The one with the debut.

If you asked Parker if she had any rituals before a game, any superstitions, she'd say no.

If you ask one of Parker's team mates if she has any rituals or superstitions, they'd say 'god yes'.

She's just finished banging her shoes after getting her sock height the perfect length, just to her mid calf with grey tape around her ankles. Always grey tape. She'd had her AirPods in for the last 30 minutes playing the same songs that she played before every game. If they lose, she adds a new song, obviously the universe needed a shake up. She sat there and mumbled along to the same songs every game, Fozzy, Kanye west, Imagine Dragons, Doja Cat, Post Malone, NF, Kendrick, Nirvana, the same every time, not in shuffle mode, she had to listen to the playlist. She took her hair down before putting it back up for a second time before tying a band around her hair, tapping it twice. Once they got the call, she put her AirPods back and paused the playlist, not taking in anything else on the phone. She'd seen the 'good luck' text from Hailee a few hours before, it ignited a fire inside of her. This wasn't just the first time these fans were gonna see her play, it's the first time she's going to see her play. Parker wants to show her she's capable of something other than babbling on.

As she approached the pitch, she turns her back towards the field  and walks backwards before forming an okay sign with her right hand and tapping it against her thigh twice, a signal she's had with her dad since she was a kid, telling him she feels good. That his little girl feels okay.

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The game continued as 0-0, both teams coming close, but neither able to get the ball into the back of the net. Gotham FC had a corner and Parker was worried, her team were definitely at a heigh disadvantage, her being the tallest on the team, and all of Gotham's main opportunities had came from set pieces. She went to make her way into the box but Christen, who was hovering around the half way like, ready to break quickly, shouted her to get her attention.

"Park! On the box!" She yelled. Parker followed her instructions as she me definitely the more seasoned player and moved so she was on the outskirts of the box. Gotham took the corner, but one of the defenders managed to get a head on it after wrestling in the box. Parker watched the ball in the air as it was dropping as she moved herself into a better position. She allowed it to go over her head after glancing behind her, seeing the opposition is a good distance from her. As it came down she stuck her foot out and got good contact, the ball coming to a stop in front of her. She seen Christen start her run with her woman following her step for step. Parker used the outside of her foot to move the ball more in front of her before taking off, allowing her powerful legs to pick up speed as she ran past the halfway line. She kept the ball close to her feet, knowing one of the players on Christen will come to her at some point. As she got into the final third, the player left Christen and took up a position to challenge Parker. Parker quickly stepped over the ball one foot after the other before using the outside of her left foot to knock the ball through the defenders legs and running around them. She glanced up and watched Christen make a run into the box, trying to time it to stay onside. She looked at the ball before pulling her right foot back and putting her boot through the ball. She slowed her run to a jog and watched the ball in the air, landing right at Christen's feet. Christen didn't waste her chance and hit the ball, arms going up as it drifted into the top left corner.

Parker smiled before she followed Christen who was running to the corner flag. As she reached the older woman, Christen pulled her into a hug as their other team mates joined them. "C'mon, we keep going!" Christen shouted as she clapped her hands, willing her team to dig in.

In the 82nd minute was when the referee started to lose control of the game.

Parker was on the ball on the edge of the final third, glancing around her looking for an open pass. The only pass she had was the right back who had made their way up the touch line. She passed the ball but didn't see the Gotham player who had already committed to the tackle. The next thing Parker felt was someone's boot colliding with the side of her calf, she felt every stud go into the muscle, knowing straight away their boot was up. The defender slid through her, taking out both of Parker's legs. She fell to the floor at the force of the dangerous tackle, it didn't necessarily hurt, but it could have, it was a thoughtless tackle which she's seen break many legs before.

Parker stood up and shoved and faced the player with anger. "What the fuck, man! Why were your studs up that high!" She panted.

"I got the ball." The Gotham player argued.

"You fucking got me! The ball was already gone!"

