The Last Defender, page 17
"God, you're all just jealous." Tessa laughed.
"Yeah, we are," she agreed. Tina rolled her eyes.
"Not that you should be, Ms. Jacobson,” she chided. “You have a pretty rocking physiology."
"Nothing on you, Tina."
“It’s true, I am the best. I’m glad we agreed on that.”
CHAPTER TEN
Tessa hated the month long period between their last friendly, and the first round of world cup qualifying games. She hated that the season was so short, and she now had to train on her own, without anyone. She hated that she didn’t have anywhere to stay permanently, and she was back in her parent’s basement for the moment. She curled up in her childhood bed and grumbled quietly as her mother flick on the lights and tutted loudly.
“I think you should come to swimming with me this morning,” she announced.
"I don't wanna," Tessa grumbled, pulling her blanket over her head.
"Don't be a baby," Mrs. Jacobson said practically, sitting down on the bed next to Tessa and lightly tugging at Tessa’s blanket. "I let you mope yesterday. You have to get going tomorrow - you want to be in top shape for the qualifying matches, right?"
"Yes," Tessa grumbled, letting the duvet slide off her.
"Then come on," Mrs. Jacobson tsked.
"I hate training on my own," Tessa whined, though she threw the blankets off herself and sat up in bed, staring glumly straight ahead.
"I know." Mrs. Jacobson sighed, sitting down next to Tessa on the bed. "Do you want to invite some of your friends up? Or you could train with the Princeton team. You know Maggie's mom knows the soccer coach there, and they might be excited to have you."
"College kids are the worst," Tessa mumbled.
"I'm offering solutions here, Tessa," Mrs. Jacobson replied with a small raised eyebrow, rebuking her ever so subtly. Tessa sighed.
"I know. I'm sorry mom." She accepted the clothes her mom handed to her, and changed into the blindly, following her up into the kitchen, and silently accepting the porridge she was handed.
"You could invite your friends up, couldn't you?" Mrs. Jacobson offered again as she handed Tessa a cup of coffee. Tessa made a face.
"Not really,” she admitted. “August, Ru and Lexa are too excited about time with their significant others, and Tina loves being in Georgia too much." Mrs. Jacobson nodded.
"What about Demetria?" She asked a moment’s thought. Tessa looked up and grinned, suddenly relieved at the solution.
"Good point," she hummed. “I’ll text her at the end of the week.”
"I'm going to call Maggie's mom then. You can’t wait until the end of the week to train. You’ll go insane."
"Mom -"
"Training with those college kids is going to keep you sharp,” Mrs. Jacobson said, pulling out her iPhone and her reading glasses. She gave Tessa a sharp look over the rim of her glasses: “And you know they're going to lose their minds."
"I'm not even a graduate from Princeton!" Tessa complained. Mrs. Jacobson frowned at her phone, and then held it as far away from her face as she could. “Mom!” Tessa whined, louder.
"No one cares, honey,” she said absently, tapping something into her outstretched phone, “you're a superstar."
"Please, Mom, no," Tessa tried again, but her pleading had no affect on her mother.
"Honey -"
"I promise I'll go train right now,” Tessa pleaded, plucking her mother’s phone from her hand. “And I'll call Demetria,” Tessa added quickly when her mother narrowed her eyes. “- and we'll do some training together. Michelle and Morris both have family in New York too, so I'll give them a call and see what comes of it." Mrs. Jacobson grinned.
"Is Roma around?" She asked, Tessa rolled her eyes.
"Oh no, she wouldn't be up training," she told her mother shortly. Roma was the only athlete Tessa knew who loved being on her own, and Tessa did not want to cut into that.
"Are you sure honey?" Mrs. Jacobson asked, frowning. “It might be good too train with a senior -” "I'm sure, Mom. You know, last time I offered a rideshare to camp, she pointedly told me she had nothing to say to me?" It hadn’t been an insult, but more a factual comment from Roma. She had sat down in the car, turned on NPR, and looked out of the window for two hours. Thank God Tessa knew not to be offended by her strange behavior...
"She's just stressed," Mrs. Jacobson decided. Tessa grinned.
"Ugh, probably. I'm calling Demetria now."
"Do you want me to keep your porridge warm?"
"Yes,” Tessa decided, clicking on Demetria’s face in her phone and shooting her mother a grin, “I'll go for a run first." "That's my girl."
"Mom, you're the best." "I try,” Mrs. Jacobson hummed as Tessa listened to the long beeps that meant that Demetria’s phone was ringing. “I'm making roast for dinner, so I need you training really hard today. I'm cooking enough for 10 people, and you know I hate left overs." Tessa chuckled as she slipped into her running shoes. "I will do my best," she told her mother. Then the ringing stopped, and Demetria picked up her phone. "Demetria!" Tessa said.
