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“Wendie!” Sara Gama called through the hall. While her team had just lost to France 5-1, she couldn’t pass up the chance to talk to her old friend, Wendeline Renard, before the two captains got busy captaining their respective teams. The only problem was, she couldn’t find the defender anywhere.“Sly as a fox,” Sara couldn’t help but chuckle to herself as she left the press conference room without as much as a hair from Wendie. Sara often called the Frenchwoman “the fox”, and, in turn, Wendie would call her “the gamma ray”.“If you’re on the ceiling, you know I’m coming after you, right?” Sara yelled at nobody in particular. “And I’m not your coach, so I actually have a chance of succeeding!”But there was no reply.Wendie wasn’t giving a press conference, Sara realized, not anywhere. She always showered before addressing the rest of her team, but she couldn’t hear any running water and besides, the Frenchwoman would have showered already by now. Wendie wasn’t in the locker room or her coach’s office, because she had checked both places.That left only one possible place… *“Wendie!” Sara burst open the door of a dark, cluttered broom closet. If there was anywhere that Wendie would be, it would be here. And there she was--curled into a ball?“What are you doing here?” Gama then realized just how cold it was inside the closet. Wendie was shaking--and she obviously hadn’t even changed out of her kit. That’s not like her, the Italian realized, sitting next to her on a bucket.“Are you injured?”A shake of the head. Wendie had always been a silent sulker--but what in the world could she be sulking about?“Lost?”Wendie shook her head, more furiously this time. “Are you serious? Lost in a stadium?”“Let me guess.” Sara quickly ran her mind through the game. “Blaming yourself for the one goal France conceded compared to the five they scored?”“It’s not stupid,” Wendie argued. “Every goal is important to the goal difference. I’m a defender and we conceded a goal, let me sulk for a while longer.” She then seemed to realize how ridiculous that sounded in front of a defender who had just conceded five goals. “Why aren’t you sulking?”“Because unlike you, I actually realize that there are eleven women on the pitch for each team and that you can almost never place the blame on just one person.” Sara rolled her eyes. “And plus, we can still qualify from Group D, so you didn’t just ruin our Euros.”“But that’s not the point,” Wendie sighed. “Italy is elite competition. People--the media--will be expecting us to thrash Belgium and Iceland. And then all the expectations will be upon us, even more than ‘it’s coming home’ England, and what if the girls just…crack under pressure?”“They won’t, you’re a great captain!” Sara argued. “And your coach…”“Is absolute crap at player management.”“Well, that was…honest.”“Hey, what do you expect? I play with Marie.”"You're not going to be playing at all if you don't get out of that wet kit." Sara grabbed her friend's hand and pulled her to her feet. "Take a shower. We can talk later."“Um, no. What about the media?”“Wendeline Therese Renard…”“Fine.” Wendie stood up, then extended her hand to Sara. “Could you…come with me?”“What?”“I can't go alone now."“Ugh, okay. But stop looking at me like that!” *Wendie had taken her shower, after much coaxing from Sara to go in there by herself, and now sat next to her, literally soldered to the Italian like a Sheffield blade. She still had that sad gaze in her eyes, like something--or was it somebody?--had stolen the light from them.Now Sara was beginning to think that it wasn’t just the game."How's camp? Is the new girl getting any better at defense? Meet anyone new?" Sara was fishing, trying to draw her friend out of her state.“No, I have better things to do.”“Wendie, stop sulking! You just won 5-1, snap out of it!”“Why don’t you start sulking like a regular human being who just lost 5-1, and snap into it?”“Is that even a phrase?”“I don’t know, do you think I grew up speaking English?”“Yes?”“I’m Martinican.”“Whatever. If I started sulking, you’d try everything to cheer me up, and then why would you want me to sulk in the first place?”No answer.“And they say men don’t communicate,” Sara grumbled. “This is ridiculous.”“Woe is me. Satisfied?”“Now you sound ridiculous,” Sara pointed out. “I wish I’d taped you saying that.”“Whatever.” Wendie took Sara's hand, clutching it close. “Look…if I stay away from the team any longer, they’ll get worried. But…”But you want to stay with me, Wendie finished in her brain. But all she did was silently nod. “I’ll call you.”“We can go on holiday after the Euros--if Diacre doesn’t see.”“You’re scared of her.”“No…okay, maybe a bit.” The defender sighed, running a hand through her hair. “It’s just that…Sarah retired because of her. And Valerie wasn’t called up this time…and what’s going to be next? The girls need me.” And she stood, finally releasing Sara's hand. “It was nice seeing you, Sara…see you in the quarterfinals?”“Yeah, see you then,” Sara agreed, watching Wendie walk off. Her shoulders were slumped, worry writ all over her face--but she straightened up as soon as she spotted Kadi approaching, plastering on a smile.“You good, Wendie? We didn’t see you in the locker room,” Kadi noted. So Sara wasn’t the only one who noticed.“Oui, Kadi, I’m good. Let’s go down to dinner! You played very well today.”Wendie was obviously faking the cheer in her tone, and Sara made a mental note to check up on her later. Wendie was an extremely compassionate leader to her troops--but with the way Diacre was, Sara feared that her friend might be biting off far more than she could chew.
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Griedge Mbock pushed open the door to her friend's room. It was two A.M, but something in her was screaming for her to check on Wendie. After having her penalty saved near the end of the match, the skipper had been as quiet as a mouse, and that had worried Griedge--Wendie was very vocal.She found Wendie sitting on the bed with her shoes off, but she was still dressed. She still wasn’t sleeping--which was definitely a red flag."You wanna talk?" Griedge asked her, taking a seat on the bed.Wendie shook her head, then jumped when she realized that Griedge was there."Griedge, it's late. You should rest," Wendie urged her, pointing towards the door. "I'm fine.”“Awake at two A.M. and still dressed in your day clothes?" Griedge shook her head. "Doesn't sound fine to me.""Fine." The skipper leaned against the headboard with a sigh. "If it's so important to you, I think I'm losing my touch.”“You? Losing your touch?" Griedge almost laughed aloud when she heard that. "No way! You're still the top scorer on the team.”"You don't understand. It was a penalty kick. Easy shot. I saw the goalie, and I could have made it, should have made it but I didn't. There's no excuse for not being able to make that shot, except that I'm getting old and have lost my touch." Wendie laughed at the end, but it was a bitter laugh. "Because I'm an artifact.""Excusez moi?""In simpler language, I'm old.”“"Are you kidding? You’re at the top of your game, way better than some of the newbies we just signed on. Plus, you look great!” Griedge ruffled Wendie's hair. “A real beauty!”“Griedge..." Wendie groaned in embarrassment.“Strong! Tall! I'd even go so far as to say ‘supermodel’.""Griedge, stop that!" But Wendie couldn't help the grin spreading across her face as she went for Griedge's arm. "You're making me blush!”“Ah, but that's the whole point!" Griedge finally escaped Wendie's fingers, settling back down. "Now what's all this about losing your touch?”“Griedge, I know you're not stupid," Wendie shot back. "But in case you didn't notice, my penalty got saved.”“And?" Griedge shrugged. "We still won. Plus, the Belgium keeper's good."“Was it even a good penalty, though?" Wendie went on. "Because--”“Wendie." Griedge grabbed her friend's face, staring her down. "Did you seriously think that you were going to score every penalty in your career?”“Umm...maybe?" Wendie shrugged. "Why not?”“Because nobody scores all the penalties!" Internally, Griedge groaned. Did her friend really not know what the statistics were?"Yaya Toure never missed a penalty. Ledio Pano, Ivan Kristanovic…” Wendie listed the names off her fingers.So she did know what the statistics were. “Toure only took 15 penalties, and Kristianovic's data is unverified.”“So what?" Wendie tossed her hands up in the air, flopping onto the mattress. "The point is I missed, let me self-criticize for a while longer."“Not on my watch." After a couple of seconds, Griedge pointed to her phone. "What do you see, Wendie?"“France 2, Belgium 1," Wendie read the scoreline from the glowing blue screen. "And?”“So your missed penalty didn't affect anything!" Griedge pointed out. "We won, we qualified at the top of our group! Goal difference doesn't matter anymore.""I guess you're right." Wendie sighed after a few moments of silence. "We did qualify top, didn't we?”“There we go!" Griedge cheered, glad that Wendie was finally seeing the point. "And you know what that means?”“No, what?" Wendie brushed her mane of hair, wincing when she hit a snag.Griedge grinned and whipped out a plastic bag from behind her back. "Celebration pretzels!”“Chocolate covered?" Wendie groaned as she flipped on the TV. "If I'm gonna be old, I might as well be fat too."“With all that exercise we get during training, I don't think so." Griedge handed her the pretzel bag and took the remote. "Now what are you in the mood for: action, or sitcoms?" *After the 5-1 thumping of Italy, France beat Belgium 2-1, thus finishing top of their group. They didn’t finish with maximum points, thanks to Iceland grabbing a penalty at the last minute.That’s when Kadidiatou noticed the change in her countrywoman.“Hasn’t Wendie been acting rather…strange, Grace?” Kadidiatou asked Grace as she closed her locker. They were cleaning up after their celebration of the game that night, even though it was late.“Hmm…I don’t know.” Grace finished untying her ponytail and frowned in thought. “Maybe? She’s been very quiet recently…sort of.”“She’s only quiet when we’re happy,” Sakina piped up, folding her “lucky towel”. “Then whenever we have a problem, she’s the first to hover around us all, making sure we’re all okay, even three times after we tell her so.”Kadidiatou glanced at Griedge. She just shrugged, which Kadidiatou found as slightly suspicious. Griedge was one of Wendie’s best friends, so how come she was so silent about this? She didn’t even seem to care.“If I didn’t know better I’d say Wendie’s trying to let us be more independent, but since I know better, I won’t,” Marie pointed out before Kadidiatou could say anything. Her knee was wrapped in a protective cast and elevated on a barstool. “She’s definitely pushing herself Kadi, what should we do?”Everybody turned to Kadidiatou for answers. She was one of, if not the most experienced in the whole squad, leader by default when Wendie wasn’t around.“The first question isn’t how we stop this,” Kadidiatou said after some thought, pacing the dressing room. “It’s why Wendie’s like this, that’s what we need to ask.”“But how?” Selma asked. “Wendie will just say she’s fine.” She sighed. “Like she always does.”“Is it Pogba again?!” Delphine suddenly exclaimed, grabbing her fairy pink, peony and camilla embroidered boxing gloves and throwing a few air-punches. “Because if he broke her heart again, I’m kicking his butt.”“Nah, Wendie hates him like the plague! She won’t even give him a second chance to walk next to her, much less date. No,” Grace decided, “this is different.”“But how different, Grace?” Sakina countered. “If she's not talking, it's up to us to figure out what's going on with her.”“You’re damn right!” Marie pronounced. “We’ll have to search her room for evidence!”“YEAH!” Sakina whooped.But everybody else except Selma just groaned. “MARIE!” *Selma knocked on Wendie’s room door, and the group waited for the reply. Usually it would be a cheery “Entrez!” or a “who is it?”, but now there was no answer whatsoever.“You think she’s sleeping?” Delphine wondered. “Wendie always answers the door.”Kadidiatou glanced at her watch. The silver hands showed 4:23 A.M.“I don’t know, Delphine,” she said. “Let’s check.”She pushed open the door and stuck her head in. The shades were down, but the lights were off and Wendie wasn’t in bed.“Strange,” Grace mused as the six--for some reason, Griedge had opted out of assisting them in their investigation--entered the hotel room. “Where could you be?”“I hear water!” Selma announced, jumping onto the bed. “Cozy.”“Two damn hoots.” Marie rolled her eyes. “It means she’s showering, you--”“MARIE!” Delphine growled, glaring at the striker. “Stop that!”Kadidiatou ignored them. She was too busy inspecting Wendie’s kitchenette. It only contained the bare essentials--and that was what alarmed the winger.“Wendie always samples the desserts wherever we go!” She closed the freezer with a sigh. “Not even ice cream. She’s got no sweets in here!”“Then no wonder she’s sad!” Sakina piped up. “She needs sugar!”“Hmm…low blood sugar can cause mood swings," Grace remembered. “Maybe we should pick something up for her? Ice cream? Croissants?”“Nah…” Selma wracked her brain for her captain’s favorite sweet. “Aha! Macarons!”“Great memory, Selma,” Delphine praised her younger teammate. “But where do we find some? Not in Tesco, that’s for sure.”“There’s a French bakery in Sainsburg half an hour from here, and it’s still open!” Sakina waved her phone in the air. “Let’s get some sweets, girls!”“Well, we know you’re not gonna drive,” Marie pointed out. “You mind, Grace?”“Nope. You can’t drive with that knee, anyways.”“So is her knee supposed to be amputated, then?!”“Sakina!” Marie groaned. Sakina always tended to talk too much at the wrong times. “Shut up!”Around five A.M, a still-awake Wendie creaked the door open. She started out to check on her teammates, but then tripped on a pink gift bag. Too tired to even be curious about its contents, she dumped it onto the counter and shuffled out of the room. *“It’s three days before the match and Wendie still seems upset,” Griedge reported as she came down for breakfast the next day. “For what reason, I have no idea.”“Maybe she’s just going through a blue period or something,” Sakina speculated, reaching for the toast platter. She took a piece and began to spread it thick with orange marmalade. “It just happens.”“Don’t use too much marmalade, Sakina,” Corinne Diacre cautioned her without even looking up from her laptop. “It will mar your performance.”“Yes, manager,’ Sakina sighed, scraping some marmalade off her toast. “But what’s wrong with Wendie?”“I don’t see any difference.” Diacre still didn’t look up as she sipped her coffee. “Maybe she slept late. Wendie frowns. She’s quiet. It’s normal.”The way Diacre said it’s normal alarmed the others. Had Wendie been in a bad mood for that long?“I hope it’s not too serious,” Kadidiatou muttered, peeling a tangerine. “What do you think, Pauline?”“Eh?” Pauline Peyraud-Magnin looked up from her bowl of strawberries. “Think about what?”Delphine shook her head. “You zoned out again, Pauline. It’s Wendie. She’s been acting strange lately.”“Hmm, didn’t notice.” Pauline put down her pen, holding up a dove-gray notebook. “Been busy.”“You’ve been journaling?” Selma popped up from nowhere, peeking over Pauline’s shoulder. “Can I see?”“It’s a diary,” Pauline protested, turning a tiny key inside the lock. “Wendie gave it to me. She said it’s ‘good venting’.”Before any of them could respond, a yawn heralded Wendie’s arrival at the table. She groaned, but politely greeted Diacre before taking a seat.“Selma!” Wendie ruffled Selma’s hair, offering a smile at the youngster. “How’d you sleep?”As Selma chattered away, Kadidiatou took the time to study the defender. Wendie looked exhausted, with bloodshot eyes and slightly messy hair, but was still forcing herself to smile and act responsible and supportive and--well, like the lion-hearted leader that she was normally. Kadidiatou couldn’t help but groan at this, causing both Wendie and Diacre to glance at her.“Do you have something to share with us, Kadidiatou?” Diacre poured another cup of coffee and tapped away at her laptop.Kadidiatou froze--she really didn’t want to share her observations with her manager. She could be so strict sometimes. “Uh…”“We did wonderfully in the Iceland game. But we were unfortunate to draw at the last minute.” Fortunately for Kadidiatou, Wendie intervened. She quietly eyed the rest of her team until they turned their attention to her--a particularly useful skill of hers.“Now we must focus on the next game.” Wendie yawned and went on. “No matter what happens, we must put up a fight. Who’s with me?” She finished off her speech with false but convincing enthusiasm, prompting a round of cheers around the table.“Now.” The skipper gestured towards Diacre. “Let’s hear from our manager on the tactics.”Diacre took this as her cue to start going on about the importance of a central striker for the fifth time since the night before, and Kadidiatou almost wished that Wendie hadn’t spoken. * “It’s two days before the match and Wendie’s still upset,” Griedge reported, walking into the break room. “I have no idea why, but the sooner we know, the better.”“She needs a break, Griedge!” Marie groaned as if it was the most obvious thing on earth. “She needs a break from all this damn pressure!”“MARIE!” Kadidiatou groaned, setting aside her magazine. Something told her she wouldn’t be getting a chance to read it anytime soon. “But seriously, Marie has a point, girls.”Marie’s eyes lit up at that. “So, we should swear more?”“NO!”Sakina took that as her moment to shine. “I think Kadi meant that we should take Wendie away from here. The pressure is stressing her out.”“I can see why with me being injured and everything,” Marie pointed out. “The media doesn’t help, either.”“We can take her out to eat!” Selma suggested, tossing down her kazoo. “That always helps me feel better.”“Great idea, Selma!” Griedge nodded in approval. “Now let’s put our thinking caps on and decide where.”
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“So, where are we going?” Wendie asked Griedge for the sixth time. “At least tell me it has to do with practice.”“Ha! Wendie, you know practice won’t be just the nine of us,” Kadidiatou chuckled, steering the vehicle down the lanes. “And we wouldn’t rent a Volkswagen just to go to training.”“Not a bad choice.” Wendie ran her hand over the leather seats. “Volkswagen's a nice, safe German car.”“Um…Wendie?” Kadidiatou turned towards the back row. “Volkswagen was originally Dutch.”“There goes the safety bit,” Wendie muttered under her breath, much to her teammates’ amusement. “But seriously, where are we going?”“Oh…Kadi thought we should eat out tonight. You know, celebrate our good run,” said Marie, rehearsing the tale they’d spun to prevent Wendie from finding out the truth. “So we’re going to a new restaurant a friend told me about.”“That’s right!” Delphine chimed in. “It’s called the Hygge House.”Wendie frowned. “Hygge House? What’s that?”Selma just flashed Wendie a toothy grin. “You’ll find out soon enough.”They pulled up in front of a building that seemed more like a house than a restaurant. Yet the words HYGGE HOUSE were clearly painted on a banner.“This is it?” Kadidiatou wondered aloud. When Marie had told them about the Hygge House, she hadn’t imagined a cabin-style house on the border of the woods, with a chalk sign displaying the day’s specials. “It looks like your average small business.”“Small business, yes! Average? Not so much.” A blond man in a checked button-down stepped out from behind a tree. “Are you Marie?”“I am!” Marie approached the man, shaking his hand. “And you’re Chris, right?”“Correct you are!” He turned to the rest of them, offering a lopsided grin. “You may or may not recognize me--”“I do!” Sakina piped up, pointing to the blonde. “You’re Christian Eriksen from Tottenham!”“Tottenham?!” Chris couldn’t help but chuckle as he high-fived Sakina. “That was in 2020, Sakina. I’m playing at Man. U now. Are you still at PSG?”“As always! And these are Selma, Griedge, Marie, Kadi, Pauline, Delphine, Grace, and Wendie, our captain!”The group waved back, with some enthusiastic shouts of “hi” and “what’s up”? Wendie said nothing.“I can see that!” Chris quickly pulled open the door, waving the group in. “Right this way, ladies!”He pulled Sakina aside, letting the others go ahead so they could be alone. “Is Wendie okay? She didn’t respond at all earlier.”“Yeah, she’s been down lately.” Sakina toyed with her dark, glossy ponytail. “That’s why we brought her here. We think some time away from the French camp’s pressure will help her relax.”“Then you’ve come to the right place!” The Dane pulled open a door. “See?”The dining room’s creamy walls were lined with booth tables, with several wooden tables and chairs for more formal occasions. Gauzy curtains hung from wooden rods, and the floor was solid pine, natural flaws weaving through the warm sea of golden tan.“It’s just like my kitchen at home!” Pauline pulled Selma into a booth.“Cool saltshakers!” said Grace, holding up a shaker in the shape of a fat, bewhiskered Italian chef.“Thanks! We get them cheap from thrift stores. You know, the knick-knacks that Great-Aunt Betty had in her attic but nobody wants now.”Nobody even laughed. Wendie tried to smile for politeness’ sake, but even she couldn’t find a fake laugh in her. And considering that the skipper could almost always find a polite laugh to offer in an awkward situation, that definitely said a lot."Here's a menu." Chris quickly handed them out before something in his pocket lit up. Explaining that he had another set of customers and that someone else would be back to collect their orders, he left the nine to their own devices.“Huh! Meatballs for 7 pounds! That’s not bad at all.” Grace glanced at Kadidiatou, pointing to the entree list. “What do you think?”“I think we should start small.” Kadidiatou pointed to another list on the menu. “How about some non-alcoholic beverages?”Griedge groaned, while Sakina burst into laughter.“What’s the matter, Griedge?” Kadidiatou chuckled, setting down the menu. “Were you expecting rose?”“No alcohol.” Wendie spoke for the first time since they’d arrived, cracking a smile. “Or you’ll become like Eden Hazard’s career--totally wasted!”The others erupted into laughter, while Kadidiatou nodded in approval. Wendie was starting to relax--a good sign.Another man, taller than Chris, approached them with a pen and paper. He introduced himself as Simon--which was a big mistake.“Simon?! As in Simon Cowell?!?!” Selma squealed, almost jumping on the poor guy. “I’ve heard so much about you! How’s BGT going? Did you see Aaron? What about Sarah Ikumu, or Heavenly Joy Jerkins? Is Paula Abdul with you?”“Not that Simon!” he groaned. “I’m Simon Kjaer! The defender!”Selma sank back in her seat, pouting. “Simon Cowell would be way cooler.”Thankfully, Simon didn’t seem miffed. “Now, what would you ladies like?”Pauline ordered mint sparkling water, while Kadidiatou chose a raspberry one. Selma and Delphine chose pink lemonade, Sakina opted for dragon fruit juice, and Grace and Marie ordered cranberry mocktails. Wendie and Griedge, though, decided to go rogue. They ordered a new item on the menu, virgin coconut-ginger spritz.“You really want to try that one?” Simon asked them, pleasantly surprised. “I added it after my summer holiday in Tahiti.”“Then we’ll be your first customers!” Wendie announced. “Roll ‘em out, Simon!” *Minutes later, Sakina decided that the Hygge House had to be on her top-10 list of coolest restaurants. Not only were the settings and staff great, but the drinks were awesome!“Isn’t this nice, Kadi?” she asked the forward. “The drinks are really good!”“Yeah!” Selma set her empty glass down, grinning at Kadidiatou. “I still can’t believe they prepared them in front of us!”“How’s your virgin spritz, ‘new customers’?” Delphine joked. “Like paradise?”“I can definitely taste the hibiscus,” Griedge commented, draining her glass. “What about you, Wendie?”“It’s sweet and light…but this is as flat as a sheet!” Wendie set her glass down. “Would it kill them to add a few more bubbles?”“It doesn’t exactly help if you keep stirring it, Wendie,” Kadidiatou pointed out. “You have to drink it like that!”“Nice time to tell me that.” Wendie rolled her eyes, but she polished off the rest with a laugh. “But seriously, they struck gold here.”“Now who’s hungry?” Delphine took out the menus, passing them around. “I know I am!”“Agreed,” said Kadidiatou, and they immersed themselves into their menus.Kadidiatou was busy trying to choose between pasta or rice when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Selma was next to her and Sakina was in the other row, so it wasn’t either of them--so who was it? Wait… That perfume!“Asisat!” she exclaimed, rising from her seat to greet the forward. “How’s it going, sis?”“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Delphine grabbed her boxing gloves, glaring at the newest addition to their table. “Slow your roll, Oshoala! What are you doing here?”“Saying hi.” Asisat dragged a wooden chair next to Kadidiatou and sat down. “I’ve known Kadi here for quite a while.”“She’s right,” Kadidiatou confirmed. “We met a while ago and kept in touch ever since.”“Don’t you play at Barcelona, Asisat?” Selma asked the newcomer.“Yeah. There’s a bunch of chaos there, but I like it. By the way.” Asisat turned her attention to Wendie, flashing her a smile. “Congrats on your latest UCL, Wendie.”“Thanks. Sorry about beating you.”“Yeah, it was tough at first. But thanks to Giraldez, we got over it.”“Your coach helped you get over it?” Wendie asked, surprised. “I mean…he did!”“Uh-huh, he’s a good jefe. His cologne isn’t the best, though, and he sings a lot--but we need him here!”“Asisat!” a very Spanish voice boomed from another dining room. “You’ll miss them tossing the paella!”“Speaking of which.” Asisat pushed the chair back in its place. “It was nice seeing you again, Kadi!”“Same here.” Kadidiatou waved the Nigerian off. “Until next time, Asisat!”“Good luck on your quarterfinal!” she yelled, disappearing into the other dining room.Kadidiatou nodded, still smiling from running into her friend again. But she noticed that Wendie’s own smile had faded once Asisat had mentioned her coach, and Kadidiatou began to wonder if it was just the tournament pressure that was bothering her.“Wendie?” Griedge clasped Wendie’s hand, sending a sympathetic look her way. “Are you alright?”Wendie nodded, slightly relaxing as she made eye contact with Griedge. “Oui, why’d you ask?”“You’re tapping your foot again, chérie.” Griedge glanced under the table, and only now could Kadidiatou hear the faint tap-tap-tap of Wendie’s sneaker on wood. It stopped soon after, and Kadidiatou glimpsed Wendie’s apologetic shrug at Griedge.“I’m going to see the rest of the restaurant while we wait for the entrees,” Wendie suddenly announced, quickly standing up from the table. Kadidiatou watched her disappear down the hall.
