I train on the soccer field in the middle of the night, under the pouring rain. Just kicking numerous soccer balls into the net in frustration. It's been a week since I got kicked off the women's soccer team. Apparently, I was playing " too rough for far too long". In my opinion, women are just babies when it comes down to who hit the other or made them trip, always complaining and trying to get on each other's backs. In other words, a real pain in the ass.

I walk over to the net and start to pick up the balls, and I walk back to where I was standing before. I resume my routine, and the moment when my coach told me I was supposed to leave the team replayed in my head.

" What in the name of hell was that all about, Adelina? Do you realise you just injured 3 girls that are on the same team as you in just 45 minutes?" he screamed.

" It's not my fault they were in the wa-"

" That's no excuse! This isn't the first time it happened, and it will be the last." he said with a solemn look. " Even though you are a great player, your attitude is over the top. You've been playing rough for far too long. You're off the team."

Just like that, my life came crashing down. All I think about is soccer. I live, breathe, and eat with soccer. I've been playing it since I was 5 years old, and I love it. Being kicked off the team, I couldn't believe it. What do I do with my life now? The team I was on was the best women's soccer team in the whole country, if they couldn't handle me, then I can't imagine the others.

I look up at the sky, the rain pouring on me.

" Adelina?" I turn around at the sound of my name. I see a figure standing in the rain, a female silhouette. It approaches me, and I finally recognise who it is, my sister Emma.

" What?" I snap at her. She brings the umbrella she is holding over me.

" Aren't you cold?" she asks, worried. I turn away and I scoff. Emma is my older sister, pretty much the pride of the family. She's engaged to some rich guy, had great grades in school, she's the CEO of some financial company. And then, there's me. Oh, I had good grades, excellent ones too, but since I came after my sister, everything I did was never good enough, especially for my mom. My father was the one who introduced me to soccer, he's been supporting me ever since I set foot on the field. But for my mom, I had to be the same as my sister. I feel resentment towards Emma and my mother. Always have, always will.

" I've never seen you train so hard... Something happened? You have a game coming up?" she asks with that smile of hers that just makes my toes curl.

" Since when do you care? You've never even been to any of my games. Come to think of it, no one from the family did except for Dad." I say to her. She frowns at me.

" You know I can't go. I have work, and the wedding, and Al-"

" See? You're doing it again. Making up excuses like always. You should leave, you'll catch a cold, and then you'll say that you can't see me anymore because of it." I leave from under the umbrella and continue to train. I can hear Emma walk away, and I am alone again. I fall to the ground, and I sigh, letting the drops of rain roll down my face. I want to play in a team again, and I don't have enough money to move abroad and continue my career there, so I need an idea, and soon.

But what? What can I possibly do to play soccer professionally, without being kicked off the team again? What team would accept a rough player and not whine about it?

I close my eyes and I drift off into my thoughts.

Suddenly, a feel a short but sharp pain on my forehead, and my eyes shoot wide open. My eyes are locked with the ones of a man, someone whom I haven't seen in a while.

" Lewy!" I scream and straighten myself up. " I haven't seen you for years and you greet me by flicking my forehead?" He smiles at me and starts to laugh. I get up and start chasing him all over the soccer field.

" Two years and you didn't even e-mail me!" I shout at him. I catch up to him quickly, but he does a faint and comes around behind me, and hits me in the back of my head. I stop running and I glare at him, but he's still smiling.

" I was busy." he simply says.

I glare at him. " That's all you have to say to me? You were busy? I'll be busy torturing your ass for the next 20 minutes!" I jump on his back and bring him into a headlock. He starts to spin around in circles, making me quite dizzy and lose my grip. I'm thrown to the ground, and both of us are panting.

" You... Better... Have... An... Excuse..." I pant.

He laughs again, " You're terrible at lying, you know?"

" Funny how my sister can't even tell, and a good friend can." I whisper and look down. Robert puts his arm around my shoulders, and says, " Tell you what? Let's go inside before we both catch pneumonia, hm?" I scoff at his words, but it's hard to hide my joy in having him back. Robert and I have been friends ever since I met him on the field when I was 8 and he was 12. We kind of hit it off instantly with our shared passion for soccer. But when he joined soccer clubs, we started to see each other less and less, until finally, not at all.