The Gotham player rolled her eyes and tried to push passed Parker. Her shoulder collided with Parker's, and Parker saw red. She turned around and shoved the girl to the side, not hard enough to push her over, but enough so she felt it. "You've got serious attitude, dude."

"You're the one screaming in my face!" The Gotham player shouted at Parker, now stepping closer to her and getting in her face. Parker squared up to the girl, going eye to eye, well as much as she could with being a head taller than her.

"You need to back off." Parker shouted back. She felt the girls arms touch her shoulders to shove her and went into defence mode, bringing up her own arms to knock the girls away from her. The girl took that as an invite and the next thing Parker felt was a head connecting with hers. Parker wasn't too sure what happened immediately after that, she turned and faced away and put a hand to her eyebrow, immediately feeling the blood starting to drip out of it. She pressed her hand to it as hard as she could to try and stem some bleeding as she seen the medics run on to the pitch. She could hear the referee blowing his whistle numerous times, Parker assumed that her team mates have all came to her defence.

"Hey sit down, Hayes." The team medic advised Parker. She followed instructions and sat down, legs bent in front of her. The medic moved her hand away to look at it before putting some gauze on it and applying pressure. The medic did some concussion tests on her before being happy that she can continue, they put some butterfly tape on the wound, advising Parker that they'd dress it properly after the game considering there was no more than 10 minutes left.

The medics left the pitch and Parker stood up, immediately being shown a yellow card by the referee. She didn't bother complaining, already feeling a minor headache building and not wanting to add to it.

Christen jogged up to Parker's side and gave her a pat on the back. "You good?"

Parker nodded briefly before walking over to where the ball was placed, the referee having given a free kick. She eyed up the position, just on the edge of the final third. It was too far for her too shoot, but she knew she can get it in the box nicely. She walked over to the ball and picked it up, spinning it a couple of times in her hand before placing it down and taking four steps back and one to the side. The referee blew his whistle and Parker took a deep breath before taking her strides and hitting the ball in the sweet spot, it went up and over the small wall and to the left side of the penalty box, one of her team mates able to get their head on the ball and knocking it down to the near post.

Her team mates ran off towards the fans in celebration but Parker just raised her arms up before sitting down, really feeling the pain starting to come through. She looked towards her coach and made the change sign, signalling she needed to come off.

"Not bad for a debut, huh kid?" Freya said with a laugh as Parker came off. She smiled in response and returned her coaches fist bump before going straight down the tunnel. Painkillers were the main thing on her mind.

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"Alright ladies that's it, head home, relax, but be proud of yourselves, you showed real grit today, okay? Oh, also one quick round off applause for our player of the match, Parker!"

Parker blushed as her team mates all let out a cheer for her, returning the many fist bumps and hugs she was offered. Once she went down the tunnel she had the wound glued shut, she was advised she definitely doesn't have concussion, but she will probably have a headache for a few hours. If she was honest, she was more disheartened that she couldn't stay on the field for the full 90 minutes. She hopes Hailee and her brother went down pitch side regardless and met some of her team. She knows they picked up the passes, she had Trevor from HR come down and inform her of it.

The changing room emptied out quickly, everyone eager to go home and relax.

"You okay getting home, munchkin?" Christen asked as she lifted her bag into her shoulder.

"I'm good. Good game, Chris."

"You too, see you later." Christen smiled at her friend before leaving the dressing room, eager to get home and FaceTime her girlfriend.

Parker took her time leaving, making sure she packed everything up. She pulled on her sneakers and pulled her hoodie over her head before making her way outside of the door.

"There you are!" She heard a voice behind her exclaim followed by a few pairs of footsteps.

Parker turned around in surprise, not expecting the two to still be here. "Hailee." She mumbled.

Hailee's eyes widened slightly as she looked at the cut on Parker's eyebrow surround by a bruise coming up. "Jesus Christ." She muttered before stepping closer to the taller girl and lifting her hand up to trace the skin delicately. "Are you okay?"