"Hey Chica." Demetria was smiling from the other side of the phone, and Tessa couldn’t help but grin back. She loved how she could hear the smile in her voice.
"Wanna do some training?" Tessa asked as she snagged her dad’s keys and stepped out of the front door and closed it behind her loudly.
"Is your mom trying to get you to train with the Princeton girls again?" Demetria asked.
"She means so well but -"
"You know it’s because she's trying match-make you with their coach, right?"
"Ugh," Tessa groaned, sliding into her Dad’s Prius.
"What? She's cute! And she goes to your mom's church," Demetria teased, and Tessa rolled her eyes as she made sure the car still had her secret stash of Gatorade and cliff bars. Both were still there.
"Double worse,” she mumbled as she twisted the key in the ignition. “Just help me out here. Are you free tomorrow?"
"Yes of course I am. I'm always free to save your ass." Tessa laughed.
"You're the best,” she hummed as she pulled out of their driveway. “I'll go make sure we can use the local soccer pitch."
"Are you going to use the exercises Dawn gave you?" Demetria asked.
"Yup. We need 10 balls and a net, and it's mainly conditioning and first touch things anyway."
"Yeah, I know. Can we call her after we finish them? I want to make sure she doesn't mind us doing the same regime."
"Of course."
"Great. The train times are dumb though - shall I come down tonight? So we can start early?"
"My mom will be over the moon," Tessa commented dryly as she got onto TOWN’S main road.
"I hope you know I only do things to make your mom happy."
"Of course. Take the train down tonight."
"Stu will pick me up tomorrow evening then."
"Ugh," Tessa groaned.
"I love your excitement and affection about my boyfriend," Demetria teased, though there was no malice there. "You know how I feel about relationships in general."
"Of course I do. Now, go on a run and do those strength exercises Dawn gave us. We can focus on arms and chest today, and make tomorrow a cardio and leg day."
"I love you."
"Love you too chica. Now I gotta go consult with August on flower arrangements. She sent me 39 texts while my east coast ass was sleeping, so I gotta reply before she wakes up."
"Ew, wedding stuff," Tessa mumbled, pulling into the high school parking lot and frowning when she noticed that it was totally full. She was so used to being at her parents house during school vacations that it hadn’t even occurred to her that the high school might be using their own pitch.
"Don't be a drama queen," Demetria hummed. “You’re gonna appreciate this wedding stuff once you see it.”
"You know I will. I gotta go now!”
“Bye babe,” Demetria hummed.
“Love you Demetria!" They hung up.
Negotiating with her old college coach to give her access to the field was surprisingly easy - he was so pleased to see her, and to accommodate her and Demetria’s training that Tessa didn’t even know why she had worried. From the high school she took the small woodland path through the forest - it was a draining 12 mile run across uneven and hilly terrain, but Tessa loved it. Once she got back to the high school, and the car, it was lunch time, and she got a couple of interested stares as she trekked back to the Prius but that was it.
Thanks to training with Demetria, the period between their last friendly and the qualifier went faster. Demetria came down three separate times to help keep Tessa focused and with her eyes on the prize. She tried to get Tessa excited about Grey’s Anatomy again, but Tessa resisted - she got really bored during my shows about people's feelings anyway. "It's so much more than people's feelings!" Demetria complained, throwing a baby carrot at Tessa as she fell asleep again. Tessa snorted.
"Really?" She gestured at the screen. "It looks like a show where everyone is in love with each other. As if we don't have enough drama with the team already."
"You're such a drama queen."
“I’m specifically trying not to create any drama.” Tessa complained. Demetria grinned knowingly.
“Sure you are,” she teased. Tessa huffed, and forced herself to stare at the screen again,.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she grumbled, and Demetria just giggled.
When the roster came out, two weeks later, Tessa was totally unsurprised that she made it - she didn't even got a confirmation call from Fiona. All she got was a text - "looking forward to seeing you in October" - and she didn't bother to look it up. August called her an hour later though.
"Demetria didn't make it," She informed Tessa. Tessa was about to do her whole “and hello to you too, August,” spiel, but then the words sunk in.
"Wait, really?" She asked, her stomach sinking.
"Yeah, she's not on the roster."
"Oh no," Tessa murmured, suddenly feeling awful. She should have checked.
"Look, she's fine, we talked about it, but I just thought I had better warn you, since there's no way you checked the roster." Tessa laughed wryly.
"You know me well," she mumbled, her mind suddenly running through the list of players who were perhaps a “maybe” on Ellis’ list. Suddenly she remembered Callahan. There was no way Callahan was a maybe, was there? Tessa paused, and then decided to ask August. “Anything else interesting on the roster?”
"The new kid from Virginia made it on there," August commented, and Tessa grinned. The edge of distaste in August’s tone didn’t stop her from grinning. August really hated it when college kids got callups.
