Break Down The Walls

Arriving to work, I wasn’t as nervous as I was yesterday. Ha, I thought to myself, that’s the understatement of the century. I was so nervous yesterday, it reminded me of when I had my first kiss when I was 12.

I opened the large doors to the office building, smoothly, greeting Mary with a large smile and thanking her graciously for all she did for me yesterday. Like a pro I made my way to the elevator, checking my phone for any emails or texts as I waited.

When the doors opened, I laughed out loud at what I saw. Fernando Torres and Sergio Ramos were wrestling childishly, yelling obscenities in Spanish to each other. It took them a while to notice that the elevator door had opened, and they straightened out immediately when they saw that they were in public view and that I was standing right there.

“Mrs. Fernandez!” Sergio said loudly, his voice cracking slightly. He turned red and I just laughed, stepping into the elevator and nodding slightly.

“Goodmorning Sergio and Fernando.” I smiled, “but please, call me Sophie.”

“Hola Sophie!” Fernando said enthusiastically, flashing a smile and waving his hand in the air like a schoolboy.

“What are you guys up to today?” I asked curiously. Weren’t they supposed to be on the field…practicing?

“We dropped off something on your desk, and we were waiting for you to come. We have a surprise for you Sophie!” Sergio smiled mischievously, rubbing his fingers together.

“Oh no, why do I have a bad feeling about this?” I asked raising my eyebrows.

We had arrived at the top of the building and I got off the elevator, ready to bid my goodbye to the boys.

“Oh no, we are coming with you. We have to make sure you don’t back out!” Fernando said, pushing me towards the office.

Curiosity driving me, I walked faster to reach my office, nervous but excited to see what was going to happen.

As I opened the door, I saw a pair of shorts, a shirt and cleats waiting for me.

“Oh no, oh no no no no no no no no!” I said, shaking my head furiously. Sports were never my thing. I couldn’t aim for my life and I tripped every two seconds.

“Oh yes!” Fernando laughed, obviously getting much pleasure out of this.

“Why can’t I just watch your practice and cheer?! Why do I have to practice?” I whined, sounding like a four year old girl.

“Sophie you need to know what we feel, what we go through. You will be working closely with us, and you need to get to know us well. And soccer is obviously a huge part of all of our lives. Playing with us will all connect us!” Sergio said, convincing me.

“I hope someone cuts all your hair off in the middle of the night.” I glared at Sergio, who immediately put his hands on his hair, a terrified expression on his face.

I changed in the bathroom quickly, pulling my hair up in a high ponytail and praying my makeup didn’t streak. We made our way back down to the field, Fernando and Sergio singing and laughing as I sulked in the back.

When we got to the field, the players were already warmed up and were sitting around and socializing. It was a muggy day, and the clouds looked nasty above.

“Sophie, lo siento (I’m sorry), I could do nothing to prevent this. They demand you play with them.” Del Bosque sighed, giving me a look of pity.

“It’s part of the job right?” I joked, a depressed look came on my face.

Just then, Iker came running up and put his arm around me.

“Sophie, as the TEAM CAPTAIN, I would like to say that we are all very happy you’re our new press manager, and that you agreed to practice with us.” Iker said loudly, smiling obnoxiously.

“Not like I had a choice” I said crossly, squinting angrily. This was just fucking great. I was going to make a complete fool out of myself in front of the entire team. Lovely.

“Awww Sophie! Someone’s not happy!” Iker said pinching my cheek. I swatted his hand away, and ducked out from under his arm.

“Okay why don’t we start off by kicking the ball back and forth to each other?” Iker yelled at everyone, and they all moved to get ready.

Fernando came up to me and put his hand on my back, leading me to a specific spot.
“I’m going to be your partner for today!” Fernando smiled brightly.

“Really? You sure your friends are okay with that?” I asked, looking back at all the boys who were shooting Fernando glares.

“Yea, we settled this like men…I won this spot over by playing rock, paper, scissors.” he said seriously. I burst out laughing at his serious face.

“Rock paper scissors is life or death Sophie. Lives are lost in that game.” Fernando said still just as serious.

“Oh, I’m sure” I laughed as I moved back to start the drill.

As Fernando smoothly kicked the ball to me, I awkwardly stuck my foot out to stop the ball.

Of course the ball didn’t want to stop and flew past me. I darted after it and scooped down to pick it up with my hands, but only after tripping over my own feet. This was starting off well.

I set the ball back down when I had reached my original spot, swung my leg back and kicked my leg with all the force I had. Somehow, I ended up on my back roughly, my inner thigh killing me from the intense kick I just did. Obviously I had missed something though, for I was on the ground and staring up at the clouds. The worst part? The soccer ball hadn’t moved an inch. I groaned loudly, covering my face with my hands.

All the boys were doubled over in laughter, clutching their sides. Even Del Bosque was laughing! And Del Bosque is an irritable little man!

“Ya ya keep laughing. Just remember who is controlling your image to the public!” I threatened loudly, shaking my fist in the air as I stood up. A few stopped laughing but still
kept amused smiles on their faces.

I crossed my arms over my chest and sped walked across the field. This was over, no way in hell I’m continuing this torture.

“Sophie wait! We won’t laugh anymore!” Xabi said, yelling after me. I ignored him and walked off the field and into the office building.

Those poops, I thought to myself. I took the stairs to avoid the looks I was going to get and changed rapidly back into work clothes.

Once arriving in my office, I sighed contently, and opened my email up to start work. I had to schedule interviews, photo shoots and demand public apologies from certain newspapers that had purposely published false information on the players.

Work kept me busy, and thankfully I quickly forgot the embarrassment I had just caused myself.