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“We should come here with the rest of PSG, right Kadi?” Grace twirled a particularly long strand of spaghetti with her fork. She'd ended up ordering meatballs, along with a green vegetable. Selma and Sakina had pronounced it suspicious, and their guesses of what it was were growing more ridiculous by the minute.“Brussels sprouts!” Selma guessed. “See, they're tiny.”“Bok choy!” Sakina insisted. “They’re darker!”“Spinach!”“Broccoli!”“Sea kale!”“Regular kale!”“Radicchio!”“Mustard greens!"“Rapini!”“Enough!” Grace yelled, hands over her ears. “It’s lettuce.”“Lettuce?” Selma pouted, glaring at Grace's plate. “So disappointing.”“Okay, the Hygge House has surprised me,” Pauline mumbled through a mouthful of salmon terrine. “Who knew a bunch of Danish footballers could cook? Me and Sara should try this back home.”Sakina scoffed. “Sara can’t even boil water without burning it!”“Have some faith, Sakina! She could take cooking lessons from Chris!”“Actually, I don’t do the cooking,” Chris admitted, walking past their table. “But weren’t there nine at your table?”“Of course there were,” Marie shot back. “Can’t you count?”“Wendie just went to tour the restaurant,” Kadidiatou explained. “She'll be back—probably found some other rooms and got distracted.”“What rooms?” Chris gestured around the room. “This and the other dining room are half the rooms here! Also, the kitchen is locked and both restrooms are empty—I was just cleaning there.”“So…she’s not here?” Griedge frowned, trying to connect the dots. “That means…”Selma gasped. "Wendie’s gone!” *“Gone?!” Griedge screeched, frantically gesturing to Wendie's seat as if that would make her appear. “She can’t be! She was here!”Marie shook her head in dismay. “Are you that clueless, Griedge? Wendie simply walked away and now—”“She’s left the restaurant and it’ll be almost impossible to find her!”“Paul Pogba!” Delphine growled, strapping on her boxing gloves. “Where is that jerk?!”“Just because Paul dumped her once doesn’t mean he’s the problem this time!” Kadidiatou took Griedge’s hand, trying to calm her down. “But where could she go?”“Well, Wendie’s six foot two,” Sakina mused aloud, dragging Delphine back into her seat. “The car's still here, so Wendie's still within the vicinity.”“Unless she’s ten feet under.” Marie grinned, as Griedge grew pale at just the mention.“Marie, bad timing,” Kadidiatou scolded her. “Save the dark humour for later, this is serious.”Marie shrugged. “Sorry.”“Maybe she went to stretch her legs,” Pauline suggested, continuing to devour her meal. Ever since they'd deduced that Wendie had left the restaurant, she'd been the only one to continue eating.“But Pauline, we know that already,” Sakina pointed out. “What we don’t know is where Wendie is now.”“Maybe she forgot something in the car,” Selma suggested, "like her coat or something.”But Griedge, who had recovered from her scare, shook her head, pulling herself to a stand. “I think I know where she is. Come on, Kadi.” *Wendie had always loved grass. Something about the soft, scratchy blades always managed to soothe her. It was so…alive.Her feet burned in the spot of sunlight that filtered through the tree canopy, but her stomach was an icy cavern that rose and fell rapidly. The rotting leaves were damp and she was sure there was at least one spider under them--but at least she wouldn’t be in the way out here.She couldn't escape her problems. One mention of managers was all it took to send her mind into overdrive. The others were worried about her, to the point where they'd broken one of Diacre's rules by going outside the camp. Diacre was going to be so mad when she found out.She reached out, and realised the leaves beneath her cheeks were damper than she’d found them. Her world grew black before she could determine if they were raindrops or her own tears. *“How can a flipping six footer be this hard to find?!” Kadidiatou grumbled, cutting vines away. When Griedge had explained that they were going to search the woods, Delphine had insisted they take her pocket knife.“We searched the whole woods and found no sign of her.” But then Griedge spotted something. “Kadi, look!”Kadidiatou rushed over to Griedge. In a clearing, Wendie laid in a pile of leaf mould, still as a stone.Griedge ran to Wendie, dropping to her knees. Kadidiatou watched on, too scared to pace.“Her pulse and breathing are regular,” the centerback confirmed, finally rising from Wendie’s side. “She passed out. We’ll need to move her back to the restaurant.”“I just don’t get it.” Kadidiatou shook her head as Griedge, who knew emergency medical procedures, inspected for injuries. “Why would she come here?”“No idea. She does like to lie in grass, but this deep in the woods?” Griedge took her shoelaces and immobilized her. “It’s not like her at all.”"Should we wake her up?""I don't know. Let's carry her and see."Wendie, while slim, was heavy. Both Kadidiatou and Griedge carried her through the vines, watching their step as they traversed the shadowy leaf floor.“Griedge, a snake!” Kadidiatou whispered, frozen in place. A serpent had coiled itself along a tree, double-forked tongue flickering from its poison-trap jaws.“Don’t look into its eyes,” said the elder of the pair. “Careful, don't drop her!”They went on for about twenty feet before Kadidiatou grew tired. Setting Wendie on a flat section of ground, they stopped by a murky stream.“Can we wake her up now, Griedge?” Kadidiatou groaned, massaging her shoulders. “My arms and fingers are numb.”“True, so are mine. Let’s wake her up.”Griedge gently shook Wendie’s arm, pinching her fingers. When she still didn't wake up, Griedge gently stroked her cheeks.“Come on, Wendie!” she urged her, growing more and more desperate as the stroking turned to slapping. “Wake up!” *“Wake UP, Wendie! We’ve got to grow old together! We have to be old ladies together!”Finally, Wendie’s eyes fluttered open. After a moment where it seemed that they were made of lead, she finally managed to keep them open.“Oh, thank God!” A fuzzy figure hovered over Wendie. Griedge! “Wendie? Can you hear me?”“G-G-Griedge?” Why was that so hard to say? Wendie groaned; she couldn’t manage to say her own friend’s name without stuttering.“Wendie!” Griedge’s hand grasped her own sweaty one. “Are you okay?”No! She wanted to scream. I’m NOT okay! Get me off this thing! But all she managed was a strangled whine.“Relax. I’m untying the splints."The strange string binding her head loosened before disappearing, followed by the ones along her back and limbs. Griedge helped Wendie to a sitting position, supporting her like she was a very small child. “Better now?”Wendie just nodded, not trusting herself to speak without struggling again. She then realised that Kadidiatou had been sitting on a nearby rock, watching them the whole time, and shook her head. She could already feel the blush burning up her face.“Are you hurt?” Griedge kept her questions simple as she felt through Wendie’s hair for bumps. “Do your legs hurt?”A head shake. No.“Does your head hurt?”No.“Your neck? Torso?”Another no.“Any organs hurt?”A third head-shake--but then a slight nod. Was it a no? A yes?“W-where am I?” It was something Wendie felt like she had to ask. Until she stopped sounding shaky, to the point where she could scare her teammates, she’d only speak when necessary.“You’re in the woods. The same ones you ran away into.” Griedge got closer to her, and it was only then that Wendie could see the tears pooled in her friend’s eyes. “Wendie, why?”Instead of answering, Wendie let her gaze fall to the ground. "I...I..."“You were passed out underneath those trees,” Griedge went on, choking up on her words. “And…you stayed passed out for the whole time. I kept shaking you…for thirty seconds. They were the longest thirty seconds ever.”“I…G-Griedge!” And she thrashed out, intending to slam her own thigh, but accidentally striking Griedge on the cheek.“WHAT?!” Kadidiatou leapt from the rock, unable to watch on any longer. “WENDELINE!”“Kadi, arrête ça!” Griedge hissed. “You’re scaring her!”“WHY did you do that?! All we did was find you, and--”“Kadi.”“--and you just hit her like that?! You ungrateful--”“Kadi!”“--you PASSED OUT! Do you know how much you scared us? Delphine wanted to punch Paul--”“KADIDIATOU DIANI!”“Y-yes?”When she didn’t hear any answer, Kadidiatou decided to take a look at her teammates. She instantly regretted the past…well, about the past seven things she said.Griedge held a sobbing Wendie as close as humanly possible, not even bothered to shoot piercing glares at Kadidiatou anymore. She was too focused on the other woman. “Shhh…easy there.”Kadidiatou could’ve sworn she never felt more awkward. “Um...we’re going home, right?” *By the time they reached the Hygge House, the sun was almost completely set, casting shadows over the parking lot.“So.” Wendie, who had calmed down significantly but still seemed a bit off, pointed to the door. “We won't alarm the others, right? We'll just say--”“Wendie,” Griedge cajoled her, gently but firmly. “We can’t do that.”“We can’t?”“No.” Griedge gazed into Wendie’s eyes. “We don’t have to tell the others…not immediately, at least. But Kadi and I need to know why you ran away.”The skipper groaned, running a hand through her hair. “Do I have a choice in this?”“None whatsoever.”“Fine.” She sighed as she mustered the courage to face the other two. “I’m…nervous. About the match.”“Against the Netherlands?” Kadidiatou rolled her eyes. “It can’t be about their forwards. You’ll annihilate them like toddlers.”Wendie laughed, still bitter. “We didn't keep a clean sheet the whole tournament.”“Because they gave Iceland that stupid penalty!” Kadidiatou protested.“And we still drew because of that.”Kadidiatou shuddered at the memory of the Iceland game. She couldn't stop thinking of all the chances she’d missed--and neither could Diacre. “You were too slow out there! And where did your positioning go?! You’ll want to hit the gym soon,” Diacre lectured Kadidiatou. “Or you’re going to cost us a game.”“I don’t know what was wrong with me today,” Kadidiatou sighed, remembering the best way to deal with this. On arrival day, Wendie had pulled the team aside to tell them how to de-escalate arguments with Diacre. “It was like my feet were shackled.”“Better unshackle them soon.” Diacre had pulled out a brochure and set it on her desk, the words "Weight Loss for Athletes" stamped on the front cover. "Or I'll have to do for you what I did for Amadine--no dessert.” Kadidiatou snapped out of her reverie to see Wendie watching her, waiting for an answer. There wasn’t any malice in her gaze, but Kadidiatou couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated--Wendie was six foot two, after all.“Wendie, you’re the best defender we have,” Kadidiatou pointed out."I've been playing for years, they've found me out."“Where did all your medals come from, then?”“Okay, it’s not just that," she confessed. "It’s Melvine.”Oh, right. Melvine Malard was one of their breakthrough strikers. She’d scored in the first minute in her debut, replacing the injured Marie in a position that wasn’t even her natural place to begin with. But as usual, Diacre had only seen the flaws. “You need to be more efficient!” Diacre insisted, glaring at Melvine from behind her glasses. “Marie would have scored half of those blindfolded!”“Diacre, you’ve always been hard on Melvine,” Wendie began, rising from her seat. When Diacre had brought Melvine to her office for a talk, Wendie had insisted she come along. She would have done the same with Kadidiatou, but she had been in the showers then.“She’s not a striker like Marie. She’s a winger." It might have been leftover adrenaline from the match, but something told Wendie to confront Diacre. “She’s playing a new position, of course she’d be a bit shaky--”“Did I ask for your opinion, Renard?” Diacre snapped, and she couldn’t help but shrink into her seat. “No, I did not. You are not the manager. You know nothing about strikers.”“But—"“SILENCE!!!”"Sorry," Wendie whispered. She realized that she’d have to listen to Diacre bashing one of her teammates--again. “No matter how much Melvine tries, she’s not a striker,” Wendie went on. “So with Marie out…”“There’s Sandy,” Kadidiatou argued. Sandy Baltimore was Kadidiatou’s PSG teammate. “She’s a winger, but she can play central.”“Kadi, Diacre won’t play Sandy and we all know it. She left out Valerie, even though she was one of our best players at the World Cup.”There’s the negativity about Diacre again, Kadidiatou noticed. Just like the talk with Sara Gama.“But she might, Wendie! There’s the false 9--it wins titles!” The defender gripped Wendie’s hand in encouragement, gazing into her eyes once again. “Wendie, you are the bravest defender I know. You’re so smart, and you adapt your game to help us, even in positions you shouldn’t have to play in. You’re strong, like a lioness—an elegant lioness—”“Griedge!!!”“--with a giant heart. You protect us, even when you don't know what to do.” Griedge finished her speech with a determined nod. “It’s normal to get nervous, Wendie, no need to hide it from us. I know Diacre isn’t the most…approachable, but you’ve got us!” Her voice grew quieter, but still had that tint of stubborn hope at the edges. “If you’re not okay, the team isn’t, either. You have to actually--”“WENDIE! You’re back!”Before Griedge could finish, Selma hurtled out the front door. She threw herself at Wendie, almost knocking her over. “We missed you!” she squealed, hugging Wendie tight. “It was a long time!”“Oof--glad to see you happy, Selma!” It was times like these that Wendie was glad she was the tallest on the team. Any shorter, and Selma would’ve knocked her to the pavement.“Where were you?” Selma went on, scanning the three for answers. “You were gone for so long.”“WENDELINE!”“Great,” Kadidiatou muttered as Sakina and Delphine bounded towards them. The latter still had her boxing gloves on--a bad sign.“Okay, who am I punching?” Delphine held up a gloved fist. “Paul, or someone else?”“I don’t know.” Wendie had a mischievous glint in her eyes as she cooked up a reply. “Beerensteyn? Miedema? Janssen? Any Dutch will do, pick your favourite.”“Alright!"“Not LITERALLY, imbecile!”“Wendie is officially back!” Sakina opened the door. “Let’s go inside!”“Yeah!” Selma cheered, dragging Wendie away. “Chris was about to frost the cake!”Kadidiatou followed behind her teammates, paying close attention to Wendie. She was chatting away with the others, enjoying herself--for now.There had to be more that Wendie was stressing about. Unfortunately, the skipper showed no signs of sharing anything.So Kadidiatou would continue to watch and wait, until Wendie dropped the next hint.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Two days after the events at the Hygge House, Wendie was stressed out, again. She groaned, dropping the pen she’d been writing in her diary with, as she clutched her head in pain. She’d been having on-and-off headaches for the past few days, and no matter how many aspirins Wendie took, they kept coming back.The Dutch had their star player back in time for their quarterfinals against France. Marie was still injured. And her best friend was still upset about getting eliminated from the Euros--a process that had been entirely started by the French team.There was no point in going to Diacre. She would just say some empty words and call it a day. No. She really needed a break.Only problem was, there was no time for Wendie to take a break. Their game was in two hours. Or as Marie would say, “two DAMN hours!”“Ah, Marie,” Wendie muttered under her breath. She couldn’t help but chuckle at the mental image of the forward having yet another tirade at the opposition. “Always expressing yourself, aren’t you?”Pauline had received some troubling news a few days before. Her ex-partner had passed away while she was on France duty and the goalkeeper was still upset about it. Wendie felt her pain—probably a little more than she could afford, considering how easily others’ troubles upset her. But what could she do about it? All she could do was continue to be there for her teammate.Wendie still couldn’t play well enough with Aissatou Tounkara, their newest centerback. But that, in Wendie’s opinion, was entirely her own fault. If Wendie was going to stay within the national team, she had to learn to pair up better with the younger players.Clara still felt underrated in the star-studded squad. And that would also be Wendie’s fault. A captain had to help integrate people into the team!With a sigh, Wendie closed her diary, already half-full after its first entry two weeks ago. If they were to lose this Euro quarterfinal—potentially the last of her career—the media would never forget it. And of course, they would take aim at the youngsters. Everybody seemed to do it nowadays.“I can’t let them down,” Wendie muttered under her breath. She set the book down on the table. “I just can’t let them down. They deserve so much better.” *Kadidiatou stopped Wendie just fifteen minutes before they were supposed to leave for the tunnel. With a knowing wink, she held the slipper-pink diary in front of Wendie and said, “You need therapy, Wendie.”“What?” Well, that was not what Wendie expected. “What do you mean?!”“You’re blaming everything on yourself," Kadidiatou pointed out. “I counted six things alone here. And there was more I didn’t get the chance to read.”“It’s my diary,” Wendie argued, grasping the suede journal. “My private diary!”“Wendie, stop changing the subject,” Kadidiatou ordered the skipper, in her “I’m the one talking here” voice. “You’re shouldering everything, even things you don’t need to. Didn’t Sarah warn you about this--”“Do not bring Sarah into this conversation!” Wendie snapped, but Kadidiatou could definitely see the hurt creeping onto her captain. “You don’t know what she went through with Diacre!”“It’s Diacre,” Kadidiatou shot back, causing the next few players behind them to gasp. “No player should hate their coach, and that’s why you need therapy!”“I don’t hate her, you moron! Diacre’s done nothing but cause us suffering and pain!” Wendie yelled despite the growing lump in her throat. “That’s all she can do!”“Wendie…” Griedge reached out for her friend, but Wendie jerked her arm away. “Easy there. We have a match…”“Diacre makes me hate life sometimes! I’m never good enough for her!” Wendie went on, tears building up in her eyes. “I miss penalties, I concede goals, I…”She choked up right there and then, and in a blink of an eye Griedge was next to her. Kadidiatou stepped away in surprise, Marie ordered Selma to make sure no officials or reporters came, and Clara made sure the others didn’t get too close.“Alright there. It’s okay,” Griedge hushed her. Between the two, Wendie had always been the more sensitive. “Let’s breathe, okay? Deep breaths.”“I don’t want to flipping breathe!” Wendie sobbed, clinging tighter to Griedge.“Shhh…you’re okay. Relax. I’ve got you.” Griedge stood on tiptoe to run her hand through Wendie’s hair, but she was interrupted by Clara.“Not to interrupt you, Griedge, but the match starts in five minutes,” the midfielder notified the rest of the team. “We have to leave now.”“Now?!” Wendie yelped, jumping away from Griedge. “B-but…”“She can’t go out like this!” Sakina protested. “Should we ask Diacre if Wendie can start on the bench? She needs a break.”“No!” Wendie blurted, standing straight as an arrow even though tears were still streaming down her face. “The team needs me! I can’t drop out of the starting eleven now!”“Wait!” Kadidiatou interrupted. “We can do this. Look.” She stepped towards Wendie, brushing away a tear. “See? Her eyes are just red. We can fix that with some eye drops.”“But what if I…think about that again?” Wendie faltered, calmer now. “It just won’t do for our image.”“Think happy thoughts!” Selma piped up, bouncing in her seat. “Come on, Wendie, you can do it! Think of the eight UCL trophies you’ve won! Those are happy thoughts!”“Fine,” Wendie muttered. She sighed, pulling on her jacket. “Let’s do this, girls.”“Allez le Bleus!” Sakina cheered as they began walking out to the tunnel. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!”“Griedge, Kadi, surround her,” Wendie ordered them. Already, her head was into the game before her body was even on the pitch. “We can’t have anything go wrong tonight.”“Relax, Wendie!” said Griedge, ruffling the skipper’s hair. “Nothing will go wrong tonight.” *The game went on, in French domination, forever and ever without them even scoring one goal. And no matter how much Wendie herself tried, every header she got was saved by the Dutch goalkeeper.“What more do I need to do?!” she roared to the heavens after the final shot of the match, one of her well-made headers, was saved by the Dutch, again. “What more?! I’ve done everything!”“You okay, Wendie?” Griedge had been watching Wendie like a hawk the entire match. “Because it’s okay if you’re not.”“I’m fine!” Wendie quickly brushed it off, elbowing Griedge away and striding towards the tunnel. “I’m totally fine, Griedge!”“Ugh!” Griedge groaned--how long was Wendie going to continue being in denial?! “You’re not fine, Wendie! We can all see it! Even Selma can see it!”Wendie continued to ignore her as she passed a few reporters. Griedge continued to stay hot on her heels, quickly blocking the cameras before anybody could see what was going on.“It’s okay to not be okay, you know that, right?!” Griedge went on, now jogging. “All you need to do is talk! And it doesn’t have to be to me!”“I always talk!” Wendie turned around and glared at Griedge. “Look, Griedge, we don’t have time for this! We have to go back out there in four minutes!”“But Wendie--”“Save it for later!!!” Wendie snapped. And with that, she stormed down the tunnel. But Griedge wasn’t done yet. “You’re just scared of Diacre.”That was all it took for Wendie to freeze in her footsteps, turning so fast that Griedge was anticipating a case of whiplash. “W-what?!”“What I said! You’re scared of Diacre, you’re terrified of her. You’re afraid that she thinks you’re worthless and she’ll drop any of us at the slightest mistake! That’s why you’ve literally become the coach of this whole team!”“Did Sara Gama tell you this?”“NO! It’s that obvious!” Griedge facepalmed, finishing with one last remark. “For the captain, you can be really ignorant sometimes.”And with that, Griedge spun on her heel, striding away while trying to ignore the guilt. *Three minutes later, Griedge was back on the pitch for extra time. She still felt guilty about the last bit of their argument, but what she’d said before that was true.She is scared of her, Griedge reasoned while Diacre gave out the pre-extra time speech. Wendie stood at the edge of the circle, running her hands through her fuzzy hair while her eyes were laser-focused on Diacre’s clipboard. But she never once met the manager’s eyes, or even seemed to want to do that.“We must do anything to score,” Diacre announced, pointing to Clara and Selma. “Clara, Selma, I want to see vivacity in your runs. No selfishness! The aim is to score.”“Okay!” Selma grinned, tapping her chest. “You can count on me, boss!”“Kadidiatou, I want you to conserve energy. Instead of running, remain in the box and wait for passes, okay?”“Yes, ma’am,” Kadidiatou agreed. She ruffled Selma’s hair, playing with the ponytail. “Selma and I will make you proud.”Griedge couldn’t help but note that Selma and Kadidiatou’s responses were very different in terms of enthusiasm.Diacre went on, assigning different tasks to each of the players. Surprisingly, she addressed Wendie last, in a surprising fashion.“Renard.”Now that was a surprise. Diacre never called any of them by their last names. Sure, she did call Kadidiatou by her full first name, but that was it.“You will come up for corners, defend, and literally save our gluteus maximi. Are we clear?”Wendie simply nodded.“Now let’s go or we’re all toast,” Diacre concluded, closing the tactics book and waving the team back onto the pitch. *Wendie groaned, leaning against a goalpost for some much-needed air. Any semblance of bitterness from her and Griedge’s argument had quickly converted into exhaustion as the game went on. She went back and forth doing everything she could for the team--heading balls, keeping possession, even taking throw-ins. The first half of extra time was almost over when Kadidiatou was bowled over by Janssen. After a VAR review, the referee blew her whistle and pointed to the spot.Penalty. Penalty. Penalty.“You take it,” Wendie insisted, passing the ball into Selma’s hands with the faintest semblance of a smile. “You’ve played really well the whole time.”“Me? Wow…” Selma let her sentence trail off as she eyed the ball with a new sense of wonder.“RENARD!”“C'est reparti,” the captain muttered, tugging at her armband as if she wanted to throw it off, Raneildo-style, that very moment. Too professional to do that, she grabbed the ball from Selma with a quick apology, sprinted towards the touchline and bent down so Diacre could whisper in her ear.“What’s she saying to Wendie?” Selma begged to know, jumping around Kadidiatou. “What’s she saying?”Kadidiatou just shrugged. “I have no clue whatsoever.”Eventually, Wendie jogged back to them, the ball still in her hands but a scowl replacing the tired smile she’d had on earlier. “Eve!”Eve walked towards the penalty spot, aware of the glances she kept getting from her teammates. Wordlessly, Wendie dropped the ball into her arms, striding away.“I thought I was taking the penalty!” Selma complained, rightfully so as she stood akimbo. “Why’d you--”Wendie huffed in annoyance, crossing her arms and glaring into space. “Diacre wanted me to give it to Eve.”“Has Eve even taken a penalty?” Kadidiatou wondered aloud. But she got no response, prompting her to quickly add, “Isn’t it a good question?”Wendie shook her head, her mane of hair flying in every direction possible. “What goes on in our manager’s brain is a mystery to all.”Wendie held her breath as the referee blew her whistle and Eve struck the ball. It just barely touched the goalkeeper’s fingers, but most importantly…it went in, inciting a domino effect of chaos.“Wendie, this is it!” Selma cheered, jumping into Wendie’s arms. “We’re on our way!”“I hope you’re right, mon petit ami.”*The final whistle blew and Griedge had never been so glad to hear it. They were going past the quarterfinals for the first time since…any of them could remember.“WE BROKE THE DAMN CURSE! WE BROKE THE DAMN CURSE!!!” Marie and Sakina whooped to anybody who would listen. Griedge didn’t even care as she jumped into Kadidiatou’s arms.“We did it, Griedge!” Kadidiatou laughed in disbelief. She hadn’t had one of her best games, but the team had eventually done enough. “Somehow.”“Thanks to Wendie,” Griedge reminded the striker, nodding towards the captain who was hugging the youngsters on the other side of the pitch. “She saved us.”“On the subject of Wendie.” Kadidiatou lowered her voice, pulling herself and Griedge away from all the reporters swarming the pitch. “What was that all about?”“What was what all about?” Griedge asked, although she already knew the inevitable was coming.“You know what I’m saying,” Kadidiatou hissed, as if she could read Griedge’s mind. “Wendie burst into the locker room all worked up about something. Selma said the last person she’d seen her with was you.”The distant cheering of the few French fans in the crowd suddenly became a thunderclap of noise as Griedge stared into space, deep in thought.“What did you say to her, Griedge?”“Kadi…” Griedge pulled herself away from Kadidiatou, jogging over to Wendie. “I’ll explain later!”Kadidiatou just shrugged, bracing herself when Selma launched herself towards her fellow winger, grinning as if she’d just won a Ballon d’Or.“Wendie!” Griedge yelled, now sprinting as she nearly crashed into Wendie. “We need to talk! About what happened earlier,” she elaborated, voice dropping into a stage whisper.“I was wrong.”“What?!” If there was one thing that Wendie almost never was, it was wrong. Slightly inaccurate, yes, but never wrong.“You were right,” Wendie admitted, pulling Griedge aside so nobody could even read their lips. “I am scared of her. I knew as soon as the penalty came. I just…didn’t say no to her. And that was wrong.”Griedge, surprisingly, couldn’t find anything to say in reply. Finally she came up with something. “Even Selma was a far better option.”“Yes, I know, but I didn’t say anything!” Wendie groaned, gesturing towards the Dutch goalkeeper. “And if she’d saved it, we would have gone to penalties and…I should have done something.”“Diacre wouldn’t have listened,” Griedge pointed out, tossing her braids over one shoulder. “You did the best you could.”Wendie just sighed, accepting the fact but clearly still rueing the penalty incident. They remained quiet for a bit as they approached the rest of their team.“Oh, well.” Wendie finally spoke, shrugging and pointing to the scoreboard. “At least our best was enough today, right Griedge?”“Indeed,” Griedge agreed. “Indeed it was. Now what do you say we celebrate this great achievement properly?”“With rosé champagne?” Wendie rolled her eyes. “And caviar. What a great idea, Griedge.”Griedge couldn’t help but erupt into a fit of laughter. “I’m just kidding, Wendie. I know we’re not allowed to drink during the tournament.”“Yeah, and you don’t know what I’d give for a glass of red wine now,” Wendie admitted.“You are something else, you little fox.”“I’m five years older than you!”“Whatever.” Griedge opened up her arms with a smirk. “Party time, Wendie!”Wendie grinned, jumping into Griedge’s arms and letting her carry her towards their celebrating teammates. For a moment, the captain let the result sink in.1-0. A clean sheet. A solid performance. Advanced to the semis.Huh.This wasn’t so bad after all.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Rather than the clear, brilliant sky the city had displayed at sunset, Milton Keynes was a storm. Roses that had expected a clear night with a silver moon now raced to shield their delicate petals from the pouring rain.France, heading into the game almost equal with Germany, had been well and truly beaten. Diacre hadn’t even bothered to yell at her players as usual, instead opting to hole herself up in the away office. For once, the rest of the team, who usually stuck together, had chosen to scatter to their own rooms and hide like hapless animals fearing a storm ahead, or maybe a flood.*Wendie laid sprawled out on her bed, completely numb. It was the only way to deal with the suspense of Diacre’s absence. Normally, the manager would be shouting and blasting every one of them, but now she was in her office, barely saying a word—which was almost worse than the yelling.Diacre’s silence made it feel like the game had never happened--but every time Wendie Googled the result, it showed the same thing. A 2-1 win for Germany, which meant a 2-1 loss for France. A brace for Alexandra Popp, and an “own goal” from Fromhs (which Wendie personally thought was a wonderfully goal-worthy strike from Kadidiatou). A sure sign that Wendie hadn’t been able to prevent those goals--twice.From experience, Wendie knew better than to check the news or social media. It was literally the worst thing a player could do after a bad performance.Hey...wait a minute. Did her teammates know that? Maybe Kadidiatou and Griedge knew, and some of the older players. But what about the younger ones, like Selma? Or Sakina, or Sandy?Wendie couldn’t let that happen. It was bad enough that the general media weren't particularly France fans, or that about three-quarters of the team had a history of receiving racist insults. She hesitated for a bit before deciding that WhatsApp was the best way to reach out to the team quickly and efficiently.Upon clicking the green icon on her phone, Wendie discovered, much to her surprise, that she only had one notification. It was a message from Sara. thegammaray: Wendie? Are you awake? Sorry, I KNOW you finished at 11! 😆wendiefox03: Well, I’m responding to your textthegammaray: I just watched the match. Sorry about the result--you did everything you could. Even pulled a couple of Zidanes in the midfieldwendiefox03: Seriously? Marco Materazzi is retiredthegammaray: I meant some of those passes were Zidane-esque, Wendie. But really, you played well todaywendiefox03: Wish I’d stopped one of those goals, though :(thegammaray: You did your best. That second goal could have been prevented, but the first goal was just weird, no one’s fault, really. Except maybe Pauline could’ve done better.wendiefox03: That's what I’m afraid of. What will Diacre say to those three, now that she’s got something to blame them for?thegammaray: For the last time, you can’t erase the fact that your team wasn’t at their best today. Even I could’ve scored some of those chances Kadi missed, and I'm a defender.wendiefox03: Ca c’est vrai, BUT you know Diacre. She’ll go too far, and gaslight everything :( I can’t let that happen.thegammaray: ok, I get it.wendiefox03: I know you do, Sara. You’re like the older sister I never had.thegammaray: You have THREE older sisterswendiefox03: And they’re all pains in the buttthegammaray: You can’t do EVERYTHING. Even if Diacre was a nice coach and didn’t micromanage you, it wouldn’t be fair for her either. You’re a team for a reason. You ALL have to support and defend each other, you can’t just do it by yourself.thegammaray: I know it’s hard for you. You have a point to prove.wendiefox03: Excusez moi?thegammaray: You’re trying to shield your teammates from Diacre, but you’re also trying to be il capitano perfetto. You’re wearing yourself thin by juggling everything so Diacre can have a reason not to drop you.thegammaray: It’s not healthy AT ALL. I understand why you’re doing it, but this time you have to allow your teammates to help support each other, as well as you. And you all have to support each other TOGETHER.wendiefox03: Wow, didn’t know you were so wise at midnight XDthegammaray: Yep!thegammaray: Nothing to see here, just a footballer with a secret double life as a therapistwendiefox03: LOL are you trying to kill me?!wendiefox03: OK, we just got eliminated from the Euros, but here I am die-laughingthegammaray: Mission accomplished, then! ✊thegammaray: Call me if you need therapywendiefox03: I might take you up on that offer, Griedge is staring at me like I just escaped from a madhousethegammaray: See you in the psycho ward, thenwendiefox03: see ya “Wendie.” Griedge sat next to Wendie, pity in her eyes. “You don’t need to pretend that you’re happy.”“I’m not pretending! Sara decided to whip out her funny bone,” Wendie explained, showing Griedge the texts. They both couldn’t help but laugh at the therapy bit.“You’re right, she’s a good joker.” Griedge scrolled upwards and saw the texts above. “Wait, what’s this? The bit about working together?”“Supporting each other. You know, encouragement, comfort, compassion.” Wendie yawned, flopping into the pile of pillows. She would have disappeared in the sea of white if it wasn’t for her blue pyjamas and the big puff of hair sticking out from the bedclothes. “I’ve gotta contact Selma and the other youngsters. They have to keep off social media. It’s bad for their pretzels.”“What?” Griedge chuckled, grabbing a throw pillow. “You sure you shouldn’t go to sleep?”“Huh?”“You said social media is bad for the youngster’s pretzels,” Griedge repeated, muffling her laughter with the comforter.“Oh God, did I? I meant to say it’s bad for their brains.” Wendie picked up her phone, but then Griedge swiped it out of her hand.“Hey!” In an instant Wendie shot up, gaping at Griedge’s strange move. “What are you doing?”“Texting the youngsters for you.” Griedge frowned, her face illuminated by the glowing screen. “What’s your password?”“What business of yours is it?”“Wendie, if you text at this time, you’re going to say something stupid that you can’t take back.”“And what makes you think that?”“The fact that you said ‘pretzels’ instead of ‘brains’ tells me everything I need to know.”“I can notify them, it’s alright, Griedge,” Wendie tried to convince her, taking back her phone to put in the password. But Griedge grabbed it as soon as Wendie was done, and she refused to let go. She clicked the team group chat, typed something into it, and only gave the phone back once she hit send.“Wendie, I’ve let you carry these burdens by yourself for too long.” Griedge set Wendie's phone on the nightstand. “I kept comforting you, but Sara’s right. It’s not enough.”“What do you mean?” Wendie yawned, suddenly realising how sleepy she actually was. “I mean, I get the pressure, but--”“I read what Sara said. We all need to step up and do our bit. Right now Diacre thinks she can act like this because you’re shielding all of us and wearing yourself out, but if we all stand up for each other…” Griedge stretched out on her back next to Wendie, pulling her braids back into a ponytail. “We could actually have a chance of getting her to reform.”“Sounds nice.” Wendie pulled on her eye mask, twisting her own hair into a bun. “You know what, Griedge, I’m beat. Let’s finish in the morning.”“Suit yourself, marmotte.” Griedge pulled the covers over herself, getting cosy. She decided to take one last look at Wendie before falling asleep, but to her amusement, her skipper was already snoring away.