We were playing Manchester United today on an away game. Nervous? Yes, very much.

"Steffy!" I jumped into Steph's arms.

"You saw me quite literally thirty seconds ago, Elena." Steph says to me as she pats my back.

"I know, but thirty seconds ago I didn't know we'd be starting together."

"Wait, really?" She asks me, walking over to the middle of the changing rooms where Kim had the lineup sheet.

"Mhm." I hum. "You're right behind me."

"Sweet." She high-fives me. She walks over to Lia and Beth to tell them they'd all be starting together while I walked over to Caitlin.

"Helooo." I sit beside her.

"Hello." Caitlin says back normally, a smile placed on her lips. "Want me to braid your hair?" She asks me and I smile while I nod at her.

United was a tough game like last season. Though this time they didn't keep the ball to themselves as much so we still got a few touches in there, but definetly less than them.

I yelled for Manu to get ready when I saw Ona getting ready to shoot. We'd had less collisions this game, but I could tell she'd still rather not have to face me. I mean, the feeling was mutual, but more because I knew I'd treated her like shit and I just didn't deserve her.

Ona was a defender so, seeing her on the ball right now on the verge of shooting was throwing us all on the edge. I ran infront of the goal as the ball left her foot. I just about jumped up and kneed it away from the goal to which Lotte managed to get before Less and passed to Steph.

As I ran back forward, I got a pat on my back from Tooney, telling me it was a good save. I reached back and shook her hand before taking off again.

The score was still 0:0 even after half time. During the 86th minute, Caitlin was subbed on for Viv. We shook hands as the game continued.

We were rewarded a penalty in the 89th minute when there was a hand ball from United.

"Who's taking it?" I ask as we group up infront of the penalty box.

"You should." Beth says to me.

"No, no, no." I shake my head. "No."

"Oh come on, didn't you score a banger of a penalty during the 2019 world up?" Jen asks me and I go to speak, but Steph shakes her head.

"You're taking it." She pushes me forward and the ref looks at me before placing the ball down infront of me.

I look back at Steph and glare at her, but when I look behind her, I see Caitlin giving me a comforting smile.

I turn back around and take a few steps away from the ball as I look Mary in the eyes. Good old Mary. She was a great goal keeper. I'd seen it during international games. She saved us a lot during games. Would she save United now?

The ref blew her whistle and I took one last deep breath as I ran forward and kicked the ball. I felt my heart in my throat as I watched the ball fly through the sky and Mary dive to stop it. She was going to get it, there was no way it was going to get in.

It got in.

Mary missed it by millimetres. I'd scored us a penalty kick, making the score 0:1 to us.

I turned around with a wide smile on my face as I heard the fans chanting my name. I wasn't even thinking when my legs started moving, but for some reason I was running straight towards Caitlin and next thing you know she had her arms out and my legs were wrapping around her waist and my arms in the air as I cheered and everyone came around me and celebrated with us.

I looked down into Caitlin's eyes as she finally put me down and everyone else hugged me and patted my back.

"Wow, Els." Steph says to me as I wrap my arms around her neck.

"Thanks for believeing in me, Steffy."

"Always."

We still had 8 more minutes to play so,we all got ready to play again. Anything could happen in 8 minutes, but we had great defenders.

My eyes couldn't help but wander off to the spanish girl I once loved. She was already staring back at me when I looked and we made eye contact.

I was going to talk to her later. I think it was finally time to give her the appology she deserved. After Caitlin and I's chat on her balcony during the Olympics, I think being able to finally tell someone about what had happened, whether she knew who it was about or not, it made me realise how much more I really owed Ona an appology.

The game ended and I was called over for a quick interview after going to the fans in the stands.

"Amazing penalty, Elena." The interviewer shook my hand.

"Thank you."

"What were your emotions during that since it was a very close call?" She asks and holds the mic infront of my mouth.

"I was definetly nervous, could feel my heart beating through my chest, but Steph pushes me forward to take it and I didn't want to let her or the other girls down. Once the ball was in the air, I didn't think it was actually going to go in with how close Mary was to the ball, but I managed it and it felt really great."

"You ran straight for Caitlin Foord after that, how have you two grown closer since your move?"

My stomach turned, but I smiled. "Yeah, she was really welcoming to me when I first transfered and so we became pretty close and now she's on my best friend list, which she still thinks is funny, but, yeah." I reply.

"Thank you, Elena." The interviewer shakes my hand as we end the interview.

I'd quickly showered and walked out of the changing rooms, leaving the girls behind. My hair was still damp, but I walked through United's grounds as I walked towards their changing rooms.

Every fibre in my body was telling me to turn back, but my heart. My heart knew I would still always care for Ona and that was the reason why I needed to do this.

Just as I lifted my fist to knock on the door of the changing rooms, it opened up and my eyes met familiar brown ones.

"Move." Ona tries pushing past me, but I shake my head.

"I wanna talk to you." I tell her and she sighs, knowing she wants to talk to me to. I take her hand and guide her to the tunnel. I sat down right at the end of the tunnel, still hidden inside and not completely on the pitch. "Sit." I pat the grass infront of me. Ona rolls her eyes at me as she sits down infront of me.

"Always one to like sitting on the floor?" Ona asks me and I can't help but smile. "What?" She raises an eyebrow.

"I have owed you an appology for a really long time." I feel my heart beating out of my chest and the pit in my stomach growing bigger, but I continued. "I'm sorry, Ons. I really am."

Ona hesitates for a moment. "You really hurt me when you wouldn't answer my calls and if you did they wouldn't last for longer than 10 minutes. I didn't know what was going on. We were in two different countries, Elena."

"I know. I was scared. I couldn't give you what you wanted so instead I ran. I should've talked to you."

"Yeah, you should've." She let out a dry chuckle as she sat back. "It's fine."

"No, it's not, Ons." I shake my head at her. "I was a dick."

"No, your dad was a dick. You were just hurting because of it." Ona tells me and I look down as the tears well up in my eyes. "Hey, come here." I shake my head, but Ona moves forward and wraps her arms around me. "It's okay."

"No, it's not. I don't have a family anymore, Ona." I say into her shoulder. "My mum's dead and my dad refuses to talk to me because of who I love. I don't have siblings. I've never known my cousins, if I even have any."

Ona holds me and rubs my back, not quite sure what to say, but her hug is a familiar warmth that comforts me. She pulls me away from her after I've calmed down a bit. "You do have a family. Your team is your family. The Lionesses, Arsenal, Houston, they're all your family. Each and every player on those teams loves you, Elena. I saw how the girls jumped up to celebrate with you today, how Caitlin looked at you and how you looked at her."

"What do you mean?" I wipe my eyes.

"The way you look at Caitlin." Ona tells me. "You think I wouldn't notice that look?

-You used to look at me like that."