"Bet."

Leah and I kick ourselves up into handstands, seeing who will drop down first.

"You're gonna loose, Pugh." Leah says to me, turning her head slightly at me.

"Whatever you say, Williamson."

The rough february breeze flows through my hair. I shake my head to get it out of my face, but as I do, I loose my balance. I fight to stay up, but I fall backwards onto my back.

"Told you." Leah laughs at me as she helps me up.

"That's not fair, your hairs up in a bun, mine's out and it blew in my face." I try to defend myself as the team high-fives Leah.

"Nope, accept the defeat, Pugh."

I huff before running off to Jonas who calls us over to carry on our training. "Everyone find partners."

I look around, waiting for everyone to get into partners so I can see who's left.

"Elena, be my partner." I hear an Australian ask me. I look past everyone's heads to Caitlin, who stand's on her tiptoes to get my attention.

"Sure." I run over to her and we step back with our arms interlocked.

Caitlin and I had started to get closer, but we only ever hung out during team trainings or if a group or the whole team went out. Jonas had started partnering us up more often and I suppose Caitlin enjoyed it since she called me over again.

"We verse Aston Villa on sunday so, we need to be prepared."

I run out of my car and onto the coach. "Sorry, I'm late, guys." I say as I push my bag onto the shelf ontop. I'd been running a little late getting ready for the game and so I told Steph to drive to the training facility alone where the coach was waiting for us.

"Shameful behaviour, Elena." Beth playfully shakes her head at me.

"Shut up. Beth." I tell the blonde.

"Sit here." Caitlin points to the seat opposite herself and Lia.

I slide into the space, placing my waterbottle on the table between us. I pull out my phone from my pocket and answer a quick message from Kristie asking how I'm doing at the moment. Definetly better than a few weeks ago, but I still felt a bit off here at Arsenal. I promised myself I'd give it some time however so that I didn't disappoint Rachel.

"Are you excited for your third game?" Lia asks me, her arm around Caitlin.

"Yeah, though it's my second game playing." I reply. I didn't play againt Chelsea. I'm a sub today, which I don't mind at all, but I'm hoping I get subbed on at a good time and not right near the end.

"Guys, song suggestions!" Leah calls, her phone in her hand connected to the coach speakers.

"Strawberry Kisses." I hear Steph say, making me giggle, knowing she loved that song. She'd pulled me into making cookies with her the other day and she'd played Strawberry Kisses the whole time and danced and sang to it until I joined in with her. It was a fun night.

"What kind of music do you listen to?" Caitlin asks me.

"Taylor Swift mainly, but a bit of everything when I feel like it." I say.

"Viv's gonna love you if you tell her that." Lia laughs.

"Did I hear Taylor Swift?" Viv pokes her head around.

"Yeah, me." I smile at her.

"Favourite song?" Viv asks.

"They're all really good, but Cornelia Street because I like singing that with my guitar."

"That's my favourite song." Viv smiles at me, excitedly. "Leah, play Cornelia Street for Elena and me!"

"I've put it on the playlist." Leah calls back. "It's on shuffle though."

"You can sing?" Lia asks me, catching my attention.

"Not amazingly, but yeah." I nod.

"I've always wanted to learn how to play the guitar." Caitlin says to me and I get an idea.

"I just got Kristie to ship mine over from Houston, you should come over some day and I can teach you a few chords, an easy song maybe."

"Give me a time and date and I'll be there." Caitlin says with a smile.

"Guys, we should go out tomorrow since we haven't seen each other all month because we we're shipped off for international break." Beth announces.

"Shipped off." I furrow my eyebrows at her choice of wording while Caitlin and Lia laugh at me.

"Oh, can we go to that resteraunt I heard about?" Caitlin speaks up with a smile on her face. "It has a rooftop bar on top of the building where they play live music and you can also do kareoke."

"Which one?" Leah asks, turning her head to look at the aussie.

"Or we could go to a place we've already been to." Lia says and I turn to look at her as she pushes Caitlin's idea away. Everyone's chatter dies down when they hear the edge in Lia'a voice, but Kim takes the lead to carry on the conversation. "Caitlin, we already talked about the resteraunt, remember? I thought we agreed to keep it low-key this time." Lia says to her girlfriend beside her.

I watch the interaction happen with my forhead creased. Caitlin doesn't fight Lia back, but I see her face fall slightly and the excitement in her eyes disappear. "Nah, yeah, I forgot." Caitlin says to the team. "Never mind then."

Caitlin looks up from her fiddling fingers at me, but I avert my attention to the team still discussing with one another. I didn't want her to see I was watching her and Lia talk when it was a personal matter, though I didn't agree with Lia after seeing the way Caitlin's mood dropped from the small exchange.

The team had settled on going to the bar again like they usually did and then the rest of the coach drive went by with small conversations between everyone.

As we got off the coach to verse Aston Villa, I caught up to Steph, knowing she's close with Caitlin since they're Matilda teammates. "Steph!"

"What's up?" She turns her head to look at me as I match my pace to hers.

"Are Caitlin and Lia okay?" I ask.

"Yeah, why?" Steph furrows her eyebrows at me.

"Caitlin just looked sad after Lia pushed her idea away." I explain.

"It was probably nothing," Steph throws her arm around my shoulders, "don't worry about it, Elena."

I nod my head as we continue walking, but I can't get the way Caitlin's smile dropped out of my mind. First seeing the two look frustrated at one another after dinner at their apartment and now this. Something had to be up in what everyone saw as their perfect paradise.

The game ended with the score 0-4 to us. I was subbed on after half time and played the rest of the game. Jonas seemed happy of my performance so I walked back to the changing rooms with the girls with a smile on my face.

I jumped into the shower and pulled on my spare clothes before I came out and brushed through my damp hair.

The changing room was filled with music and dancing, but when a specific song came on, I jumped up to sing it.

"You hold my hand on the street
Walk me back to that apartment
Years ago, we were just inside
Barefoot in the kitchen
Sacred new beginnings
That became my religion, listen" I sing, wrapping my arm around Viv's shoulders as we hold my hairbrush like a microphone

"I hope I never lose you
I'd never walk Cornelia Street again
Oh, never again" I sing the lines with a soft voice, too far into the song and the music to even realise Viv has stopped singing alongside me and that everyone in the changing rooms is watching me sing.

I look up and see the pairs of eyes staring at me and instantly grow shy. I go to sit back down and continue brushing my hair, but Viv stops me and everyone begins singing with us.

We finish singing the song and the changing room erupts into a fit of laughter, making me smile and join in with them.

"You've got a good voice." Caitlin tells me. She sits beside Katie, who nods, but I notice her eyes on Lia who sits on the other side of the changing rooms and not beside her girlfriend. "You underestimate yourself."

"She was staying humble." Steph says. "I heard her singing in her room the other day."

"You'll be hearing a lot more of that once my guitar arrives."