“Sweet dreams,” she yawned, collapsing onto her pillow and going out like a light.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Let’s go get ice cream,” Griedge decided the next morning, putting down her book. The loss was still fresh in her memory, but after some reflection, the centerback had changed her attitude. She was grateful for coming so far, further than France had ever done in a Euros. And that put Griedge into a celebratory mood.Wendie eyed her with suspicion. “Are you serious, Griedge?”“I’m dead serious, Wendie!” said Griedge. She pointed to her phone, set on Google Maps. “There’s an ice-cream parlour about twenty minutes from here. We can make a quick stop there.”“What?” Wendie yelped, then froze as if she'd realised how awkward that sounded. She chuckled, shaking her head. “I mean, it’s bound to be expensive…”“It’s not! I checked their website. They’ve got pretty good reputations.” Griedge eyed Wendie suspiciously, as if her friend was trying to hide something. “Are you okay, Wendie?”“Yeah--I mean, I’ve never been better! It’s just that…didn’t I eat a whole lot of that cake the other day?” Wendie smiled, offering a shrug and a wry smile. “You know what I’m talking about, haha! Gotta watch that weight!”“Wendie.” Griedge sighed, running a hand through her own dark braids. “Why are you always so worried about your weight? You’re a professional athlete--a very fit and trim one. Why would some ice cream put you completely out of shape?”“But the cake--”“Was completely burnt off with all those minutes we played the day before.”Wendie shook her head, and Griedge internally groaned. This usually meant another deep-seated problem—the last thing they needed right now.“Fine, I’ll admit it. The real reason I’m refusing is because…what Corinne did to Amadine.”Ah-ha. Of course it would be Diacre. Griedge knew her manager was a good tactician--nobody could take that away from her--but Diacre’s high expectations of her team often caused multiple conflicts and disagreements. Diacre was also ill-tempered when things went against her plans, and she would often take her own problems out on the rest of the team, Griedge included.Griedge had to admit that she worried about her friend’s mental health. Wendie, being the leader she was, tried to shield the rest of the team from Diacre’s toxic management, but over the past few days, Griedge had realized that the pressure and stress of constantly putting up with their manager’s ways, as well as concealing her own grievances at the situation, was taking a harsh toll on Wendie. It had gotten to the point where she’d passed out—from what exactly, Griedge wasn’t sure yet. But she knew it had to be related to the stress, and the mere fact that Diacre had troubled Wendie to that point was enough to make Griedge want to slap the woman across her face.“Wendie...” Griedge gently chided her. “Kadi and I keep telling you that you can’t change your way of life for Diacre.”“Huh?” Wendie almost jumped in her seat when Griedge announced her name. The skipper had zoned out again, another thing Griedge couldn’t help but find concerning, yet adorable, about her.“Sure, Diacre’s our head coach, but can we let her dictate our lives? No.” Griedge shook her head so that her braids flew out. “Look, do I wish we were in the finals? Of course I do. But should we mope about it for the rest of our lives? No. We always go out together at the end of any tournament, Wendie. And you love it, so why let Diacre ruin our tradition?”“I guess you’re right,” Wendie sighed. “But what do we do about it now?”Griedge rose from her seat, motioning for Wendie to follow her. “Why, we get dangerous, mon cherie.” *It started with Griedge dragging Wendie into her room and pushing her friend into the shower.“Griedge! This is your room and shower,” Wendie stuttered once she realised what Griedge expected of her.“Yes, and we’re both women here. We’ve seen each other without clothing plenty of times. Now come on! Inside!”Wendie sighed, grabbing a towel and heading into the shower. Griedge couldn’t help but chuckle as she took two gift bags from her suitcase.Ten minutes later, Griedge and Wendie were engaged in a full-fledged war of words--over a dress.“It’s got your name written all over it!” Griedge protested, holding up the shimmery, rose-gold dress. “And it’s your favourite colour, Wendie!”“It’s cut…awfully low in the back, isn’t it?” Wendie pointed to the scoop back of the dress, made of a sheer material. “Are you sure…”“Wendie, it’s lace on the back. It’s not that revealing.” Griedge set it on the bed. “The dress will look gorgeous on you.”“I don’t remember going dress shopping with you,” Wendie joked, taking a seat on a chair and fingering the dress. “How’d you even know that it would fit?”“I’ve seen your dress size, remember? There was that time we accidentally mixed up our suitcases at the World Cup.” Griedge reached into her suitcase and took out another, equally shimmery dress, this one in sea green. “And plus, we’ll look so great together.”“We’re going to dress up…to get ice cream?” Wendie, already halfway into the dress, stuck her hand out of a sleeve. "Help!”Griedge was already in her own tights, but her dress was still unzippered. She shook her head and went to untangle Wendie's arm from the dress. “Well, we couldn’t celebrate your birthday properly, with all that was going on. So consider this our late outing--our hangout time. You and me, and nobody else.”“Well, that sounds good.” Wendie finally managed to slip the garment over her trunk and refocused her attention on tying the silken sash. “But what will we say to Diacre?”“Here’s how it goes.” Griedge brushed out her braids, preparing to sweep them into a high ponytail. She was still able to see Renard from the mirror. “We get dressed, grab our purses, and walk down the hall looking like fashionistas. Then we see Diacre and have our 15 minutes of fame.”After buttoning and zipping and buckling, Griedge strode out of the room with her head high. After a bit of convincing, Wendie emerged as well--and eight feet away from Griedge's door, the pair bumped into Kadi. Delphine was next to her, showing off the new embroidery on her boxing gloves.“Okay, did I miss an invitation or something?” Kadi chuckled when she spotted the pair all dressed up. “Because you two are certainly looking august today.”Wendie frowned in confusion, blowing away a stray ringlet from her face. “It’s July.”“No, august. It’s an adjective, meaning impressive. I’ve been reading the dictionary lately,” Kadi explained. “But no, where are you two going?”“To get ice cream.” Griedge flipped her braids, which still reached her back even in the ponytail. “You two want to come?”“Sure…” Dephine glanced down the hall, in the direction of Diacre’s office. “But what about Diacre?”“Forget about her.”Kadi and Delphine stared at Wendie in shock.“We’re grown women, adults. If we want to dress up and grab some ice cream, that’s our choice.” Renard spoke with resolute certainty, and even a hint of anger. “It’s not against the rules, and it’s not going to risk our lives. And if Diacre doesn’t see that, she can go choke on an escargot.”“What did you say to her last night?” Kadi whispered to Griedge. "Hasn't she been scared of Diacre for the whole tournament?"“You go, girl!” Sakina cheered. Apparently, she and Marie had been there the whole time. “We’re coming along, and like you, I’m not going to care about what that grumpy old tortoise says!”“Alright, then,” Wendie agreed. “Get dressed and meet us outside. Sakina will be driving.”“WHAT?” four horrified-sounding voices exclaimed at the same time.“Just kidding!” Wendie laughed. “I’m driving.”The group was halfway to the door when they bumped into Diacre. She still didn’t seem any happier than she was last night--but her jaw dropped open when she saw the six dressed up, coiffed and heading out the door.“Renard!” She marched up to Wendie as if she were the only one in the room, even though the rest of their team was right behind her. “What are you doing?”“What does it look like she’s doing?” Sakina snapped back. She was wearing a sunset orange dress, and her handbag swung from her arm as she placed her hands on her hips. “Going out with us, that’s what!”“Sakina…” Wendie stepped in front of Kadi, facing Diacre. “But she’s right, Diacre. We’re going out to get some ice cream. We don’t have training or anything, so I thought that we should enjoy it.”“Wendie…” Griedge was surprised, to say the least, at Wendie's statement. The skipper wasn’t usually one to take credit for others’ ideas.“I know, Griedge,” Wendie whispered, still facing Diacre.“What have I told you about leaving the camp 24 hours after a game?” Diacre snapped. “Not to do it! What about the paparazzi?”“We can deal with paparazzi.” Wendie rolled her eyes. “We’re grown women, adults. We can survive on our own.”Diacre shook her head, crossing her arms. “Look. I’m just trying to protect you girls. You don’t know what’s there--”“If you were trying to protect us, you would at least try to make the environment pleasant.” Wendie spoke quietly but firmly, and Griedge smiled at seeing some of Wendie's old conviction return to her, the self-assurance and bravery that had been robbed from her by the national team they all loved so much.“Because of you, Melvine has been pressured to be a substitute Marie,” Wendie went on, her hands balling into fists. “Because of you, Kadi’s struggled with her form, and you don’t even care enough to help her find out why. Sandy’s been having nightmares of you dropping her from the squad, and do you know where she’s been going? Moi.”“Because you’re being a complete idiot for opening your heart too much. Now everybody’s coming to you, and you’re facing the consequences.”“They’re coming to me, because they have to!” Wendie shouted, pointing to the picture hanging on the wall. It showed the coaching staff, all smiling for the camera in front of their home base in France. “Except you, all the coaching staff are men. That just doesn’t work. What we all need is a woman. We need a mother figure, right here. And since you downright refuse to even be halfway pleasant, as the captain and the oldest on the team I have been the one.”“Charlotte is older than you, can't you just let her be the captain? For now, anyway.”“Only by a month! And Charlotte’s too busy trying to be Miss Perfect for you, while I’m the one enduring all the stress headaches!”“That’s what a good player is supposed to do. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have better things to do than waste my time fighting with you.” Diacre tried to push Wendie away, but then somebody else stepped up. It was Pauline--and for the first time since arriving at the France camp, the goalkeeper was absolutely livid.“You know what? You’re right.” Pauline let out a bitter chuckle as she stood between Renard and Diacre. “Wendie has been doing what a good player is supposed to do. She’s been strong, supportive and selfless. And she’s so much more--but you’re taking that away from her.”“Pauline, I must go sort out the files--”“NO.” Pauline didn’t move an inch, continuing to stand in front of her manager. “If you have enough time to fight with Wendie and try and prevent the others from going out, then you have enough time to listen to me.”“I have appointments to attend--”“My ex-partner died,” the goalkeeper went on, refusing to flinch. “It was all over the news, and you didn’t even do a single thing about it. Marie got an injury that would keep her out for months, and you never offered any support.”“Pauline Peyraud-Magnin, you get out of my face right now--”“At night, I stay up late because of insomnia, caused by nerves. So I hear everything.” Pauline stepped aside so Diacre could see the six women facing them. “At night, I hear Delphine, punching the mattress in her room to vent her frustration. I hear Sakina singing Nana Mouskouri at the top of her lungs to drown out her own negative thoughts. I hear Marie’s swear yoga, which doesn’t have anything to do with this, but I thought I’d just mention that. And I hear Wendie’s door opening and closing every single night. Everybody goes and knocks there--including myself.”“But--”“NO buts. Wendie’s had a diary to vent into for three weeks and it’s already filled. She paces around the halls at night, Diacre, late at night. I can always hear her stuttering and stumbling, muttering and mumbling. She carries those little sand timers from the hotel bedrooms with her so she can calm herself before she breaks down in the middle of the hall.” As if to prove it, Pauline held up the tiny plastic sand timer for everybody to see. “That shouldn’t happen.”“Pauline’s right.” Delphine stepped up, her lavender dress sashaying along with her. “We can’t go on like this, we can’t let any of us have to go through this. When Paul Pogba broke up with Wendie, we all promised never to let each other get hurt like this again.” She exchanged glances with the rest of the team. “But it happened, and since it did, we’re going to help each other out of this.”“We can’t fire you,” said Griedge, approaching Diacre. “But what we will do is withdraw to survive. Until you shape up, we're not confiding in you.”Wendie nodded. She and Griedge had talked about their plan that morning, while getting dressed. “We’re a bunch of footballers, with experience and teammates. And if we can't find help in one place, there's always other places to try. So the only person really missing anything is you.”“Y-you can’t do this.” Diacre tried to sound imposing, but Griedge's earlier analysis was proving to be right. When she was facing a stressed-out and tired Wendie, Diacre could push her around. But against multiple members of the team, the coach was powerless.“We’re required to follow your tactics, Diacre. There’s nothing in the rules that says that we must confide in you.” Wendie shouldered her bag. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re leaving camp. All of us.”“That’s right!” Griedge motioned for the rest of the team to come with her. “Pack your bags, everybody!”“All of you?!” Diacre screeched. “Why?!”“We told you already, Diacre. The environment here is toxic, and it’s affecting all of us.” Wendie's voice dropped as the others filtered through the halls and up to their rooms. “I hope you think about this, Diacre. And can I give you some advice?”Too stunned by the sudden turn of the tables, Diacre just nodded, gaping at the empty hall. Only she and Wendie were left there.“We have five weeks until we meet again, for the last World Cup qualifiers. So seize the moment, Diacre.” Wendie took Diacre’s hand, and for the first time she saw what seemed like a flash of fear in the manager’s eyes. “It’s never too late to change.”“But…you can’t do this!” Diacre ripped her hand away from Wendie, avoiding eye contact as she tried to walk past her. But the captain quickly stepped in front of her manager, blocking her.“I hope you think about this, Diacre. See you in five weeks.”And Wendie turned away, walking out of Diacre’s sight.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
After spending the next few days together, it was time for the members of the French squad to go back to their clubs. At first, the players had been a bit reluctant to say their farewells to each other. They were a close-knit group, after all. But Wendie, who herself had insisted that they extend their vacation for longer, had reminded them that they would get together in a few weeks' time. So they said their goodbyes and went their own ways, back to their clubs.Griedge, Wendie, Selma, Delphine and Melvine went back to their club, Olympique Lyon. Sakina, Kadidiatou, Grace, Marie, and Sandy, who played for Lyon's archrivals PSG, had gone back there. Pauline went back to Juventus, where she played with Sara Gama, while Clara went to Paris FC, another Paris-based club.All of them were looking forward to going home, besides the fact that they would be separated from each other. It felt good to get away from the pressure of the national team, and focus on the consistent, steady rhythm of club football. *Over the summer, Lyon had been invited to the International Champions' Cup, an invitational tournament for the four highest-ranked womens' clubs in the world.This year, that included Monterrey and Portland Thorns, who ended up playing each other in the first semifinal. Lyon themselves played Chelsea, one of the best women’s clubs in all of England. It hadn’t been easy, but eventually Lyon managed to beat Chelsea on penalties, thus advancing to the final. They would play Monterrey, one of the best clubs in Mexico, on Saturday night for their first shot at a trophy that season.Sonia Bompastor, the Lyon manager, had sprinted onto the pitch almost as soon as the winning penalty had gone in. She had come to the locker room after her media duties for the team speech with a grin so bright, the Lyon players swore that the pundits back in France could see it, white teeth shining in the night sky.“I’m so proud of your resilience under pressure, girls!” Bompastor exclaimed, still high on adrenaline from the shootout. “We still have things to improve on, but tonight was a very good night. Get some rest, and tomorrow we will get to work making sure we’re ready for the final.”Everybody nodded, hooked on their manager’s words.“Now for the hugs!” With that sudden announcement, Bompastor ran towards Selma and enveloped her in a big bear hug. “Come on, grasshopper! Get in here!”Selma squealed, trying to get away from Bompastor. The orderly locker room quickly descended into a chaotic game of who could hug the other first, which went on for about five minutes before Bompastor was called up for an interview. Grinning while trying to catch her breath, the manager left the room with the sly reminder that she would be back for more.“Bompastor acts like she’s high on caffeine all the time!” Delphine joked, wrapping her towel around her shoulders. “She could do well to drink less coffee, right? Even Wendie doesn’t drink as much coffee as her, and they’re just ten years apart.”“Young and excitable, yes.” Wendie wrapped her hair in a turban, securing the end of the towel with the safety pins she always carried in her gym bag. “But I’ll take Bompastor over Diacre any day.”For all the Lyon players, that statement was true all day long. The French players, especially, much preferred the younger manager, who had a certain zest and enthusiasm to her attitude, to he very formal and experienced, yet dictator-like, Diacre.But that wasn’t to say that everybody thought Bompastor was perfect. Oh, no. In fact, Griedge was currently upset with her manager for a particular reason.It wasn’t about the result, or the fact that she’d been hooked off the pitch while the game was still running. The reason actually had nothing to do with her and everything to do with Wendie.The two had been centre back partners at Lyon for years, winning basically everything they could multiple times. Their friendship had blossomed as well, and they had been through everything possible. Wendie, who was also the captain of Lyon, had just signed a new, long contract. The contract would keep her at Lyon until 2026—which probably meant she would end up retiring at Lyon as a legend.So to Griedge, Wendie being benched for the whole semi-final was a gross insult.“Wendie’s a veteran!!” Griedge vented to Ada Hegerberg for the fifth time. “She’s been through it all, seen it all! Why on earth would—”“Shh!” Ada gestured to Wendie, who was fast asleep in her bus seat. Apparently, all the fidgeting the captain had done on the bench had worn her out, and she’d been asleep since the bus left the stadium. “You’re going to wake her up, Griedge. And plus, Wendie doesn’t seem to mind the benching.”Griedge lowered her voice, but she went on with her tirade, shaking her head in disapproval. “Well, I do! You don’t bench a veteran! You roll out a red carpet for them and follow them on Instagram!”“Does Wendie even use Instagram?!”Griedge ignored the Norwegian, holding up her phone. On it was a picture of Christiano Ronaldo, one of the biggest stars in men’s football.“Get a load of this artefact!” she went on, gesturing towards the snapshot of the Portuguese forward. “People bow down to him, and if he comes on as a sub, the whole press goes up in flames!! And Wendie gets benched the whole game and not even a word about it?!”“Benching is normal,” Ada argued. She tossed her thick, blond braid. “And I don’t think Bompastor meant any harm. Maybe she’s even trying to preserve Wendie for the upcoming season.”“Oh, you have got to be kidding me, Ada! When was the last time Wendie got injured? She’s the picture of perfect health! She even played the whole Euros, and she could’ve played more! But noooo.” Griedge crossed her arms, sinking lower into her seat. “I’m having a woman-to-woman talk with Bompastor.”Ada frowned, raising an eyebrow. “I thought you liked Bompastor.”“Doesn’t prevent her from doing something stupid.”Ada sighed in defeat. Ever since the French players had returned from the Euros, Griedge had been fiercely protective of Wendie—for what reason, Ada had no idea. She’d tried asking Selma and Delphine, who had also played a part in the Euros, but they had been very cryptic with their answers.“I think you’re overreacting, Griedge,” Ada muttered to herself. She slipped on her headphones, allowing the zen music to carry her to Dreamland. *There was no time for recovery with the two games so close together, so the next day was devoted to preparing for the final. Griedge arrived at breakfast on time, as usual, but strangely, she couldn’t find Wendie there.“Morning, Selma,” Griedge yawned. Even though she’d gone to sleep soon after the match, Griedge couldn’t deny that she was still a bit sleepy. “Have you seen Wendie today?”Selma frowned, tossing her hair. “Sorry Griedge, I haven’t seen her.”With that, the youngster continued spreading Nutella on her toast. Griedge winced in disgust upon realising that the hazelnut spread wasn’t the only thing on the toast, much less on Selma’s plate.“Selma, are you sure you got any sleep last night?” Griedge finally asked, rummaging through the fruit salad. She usually didn’t mind fruit salads, but when they had any kind of melon—which this particular fruit salad did—she couldn’t stand it.Selma nodded, adding boiled eggs onto her plate. “Oui, why’d you ask?”“The fact that you have Nutella, cherry preserves and cream cheese on your toast is enough proof for me,” said Griedge, shuddering in disgust at the thought of eating all that at once.Griedge found a seat at the table, quickly taking it before it was gone. After settling in, the defender realised exactly who she was sitting next to. “Sarah!”“Griedge!” Sarah Bouhaddi’s eyes shone as she pushed aside her almost-empty plate. The goalkeeper, a serial winner with Lyon just like Griedge and Wendie, had never been a big eater. “I missed you.”Griedge nodded, biting into her own toast. “Same here.”“How were the Euros? I mean, besides the obvious parts,” Sarah clarified. “Sorry I didn’t chat much, I decided to go almost phoneless for my holidays this summer.”“Eh…pretty okay.” Griedge really didn’t want to get into all of the “juicy details” about France’s Euros campaign. Not while she was having a proper conversation with Sarah for the first time in almost three months. “Clairefontaine just isn’t the same without you.”“I know, and I’m sorry. But Diacre?” Sarah briskly shook her head, spearing a melon cube. “I just don’t see myself being happy there, with all that emotional manipulation. I’m surprised Wendie hasn’t left yet.”“She’s determined to try and shield the others from Diacre,” Griedge explained. “But so far it isn’t working. She got really stressed and almost passed out—wait, you weren’t supposed to hear that.”“What?!” Sarah’s fork clattered against her plate as she shot a glare at Griedge. “Why didn’t you tell me?! I would have picked up the phone for an emergency.”“I don’t know! She seemed fine at first, and it was the same issues, anyways. Diacre issues.”Sarah groaned, muttering something under her breath in Arabic as she continued eating breakfast. Griedge didn’t know for sure, but she suspected that whatever the goalkeeper muttered was equivalent to a swear word or five.Wendie eventually came down to breakfast with her hair sticking up in every single available direction. After some prodding, Wendie revealed that she’d been so exhausted the night before, she’d completely forgotten to pull it back into a ponytail.“And those are the origins,” the skipper concluded, gesturing towards her hair, “of this mess.”“I like it that way,” Selma piped up. Her toast now had about four different things on it, creating a multi-colored layer of spreads when she bit into it. “It’s so fluffy!”“Aww, your hair’s all fluffy now!” Amandine Henry teased, reaching over the table. “Can I touch it?”Amandine's hand only managed to get as far as the middle of the table before Wendie slapped it away.“Quel est ton problème?!” she exclaimed, glaring at Amandine. “Laisse mes cheveux tranquilles!”This interaction sparked a few snickers among the table, which soon grew into a table-wide movement to try and touch Wendie’s hair before she slapped the offender’s hand away. Griedge just watched on, deep in thought. *“Wendie!” Griedge called through the halls. She opened the door to the broom closet, closing it shut when she found it empty. “Where are you, Fox?”Griedge had been doing some serious thinking since breakfast. Wendie had been late to breakfast, and when she did come down, it was with one of the worst cases of bed hair Griedge had ever seen. And when Wendie had snapped at Amandine for touching her hair, Griedge knew for sure that something was up. But after the experience during the Euros, Griedge hadn’t wanted to mention it in front of the others. She was never going to forgive Kadidiatou for that.After some more searching, Griedge ran into Wendie in the gym. Wendie was on a treadmill, headphones over her ears, and seemed to be in her own world.“Wendie!” Griedge sighed in relief, standing in front of the treadmill. “You scared me earlier, I was so worried about you!”“Worried?” Wendie stopped the treadmill, letting the headphones slip around her neck. “Why?”“You know what I’m talking about.” When Wendie didn’t answer, Griedge decided to clarify. “You came to breakfast late with the worst case of bed hair in history.”“Oh, that!” She shook her head. “I just overslept, Griedge. There’s nothing to worry about.”“Are you sure?” Griedge frowned—Wendie didn’t usually oversleep. “I mean, are you sure you’re okay?”“Positive.” Wendie laughed, which set Griedge at ease a little. “We went to bed late because of the match, and you know that I’m not exactly great when it comes to sticking to bedtimes!”“Yeah, I guess so.” Another possibility crossed Griedge’s mind, and this one completely wrecked any reassurance she had. “Are you thinking about…the Euros? You know, Diacre?”At the mention of their international team coach, Wendie’s smile morphed into a hard, thin line. She stepped down from the treadmill and Griedge prepared herself for another “everything’s fine” answer—but Wendie didn’t do that. Instead, she walked right past Griedge to the bench press, where she grabbed a six-kilogram dumbbell and proceeded to lift it in a series of biceps curls, over and over again.“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it!” Griedge took up a pair of dumbbells almost identical to Wendie’s, perching on the bench alongside her. “I mean, I’m not going anywhere. All you need to do is say the word.”“I’m fine, Griedge—”“Ah, ah, ah. We all know that response, Wendie,” Griedge chided her. “Now tell me the truth, please.”“Griedge, I’m fine!” Wendie groaned in frustration, switching arms. Now she held the dumbbell in her left hand, but she didn’t curl it. Instead, she focused her attention on Griedge, who nervously scooted a couple of inches away from her. “Don’t you trust me?”“Of course I trust you!” Griedge exclaimed, pasting on what she considered her most convincing smile. But that only earned her a sigh from Wendie.“You’re lying, Griedge. I can see it in your eyes. Plus, you’re fidgeting with your braids.” The captain finished her analysis with a triumphant nod. “You only do that when you’re nervous.”“Okay, you want to hear the truth?” Griedge, rather annoyed at having her cover blown, dropped the dumbbell and crossed her arms. “I don’t trust you, Wendie. Not when it comes to your own state of mind. Not after you hide your emotions from me for almost ten days straight!”“Where did forgiveness go?!” Wendie shot back, setting down her dumbbell. "I took care of my own mental health for years, you know."“That’s not the point! Wendie, you were in a toxic state of mind and it was harming you! Can’t you see that?”“I can see that!” Wendie insisted. “And now I’m really fine, and you won’t believe me, or at least give me a damn chance!”A few of the others in the gym shot their heads up from their activities, curious as to what was going on. Griedge herself was shocked. While a swear word or two wasn’t uncommon in the Lyon team, Wendie herself rarely swore, and never in public. But there it was, a swear—and Wendie had realised her misstep.“Look, Griedge, I’m okay, okay?” Wendie chuckled nervously, taking back up the dumbbell, lifting it a few times as if to demonstrate she was telling the truth. “No need to be overprotective.”“Overprotective?!” Okay, that did it for Griedge. She marched over to Wendie and tried to get in her face as much as she could. “I’m just trying to ask if you’re alright!”Ada stood up to try and separate the two, but Delphine yanked her back down before she could.“What?!” The Norwegian gestured to the two defenders at the weights station. “Are you crazy, Delphine? I’m trying to separate them!”“I have experience with these two,” Delphine sighed. “The best thing to do, if you don’t want to die, is not to separate them.”“But if you have a coffin just waiting for you, that’s perfect!” Sarah added from a nearby elliptical. “Just go tell them what to do, and it’s an express route to heaven for you!”Ada groaned.“I’m five years older than you, you shouldn’t have to protect me!” Wendie went on, pacing around the room. “I should be protecting you, if anything!”“I protect you, because I care about you!!” Griedge threw her hands into the air, pointing to the door. "But not to worry! If you think I shouldn’t, then just ignore me and march straight out of this room!”“Fine, then I will!”And just like that, Wendie took up her dumbbells and was out of the gym.*Griedge hated arguing with Wendie.It always started with one of them—usually Wendie—locking herself in her room. Then the other one sent about a million text messages to the other, all of them apologies with pleas to come out of her room. Then when they finally came out, they would give each other silent treatment until they were forced to converse—which could take a very long time. Once Valerie Gauvin had taken it upon herself to lock them in a closet together until they sorted out their argument.“So are you going to talk to Wendie, or not?” Ada asked Griedge, sidling up to the defender. When training had ended, Griedge had immediately retreated to the lounge, curled up with a novel, and plunged herself inside the story.Griedge shrugged, gaze still on her book. “Uh…yeah? Maybe? I was just asking if she was okay. I mean, I wanted to talk to Bompastor about the match.”Ada looked up from her phone, surprised. “So what happened to that?”“Didn’t bother. You were sort of right. Wendie can’t play every game. But I was worried that the benching would affect her confidence.”“Why? It never bothered her before.” Ada then thought of something. “Is this why you’ve been hovering around Wendie the whole time? The secret reason that Selma and Delphine won’t tell me about?”“Sort of...” Griedge put down her novel, deciding it was time to spill the beans. “You know Diacre isn’t the best coach.”The Norwegian frowned, pocketing her phone while getting comfy. “Diacre?”“Yes, our international coach. She’s not very nice at all, and Wendie took it upon herself to shield us from Diacre. To make a long story short, the pressure ended up getting to Wendie and we confronted Diacre on the last day of France camp. But Wendie’s still scared of Diacre and I’m scared that’ll spill out into her Lyon performances.”“So you think Bompastor benching her will make a difference.” Ada hummed in thought. “Okay, I get where you're coming from. But why didn’t you listen to Wendie when she told you she was fine?”“You don’t understand, Ada,” Griedge sighed. “The reason the pressure got to Wendie is because she kept telling us that she was fine. She wasn’t okay, she was stressed out, and it took a lot for her to open up to us. You should have seen her—she was so…tired. She missed this one penalty and I literally had to drag her off the ground.”“You did?!” Ada couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of Wendie being dragged off the pitch by somebody half a foot shorter than her. “That’s pretty funny, actually.”“Was not! She was devastated!”“Fine, fine, I’m sorry,” Ada apologised, holding up her white headband in surrender. “But I don’t think it affected Wendie. She’s a professional and she’s been in the sport for a long time, one benching won’t undo her confidence. Why don’t you try to talk to her—”“Well, I tried talking to her back in the gym, and look how that turned out, huh?”Ada groaned, rolling her eyes. “You’re so impatient, Griedge. I was going to say that you should talk to Wendie and actually trust what she has to say. That plays an important role, you know.”“But what if she’s hiding something again, Ada?” Griedge couldn’t help but worry about that possibility. “What do I do then?”“Well, then.” The Norwegian shrugged, turning on her phone. “You know her well, Griedge. If she’s not telling the truth, then you’ll know.”Griedge sighed in relief, tossing the blanket onto the other side of the couch and rising to her feet. “Thanks, Ada. I’m going to go talk to her now.”Ada nodded, waving Griedge off. “Tell me how it goes!” *After several minutes of picking the lock with a hairpin, Griedge burst into Wendie’s room. “Wendie, are you in here? We have to talk.”As Griedge had expected, Wendie was on her bed with head buried into a pillow. When she heard Griedge’s voice, though, she only needed one open eye to glare at the defender.“Seriously, Griedge?!” Wendie rolled over so now she was facing the door. “I thought you said you wanted me to ignore you.”“That’s the past.” Griedge took a seat on the chair next to the bed. “This time, we’re actually talking, and I’m going to give you the best gift ever—my ear!”“Your ear?” said the captain. She raised an eyebrow. “You’re not going to assume I’m lying again, are you?”“What? Lying?!” Griedge huffed. “I never said you were lying! I just said—”“That I may be hiding the truth. And that’s the same thing.” Wendie flipped onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. “You know, it really hurts when you don’t trust me enough to believe me.”“And it hurts me,” Griedge retorted, “when you don’t trust me with your emotions.”“You know, I really was fine earlier, Griedge,” said Wendie. “Until you mentioned Diacre. Then…I sort of overreacted.”“There’s no overreaction to it!” Griedge jumped in. “I mean…if it’s not an international break, there’s no need to think about Diacre. She’s been awful, and bluntly…” She shrugged. “You have every right to be upset about it.”“So why did you think I was upset earlier?” Wendie asked Griedge, a bit calmer now that the elephant in the room was out of the way.“Well…you were benched in the semi-finals yesterday,” Griedge confessed. “The semi-finals of a trophy. I was insulted, and I thought you were too. And I would totally get it, because—”“Wait a minute!” Wendie interrupted her compatriot, stifling a chuckle. “You thought I was insulted over being left on the bench?”“Well, yeah. You’re the captain, Wendie, and Royal Blues are hard to play! If anything, you should at least be a sub.”“Griedge.” Wendie chuckled, shaking her head. “I’m a professional footballer. Benchings don’t affect me. Benchings are a normal part of life, and plus, I’m not getting any younger.”Griedge couldn’t help but think, well, that was stupid of me. It was frustrating, sure, to be benched, but true that Wendie wasn’t getting any younger. Plus, she was a professional. She left her heart on the pitch, and if she wasn’t playing, you’d best believe she’d be there, all six feet and two inches of her.“Yeah, you’re right. I guess I got all caught up, trying to protect you. Thinking that we’re still being coached by Diacre—”“Griedge, can you do me a favour?”Griedge wordlessly nodded, unsure what kind of favour her skipper would ask for.“Can we make an effort to not talk about Diacre for the next couple of weeks or so?” Wendie fell back onto the bed, rolling her eyes at some unseen annoyance. “We’re in Lyon, with Bompastor. Why talk about Diacre if we don’t have to?"Griedge laughed, pouncing onto the bed as well. “Agreed.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It had happened. The thing that Griedge had been fearing for four weeks and a half.
