Strasbourg came onto their sight after that long bus ride.

Of course the girls were used to long bus rides since they were living in the USA, but this one was different. Nobody was screaming out of joy. Nobody was ecstatic. The pressure was here, nonetheless. And the players knew they had a job to do. That was all that mattered : do their best in this important competition. Now that people were saying that they lost all their goodness and brightness, and that the other teams improved so much that it was impossible for them to bounce back and win the whole thing, the girls were hungry. They wanted to have the world at their feet again.

Mark decided to keep the roommates plan he made for the final camp. It was working out pretty well. And Lindsey wouldn't be the one to complain about it. She just joined Cari in their balcony, enjoying the view.

{A/N : this is what Strasbourg looks like. I went there three times, and this city is just outstandingly beautiful. The stadium is too.

I really hope they will play here in 2018, because it's amazing.}

"Are you ready for this ?" Lindsey asked, smiling at her friend, who looked worried. "I know it's your first big tournament. But I'm sure it will end better than my first time. And I know you will be amazing on that field."

Cari smiled at her too.

"Thank you, Frick" she murmured, hugging her closely.

That made Lindsey laugh. "We really need to come up with another nickname" she said, while her friend was laughing as well.

"I'll think about it" Cari said, while easing her grip on Lindsey, so that they both could stare at the city, that was asleep. "But for now, we need to sleep. I think Abby is ready to kill us tomorrow at the gym."

"Yup"

They headed back in their room, and went to bed right away.

Abby seemed in a great mood today.

She decided to spare the older girls, and only call the 'youngsters' and the 'Rookies', so basically all the girls that were 25 or less. They gathered in the physic room, ready to prepare for this important game. Since Mark hadn't released the starting XI yet, every girl still believed in their chances to play. They all were excited, minus Lena and Ashley, who were absolutely feeling the pressure on their shoulders.

Abby knew it was difficult for young players to resist that constant pressure, especially when the odds weren't in their favor. But she also knew they could fight it, and become better players. So when she delivered her encouraging speech, they all were pumped up. They immediately began their routine.

Mal, Ashley, Lena and Sonnett were forming a group. They had to do their abs all together, which allowed them to speak. So once she's made sure Abby was busy talking with another group, Sonnett raised her eyebrow at Mal. The brunette returned her look frowning. As they were already suffering, Emily said :

"I thought you hated Jenko"

Mal rolled her eyes.

Of course her and Jenko's relationship was different from others. She really wanted to tell the truth in saying that she still hated her, but it wasn't the case. She was feeling attracted to her, to the idea of helping her getting over her addiction. The other night, before their departure to France, Mal held her hair while she was puking. It was very difficult for her to stop smoking and taking drugs. Mal loved that broken side of her, that side that was showing her that she really was human.

She looked at her friends, smiling.

"We still aren't besties, but it's getting better" she said, rolling her eyes. "And I don't want to rip her head off every time I see her, so that's a good thing."

"Cool, we don't have to clean the blood then" Ashley joked, between two heavy breathes.

The girls laughed at that comment, while Mal was smiling in the inside. They have no idea I kinda like her. That's good. She already decided that soccer was more important than having a relationship, so she knew nothing would happen between them. Jenko probably was in the same mindset, so everything was fine.

Sonnett spotted Lena making a funny face.

"What is it, redhead ?" she asked, kinda worried.

All eyes were now locked on the youngest girl, so seemed in some sort of trouble.

"N-nothing" she stammered. They can't know. If anyone find out, I won't be able to play in the World Cup. They absolutely can not know, she thought, totally aware that her secret would come as a shock. "I'm just tired. Jet lag."

The girls gave her a suspicious look, but didn't make any comment.

The day Lena was diagnosed, she was a mess. The disease she had had taken over her body, and there was nothing she could do about it. She got a treatment, and got better. But now that she was stressed, and that the medication was beginning to have less and less effect, she felt the pain again. She was very good in hiding it, because only her parents and her brother knew about this. She convinced them to let her go in France, even though it wasn't the best thing to do for her health.

Her vision became blurry again. That was one of the side effects of 'Giant-cell arteritis', a pretty rare disease that Lena had. She already avoided to loose her vision forever, but the disease and the pain never went away. Most of the time, she was in pain for an hour or so. But there were complications. There always were. Once, Lena had a stroke in the middle of a test. The doctors were able to save her on the line, and she had to recover for a year. There was no proof that it wouldn't happen again.

She just wanted to enjoy life.

"Shit" Mal let out, giving her a concerned look. "You're bleeding."

Lena indeed felt the blood running down her nose. The headaches were pretty unbearable, but she got used to it. She put her hands on her nose, just to see her fingers bloody. She then took a deep breath.

Sonnett immediately got up and gave her a handkerchief, that she put on her nose. She then sighed, while sitting again.

"Are you sure you're okay ?" Ashley asked.

With that event, the girls had stopped doing their abs. Abby spotted that and came near them. She then saw Lena's state.

"Kid, what's going on ?" she asked, kneeling next to her.

It was hard keeping it a secret, but she had to.

"That actually happens to me a lot" Lena said, trying to come up with a good lie. "Whenever I'm stressed about something, my nose bleeds. That's not that big of a deal."

"Okay" Abby said, smiling. "You should stop here for fifteen minutes, and just remain seated." She then looked at the other girls. "You three, keep on doing your abs. They won't stay like that forever."

The girls immediately did as they were told, while Lena was smiling at the coach. You're a pretty good liar, she complimented herself.