"Moe?” Tessa did a small fist pump. “No way! That's awesome." She loved that tiny midfielder. She was easy to play with.
"Don't show that kind of excitement in front of Demetria," August replied testily. Tessa rolled her eyes.
"Obviously.” Tessa waited for a second, hoping that August would just tell Tessa that Callahan had made it to the roster. But August remained silent. So Tessa tried again. “Anything else exciting on the roster?"
"Everything else as expected," She replied. Tessa sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Callahan on there?" She asked, finally. August hummed.
"Yes," she said after a second pause that Tessa was convinced was a theatrical addition, not because she actually needed to look that up. Tessa sighed in relief.
"Nice," she murmured.
"Hmmm." Tessa groaned.
"August," she warned.
"What?" August asked with faux innocence.
"Don't hum at me. I know you too well."
"Of course you do. You do know one of these two games is in Chicago, right?" Tessa was pretty sure what August was trying to say, but instead decided to play dumb.
"I know! I've been to Chicago. It’s a pretty city." August sighed in annoyance.
"I know.” She waited for a second, clearly deciding how to formulate this. “Just -” she started, but then decided to just be honest in an angry huff: “don't sleep with her again? I'm not putting my World Cup in jeopardy for your sex life." Tessa snorted.
"Our world cup, August," she corrected.
"Whatever," August grumbled.
"August,” Tessa murmured, “I'm not going to do anything to jeopardize this team."
"Good,” August huffed. “It's complicated enough with Amanda and Lis."
"What's complicated about them? They're fine."
"So you think."
"You're being dramatic," Tessa said, rolling her eyes.
"No I'm not."
"August. I love you. Go finish arranging flowers."
"Don't call Demetria." A small smile pulled at Tessa’s lips. Even when August was being an asshole, she was doing it for the right reasons.
"Okay," she said, nodding her head.
"Also, don't train with Princeton." Tessa grinned.
"I really don't plan on it," she promised, sincerely this time.
"Good. It would look super dumb."
"Bye August!"
"Bye! Love you!" Tessa chewed at her lip, and then threw her phone on the bed and wandered out into the living room. Her mother looked up and smiled at her from where she was doing the ironing. "Everything okay?" She asked. Tessa scrunched up her face. Her mother chuckled. "Do you need anything darling?" She asked, but Tessa shook her head and collapsed on the sofa.
"Demetria didn't make the roster," she explained, picking up one of the balls she had been juggling with earlier and letting it spin on her finger. Her mother frowned.
"The world cup roster?" She asked. Tessa didn’t look away from the ball.
"No, the one for these qualifying games," she mumbled. "I'm sorry, darling." The ball tethered on Tessa’s fingers, and she quickly flicked her wrist and rolled the ball down her arm, catching it neatly with her left hand. She frowned at the ball, dropped it, and then looked up at her mother. "It's okay. Can I help?" She nodded towards the ironing. Her mother smiled, switching off the iron.
"I’m done with this right now, but I do need to get started on dinner.” She glanced down at the basket full of folded sheets, waved it away, and walked into the kitchen. Tessa followed her obediently. “Do you want to chop the onions?"
"Okay," Tessa hummed. She pulled out the chopping board, accepted the two onions her mother gave her, and started chopping.
"Are leaving soon then?" Her mother asked as she started chopping the carrots.
"Yeah,” Tessa mumbled, blinking against the onion induced tears. “Simon will probably call in the next hour to iron out the travel plans. I'll probably fly out with-” Tessa paused for a second. No, she wasn’t going to fly out with Demetria. Demetria wasn’t coming. She blew out air in frustration, and ended her sentence shortly - “ with Roma." Her mother frowned at her.
"Darling, it's going to be okay," she murmured. Tessa smiled through her tears. "I know, Mom. I just -” she sniffed,” I just kinda wished this was easier for Demetria." Mrs. Jacobson chuckled.
"You and I both know it would be no fun if it was easy.” Tessa smiled weakly.
"That's true," she mumbled.
Tessa was right - when she arrived at LaGuardia airport, Roma was waiting for her. “There you are,” she hummed, frowning. “We’re going to be late.”
“We’re going to be fine,” Tessa disagreed as they strode up to the ticketing machine. Roma frowned.
“Why don’t you check in online?” She demanded, crossing her arms across her chest. Tessa frowned as she copied the booking confirmation she had written on her hand into the machine.
“I don’t trust myself not to lose my ticket,” she explained absently.
“You’re going to get a terrible seat now,” Roma pointed out. Tessa shrugged.
“It’s a short flight.” She scanned her passport into the terminal.
“It’s like 2 and a half hours,” Roma pointed out. Tessa rolled her eyes, confirmed her name and passport number, and waited for her boarding passes to print.
“It’s fine, Roma,” she promised. Roma glanced at Tessa’s ticket and frowned at her seating allocations.