The French women’s national team had a series of World Cup qualifiers during the first week of September. And when Diacre had chosen her squad, there was a six foot, two inch hole in the defence. In other words, Wendie hadn’t even been called up for the squad.
While Griedge had read through the call-up list, she had kept Wendie’s number on speed dial. She sighed as she pressed the button, knowing what to expect from the defender.
It took a while for Wendie to finally answer the phone. “Hello?”
“Wendie!” Griedge exhaled a sigh of relief, flopping onto the sofa pillows. “Wendie, are you there?”
“Yeah, I just answered the phone.” Griedge could hear Wendie’s eyes rolling at her question. “Griedge, are you okay?”
“I’m more worried about you. The call-up,” Griedge clarified, shifting her position. “Did you hear about it?”
“Oh, that! I haven’t really seen it yet—well, I sort of did when Paulette sent me an email. Kadi got called up, right? Selma deserves it, too. She played so well in the Euros.”
“Selma didn’t get called up, Wendie.”
“What?! I mean, no way! I can’t believe it. She’s one of the brightest talents this year.”
Griedge groaned. “You’re distracting from the point. Diacre didn’t call you up.”
There was silence on the other end, and for a moment Griedge feared that she’d said the wrong thing. Well, not the wrong thing, but from what Wendie had told her, it sounded like she hadn’t known before.
“Wow. Well, I mean…weren’t we expecting it?” Wendie’s faint laugh on the other end told Griedge all that she needed to know. “I mean, it’s not like I’m her favourite.”
“Neither is Sandy, and she got called up.” How Griedge wished Wendie was right in front of her on the sofa, and not talking over the phone with her. Then Griedge could see Wendie for real—the eye rolls, the fidgeting, the strange toe-tapping thing that she did whenever she was upset and tried to hide it. “Please, Wendie. Tell me how you really feel.”
“Seriously, I’m fine, Griedge,” said Wendie. “It’s not like I’m immortal. I get left out of things, it’s normal.”
A staccato clicking sound started up in the background, and Griedge instantly recognized it as the toe-tapping. Click-click, click-click, click-click-click-click-CLACK! It was the sound of ballet flats on tiles—and that was when Griedge realised that Wendie, who had only wood, concrete and carpet at her house, was somewhere else.
“Griedge, you still there?” Great, she’d spaced out again. Now Wendie was worried about her. Griedge had to keep Wendie on topic, or she would never know the truth.
“I’m here!” Griedge reassured her. “But where are you?”
“At the supermarket. I need some pasta—I’m having dinner with Sarah tonight. Why’d you ask?”
“No reason, I was just curious.” Before Griedge could stop herself, it was out. “Your toe-tapping sounds different on tile.”
The toe-tapping stopped immediately, replaced by the usual supermarket sounds of rattling shopping baskets, squeaking shoes and worn-out music of yesteryear.
“Back on the subject.” Griedge sighed—her only clue on how Wendie really felt about this was gone. “You were one of the best on the squad this Euros. You defended, and played in the midfield—that’s a lot. And you’re still one of the top goalscorers here.”
“I’m one of the top goalscorers because I’m old.”
“There you go again with the old thing. Wendie, you’re not old!” Griedge groaned. “You’re more experienced than all those new kids we just called up. And plus, you’re the oldest defender on this team, yet you’re the most solid. Think about it.”
With that, Griedge hung up the phone, stuffing it in her pocket. She rose from the sofa, took the stairs two by two, and strode down the hall, until she reached her bedroom. The Frenchwoman opened her closet, pulled out her suitcase, and began stuffing her things in it.
Wendie didn’t sound upset, but she was definitely doing the toe-tapping thing. That means that she’s worried, Griedge reasoned, folding a pair of jeans that she always took with her on international trips. I don’t blame her. Diacre’s always been hard on the youngsters, and—how many are there in this squad? That’s right, six. There are six youngsters under the age of 23, and even more on Diacre’s target list. Definitely something to watch out for.
Without Wendie to protect the rest of the squad and ease their nerves and doubts—literally, to be their therapist—Diacre would take the opportunity to pounce. While Wendie hadn’t asked her to do it, Griedge decided that she had to do what was right.
She sighed, hoisting her full suitcase off her bed, and lugged it around, closing the blinds and curtains throughout the house. If Wendie wasn’t at Clairefontaine, then she would be there in spirit.
Don’t worry, Wendie, Griedge thought as she closed the house door behind her. I’ll take care of them for you.
*
August 30th, 2022
Dear Wendie,
I hope you’re doing okay, considering the situation. I got your email earlier, and I’m very happy that you’re having lunch with Selma tomorrow. She’s such a bright little star who’s so fun to be with. Let’s hope for your own sake, though, that Selma doesn’t try to cook dessert again. I know you like to encourage Selma to persevere through a challenge, but those raspberry jam cookies she tried last time got so burnt, I could have used them for barbeque charcoal!
After unpacking my suitcase, I went to greet the others, who were just coming in. Everything was going smoothly, when I bumped into a very fretful Delphine. Just like you would, I asked her what was wrong. It turns out that the reason she’d worked herself into such a state was that she’d lost her embroidered boxing gloves.
From what I could gather, she’d been clearing out her garage and had a whole box of stuff to throw. Delphine had set the box on the curbside just before the garbage truck came and went inside to make some lunch. After lunch, she wanted to get some boxing practice in, but she couldn’t remember where she’d put her boxing gloves. Delphine had searched everywhere, until she remembered where she’d put the gloves—on a tilted shelf above the same box she’d been collecting junk in. They must have fallen off into the box while she wasn’t looking.
Speaking of lunch, the team lunch came immediately after. I tried to distract Delphine from her lost boxing gloves, but clearly they meant a lot more to her than I thought, because nothing I said to her managed to cheer her up. Pauline—who you’ll be glad to hear seems to be happier than she was last July—was telling some hilarious jokes at the lunch table. The jokes got most of us cracking up, but Delphine only offered a couple of weak laughs—clearly an attempt to be polite.
After lunch, we all proceeded to the tactics room for a tactics session. The whole way there I tried to make conversation with Delphine, but to no avail whatsoever. That was when I realized something important.
You know the others better than I do. We both know our teammates very well, but you know a lot about them: what makes them tick, what cheers them up, and the like. It helps that Delphine plays with us on Lyon with us, but it took me a long time to find out what would cheer her up. Eventually a sneak attack-style hug from Sandy managed to bring a smile onto Delphine’s face, but I still couldn’t manage even with my best efforts.
Nevertheless, don’t worry about me. I’ll learn, and it’s only for a week anyways. I think I’ll take that list you offered to give me yesterday—the one with the girls’ likes and dislikes. It’ll help a lot.
Your friend,
Griedge
P.S.: Tell me how lunch goes. I really want to know :)
September 1st, 2022
Dear Wendie,
You actually LET Selma make dessert?! Are you suicidal or something?! I can’t believe you—no wonder Valerie calls you stubborn. This is why we need to be in the same place at all times—so you can be having dinner with me and we can actually enjoy an EDIBLE dessert together.
Today, I couldn’t find Clara. So I did what you would do—I barged into her room, uncovered the bed, and there she laid, curled onto herself and cradling something in her arms—a baby! The baby was adorable—but it seemed so young, not even two months old. When I asked her where it came from, she didn’t even say anything. She shook her head, clinging onto it tighter.
“Clara, I need to know what’s going on,” I’d insisted, taking a seat on the bed. Why couldn’t this have happened when you were here? You seem to know how to approach every situation. “Who’s the baby?”
After a moment, Clara had finally moved. Wordlessly, she handed the baby to me, tiny and still swaddled.
“I found her on the road,” she sniffled—how long had Clara been crying in her room, by herself? “There wasn’t any adult in sight. The baby’s abandoned.” Then she buried her head under the pillow and started sobbing again—we both know how Clara easily ranks among the more emotional members of the squad.
I forced my attention back onto the baby. She was sleeping peacefully in the swaddling cloth, which was blue with tiny teddy bears on it. I unwrapped the blanket, and a tiny bracelet was wrapped around her ankle—the standard hospital identification tag for newborns. IT’S A GIRL!!! It said in overly enthusiastic, pink words, along with the date of birth: August 19, 2022. There was no name for the baby or the parents.
According to Clara’s story, she’d been driving to the hotel when she saw a baby carrier on the side of the highway. Mystified, Clara had stopped her car, grabbed the carrier, and drove to the nearest exit, which was why she’d been late in the first place. She’d removed the blanket, only to see a sleepy-eyed infant with the tiniest wisps of an Afro, gazing at her with shining hazel eyes.
Now I’m in Clara’s bed, watching her finally get some sleep after a long and emotionally draining day for her. The baby is in my arms, still sleeping, while I watch out for Diacre. What will we do if she finds out?
Please answer, Wendie, and SOON. You’re my only hope. You and I both know that we can’t tell Sakina, or ANY of her Moroccan-French friends. Her big mouth will spoil it all, even inadvertently.
Love you,
Griedge
P.S.: Is it okay if I say “love you” or “love” at the end? I know “your friend” works too, but we already know that we’re friends.
September 2nd, 2022
Dear Wendie,
Lord damn help us. Marie knows!!!
Okay, I know I sound a lot like her now, but I can’t help it. I mean, it’s not MY fault that Sakina burst into Clara’s room this morning while I was desperately trying to soothe the baby’s early-morning wailing.
Sakina immediately gasped, gushing over the baby, and waking Sandy, Melvine and Marie up in the process. Marie immediately swore, while I covered the baby’s ears immediately after Marie opened her mouth. And of course, all the customary calls of “MARIE!” occurred, and THAT woke up the worst person to ever wake up at an early hour.
Corinne Diacre.
As soon as we heard Diacre’s voice, we sprang into action. While Marie hobbled out to the hall to stall Diacre (poor girl’s still on a crutch, yet she came to see us), I had Sandy and Melvine start up a fake fight as a backup plan. While Grace almost shook Clara’s shoulders out of their sockets “to find out what on Earth was going on” (her words), I barricaded myself in Clara’s closet with the baby, holding her close and standing in between the clothes to muffle her whimpers.
Soon, Grace joined me in the closet, shutting the door behind her. Panting, she explained that Diacre hadn’t been convinced by the scene set up outside—Sandy and Melvine need to remember that arguing about fairy princesses REALLY isn’t going to get Diacre’s attention—and that she was coming THIS WAY. In the room!
The baby, who was now laid on my chest, whimpered, squirming in my grasp. Probably because my beating heart felt like it was going to explode. Hurriedly, I tried to think of what you would do in this situation. Which was almost impossible, because nobody had ever brought a random baby into Clairefontaine before.
Handing the baby to Grace, I came out of the closet, quickly changing my angle so it seemed like I’d come through the door. Diacre didn’t fall for it—why’d she have to be so smart?—and I was caught.
“What did you do?” Diacre had demanded to know, her own voice drowning out the baby’s cries.
I knew that telling Diacre the truth wasn’t an option at all. So even though it wasn’t true, I told her I was what everybody had been trying to hide. I apologized profusely, pleading for Diacre’s forgiveness, but it only landed me inside her office, where I was given a hairdryer treatment for “sleeping with Clara'' before being released for breakfast.
Just after breakfast, Sakina stopped me in the middle of the hall. With an apologetic shrug, she handed me a shopping bag. I opened it, finding two baby bottles, a can of organic infant formula, twelve disposable diapers, and a pacifier.
Sandy jumped in, explaining that Kadi rushed out to get them after all the fracas had calmed down. Diacre hadn’t seen the baby, thank goodness, and Grace was now in Clara’s room feeding her.
I went straight to Kadi’s room to thank her for the help. She’d just nodded, reiterating what I’d thought before: it was best to keep the baby out of Diacre’s sight until we could relocate her.
Now I’m in Clara’s room, giving the baby another bottle before training for the Estonia game tomorrow. I don’t have any idea what to do besides going through the motions of basic infant care.
Love,
Griedge
P.S.: Could you send me some baby name ideas? I know we’re not keeping the infant for long, but it’s just awkward to keep referring to her as “the baby”.
September 3rd, 2022
Dear Wendie,
I’m so sorry to hear that you couldn’t sleep much last night. Thank you for being honest with me in your email, though—you don’t need to hide anything from us.
This morning, me and some of the others looked through the names you sent us. We chose “Arlene”, because the baby has some flecks of golden yellow in her eyes and Clara thinks that the name’s adorable.
Our game was a smooth, free-flowing one, as you would probably notice if you watched it. The defenders could have grabbed a lawn chair and relaxed in the middle of the field —in other words, very enjoyable.
But every time somebody made an important interception, I couldn’t help but comment on it before glancing at the empty seat next to me. But every time I saw that bench seat empty, I couldn’t help but feel a lump rising in my throat—because the empty bench seat kept reminding me that you’re not here.
I can still see you next to me, your hair bouncing as you scream at some moron trying to injure one of us (usually Selma) calling it “next to murder”. The image of you laughing right after that, joking that you should get a place in a drama club, then whacking Marie when she agrees, THEN all of us laughing together, is burnt into my memory.
You know what I also remember? The fact that we’d always been laughing, right until Diacre shoots us that look. You know, the one Sakina calls ‘eyes of the devil’.
Anyways, we barely managed to hide Arlene today during our game. She stayed in the locker room with Marie the whole time, the two only leaving at halftime. Besides Clara and I, it turns out Marie’s taken the strongest liking to Arlene. When we came in at halftime, we found the most adorable sight—Marie cradling Arlene, both of them fast asleep. I couldn’t help but take a few pictures, which I’m attaching to this email.
When the game finished, Diacre called all of the ones who’d played into her office. I almost fell backwards in shock—all of them? What did they do wrong? What could they even do wrong? We won 9-0, for Johann Cruyff’s sake, without any own goals and only two penalties!
Even though I wasn’t called, I came along into the office. I took a seat—which was probably a good thing, because you wouldn’t believe what Diacre said next. I certainly couldn’t!
“I am so, so happy,” she began. She took Oulyameta Sarr’s hand, ruffling her braids. Oulyameta widened her eyes as if she was surprised, too (even though she’d scored four lovely goals), but then the shocked expression was replaced by a broad grin. Diacre was praising her for something—rare for all of us!
“Whoa whoa whoa, hold on!” Kadi, hands on her hips, marched up next to Diacre. At least somebody else besides me was thinking. “Why are you being so…happy? With us?”
“What excuse can I get this time? We got a clean sheet,” Diacre nodded towards Pauline, who beamed at the attention, “and nine goals, some of which were very well-taken. And this is without Griedge and Wendie! Now come, we’re going to dinner now.”
With that, she left the room as soon as she’d come into ours. The only trace of her was her blue parka, shed now that we were inside and away from the wind.
“Diacre’s changed!” Melvine cheered, hugging me. “You and Wendie did it!”
“We’re going to be better now!” Sandy insisted, grinning as she walked away with Melvine. “I just know it!”
“Maybe,” Melvine shrugged as they walked outside, “we can show baby Arlene to Diacre after dinner!”
“Wendie will be so happy when she comes back!” Delphine opened the door, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. “Now let’s go!”
The others chatted excitedly as they followed Diacre, asking about how they did. Only Kadi, Marie and I stayed behind in silence. When we finally spoke, it turned out that all of us had the same thing on our minds—something was up.
Diacre’s never this happy after a match. She’d usually find something to criticize, and I’d spotted things that she would normally criticize. For example, Kenzia had missed a couple of chances, while a few crosses had gone untouched in the area. It was just like any other one of our wins—enjoyable but still imperfect. The only difference was that you weren’t here to shield everybody from Diacre, and I don’t think I’ve been doing a great job of doing that—not as well as you do, anyways. In short, we concluded that it was all a trap to appease the youngsters.
When we’d confronted Diacre after the Germany match, the youngsters (of which there are quite a few) backed you up almost without thinking. I think she has a new plan: prevent the youngsters from rebellion against her by diminishing our status around the squad. It seems crazy, but it sounds exactly like the kind of plan Diacre would make—as I later confirmed when I caught Diacre telling Oulyameta that the team can play perfectly well without you and I.
I can’t wait to get back to Lyon. I really miss you, even when you hog the mayonnaise at lunch and put tiny sweaters on the salt and pepper jars.
Love,
Griedge
P.S.: Sara from the Italy national team sent me a long message in Italian today. I had to use Google Translate to understand it, but basically what she’s saying is that she misses talking to you and that she’s planning some sort of holiday over Christmas. I know you’ve been busy, but could you call her please?
September 04th, 2022
Dear Wendie,
While we were working out in the gym today, I spotted Pauline staring into space. We were supposed to be doing bench presses, but instead she idly laid on the bench, her barbell set to the side. When I asked her what was wrong, she’d simply sighed, turning to me.
“It’s September fourth. On the fourth of each month, except if I was on national duty or I had an away game, my ex-partner and I would…we’d go out on a walk. Sometimes we’d stick around Torino, sometimes we’d drive to another city and walk around there. We visited parks, shops, vineyards—oh, the vineyards! We’d go wine-tasting all around northwest Italy. But now it’s all over, and…I never got to say goodbye.”
I was completely stuck. I mean, there had to be a reason Pauline and her ex-partner broke up—but by how Pauline’s behaving, you’d think that they were still together until the end.
She’d started crying then, and I held her close with no idea what to do. It’s times like these that I wish I hadn’t fallen asleep when you and Sara were discussing the five stages of grief before our Euros game against Italy. I’ve never had to deal with death before, and the closest I’ve seen anybody to being this heartbroken was when you broke up with Paul Pogba (that absolute jerk) in 2019.
I hope this is over soon. I miss you so much now, and not just your captaining skills. I miss your smile, because it always seems to cheer everybody up.
Love,
Griedge
P.S.: What do you MEAN that you and Sara’s holiday is a holiday for two?! Are you running away to Martinique to get married or something? Because if you are, then…I guess I’ll be the saddest bridesmaid in the world that day.
September 5th, 2022
Dear Wendie,
Thank goodness you’re not running away to Martinique or getting married! You scared me there, Wendie, I’ll admit it. By the way, I think you and Sara going on a wine-tasting tour in Florence is a really good idea. You two need to relax.
I’m sorry about mentioning P**l in the previous email. (Yes, I censored his name. You’re welcome.) I know it still hurts, and believe me, I regret not realizing his jerkhood and slapping him in the face earlier. I got a lovely opportunity to do so when we went to England for the Euros, and after our match versus Italy, I saw him in the stands and decided to take it. It took some tracking down, but your homegirl Griedge here managed to give him a good whack before the press tracked me down.
Everybody is doing well here. We’re preparing for the Greece game, which I hope we’ll win for the sake of maintaining our perfect record. As you know, we’d still finish top of our World Cup qualifying group, even with a loss, but if Greece got a point from us, there’s no way the other World Cup teams would respect us.
Today we met up in Kadi’s room for a karaoke session after training. It started with Pauline’s (awful) attempt to sing “Single Ladies” as “Serial Winners”, and it quickly spiraled into who could make the weirder Disney parody. Melvine—gasp—almost won with her Frozen parody directed towards the referees who lift the offside flag too early, which she called “Let It Flow”. But thankfully I beat her with my own Encanto parody, “We Don’t Talk About Diacre”. Clara took a video, which I’m attaching to the email. I think you’ll like it.
Please tell me you’re having as much fun as we did today. You said in your email on Tuesday that you were thinking of repainting your kitchen. Tell me how that goes, and please send pictures!
Love,
Griedge
P.S: I personally think that the best colors for a kitchen are either yellows or muted, soft greens, but it’s all dependent on you, Wendie. If you paint your kitchen raspberry red, I won’t judge. Just not too much strong color without another, quieter color to calm it down—that would be a disaster. Between us, interior design was never your strong suit.
September 6th, 2022
Dear Wendie,
I made a really, really big mistake today. I yelled at Diacre. To make a long story short, she found out about Arlene.
We had been hanging out with Clara in her room, playing Uno, when Diacre burst in with a grim expression. Upon spotting Pauline, she hadn’t even stopped to pull her into the office before starting to yell at her for conceding that goal vs. Greece. Even though we beat them 5-1, we were only two goals up when Greece scored against us—and according to Diacre, that was a problem.
“You have to be more careful!” she’d roared. “What if they equalized? We’d be in such trouble!”
It turns out that you were right to hide in the closet after our Italy game.
Pauline, still shy as ever, mumbled a meek “sorry” in apology.
“Does ‘sorry’ give us back the clean sheet? No!” Diacre shouted, even angrier now. “If you’d conceded another goal and we drew, would ‘sorry’ have taken it away? No! You would have ruined my perfect record!”
Well, I guess that did it for me. I prepared to jump off the bed, realized that I couldn’t due to the giant aircast around my right knee, and settled for scooting along the bed, getting straight into Diacre’s face. Clara tried to hold me back, but I refused, telling her that I needed to do this.
“What is wrong with your mind?!” I yelled, crossing my arms. “We won today, we scored five goals! One goal doesn’t mean anything!”
“It doesn’t—to an ignorant person!” Diacre retorted, and I flinched. In all my life, I had never been called ignorant by anybody. “What if that’s the weakness that will be her downfall? Ever thought of that?”
“Have you completely forgotten how to be decent?!” I yelled. I gestured towards Pauline, who now seemed more than ready to disappear under the covers. “First of all, Pauline’s right here. Second of all, if you were so concerned, you would tell her some other time, and not when she’s relaxing with us, playing a perfectly good game of Uno!”
“Better late than never,” Diacre snapped, and I barely resisted the urge to slap her across the face. What is her issue? “Look, I’m just trying to protect you—”
I had had enough. “ENOUGH OF THAT CRAP!”
That was when it happened. A tiny mewl of protest, undoubtedly from being woken up from my screaming, came from Clara’s closet. Diacre’s jaw dropped open, eyes wide.
“What is that?” she demanded to know. Her tone was ice cold, as if I hadn’t just screamed at her.
“Ummm…nothing!” Clara jumped in, nervously chuckling as she held up a deck of cards. “Do you want to play Uno with us? It’ll be very relaxing.”
But as you know Wendie, Diacre is just like Marie—both are very stubborn. “What is that sound?”
“Oh, it’s probably just a cat. You know how they screech—a kid must’ve sprayed it!” I tried to get Diacre to forget about the sound. “Let’s go investigate outside.”
But Diacre shook her head, furrowing her brows as she stared at the closet. “No, no—it sounds like a human cry.”
She approached the closet, pulling open the door. Pauline tried to stop her, but Diacre, who we both know hears everything, spotted the bassinet and pulled Arlene out!
“Do you have anything to say about this?!” she yelled, holding up Arlene, who was squalling her tiny lungs out. The poor girl—if I was her, I’d be scared as heck, too.
Clara leapt for the infant, snatching her from Diacre. “Give her back!”
“You brought your child in here?” Diacre shook her head, pursing her lips. “Absolutely unacceptable! What were you even thinking, Clara? What type of delinquent mother are you?”
Clara’s face blanched at the last statement. “She’s not my child!”
“She’s literally a newborn!” Diacre pointed an accusatory finger at Arlene, glaring at Clara. “Either she’s yours, or you stole her from somewhere!”
I wanted to say a lot of words and things to Diacre at that moment, but they were all words and things that you would have never forgiven me for saying. Then again, we both know that you’re always in for some butt-kicking, so maybe you would forgive me.
“Hold on.” Pauline came in between Diacre and Clara, hand on her hips. “The baby’s almost a month old. That means that Clara would have to have been heavily pregnant during the Euros—which she was not!”
Diacre stepped back, disproven. “Then where did you steal her from, Clara?” Then she called Clara a word that was so bad that if I put it in this email, you would be very close to buying your own boxing gloves and punching Diacre yourself. No, whipping her with a baseball bat.
