Chapter Text
Ashlyn felt like she was dying physically and mentally. Preseason was the worst two weeks of her life. She hated it, but at the same time, like every soccer player, she loved it.
She loved the soreness. She loved the exhaustion and the ice baths and the complaining from all the teammates. And as a freshmen, first year in college, she was ready to finally get a taste of what she really wanted.
It was three days in, and they were starting to understand names and positions, but it was hard to really get to know anyone on a super personal level at the moment. It was still that awkward stage with everyone, but one person.
“Ash, have you seen my shinguards?”
Whitney Engen, Ashlyn’s roommate for the year. They shared a room and they happened to share a bathroom with two other girls on the team. But Whitney was completely opposite of Ashlyn in the personality department, and somehow, that’s how they got along famously.
From her facedown position on the bottom bunk bed, she shrugged. “I haven’t seen any of your shit.”
“I thought I put them in the bathroom.”
“Maybe Meghan or Morgan took them.”
“We have practice in an hour. I need them.”
Ashlyn finally opened her eyes and turned her head to find Whitney in a bar and shorts digging through the closet. “Whit, relax. You have plenty of time to find them.”
“Coach is going to kill me.”
“No one wears them at practice to begin with. Calm down.”
“But–”
Ash glared at her. “Whit, stop looking and talking before I beat the shit out of you. I’m exhausted and need a nap before hell starts all over again.”
Whitney, finally, nodded slowly and stood. “Sorry.”
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
“Yes, Ashlyn!” Coach Jill yelled with a small smile. “Not bad, kid.”
Ashlyn managed a pained smile as she stood from her dive, moving to get out of goal. She felt a small pain in her shoulder but covered it up as Alyssa went in next for her round of shots.
Hope, the senior keeper and probably current starter, nodded towards her shoulder. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Ashlyn said, rubbing it softly. “It just hurts sometimes.”
“Get the trainers to look at it after practice.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Hope sighed. “Alright, Freshman, listen up and listen well.” Ash cringed internally as Hope’s bitch face turned even more serious. If there was one thing about the number 1 keeper on the team, it was that she was terrifying. “If you’re the best for your position, you play. If you drink the day before game day, you get kicked off. And if you’re hurt,” she poked Ashlyn’s shoulder harshly, causing the girl to hiss in pain, “You see the trainers. Do you understand?”
Ashlyn swallowed. “It’s really nothing–”
“Hope,” Alyssa said, running over. “You’re in.”
The taller, darker, scarier girl ran back to goal after giving Ashlyn a stern look. Alyssa saw the exchange and gave Ashlyn a warning.
“Look, it’s best if whatever advice she gave you, you take it.”
Ashlyn rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t advice. It was an order.”
“Well,” Alyssa said with a small shrug. “I’d take that too. Just do it.”
By the end of practice, the pain was bad. She wasn’t sure what she did, but it was hurting like a bitch and people were starting to notice. She tried to hide it, especially after Hope picked up on it instantly, and then another senior, Carly, asked her about it. And then Abby and Pinoe. They were all calling her out, and she hated looking weak and hurt during the first few days of preseason.
In fact, she was going to hide it anyway. No matter what, she wasn’t going to have some trainers say she needed to sit out for a few days. This is her freshmen year, her time to make an impression. Not to wimp out. So after the water break and final stretches, she was going to just let it go and head back to the room with Whitney.
Until coach paired them up for stretching, freshmen with seniors and juniors with sophomores.
“Ashlyn.”
The blonde looked up to see Abby walking over to her. “You’re with me. Come here.”
She furrowed her brows when she noticed Abby moving about ten or fifteen yards from the group. She didn’t want to go, but knew she had to. Whitney gave her a look as she walked by.
Abby pointed to the ground. “Sit.”
After a few hamstring stretches and this and that, Ashlyn was almost done. She was getting up to switch places when Abby shook her head. “I wanted to talk to you.”
“Um, why?”
Abby sat down by her, stretching her legs. Ashlyn matched it as the older girl spoke. “Hope told me what’s going on.”
“Shit,” Ashlyn mumbled. “Look, I promise you that I’m fine. I’ve had a few shoulder issues but that’s a goalkeeper’s typical issue. We have shoulder problems. You field players have ankle problems. We all play through it.”
“I get that but the point is that sometimes it’s okay to just tough it out. Other times, it’s not.”
“Look, I know my body–”
“Better than the trainers?” Abby finished with an amused smile. “I’m sure you do. You can tell when something hurts before they can. But they can fix it before you can. See the differences?”
Ashlyn sat forward and wrapped her arms around her legs, wiping the sweat from her forward. “So what you’re saying is… Go to the trainers?”
Abby tapped her lightly on the shoulder. “Exactly.” And then, when Ashlyn thought that it was finally over, Abby called out to one of the girls. “Krieger!”
Ali Krieger. With so many people on the team, Ashlyn hasn’t exactly gotten to get to know everybody, and this player was one of them.
