The Last Defender, page 13
“It’s cool, August,” she promised. “We like it when you do media for us, we promise.”
“I feel outnumbered. Tomorrow I’m going to go have breakfast with Kenni and Beniliya. They get me.” Tina hooted with laughter, and Tessa smirked.
“They put chewing gum in your hair last camp,” she pointed out. August narrowed her eyes at the two of them, and Tessa felt herself grinning again. She really did love camp.
Before the game, Fiona called Ru and Tessa and a couple of others into her room. “I’m benching you tomorrow,” she announced, with no drama. “I respect that you guys have League games, and I want to really test the limits of our pool. Don’t take offense at this, and this has nothing to do with your skills. I’m just trying new things.”
Tessa glanced at Ru. Ru shrugged at her, and Tessa nodded.
“That’s cool,” she said, smiling at Fiona.
“You’re some of my best,” Fiona said with a small smile. “I just want to make sure we’re the best that we can be.”
“Yes ma’am,” Ru replied with a small rueful smile. “I’m sure Tessa and I will enjoy the rest before our League playoff.” Fiona nodded absently.
“Good,” she decided, clapping Ru on the back. “Good.”
They left the hotel room, and proceeded to spend the rest of the night loudly teasing everyone about how they would enjoy their time on the bench, drinking a beer and criticizing everyone else’s form. Everyone laughed with them, but Cheryl made sure she reminded Tessa that she was invaluable, and even August told Tessa that she would miss her.
Breakfast in the next morning was laced with the usual pregame tension. Belinda was hunched over her cereal, staring at it angrily.
“Are you okay?” Tessa asked, sliding in next to her. Even though she wasn’t playing, she still insisted on eating her pre-game breakfast.
“I’m nervous,” Belinda admitted, looking up with a weak smile. Tessa’s forehead furrowed.
“Why?” She asked.
“If Fiona is benching you, who is she going to bench next?” Tessa chuckled.
“Bells, if there is one thing you don’t have to worry about, it’s losing your space. You’re fucking insane out there.” Belinda swallowed. Dawn came into the dining hall and made a round up call. Tessa glanced at Belinda and pressed her into a hurried hug.
“You’re going to be insane,” she promised. “Just - don’t stress. Play soccer. This game doesn’t mean anything. No expectations. Do me proud, okay?” Belinda swallowed thickly and nodded again. Tessa jumped up and jogged to where Amy was already waiting for her.
Watching the game from the stands was more disconcerting that Tessa had thought it would be. They watched the warm ups, and Tessa felt Ru next to her, equally restless. Yes, they were tired out from camp, but it was a whole other matter watching the team warm up without them. But Ru gripped Tessa’s hand, and her warmth and certainty made Tessa feel a lot better.
Fiona was right - she was really experimenting with the lineup. She had put Beniliya in the number 10 position, and Tessa raised an eyebrow at Ru, who just shrugged. But clearly the new position suited Beniliya well - in the fourth minute of play, she ripped one into the net. Amy and Tessa jumped up with the other thousand or so fans in the stadium cheering.
The speed of play slow downed a bit - the US started another couple of attacks, but the Swiss midfield had fallen back into a defensive position, and it made trying to convert balls harder.
In the 28th minute, Roma threaded the through the midfield though, passing it to august on the left. August was given way too much space by the Swiss, and she shoot on goal, but the Swiss goalkeeper blocked it, and Tessa winced on August’s behalf.
The rest of the half time was painfully slow - the Swiss had developed a hard backline, and they weren’t letting any more US balls through. At the half time whistle, Ru offered to bring Tessa food, and Tessa clapped her hand happily.
The half started with a great shot on goal, which Ru missed because she was still in the line for food. Tessa watched greedily as the ball bounced around the Swiss box for several tense seconds until it was finally cleared, and the US won a corner. Beniliya took the corner, but it didn’t land well, and a Swiss defender headed it out of danger. Ru rejoined Tessa, handing her a hot dog, right as the Swiss were turning this opportunity into a counter attack, getting a Swiss corner and their first actual chance all game. They play the corner short, and nothing comes of it. Something has clearly clicked for Switzerland though; they try and thread their way into the box in the 53rd minutes, determined speed combined with good touches, but Lucy's steady in goal, and their striker shoots it just above the goal.