Which I would fully support, by the way, but I like you better nine houses away than in court, arguing against Diacre.
Now I’m in bed, watching Arlene sleep next to me. After what happened with Diacre, Clara insisted that she was far too scared to keep Arlene, even temporarily. Kadi encouraged her not to be so hasty, so I’m caring for Arlene while Clara makes up her mind. Something tells me that Clara made up her mind as soon as Diacre accused her of secretly having a baby and bringing it here.
I know that you’d probably tell me to think it through, Wendie. But I have no time to think it through. I’m bringing Arlene with me.
Love,
Griedge
P.S.: I don’t know if you watched the game, but if you didn’t, I’ve got a knee injury. It’s going to keep me out for a while, and I don’t know how long. They’re bringing me to the hospital in Lyon tomorrow morning, and it would mean the world to me if you could come visit.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Griedge laid in the hospital bed, her injured knee in the same aircast it had been in since the match against Greece. The bedsheets were sterile, bleached white—just like the rest of the room, bar the cold, hard metal and slinky plastic tubes that she was glad weren’t hooked up to her.She picked up her phone, quickly entering the password and opening up WhatsApp. If Griedge was going to be in the hospital, she might as well be entertained by whatever chaos was going on the French group chat.Upon clicking the group chat, which was titled Bleues de Clairefontaine, Griedge spotted a picture of her and Wendie celebrating on the pitch, captioned by two bright red heart emojis. It was clearly another “Wendie and Griedge are in love” joke, this time courtesy of Marie. Personally Griedge didn’t mind it, but the hilarious part was seeing Wendie’s reactions to every single suggestion that there was more than simple friendship between the two.Nice try, but I’m just her therapist, Griedge responded, posting a smirking emoji into the chat. Keep on dreaming, Marie. Don’t even try that, Griedge, said the next response, which definitely belonged to Wendie. The words were swiftly followed by three scowling emojis, which meant her best friend had finally caught onto her least favourite joke.Griedge cringed as a hall monitor dropped the plates for the third time that day. That particular hall monitor seemed to be quite clumsy, managing to drop almost everything she’d held in the space of an hour. The only exception was a pair of twin infants she’d been transporting to their mother—and that was because the babies were inside a rolling bassinet.Are you coming, Wendie? Griedge typed into the chat. She winced again as another wave of pain shot through her knee. It’s getting really boring here.
Don’t worry, I’m driving there now. Going offline so I can focus, okay Griedge?
Griedge sighed in relief, typed an okay, and closed the chat as soon as possible. It was well known that when Wendie went offline, Marie would pronounce herself “queen of the chat”. That in turn led to the team’s perfectly good group chat becoming the Oxford Dictionary of swear words.She flipped onto her side, bored again by the dull surroundings. Everything smelled sterile—not even fresh air graced the room, which was constantly under air conditioning. Wendie can’t come any sooner, she thought, shaking her head as the hall monitor dropped yet another object. It’s so dull here. *“I’m here to visit somebody,” Wendie told the receptionist twenty minutes later. “Her name is Griedge Mbock Bathy.”The receptionist glanced up from her computer screen, pushing her glasses up her nose with a long red fingernail. With her black glasses and navy suit, the receptionist almost looked like Diacre. “Griedge, Griedge…yes, we have a Griedge Mbock Bathy with a dislocated knee.”A dislocated knee? Wendie groaned, shaking her head in dismay. No way Griedge’s coming back anytime soon. That’s months out, not days. I hope she’s okay—a dislocated knee sounds worse than an average muscle injury.“Are you alright?” asked the receptionist, raising an eyebrow at Wendie.Wendie simply nodded, clutching the strap of her backpack in an attempt to divert her attention. She couldn’t give away too much information, as paparazzi could swarm in at any given moment and bombard her.“And what is your relation to her?” The receptionist went on with the standard questions, pushing her glasses so high on her face, Wendie swore the poor spectacles would unite with her forehead. “Are you her special other?”“Er…no! I’m her friend. A good friend of hers, yes.” Wendie ran a hand through her hair, trying to regain her composure after that specific question. She left out the teammate part to keep a low profile, just in case she’d gotten lucky and the receptionist didn’t recognize her. “A very good friend.”The receptionist didn’t seem to believe her entirely, but said nothing. “Okay, fifth floor, room 293. Go on now, there’s a line waiting behind you.”“Oh, sorry!” Wendie quickly stepped out of the line before the receptionist could say anything more. “I’ll be on my way, merci.”Wendie made her way towards the elevator, which was mercifully empty, and pressed a button as she braced herself for impact. Every time she went on an elevator, vertigo would hit her at the beginning and end. It usually wasn’t too bad, but today it somehow seemed even worse—to the point that Wendie’s head still spun a bit by the time she got off the elevator.She had no problem locating Griedge’s room, easily remembering the number thanks to the fact that it was a combination of her and Griedge’s numbers on the international team. When Wendie opened the door, she spotted a nurse hunched over the bed, muttering under her breath. Her vertigo instantly returned as she gripped the doorway—was it this serious?“Wendie!” Griedge pumped her right fist into the air, a grin flashing across her features as she peeked over the nurse’s arm. “Come in, the nurse is just giving me something.”“Did I come at the wrong time?” Wendie asked, just to make sure. “Because I can come back later, if you’re doing something important.”“Oh, you can come,” said the nurse, standing up straight. She peeled off her blue latex gloves, dropping them into a nearby bin. “Your friend’s fine. She’s on a sedative now, so don’t be scared if she falls asleep while you two talk.”“Now, how did she know we were going to talk?” Griedge watched the nurse wheel her cart out the door and down the hall, until she and Wendie were alone. “Is she a mind reader or something?”“Never mind that.” Wendie pointed towards Griedge’s knee. “How’s your knee feeling? The receptionist told me it was dislocated.”“I can’t feel it at all now, really. They gave me some painkillers earlier because the pain was killing me.” Griedge yawned, reclining against the pillow. “I don’t even remember much from the pitch. I was just running, and suddenly this white-hot pain consumed me. Everything was just so blurry.”Wendie tried to remember an injury she’d gotten that sounded that painful. She came up with nothing—granted, since somehow, she almost never got injured.“Griedge…that’s awful,” Wendie finally managed to say after some time. “I wish I was there so I could have at least been with you. You were taken out at the forty-five minute mark, it must have been lonely back there.”“Talk about it. I was on the bench, watching the match from my phone. The girls did well out there—that I will guarantee you—but it was just so dull in that examination room.” The defender sighed, then shrugged. “But never mind that! Let’s talk. Was the traffic heavy?”Wendie groaned, remembering the commute she’d endured on the way to the hospital. “It was like a stampede out there. Remind me never to drive during rush hour again.”“You mean you’re not visiting me for the rest of my stay?” Griedge flopped to the side, one eye cracked open as she let out a dramatic sigh. “And I thought you were my friend!”Wendie couldn’t help but smirk at her friend’s antics. “You’re so dramatic, Griedge. I’m still coming to see you, I just won’t take my car here during rush hour.”Griedge perked up immediately, sitting up straight again. “Whew! Considering that I’ll be here for a few days, that’s a relief. So when did you get on the road, Wendie? It’s not that far from Clairefontaine to the hospital.”“Yeah, I know. But the traffic started as soon as I got out of the supermarket, and that really held me up.”“Wait, out of the supermarket?” Griedge raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms. “Wendie, what were you up to? I thought you said you were coming right away.”“Oh, I was doing some research about knee injuries after training ended.” Wendie heaved her backpack off the floor and rummaged through it, occasionally stopping to pull out various-sized containers and bags and set them on the bed. “And guess what? I found some things that could help! Cherries and kiwis for vitamin C, cashews and walnuts for omegas, zinc and vitamin D for immunity…”“Stop! Stop!” Griedge chuckled, eyeing the pile of items at the foot of her bed. “Where am I going to keep all this?”“Oh, you can have the backpack, too! I found it at the cash register and thought ‘wow, Griedge is really going to love this’ and well, here we go!” Wendie handed the backpack to Griedge, quite proud of her achievements. “There’s also pecans, clementines, and I think there’s some pure wildflower honey in there, too.”“Wendie, I have a dislocated knee, not a cold. And who told you chocolate helps heal a dislocated knee?” Griedge challenged her friend, holding up three rectangular, foil-wrapped chocolate bars. “Milk chocolate, no less!”“Don’t know. Maybe I remembered that you love chocolate and that it seems to be a cure for everything.”“Well, I can’t argue with that.” Griedge tore open one of the foil packets, breaking off a piece of chocolate almost as big as her mouth. “So, how’d the redecorating go? Please don’t tell me you painted the whole kitchen hot pink.”“Seriously Griedge, have some faith in me!” Wendie rolled her eyes. She had already busied herself, rearranging the contents of her backpack on the side table. “The redecorating never happened. I fell asleep while shopping online for throw pillows.”“Wendie!” Now it was Griedge’s turn to roll her eyes. “You always fall asleep while shopping online, marmotte.”“Just like you did after the singing tournament.” The skipper shook her head, setting the backpack next to her chair. “I still can’t believe you beat Melvine in karaoke.”Griedge shrugged. “So what if I beat her? I like the girl, but Melvine’s not exactly Rihanna.”Wendie grinned, shaking her head—she knew where this was going to go. “And you aren’t Lin-Manuel Miranda, either, or Madonna. The one time you tried to sing ‘La Isla Bonita’ in Paris, you managed to drive a whole flock of pigeons out of the square.”“Oh, come on!” Griedge protested, mouth full of chocolate. “This parody was actually good, wasn’t it?”“I’ll be the first to agree with that. I especially like the first part.”“Which first part?”“You know.” Wendie stood up from her chair, twirling around the room as she sang. “It was a summer's day!/ It was a summer's day!/ Euros started playing and we beat the Italians 5-1!”“That was a whole lot of fun!” Griedge joined in smoothly, winking at Wendie. Wendie got the message—Griedge knew exactly what Wendie was talking about. She just wanted to sing the song with her, and if that was what Griedge wanted, Wendie had no problems singing.She went on, singing both parts of the duet by herself. Although Wendie didn’t remember most of the words—she had only listened to the video once after all—Griedge was more than happy to join in. By the time they finally finished singing, Griedge was breathless from laughing at Wendie’s attempt to sing the parody correctly.“It turns out that none of us are Madonna, anyways,” Griedge pointed out, leaning back against the pillow with a smile. “Shall we go on to the Let It Go parody?”“Never mind that.” Wendie was back to her previous seriousness, taking a seat again. “We need to talk, Griedge.”“Talk?” Griedge wondered aloud. She didn’t remember anything about talking.“About what happened.” Wendie quickly checked to make sure the door was closed before going on. “Your emails.”“What emails?”“Clairefontaine. Diacre. Arlene. Don’t you remember?”“Oh.” Griedge facepalmed in disgust—how could she have forgotten her multiple email sessions with Wendie? “Yeah, I remember now. Sorry, I think the sedative’s giving me brain fog.”Wendie couldn’t help but smirk. “That might also have to do something with the partially eaten chocolate bar in your hand.”“Whatever.” Griedge yawned again, balancing the chocolate bar on the pile of stuff. “Oui, we have to talk. But make it quick, otherwise I’ll drop off to sleep.”“Alright, let’s start with Arlene.” Wendie, ever the practical one, decided to get right to the most important topic. “What are we going to do with her? Has Clara made up her mind?”Griedge shook her head, peeling a clementine. “Yes, unfortunately. Clara called me this morning, and told me that as long as Arlene could be mistaken for her daughter, she was afraid to keep her.”“Undoubtedly because of Diacre.” Wendie sighed in dismay, leaning back in her chair. Suddenly, she bolted upright, scanning the room. “Hold on. Where is Arlene, anyways?”“Oh, about that! I had Melvine take Arlene to Bompastor while we’re at camp, and she was really excited. We both know how much Bompastor loves kids, and I thought that was the best decision until we took the baby to the authorities.”Wendie almost choked on her water, glaring at Griedge. “What?! You mean to say that you haven’t called the authorities yet? Not even an adoption centre?”“Oh, of course I did! Clara I talked with the authorities together the day we found Arlene. And guess what?” Griedge chuckled as she continued to peel the clementine. As she did, her head occasionally drooped, swaying from side to side. “Nobody’s claimed Arlene, and it’s been six days. So we made an agreement that Bompastor and I will keep Arlene as joint foster parents until the authorities say otherwise.”“Good.” Wendie noticed that her friend’s fingers often landed away from their target, slipping down the sides of the clementine instead of hooking into the thin skin to reveal the fruit’s succulent, juicy flesh. Eventually, Griedge began peeling the clementine segments instead of the skin.“Griedge? I think the sedative’s starting to have an effect on you.” She pointed to Griedge’s hands, which grasped the juice-covered clementine. “You have clementine juice all over your hands.”“Oh, great.” Griedge winced upon realising just how sticky her hands were. “Is there a towel or something around here?”“Here.” Wendie had already located a paper-towel dispenser, and she handed a bundle of paper towels to Griedge. “Maybe you should rest, Griedge. When are they doing the surgery?”“Tuesday.” Griedge gestured towards her leg with an annoyed sigh. “But the knee will keep me out for much longer.”“How much?”“About six months.”“Six months?!” Wendie yelped with wide eyes. “That long?”Griedge sighed, leaning against the pillows again. “I’m afraid so, Wendie. With my age and everything, they want to make sure I’m fully fit before I get back to playing. Otherwise, I’d just make it worse.”“But that’ll keep you out until March,” the skipper moaned. “And the World Cup’s in July. That’ll only give you a few months to cement your place in the France squad.”“Are you kidding me?” Griedge mumbled from under the blankets. She was definitely more than half asleep now, and was quickly drifting in and out of consciousness. “Wendie, France would be hopeless…without the two of us. We’re rocks in the defence and the squad. There’s no way they’re getting rid of us.”“But that’s not what I’m talking about,” said Wendie. She twirled a strand of hair around her finger, hesitating before she finished. “You’ll be injured for six months.”“...And?”“If I know Diacre, she’ll find that as the perfect opportunity to replace you.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
(wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹 has opened the chat ‘Clairefontaine Bleues’)
(wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹 has added kadi-moi, MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑, wendiefox03🦊 and Fierce&Flowery💮 to the chat.)
(Fierce&Flowery💮 has added Fierce&Starry⭐ to the chat.)
wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹:
Bonjour, Kadi
kadi-moi:
Hi, Griedge. Looking for your girlfriend? 😏
wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹:
A ‘good afternoon’ would've been nice
MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑:
Hiya chicas! Welcome to the long-term injury club, Griedge, enjoy your stay
wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹:
I’ll try. I’ve got a lot more free time on my hands now that I’m injured
Fierce&Flowery💮:
How’d the surgery go?
wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹:
Not so bad. I’ll have to stay in the hospital for a couple more days, and then I’ll be free from prison 😉
kadi-moi:
How much did Wendie freak out during the surgery? Because we already know that she freaked out 😏
wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹
: She had to be led out of the room, and I could hear her muttering while they gave me the anaesthesia. I don’t know what happened after I went under, but when Wendie came in she gave me a huge bouquet of sunflowers and a get-well card 😮
MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑
: That was from all of us 😁 Clearly not all of us could sign it in person, but those of us who couldn’t be there decided to send our messages via email, so Wendie could write them in the get-well card 😁 You’re welcome
wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹
: THAT explains why there was so much of Wendie’s handwriting in the card! Thanks guys 😊
kadi-moi:
Anytime, Griedge
Fierce&Flowery💮:
Our pleasure
Fierce&Starry⭐:
Yep. So, how are you going to spend those two days? Hanging out in the hospital is no fun.
Fierce&Flowery💮:
Oh, forgot to mention. I invited my twin sister Estelle to our chat. She’s @Fierce&Starry⭐.
MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑:
HOLY CRAP YOU HAVE A TWIN?!
Fierce&Starry⭐:
HELL YEAH!
Fierce&Flowery💮:
HOLY CRAP YOU HAVEN’T NOTICED?!
(wendiefox03🦊 has added thegammaray to the chat.)
wendiefox03🦊:
Seriously, have you all forgotten that the youngsters are part of the chat?
wendiefox03🦊:
And Griedge, you could hear me? Why didn’t you tell me?
wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹: Because I was going under anaesthesia, duh 😒
wendiefox03🦊:
💀💀💀
kadi-moi:
WENDIE you’re back!
thegammaray:
I didn’t forget the youngsters were here, praise the Lord
MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑:
Hey I thought this group was called Clairefontaine Bleues
wendiefox03🦊:
It is, and???
MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑:
So...WHY the heck did you invite Sara Gama here?
wendiefox03🦊:
She’s my best friend, isn’t that enough?
MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑:
...🙄
wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹:
Hey, I thought I was your best friend 😔
wendiefox03🦊:
Sara’s my best Italian friend, and you’re my best French friend
wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹:
Fair enough
thegammaray:
Yeah. Nice to meet you, Griedge
wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹:
Same here, Sara
Fierce&Flowery💮:
Wendie, meet Estelle, my twin sister and fellow menace. Estelle, meet Wendie, our ancient chat mom and the wonderful captain of all of us except Griedge.
wendiefox03🦊:
Come ON, at least I have a good chat name!
kadi-moi:
Sarah helped you set up your account and gave you the cool name
wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹:
Why am I left out of the “everybody’s captain” list?
thegammaray: OBVIOUSLY because you’re Wendie’s girlfriend
wendiefox03🦊:
Sometimes I don’t know whether to love you or hate you, Sara
wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹:
Wow, surprisingly tame reaction, Wendie 😏
wendiefox03🦊:
Btw, you were all tres magnifique during the international break!
wendiefox03🦊:
Minus that you-know-what on the sidelines, of course
thegammaray:
How I wish I could kick her butt right now
wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹:
Same here. Don’t worry, when I’m better we’re gonna whoop her behind to Uranus 🪐
Fierce&Flowery💮:
Aw man, we gotta keep her in the solar system?
Fierce&Starry⭐:
NO FAIR
MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑:
Why don’t we permanently get rid of the problem and bury her alive?
wendiefox03🦊:
In case you haven’t heard the news, that’s called murder. I disagree with Diacre, but I don’t want to kill her
kadi-moi:
Same here, I just want to fire her
wendiefox03🦊:
Now that we can work with girl 👍
wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹:
😂😂😂 LOLLLLLL
Fierce&Starry⭐:
Wendie, do you know why Griedge is your girlfriend?
thegammaray:
Nuh-uh, Estelle, don’t say THAT word in front of Wendie. It gives her denial issues 😏 😂
MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑:
OOH GOOD ONE! I like you already Sara
wendiefox03🦊:
Go right ahead, Estelle. Prove your lie 😒
wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹:
😂😂😂 LOLLLLLL
Fierce&Starry⭐:
For one, Griedge knows your darkest secrets.
wendiefox03🦊:
SAYS WHO?!
Fierce&Starry⭐:
Says Delphine
wendiefox03🦊:
DELPHINE CASCARINO…
Fierce&Starry⭐:
Congratulations sis, we’re in trouble!
kadi-moi:
I’m surprised you didn’t know that already. Now I’m wondering if I’ve been talking to Estelle my whole life instead of Delphine
Fierce&Flowery💮:
She’s got a point, if we decided to swap clubs nobody would even notice
wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹:
Everybody’s going to notice, Delphine
Fierce&Flowery💮:
They...will...NOT
wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹:
They will, because Estelle’s a defender and you’re a midfielder
MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑:
You’re damn right
wendiefox03🦊:
We’re distracting from the point. Exactly WHAT deep, dark secrets are you talking about?
MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑:
For example, Griedge knows the whole story of your love life
MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑: As an active participant, of course 💑
wendiefox03🦊:
You SERIOUSLY brought that up? Marie Antoinette Katoto, tell me where you are so I can have words with you…
wendiefox03🦊:
And please, change your chat name before any youngsters come around
(Selma🥰 and Melvine have joined the chat.)
Selma🥰:
Hi 🤗
Melvine
: Hey!
wendiefox03
🦊: And here we have another classic example of why groupchats need automatic censoring.
wendie’stherapist19
❤️🩹: 😂😂😂 LOLLLLLL
kadi-moi
: You say that to every one of her jokes, Griedge
wendie’stherapist19
❤️🩹: She makes good jokes!
MarieTheDamnQueen
👑👑👑: By the way, I’m at a cafe in Paris, since you’re curious
thegammaray
: Cool, I’ll join you
MarieTheDamnQueen
👑👑👑: Great, and if you bring Wendie with you, you’re dead
thegammaray
: Fine, I’ll just go to Lyon and hang out with Wendie there
wendiefox03
🦊: Marie! Change. The. Name.
MarieTheDamnQueen
👑👑👑: NEVERRRRR MY DAMN SUPREMACY RULES
wendie’stherapist19
❤️🩹: I know what you wanted to put between “the” and “name”, cherie
wendiefox03
🦊: Yeah, but then it’ll be really ironic
(SandyBeach🏖 has joined the chat.)
SandyBeach
🏖: hi, everybody! 🤗
kadi-moi:
Hi, Sandy
SandyBeach
🏖: Hi kadi! Hi Estelle! Hi Marie!
SandyBeach
🏖: Marie, I like your name
MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑: Thanks, I was born with it 😒
SandyBeach
🏖: Oh, I meant your chat name
MarieTheDamnQueen
👑👑👑: MY SUPREMACY DAMN RUUUUULES!
wendiefox03🦊: 🤦🏾 I give up
thegammaray
: WHY is Griedge’s chat name ‘wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹’? I thought I was your therapist, Wendie
wendie’stherapist19
❤️🩹: NO, I’m Wendie’s therapist, because in case you didn’t realise, that’s my job
wendiefox03
🦊: Not true, Sara is my therapist
thegammaray
: You’re damn right!
wendiefox03
🦊: SARA! Mind your language, there are kids in the chat
thegammaray
: They’re young, Wendie 🙄 Do you remember being young? When every swear word was gold?
wendiefox03
🦊: They’re still children to us, you’re 34 and I’m 32
thegammaray
: THEY’RE in their early 20s.
wendie’stherapist19
❤️🩹: If I’m not your therapist, then I’m your grounding factor
wendiefox03
🦊: You do keep me grounded, Griedge, that’s for sure
wendie’stherapist19
❤️🩹: You coming to the hospital, escargot? 🐌 I’m lonely
MarieTheDamnQueen
👑👑👑: HELL YEAH A SNAIL EMOJI!
kadi-moi
: 😒 Dude seriously?
(Fierce&Flowery💮 has added SmoothCriminalSakina💃🏾 to the chat.)
SmoothCriminalSakina
💃🏾: Don’t worry, Griedge. Marie and I can come over and see you!
wendie’stherapist19
❤️🩹: I don’t think Marie’s swearing will help the healing process at all, but thanks anyways
wendiefox03
🦊: I’m coming, pierre
Selma
🥰: why’d you just call Griedge a rock?
wendiefox03
🦊: She’s one of my rocks in life. The other’s Sara
Selma
🥰: Isn’t a rock kind of rough for Griedge?
wendiefox03
🦊: True…okay Griedge, how about I call you diamante? You’re strong like one, but also classy
(wendie’stherapist19❤️🩹 has changed her name to wendie’sdiamante💎)
wendie’sdiamante💎: OMG I love it 🥰🥰🥰wendiefox03🦊: Diamante 🥰🥰🥰 💎💎💎wendie’sdiamante💎: Cherie 🥰🥰🥰 ❤️❤️❤️
SmoothCriminalSakina
💃🏾: UGH get a chatroom, you two!
MarieTheDamnQueen
👑👑👑: Yeah, go flirt somewhere else
Fierce&Starry
⭐: 😱 Somewhere away from my innocent eyes!
wendiefox03
🦊: WE ARE NOT FLIRTING
wendie’sdiamante
💎: You finished my sentence before I even had it in my head, Wendie
Fierce&Flowery💮:
Guys! They’re not flirting, they’re DATING 😈
wendiefox03
🦊: We are NOT!
wendie’sdiamante
💎: Exactly, stop it guys
thegammaray
: Btw, I wouldn’t mind if you two were dating. Just please, keep your love texts to yourself
(MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑 has changed her name to MarieTheBLEEPQueen👑👑👑)
wendiefox03
🦊: For the first time today, someone that isn’t Griedge LISTENED to me! Merci, Marie
MarieTheBLEEPQueen
👑👑👑: No damn problem!
thegammaray
: Marie, there’s no point in changing your chat name if you keep up the swearing!
MarieTheBLEEPQueen
👑👑👑: I’m just expressing myself. Btw, WHY the HELL is Sakina pretending to be the SMOOTH CRIMINAL, of all people?!
wendiefox03
🦊: There goes the listening part
SandyBeach
🏖: She has smooth hair! The prettiest in all the squad
Melvine
: I agree 👸🏾
wendie’sdiamante
💎: I like Wendie’s better
SmoothCriminalSakina
💃🏾: Of course you’d say that 😉
MarieTheBLEEPQueen
👑👑👑: Yep 😜
wendiefox03
🦊: Oh, you’re just saying that 😊😊😊
wendie’sdiamante
💎: No, I really think so
wendiefox03
🦊: Quit making me blush, Griedge, I’m taking a bus to the hospital to stay with you
kadi-moi
: you’re seriously going to stay in the hospital?
wendiefox03
🦊: Overnight, why not?
MarieTheBLEEPQueen
👑👑👑: Because the food tastes like crap there
kadi-moi:
MARIE!!!
wendie’sdiamante
💎: MARIE!!!
Selma
🥰: MARIE!!!
kadi-moi:
Selma, you’re the one we’re trying to protect from the swears
Selma
🥰: GUYS I’m twenty-one. 21. I need to know what you’re talking about whenever you say damn, crap, or the other word I hear Marie call Diacre sometimes.
wendiefox03
🦊: WHICH other word?
Selma
🥰: I think it starts with B and ends with ARD.
Selma
🥰: Oh, and it has AST in the middle!
wendiefox03
🦊: 😡😡😡 MARIE-ANTOINETTE ODA KATOTO!
MarieTheBLEEPQueen
👑👑👑: WENDELINE THERESE RENARD!
wendiefox03
🦊: What did I do wrong? YOU were the one who taught Selma the B- word!
MarieTheBLEEPQueen
👑👑👑: Hey, it describes Diacre well
wendiefox03
🦊: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but…I agree with you 💀
wendie’sdiamante
💎: 😂😂😂 LOLLLLLL
SmoothCriminalSakina
💃🏾: On the list of things you did wrong, Wendie, you coiffed Selma’s hair with a bunch of ribbons like she was a doll
Selma
🥰: HEY THAT WAS MUTUAL Sakina!!!
wendie’sdiamante
💎: It was Wendie, Valerie and I who did it, so touche!
Fierce&Starry
⭐: Second, you prevented Marie from swearing
wendiefox03
🦊: Am I the only one in this chat-room that realises that we have MINORS in here?
Melvine
: I realise it
wendiefox03
🦊: You ARE a minor!
MarieTheBLEEPQueen
👑👑👑: Shall we swear more, ladies? Everyone who’s with me, say hell yeah!
Fierce&Flowery💮:
HELL YEAH
Fierce&Starry⭐:
HELL YEAH
SmoothCriminalSakina
💃🏾: HELL YEAH
thegammaray
: HELL YEAH
kadi-moi:
HELL YEAH
Selma
🥰: HELL YEAH
wendie’sdiamante
💎: SELMA!
Selma
🥰: HELL NO
wendiefox03
🦊: You know what, I give up
kadi-moi:
You said that earlier
wendiefox03
🦊: Nobody took the cue that said it was time to STOP swearing?
MarieTheBLEEPQueen👑👑👑: You’re such a chat grandma, you know that Wendie? 🧓🏾
wendiefox03
🦊: Yep, but according to Griedge, I’m not getting old
wendie’sdiamante
💎: Because you aren’t old! You’re just mature
wendiefox03
🦊: So are you...and you're still as hot as the day I met you
wendie’sdiamante 💎: 😏 still so hot, Wendie
SmoothCriminalSakina
💃🏾: Ugh quit flirting!
Selma
🥰: I like the drama here
wendiefox03
🦊: There goes her innocence…
kadi-moi:
Her innocence was gone as soon as she heard your swear rampage against Diacre
wendiefox03
🦊: HOLY CRUYFF I swore the door was locked!
