[ nineteen ] 

One by one, each of the players left until Mariluz, Mesut, and Ricardo were left. Sergio and Gonzalo wanted to stay and help, but Mesut insisted everything was fine. They both thought to do something nice for their team mate, but they would have to talk it out with Ricardo and Mesut. What they did know was that they were not going to talk to Cristiano. They knew the Portuguese footballer didn't like Bartra, but they had no way of imagining he would go so far as to making the young footballer cry. He was only twenty-one while Cristiano, who was older, should have known better.

Mariluz cried for a good half hour, hugging Ricardo tightly before she recovered. Pulling away from her team mate, she wiped the tears from her face. But her lips continued to quiver with emotion. Why was it that both Mourinho and Cristiano had to bother her on the same day?

She was emotionally drained.

With trembling hands, she got her training bag out of her locker, the one thing that had remained untouched. Mariluz opened it and stuffed everything into it. Both Mesut and Ricardo tried to help her, but she told them with a shake of her head, "I've got it."

Once everything was inside she closed her locker door, got back on her tired feet, and walked to the nearest trash bin. There, she dropped her training bag and with that died her dream and her will to continue trying. At least she had two days to think about it, since Mourinho had given the team two days off before the big game against Barcelona. She walked towards the exit, stopping at the door to look over her shoulder, "Can we go home, Ricardo?" She asked, but it sounded more like she was pleading.

The Brazilian nodded his head slowly. "Of course."

Mesut stood up, watching as Mariluz left with Ricardo. He saw how upset she was and he felt powerless because he could do nothing to take her pain away. But he thought that he wanted--no, needed--to help her feel better.

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Mariluz and Ricardo were back at his house thirty minutes later. The girl that was dressed as a boy got out of the car when her team mate parked in the driveway. She half-ran, forgetting momentarily the physical pain she was feeling in her legs from all the football drills, and made it to her bedroom where she locked herself inside.

Ricardo tried to give his team mate some time to himself. 

While in her bedroom, she thought about everything she had done in the past couple of weeks. Had it all been worth it, just to prove girls could play football just as well as any man?

She had made enemies, as well as friends. Then there was the fact that Bojan was trying to blackmail her into dating him again. She knew that would be easily solved, but everything else wouldn't.

What about the guys?

Would they forgive her after finding out she was lying to them? Her thoughts drifted to Ricardo first. He had been so kind on that first day that she arrived to Madrid and she couldn't imagine him hating her. Ricardo wasn't like that, she thought to herself in a positive way, he was a kind and forgiving person. She was more worried about the other guys, Gonzalo and Sergio. Judging by the way Mesut had taken the news, she hoped their reactions would be better.

Maybe she needed to give up all her dreams of making it big in football and go to the university, get a nice degree, or become a house wife as Bojan had suggested. Mariluz grimaced at that. Of course she liked the idea of one day settling down, getting married, and having kids. But that was further in her future. At the moment, she wanted nothing more than to play football.

She thought maybe the best thing to do was to take a break for a while, return to Barcelona, and try again later, as Mariluz Bartra and not Michael. 

Mariluz had decided she would pack her bags that night and have Marcela pick her up after Ricardo fell asleep. Then she would take the next flight back to Barcelona. She missed home anyway, and hoped to have better luck there after spending some time in Madrid. But she would need to make sure the boys didn't know she was leaving, or they would try to stop her. No, instead, she would write them a note and leave in Ricardo's room, where he would surely find it once she was long gone. In her letter she would reveal her true identity and let them know why she did what she did, as well as beg for their forgiveness. They had been great friends to Mariluz and she wanted to let them know she truly appreciated it.

Her cellphone vibrated with texts from her team mates telling her how much they lamented what happened. Each of them assured her they would never let something like that happen again. Mariluz only read the messages, but didn't respond.

Taking a few strides to her closet, she slid the door open and grabbed her luggage. Mariluz was beginning to pack her things for her trip back home.

It was decided, she would say goodbye.

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Ricardo sat on his livingroom couch. Every few minutes he would walk down the hallway that led towards Michael's bedroom and stopped himself halfway. He didn't want to bother his team mate and concluded that if Michael wanted to talk about it, he would come out and talk to him.

He was just about to go try again when there was a knock on the front door.

When he went to open it, he saw Mesut standing there, along with Sergio and Gonzalo. The three of them wore looks of pity on their faces. "Is Michael here?" Gonzalo asked.

Ricardo nodded, gesturing for them to come inside. The three footballers went into the house as their team mate explained to them, "He's been locked in his bedroom for a while. I wish I knew some way to help him."

"That's why we're here." Sergio said.

And Ricardo noticed they were carrying a large basket. Inside it was a box with a brand new cellphone in it, a new training uniform, everything else that had been destroyed from his locker, and some chocolates. Gonzalo chuckled, "We went to a nice gift shop and the salesperson thought we were getting something for our girlfriends. When we told her it was for a guy, I think she got the wrong idea."

Curious, she left her bedroom and tiptoed down the stairs to see what they wanted. Her friends spotted her and Mesut waved her over. 

She took in the sight before her and broke out into tears once more. "You guys are so thoughtful!" She gushed through her sobs when they handed her the basket of things. She probably looked strange to them, sobbing like a little girl, but she didn't care in that moment.

Mariluz gave each of them a hug and then they all went further into the house to the livingroom.

"We're really sorry about what happened." Sergio offered.

"You didn't do anything." Mariluz sniffed. She thought about retreating back to her bedroom, but decided against it in the end. She wanted to enjoy seeing her best mates before she headed back to Barcelona. 

They spent the rest of the afternoon together, on the xbox, watching movies, and even playing silly board games. As Mariluz looked at each of them, she realized the Madrid players were never as bad as she thought they were. In fact, they weren't bad at all. The only reason they had hated each other without taking the time to know each other was because of a football rivalry. 

It was well past one in the morning when all of them fell asleep. But Mariluz couldn't.

She tiptoed back to her room as quietly as she could managed and grabbed her luggage. As she made her way out the front door, she made sure to leave the note in Ricardo's bedroom and dialed Marcela's number. Her friend answered after several rings. She must have been asleep, but Mariluz needed her help.

"Hello..." Said a sleepy sounding Marcela.

"Marce," Mariluz said into the speaker of her phone, "I need you to come pick me up."

-

i kid you all not, i feel like i am slowly dying rn. since i'll be returning to the university tomorrow, i stayed up last night, for most of the night. i fell asleep at seven in the morning and woke up at nine to watch a football game. but also because i purposefully wanted to tire myself out. 

you see, when i'm on vacation, i tend to fuck up my sleep pattern so much that i don't sleep until like five in the morning and wake up a half hour before twelve so i can watch my favorite soap opera 'teresa'. i want to be able to fall asleep early tonight so that i can be nice and ready for classes tomorrow. granted i'll have only two classes, and i'll spend the rest of my time on campus trying to land a job. but on tuesday is when i'll have like five classes. i don't want to be falling over with sleep depravation. 

anyway, i hope you all enjoyed this update! thank you so much for taking the time to read and vote. i love you all to bits. the next chapter will be the last and then it will be followed by the epilogue.

-clary xx