[ seventeen ] 

The players were dismissed from their meeting with the club president, with Mariluz leaving the room last. The other guys were already down the hallway and turning a corner when Mourinho grabbed her by the arm, Florencia had gone ahead with her father. Mariluz spun around to see the glare on his face. Mariluz pulled away from his hold and hissed, "Don't touch me."

"You think you won, Bartra." The grey haired man laughed bitterly. "Not for long. There's something that isn't quite right about you and I'm gonna find out what it is."

"I'm not hiding anything." Mariluz lied.

"Right." Mourinho scoffed. "You act very suspiciously for a guy who's supposed to be normal. Don't think I haven't noticed. I remember that time you told Florencia you liked her shoes, you've often squealed like a little girl, and I once saw you holding Ricardo's hand as well as Mesut's. You have very feminine features and your voice is a little high pitched to sound like a boy's voice..." He explained and Mariluz thought she knew where he was going with his suspicions. His dark eyes observed her face, as if trying to find a flaw in her that could help him discover what she was hiding. "And you always blow off Florencia to go with the boys."

Mariluz argued, "What I do with my life is none of your business."

"It becomes my business when you badly influence my players, forcing them to rebel against me over something so stupid." He barked angrily. "You're a trouble maker, Bartra. And I'll have you kicked out of this team in no time."

When the other boys noticed they had left their newest team mate behind, Ricardo turned to look behind him. "Where's Michael?" He asked his mates.

"He was right behind us." Sergio shrugged.

"I'll go find him." Ricardo offered.

"No," Mesut shook his head. "I'll go."

"Why don't you both go?" Gonzalo suggested the possible solution in a bored tone. "The rest of us are gonna go get ready for practice."

Cristiano, Sergio, and Gonzalo walked ahead, leaving Mesut and Ricardo alone to go find Michael Bartra. As they made their way back towards the meeting room slowly, Ricardo asked his friend casually, "So...how are you and Michael's sister doing? Her name is Mariluz, right?" He asked the last question pretending to have forgotten her name.

Mesut nodded. "Yes, my girlfriend's name is Mariluz."

"Ah." Ricardo said.

"And we're doing well." Mesut continued. "I love her more than anything, but...I think she's in love with someone else. So I might end things with her soon. I don't know."

Ricardo's face contorted in confusion. "Maybe, instead of wondering if she's happy with you, you should ask her. Then you'll know for sure." The Brazilian suggested. "Its better than making decisions without knowing the truth because you could make a mistake you'll eventually regret."

With a shake of his head, "I'm almost convinced she likes one of my mates."

"Oh?" Ricardo wondered. "Then why are you with her?"

"Because I really like her." The German replied. "I think she only dated me because the guy she was interested in is interested in someone else." Both he and Mariluz knew that their supposed relationship was virtually non-existent. It was something they had made up to play along with Cristiano's plan to win over Marcela. But Mesut thought that if he remained quiet and didn't ask about their 'relationship', then they could still be together. He thought it was an unspoken agreement between them. Mesut wanted to show Mariluz that she could be happy with him if she could get over Ricardo, who was in love with Florencia.

The two young footballers turned the corner to see Mourinho arguing with Michael Bartra. They both turned when they saw Mesut and Ricardo approaching them. Narrowing his eyes at them, Mesut asked, "What's going on here?"

"Nothing." Mourinho smiled at the two footballers. Placing a hand on Mariluz' shoulder, he added, "I was just wishing your team mate goodluck as the clasico game. Right, Bartra?"

"Sure." Mariluz responded.

"Well, come on." Ricardo waved her over. "We need to go change for practice."

"Right." She sighed.

.

.

.

.

In the locker room, Mariluz felt uncomfortable seeing shirtless footballers everywhere. She sat on the bench facing her locker, stalling as much as she could. She wanted to wait for all of them to leave so that she could change into her training uniform.

