A/N
For the purpose of this story, Tobin has a dog named Bailey.
Also Jill is going to stay manager with Dawn as coach for now. It just makes the whole thing less complicated to write because I'm british and don't really know what happened with all the coaches in the past 😂👍🏼

Tobin's POV

"Here Bailey!" I say as I call Bailey for his afternoon walk. I laughed as he sprinted downstairs with a cheeky grin on his face, holding his leash in his slobbery mouth. Practice today was intense. The US team were finally getting ready for the 2019 World Cup, and this year something felt special. We were going to win it, and I knew it. We were good.

However, that didn't stop Jill and Dawn from absolutely killing us.

I smiled as I slipped on Baileys harness. This year was our year. And this year was the year that I was going to confess my feelings for Christen. I liked her, and I desperately hoped she liked me back, other wise this could be one hell of an awkward World Cup.

The fresh air whipped at my face as I chased Bailey around the soccer field close to my house. The November camp was being held in my hometown this year, so I was able to stay at home and only visit the hotel for team bonding and team meetings, tonight's bonding being held in Alex and Becky's room. With the addition of Mallory Pugh to the national team in April, I knew exactly what we would be doing. Truth or Dare. And to be honest, for the first time ever, I was ready for whatever hellish things the girls would come up with.

"Sky stop." a cry of laughter came from the other end of the field. I watched in amazement as I saw a girl of 5"6 with honey brown hair running circles around two girls of a similar age. They looked about 17 or 18, all extremely athletic. I just stood there in awe as she slammed the ball top corner with seemingly no effort whatsoever. The keeper had no chance.
"Case, I might not have played for a while but you know I can still play ball." She laughed, flicking the said ball over her friends head.

Wow. I watched for a few more minutes, the girl, Sky, I'm guessing, scoring everything from tap ins to overhead kicks, joking with her friends. She was definitely something special.
Bailey jumped up at me, panting with a stick in his jaws. I bent down and picked up the stick, launching it in the opposite direction to the group of girls as something struck me in the legs. A ball. Their ball. I flicked it up into my hands, wiping some of the mud away. 'Property of East Shore High' it read, in bold black Sharpie.

"Hey, please can we have our ball back?" A friendly voice floated across the field. They ran up to me, looking scared. Maybe they thought I was going to steal it.

Oh to be young. 

~~

Tegan's POV

"Hey, please can we have our ball back?" I called towards the woman it had hit.
She looked up at us with a dazed expression.
We gathered our things and ran over.

Sky was the first to react, a tiny bit afraid that she was going to take the ball. After all, it was coaches, and if we lost it we would definitely be paying a high price tomorrow. Also that price would probably be the beep test, something not to be desired.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-" and she cut herself off mid-sentence.
"Your- your..."
"Tobin, it's nice to meet you." The stranger replied.
"Here's your ball back, don't worry I wasn't going to take it." She laughed, her dog sprinting back towards us.
"Thank you." Casey replied, looking extremely awestruck.
"I saw you guys playing, you're really talented. Especially you." Tobin says, winking at Sky.
"Thank you, but I don't really play." She smiles nervously. "If you're looking for talent, look at these two. The best goalie and left-winger East Shore has ever seen." We turn and smile at our best friend as she hypes us up to our idol.
"You should consider joining a team, it would be nice to see you play again." Casey winks at Sky. She shot a dirty look back. Maybe it was too soon.
"Oh, so you used to play?" Tobin asked.
"Yeah but I stopped a while ago for personal reasons." Sky replied, all of a sudden becoming her closed off, shy self again. 

An awkward second of silence passed, before she piped up again.

"It was nice to meet you Tobin. Can we have a picture?"
"Yeah of course." She replies, snapping a quick picture with us all, and of course, her dog.

~~

Tobin's POV

"It was nice to meet you girls." I say after taking a picture with them. It was late afternoon, and the sky was turning from an orangey-bronze to a dusky blue, leaving three silhouettes behind on the horizon.
I waved goodbye.
As I got home, I took Bailey's harness off and gave him a bath, because, due to it being November, the field was very muddy.

I got into bed having just watched the PSG-Man City game with the team. I knew I needed a goodnights sleep, but the brown haired girls words just kept playing on my mind. What did she mean 'personal reasons'? And why doesn't she play anymore? I mean, she was amazing, but she just blanked at the mention of her past. It was a puzzle, and somehow felt dangerous to mess with. I turned over and rolled into troubled sleep.

I knew this where this girl went to school, Sky, her friend said her name was, and I was determined to help her. I was going to talk to her school soccer coach, but first of all Jill. I needed to find out more about her.