“That’s a shitty spot. Do you want to trade with me?” Tessa laughed wryly.
“No,” she assured her, swinging her bag over her shoulder. “Shall we?”
“Are you sure?” Roma continued as she fell into step next to Tessa. Tessa gave Roma a look.
“Roma!” Roma huffed out a small laugh.
“I’m nervous, I’m sorry,” she admitted after a moment. Tessa frowned as they showed their boarding passes and then got into the line for security.
“Why are you nervous?” She asked.
“We’ve been off. As a team. And I don’t like this new lineup.”
“New?”
“Only like half the people went to London with us, Tessa. And we have a college player on the lineup? When was the last time that happened?”
“Pretty recently, I’m sure,” Tessa said with a small smile. Roma didn’t return it. “It’s qualifying, Roma. It’s more of a formality than anything else.”
“You’re being arrogant,” Roma decided. Tessa raised an eyebrow.
“I’m really not,” she said with a small smirk. “Don’t you remember our last friendly?”
“We’re overconfident.”
“You’re being pessimistic.” Roma sniffed. They were at the front of the security line. She dumped her back on the band and frowned at Tessa.
“I’m not,” she snapped, and then walked off. Roma always needed to have the last word. Tessa shook her head in exasperation, but couldn’t help but feel the small bubble of affection in her chest. Roma was dramatic, but she was their team’s drama queen, and she was the best, even when she was being needlessly paranoid.
There was nothing worse than Tessa trudging off the field for the first day of their qualifying match, and nearly sobbing. Roma Lloyd had been proved right. They had played Trinidad and Tobago as if this was an unimportant, trivial match. Yes, Trinidad was desperately trying to be the first Caribbean island to qualify for the World Cup, but they should not have scraped by as they did. The entire game was a series of unforced errors, bad shots on goal, and terrible passing. “That was a fucking nightmare,” Lucy snapped, stomping into the dressing room and glaring at all of them. “Worst soccer I have seen all year,” Fiona agreed. Tessa sat down heavily on the bench. August sat down on the other side of her and buried her face between her knees. No one even made a quip about it being the end of the world because Lucy and Fiona were agreeing on things. “Are none of you paying attention?” Lucy barked, glaring at them. “Lucy," Selena murmured, putting a hand on Lucy's shoulder to calm her down, "leave them alone.” Her gentle tone rolled off Lucy though, who just shook her off and glared at the room. “No, I fucking won’t. That was the worst soccer we played all year. Look at that score board. You want to win the world cup, but you can't even score on one of the smallest islands in the Caribbean?" Lucy glared at the entire room. Willow straightened up, and glared back at Lucy. "August and Kenni were out there,” Willow snapped. “Callahan had some chances." "And there were never able to complete," Lucy replied scathingly. Tessa looked up, and noticed Callahan trying to hide herself in the corner next to Tina. "Leave her alone," Tina snapped, glaring at both veterans. "We all played badly. You can't blame one player for it." "It's not just us. That goalie -" Beniliya started, but before she could finish her praise for the goalkeeper, Lucy turned on her. "Beniliya, you and I both know that you have scored on me, so I don't want you making any excuses," Lucy snapped. "Lucy, cut it out," Lexa said with a small exasperated sigh. "Shut up Cheryl," Lucy snapped back. She was all but spewing venom now. "Lucy." Selena had a way of saying Lucy's name that cut through everything. She got up, and glared down at her. "Enough." Lucy seemed to deflate under Selena’s powerful gaze, and she stomped over to the other end of the changing room and sat down with a huff. "Fine," she muttered, and there was a moment silence before Fiona cleared her throat. "As Lucy just expressed far more bluntly than I wanted to -" Fiona began, but August interrupted her. "We get it, we played terribly, we should have scored more," she snapped. “This isn’t the strikers’ faults, since you were all -” "Mirrin, sit down," Fiona snapped. August, immediately cowed, sat down. "Yes, ma'am." "I don't care about the scoreboard,” Fiona amended, pointedly glaring at August. “You won, and that's all well and good. I care about those unforced errors. You're all fumbling with the ball, not paying attention." There was silence in the changing room. Tessa could practically feel the air of exhaustion and disappointment and anger simmer under the surface. Fiona smiled weakly at them. "I want us to sit down tomorrow, and really try and work this out. You guys have it in you. You know each other. You trust each other. Now you have to act on that." "Yes, ma'am," Selena mumbled. They all nodded. They changed and trudged back to their hotel. After a quiet consultation, Becky, Lexa and the other Springfield players announced that everyone was going out to mourn the game. “But also, to make sure we don’t mope,” Jacintha added. “Just some good old fashioned determination to do better.” She grinned, catching Tessa’s eye, and Tessa smiled back despite herself. "You all make it look like we lost," Roma grumbled as they piled into the bus in a subdued group. "We played terribly, but we didn't lose."