Parker could feel her body holding its breath so she willed it to breathe again. "Uhh, yeah. Just a headache."

Hailee's eyes remained locked on the wound. "Why is it that I've seen you three times and two of those times you've ended up hurt?" She joked before realising how close she was standing to the girl and the fact they weren't alone.

"To be fair...neither of them were exactly my fault."

Hailee giggled before turning around to face her brother. "Griffin, this is Parker. Parker, this is my brother, Griffin." Griffin stepped forward and stuck his hand out for Parker to shake.

"Nice to meet you, I'm a big fan. You were sick out there." He complimented.

Parker blushed at the feedback and shook his hand. "You too." Parker's eyebrows raised when she realised she didn't make sense. "I mean, it's nice to meet you too...and thank you. Here, Uhh, I didn't know if you guys were still here or not so I was just gonna bring it to the gym with me and hope I see Hailee...but I got you something." She finished her sentence and dropped her bag to the ground, unzipping it and pulling out a ball signed by the opposing team and her team mates.

"Is that the match ball?" Griffin asked.

"Yeah...you don't have to keep it if you don't want."

"Are you kidding? This is amazing, thank you, Parker!" Griffin shouted as he tossed it up in his hands.

"If you wanna check out the field, you can feel free?" Parker asked, smiling when griffin pulled his phone out, presumably to take a few pictures.

Hailee and Parker watched as he walked away. "Told you he was a big soccer fan." Hailee said as she turned around to face Parker again. "Thank you...for that. It really does mean a lot to him."

Parker smiled before zipping her bag back up. "It's nothing, really. I don't really keep them anyways, I tend to give them to fans or something."

Hailee licked her lips and looked Parker up and down. She enjoyed Parker in her kit, but this Parker is her favourite. Not looking any certain way, just casual and comfort, white sneakers, grey shorts and a grey hoodie. She could just make out the gold colour of a chain peaking out from underneath when Parker bent down.

"So...Griffin got a present...what do I get?"

Parker opened her mouth, frowning when she realised she looked like a fish trying to gasp for air. "Uhh...I don't...do you want my boots?"

Hailee let out a laugh. "Do I want your boots that you wore for over an hour running around and sweating in?"

Parker frowned realising that's not exactly an appealing offer. "Erm, do you want a ball too? I mean I don't think anyone else is here, but I could sign it I guess?"

Hailee ignored the girl stumbling over her words and instead stepped closer to the girl, enjoying the sound of Parker's breath hitching in her throat. She brought her hands up again and ran the pads of her fingertips around the wound, resisting the urge to smile when she noticed the goosebumps coming up on the taller girls skin. "I know your head hurts." Hailee whispered. "You keep squinting when you look at the light and blinking your eyes a lot." She explained. She paused her speaking and watched her own finger trace down the side of Parker's face, only stoping when she met the girls sharp jaw line. "So how about, when you get home, and after you've eaten, you FaceTime me? So I know you're okay."

Parker was trying her best to calm her nerves down, she really was, but she could feel her skin starting to calm up as her brain started to feel like it was melting. "Are you sure?"

Hailee made sure to keep eye contact with the girl. "I wouldn't suggest it if I wasn't. And no ghosting me for days this time, mmmm?" She smiled before playfully winking at the girl.

"No of course...sorry again."

"Stop. That." Hailee breathed out. "You don't have to say sorry to me, I forgive you. I'm just joking." She wouldn't admit it, but she genuinely loves how sorry the girl is. People are usually so quick to apologise and not mean it, just to get it over with. But with Parker, she could feel like she meant it every single time.

"Okay...yeah. It's gonna be an hour or so though...is that okay?" Parker checked.

"Perfect. I can't wait."

A lot of soccer stuff I know, but the fight needed to happen.

Thoughts and feelings?

Late night FaceTime is next up! Alls I'm saying, is it's already written, and when I feel loved I post quicker 😉

Stay safe x