meant to be central ; she can do great runs to break the midfield and start the attack. Same goes for Gibby. The question is : do we put Oyster in the central as a back-up for either JJ or Abby, or do we test her as a lateral ?"

The blonde defender shakes her head.

"I don't think she has enough depth or vision of the game to actually do those runs" Julie argues. "That's how I see things : Abby, Meggy and myself in the center, and Gibby/Sonnett on the sides."

"Perfect then" Hao comments. "What about the midfield ? Who do we put on the bench ?" she then asks, more for herself than the others.

Since there are three spots for four players, it makes sense that two players won't be able to play all game long. Same goes to the forward if they manage to select a rookie forward. Hao obviously knows the answer, and so does Kristie : everything is setting up in training ; train hard and play all the game, fail and someone will get better than you and clinch that spot.

And the arrangements go on and on for the rest of the evening.