"Yeah, we are," she agreed. Tina rolled her eyes.
"Not that you should be, Ms. Jacobson,” she chided. “You have a pretty rocking physiology."
"Nothing on you, Tina."
“It’s true, I am the best. I’m glad we agreed on that.”
CHAPTER TEN
Tessa hated the month long period between their last friendly, and the first round of world cup qualifying games. She hated that the season was so short, and she now had to train on her own, without anyone. She hated that she didn’t have anywhere to stay permanently, and she was back in her parent’s basement for the moment. She curled up in her childhood bed and grumbled quietly as her mother flick on the lights and tutted loudly.
“I think you should come to swimming with me this morning,” she announced.
"I don't wanna," Tessa grumbled, pulling her blanket over her head.
"Don't be a baby," Mrs. Jacobson said practically, sitting down on the bed next to Tessa and lightly tugging at Tessa’s blanket. "I let you mope yesterday. You have to get going tomorrow - you want to be in top shape for the qualifying matches, right?"
"Yes," Tessa grumbled, letting the duvet slide off her.
"Then come on," Mrs. Jacobson tsked.
"I hate training on my own," Tessa whined, though she threw the blankets off herself and sat up in bed, staring glumly straight ahead.
"I know." Mrs. Jacobson sighed, sitting down next to Tessa on the bed. "Do you want to invite some of your friends up? Or you could train with the Princeton team. You know Maggie's mom knows the soccer coach there, and they might be excited to have you."
"College kids are the worst," Tessa mumbled.
"I'm offering solutions here, Tessa," Mrs. Jacobson replied with a small raised eyebrow, rebuking her ever so subtly. Tessa sighed.
"I know. I'm sorry mom." She accepted the clothes her mom handed to her, and changed into the blindly, following her up into the kitchen, and silently accepting the porridge she was handed.
"You could invite your friends up, couldn't you?" Mrs. Jacobson offered again as she handed Tessa a cup of coffee. Tessa made a face.
"Not really,” she admitted. “August, Ru and Lexa are too excited about time with their significant others, and Tina loves being in Georgia too much." Mrs. Jacobson nodded.
"What about Demetria?" She asked a moment’s thought. Tessa looked up and grinned, suddenly relieved at the solution.
"Good point," she hummed. “I’ll text her at the end of the week.”
"I'm going to call Maggie's mom then. You can’t wait until the end of the week to train. You’ll go insane."
"Mom -"
"Training with those college kids is going to keep you sharp,” Mrs. Jacobson said, pulling out her iPhone and her reading glasses. She gave Tessa a sharp look over the rim of her glasses: “And you know they're going to lose their minds."
"I'm not even a graduate from Princeton!" Tessa complained. Mrs. Jacobson frowned at her phone, and then held it as far away from her face as she could. “Mom!” Tessa whined, louder.
"No one cares, honey,” she said absently, tapping something into her outstretched phone, “you're a superstar."
"Please, Mom, no," Tessa tried again, but her pleading had no affect on her mother.
"Honey -"
"I promise I'll go train right now,” Tessa pleaded, plucking her mother’s phone from her hand. “And I'll call Demetria,” Tessa added quickly when her mother narrowed her eyes. “- and we'll do some training together. Michelle and Morris both have family in New York too, so I'll give them a call and see what comes of it." Mrs. Jacobson grinned.
"Is Roma around?" She asked, Tessa rolled her eyes.
"Oh no, she wouldn't be up training," she told her mother shortly. Roma was the only athlete Tessa knew who loved being on her own, and Tessa did not want to cut into that.
"Are you sure honey?" Mrs. Jacobson asked, frowning. “It might be good too train with a senior -” "I'm sure, Mom. You know, last time I offered a rideshare to camp, she pointedly told me she had nothing to say to me?" It hadn’t been an insult, but more a factual comment from Roma. She had sat down in the car, turned on NPR, and looked out of the window for two hours. Thank God Tessa knew not to be offended by her strange behavior...
"She's just stressed," Mrs. Jacobson decided. Tessa grinned.
"Ugh, probably. I'm calling Demetria now."
"Do you want me to keep your porridge warm?"
"Yes,” Tessa decided, clicking on Demetria’s face in her phone and shooting her mother a grin, “I'll go for a run first." "That's my girl."
"Mom, you're the best." "I try,” Mrs. Jacobson hummed as Tessa listened to the long beeps that meant that Demetria’s phone was ringing. “I'm making roast for dinner, so I need you training really hard today. I'm cooking enough for 10 people, and you know I hate left overs." Tessa chuckled as she slipped into her running shoes. "I will do my best," she told her mother. Then the ringing stopped, and Demetria picked up her phone. "Demetria!" Tessa said.
"Hey Chica." Demetria was smiling from the other side of the phone, and Tessa couldn’t help but grin back. She loved how she could hear the smile in her voice.
