"Haze, help... box slipping!" Hailee runs over and grabs the box from Jade before it hits the ground.
"Seriously Jade, why didn't you just let the movers do what they were being paid for?"
Jade puts the box down and looks at her, "Because then I wouldn't have been able to see Storm flex her muscles and get a sweat on before she leaves."
Hailee laughs and shakes her head, "I don't want to hear you or your goodbyes."
Jade laughs, "We'll do our best to keep things relatively quiet, but didn't you say the place was soundproofed anyways?"
"Yeah, everything about it is top tier, my Dad wouldn't allow me to live anywhere that wasn't."
"And I'm thankful for that and you because this place is amazing! So when are we having a housewarming party?"
They hear what sounds like glass breaking in the other room, "Stormy, you okay?"
"Yeah, but I think you might need to replace the bathroom mirror. Actually, you definitely need to replace the mirror."
Hailee and Jade head inside the first bathroom to take a look at the damage and find the mirror shattered and Storm holding a bleeding hand over the sink.
"Jade, take her into my bathroom and get her cleaned up, there's a first aid kit under the sink; I'll look after this mess."
Jade leads Storm down the hall to Hailee's room and bathroom while Hailee figures out how to clean up the mess. She finally grabs an empty moving box and starts placing the loose pieces in it and then collects the broom and dustpan to clean off the floor.
Hailee calls Charles and explains to him what happened and he promises to have it looked after within the day.
She heads into her bathroom to check on Jade and Storm and finds them both crying.
"You guys, okay?" They both nod, "Just having a hard time dealing with the idea of being separated for the foreseeable future."
"I get it, I'll leave you alone to talk; you guys okay with pizza for supper? Tierna told me which place makes the best pie in her opinion."
"Pizza is fine for tonight, we'll get groceries tomorrow."
"Umm, Jade, the cupboards are already full; I'm just not the best at cooking."
Jade laughs, "I guess the least I can do for you allowing me to live here with you is to teach you how to cook."
"My Dad offered to hire a personal chef for us, but I thought that would be too much."
"Seriously, you turned down a personal chef? What the hell were you thinking?"
"So, you want me to call him and ask for one?"
"Uh yeah, unless you want to live on chicken and pasta for the term!"
Hailee shakes her head, "I'll make the call."
Hailee heads off to call her Dad.
"This place is da bomb, Jadey! You're so lucky you get to live here versus the crappy dorm room that I'm going to be living in."
"I'm sure it won't be that bad, Stormy."
They kiss and hold each other until Hailee comes back in the room, "Really, I leave the two of you for a couple of minutes and you're busy getting busy in my bathroom!"
They both laugh and Jade stands up reaching for Storm's hand, "Come on Babe, I still have a few more boxes to bring up."
Later that evening the three sit around the flatscreen in the living room and play video games until deciding it's time to call it a night.
Hailee lays in her bed looking at her phone and is disappointed not to have received any messages from Tierna, but chalks it up to her girlfriend being busy with her Red Star team and mates.
She sends her own message before setting down her phone for the night.
New Message
Haze: Hey Babe, I miss you. Jade is finally moved in and Storm somehow managed to already break a mirror. Call me tomorrow, okay? XO.
Two days later, Hailee is on the phone chatting with Tierna when Jade returns from taking Storm to the airport.
"Babe, I need to go. Jade just got home and looks like she needs a friend. Love you, kick some Pride ass." She hears Tierna laugh and say that she loves her before they hang up.
"She'll be okay, Jade; Storm is pretty resilient."
"I know, it's just that everything will be new to her, she's never really been away from home except for soccer camps and now she has to deal with that as well as classes, soccer and a roommate."
"She will be fine, you need to focus on how you're going to earn a starting spot this season. The team is stacked upfront, so you are going to need to work your ass off."
"As are you, Haze."
"Count on it, now, how about we head to the gym and get a workout in before supper?"
Jade nods and they both head to their respective rooms to get changed before making the trek to the University and getting a workout in.
Hailee struggles to contain her excitement as she and Jade make their way to their first official practice as members of the Stanford University Women's soccer team.
"We got this, Haze."
"Yeah, we do, let's show them what we can do!"
Two hours later, both of them are absolutely exhausted after giving everything they have in an attempt to show not only the coaching staff but their teammates as well as what they are capable of on the field.
"Good practice ladies, you all have your schedules now and we expect you to adhere to them and your nutritional plan. We will have two more sessions before our exhibition game against Fresno State and the starting lineup for it will be posted following our session on Friday. That's it for today, everyone get cooled down except Zane, can you stay behind for a few minutes, please. Dismissed."
Hailee signals to Jade that it's okay for her to go ahead and stays behind with the coaches.
"What can I do for you?"
"Hailee, I'm well aware that things didn't exactly start off on the right foot here for you and I wanted to assure you that the name on the back of your shirt won't factor into any of my decisions when it comes to you and whether you play or not, it will be completely up to you to earn your spot. Now, I also wanted to let you know that you impressed us out there today; it's clear that that move to midfield has been a good one for you and I think that provided you keep working as hard as you did today there may be a starting position for you. Hailee, as you know we lost a few key players and leaders to graduation this past year and the reports we've received on you and your work ethic indicate to us that you may be capable of filling some of that void; I expect to see that player on the field next practice, understood?"
Hailee smiles, "Yes, Coach, I promise not to let you down; thank you for the opportunity."
"Good, now, hit the showers."
Hailee jogs away and over to where Jade and a few of the other girls are waiting.