We enter the opened gym close by to dry off, and we sit down together on a bench.

" So, care to explain why you're so down?" he asks me. I sigh, because I know I can't keep anything away from him. So, I start to explain to him the whole story, me getting kicked off the team, my opinions on the girls, and me wanting to find a way of joining a new team that's just as good, or even better.

Once I'm done, Lewy shakes his head in disappointment.

" What were you thinking, Lina? You knew that if you continued playing like that you wouldn't stay on the team for long. What do you expect to do now?" he sighed.

" I would go to another country, but we don't exactly have the money to do that, and I don't want to leave my Dad here either. My choices are pretty slim now." I say, and look over to him, but he's staring absent mindedly at the floor.

" I think the only way of actually joining another team," he starts, " is if you join the men's team." he laughs. " We all know that can't happen."

But I process his words in my head. Join the men's team. I stare at him with my mouth open, and the kind of look on my face that translates to me thinking that he's a genius.

" That's it!" I exclaim. " That's the solution I need! I can join the men's team, they won't whine about my roughness, I'll be able to gain more experience, and everyone is happy!"

Rob stares at me as if I am demented. " You're kidding, right?" he raises his eyebrows. I shake my head with vigor, and my face looks brighter.

" Whatever you're thinking, I can't be a part of it." he says.

" Why not?" I ask.

" Because I came to say goodbye." he finally says. My smile fades and my eyebrows furrow. Goodbye?

" I got signed up to Borussia Dortmund, which is in Germany. I'm leaving tomorrow." I can't believe what he's saying. He just came back, and now he's leaving me again?

I hit his shoulder, and hard. " So you're saying that if you wouldn't have joined another club, you wouldn't have visited me?" I hit him again, yet he is still smiling. " But I'm serious, Lewy, I am up for joining a men's team."

He raises an eyebrow at me. " And, how do you suppose you will pull that off? Sure you can put on a wig and change your voice, but everyone will see right through you. How will you manage to cover up your chest, it isn't exactly small, and the way you act is far from a girl, but not close enough to a guy."

I kick him in the tibia, and he lets out a cry of pain. " What was that for?" he shouts.

" That, was for looking at my chest, you perve." we both start laughing.

" You're crazy..." he whispers.

" I'm determined." I correct him.

" It's suicidal." he looks up at me.

" More like a challenge." I smile back to him.

He shakes his head and rubs his temples. " What if this doesn't work? Do you even know the consequences for doing something like this? You're on your own Lina. I want no part of this at all." he stands up and walks towards the exit, and I follow him. I try to slow him down by hanging onto the back of his shirt, but he just ends up dragging me with him.

" Please, you're the only person I know that could actually help support this idea... You owe me!" Rob stops dead in his tracks when I say those last words, and he turns back around to face me. He has a pained face, and he looks away from me.

" I am so going to regret this..." he whispers. My lips quickly curl into a smile, and I noogie him on the head.

" But it won't be easy!" he breaks off my headlock, and noogies me back. " What are you aiming for?"

I think for a moment, and I have no idea what I want to do. The point is to get into a men's team, preferably the best. I'm deep in thought, and suddenly, it hits me.

" Euro! Euro 2012! We're hosting it that year, and that's what I'm aiming for!" Rob's despair clearly shows on his face.

" You're psychotic if you think you'll make it. Nevertheless, I'll back you up. But, for now, I'm going to Germany. Let's see if you make it out alive." he laughs.

" Deal!" I stretch my hand out to shake his, but when he grabs my hand, he pulls me into a tight hug.

" Good luck." he taps me on the back.

" Yeah, you too." I whisper. We break off the hug, and I watch Lewy walk away from me. But before he's out of sight, I scream," You'll see! I'll train everyday! I won't give up! And I'll bring Poland to victory at the Euro!"

He turns around, and from a distance, I see him smile, and he waves back at me. He finally disappears into the night.

Then, I notice something.

It stopped raining.