Chapter 20

August 7th (Tuesday)

Aurora

The vibe in the locker room was different today. It wasn’t just the usual pre-training hum; it was electric, louder, and centered around a single, vibrant presence.

Jenni Hermoso was back.

She was leaning against a locker, laughing that deep, infectious laugh of hers, looking like she had never left. I stayed in the corner, meticulously tightening my laces, acting like I was invisible. I knew who she was—not just the all-time top scorer, but the woman who had shared a decade of history, victories, and everything else with Alexia.

“De Luca! Stop flirting with your boots and come here!” Pina yelled, waving me over. I sighed, forcing a small, shy smile onto my face as I walked toward the group.

Jenni’s dark eyes swept over me, curious and sharp. “So, this is the Italian firecracker I’ve been hearing about?” she asked, her grin widening. She pulled me into a brief, easy hug before I could even respond. “Nice to meet you, kid. Take care of our midfield, okay?”

“I’m trying,” I managed to say, my voice steady. To anyone else, I looked like the quiet, respectful rookie. Inside, my stomach was a knot of cold lead.

Then, Alexia walked in.

The room went quiet for a split second before Jenni lunged at her. I watched as they embraced—a hug that felt like it carried years of unspoken words. Alexia was laughing, a genuine, radiant sound that I’d only heard in the privacy of her kitchen. My heart did a painful, jagged flip.

Don’t react, I told myself. Hide it.

“Alright, enough drama,” Alexia announced, though her eyes were still bright. She glanced around the room, her gaze skimming over me for barely a heartbeat. “Training in five. Let’s show Jenni we haven’t gotten lazy since she moved to Mexico.”

On the pitch, I channeled everything into the ball. Every bit of insecurity, every flash of jealousy I wasn’t allowed to show, became fuel. I was playing perfectly. My passes were laser-focused, my movement fluid. I was a ghost on the field, popping up in pockets of space before the defenders could even blink.

During a small-sided game, I received a difficult ball from Mapi, turned on a dime, and sent a perfect no-look chip over the defense straight to Pina’s feet.

“Dios mío, Aurora!” Pina shouted, grinning as she tucked the ball into the net. “You’re playing like you’ve got something to prove!”

I just shrugged, wiping sweat from my forehead. “Just playing, Claudia.”

I could feel Alexia’s eyes on me from the other side of the pitch. I knew she was impressed—I could see it in the way she held her head—but I didn’t give her the satisfaction of a look back. I stayed close to Pina, laughing at her stupid jokes, acting like the most carefree person in Barcelona.

During a water break, I leaned against the cooling station, purposely turned away from where Alexia and Jenni were standing close together, talking in low tones.

“Hey,” a voice said beside me. It was Mapi. She was leaning on her water bottle, watching the two legends across the grass. “You’re doing a great job, Ora. The ‘hiding’ part. You’re almost as good at it as she is.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said, taking a long sip of water.

“Liar,” Mapi murmured with a smirk. “But just so you know… Jenni is family. But family is in the past. Don’t let the shadows mess with your head. You’re the one currently making the Queen lose her mind in the kitchen, remember?”

I looked at Mapi, my mask slipping for just a fraction of a second. “She looks happy with her.”

“She’s happy to see a friend,” Mapi corrected. “But look at her hands, Aurora.”

I looked. Alexia was talking to Jenni, but her fingers were restlessly twisting the hem of her training top—a nervous habit she only had when she was distracted. And she wasn’t looking at Jenni.

She was looking at me.

I turned back to Pina, throwing an arm around her shoulder as we headed back to the center circle. “Let’s go, Pina. I want to win this set.”

I was shy, I was the rookie, and I was definitely out of my depth. But as I sprinted past Alexia, the wind catching my hair, I made sure she saw the cold, professional distance in my eyes. I feel the jealousy in my body. I dont want to feel this…at least I can pretend like it doesnt exist.

Even if it was killing me.

Jenni

Coming back to Barcelona always feels like stepping into a pair of worn-in boots. They’re comfortable, they fit perfectly, and they know exactly where you’ve been. I will only be three weeks here in Spain and then I will fly back to Mexico, but as I leaned against the lockers, watching the chaos of the morning training session, something felt….. off.

The air in the Ciutat Esportiva was usually thick with focus, but today, there was a secondary current. A hum of electricity that I couldn’t quite place. Or maybe I could.

My eyes drifted to Alexia. My Ale. She was laughing at my jokes, and she gave me that “I missed you” hug that usually makes me feel like I’m home, but her eyes were constantly drifting. It was a rhythmic, subconscious movement. Every few seconds, her gaze would flicker toward the far end of the lockers.

Toward the girl.

Aurora De Luca. I’d seen the clips, of course. The Italian kid with the vision of a veteran and the feet of a dancer. But seeing her in person was different. She was quiet, almost painfully shy, tucking herself into a corner like she was trying to merge with the wall. But when she played? Dios mio.

Out on the pitch, I stayed on the sidelines for a bit, just observing. Aurora was a revelation. She moved through the defense like they were made of smoke. But it wasn’t her talent that caught my attention—it was the way Alexia watched her.

Alexia wasn’t watching her like a Captain watches a rookie. She was watching her like a person watches a sunrise—with a mixture of awe and the desperate fear that it might disappear. Every time Aurora touched the ball, Alexia’s body language shifted. She became more rigid, more intense.

“She’s something else, isn’t she?”

I didn’t turn around. I knew the voice. Mapi leaned against the fence next to me, her eyes hidden behind sunglasses, looking as cool and chaotic as ever.

“The kid? Yeah,” I replied, crossing my arms. “She’s got that ‘it’ factor. But that’s not what we’re talking about, is it, Maria?”

Mapi let out a sharp, short laugh. “You always were too smart for your own good, Jenni.”

“Ale is vibrating,” I murmured, n
odding toward our Captain, who was currently shouting instructions a little too loudly at a defender who hadn’t even made a mistake. “She’s playing the ‘Queen’ role so hard it’s almost a caricature. And the little Italian? She’s pretending Alexia doesn’t exist, which is the biggest lie I’ve ever seen told on this grass.”

Mapi sighed, finally dropping the act. She looked at me, her expression turning surprisingly soft. “It’s… new. And it’s Alexia, so you know how she is. She’s trying to solve it like a math equation, but the variables keep changing.”

I felt a pang in my chest—not of jealousy, but of a deep, protective love for the woman I’d spent half my life with. I knew Alexia’s heart. I knew how much she sacrificed for that captain’s armband. If she had finally found someone who made her feel like a person instead of a monument, I wanted to know.

“Does the kid know?” I asked. “Does she know what she’s dealing with? Being with Alexia isn’t just a romance, Mapi. It’s a storm.”

“The kid is the one who dragged the Queen into the ocean at 2:00 AM,” Mapi whispered, a smirk returning to her face. “I think she likes the storm.”

I watched as Aurora sprinted past us, her face a mask of professional distance, ignoring Alexia’s latest shout of “Space out, De Luca!”

I liked her. I liked the way she didn’t flinch. I liked the way she made Alexia look human again, even if Alexia was currently doing her best to look like a stone statue.

“I need to talk to her,” I said.

“To Alexia?” Mapi asked.

“No,” I replied, my eyes fixed on Aurora. “To the firecracker. I want to see if she’s as tough as she looks. Because if she’s going to be the one to finally hold Ale’s hand, she’s going to need a lot more than just good footwork.”