Page 1 of Matched Up

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I tapped newly painted nails on my laptop impatiently.

‘Can we turn over now?Barcelona–Sevilla is on.’I rolled my eyes and turned to my best friend with prayer hands.

‘It’s almost over.This is the best bit!’Megan watched the screen, hugging her tanned legs as her eyes welled up.

‘You said that half an hour ago.’I gave an exaggerated sigh.‘Oh, and by the way, if you look at them when they’re old, the height difference is completely off, so unless he’s shrunk, I reckon he’s actually talking to a complete stranger and it’s not Allie at all,’ I said.I loved finding inconsistencies in movies.

A pillow was pushed over my face.I threw it away and laughed.‘Hey!’

‘Stop trying to ruinThe Notebook.It won’t work.’There were tears streaming down Megan’s face now.I don’t know why she did it to herself; every Sunday when she chose the movie, she picked something that made her cry, full-on heartbroken tears, like the trauma had just happened to her.It made no sense to me.But that was the deal.

I got up and paced around my room for about the tenthtime during the movie.I’d never been any good at sitting in the same place for extended periods of time, but since I’d agreed to movie night with Megan every Sunday in exchange for extra training, I’d actually been getting better at sitting.

‘Don’t you get enough football?’Megan asked.We trained twice a week with Westing FC and played matches once, and sometimes even twice, weekly.Sometimes I got a game, if they were a player short, but lately the whole squad had been showing up and the closest I got to a match was freezing my arse off on the bench.But it was all going to change this season.I knew it.

‘Blasphemy!’I said, horrified.I gazed at the framed poster of Aitana Bonmatí on my wall.‘Bet Aitana doesn’t lie around watching movies all the time.’

‘Bet she doesn’t eat these either.’Megan shoved a handful of Doritos in her mouth and a million crumbs dropped on to my bed.

‘I’ll kill you,’ I said.I didn’t add that of course Aitana wouldn’t eat them.Sometimes I wondered if I talked about her too much, my idol, the Barcelona midfielder who I’d been obsessed with ever since I’d started playing.When me and my twin brother Niall had started watching Liga F, the Spanish women’s football league, alongside the Premier League, Serie A and La Liga.Niall was as into football as I was.Maybe it was a twin thing, always liking the same stuff – I’d never really thought about it too much – but it was nice, always having him around.I mean, Megan was my best friend, but Niall was more than that, like he was almost part of me.

She laughed and brushed them off.‘OK, it’s over.You happy?’

‘Yes.You owe me a practice,’ I said.

‘Oh, come on, it’s too late.And it’s way too cold,’ Megan whined, her huge brown eyes begging me to back down.

‘Sorry.You promised.And who cares if it’s cold?Bet Aitana plays in the cold.’

‘Yeah, and I bet she’s zero craic,’ Megan said, pulling herself off the bed.‘OK, fine, I’m ready.’She looked in the mirror and tightened her ponytail.She was wearing her new lululemon shorts.The pink ones that barely covered her arse.

‘Do you want to borrow some trackies?You’ll be freezing,’ I said, pulling on one of Niall’s massive hoodies.

‘No, I’m fine,’ she said and spun round on one foot.‘Let’s go before I change my mind.’

‘Where are you two going?’Niall didn’t even look up from the screen as we passed.But Hunter did.He was my brother’s best mate, and because Mum and Dad were so chilled out about having people round to the house, and Hunter’s parents were always fighting about something, he was always there.They were sitting in the adjoining living room to our bedrooms, the one Niall had turned into a games room.

‘Practice,’ I said.

‘You serious?It’s Baltic.’Both of them were looking up now.

‘That’s what I said,’ Megan complained behind me.

‘Why don’t you stay in?We could even playMario Kart?’Hunter said, smiling.He knew how much I lovedMario Kart; it was the only game I had any chance of winning against Niall.He also knew how much I liked to beat Niall, at anything.

‘Sorry, can’t.We’ve got work to do, haven’t we, Meg?’I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the stairs.

‘Kill me,’ she said, and I heard Niall and Hunter laugh.

We walked into the kitchen where Mum was drinking a glass of wine and watching some Scandinavian crime drama.I’m pretty sure that’s all she ever watched.

‘Isn’t it a bit late to go outside, love?’she called when she saw where we were headed.

‘Just going out to practise.’

‘OK, but not too long.Sport isn’t life, remember.’

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