The US’s second goal comes off a Swiss handball in their own box. Roma took the penalty kick and sunk it with a powerful, well aimed kick. Amy and Tessa cheered again, though Tessa made a face at Amy.
“I hope this isn’t our only other goal,” she complained. “I hate penalty kicks.”
“We’re in minute 56,” Ru pointed out. “I wouldn’t worry.”
In the 65th minute, Beniliya crossed a promising ball to Willow, and Tessa stood up in her seat, excited, but it ended in nothing, and Tessa sat down heavily again with a pout.
Beniliya got called for a handball in their box, and Switzerland scored a goal off a penalty kick. Tessa groaned and buried her head in her hand.
“I hate penalty kicks,” she repeated. Ru rubbed her back.
“Look, Callahan has the ball now,” she comforted. Tessa looked up.
Callahan really was trying a line of attack; she crossed the ball to Willow, but nothing came of it. The ball got passed out; Switzerland relaxed; the ball was out of the defending third, but then Belinda got it, looked up, and shot. The ball bounced against the crossbar and into the goal. The crowd erupted loudly into cheers, and Tessa’s mouth fell open.
“Man that goal,” she said,
“Keep it in your pants, Tessa.”
“Ru! Stop that!” Tessa slapped her gently on the arm, but she couldn’t help the smile on her face.
The game ended with one more goal, another penalty kick, this time taken by Willow. Tessa didn’t care though; Beniliya and Belinda had converted the only goals she cared about. Once the final whistle blew, Tessa and Ru jumped over the barrier separating them from the field, showed security their passes, and then jogged up to their grinning team mates.
“Wow,” Tessa said with a smirk, punching Belinda in the arm lightly. “You did well. You did insanely well.” Belinda grinned.
“Thanks,” she said, and she smiled, and Tessa felt a surge of relief. Everything was going to be okay. They would be okay.
She couldn’t wait until the next National Team camp
CHAPTER SEVEN
Tessa: i’m never flying delta again
Belinda Callahan, Forward: if you’re not paying for the ticket, are you really flying delta?
Tessa: since I am the one Suffering, yes, I am
Tessa: I’m currently crouched on the floor, hunched over an outlet next to the smelly toilets because my flight has a three hour delay and there’s nowhere to charge my phone.
When Belinda didn’t reply for another twenty minutes, Tessa gathered that she was on her own flight back to California. The regular season was over, so the National teamers whose teams hadn’t qualified for the championships had gone home. Tessa, Demetria, August and Buehler were all doomed to spend all day travelling to meet up with the Lakes, who were already in Springfield. The Springfield players, wise to the pain that flying regional planes meant, had carpooled the North Carolina, and they were road-tripping back home.
“See you in Springfield,” Cheryl had said cheerfully, giving Tessa a quick peck on the forehead. “By the time you arrive tonight you’ll have wish you had driven!”
Tessa had dismissed the statement - who on earth would prefer a fifteen hour drive to the perfectly comfortable plane tickets that US Soccer had booked them?
A rookie, that’s who.
Their flight, which they had been told would take them “four hours with one short layover” had now taken them over five hours, and they hadn’t even left Atlanta yet.
August rushed over to where Tessa was crouched with a grim look on her face.
“Tessa,” she hissed, angry. Tessa looked up, surprised.
“What?” She asked, glancing around herself guiltily. Had she done something?
“I’m ordering a hit on Valerie.” Tessa raised an eyebrow. That was surely out of the blue.
“You are?” She asked, her tone conversationally pleasant.
“Yes,” August said, frowning down at her phone. Tessa glanced down at her own phone. 4% battery.
“Why?” She asked, shifting in her perch to try and see August’s phone. But August’s phone had one of those really annoying filters on it, that made it impossible to read what was on the phone when one wasn’t looking straight down at it.