Walking up behind her, Mesut tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. She turned towards him and he leaned forward to whisper into her ear, "Grab your clothes and follow me." He told her. "There's some old showers in the back that the team doesn't use anymore. You can change there and I'll stand guard."

Mariluz nodded and grabbed her things and followed Mesut to the back of the locker room. On the right were the new showers and toilets. On the far left, past a small hallway were the old ones which Mariluz wondered why they were even still there if no one used them. They were divided into stalls with shower curtains to keep them concealed and she went to the very last one.

Cristiano, who also found Michael Bartra's behavior to be suspicious, saw them separate from the group and head to the old showers. It was dim and lonely back there. Cristiano hid in the shadows and waited. 

If Michael Bartra was hiding something, maybe it was something interesting which he could use to his best interest.

He could extortion Bartra into leaving Marcela so he could be free to date her.

The Portuguese watched them come back down the hallway. Michael ran a hand through his hair, fixing the strands of hair that were sticking out everywhere. As she brought her hand down to her side, some of her hair got caught in her fingernail and Cristiano gasped at what he saw. Michael Bartra's hair was a wig and beneath that was long dark hair. Without the wig, Cristiano realized she was the girl from the restaurant. She was Mesut's supposed girlfriend.

Mesut helped her fix the wig back on her head and he paused in his stride, turning towards her. "Mariluz," He began in his German accent. Cristiano instantly knew the nature of the conversation when his friend moved a strand of her boyish hair away from her face. "Can we talk about us?"

"What do you mean?" She asked him innocently.

"Nothing." He quickly said, having taken the hint. "I just thought-"

She gasped when it dawned on her. "Oh my gosh, Mesut. Did you think we were actually dating? I was only playing along because Ronaldo was trying to win over Marcela at the restaurant. He's the one who suggested we should pretend to date, remember? I thought it was all an act on your part too." With a frown, she added, "I'm sorry if I led you on...I really appreciate you, but as a friend."

He smiled at her, but it was a sad smile that didn't touch his eyes. "Don't worry about it. I know you like Ricardo."

The dark haired girl bit her lip hard. "Is it obvious?"

"Eh." Mesut shrugged.

It was then that Cristiano jumped out from the shadows, startling both Mariluz and Mesut. "Aha!" He pointed his index finger at her accusingly. "I knew there was something strange about you."

All the color drained from Mariluz' face. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough." Cristiano smirked. "I have a great piece of information. Who would have thought our newest member--the almighty and all-time favorite Michael Bartra--was actually a girl this whole time."

Mariluz let out a defeated sigh. "You're going to tell everyone, aren't you?"

"Of course I will." He quickly replied.

"Don't." Mesut warned in a stern voice. 

"Or what?" Cristiano challenged.

"You're my friend, Cristiano." Mesut continued. "But I love Mariluz and I won't let you do anything that could hurt her."

"Look Mesut," Cristiano sighed as he explained, "Remember who runs this team, even above Mourinho's authority. I was the one who included you in my group when you were an outsider. You were the one no one talked to, the one no one accepted. You were basically him." He said, looking at Mariluz who was dressed as Michael Bartra. "Thanks to me you're someone on this team."

Mesut scoffed. "I don't care about a spot in your social group. I care about my spot on the pitch and I care about my real friends."

The German footballer walked around Cristiano and Mariluz followed behind him. Mariluz stopped a few feet away and looked over her shoulder at the Portuguese astro. "If you keep treating your friends that way, soon you'll have none left."

Cristiano remained silent and she jogged ahead to catch up to Mesut.

-

yay.

another update.

we are so close to the end of this story. 

just to clarify the point of this argument: cristiano is basically jealous that all his friends seem to prefer michael bartra's company over his. and in his jealousy, he is being a real jerk wad. but he truly cares about sergio, gonzalo, mesut, and ricardo ^.^

anyway, thank you all for reading.

i hope to update again soon. so stay tuned for that.

thank you.

i love you.

-clary xx