Melvine
: Wendie, you swear?
wendiefox03
🦊: Yes, and unlike Marie, I do it IN PRIVATE
MarieTheBLEEPQueen👑👑👑: Yep, and half of the team being able to hear you was totally private 😏
wendiefox03
🦊: Next time I’m going to swear, I’ll go to Griedge’s room
kadi-moi:
For Johann Cruyff’s sake, close the door. We don’t want to see OR hear what else you two are up to in there
wendiefox03🦊: 😱 💀 YOU DID NOTwendie’sdiamante💎: 💀💀💀 You’re lucky my knee is dislocated now or I’d be right there with a machete 🔪🔪🔪MarieTheBLEEPQueen👑👑👑: 🤣🤣🤣 LO-DAMN-Lwendiefox03🦊: OH REALLY?! 🤦🏾🤦🏾🤦🏾🤦🏾🤦🏾🤦🏾Selma🥰: 🤣🤣🤣Fierce&Flowery💮: 🤣🤣🤣Fierce&Starry⭐: 🤣🤣🤣SmoothCriminalSakina💃🏾: 🤣🤣🤣Melvine: 🤣🤣🤣SandyBeach🏖: 🤣🤣🤣
SandyBeach
🏖: Wait, what are we talking about?
wendiefox03🦊: Apparently, Kadi brought up the topic of why we should always close bedroom doors 💀 Which, btw Kadi, is NOT true!
MarieTheBLEEPQueen
👑👑👑: I WILL NEVER DIIIIIEEEE
wendiefox03
🦊: Okay, WHY did you just say that?
wendiefox03
🦊: I’m out, I’m switching buses now and I need to focus
wendie’sdiamante
💎: Alright, see you there! Love you ❤
wendiefox03
🦊: Love you too ❤
thegammaray
: Love you guys ❤ Call me when you need somebody to make a speech at your wedding
kadi-moi
: I’m going to visit Estelle
Fierce&Starry⭐:
Visit us at your peril 🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃
Fierce&Flowery💮:
Visit us at your peril 🎃👻🎃👻🎃👻🎃
kadi-moi:
What are you two, the Shining Twins?
Fierce&Starry⭐:
Come play with us, Kadi
Fierce&Flowery💮:
Come play with us, Kadi
(wendiefox03🦊, wendie’sdiamante💎, kadi-moi and thegammaray have left the chat.)
MarieTheBLEEPQueen
👑👑👑: Quick, everybody talk crap about Wendie before she gets back!
Fierce&Flowery💮
: HELL YEAH
Fierce&Starry⭐
: HELL YEAH
SmoothCriminalSakina💃🏾
: HELL YEAH
Melvine
: HELL YEAH
SandyBeach
🏖: HELL YEAH
Selma
🥰: HELL YEAH
(wendiefox03🦊 has entered the chat.)
wendiefox03
🦊: I still get the notifications, you know
MarieTheBLEEPQueen
👑👑👑: DAMNIT
Fierce&Flowery💮:
DAMNIT
Fierce&Starry⭐
: DAMNIT
SmoothCriminalSakina
💃🏾: DANGIT
Melvine
: DANG
SandyBeach
🏖: OH CRAP
Selma
🥰: DAMNIT
Selma🥰: bye-bye, Wendie 👋🏼👋🏼👋🏼🤗🤗🤗
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Three weeks later, it was time for another international break—which meant another trip to Clairefontaine. This time, Wendie had been called up, much to her relief. While Griedge wasn’t called up—it had been three weeks since her knee surgery, after all—Wendie had been the one who insisted that Griedge come along anyway.“I’m bored,” Griedge yawned, shifting her position in the passenger seat. “You?”“I’m not sure, really. Time just seems to crawl by on the road for me.” Wendie shrugged, her gaze fixated on the road like it had been for most of the drive. “How long until we reach Clairefontaine?” “Three hours and a half.” Griedge frowned, holding up an empty Ziploc bag. “And we’re all out of snacks!”The France skipper couldn’t help the smirk that made its way across her face. “That, diamante, would be entirely your fault. You ate about three-quarters of the popcorn we brought along with us.”Wendie spotted a stoplight up ahead and quickly hit the brakes. The car screeched to a stop as others whizzed in front of them.“I know it’s my fault,” Griedge admitted after some time. “I should probably stop so I don’t grow a gut.”“A gut?” Wendie raised an eyebrow, ripping her gaze off the road to face Griedge. “What in Zinedine Zidane’s name makes you think you’ll grow a gut?”“Well…I’m stuck in crutches and an air cast, so I can’t move around much.” Griedge gestured towards the crutches, sticking out from their place in the trunk. “If I can’t move around and exercise, then I don’t burn much energy. Therefore, I grow a gut.”“True.” The stoplight turned green, and Wendie refocused her gaze on the road. “But I don’t think you’ll gain so much weight that quickly. You’re very fit—you’re built like a rock!”“A rock?” Griedge held up her arm, inspecting her biceps. “I’m strong, but not that buff.”“On the outside,” Wendie argued. “But you’re an athletic powerhouse on the inside. On the outside, you’re glamorous.”“What are you talking about? There’s a reason that I went into football, Wendie.” Griedge absentmindedly toyed with an empty packet of pretzels. “I’ve always been the brawn, not the beauty. If I thought I looked that good, I would have gone into modelling.”“Excusez moi!” Wendie shouted as she slammed the brakes. Thank goodness they were already at another red light. “Which idiot told you that?”“Paul,” Griedge whispered under her breath. “The day when you brought him to training. When you weren’t there, Paul pulled me aside and that’s…when he said it.”“You believed him?”She nodded, avoiding eye contact of any sort.“Griedge.” Wendie took Griedge’s left hand, squeezing it tightly. “When Paul and I were still dating, you were the one who kept telling me something was off. When Paul broke up with me, you were the one who convinced me that it wasn’t my fault, despite how Paul desperately tried to make me believe it. You told all of us that whatever Paul tells us should roll off our backs like water. Why would you believe whatever rubbish he told you?”“Dunno,” Griedge admitted, staring out the window. “Most of the time I ignored him. I guess that one just hit home.”The light switched to green, so Wendie pressed the gas. They drove in silence for a while, swerving onto the highway before one of them spoke again.“Every woman has the right to feel beautiful in her own way,” said Wendie, with her eyes laser-focused on the highway in front of her. “Remember! You’re strong and beautiful. Both outside and inside, and especially where you—and I—need it most.”Griedge shrugged, carefully shifting her position so that she wouldn’t injure her knee. “I don’t get it. Where would we both need my strength?”“And the beauty! Part of kicking what that scumbag told you out of your brain is saying that you’re beautiful.” Wendie took a hand off the wheel, tapping Griedge’s chest. “You're beautiful on the outside, and dans ton coeur. Don’t ever forget that.” *As the captain and leader figure of the team, Wendie was well-received by her teammates, who'd missed her during the last international break. When Griedge hobbled through the doors of Clairefontaine, though Selma and Melvine had almost knocked her down with their full-force tackle hugs, while Pauline had to tell the two to mind Griedge’s crutches—before requesting her own hug with the defender. Kadi was more careful, opting for a handshake instead, but her expression told anybody else in the squad that she was more than happy to have Griedge present at international break.Now it was a few hours before France’s first friendly versus Germany. Everybody was in the lounge, watching reruns of The X Factor—Selma’s request.“Honestly, what grown man sings into a little plastic microphone?” Selma ranted for about the umpteenth time. “If I were him, I would flee to the Amazon jungle and live on wild berries and game.”Marie shook her head in dismay, rolling her eyes. “That grown man thinks he’s singing. What the hell does he think he’s doing? The hell—that’s not singing, that’s damn screeching.”“MARIE!” Griedge groaned aloud. “You’re using swears the way the rest of us would use a comma. In front of the minors, too!”Marie shrugged, tearing open a packet of crisps. “What minors? Arlene’s back in Lyon with Bompastor, remember?”“Maybe Wendie went back to Lyon, too,” Grace suggested. “I’ve not seen her in two hours, where is she?”“Relax Grace, Wendie should be back soon! She’d never drive that far with a game the next day.” Selma pressed the play button on the remote. “Now who wants to see another bad performance?”A few minutes later, Wendie entered the lounge. Quickly apologising for worrying everybody, she leaned against the wall.“What’s behind your back?” Selma piped up, pointing to Wendie. The skipper’s hands seemed to be concealing something, covered in white. “Are you hiding something?”“Hiding something? Behind my back? Nooo…” But Wendie’s nervous smile suggested otherwise as she shuffled towards a corner, back still against the wall.“Wendie, you’ve always been a terrible liar,” said Grace, rolling her eyes. “Go ahead. Spill the beans.”Wendie sighed, approaching the group with her hands still behind her back. She made her way to where Griedge was sitting, feet propped on an ottoman. “Close your eyes, Griedge.”“Okay…” But Griedge kept her eyes open wide.“You’re not closing your eyes, you’re opening them!”“Well, how do we know that Sakina didn’t send you a buzzer to prank me with?”“I wouldn’t do that!”“She makes a point, Wendie,” Melvine pointed out, reclining on the sofa. “Although you wouldn’t do that, Sakina would still try. I don’t get why Diacre didn’t call her up this time. She’s not injured or anything, right?”“Really, Melvine?” Selma groaned, pausing the TV. “You’re going to bring that up? It’s bad enough that Diacre didn’t call up Sandy. She’s been playing really well, she deserves a call-up!”“Girls!” Kadi scolded, finger wagging in the air. “We don’t talk about Diacre!”“Sorry,” the two mumbled, and Kadi pulled them in for a hug.Satisfied that Wendie wasn’t carrying a buzzer, Griedge closed her eyes, opening her arms. A large yet light bundle was pressed into her arms, and Griedge opened her eyes to find she was holding a bouquet of multicoloured roses.“Oh, you shouldn’t have!” Griedge exclaimed, a broad grin stretching across her face. She brought the bouquet up to her nose, inhaling the sweet scent.“Ooh, you got Griedge flowers!” Marie turned towards the two with a devilish grin. “Who’s in love now?”“Come on, Marie! Roses aren’t just for couples—they’re given between friends, as well.” Wendie took a seat next to Griedge. “Do you like them, Griedge? I wasn’t sure which colour you’d like, so I got them all.”“Of course I love them, they’re all beautiful.” Griedge carefully set the flowers on the side table, then pounced upon Wendie in a tackle hug. “Just like the giver.”“Thankfully, they're as lovely as the recipient.” Gently, Wendie plucked a crimson rose from the bouquet, tucking it in Griedge’s hair. “Don’t forget that, okay? Paul knows nothing about beauty, otherwise he wouldn’t dare say anything about you.”Pauline raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Wait. Paul?”“Paul Pogba. Mon ex petit ami,” Wendie explained, shaking her head. “If he says anything wrong to any of you, I, as your captain, am giving you permission to slap him across the face.”Pauline, Selma and Melvine laughed, along with a few others in the room. But they stopped short upon realising that while they were laughing, Kadi, Delphine and Marie all wore very serious expressions.“What’s going on?” Pauline spoke up, albeit very quietly. “Why aren’t you guys laughing?”Nobody heard her. They were all focused on the ongoing interaction between Griedge and Wendie.“You’ll have to play with Aissatou,” said Griedge, leaning against Wendie’s shoulder. “I know you’ll try to make it work, but we all know that you and Aissatou’s systems of defence clash. Are you sure that I shouldn’t give her some pointers?”“You can try, but it would be unfair to Aissatou. She’s playing the way that makes her feel comfortable, and who am I to impose that upon her?” Wendie shook her head in disagreement, weaving Griedge’s small braids into a larger plait. “No, we’ll just use what we’ve got. I’ll try my best, and if I score out there, I’m dedicating the goal to you.”This elicited a chuckle from Griedge. “Not Marie?”“Marie got her goal dedication already. It’s time for yours now.” *When Wendie had told Griedge that she would try her best, she’d never expected this to come.A 2-1 win for Germany, which meant a 2-1 loss for France. A brace for Alexandra Popp, and a penalty from Vivianne Asseyi (although Wendie personally thought there should have been two penalties given earlier).Wendie hadn’t been able to prevent those goals, twice. And the worst thing was that, even though the Germany game was a friendly, it felt like the semifinal they’d lost in the Euros—because it was the second time it had happened in four months.In the tunnel, Wendie spotted somebody approaching. It was Pauline. Even though the goalkeeper had played the full 90 minutes, she didn’t seem anywhere near as exhausted as Wendie felt.“Wendie!” Pauline leant against the wall, quickly scanning for press or paparazzi. Thankfully, there were none. “I was looking for you.”Wendie froze. “Why? Did something happen?”“No, the girls were just wondering why you hadn’t come to the locker room yet. They sent me to ask if you’re okay.” Pauline narrowed her eyes into slits, tilting her head to one side. “Are you okay?”Wendie quickly nodded, a familiar anxiety rising inside her. “I’m fine.”But Pauline wouldn’t be fooled that easily. “Wendie, we all know you care about the game. We just got beaten by the Germans for the second time in four months. You’re not fine.”Wendie sighed in defeat, walking away from where she’d just been standing. Pauline followed, hot on her heels.“It’s just that…I told Griedge that I’d try today,” the skipper finally admitted. She ripped off her captain’s armband, clutching the yellow fabric in her fist. “Now the Germans beat us, again! I’m a defender, I should’ve been able to keep at least one of those chances away from you.”“I get where you’re coming from.” Pauline slowly peeled off her gloves, stuffing them under her arm. “As a goalkeeper, my one job is to stop the goals from going in. So when our side concedes, I’m the first one the pundits seek to blame.”Wendie nodded, slinging an arm around her teammate’s shoulders. “That is a lot. It must take some mental strength to put up with that, huh?”“Oui, a lot of mental strength. But a good support system is also important.” Her voice grew quieter, and her gaze drifted to her feet. “Just like Camille.”“I bet she was.” Wendie knew it sounded lame, but what else could she say? She’d barely known Pauline’s ex-girlfriend before the keeper had announced they’d parted ways. Wendie only came to know more after her death, with how heartbroken Pauline had been.“Camille was the best support system ever,” Pauline went on. “After a match, she’d buy flowers—just like you did for Griedge today.”Wendie looked away, a faint blush rising up her cheeks. “It’s not the first time I got her flowers.”The goalkeeper smirked. “Ooh, you two have something going on, don’t you?”Wendie said nothing, instead choosing to notice how the paint on the walls had slightly faded.“They were always the same kind of flower—red roses,” Pauline went on. “I’ll admit I got a bit tired of them after a while, but it was the thought that counted, right? Anyways, Camille would let me ramble about the match while we watched Ted Lasso on Apple. It didn’t matter if I went on about the same goal for the whole conversation while that annoying song kept playing in the background. She’d just listen to me.”Wendie hummed in thought. “She sounded perfect for you.”“We’d often talk while we cooked. Sometimes I’d cook, and sometimes Camille almost burnt the whole kitchen down with her experiments. You don’t know how many times I had to reprint the Fire Safety 101 poster in our kitchen because it got some type of food splattered on it. In our kitchen, fire extinguishers were as common as spatulas.”Quietly, she laughed. Wendie couldn’t tell if it was bitter or fond, so she chose to remain quiet. “Now when I go to my house, that’s all it is: a house. There’s no Ted Lasso, no splatters on the Fire Safety 101 poster, no weird kitchen experiments that actually turn out to be good. And guess what the ironic thing is? You don’t know how much I’d pay to have red roses around the house now.”They walked the rest of the way in silence. Once the pair reached the locker room, Wendie stopped Pauline from opening the door.“Pauline…” Wendie ran a hand through her hair with a sigh. “I’ve tried to help you all these months. But now, I finally understand you.”Pauline frowned. “It’s okay, Wendie. You’ve understood me all this time.”“But I didn’t. Now I understand you and Camille’s relationship. She was more than a girlfriend to you, Pauline. Camille was your soulmate, your other half. You needed her to survive.”“That’s exactly what happened.”Wendie didn’t get it. “But if Camille was your soulmate, then why’d you break up with her?”Pauline stared down at her feet, hugging herself with one arm. “It’s…complicated. I guess we just fell out of sync after a while, and we started having disagreements. So we broke up—although we were still civil with each other. You could almost call us friends. But then I got the news, and…”Her voice cracked, and she pressed her hand to her heart in an attempt to regain composure. “It was awful. Camille was…found in her apartment in Turin. I found out just before the Euros, on July fourth. I played anyway because I didn’t know what else to do. If I didn’t play, I think I’d lose myself.”“Pauline…”“I still blame myself sometimes,” the goalkeeper admitted. “Like, if I was there in the apartment with her, could I have helped her? If we were still dating, would she have called me as her emergency contact?”“Pauline Peyraud-Magnin.” Wendie tried not to look too intimidating as she stared into Pauline’s eyes. “In no way is it your fault. You’re allowed to make your own decisions—if you and Camille decided to break up, you could because you’re adults.”“I know.” Pauline sighed. She pulled the elastic out of her hair, and it fell onto her shoulders, looking the way she felt at the moment--slightly limp. “I still wonder if I could have done something, though. We were still friends. Did she not trust me enough to call me?”“I didn’t know Camille as well as you did. But if you two remained friends after the breakup, that means she still trusted you. There was nothing you could do about it.”“Doesn’t help the matter.”Wendie sighed in defeat. “Is there anything I can do for you, Pauline? Anything at all? It doesn't matter how small it seems.”Pauline nodded, spreading her arms wide. “Hug me.”The defender didn’t waste a single second, wrapping her arms around her teammate and almost lifting her off the ground. They remained that way for what seemed like a long time.“Wendie!” Griedge opened the locker room door, invading the scene. “We were worried something happened to you! What happened to Pauline?”“I’ll explain later, Griedge.” Wendie let go of Pauline, gently lifting her chin so they were eye to eye. “I think you should go shower now, Pauline. It’ll do you good. Just remember that nothing that happened, in this game or…otherwise, was your fault, okay?”Pauline nodded, mouthing a silent “thank you” before scurrying into the locker room.“What was that all about?” Griedge asked Wendie once they were alone. “Is Pauline okay?”“She was…feeling a bit down about the match.” Wendie didn’t want to reveal too much about her and Pauline’s conversation—it had been very deep, after all. But Griedge could keep a secret. “She’s not doing too well, Griedge. She still blames herself for Camille's...passing, and it’s not helping her on the pitch, either. I think she has survivor’s guilt.”Griedge shook her head, clearly dismayed from the report. “Not good. What do we do?”“Nothing, really. She looked a little better after telling me so I guess she needed to get that off her chest. Only thing we can do is support her the best we can.”“You’re right, that’s the best we can do.” Griedge raised an eyebrow, scanning Wendie intently. “What’s wrong? I know you feel Pauline’s pain. We all sympathize with her. But there’s something else bothering you.”“You know me all too well, don’t you?” Wendie leaned against the wall, deep in her own thoughts. “It’s just that…I’ve realised Paul was a really huge scumbag. Not just to me, but to all of us. Including you.”Griedge shrugged, which was slightly harder for her due to her crutches. “It’s just a stupid comment, Wendie. That’s nothing compared to what he did to you.”“It is something. Paul had no right to say that to you.” Gently, Wendie clasped Griedge’s hand in hers, carefully minding her friend’s diminished balance. “It hurts just as much as if he’d said that to me, and do you know why?”“Why?”Wendie gestured towards the rose, slightly wilted but still in Griedge’s hair. “I love you.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Y-you love me?” Griedge nearly dropped her crutches, eyes widening in shock. “But I thought…you didn’t!”“What on earth do you mean?” Wendie closed the locker room door, standing in front of it. “I love you, Griedge, I really do. It’s not just out of pity, it’s sincere and true.”“What? I mean—this is amazing!” Griedge almost squealed in excitement, grabbing Wendie’s shoulders. “Not only do you like girls, you actually love me! You love me—oh, can we kiss?”Griedge leant in even closer, closing her eyes. She’d dreamt of this moment countless times. She hadn’t imagined that it would occur right after a loss to Germany, in the halls of a stadium in Germany—but it didn’t matter to her, not at all. All that mattered was the wonderful moment in front of her.And then flesh connected with flesh as an all-too familiar hand slapped her across the face.“Quel est ton problème?!” Wendie shouted, crossing her arms. “What is wrong with your mind?”Griedge flinched, hobbling backwards on one foot. In all of her years, she had never seen Wendie this upset before. “What do you mean, ‘what is wrong with my mind’? I was about to kiss you!”The skipper shook her head, hair flying out. “But did I ever tell you I wanted that? No, no, and no.”“But you—” Griedge couldn’t believe it. “You just said that you love me…you said it was sincere and true!”“As a friend! What gave you the idea to kiss me, in the halls of a German stadium, no less?”No. Griedge‘s hand went limp, almost letting go of her crutches—this couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t be—Wendie had just said so, and now…“T-this is why I never told you about it.”Wendie, who’d seemed ready to walk away, froze in her tracks. “What do you mean, it?”“So you haven’t even noticed?” Somewhere inside of her, Griedge found the audacity to laugh. “Wendie, I’ve been crushing on you since the World Cup. I always thought you didn’t notice, so I kept giving you hints. And you kept returning them.”“Hints? I didn’t give you any hints!”Griedge shook her head—could her friend really be this oblivious? “Seriously? You gave me nearly every hint in the world. You bought me flowers, you gave me affectionate nicknames, and you trusted me with your problems. For Christ’s sake, you even brought me along on national call ups, just so you and I could be together. You were flirting with me this whole time!”“I never meant to flirt with you!” Wendie insisted. “I thought all those actions were friendly. You know, really close best friends.”“So all this time, you never flirted with me.” Griedge forced the lump in her throat aside, clutching at her composure by gripping her crutches. “All those times, we stole each other’s clothes, spent the night at each other’s houses, and signed off each email with ‘love’, you were just being friendly.”“Diamante, I—”“Don’t call me that anymore.” Griedge sighed, turning her back on Wendie. “I don’t—I don’t want to hear that anymore.”“Griedge, wait!”For once, Griedge paid no heed to Wendie’s calls and pleas to stay as she hobbled away. She had to hold it together—at least until she got to somewhere private.Griedge half-limped, half ran across the hall, almost bumping straight into Kadi on the way. She managed to find a broom closet, slamming the door behind her before completely breaking down.Life was so unfair. How could this happen? She’d planned this for days, arranged it all. France would beat Germany, or there would at least be a good moment from the game, and Griedge would catch Wendie by surprise somewhere. Then she’d finally stop beating around the bush, like she’d been doing for the past three years, and confess her feelings. And then they would start their blissful-cross-chaotic life together as girlfriends, and then fiancees, and then…it hurt to even think about it.Why was life so hard? *“What’s taking her so long?” Grace wondered, leaning against her locker. It had been almost half an hour since the match ended, but the rest of the team hadn’t seen Wendie since the final whistle.Delphine tossed her ponytail, absentmindedly fiddling with the ends. “Oh, don’t worry, Grace! Griedge went to talk to Wendie. And you know what happens next. They’ll head off to their room, and then…”“Ugh! Delphine, really?!” Melvine groaned in disgust, smacking Delphine’s elbow. “Are you kidding me? I do not want to think about my captain’s love life, thank you very much!”“It happens to the best of us, Melvina,” Marie argued, barely holding back her laughter. “Find a partner, fall in love, k—”“Oh god, NO! Marie, you too?!” Melvine pulled her towel over her head. “This is why Wendie needs to be our chat moderator. You said ‘help yeah’ over a snail emoji.”Marie frowned, shaking her head. “That’s not right. I said ‘hell yeah’, not help.”Melvine rolled her eyes. “There goes my attempt at censoring Marie.”“A lame one at that. Because you can never censor me.”The door swung open, revealing Kadi. She made her way through the room without saying a word, hitting the bench with a long, exasperated sigh.“Kadi?” Selma was the first to move, scooting towards Kadi. “What’s going on?”Kadi sighed, rolling her eyes so high that they nearly fell off her head. “Let’s just say that we’ve got more problems than Diacre now.”“Oh crap, what happened?”“MARIE!!” Selma and Melvine groaned at the same time, facepalming. “Now, of all times?”“You do, too,” Marie reminded them. “The group chat, remember?”“Never mind that.” Grace gripped her seat, preparing for the bad news. “What’s new, Kadi?”Kadi ran a hand through her hair, twirling a braid as if to delay the revelation. The others’ gazes followed Kadi’s braid, looping and twisting around her finger. Finally, Kadi dropped the bomb.“Wendie and Griedge are having a fight. I don’t know what it’s about, but it seems huge.” *
You actually love me!
This is why I never told you about it.
How could Wendie have been so dumb?Griedge had a crush on her, for years. Not days, not weeks, but years. Three whole years, and all she’d done was blindly add fuel to Griedge’s fire.
All those times, we stole each other’s clothes, spent the night at each other’s houses, and signed off each email with ‘love’, you were just being friendly.
That wasn’t why she had done all that stuff. She’d done all that, because Griedge was her best friend. A fourth sister, a close teammate, a partner in crime. In front of her team, she’d sung all the praises in the world to Griedge: agile, strong, intelligent. She’d do so in private as well, and more would come to mind: empathetic, funny, good with youngsters. Witty, glamorous, attractive. If you were the last person in the world, I’d marry you without even thinking.Okay, those last four just might have been flirting. But Wendie hadn’t meant for it to come out that way. They were meant to be confidence boosters for Griedge, tokens of appreciation for Griedge being her rock for all this time. But her friend had taken them the wrong way—and now Wendie had broken Griedge’s heart. Just like Paul had done to her.The very idea of doing something like Paul made Wendie feel sick.Somehow, her hand found its way to the phone, robotically entering the password. Wendie hesitated before clicking on the group chat titled ‘Wise Council’.
wendiefox03
🦊: 😭 I just made a huge mistake
thegammaray
: what happened?
Fierce&Flowery
💮: Griedge and Wendie had a huge fight, IDK what it’s about
At the mention of that, Wendie had to fight back tears. They thought she and Griedge were having a fight, when she’d been the only one to do anything wrong.
wendiefox03🦊
: Griedge hates me now, I’m sure of it 💔😭💔😭💔😭💔😭💔😭
Sarah Bouhaddi
: oh no, how?
BallonD’orAda
: WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER, RENARD?
Wendie did her best not to close down the chat immediately. With all that had been going on, she’d completely forgotten about the match earlier. Wendie personally knew that she hadn’t played her best today, and Diacre would surely have a long talk with her as soon as she found her.
Fierce&Flowery
💮: Calm down Ada, you’re not helping. That’s exactly what Diacre calls her when she’s mad at her
BallonD’orAda:
It’s what the press call her, too
Fierce&Flowery💮:
Ada Hegerberg. You. Are. NOT. Helping.
wendiefox03🦊:
Griedge tried to kiss me today
BallonD’orAda:
OMG, I’m squealing
Sarah Bouhaddi: this is huge! Congrats, you two 👩🏾❤️👩🏿
thegammaray:
You’re right, Sarah, this is awesome!
Wendie couldn’t help the slight amusement that rose within her from these messages. Even when there was a possibility of a rift between her and Griedge, the others still celebrated as if Griedge had just married her.
Fierce&Flowery💮:
Hold on a minute, Kadi told me you and Griedge fought. Now you’re girlfriends?
thegammaray:
Considering Wendie’s a Cancerian and Griedge is a Pisces, I’m not surprised. Those two zodiac signs know how to break up and make up
wendiefox03🦊:
Griedge’s had a crush on me ever since the 2019 World Cup. She flirted with me, and she thought I was flirting back all this time. But those were supposed to be gestures of platonic friendship
wendiefox03🦊:
I kept adding fuel to her fire, and I led her on, only to break her heart 😭😭 just like Paul
thegammaray:
oh crap
For once in her life, Wendie decided to let a swear go complaint free. She already had enough problems on her hands without taking on the losing battle of keeping the group chats as clean as a G-rated movie.
Sarah Bouhaddi:
really, Sara? Marie’s bad enough, now you?!
thegammaray
: What? There are times when swearing is necessary, and this is one of them
wendiefox03🦊
: I panicked when she tried to kiss me, it was so sudden. Then I overreacted and now I’ve went and broken her heart
Fierce&Flowery💮
: You panicked, Wendie? You never panic
BallonD’orAda:
Except when it comes to love. Then Wendie denies, panics, sulks, et cetera, et cetera
Sarah Bouhaddi:
I didn’t know you spoke Latin, Ada
Fierce&Flowery💮
: 🚨🚨🚨🚨 ALERT. ADA IS NOT HELPING. ALERT. ADA IS NOT HELPING. 🚨🚨🚨🚨
thegammaray
: Wendie, you and I are talking about this when we play each other in the Champion’s League
wendiefox03🦊
: We can’t wait for that, I need help, NOW. I can’t live with myself knowing that I hurt Griedge so badly 😢 And she’s injured, too
thegammaray:
You did right to ask for help when you need it, Wendie 👍 Don’t worry, we’re gonna help you
wendiefox03🦊
: 😥 thanks, guys
Selma🥰: I just joined the chat, and oh no, Wendie! Here’s the first hug 🤗
thegammaray
: The FIRST hug? Besides the one I’ll give her after we play each other, anyways
Selma🥰
: I’m giving Wendie another one when I get into her room
Wendie shook her head, unlocking the broom closet door so this way Selma could come in when she was ready. wendiefox03🦊: 🥹 I don’t deserve you guys 😭❤😭❤😭❤😭❤😭❤
Selma🥰
: yes, you do ❤❤❤
wendiefox03🦊
: I unlocked the broom closet door for you, you can come in now
thegammaray
: Young lady, what have I told you about hiding in broom closets?
wendiefox03🦊
: Sara Gama, I’m only TWO years younger than you
Fierce&Flowery💮
: 😆
Sarah Bouhaddi
: You know Wendie, your situation kind of reminds me of Hercules
wendiefox03🦊
: The ancient Greek demigod? Because it doesn’t
Sarah Bouhaddi
: No, the 1997 Disney movie.