"Wanna do some training?" Tessa asked as she snagged her dad’s keys and stepped out of the front door and closed it behind her loudly.
"Is your mom trying to get you to train with the Princeton girls again?" Demetria asked.
"She means so well but -"
"You know it’s because she's trying match-make you with their coach, right?"
"Ugh," Tessa groaned, sliding into her Dad’s Prius.
"What? She's cute! And she goes to your mom's church," Demetria teased, and Tessa rolled her eyes as she made sure the car still had her secret stash of Gatorade and cliff bars. Both were still there.
"Double worse,” she mumbled as she twisted the key in the ignition. “Just help me out here. Are you free tomorrow?"
"Yes of course I am. I'm always free to save your ass." Tessa laughed.
"You're the best,” she hummed as she pulled out of their driveway. “I'll go make sure we can use the local soccer pitch."
"Are you going to use the exercises Dawn gave you?" Demetria asked.
"Yup. We need 10 balls and a net, and it's mainly conditioning and first touch things anyway."
"Yeah, I know. Can we call her after we finish them? I want to make sure she doesn't mind us doing the same regime."
"Of course."
"Great. The train times are dumb though - shall I come down tonight? So we can start early?"
"My mom will be over the moon," Tessa commented dryly as she got onto TOWN’S main road.
"I hope you know I only do things to make your mom happy."
"Of course. Take the train down tonight."
"Stu will pick me up tomorrow evening then."
"Ugh," Tessa groaned.
"I love your excitement and affection about my boyfriend," Demetria teased, though there was no malice there. "You know how I feel about relationships in general."
"Of course I do. Now, go on a run and do those strength exercises Dawn gave us. We can focus on arms and chest today, and make tomorrow a cardio and leg day."
"I love you."
"Love you too chica. Now I gotta go consult with August on flower arrangements. She sent me 39 texts while my east coast ass was sleeping, so I gotta reply before she wakes up."
"Ew, wedding stuff," Tessa mumbled, pulling into the high school parking lot and frowning when she noticed that it was totally full. She was so used to being at her parents house during school vacations that it hadn’t even occurred to her that the high school might be using their own pitch.
"Don't be a drama queen," Demetria hummed. “You’re gonna appreciate this wedding stuff once you see it.”
"You know I will. I gotta go now!”
“Bye babe,” Demetria hummed.
“Love you Demetria!" They hung up.
Negotiating with her old college coach to give her access to the field was surprisingly easy - he was so pleased to see her, and to accommodate her and Demetria’s training that Tessa didn’t even know why she had worried. From the high school she took the small woodland path through the forest - it was a draining 12 mile run across uneven and hilly terrain, but Tessa loved it. Once she got back to the high school, and the car, it was lunch time, and she got a couple of interested stares as she trekked back to the Prius but that was it.
Thanks to training with Demetria, the period between their last friendly and the qualifier went faster. Demetria came down three separate times to help keep Tessa focused and with her eyes on the prize. She tried to get Tessa excited about Grey’s Anatomy again, but Tessa resisted - she got really bored during my shows about people's feelings anyway. "It's so much more than people's feelings!" Demetria complained, throwing a baby carrot at Tessa as she fell asleep again. Tessa snorted.
"Really?" She gestured at the screen. "It looks like a show where everyone is in love with each other. As if we don't have enough drama with the team already."
"You're such a drama queen."
“I’m specifically trying not to create any drama.” Tessa complained. Demetria grinned knowingly.
“Sure you are,” she teased. Tessa huffed, and forced herself to stare at the screen again,.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she grumbled, and Demetria just giggled.
When the roster came out, two weeks later, Tessa was totally unsurprised that she made it - she didn't even got a confirmation call from Fiona. All she got was a text - "looking forward to seeing you in October" - and she didn't bother to look it up. August called her an hour later though.
"Demetria didn't make it," She informed Tessa. Tessa was about to do her whole “and hello to you too, August,” spiel, but then the words sunk in.
"Wait, really?" She asked, her stomach sinking.
"Yeah, she's not on the roster."
"Oh no," Tessa murmured, suddenly feeling awful. She should have checked.
"Look, she's fine, we talked about it, but I just thought I had better warn you, since there's no way you checked the roster." Tessa laughed wryly.
"You know me well," she mumbled, her mind suddenly running through the list of players who were perhaps a “maybe” on Ellis’ list. Suddenly she remembered Callahan. There was no way Callahan was a maybe, was there? Tessa paused, and then decided to ask August. “Anything else interesting on the roster?”
"The new kid from Virginia made it on there," August commented, and Tessa grinned. The edge of distaste in August’s tone didn’t stop her from grinning. August really hated it when college kids got callups.
"Moe?” Tessa did a small fist pump. “No way! That's awesome." She loved that tiny midfielder. She was easy to play with.
