[ twenty five ]

Mariluz spent two days in her hospital bed in observation. She had gotten stitches after colliding with her older brother at the clasico game. One thing that she found strange about her hospital stay was that no one went to visit her. It was as though the whole world was angry at her over the lie. But she had hoped that her Real Madrid friends would be forgiving. Mariluz had no way of calling her parents, to let her know where she was, her cellphone was still in her locker in the changing rooms of Santiago Bernabeu.

Two hours before she was supposed to be released, she got out of bed. The nurses had already unhooked the medical machines off her and she had changed into clothes that had been set out for her. She opened her room door slightly and peeking out into the hallway she found there were two men standing guard in front of her door. She closed the door carefully and went to sit on her bed. 

She figured that had been the reason no one visited her. She was being guarded and kept prisoner in her room. Mariluz immediately guessed everything had been the work of Jose Mourinho.

In the silence within the sterile walls of her room, she thought of a plan to get out of the hospital without anyone knowing. Mariluz didn't know what Mourinho's reasons were to keep her trapped in that room, but she figured they were nothing that could benefit her. 

It wasn't until a nurse went into the room to check on her that she had an idea. The nurse was a young woman in her mid twenties and was dressed in a typical uniform. Mariluz got up from her seat at her bed and made her an offer. "Hey...can you do me a huge favor?" Mariluz took a step towards her and kept her voice in a low whisper. When the nurse only nodded, she continued, "I know this is going to sound crazy, but I need you to switch clothes with me."

"Why?" The nurse eyed her suspiciously.

"I need to get out of here without anyone knowing." Mariluz explained. "I'm Michael Bartra, from Real Madrid."

"I think your head injury was more severe than we thought." The nurse said.

But Mariluz shook her head quickly. "My Real Madrid uniform is in a black trash bag under my hospital bed. I am telling you the truth. And," She added, "If you help me, I can get you a date with Sergio Ramos." At that point, she would promise anything to get out of that hospital. Sergio had asked her to get him a date with one of her cousins. A random nurse at the hospital was the best she could do, considering the circumstances. 

The nurse's eyes lit up. "Okay. I'll help you."

"Thank you!" Mariluz said in a whisper. She pushed the young woman into the bathroom and they quickly traded clothes. Before exiting the room, she said to her, "Thank you again for doing this. I promise I'll send Sergio over here as soon as possible. What was your name again?"

"Nora Valderrama." She replied.

"Right." Mariluz nodded. "I have mentally saved your name as a note in my head."

-

Her journey back to Marcela's house was a long one. She got past the security guards with ease, since they had thought her to be a nurse. Once out of their sight, she went to the ground floor where the hospital had some payphones. It had taken her a couple of minutes to gather enough coins to pay for a phone call and when she was finally able to call, she called her best friend Marcela Bernabeu. 

"Marcela, I need you to come get me at the hospital." She said quickly into the phone.

"Oh my gosh," Marcela gasped at the sound of her friend's voice. She hadn't heard from her in days and each time she tried to visit, she was told she wasn't allowed to see Mariluz. "How are you calling me? Those gorillas in front of your room door wouldn't let anyone in. Mesut, the rest of the guys and I tried so hard." In her voice, Mariluz could sense her friend's worry. 

"A nurse helped me escape." Mariluz explained. "Please come pick me up. I'll be waiting at the entrance."

The two girls hung up the phone and Mariluz snuck around the building to the entrance. She hid in the shadows provided by large pots of flowers until she saw a black car pull up at the drop-off zone. Out of the car emerged Marcela and Mesut. Marcela was the first to reach her friend and jumped on her, briinging her into a bone crushing bear hug. "Ay menina," She cried into her friend's ear. "When I saw you on the field with Marc, both of you on the verge of falling unconscious, I almost died. You two are so important to me."

"How's my brother?" Mariluz asked as they pulled away.

"Other than the black eye he got from colliding into you, he's fine." Marcela assured her. Her tone of voice hinted that she was slightly satisfied with the outcome of Marc's injury. Not enough to be considered serious, but just enough to have him in pain. "You have a really hard head. Really. You should totally watch the clips from the match. When you collided with him, you sent him flying at least three feet behind the goal line." She continued blabbering on.

Placing his hands on her shoulders, Mesut moved her away from Mariluz. "Okay, Marce, I think you have spoken enough." Marcela went back to the car to wait for them. Mesut brought Mariluz into his arms and rested his chin on top of her head. When Mariluz winced in pain, he apologized. "Sorry, I forgot you got stitiches."

"How is Ricardo?" Mariluz wondered, making Mesut frown.

The German sighed. "He took it pretty hard. You know how much he appreciated you when he thought you were a boy."

Mariluz frowned at that. "So now that I'm a girl, he doesn't like me anymore?"

"That's not it." Mesut shook his head. "He just needs some time."

"I know." Mariluz sighed in defeat. "At least I have friends like you, and Marce, and the rest of the guys. I just hope Ricardo will forgive me."

"Why do you love him and not me?" Mesut found himself blurting out before he could stop himself.

The explanation seemed to flow out of her naturally. "Because he's such a great person and so kind. He was the first person who helped me from the very beginning, when you and Cristiano and the other guys wanted me gone. Ricardo was there."

Mesut's eyebrows knitted together in frustration. "I still regret that. I just wish I had been the first to help you out when you moved to a new town and knew no one. Then maybe things would have been different." 

"Hey," She cupped his cheek in her hand. A warm smile spread across her lips as she said, "You're a great person and I really appreciate you as a friend. I know you could easily find any girl who could love you the way you deserve. I mean...you're German, people love Germans, especially American girls. I once had an American friend who was absolutely crazy about Germans. You're a footballer, what girl doesn't love that? I know I used to love wearing Bojan's Barcelona jerseys when we dated. And you play for Real Madrid, one of the best teams in the world--"

"Save the friend zone speech." Mesut silenced her by placing his index finger to her lips. "No matter what you say, I'll always love you."

"I'm sorry I don't feel the same." She told him.

"I know you are." He said.

From behind them, there was a honk. Marcela was in the car, ready to go home and she was honking at them to get them to hurry up. Mesut helped Mariluz into the front passenger seat and took the girls back to Marcela's house. He even helped her get to her bedroom which was set up for her by Marcela.

The moment she reached her bed, she plopped down on it, exhausted. She had only walked a little bit, but due to all the blood loss during the game her energy levels were low. Mesut said goodbye to her and left the house. Marcela lingered in her friend's room, asking if she could get her anything. And she was surprised when Mariluz asked her for a laptop that had a microphone and a webcam. When asked what she needed it for, her friend responded with, "Mourinho wanted me to do the post game press conferrence because he wanted to reveal me in front of the entire world. Well I'm going to beat him to it. Its time to let everyone know who Michael Bartra really is."

-

okay so now will be the revealing of the truth. thank you all so much for reading this story of mine, it means a lot. i was planning to start a new story once this one ends, but maybe i could just shift my focus to one that's already posted. i will decide that once this story is totally done. anyway, i hope you all like the update. it really meant a lot when you all vote and comment and stuff.

thank you, i love you!

-clary xx