BallonD’OrAda
: Sarah Bouhaddi, you SERIOUSLY still watch Disney movies? LOL
Selma🥰
: When we see each other someday, can we have a Disney movie marathon?
thegammaray
: Selma, when Hercules came out you weren’t even BORN yet
Selma🥰
: what? Wendie told me you still watch the James Bond movies once in a while
thegammaray
: HEY THOSE ARE CLASSICS
Sarah Bouhaddi:
Yeah, I guess. Anyways, the important thing is that in the movie, Megara is a slave for Hades. She sold her soul to Hades so she could bring back her ex-boyfriend from the dead, but then the ex-boyfriend leaves her for another woman and she’s emotionally scarred from it. Then she starts to fall in love with Hercules after an evening out, but she keeps denying it, afraid that her heart will break again.
Sarah Bouhaddi
: In the end, Hercules and Megara end up together, Hercules sacrificing his immortality and god-like status and Megara opening up her heart and trusting somebody for the first time in a long time.
Selma🥰
: Aww, that’s so sweet. Let’s watch it now!
Sarah Bouhaddi: Maybe later, grasshopper 💚 But the important thing is, Wendie and Megara have a lot in common
wendiefox03🦊
: I just googled a picture of her, and my muscles are FAR stronger than hers will ever be
thegammaray
: I think Sarah means that you’re still scarred from what Paul did, Wendie. Like Megara, you’re avoiding love so you won’t be hurt again
BallonD’orAda:
She’s right, Wendie. Have you even tried dating again after Paul?
Wendie stopped to think about it. She hadn’t even considered going into any romantic relationship since the incident with Paul. A couple of people she knew had suggested trying to look for a partner, but she’d never thought about it more than a casual “I’ll see”.
wendiefox03🦊
: No 😳
Sarah Bouhaddi:
Then that proves my point. The reason you reacted like that was because you still carry trauma from what Paul did to you, and now you’re afraid to enter a romantic relationship
Fierce&Flowery💮:
The good news is that I don’t think Griedge will be too mad if you apologise to her for your reaction. Surely she’d forgive you. Maybe she’d even propose to you on that very ground 💍💍 And then you can say yes
wendiefox03🦊:
But that’s the thing. I don’t really want a romantic relationship with Griedge
thegammaray:
WHAT THE ACTUAL HECK
Fierce&Flowery💮
: You don’t?!
Selma🥰:
But I thought you did!
Wendie shook her head, barely holding back the chuckles. Considering all that time her and Griedge’s teammates and friends had been calling them a couple, the others had handled it pretty well.
wendiefox03🦊
: I don’t! I mean, I like Griedge and all. To me, she’s my best friend, a soul twin. And yes, I DO make comments that could be interpreted as flirtatious, but I only ever meant to joke with her and boost her self-confidence. I love Griedge as my best and closest friend, and nothing more.
BallonD’OrAda
: That’s exactly what you should tell Griedge
wendiefox03🦊
: But I told you what Griedge said. She’s had a crush on me for the past three years. Even if she accepts it, how can Griedge expect the yearning of three years to just disappear into nothingness?
BallonD’OrAda:
True 😔
thegammaray
: Here’s what you do, Wendie. Get your behind out of the broom closet, and go tell Griedge what you just told us. Explain why you reacted the way you did and tell her how you truly feel about your relationship. Then you two can sort a compromise out
Sarah Bouhaddi:
Tell us how it goes, Wendie
wendiefox03🦊
: Sounds like a plan. Thanks, you guys 😊🥰 Love you all
wendiefox03🦊:
platonically
thegammaray
: We love you too Wendie, and we also know what you mean 👍
Selma🥰: I’m at the door now
wendiefox03🦊
: Come on in
The door creaked open, light filtering into the dark broom closet. By the time Wendie’s eyes had adjusted to the increase in lighting, Selma had already engulfed her in one of her famous tackle hugs.“Selma, you’re squishing my arms,” Wendie protested, trying to extract her arms from Selma’s grip. “Now how can I hug you back?”“This isn’t about hugging me back. This is about you,” said the youngster. “Now get cosy.”Wendie said nothing, but stopped trying to escape from Selma’s embrace.“Thanks, Selma,” Wendie mumbled after a while, ignoring the cramping in her legs due to the tiny broom closet. “I needed that.”“You did.” Selma let go of Wendie, extending a hand to her. “Now let’s go talk to Griedge. I know where she is already.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Selma led Wendie to another broom closet, closer to the locker room. Upon seeing the locker room’s door, Wendie tensed, standing straight as an arrow.“What happened?” Selma, who was holding her captain’s hand, had felt the change in demeanour almost immediately. “Is it the press?”“No, no press.” Then in a quiet, rueful voice, “This is where Griedge and I fought.”“Oh.” Selma frowned, halting her relentless plough towards the broom closet. “You really regret saying no to her, huh?”“I don’t regret saying no! It’s just that…the way I said it was…”“Then let’s go already!” Selma pulled even harder, pointing towards the locker room door. “Griedge will be in there, and then you two can make up. And then everything will be alright again!" She paused and said, "How does that sound?”Wendie, not trusting herself to speak, just nodded.By the time they got there, Kadi was already at the door. She seemed like she’d been there for a long time.“Where’s Griedge?” Wendie’s gaze, which had been a thousand miles away for the whole walk over, migrated to the broom closet door. “Is she okay? Can I talk to her?”“Oh, Wendie!” Kadi plastered on a smile, running her hands through her braids. “My favourite captain!”Well, Wendie didn’t have fourteen years of captaining experience for nothing. She knew when somebody was actually fine, and when they were faking. “What happened, Kadi? Is Griedge okay?”“On that subject...” Kadi shrugged, while still avoiding eye contact. “I might have talked with Griedge...for you.”Selma gulped, a shiver going down her spine. Young as she was, even she knew that this was not going to go well.“KADIDIATOU DIANI!!!” *“So how did the talk go?” Melvine asked from under the blankets. She and Selma were having a sleepover after the match, reasoning that Diacre was less likely to take them down if they were together.“To make a long story short, not good.” Selma brought a bowl of popcorn to the bed, settling down among the various throw pillows. “Kadi told Griedge that Wendie has trust issues when it comes to romance and that she’s afraid Griedge will break her heart like Paul did.”Melvine raised an eyebrow, grabbing a handful of the popcorn. “And is that true?”“Well, sort of,” Selma admitted. “But then Griedge took it the wrong way, and now she’s not only upset, but mad at Wendie for pretending to trust her. But Wendie does trust Griedge. She just doesn’t want a romantic relationship with her.”“Whoa, that’s deep.” Melvine sighed, leaning against the pillows. “I’m guessing that Wendie’s mad at Kadi now.”“You guess? You should have heard Wendie’s tirade at her earlier. I think Wendie took some of her own anger out on Kadi, but she was wrong, too. Her reasoning was right, but she should have left the talk to Wendie.”Melvine yawned, leaning back against the headrest. “How’d you get so wise, Selma?”“I don’t know.” The fullback laid against her pillows, only half focused on the TV screen in front of her. “I guess being in the groupchat with Wendie and her friends really helps.”“We’re all in the ‘Clairefontaine Bleues’ chat,” Melvine argued.“No, the ‘Wise Council’ chat. It’s got Wendie and some of the others. Wendie brought me there so this way I could see what she and Sara got up to.” Selma dug her phone from the drawers, quickly entering the password. “Get your phone, Melvine. Maybe I could bring you into the chat, too.” * Wendie couldn’t sleep. Honestly, she didn’t expect to get much, but the combination of the loss and her argument with Griedge had rendered her unable to drift off for even a bit.Flipping her pillow for what seemed to be the twentieth time that night, Wendie listened out for any strange sounds. Nobody was storming through the halls, which was a good thing considering that Diacre could come up any minute. But she could hear a strange whimpering coming from outside.Rising as quietly as she could, Wendie navigated the halls without making so much as a peep. She had grown very skilled in this art while sneaking around the halls of Clairefontaine as a youngster, racing Griedge to the pool to take a dip at two o’clock in the morning before anybody caught them.It seems like almost all my memories in France have Griedge with them now, she thought while passing Pauline’s door. Wendie had to be extra quiet as she walked past, as the goalkeeper was a light sleeper.She tracked down the sound until she reached a certain door. It was Marie’s room, conveniently located away from the youngsters’ rooms. Normally, Wendie would have no issue opening the door to see what was going on, but there was one small problem—Griedge, who’d been sharing a room with Wendie the whole time, had moved her stuff to Marie’s room after the fight.Silently praying that the noise was just an owl or a passing car, Wendie turned the knob and slowly pulled the door open. While Marie was sleeping peacefully in her bed, Griedge, who had fallen asleep on the easy chair, was muttering and calling out in her sleep as if she was having a nightmare.Part of Wendie wanted to jump to the rescue and shake her awake. But thanks to the living nightmare she was currently stuck in, if Griedge woke up she wouldn’t know what to do. Eventually instinct won the day and she silently tiptoed past Marie’s bed and towards the chair, grabbing a harlequin mask that Marie had been using that afternoon.“It’s okay,” she whispered, standing behind the chair. Ever so carefully, she touched Griedge’s shoulder, the part that was covered by the warm flannel of her pyjamas. “You’re safe, diamante, it’s okay.”Griedge stirred, but didn’t wake up. She thrashed out in her sleep, and Wendie barely missed one of her flailing arms.“You’re safe in bed.” Wendie went on with her improvised mantra, silently praying that Marie wouldn’t wake Griedge up with a sleep swear. “The youngsters are happy, we’re all happy. Diacre isn’t upset with you at all, Arlene is back with Bompastor.” She fought back the growing lump in her throat before whispering the last part. “I’m here with you. I’ll always be here with you.”Finally, Griedge’s yelps and shudders quieted down to soft snores. Setting down the mask where she’d found it, Wendie exited the room as quietly as she’d come in. She knew that her plan had worked—even though her words had calmed the centerback down, Griedge wouldn’t know who had said them. The last bit of that statement caused each step to feel extra heavy as she made her way back to bed.She didn’t sleep for the rest of the night. *The next morning, Griedge didn’t come down for breakfast. Marie revealed the reason why: Griedge had taken a bus home to Lyon and wouldn’t be returning for the rest of the international break.Upon hearing that, Wendie lost all appetite she’d possessed earlier, listlessly pushing around her food as Diacre rambled on about the previous match. Twice, Diacre told her off for spacing out, and eventually she gave up.“Whoever actually decides to listen to me can meet me in the office,” she’d said, glaring at Wendie. “Those who decide to be like Renard here, can forget their chances of playing in our friendly versus Sweden—”Before anybody could interrupt Diacre, her phone rang. She left the room with her laptop and coffee mug as if she’d never said anything.Wendie let out a sigh of relief, turning to the seat next to her. She’d failed to remember that Griedge wasn’t there, and so met the disappointment of an empty seat. With Diacre out of the room and Kadi coming down for breakfast, Wendie excused herself from the table, saying that she was going to the gym. *Wendie couldn’t really focus during the next day’s training session. She couldn’t relax at all when the team had assembled in the lounge to watch a movie together. It was Ted Lasso, the team’s favorite comedy, and that was when her teammates knew something was up.“How are things with Griedge?” Pauline asked. “Kadi told me what happened.”“Of course Kadi told you what happened,” said Wendie, not even looking at Pauline. “The team rumor-spreader? Clearly she had to distribute the news. ‘Best friends, believed to be girlfriends by close group, break up.’ Best headline ever, huh?”“Uh…” Pauline shifted closer to the other end of the couch. “You okay?”“Give her some time,” said Delphine, turning the volume back on. “She’s probably still thinking about that fight.”Wendie remained silent, desperately trying to avoid conversation. Sure, her fight with Griedge kept replaying in her mind—Delphine was right about that. But what bothered her more was how much she missed Griedge.It wasn’t a normal feeling of missing, like when one of them had to be away and the other stayed behind. This was as if somebody had stolen a piece of her, and hidden it far, far away in a labyrinth. *It wasn’t much of a surprise that France lost to Sweden a few days later. For the first time in months, Wendie couldn’t shake the feeling that the blame for the defeat rested squarely on her shoulders.“You okay?” Even Aissatou Tounkara, who Wendie didn’t know very well at all, could tell that something was up. “I mean, I know I didn’t help very much with that red card I got, but—”“It’s not your fault, Aissa.” Wendie sighed, completely defeated. “If anything, I should have been there to help you out.”“Wow, Renard. For once, you’re right.”Diacre sauntered into the room, clipboard still in hand. Her gaze was fixed on the pair—something that Wendie took as a very bad sign.The manager pointed to Aissatou, scowling. “What was the purpose of that red card, Aissatou? It was inconvenient, and especially at this time too!”“Which I wholeheartedly agree with, and I deeply apologize. But it can’t be just my fault,” Aissatou argued. “We win as a team, and we lose as a team.”“And you, Renard.” Wendie recoiled under Diacre’s steely glare. Whatever courage she had evaporated, leaving her fixated to the bench like she was still a small child. “Just what the hell was that?! You were nearly invisible out there! No wonder Aissatou got a red card.”Usually, Wendie would have fought back, or given a simple objection. Something in her—or rather, a lack of something in her—prevented her from confronting Diacre. Aissatou didn’t seem to be lacking anything in the way of guts, though, as she practically leaped off the bench.“Corinne Diacre.” Aissatou laughed, as if in utter disbelief. “I know you’re not the best player manager, but I expected better than what you just said. Look at me in the eyes and tell me you did not just blame Wendie for my red card.”“I did not!” Diacre snapped. Even though she and Aissatou were the same height, her expression was enough to make her seem several inches taller. “I merely suggested that she wasn’t covering enough for you, therefore making you have to cover up her fault.”“Diacre, I don’t say this often.” Aissatou drew a deep breath, as if the oxygen contained the courage she desired. “But would you just shut up? You don’t even know what you’re talking about. Wendie has to save our butts at least five times every single game.”“She’s right,” Wendie muttered from the bench. But she didn’t even look up at Aissatou. Instead, she focused all her attention on Diacre. “I even went into midfield so we can have some creativity. We could have had some creativity, if you hadn’t left most of our creative midfielders on the bench. We could have had some team stability, if you hadn’t been such a…”“Scumbag.” Kadi finished the sentence, striding into the room. “Do you know what I’ve heard here? You’re blaming Wendie for Aissatou’s red card.”“Wait a minute.” Aissatou stared at Kadi as if she’d just grown a mustache. “How long have you been listening in?”“Not important. You don’t know what Wendie’s going through right now, Diacre. You don’t know what any of us are going through right now, because your head is so thick that you can’t see when your players are going through personal crises.”“W-what?” Diacre stepped back, holding her hands up in the air. “What are you talking about, Kadidiatou?”“How much time do you have? Because there’s a lot to unpack.” Kadi crossed her arms, glaring at Diacre. “Pauline’s suffering from survivor’s guilt. Wendie has trust issues. Griedge is heartbroken. Both Wendie and Griedge are in a gigantic misunderstanding, because Griedge had a crush on her and Wendie doesn’t even know how she feels about things.”“I—”“Right. I’m not done yet, thank you for pointing that out, Diacre. I’m struggling with sensory overload because I hear everything. Selma’s the bubbly one, but Pauline tells me she’s putting on a facade so she can give everybody a reason to smile. Our team is depending on a kid to bring them joy, it’s ridiculous.”Diacre opened her mouth to protest. She promptly snapped it shut again upon seeing Wendie’s glare.“We will not accept this crap from you anymore,” Kadi finished, turning her back on Diacre. “Wendie gave you one more chance, and so far you haven’t made anything out of it.”With that, the forward left the room, taking Aissatou with her. Wendie slipped out of the room while she thought Diacre wasn’t noticing.“Why’d you do that, Kadi?” Wendie asked Kadi as soon as she caught up to the midfielder. “You could’ve gotten suspended for swearing at Diacre.”Kadi huffed, tossing a hand in the air. “For all she’s done, she deserves it. She deserves it for all she hasn’t done, too. I mean, Diacre doesn’t need to be our therapist. But she doesn’t need to be a total…”“Scumbag?” Aissatou suggested.Kadi nodded resolutely. “Exactly. Anyways, it’s the best I could do considering my third-wheeling failed.” She extended her hand to Wendie. “Truce?”Wendie shook Kadi’s hand, offering her a wryly amused smile. “Truce.”It was the first time she’d smiled in days. *Lyon had conceded five goals. Five goals. At home, in the Champions' League, the competition they crushed to pieces almost every year.A hidden but small part of Wendie wanted to flee the locker room immediately, as the very sight of her teammates, dejected and broken, was almost unbearable to her. However, that same sight also happened to trigger her captain’s instinct. She couldn’t just leave them like this, so Wendie pushed down the increasing urge to run away from the issue and made her way over to Selma. The youngster looked about ready to burst into tears on the spot, the towel on her head barely concealing her expression.“Selma.” Wendie took a seat next to Selma, getting as close as she could to the fullback. “How are you feeling right now?”“W-we let them score five goals,” Selma mumbled, pulling the towel so that it cloaked her expression. “Is it m-my fault?”“What? No way. We win as a team and we lose as a team, and it is not solely your fault.” The captain ran a hand through Selma’s hair in an attempt to calm her. She looked up at her other teammates, all experiencing different levels of dejection. “That goes for all of you girls. We win as a team and we lose as a team.”Some of the older ones nodded, gathering their things and heading towards the showers. More than one brought another teammate with them, after cajoling them to get off the bench.But, even after all her teammates had showered and left, Wendie chose to stay in the locker room. She herself couldn’t think, she couldn’t even breathe. Her earlier response to Selma had been the obvious one, the one she’d programmed into her system years ago.She could only take two comforts from the horror show, the first one being that they didn’t concede more goals. If they’d conceded more than five goals, Renard would have sank into the ground by now.The second one, ironically, was that Griedge hadn’t played in this defeat. Her fellow defender was optimistic, but with such a scoreline, Wendie didn’t know how Griedge would have reacted.Probably not well, thanks to what you did to her. Wendie pressed her hands to her ears, trying to drive the voice away. You dumped her.We weren’t even dating, another voice in her head shot back.You could have been, if you’d let her down gently. Now you’re doomed to suffer for the rest of your life.Wendie’s phone buzzed from under her training jacket. There was only one notification—a text from Sara. thegammaray: how are you feeling right now, Wendie?wendiefox03🦊: awful, to be honestthegammaray: We-lost-the-game awful, or Griedge-awful?wendiefox03🦊: Admittedly the latterthegammaray: That’s it. We’re having a talk. Thursday, after our match versus each other. We’re going out, and we’re going to communicate in person. Wendie hesitated, thumb hovering the digital keyboard. There was only one reason why Sara would want to talk to her in-person. She hadn’t really talked about her fight with Griedge since the day it happened, and honestly she was scared of that particular conversation. But it had to be done eventually, and if anybody would lecture her, Sara would be the best one to do it. wendiefox03🦊: okaythegammaray: that’s the captain I know and love
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Thursday’s game versus Juventus passed like a blur for Wendie. The game finished in a 1-1 draw, with Lyon’s attacking issues present for all to see. After Lyon scored the first goal, Melvine accidentally turned a Juventus cross into her own net, leveling the scoreline.Wendie made quick work of her post-match duties, showering as quickly as possible after the team talk. She needed to find Sara, and she needed to do it before one of her teammates called her and she got busy doing something else.Right now she was stuffing her things inside her backpack, trying to calculate the time. Sara was always very fast, but if Wendie skipped the step of neatly organizing her bag, she could finish before the Italian did.“What’s the rush, Wendie?”Wendie shot her head up from the bench. Bompastor stood in the doorway, blond hair pulled back with a bright pink, cherry-patterned scrunchie. Wendie personally thought it looked ridiculous on her, but if it made her coach happy, Wendie was all for it.“I’m…going to see a friend.” It wasn’t exactly a lie, but Wendie still hated the way it came out. She was the captain; she should be staying behind for her team. Apparently Bompastor thought the same way, because she made her way towards Wendie, taking a seat on the bench.“It’s not your pattern to leave right after a game.” Bompastor crossed her legs and leant against a locker, a sure sign that she wasn’t leaving anytime soon. “Is something wrong, Wendie?”Even though she knew the question would be coming soon, Wendie immediately flinched. “Don’t worry about it, Bompastor, I talked with the others already. Melvine was upset, but she’ll be fine now, and—”Bompastor raised a finger, interrupting Wendie. “I know you wouldn’t neglect your duties as captain. I’m just asking if everything is truly alright. You have seemed off lately…”“I’m fine.”“Now, now. We know that’s not true, don’t we?” Defeated, Wendie sighed and glanced at Bompastor. “Promise me you won’t be mad.”Bompastor nodded. “I won’t say a word until you’re done.”So Wendie told Bompastor everything. About the call-up, the flowers, and the Germany game. She told Bompastor about her talk with Pernille-Magrene, and then the pivotal moment: her fight with Griedge.“So let me get this straight,” said Bompastor after a long while. She tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ear. “Griedge tried to kiss you, and you slapped her?”Wendie barely nodded, gaze riveted to the ground in embarrassment. “Something I fully regret.”“I can imagine that you do.” Bompastor’s tone was sympathetic, but not overly so. “Then you two fought, and Griedge left the camp, and you haven’t talked since, right?”“Right.”“And how long have you two been on non speaking terms?”Wendie stared down at the bench. “Well, it was after the Germany game. So it’s been…” She did the math, then gasped. “It’s been twenty days?”Bompastor facepalmed. “You two are so oblivious.”“I know.”“Please tell me you and Griedge will sort this out.” Bompastor said. “I’ve seen you two together, your relationship is lovely.”Wendie nearly choked on her water. “Relationship?”“No, not romantic! At least not if you two don’t want to.” Bompastor held her hands up in defense. “Don’t rush yourself into anything if you don’t want to, even if it is Griedge. Only enter a relationship with her, if you want to.”Wendie glanced at her watch, then almost fell off her seat. If she didn’t hurry up and get ready, she would be late for her appointment with Sara. “I’m so sorry, but I have to get going. I have an appointment with Sara and—”“It’s fine, I won’t bite you.” Bompastor rose from the bench, tightening her pink scrunchie. “Good luck, Wendie.”Wendie let out a sigh of relief she didn’t know she’d been holding. “Thank you, Bompastor.” *Wendie checked her watch for the third time, groaning in disgust. Currently, she stood outside a restaurant in downtown Turin, not far from the stadium. But Sara wasn’t there as agreed—and Wendie couldn’t remember a time that her friend went back on a promise.She took a seat on a bench and checked her WhatsApp. Just like it had been for the past twenty days, there was nothing from Griedge, not even a text. Nevertheless, Wendie clicked on Griedge’s contact, scrolling from the bottom up.The first few messages on the bottom were all from Wendie, simple messages that all said “are you OK?”. None of those six texts had been answered. The last message from Griedge was from the day of the Germany game, after full time. wendie🦊: Vivianne scored the penalty
griedge
💎: I saw, maybe now we can get an equalizer
wendie
🦊: I doubt it, you know how our team is. It’ll just be a consolation
griedge
💎: so true
griedge
💎: BTW, love the shortened chat name
wendie
🦊: Yeah, the other girls had problems telling between “wendiefox03🦊” and “wendie’sdiamante💎”
griedge
💎: So did I, to be honest. TTYL 💙🤍❤️
wendie
🦊: TTYL 💙🤍❤️
A blue heart, a white heart and a red heart. Wendie sighed; she really had dropped every hint in the world.“You weren’t wrong, Griedge,” she whispered, texting another “are you OK” message to Griedge. “You weren’t wrong at all.”After what seemed like forever, a car pulled up in front of the restaurant. Sara stepped out of it, her leather handbag swinging in the air as she stepped onto the sidewalk. She wore a suit and heels, and Wendie instantly felt underdressed in her own black jeans and rose sweater.“How’d you find the time to get all dressed up?” Wendie couldn’t help but say as she and Sara high-fived. “The match just finished.”Sara smirked, glancing down at the ground. “My house isn’t that far from the stadium. Plus…I think dinner with my little sis is an occasion to dress up.”Wendie rolled her eyes, but her smile gave her away. “If I brought you home claiming that you’re my big sister, Mom would think I’m insane. You’re half a foot shorter than me.”Sara shrugged. “Worth a shot.”The two picked out a table in a corner of the restaurant. Since the reporters and local sports papers were busy covering the happenings of the matches, it was highly unlikely that they would be disturbed.“What are you ordering?” Sara asked, looking up from her menu.Wendie shook her head. “I don’t know. Griedge and I would always order the same thing when we went to a new restaurant.”Sara said nothing, but ordered two large plates of ravioli.“Well, I think you know what we do now, Wendie,” said the Italian after some time. “It’s time to talk about Griedge.”Wendie simply nodded, bracing herself for what was coming. “Okay.”“You first,” Sara offered, taking a sip of her ice water. “I want to hear your side of the story; I want to hear what you think.”“Well…” Wendie drew a deep breath, trying to combine all the scrambled thoughts in her head into one coherent explanation.“I can guess what you want to say to me, Sara: what the heck was I thinking? I get it. I dropped every hint in the world to Griedge, and I was so oblivious that she loved me. And instead of doing something about it, or letting her down gently, I slapped her.”“…That’s all?”Wendie nodded. “That’s everything.”Sara rolled her eyes. “Not much to work with, Wendie. I’m going to ask you three important questions now—”“Go right ahead, Madame Love Doctor.”“No, listen to me,” Sara insisted, folding her arms. “I want you to answer honestly. First of all, do you feel bad about the fight?”“Do I even need to say it? Yes, of course. If I could turn back time to our argument, I’d do anything to stop it. I’d even let Griedge kiss me, if we could just be on good terms again. I keep texting her, and she doesn’t answer my messages. She left Clairefontaine early because of me, and I only thought we’d ever do that because of Diacre.” Wendie sighed, staring down at the wooden table. “Not because of me.”“Well…alright then.” Sara managed to remain calm despite Wendie’s sudden outburst. “If you feel that way…I don’t think I need to ask you the second question.”But Wendie still needed to know. “What's the second question?”“Would you kiss her?”Wendie nearly choked on her glass of water. “What?!”“Oh, God, no. That came out wrong! What I meant to say is…” Sara trailed off, fiddling with her napkin. “Would you kiss Griedge? Just try to imagine it. Can you see yourself doing that?”Wendie tried to imagine all the times her and Griedge had been that close. They’d kissed each other on the cheeks before, yes, but it was more of a friendly greeting than a romantic gesture. Wendie had to admit it, though—she thoroughly enjoyed every one of those sessions, snuggling on the couch or holding hands or even…“Earth to Wendie Renard!” Sara pierced Wendie’s thought bubble. “What’s your answer?”“To be fair, I enjoy all of it,” said Wendie, still deep in thought. “The hugs, the hand-holding, the kisses…”“Ah-ha!” Sara exclaimed. “So you do love her.”“Well, not really…”“Wendeline Therese Renard.” Even though Sara was half a foot shorter than Wendie while standing, the two were nearly the same height when seated. So Sara had no problem meeting Wendie’s eyes, which dashed to and fro before settling. “I know the truth, and deep down you know the truth, too. You’re in love with Griedge, and it’s so obvious.”“Then why did I slap her?” Wendie stared into space, head between her hands. “If I love her—which I think I do—why did I slap her?”“I told you the answer to that twenty days ago,” Sara sighed, facepalming. “You panicked—”“I know I panicked, Sara! I accepted it, you accepted it! The only person who won’t understand that is Griedge—she’s the one person who needs to understand!”“Wendie, let me finish! You panicked,” Sara explained, “because you still have bad memories from Paul. Remember? You tried to kiss him on your last date, but he pushed you away and you had a fight, which ultimately led to the break-up.”Wendie shook her head. “I can’t use that as an excuse. Paul was a jerk, but Griedge is one of the kindest people I’ve met.”Sara’s eyes widened. “So what you’re saying is…”Wendie nodded, allowing herself a slight smile. Sara seemed to understand what she was trying to say. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, Sara. My experiences with Paul played a huge part in this, but I can’t use it as an excuse. I overreacted and I gave Griedge hints…because I do love her.”Sara visibly relaxed, clasping Wendie’s hand from across the table. “I think that’s the right verdict.”“But…” Wendie drew a breath, trying to ignore the growing lump in her throat. “Griedge and I haven’t conversed in days. How do I get her to talk with me now?”Sara smirked, nodding towards the other tables. “You could contact Griedge over text…or you could talk with her right now.”“R-right now?”“Why, yes.” Sara pointed towards a table, quite a distance from her. “Griedge’s right there at that table.”In a split second, Wendie was among the crowd, searching for Griedge. She searched in every direction possible, dodging several waiters in the process. Finally, she found Griedge, sitting at a table with narrowed eyebrows. Wendie wondered what could have happened to make her friend so angry."Griedge!" she whisper-shouted. "Over here!"But Griedge didn't respond. Wendie narrowed her eyes into splits, trying to see what on earth could have Griedge so occupied. When she finally did see it, she almost fell backwards in shock.Paul Pogba was sitting at Griedge's table, grinning like the idiot he was. And hidden behind his back in his left hand, Wendie spotted a small black box, slightly open. A waiter passed by holding a candelabra, and the light shone on the box, revealing the one thing Wendie never wanted to see in Paul's hand.A diamond ring.