"Don't show that kind of excitement in front of Demetria," August replied testily. Tessa rolled her eyes.
"Obviously.” Tessa waited for a second, hoping that August would just tell Tessa that Callahan had made it to the roster. But August remained silent. So Tessa tried again. “Anything else exciting on the roster?"
"Everything else as expected," She replied. Tessa sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Callahan on there?" She asked, finally. August hummed.
"Yes," she said after a second pause that Tessa was convinced was a theatrical addition, not because she actually needed to look that up. Tessa sighed in relief.
"Nice," she murmured.
"Hmmm." Tessa groaned.
"August," she warned.
"What?" August asked with faux innocence.
"Don't hum at me. I know you too well."
"Of course you do. You do know one of these two games is in Chicago, right?" Tessa was pretty sure what August was trying to say, but instead decided to play dumb.
"I know! I've been to Chicago. It’s a pretty city." August sighed in annoyance.
"I know.” She waited for a second, clearly deciding how to formulate this. “Just -” she started, but then decided to just be honest in an angry huff: “don't sleep with her again? I'm not putting my World Cup in jeopardy for your sex life." Tessa snorted.
"Our world cup, August," she corrected.
"Whatever," August grumbled.
"August,” Tessa murmured, “I'm not going to do anything to jeopardize this team."
"Good,” August huffed. “It's complicated enough with Amanda and Lis."
"What's complicated about them? They're fine."
"So you think."
"You're being dramatic," Tessa said, rolling her eyes.
"No I'm not."
"August. I love you. Go finish arranging flowers."
"Don't call Demetria." A small smile pulled at Tessa’s lips. Even when August was being an asshole, she was doing it for the right reasons.
"Okay," she said, nodding her head.
"Also, don't train with Princeton." Tessa grinned.
"I really don't plan on it," she promised, sincerely this time.
"Good. It would look super dumb."
"Bye August!"
"Bye! Love you!" Tessa chewed at her lip, and then threw her phone on the bed and wandered out into the living room. Her mother looked up and smiled at her from where she was doing the ironing. "Everything okay?" She asked. Tessa scrunched up her face. Her mother chuckled. "Do you need anything darling?" She asked, but Tessa shook her head and collapsed on the sofa.
"Demetria didn't make the roster," she explained, picking up one of the balls she had been juggling with earlier and letting it spin on her finger. Her mother frowned.
"The world cup roster?" She asked. Tessa didn’t look away from the ball.
"No, the one for these qualifying games," she mumbled. "I'm sorry, darling." The ball tethered on Tessa’s fingers, and she quickly flicked her wrist and rolled the ball down her arm, catching it neatly with her left hand. She frowned at the ball, dropped it, and then looked up at her mother. "It's okay. Can I help?" She nodded towards the ironing. Her mother smiled, switching off the iron.
"I’m done with this right now, but I do need to get started on dinner.” She glanced down at the basket full of folded sheets, waved it away, and walked into the kitchen. Tessa followed her obediently. “Do you want to chop the onions?"
"Okay," Tessa hummed. She pulled out the chopping board, accepted the two onions her mother gave her, and started chopping.
"Are leaving soon then?" Her mother asked as she started chopping the carrots.
"Yeah,” Tessa mumbled, blinking against the onion induced tears. “Simon will probably call in the next hour to iron out the travel plans. I'll probably fly out with-” Tessa paused for a second. No, she wasn’t going to fly out with Demetria. Demetria wasn’t coming. She blew out air in frustration, and ended her sentence shortly - “ with Roma." Her mother frowned at her.
"Darling, it's going to be okay," she murmured. Tessa smiled through her tears. "I know, Mom. I just -” she sniffed,” I just kinda wished this was easier for Demetria." Mrs. Jacobson chuckled.
"You and I both know it would be no fun if it was easy.” Tessa smiled weakly.
"That's true," she mumbled.
Tessa was right - when she arrived at LaGuardia airport, Roma was waiting for her. “There you are,” she hummed, frowning. “We’re going to be late.”
“We’re going to be fine,” Tessa disagreed as they strode up to the ticketing machine. Roma frowned.
“Why don’t you check in online?” She demanded, crossing her arms across her chest. Tessa frowned as she copied the booking confirmation she had written on her hand into the machine.
“I don’t trust myself not to lose my ticket,” she explained absently.
“You’re going to get a terrible seat now,” Roma pointed out. Tessa shrugged.
“It’s a short flight.” She scanned her passport into the terminal.
“It’s like 2 and a half hours,” Roma pointed out. Tessa rolled her eyes, confirmed her name and passport number, and waited for her boarding passes to print.
“It’s fine, Roma,” she promised. Roma glanced at Tessa’s ticket and frowned at her seating allocations.