Abby jumped up, followed by Ashlyn as Ali jogged over. Her hair was up in a signiture bun that everyone claimed was her style, and she was built right down to teh core. She resembled the perfect soccer player. “Kriegs, Ashlyn, here, has to go to the training room. You’re heading there right?”
The brunette that actually had Ashlyn speechless nodded, engaging into that conversation as Ashlyn blanked out. Abby seemed to get quieter, almost like the conversation was secret, but Ash didn’t notice. She was too caught up in the person that was Ali Krieger, that when the two finally looked at her, she was completely lost.
“Um, what?” she asked.
Ali chuckled. “Nothing. The training room is this way. Grab your stuff and follow me.”
Ashlyn swallowed and nodded, heading off the field.
The two walked down the small road to the training room as Ashlyn finally asked what she was wondering. “Abby made it sound like you head to the training room a lot,” she pointed out. “Why?”
“Is there a problem with the training room?” Ali teased.
Ash shrugged, fixing her back on her shoulder. “I’m just not exactly a fan.”
“Ha. You hate it.”
“No, I just – I just don’t particularly like it.”
“Ben is a good trainer,” Ali pointed out. “He’s young but he’s smart.”
Ashlyn nodded. “So, why do you go? Just the typical ice bath or?...”
She seemed to look at little nervous. “Um, tenth grade, high school. I broke my leg in a pick-up game at the park with my brother and his friends. They were drinking and his buddy pushed me into one of the tables by accident. But I was sprinting by it at the time and basically hit it full force. It broke my tibia right in half.”
Ashlyn’s eyes widened. “Holy shit.”
Ali nodded “Yeah. Turns out, when they fixed it back up, about a week later I had a blood clot. I was having mini heart attacks and honestly, I could’ve died that night if I never made it to the hospital. Ben does some routines checks with me sometimes and keeps my muscles stronger. It’s more of a precaution that’s pointless but it makes me mentally feel better I guess.”
What could she even say to that? She didn’t have a clue. She’d suffered through back to back ACL’s in the beginning of High School, but those were simple procedures compared to, well, death.
“For someone who almost died, you’re one hell of a defender.”
That was the best she could come up with. And to her shock, it looked like Ali ducked her head and… blushed? No way.
“Here it is,” she said softly as they approached a small brick building. “Come on.”
They maneuvered through a few of the corridors before coming up to an open on, following the sound of a few of the girls, ice machines, and laughter.
Ash walked in and instantly saw the only male in the room in khakis and a polo, guessing he was the trainer. And an attractive one at that. Even she could see that.
He was tall, with light tanned skin and what looked to be a dashing smile. Fit. Genuine. Smart. Strong. He was a package that most girls would go for. And it was obvious quite a few girls on the team were smitten.
But Ashlyn, for some reason she can’t understand, cringed when he smiled at Ali. “Hey, Ali. Your stuff is in the usual place.”
“Thanks. And Ben, this is Ashlyn.”
Ben stuck his hand out. Ashlyn did the same, although not as enthusiastically. “Ahh, the one who hates the training rooms and trainers alike.” Ashlyn raised in eyebrow, wondering how he knew that. He chuckled. “Abby texted me and told me you were on the way and to make sure you actually showed up.”
With that, she rolled her eyes. “Right.” She hated feeling babied, and it was already starting.
“It’s her shoulder,” Ali finally said, pointing to the right one where Ashlyn had been rubbing it for a while. Ben nodded and Ali looked at Ashlyn with a smile. “Be good, yeah?”
“Yeah, right,” Ashlyn mumbled as she watched Ali walk off. Ben moved her towards a table, the rest of the girls seemingly used to the training room and bustling about like they own the joint. Ashlyn breathed a small sigh of relief when she saw Whitney walk in with Morgan and Meghan, or Kling as some people on the team call her.
Whit immediately spotted Ashlyn and walked over. “What are you doing in here?” She teased. “You told me that you hated this kind of stuff.”
“Abby’s orders,” she mumbled as Ben took her shoulder in his hands, moving it around. “And Carly’s. And Hope’s. And Christie's. And I'm pretty sure that Alyssa even mentioned it. They even gave me a freaking escort,” she added with a bit of sass, pointing towards Ali who was making her own ice bad.
Whitney nodded while Ben just laughed. “They like to win,” he told the girls. “You’ve got to understand that they’re the leaders here. After Michelle Akers, Mia Hamm, Briana Scurry and the other seniors graduated, they stepped in. It’s a system and a family. They care about each other, and they care about their freshmen being smart about themselves and their bodies.” He gave her a look. “I can tell you’re stubborn, but it’s best if you start to figure this out sooner rather than later.”
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Twenty minutes. That’s how long Ashlyn was able to sleep before Whitney was waking her up, looking just as tired herself. “Ash, get up.”
She mumbled a ‘no’ and pushed her head back into her pillow.
“Ashlyn, come on. The seniors called a meeting.”