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Wendie was glued to her seat, just like the US women’s national team were glued to the World Cup trophy every year. Frozen, she watched as Paul made conversation with Griedge. What could they be talking about that’s so important? How did Paul find Griedge? Why are they even talking?“So let me get this straight.” Paul leaned against the table, suavely brushing back his short hair. “Wendie dumped you for another babe?”Liar! I did not. I only ever dated you. But Wendie kept silent. She took a seat at an empty table and pretended to read a menu. The only way to know what Paul was really up to was to spy on him, and the only way to do that was to not blow her cover.“Who told you that?” Griedge set down her menu, staring straight at Paul.“Please, Griedge, I’m not ignorant.” Yes you are, otherwise you would notice my stare boring holes into your soul. “I play in this city, and a little birdie told me the info a few nights ago.”“That little birdie had better not be Wendie,” Griedge muttered, and Wendie barely managed to hide her shock.Paul chuckled, removing his sunglasses. “Oh, no, Wendie didn't tell me, rest assured, Griedge. That girl hasn’t talked to me since our little spat—she even blocked my phone number.” He shook his head. “The sly little fox wants nothing to do with me.”“And with good reason. You treated her like she was nothing but your domestic, and completely neglected the fact that she was a person with a full-fledged life!” Griedge slammed a fist the table, causing the silverware to rattle. “No wonder Wendie wants nothing to do with you. You’re the human impersonation of a snake.”“Ah, but that’s where you are wrong, ma cherie!” How Wendie wanted to slam her nose into Paul’s face right now. “I only ever wanted somebody to love me.”“Oh, really?” Wendie rolled her eyes, hiding further behind the menu. For a manipulator, Paul was really ineffective.“Oh, really?” Griedge raised an eyebrow at Paul. “Somebody to love you?”“Why, yes! For years I was a lone weary navigator of life, starved of love and bled dry of any hope. All I need is one person, just one, to rub the soothing balm of tender loving care over my raw, salted wounds. All I need is a warm, soothing face by my side.”“Oh, Paul! That is truly torture.” Griedge rolled her eyes, sighing in exasperation. “Now if I were you, I would cut the crap and say what you really want.”Paul’s sleazy grin only grew wider. He reached behind his back and took out the black box.“This is what I want,” he said, popping open the box. The diamond ring sparkled bright—too bright for Wendie’s liking. “The only thing I’ve ever wanted was for you to be my true love.”Griedge stared at the ring, dumbfounded. “Then what were you doing, flirting with Wendie?”That was exactly what Wendie wanted to know. Even when Griedge and I are apart, we still think alike.“That sly fox? Oh, she was simply a means of entry. A passage…to get closer to my true prize.” Paul inched closer to Griedge until he was practically in her face, hands shifting here and there until they were wrapped around her waist. Griedge struggled, but Paul was taller than Wendie and almost as strong, too. She was trapped.So that was the whole reason. You never loved me. Well, that does it. Wendie tossed aside the menu as if it were poison. She nearly knocked over the table, she stood so fast, and stormed to the table.“What do you think you’re doing?” With her long strides, it didn’t take long for Wendie to reach Griedge’s table. She wedged herself between a shocked Griedge and Paul, glaring at the latter. His eyes widened upon seeing his ex-girlfriend—no, ex-pathway—in front of him, undoubtedly because it was the first time they’d been this close together for three years.“All this time, I thought you’d wanted something out of me at one point. Like love,” she hissed. A foreign anger, bubbling rage stewed inside her. The words tasted like the most bitter venom on the tip of her tongue. “But, surprise, you never wanted anything from me. You wanted Griedge.”“Look, it would have worked perfectly.” Paul pointed an accusatory figure at Wendie, stony glare even stonier. “You’re the captain. If I just went to Griedge, it wouldn’t work, now would it? No, it wouldn’t. I had to get you out of the way first, show you the real me.”“By the way things turned out, I’m thankful you did that. No really, I am,” she said in response to Paul’s shocked expression. “Thanks to you, I learned exactly how much of a crapsack you are. You wouldn’t treat any woman differently than you treated me.”“What’s going on here?” Sara ran up to the table, almost tripping in her high heels. She spotted Paul, and her eyes narrowed into slits. “Never mind, I know what’s going on here. We’re kicking Paul’s butt.”“I-I can’t believe it.” Griedge still seemed to be in shock, gripping the table as if it was the only thing keeping her from disappearing. “Wendie. He never loved you at all.”“I know, I know. Griedge, are you OK?”Griedge nodded as if she were a robot, staring in front of her like a statue. She didn’t even respond to Wendie taking her hand and clasping it between hers.“Let’s go.” This was clearly not the time or place to apologize. “Sorry our night out had to end so soon, Sara.”Sara was already dragging Paul towards the exit, an uncharacteristically stony expression marring her normally placid bearing. “Don’t be. You don’t want to see or hear what I’m going to do with Paul.”“W-what?!” But Paul didn’t bother to struggle. Even though he was nine inches taller than his captor, Paul knew enough about Sara to know that she could pack a punch. Just one glare from the Italian was enough to halt any escape tactics the Frenchman tried.Wendie raised an eyebrow at Paul’s lame attempts to break free. “I can very much stand that.”“Trust what I say.” Sara waved goodbye, pulling Paul along with her. “See you in Lyon. Take care of Griedge.”Wendie nodded, helping Griedge to a stand and shouldering both of their purses. She’d already hurt Griedge once, and she’d already promised herself that she wouldn’t do it again. *Leaving the restaurant wasn’t easy, considering the game had happened the same night. But after numerous phone calls, Wendie managed to find an Uber driver who agreed to respect their privacy. The ride back to the hotel where Lyon were staying was rather quiet minus Wendie’s constant humming, and that didn’t have to do with the soundproof barrier between the driver’s and passengers’ seats.Griedge didn’t speak until they reached the hotel. “So…it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”“I know, and I’ve done a lot of thinking while we weren’t talking. But let’s not talk out here.” Wendie gestured to the streets in front of the hotel parking lot. Cars and the occasional taxi whizzed by, honking their horns and revving their engines. It was past midnight, but some of the shops were still open and running.Griedge nodded. “No, not here.”The two quietly checked in before heading into the elevator. Despite Wendie’s tendency to get dizzy in elevators, the ride went smoothly…until it wasn’t.Shortly after Griedge had pressed the UP button, the elevator shuddered to stop. Wendie jabbed and hammered at the UP button—nearly fifteen times in succession—but the elevator did not budge. Sighing, the older of the pair took out her phone.“You have got to be kidding me,” Wendie groaned, slipping her phone in her pocket again. “I gave the hotel a ring, and the elevator’s jammed. But we’ll have to wait a while for the service to come because it’s so late.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
(wendie🦊 has opened the chat ‘Clairefontaine Bleues’)
(wendie🦊 has added Kadi-moi, Selma🥰, MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑, Griedge💎, SandyBeach🏖️, Melvine, Fierce&Starry⭐ and Fierce&Flowery💮 to the chat.)
wendie🦊
: Ladies and gentlemen!
Griedge💎: Wendie there aren’t any men here
MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑
: Damn right, Griedge
MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑: GRIEDGE!!!
Fierce&Flowery💮:
About time you reappeared, girl. We were worried about you
Kadi-moi
: What’s the announcement
wendie🦊
: Glad you asked
wendie🦊: Ladies and ladies!
Griedge💎
: Not only have Wendie and I made up, but we are officially dating
MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑
: HELL YEAH 🥳🥳🥳🥳
wendie🦊
: Some things never change 🙄
Selma🥰
: 🎵 Like the love that I feel for her 🎵
Melvine
: 🎵 Some things never change 🎵
SandyBeach🏖️
: 🎵 Like how reindeer are easier 🎵
Griedge💎
: I see somebody’s been watching Frozen 2 recently
SandyBeach🏖️
: GRIEDGE! You’re back
Melvine
: Wendie and Griedge kissed in the elevator yesterday
SandyBeach🏖️
: WHY did you tell me that 😳
SandyBeach🏖️
: I’m happy for you two, really
SandyBeach🏖️:
But plz could you keep down the PDA around us kids? I’ve still got my innocence
wendie🦊
: Promise 👍
Griedge💎
: Oui 👍
Kadi-moi: 🤯 You’re dating?
Fierce&Flowery💮: Took you two long enough
Fierce&Starry⭐:
What’s going on, sis?
Fierce&Flowery💮: Wendie and Griedge are dating 👩❤️👩
Fierce&Starry⭐: About time 🥳
Kadi-moi: Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for you two 👩❤️👩 ❤️ 😍 It just feels right
Kadi-moi: But what’s Diacre going to say?
Griedge💎
: To be honest, I don’t give an iota about what Diacre thinks
Kadi-moi: Good. That was a relationship test question to see if you two will cave under pressure
Fierce&Starry⭐
: Seriously, Kadi?
MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑
: So Lyon girls! When do we see each other again? I want to a get a good picture of Wendie and Griedge K-I-S-S-I-N-G 😜
wendie🦊
: We play Norway on November 11th
Kadi-moi
: I hope Diacre doesn’t spoil our reunion with her big mouth and ego
wendie🦊
: She won’t
Griedge💎
: Why?
wendie🦊
: We aren’t telling Diacre
wendie🦊
: I don’t know how she feels about two girls dating, but I do know how she feels about Griedge and I—and it is clear that she does not like us
Kadi-moi
: Normally I wouldn’t let you hide this, but I’m with you
MarieTheDamnQueen👑👑👑: 👍
Fierce&Flowery💮: 👍
Fierce&Starry⭐: 👍
wendie🦊: Merci 🙏
Griedge💎: Oui, merci 🙏
Wendie put her phone back on the counter. Carrying a tray of coffee, she made her way towards the living room, where Griedge rested her leg on the ottoman.
“Life gave us some good teammates, huh?” Wendie sighed, taking a seat next to Griedge. “They care about us on and off the pitch.”
“That starts with you, Wendie,” Griedge reminded her. “You check on the French girls and think about them all the time. Just like the captain I know and love.”
Wendie smiled, leaning on Griedge’s shoulder. “Things are going to be good from now on, aren’t they Griedge?”
*
Three days after they’d reconciled, Lyon had a match versus Fleury. It had been a hard match for Lyon, even after a Fleury player had been sent off in the twenty-fifth minute.
It was looking like a dour and disappointing draw for the Division 1 Feminine leaders, until Lyon earned a late corner near the end of stoppage time. Just before the final whistle, Lindsey Horan’s cross flew into the box. Wendie’s instincts kicked in, and she headed the ball into the net as hard as she could. Lyon 1, Fleury 0.
Just like in the match versus the Netherlands, Wendie channeled all the stress of the past month into the game, defending the goal net with as much passion as a major tournament final. It resulted in Wendie’s first goal in a long while.
Wendie hadn’t even wasted time to shower. After her press duties—she couldn’t let the media start some far-fetched rumors—Wendie made a beeline for Griedge, who’d been in the stands watching Arlene.
“Griedge!” Wendie would’ve leapt into Griedge’s arms if it wasn’t for the fact that the other still wore a knee brace. “You came!”
“Well, clearly.” Griedge chuckled, laying Arlene in her stroller. “I haven’t attended a home game since before our argument.”
Wendie frowned at that, glancing at the now-deserted pitch. “I nearly ruined your first home game back at Lyon.”
“Ruined? Wendie, you saved us out there. Speaking of which.” Griedge crossed her arms, tossing her head. “That goal was very well-taken. I’m so lucky to have a girlfriend like you.”
Girlfriend. Wendie’s heart beat even faster at the word—and that's saying a lot considering she’d just ran on a pitch for almost one hundred minutes. “I think your good luck helped me out there, Griedge.”
Griedge smiled softly. “Luck had nothing to do with it. You played a very good game.”
Wendie was very pleased to hear that. Griedge’s opinion on things had always mattered to her, and the good verdict plus the goal filled her with a joy she hadn’t felt for weeks.
Lyon played out a draw six days later. It was 0-0, meaning Wendie had done her job as a defender, but she couldn’t help the frustrated scream she let out in the locker room.
“You alright, Wendie?” Delphine asked, tossing a water bottle to Wendie. “You never scream like that.”
Wendie didn’t bother to look back at her compatriot. “It’s nothing. Just the game.”
“If anything, you should be proud of yourself,” said Delphine. “You kept the opposition attackers out of the box. I’ll bet they were scared to even enter our half with you around.”
Wendie sighed, setting the water bottle on the bench. “I can’t help thinking I should’ve done more.”
“And there you go, back to your old habits,” Melvine pointed out. “Go talk with somebody, Wendie. It doesn’t have to be Griedge.”
As if she’d heard her, Griedge limped into the room. “Looking for me?”
Melvine nodded. “We were just talking about you!”
Griedge took one look at Wendie and instantly glued herself to the captain. “Remember what we talked about, Wendie.”
“Right, right. No blaming myself for things that aren’t my responsibility.” Wendie took a deep breath, holding Griedge’s hand. “I’ve got to remember that.”
Griedge nodded. “Thank goodness we’ve got that dealt with. Are we still going out to the park today?”
Wendie had to stop herself from kissing Griedge then and there. They’d promised that they’d keep the affection down between them, and Wendie wasn’t about to break a promise. “Of course.”
*
It was time for another trip to Clairefontaine, and Wendie had been called up to play. She and Griedge would drive to Clairefontaine again, where they would stay together with the others.
Wendie smiled to herself, humming as she zipped her suitcase shut. It had been nearly a month since she’d last been at Clairefontaine, and for some reason she felt a lot better than back in October. Diacre was still manager—something Katete had complained about very vocally the day before—but Wendie wasn’t as scared of Diacre as she had been before. She felt as if Diacre couldn’t hurt her, like anything the manager could say would roll off her back like water.
When she shared this with Griedge, her girlfriend couldn’t help but suppress a smile. “That’s because you do feel better, Wendie. I can see it—you’re more relaxed and you’re better at not blaming yourself.”
“I still do it, though,” Wendie confessed as she loaded the suitcases into the trunk. “Sometimes I fall asleep and wonder if I could have prevented things. And it doesn’t always have to do with me.”
“Bad habits are hard to break. You’ll get it soon.” Griedge took the passenger’s seat, fastening her seatbelt. Her crutches were stowed away in the back. “Now what snacks did you bring for our trip?”
Wendie smirked, setting the Ziploc bag on the console. “Chocolate-covered pretzels for ma diamante. Don’t inhale them like you did last time or we’ll have to roll you to Clairefontaine.”
Griedge chuckled; she knew the teasing was all in good spirits. “Tais-toi.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Since Diacre never bothered to change the rooming assignments, even when somebody was injured, Wendie and Griedge were sharing a room together. They weren’t complaining—but their teammates were.
“Don’t get up to any funny stuff, you two,” Kadi warned them as they retired to their rooms for the night. “Remember: Pauline can hear you. And she’s listening.”
“How does Pauline know we’re dating?” Griedge wondered aloud. “I certainly didn’t tell her!”
“Shh.” Wendie gestured to the open door. “We’ve got to stay under the radar here. Diacre doesn’t know we’re dating.”
“She doesn’t have to know everything.”
“To be honest, I don’t want to tell Diacre anything at all.” Wendie, flopping onto her bed. “Who knows what she’ll do?”
“It’s none of her business anyways. She won’t bother.” Griedge took out a set of pajamas from her suitcase, decided against it, and tossed them on the bed. “Teal or pink? You know what looks good on me as much as I do.”
“Go with the teal,” Wendie yawned. “We have to act normal here, like best friends. No kissing, intertwining hands, or anything that could be described as lovers’ behavior.”
“Alright,” Griedge conceded, disappointment lacing her reply. She collapsed into bed next to Wendie, still in her shorts and T-shirt. “Night, skipper.”
Wendie was already asleep, snoring quietly under the covers.
*
The next day at breakfast, things seemed too good to be true. Delphine was showing Grace her new boxing gloves, Marie hadn’t sworn yet, and Melvine wasn’t hyperfixated on her phone. To top things off, Diacre wasn’t in the cafeteria yet.
“I take it that you slept well, skipper,” Sarina chuckled upon seeing Wendie practically skip into the cafeteria. “Your hair is brushed.”
“It’s a great morning,” Wendie replied, loading a plate with fruit salad. She was careful to remove the melon balls from it, though. “I’m just getting this for Griedge and then I’ll join your table.”
Sarina immediately began dusting off two seats at the table she was at.
“She meant Pauline’s table,” said Clara, rolling her eyes. “Who in their right mind would want to sit next to you this early in the morning?”
Red flag. Wendie’s captain instincts were sharp as ever, even after all that had happened after the last callup. Clara would never say that, not even as a joke. What happened? Is she worried about something? Did Diacre say something to Clara yesterday before Griedge and I came?
“What’s on your mind, Wendie?” Griedge appeared out of nowhere, gently taking the plate from Wendie’s hands.
“Clara is acting strange,” Wendie explained, gesturing towards where Clara was sitting alone. “I think something’s bothering her. Has she been around Diacre lately?”
“Come to think of it, she was particularly quiet last afternoon,” Griedge noticed. “Maybe we should go sit with her.”
The two quickly finished filling their plates and sat at Clara’s table, flanking her. Clara shifted uncomfortably, but didn’t move. Griedge left her seat, choosing to sit next to Wendie so Clara could have some space.
“So…nice day, isn’t it Clara?” Wendie started, trying to get Clara’s attention. “Diacre’s not here yet, so we can relax.”
Clara shrugged, pushing her food around on her plate. “I don’t know about relaxing. I’m actually…worried about her.”
Griedge stared at Clara, shocked. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I know, it’s weird, especially after all that she’s done to us. But Diacre should’ve been here by now, right?” Clara glanced around the cafeteria, which was still Diacre-free. “Shouldn’t we be worried about her? What if Paul has something to do with it?”
Wendie frowned, mentally weighing the two options. Diacre doesn’t like us, and we don’t like her. Does that mean I shouldn’t be concerned? Clara sure is.
“I’ll check on her,” Griedge volunteered before the other two could say anything else. “I mean, she wouldn’t hit an injured player, right? Diacre can say what she likes, but she needs Marie and I for any chance of winning the World Cup this summer.”
Once Griedge stood up, Wendie had made her decision. “I’m coming as well. I’m still the captain. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Clara shook her head. “Trust me, it’ll take longer than that.”
*
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Wendie told Griedge halfway to Diacre’s room. “What if we got the wrong idea?”
“I hate this as much as you do. But Diacre’s never late for breakfast,” Griedge reminded her, stepping out of the elevator. “So if she’s late, something’s wrong.”
They made their way down the hall, careful not to disturb anyone. The staff all slept on the same floor, and Wendie wasn’t very familiar with the outlay of the rooms. She didn’t want to knock on the wrong door—or see something she’d regret.
“Allons enfant de la patrie…” Wendie hummed under her breath, her footsteps increasing in frequency. “Le jour de gloire est arrivé.”
“Ma Dieu, Wendie!” Griedge exclaimed, snapping Wendie out of her thoughts. She’d nearly forgotten that Griedge was still recovering from an injury. “Walk any faster and you’ll run straight into the wall, ma renarde.”
Wendie blushed hotly from the nickname. Despite the fact that she and Griedge had officially been together for more than two weeks, and friends for even longer, there was something about terms of affection that made her feel…different. “Quit that, jolie fille, or I just may walk even faster and leave you behind.”
“Is something wrong?” Griedge, despite her injured knee, quickened her pace until she was in step with Wendie. “You’ve been tense ever since we decided to check on the coach.”
“Well…” Wendie sighed as she realized there was no point in keeping things from Griedge. “I mean…what if we made a mistake? What if Diacre’s perfectly fine and she thinks we’re snooping, or worse? Or…”
“Wendeline Therese Renard. Listen to me.” Griedge grabbed Wendie by the shoulders, directing her anxious gaze to her calm one. “We’re just going to check on Diacre. The worst we can reasonably get is a slight scolding. If Diacre drops you from the squad for that, we have every good reason to bring this to the authorities.”
“What’s this about the authorities?”
Wendie and Griedge froze as Diacre stepped out of her room, formal and business-like as usual. She carried a laptop case and briefcase in one hand and a travel mug in another, but she hardly seemed overwhelmed by all that she was carrying. Instead, she glared at Wendie and Griedge from behind her thick, dark glasses.
“I’ll ask you again,” Diacre insisted when Wendie and Griedge didn’t say a word. “What’s this about the authorities?”
“Sorry to disturb you, Diacre,” Wendie blurted before she could stop herself. “Griedge and I were just …talking about things.”
Diacre raised a perfectly arched eyebrow, inspecting the pair as if they had done something illegal. “What are you doing in the managers’ suites?”
Griedge stepped in this time. “We just came to check on you because we didn’t see you at breakfast.
“I was just working on the plans for the match some more. I got breakfast earlier.”
“Perfect, then!” Wendie exclaimed in a far too cheery voice. She tentatively stepped in the opposite direction, leading Griedge away from their manager. “We’ll be on our way then, see you later.”
“No. Come here, both of you.”
Griedge and Wendie promptly obeyed, exchanging nervous glances between them.
Diacre drew a breath, clasping her hands together. “Whatever you…have between you, I don’t want to see it getting in the way of things. I will not have this team change because of you two. Understood?”
“Understood,” Griedge responded, although rather weakly. Wendie didn’t say anything at all, opting for a simple nod.
Diacre shook her head, walking away from them.
“Do you think Diacre knows about our relationship?” Wendie asked once they were in the elevator. Despite her elevator vertigo, she paced the small car with hastening footsteps. “It seems like she heard everything.”
“Don’t know. She only commented about the authorities bit.” Griedge’s eyes widened as she grabbed Wendie by the shoulder. “I think she thinks we’re still fighting. That’s the last she heard of us.”
“I think so.”
“Then that’s a problem,” Griedge groaned, leaning against the wall. “If Diacre thinks we’re feuding, she’s going to do everything to separate us so you can play better. We know how she sees players as tools for victory rather than people.”
Wendie didn’t need a reminder about Diacre’s attitude towards players. “If anything it’s the opposite. I play better when you’re around.”
“Same here.” The elevator door slid open, sending a wave of light into the car. “And that just proves what you said last night. We have to lay low around Diacre, or we could be in big trouble.”
*
Ironically, the Norway game wasn’t being played in France or Norway. The friendly match would take place in the city of La Nucia, Spain.
The French team had participated in group training earlier in the day, and now some of them were in the gym, further honing their skills for the next day’s match. Griedge wouldn’t be playing, of course, but she’d progressed to the point where she could do some light gym work along with the others.
“We really missed having you with us, Griedge,” said Kadi, climbing onto the treadmill. “It's so strange working out without our chats.”
“Plus.” Sakina smirked, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “Wendie looked like a lost child without you here.”
“Tais-toi, Sakina!” Grace threw a balled-up resistance band at Sakina. It landed with a smack on the water bottle stand, prompting a few chuckles from the others.
Griedge grinned, lifting her weights into the air. “It’s good to be back. Hopefully I can get on the treadmill by February.”
“The doctors said you would be training with us by January, right?” Clara took the resistance band from the water bottle stand, looping it around her ankles. “That’s only two months away.”
“Two months is a long time, Clara.” Griedge sighed, remembering just how long it had been. She’d only been injured for two months and it already felt like forever.
Wendie momentarily paused her elliptical to ruffle Griedge’s hair. “I know. Mais courage et dur labeur, chérie. You're a fighter with a fighting spirit, and you'll be back on the pitch before you know it.”
“We'll need you on that defense line,” Pauline called out from atop the Bosu ball. “No offense to Aissa, but Wendie and Griedge are a better duo in the center. Right, Griedge?”
Griedge didn't respond, even when Pauline raised her voice. She was too busy watching Wendie work out. Those muscles…I don’t know how I didn’t see before. She must have been sculpted by the angels themselves. How can one creature be so lovely?
“Griedge!” Wendie gently shook Griedge, waving a hand in front of her. “Earth to Griedge, can you hear me?”
“Somebody’s in looove,” Sakina teased, spotting the far-away look in Griedge’s eyes. “Give up Wendie, she’s in Dreamland now.”
Wendie shrugged, climbing back onto the elliptical. “I wonder what she’s thinking of.”
Marie rolled her eyes, trying to stop laughing. “Nom de Dieu, Wendie, could you be more oblivious! She’s thinking about you.”
If a blush was a flame, Wendie’s whole body would’ve set on fire. “Marie, we’re in the gym!”
“Sorry.” But from the look in her eyes Wendie could tell that Marie did not regret anything she’d said.
*
Norway, as the French had all been warned, proved to be fair game. Even without their star striker, Ada Hegerberg, the teams were drawing with twenty-five minutes to go.
Griedge watched on from the stands as Wendie headed out another cross. For this game, Diacre had deployed a system with three defenders instead of the team’s usual four. That left Wendie, sandwiched in the middle of the defense with two fullbacks, more work to do than usual. With all the pressing that Norway had done, it was a miracle that they were still 1-1.
“What kind of system is this?” she whispered furiously to Marie. “For all that work Diacre did that made Wendie and I go check on her, you’d think she’d make a decent plan.”
Marie gulped the last of her popcorn, glancing at her teammate. “I don’t know, Griedge. Diacre is pretty cold, but I think you’re being a bit too harsh on her this time. We’ve certainly played worse games than this.”
Griedge shrugged, turning her attention back onto the game. “Maybe I am being a little harsh. But…”
“But what?”
Griedge leaned on the seat in front of her. “I always sensed that Wendie and Diacre weren’t on really good terms. Now I’ve noticed that Wendie isn’t just scared of Diacre, she doesn’t even want to be in the same room with her.”
“You think Wendie has paranoia?” For once, Marie was acting serious. She scooted closer to Griedge, not leaving an inch of space between the two.
“I’m no therapist, but I don’t think it’s general paranoia. It’s more likely to be specific paranoia directed towards Diacre.”
With that, Griedge focused on the match. More specifically, she focused on Wendie. The captain darted from defensive midfield to defense, keeping any stray crosses or attempts away from the goal without fouling anybody, all while directing her teammates’ positioning and barking orders at them.
That was another one of the things Griedge admired about Wendie. Off the pitch she was gentle as ever, yet her drive to win was strong and fiery. To those who knew her well, Wendie was nearly unrecognizable during the matches. She was strong, fearless and bold, with a will of steel and a shout that could wilt a full-grown oak tree.
At sixty-seven minutes, Diacre made a substitution. The manager took out Clara and Grace for Vivianne Asseyi. That did it for Griedge, who punched the plastic fold-down seat in frustration.
“Easy there!” Marie gently removed Griedge’s balled-up fists from the seat before she could punch a hole into it. “What’s got you so worked up today?”
“She substituted a forward for a midfielder.” Griedge seethed, burying her fists into the pockets of her sweatshirt. “We’re sustaining pressure from the Norwegians, Diacre substituted a forward for a midfielder, and there’s twenty minutes to go of the ninety! What is she thinking?”
With that, Griedge leaned back into her seat with a huff. By now she was sure Diacre should receive the sack. If Ada was playing, France would be down by at least three, Griedge was sure of it. Diacre’s tinkering was set to ruin the match, and then the defense would be blamed as usual.
Bogged down in her thoughts, Griedge didn't even notice Marie rooting for a France attack.
Pauline and Wendie, especially, would receive the majority of the criticism from the press. Unless—God forbid—one or both of them made an error leading to a goal.
“GOLAZOOOOOO! A FRANCIAAAAA! VIVIANNE ASSEYI!”
The extremely loud and dramatic voice of the commenter pulled Griedge’s attention back to the game. She saw her teammates running towards their fans, leaping onto Vivianne.
This was impossible. Vivianne had come on and scored the winner. Not only that, but Diacre’s changes hadn’t completely flopped. They’d actually worked.
“It worked! Diacre’s changes worked!” Marie cheered, crushing Griedge in an over-passionate embrace. “I don’t know what the heck is going on, but I like it!”
Griedge didn’t even comment on Marie’s swearing. There was already enough chaos on the pitch.
Norway pressed for an equalizer within the last twelve minutes, but the French defense held as strong as ever. The match finished 2-1, France’s first win in three matches.