"So? what happened? You're smiling so that's good, right?"
"It's all good, Jade. Let's go. I'm starving, we have supper waiting for us at home and I promised T that I would call her and let her know how it went."
After eating, Jade and Hailee chill out for a bit before each decides to call their respective girlfriend and check-in.
Ring, ring
"Hello?" Hailee clues in that Tierna sounds as if she had been sleeping.
"Oh, crap, I'm sorry to wake you; I always forget about the time difference."
Tierna yawns, "It's okay, how was training?"
"Really good, it felt awesome to be out there and playing with high calibre players."
"How were the coaches towards you? Any issues?"
"No, in fact, they were all very supportive of me as were the girls."
"Good. Do you think that you will be playing in the exhibition match against Fresno?"
"I hope so, but I won't know for sure until later in the week, why?"
"We play in Seattle the next day and I was going to see if I could make arrangements to watch you play."
"Say the word and I'm sure I could get the jet for you."
"Haze, no, we aren't getting into that habit. I will see what I can work out and get back to you. I need to sleep now, love you and we'll talk tomorrow."
"Love you, too, T. Night."
Hailee heads out to the kitchen to grab a drink when Jade comes out laughing.
"How's Storm?"
"She's good, according to her, her roommate is cool and she likes her teammates."
"That's good to hear, so what's so funny?"
"Well, apparently my girlfriend walked into the wrong dorm room and interrupted a couple of her teammates going at it, then asked if she could join in."
"And you're laughing so I'm going to assume that she didn't join in."
"No, they threw a pillow at her and told her to get out; apparently, she kept the pillow and is now sleeping on it."
"That actually sounds like something she would do."
Jade nods in agreement, "How's Tierna?"
"I woke her up again, she is possibly going to be at the game against Fresno. The Red Stars play in Seattle the next day, so she said she is going to see about coming to it if I'm going to be playing."
"It's an exhibition game, most likely we are all going to be playing."
"True, I didn't think of that."
Over the next two sessions, Hailee does her best to show off to the coaches all of her skills and abilities and when the starting lineup is posted for their game against Fresno, she is rewarded with the start. She is disappointed that Jade isn't listed as one of the starters, but knows that her friend will come out flying as one of their subs.
In the end, Tierna isn't able to co-ordinate flights, so Hailee goes ahead and makes arrangements for the jet to meet her in Seattle, stop in Portland and collect Storm and then bring them to Stanford, where they spend the night with Hailee and Jade before they make the trip to Laird Q. Cagan Stadium for the evening match.
Tierna wanders around with Storm and gets reacquainted with staff and students on the campus while Hailee and Jade get ready for their game.
"Thought you would have asked for 19 beings as though that's what Kelley wore while she was here."
"I thought about it, but 5 has served me well, so I'm going to keep it."
"Makes sense, good luck tonight, Haze and thanks again for bringing Stormy here," Hailee laughs and then hugs Jade, "You're welcome, good luck, Jadey."
Once all the pre-game stuff is taken care of, Hailee and her Cardinal teammates take their places on the field and await the opening whistle. She looks around and takes some deep breaths, smiling with the realization that one of the dreams she and Hillary both shared is about to come true with her playing soccer for Stanford.
It doesn't take long before Hailee gets involved in the game as 5 minutes into it, she cranks one of her lasers off the post drawing the attention of the crowd and coaches.
Then in the 22nd minute of the game, she slips in and redirects a shot just wide of the post.
In the 29th minute, Stanford finally is able to break the scoreless game with their first goal of the game
Jade comes on in the first round of subs and the changes set off a flurry of shots by Stanford with none of them managing to find the netting behind the Fresno keeper.
They hold the one-goal lead into the halftime break.
In the 54th minute of the game, Stanford sets up for another corner in the Fresno end and as she has been doing all game Hailee sets the ball down and waits for the signal to send the ball in. She sends a perfect ball into the box and one of the forwards Sam, who gets her head on it and directs it into the goal to put the Cardinals ahead by two.
Hailee celebrates with her teammates as they jog back to the midpoint of the field.
In the 68th minute, with Jade calling out to her, Hailee sends a long ball downfield for her to run on to and watches as Jade then sends one of her cross-body far post shots past the keeper to give Stanford 3 goals on the day. Hailee runs and jumps in her roommate's arms, "Nice goal, Jade."
"Nice ball, Haze."
Two minutes later and Stanford scores their fourth goal on the day assuring them of the victory.
As the final whistle sounds out Hailee looks up towards the sky for a moment before joining her teammates in celebrating the victory.
After the game, Hailee, Tierna, Jade and Storm head back to the apartment to have supper before calling it a night as the jet will be heading back to Portland and Seattle early in the morning and they need their rest.
Hailee and Tierna snuggle and exchange a few kisses before settling in for the night. The next morning the alarm goes off super early and none of the four are overly enthusiastic about being up or moving that early, but they know it needs to be done.
They quickly get dressed and have breakfast before driving to the private terminal and boarding the jet for Seattle. After dropping Tierna back to her team hotel, the three remaining players do some sightseeing and eating before making the trip to Memorial Stadium to watch the Red Stars take on the Reign.
The game proves to be more eventful for the handful of Yellow cards given out rather than the score as the teams finish the game with a scoreless draw.
Hailee spends a few minutes after the game with Tierna and Julie who comes over to say Hello before they need to head back to the jet, drop Storm off in Portland and then finally land back home.
Walking back into their apartment in the early hours of the morning, both Stanford players head to their bedrooms, complete their nighttime routines and then drift off.