“She made the League Best XI,” August snapped, pushing her phone in Tessa’s face. Tessa blinked and looked at the screen, her mind taking a second to wake up before scanning the list quickly. She broke into a grin.
“Oh! So did Cheryl!” She exclaimed in delight.
“I didn’t make it, Tessa!” August hissed. Tessa blinked.
“Oh,” she whispered.
“I’m not even on the second starting XI,” August continued, practically snarling at her phone.
“They don’t mean anything, August,” Tessa began to protest weakly.
“Well, your dumb girlfriend made it, so they do mean something,” she hissed. Tessa’s brow furrowed.
“Cheryl isn’t my girlfriend,” she pointed out, confused.
“I meant Callahan,” August snapped, clearly annoyed that her insult had missed its target. Tessa made a small ‘oh’ sound, before she perked up.
“Callahan made it on the League Best XI?” She asked.
“No,” August corrected her darkly, “she made it on the League Second XI.”
“Oh. Well, that’s still cool!” Tessa decided.
“You just told me it doesn’t mean anything!” August protested.
“Did August just see the listing?” Demetria asked, walking out of the ladies room and joining their circle around the plug.
“Yes,” Tessa sighed, handing Demetria her phone and stretching. August bit her lip, and Tessa realized that this wasn’t the time for teasing. She leaned forward gently and put a hand on August’s shoulder. “I’m not on there either, August,” she pointed out, wracking her brain for other comforting things to say. August pouted.
“But Demetria is,” she muttered. Demetria raised an eyebrow at Tessa. Tessa scrambled.
“Demetria had an amazing year,” she pointed out. August crossed her arms across her chest defensively.
“And I didn’t?!” She demanded. Tessa sighed and leaned against the off white wall, closing her eyes for a split second before she replied.
“No, August, not for the League,” she murmured gently. “You had a good year.” August bit her lip, and Tessa realized that she was actually close to tears.
“I made it last year though,” she muttered. Demetria gave Tessa back her phone and gave August a warm hug.
“You were battling injury,” Demetria murmured. “You can’t be this hard on yourself, Al.”
“Yeah,” Tessa agreed lamely. “Stop stressing.”
“You’re right,” August muttered, sniffing and stepping back from Demetria. She breathed out and chewed her thumbnail. “I mean, more than anything, I still have the championship game to show them what I’m about, right?”
“Oh god, August,” Tessa said, straightening up so quickly that her phone reached the maximum length of its cord and ripped out of the wall.
“If only I can convince Rose to play me at the start…” August began musing. Demetria rolled her eyes.
“August -” She started.
“I’m not saying I blame him for this,” August interrupted her, frowning at the off white wall, as she could glare at the coach throughout the hundreds of miles between them, “but I blame him for this.”
“August please,” Tessa started again.
“Stop whining, Tessa,” August decided sharply. “We have to get our act together, and beat Springfield’ ass.” Tessa chewed her bottom lip.
Cheryl and Ru had teased Tessa about their rematch, but beneath their teasing Tessa had seen steely determination. They had won in overtime last year, after making up a 2 goal deficit in the second half, and Tessa was sure the Springfield defense was locking up. And Lexa had been amazing in the Switzerland game…
Tessa did not often go into games she didn’t think she could win. If it was a friendly, the question of winning was never on her mind. If it was an League game, she was more excited than daunted - she let August’s competitive spirit get them excited enough for the both of them. But she didn’t feel good about this game versus Springfield. Springfield had a single mindedness, and a familiar coach, and Portland was a tired mess right now. And no amount of pep talks from Sam could hide the fact that star defenders were injured, August was still not at her star form, and the Portland Midfield wasn’t creating the chances it should be. Tessa didn’t voice any of these concerns - instead she just nodded at August, and felt a rush of pure excitement when Delta finally announced that their plane had arrived.
It took another hour for the plane to be ready for boarding, at which point Tessa’s phone had enough battery that she could move back to the seats and listen to music quietly.