“That’s a shitty spot. Do you want to trade with me?” Tessa laughed wryly.
“No,” she assured her, swinging her bag over her shoulder. “Shall we?”
“Are you sure?” Roma continued as she fell into step next to Tessa. Tessa gave Roma a look.
“Roma!” Roma huffed out a small laugh.
“I’m nervous, I’m sorry,” she admitted after a moment. Tessa frowned as they showed their boarding passes and then got into the line for security.
“Why are you nervous?” She asked.
“We’ve been off. As a team. And I don’t like this new lineup.”
“New?”
“Only like half the people went to London with us, Tessa. And we have a college player on the lineup? When was the last time that happened?”
“Pretty recently, I’m sure,” Tessa said with a small smile. Roma didn’t return it. “It’s qualifying, Roma. It’s more of a formality than anything else.”
“You’re being arrogant,” Roma decided. Tessa raised an eyebrow.
“I’m really not,” she said with a small smirk. “Don’t you remember our last friendly?”
“We’re overconfident.”
“You’re being pessimistic.” Roma sniffed. They were at the front of the security line. She dumped her back on the band and frowned at Tessa.
“I’m not,” she snapped, and then walked off. Roma always needed to have the last word. Tessa shook her head in exasperation, but couldn’t help but feel the small bubble of affection in her chest. Roma was dramatic, but she was their team’s drama queen, and she was the best, even when she was being needlessly paranoid.
There was nothing worse than Tessa trudging off the field for the first day of their qualifying match, and nearly sobbing. Roma Lloyd had been proved right. They had played Trinidad and Tobago as if this was an unimportant, trivial match. Yes, Trinidad was desperately trying to be the first Caribbean island to qualify for the World Cup, but they should not have scraped by as they did. The entire game was a series of unforced errors, bad shots on goal, and terrible passing. “That was a fucking nightmare,” Lucy snapped, stomping into the dressing room and glaring at all of them. “Worst soccer I have seen all year,” Fiona agreed. Tessa sat down heavily on the bench. August sat down on the other side of her and buried her face between her knees. No one even made a quip about it being the end of the world because Lucy and Fiona were agreeing on things. “Are none of you paying attention?” Lucy barked, glaring at them. “Lucy," Selena murmured, putting a hand on Lucy's shoulder to calm her down, "leave them alone.” Her gentle tone rolled off Lucy though, who just shook her off and glared at the room. “No, I fucking won’t. That was the worst soccer we played all year. Look at that score board. You want to win the world cup, but you can't even score on one of the smallest islands in the Caribbean?" Lucy glared at the entire room. Willow straightened up, and glared back at Lucy. "August and Kenni were out there,” Willow snapped. “Callahan had some chances." "And there were never able to complete," Lucy replied scathingly. Tessa looked up, and noticed Callahan trying to hide herself in the corner next to Tina. "Leave her alone," Tina snapped, glaring at both veterans. "We all played badly. You can't blame one player for it." "It's not just us. That goalie -" Beniliya started, but before she could finish her praise for the goalkeeper, Lucy turned on her. "Beniliya, you and I both know that you have scored on me, so I don't want you making any excuses," Lucy snapped. "Lucy, cut it out," Lexa said with a small exasperated sigh. "Shut up Cheryl," Lucy snapped back. She was all but spewing venom now. "Lucy." Selena had a way of saying Lucy's name that cut through everything. She got up, and glared down at her. "Enough." Lucy seemed to deflate under Selena’s powerful gaze, and she stomped over to the other end of the changing room and sat down with a huff. "Fine," she muttered, and there was a moment silence before Fiona cleared her throat. "As Lucy just expressed far more bluntly than I wanted to -" Fiona began, but August interrupted her. "We get it, we played terribly, we should have scored more," she snapped. “This isn’t the strikers’ faults, since you were all -” "Mirrin, sit down," Fiona snapped. August, immediately cowed, sat down. "Yes, ma'am." "I don't care about the scoreboard,” Fiona amended, pointedly glaring at August. “You won, and that's all well and good. I care about those unforced errors. You're all fumbling with the ball, not paying attention." There was silence in the changing room. Tessa could practically feel the air of exhaustion and disappointment and anger simmer under the surface. Fiona smiled weakly at them. "I want us to sit down tomorrow, and really try and work this out. You guys have it in you. You know each other. You trust each other. Now you have to act on that." "Yes, ma'am," Selena mumbled. They all nodded. They changed and trudged back to their hotel. After a quiet consultation, Becky, Lexa and the other Springfield players announced that everyone was going out to mourn the game. “But also, to make sure we don’t mope,” Jacintha added. “Just some good old fashioned determination to do better.” She grinned, catching Tessa’s eye, and Tessa smiled back despite herself. "You all make it look like we lost," Roma grumbled as they piled into the bus in a subdued group. "We played terribly, but we didn't lose."
