I've Got A Secret, Please Don't Repeat It

Luis Aragones was very anxious, pacing his office, waiting for FIFA to return his calls. Finally, Luis heard his phone ring. Picking it up before the 2nd ring, “Hello?” he answered frantically.

“Hello Mr. Aragones. FIFA has reviewed your request and we have allowed Rebecca Cortez to play for Spain. But before you celebrate, we must go over some pre-cautionary matters…”

The FIFA representative and Luis talked close to an hour, before departing. Luis was like a kid in a candy store.

Rebecca arrived at the stadium, to be greeted by a very upbeat Luis. She brushed his excited behaviour off, attributing it to the team leaving in one day’s time.

Rebecca noticed that Luis was including her more and more into the practices. She couldn’t understand why, maybe he just needed an extra body? Luis was also asking very random questions like, “If you were playing what number would you have? What size of shoe do you wear?”

When the practice was over, Rebecca made her way to her office, prepping her room for the athletes. The last measurements that needed to be taken were height and weight, as these needed to be sent in.

One by one, just like the interviews, the players came in. Rebecca nervously asked them to remove all clothing except their underwear, taking their height and weight. It was extremely awkward with David Villa, after their uncomfortable encounter at the club. She blushed profusely when Sergio came in, noting that soccer the past few years had done his body some good.

Fernando came in next, removing his clothing without any complaining. Rebecca couldn’t take her eyes on Fernando, boy was he fit. She tore her gaze away when she heard him say, “Take a picture, it will last longer.”

Rebecca replaced her ‘lusty’ stare with a cold one, wanting to get the measurements done as quickly as possible. She started packing up her equipment, when Luis popped into her office. “Do you think you could take your measurements?”

Rebecca gave Luis a confused look.

“As a comparison to other players,” Luis quickly replied, not wanting to let the cat out of the bag.

Rebecca gave Luis a reassuring smile, and told him he would give the results after she was done. Rebecca locked her door, not wanting any body to walk in on her. She weighed and measured herself, not knowing that someone was watching her through the window of her door.

Fernando quickly walked away from Rebecca’s office, not wanting to be caught. Only to walk into Sergio.

“You really like her, don’t you?” Sergio asked, with a smile plastered on his face.

Fernando didn’t know how to respond, but the blush that crept onto his cheeks, proved enough.

Rebecca gave the results of everyone to Luis when she was done. Luis thanked her with a huge grin on his face. He reminded her that the bus would be picking her up at 5 in the morning.

Rebecca made her way back to her apartment, hoping she had enough suitcases to bring all of her clothes. She didn’t really know what to bring, packing formal wear, casual and work wear, for when she was on the side of the field.

Rebecca phoned Rafa, wanting to say goodbye before she left for Austria-Switzerland and would be extremely busy 24/7. She wanted to wish her best friend the best of luck at the Artois Championships, telling him no one would stay in his way.

Rebecca made it an early night, knowing that the bus/plane ride to Austria would probably be a loud one knowing the Spanish national team. Her sleep was restless and full of nightmares that had plagued her for so many years.

Rebecca found herself on the soccer field back in Canada, playing with the female national soccer team. It was her first match with the team and she was extremely nervous.

She made sure that she stretched knowing that, the nervousness could lead to an injury. Boy was she right.

Her first tackle of the game, landed her in the hospital with a major tear in the cartilage in her knee. To make matters worse, she received a phone call telling her that her father had just died of a heart attack.

Her spirit was broken, her love for the sport disappeared. How could she recover from this injury if the man that was always by her side during soccer matches and injuries was gone?

Rebecca decided to leave the sport, even after recovering from her injury. Her desire to play the sport was gone, the fire in her eyes extinguished.

Rebecca awoke in a cold sweat, hearing the familiar buzz, meaning the bus was hear to pick her up. She changed quickly into the clothes she had laid out the night before, gathered her suitcases and made her way down to the bus.

The team sensed her tiredness, leaving her alone to sit by herself. She ended up falling asleep on the bus, only to be woken up by Sergio. She groggily walked into the airport, going through security check and waiting for the plane. The team was very excited and could hardly stay in their seats. They actually didn’t even stay in their seats.

Someone pulled out a soccer ball and they started a mini-game of soccer. Rebecca’s mood brighten a bit, seeing the team make fools of themselves in the airport. This brought back memories of travelling with her soccer teams and playing soccer. The ball rolled towards Rebecca’s feet, the team stood there, not knowing if Rebecca would yell at them for disturbing her.

Rebecca laughed, flicked the ball onto her feet and started juggling the ball. The team joined her and they started playing ‘around the world’. Slowly the group was cut down to Rebecca and Fernando. What a surprise. Fernando had gone back to his old self, the one that disliked Rebecca…a lot.

“Don’t think I’m going to go easy on you just because you’re tired,” sneered Fernando.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Rebecca countered.

Fernando won.

Which made the plane ride to Vienna very quiet for Rebecca, who was trying to plan out a way to challenge Fernando to a re-match. Rebecca didn’t like losing to any one, especially arrogant, cocky, pretty boys.

The team arrived in Vienna, gathered their luggage and made their way to their hotel. The boys were tired out from staying awake the whole plane ride. Luis allowed the team to sleep for the remainder of the day. But reminded them of one tiny detail.

“Don’t forget about the dinner tonight, dress formal.”

A formal dinner?
Hell no.