"What the fuck is wrong with you, Kratchet ?" Steph exclaims, reducing everybody else on the room to silence. As soon as Julie called her around 8 pm to announce her that her best friend was drunk in her room, the forward has rushed there. "You better start talking."

"Nothing."

"You fucking don't lie to me-"

"Steph."

Megan's voice is as sharp as ice, and that makes the brunette shut up.

On the dorm are the three roommates, but also Steph, Abby and Lindsey, who came as soon as possible, while Kassey and Sonnett are looking for ice in order to put on Kristie's head because she bumped into something while drunk.

Everybody is in shock but Julie, who knows what it feels like to get lost.

"Girls, I think we should let her be" the defender settles.

Seeing that Kristie is lying down on the bed, silently insulting all of them in her head probably, and that there is no need to insist further on for her to talk because it won't happen, Julie wisely decided to make everybody but her and Megan exit the room. Steph doesn't like the idea, and knows it's a good idea.

As they are exiting the room, Steph grabs her girlfriend's arm.

She drags her to a place where nobody would hear or even see them, looking around her. She then takes several deep breathes, as Abby realizes she is sweating. So that makes her freak out : when Steph sweats, it means that she is either having a great workout session, or that she has something big to announce.

Oh no.

"Stephanie ?"

After the defender questions her, Steph immediately spits out :

"I'm sorry I got angry I just didn't want you gone I don't want you gone I want you to stay here with me because I am nothing without you and I need and love you so please I'm a loser without you Abby I need..."

"Stephy, take some deep breaths" Abby orders, relieved.

The brunette nods.

"I know this is an amazing opportunity baby..." she starts, trying to control her emotions. "B-but, it might sound selfish but I don't want you to be far away from me... I'm so scared of life when you're not here..."

"Hey" Abby says, pulling her girlfriend into a tight hug. "Please, let not waste our time fighting over stuff that are not even happening... We'll see where this year bring us, but either way I am determined to enjoy every moment with you babe."

Steph has never held her closer and tighter.

*

Julie sighs.

Since Kristie is not feeling well today because she drank too much alcohol, she had to go through the 30 girls that passed the tryouts to chose that one forward they wanted to add to the team. So after hours in a burning sun judging everybody, Julie made a decision. It was quite obvious, because the girl has something special.

So in the end of the tryouts, the blonde goes back to her dorm after calling Kop all the way to it. The two girls talked about the tryouts, and the whole team situation. The goalie told her that her former team - Stanford - was on point and ready for the season to start. Despite all the new faces, Sam managed to do team activities to bring the girls together. Julie smiles ; she can see the other Mewis sister so that just fine.

When the blonde enters the dorm, she spots her two roommates : Megan is on her bed with her computer, probably working on a class or something, while Kristie is putting some order in the mess she created in a few weeks. The defender smirks, after greeting her two roommates with quick hugs.

Megan smirks.

"How were the tryouts ?" Kristie immediately asks, obviously uncomfortable to have left the blonde on her own.

She couldn't have gone out with such dark circles and red eyes, people would've known that she drank or got high. The memories of last year, at that exact time of the year when Kristie got drugged because she was drunk, make Julie grateful that the blonde got lucky this time. The news of Hope Solo having escaped the federal prison is making her freak out : what if she comes back to finish what she started.

Megan, who sees how awfully worried and troubled Julie looks at the moment, frowns and asks :

"Was it that bad ?"

The defender is snapped out of her transe, before shaking her head.

"N-no, actually, I found a bright star" Julie assures them, forcing a smile. She pushed back the thoughts of Hope Solo coming back to haunt them, because it would mean let her win than fear her still. "She's a forward, and she's very fast and has a great vision of the game. She was a step ahead of everybody else to be honest."

"Good to hear" Kristie lets out, thoughtful. She then blushed. "Sorry again not to have been here..."

"Look, it's okay. We all have our weak moments. But there is one thing you can do to make me forgive you tho"

Kristie raises her eyebrows.

"Anything ?"

The defender smirks : she'll regret to have said that in three seconds. When she realises that Julie have her 'I'm going to make you do something you don't like' face, Kristie sighs and immediately regrets saying that.

Julie, on the other hand, calmly says :

"You need to go easy on Kassey."

"What ? Why ? That girl's a bitch and-" Kristie immediately starts, aggressive.

"Kratch, you're the team captain" Julie reminds her, while Megan bursts into laughter because she knows where this is going. "I don't know what she did to annoy you that much, but you gotta stop hating on her in public at least. It's not good for team chemistry."

Of course the middy knows Julie is right.

"Fine. But I'm not apologising... I'll just stop being mean to her"

"Ignoring her is not 'stop being mean'" Megan says.

The middy rolls her eyes. Her teammates know her very well.

"Fine, I'll make some efforts." Kristie says, beaten. She then shakes her head, adding : "But if she says anything against me I'm going to-"

"Okay, we got it !" Julie says, raising her voice a little.

Her and Megan burst into laughter, while the middy goes back to her cleaning.

*

Meanwhile, in Philadelphie

Ashlyn gets on the car, handing her girlfriend something to eat. She realises that her girlfriend was on the phone only minutes ago, and hang up immediately after seeing the short-haired arrive.

The dark-haired throws her a thankful look.

"Who were you talking to ? On the phone, I mean ?" Ash asks.

The last few days have been pretty difficult for her : of course she loves Hope, but she thought that they finally were rid of vengeance thoughts. But now, Hope clearly has something in mind, and it won't end well.

The goalie smirks.

"It wasn't important."

Ashlyn starts to lose patience.

"Of course it was important ! We're in this together, Hope ! So you better start saying things to me, okay !"

Hope is quite surprised by her girlfriend's reaction, but somehow likes it : she shows her that she cares and wants to be apart of this. So Hope smirks.

"Fine, baby, calm down" the dark-haired says, taking Ash's hand in her own. She then looks at the road, while saying : "I have a contact in Los Angeles, and he told me things are evolving, and then dropped a bomb on me..."

"What bomb ?"

There is a pause, before Hope says :

"Julie Johnston is six months pregnant."