Training with the national team this weekend had made her a little wistful - she wished she could play with them all the time. Ellis’ cryptic remarks in the “uptick” of tournaments had cheered Tessa, but she reminded herself with a small sigh as she heaved her bag out towards the plane, she needed to finish this first.
The flight was bumpy and uncomfortable - it was Tessa’s turn to sit in the middle, and barely four minutes into the flight, the person behind them threw up all over their seat. The plane smelled of vomit, and August insisted on loudly complaining and dramatically breathing through her mouth for the rest of the flight, explaining to Tessa repeatedly that the smell of vomit made her gag.
Demetria, blissfully asleep with her head against the window, didn’t have to listen to any of August’s complaints, and Tessa envied her.
When they finally arrived in Springfield, Sam and Valerie had volunteered to pick them up from the airport. Valerie greeted Tessa by jumping on her excitedly - Tessa, pretty tired at this point, staggered back and groaned at Valerie.
“God, Valerie, you’re heavy,” she groaned. Valerie jumped off her and hugged Demetria, and then slung a casual arm around Tessa’s shoulder.
“I missed you at training!” she said simply. “No one gives me crosses like you do.” Tessa leaned into her, and sighed happily as Valerie lead her out of the tiny airport. Sam greeted her by gently punching her arm, knocking her out of her reverie (literally).
“Hey stud,” she said with a small smile. “I didn’t see you on the field on Sunday?”
“You watched the match?” Tessa asked surprised.
“We watched it together!” Valerie told Tessa happily. “I watch every single one of Bells’s matches.”
“What about my matches?” August demanded. Valerie gestured at Sam.
“Sam watched for you, right?”
“Yes. You did really well, August.”
“Well, clearly not well enough to be on the starting XI…” Sam laughed.
“Here I was hoping you hadn’t seen that.”
“I saw it, and I’m going to hunt down everyone who voted on the list. First, though, I’m going to kick Springfield’s ass.” Sam chuckled good naturedly as they piled into the car.
The next morning they woke up bright and early for their first and only training session before the match. August was taken away early to do a bit of media, but she came back after only an hour, making a face at Tessa as they got ready for their end of day scrimmage.
“Media can be so exhausting when people just want to ask me about my injury,” August complained, watching Tessa count the pennies.
“I’m sorry,” Tessa murmured.
“It’s okay...it’s just boring. Ask me about soccer, not about how i recover and whether I enjoyed the less rigorous season. Obviously I didn’t. Next question.” Tessa gave August a sad smile.
“At least it’s over?” She offered.
“Yeah. Whatever. You should have seen Apple preening there.”
“August,” Tessa warned quietly. August sighed.
“Yeah, I know. Unnecessary. Let’s just started.”
When training finished, Tessa felt cheered. Sam had said just the right things about what a tribute to their skills and training it was that they were here, at the championship semifinal, and how they could excel, and it made every single one of them try harder in training. When she arrived back to the hotel room, she found that Callahan had sent her an article (“Portland With A Real Chance Of Securing The Championship”) and a selfie with her and her dog. Tessa smirked, and felt oddly happy all evening. August teased her, and Demetria tried to get Tessa to commit to a weekend to go to Crater Lake with them, but Tessa evaded all planning.
The next morning she woke up to a long email from her mother detailing the preparations her mother was going through before school started again on Monday, and a promise to make all of Tessa’s favorite recipes when she came back home. The email filled Tessa with an intense yearning, and she realized she couldn’t wait until she could get back to New Jersey.
The morning breakfast was cheerful, and everyone did the slow warming up and stretching together, reminiscing about their 7-1 win over Springfield, and discussing just how much this was in their grasp.
The first thing that struck Tessa when they walked out on the pitch was the heat. It was 103 degrees outside. She was incredibly grateful that Springfield had grass, not turf - turf made the heat feel worse, and she didn't think she could stand it.
"Fiona's here," Demetria noted, nodding towards the stands. Tessa had no idea how Demetria had been able to pick out their coach from the 2000 cheering fans around the field, but she was right. Tessa straightened her back, and sighed.