She groaned. “Why?”
There was a chuckle that didn’t belong to any of her roommates, causing her to tense up. “Abby was right when she assumed you’d be stubborn about this.”
Ashlyn perked her head up and her eyes met Ali’s, who was smiling down at her with amusement. “I’m not stubborn. I’m normal. And normal people like to sleep. Especially when we have practice at eight AM.”
There was an obvious sign that it would take a while to get Ashlyn out of bed. Whitney knew this, and she figured Ali did too, so when Kling and Morgan announced that they were leaving for the meeting, Ali told them to go ahead. She’d get Ashlyn out of bed.
As soon as the door shut, Ashlyn rolled over closer to the wall, pulled her pillow towards her, and curled into a ball. “And by the way,” she mumbled tiredly, “My shoulder is killing me. Ben is an asshole.”
“It’ll help if you keep up the rehab,” she chuckled. “You’ll be fine. Now come on.”
Ash shook her head. “No.”
“Ash,” Ali warned. “Don’t make me do this.”
“You’re not getting me out of this bed.”
There was no comment at first, but eventually she started to hear a bit of rustle. Ali walked away, and Ash hoped that maybe she’d give up and she’d be able to get some sleep. But then, suddenly, Niagara Falls seemed to fall on her, soaking her and the bed in cold water.
She jumped up quickly, screaming as the cold water hit her. “Ali, what the hell?”
She shrugged, two empty liter bottles with the tops cut off in her hands and a smirk on her face. “You wouldn’t get up. Now, the seniors called a meeting, so let’s go.”
“I thought you were only a sophomore,” Ashlyn shot back, glaring at her. “Since when do I have to listen to you?”
Ali sighed, dropping the cut bottles on the desk and leaning on the desk with her arms crossed. “Look, Ashlyn. You’ll find that the older classmen listen to the younger just as much you guys will listen to them. Hope, Abby, Carly, Christie, they’ll all listen to you. But when they call meetings, especially during preseason, you’re there. Understand?”
“I just want to play and sleep. And I’m only getting one of those things,” she shot back, grabbing an extra shirt since the one she had before was now soaked through.
Ali gave her a one shoulder shrug. “It’s preseason. You either deal with it or you quit.”
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
There was a bit of a ruckus as Ali and Ashlyn finally entered the meeting in Christie’s room. They had an apartment like room, but there were six girls for three rooms, two bathrooms, and a living room and kitchen area. The place was pretty big for college dorms.
Everyone was already in conversation when Ali stepped in, taking a spot by her other sophomores. Hope, being the blunt person she is, gave Ash a once over with how soaked she was and blurted out. “What the hell happened to you?”
Every chuckled as Ashlyn glared at her and sat in the seat that Whitney saved her. “Ali is a sadist. That’s what happened.”
After a few arguments between the two and laughter from the whole team, the attention was finally drawn away from Ashlyn and towards the three main seniors now standing before the sitting team.
“Alright, freshmen, you’re probably wondering what this is about,” Abby started. “We’re going to give you the rundown. We do this every year to give freshmen an idea of what is coming and to give the returning players a recap of the rules and expectations.”
Ashlyn wanted to roll her eyes. This place was so strict. She nudged Whitney and whispered, “This place has so many rules that my head is going to explode.”
Whitney shushed her, being the goodie-two-shoes she is.
Hope stepped up this time, giving them a simple and intimidating look. “Here’s the deal. First off, I’ve already had to tell one of you this, but when you’re hurt, you go to the training room. You get it fixed. Don’t play through something that could hinder your performance. It’s different when its adrenaline on the field, and we get that. But after practices and games, you get treatment. Simple as that.” At the end, she looked directly at Ashlyn, who immediately looked away.
“Coach sees and notices more than you think,” Carly added. “Not a lot gets by her, so there’s no point in lying or trying to fool her. She can tell when you’re sick, hurt, mentally and physically, tired. Just be smart.”
They spent the next twenty minutes or so telling of guidelines (not so much rules) that the team agreed to follow. These ideas were put in as these seniors were freshmen, and the classes before them. It was like a tradition, and that was something Ashlyn could at least respect in a way.
“And we get it,” Abby said towards the end. “When we win, people want to drink and party. The team will get together a lot, so there’s nothing against drinking in season. Because if there was, Pinoe wouldn’t have made it a week.” The team chuckled and the shorter blonde flicked the older one off. “The point is, if you do drink and whatnot, be smart. Some people at this campus are assholes and not worth the trouble of having problems with, especially for the next few months we’re playing. Got it?”
Everyone seemed to nod in agreement. And then, Kling raised her hand.
Carly chuckled. “This isn’t class, Meghan. You can just say what’s on your mind.”
“So, like, when are we getting our warm-ups and gear?”
Hope, Abby, and Carly all looked at each other while the team laughed quietly, the freshmen out of curiosity and the returning players knowing what came next. Then, altogether, the seniors said, “When you earn it.”