I wake up Sunday morning feeling extremely well-rested. I reach for my phone to check the time.'7:26am'  it reads. I also had a text from Luca telling me that he and his dad would be here at 9:30am to pick me up. I roll over to see Alex still in bed doing a crossword puzzle. She looks over at me and smiled.

"You look like you slept well," she chuckles. I rub the sleep from my eyes as I laugh. "I don't want to leave this bed," I whine. "Well our last team breakfast starts in thirty minutes so you have some time to say goodbye," she laughs. Though I could sleep for another few hours, I force myself to get up and change.

When I get out of the bathroom, I try to give the sweatshirt and shorts back to Alex. "Keep them. I've got a lot more Cal clothing and shorts at home," she insists. I hesitate but eventually agree to keep them. "Hey I'm sorry if I upset you by mentioning your parents yesterday..." she says apologetically. I look down at my feet unsure of what to say. 'Keep it brief without details'  I tell myself. I turn around to look at her. "It's okay. My parents aren't around so I mostly stay with Luca and his family," I tell her. "That sucks...I'm sorry," she says not really knowing what to say.

'7:53am'  the clock on the night stand reads. I look back at Alex. "We should probably get downstairs huh," I say awkwardly. She nods and we leave the room. 

"What time are you getting picked up?" she asks me. "Luca and his dad will be here at 9:30," I say with a hint of sadness. She nods but doesn't say anything else. The elevator drops us off in the lobby and Alex leads us towards the dining room. "You can meet them if you want. I bet they'll want to meet you," I tell her. "That would be cool," she says. We smile at each other and then go into the dinning room to meet up with everyone else.

*Alex's POV*
Breakfast went by faster than expected. I check my phone to find out what time it is. '9:07am'  the bright white numbers read. I look over at Sophia, who is watching Sonnett and Kelley dance while everyone else laughs. I walk over to her and put my hand on her shoulder. She looks up at me as I tell her that we should go upstairs to grab her stuff. She nods and we excuse ourselves. On the walk back to the room, Sophia is quiet. She almost seems upset.

When we get back to the room, she quietly gathers all of her belongings. I tell her that I will be right back and then make my way to one of our team prep rooms. I grab one of the extra backpacks so that Sophia would have something big enough to carry all of her stuff. Just as I'm was about to leave the room, I notice a small notebook. I think for a second and then flip to an empty page and write my phone number on it. I tear the page out, fold it up, and then put it into one of the zip pockets on the bag.

I get back to room to find that Sophia had changed back into my Cal sweatshirt. It made me happy to see her wear it. "I, uh, got you this bag to put your stuff in," I say getting her attention. "Thanks," she says half-smiling. After we pack her stuff up, we walk back down to the lobby. Some of my teammates stuck around in the lobby to say goodbye. The small group of us sat by the main entrance with Sophia until we saw her ride pull up.

Everyone got up and began saying goodbye to her. I walked her out to the car to see two people standing nearby. Sophia ran over and hugged the younger one who I assumed was Luca. He was tall, maybe 5'10, and had sandy blonde hair. I smiled at their little reunion. She walks back over to me and introduces us. "Alex, this is my best friend Luca and his dad Aaron," she says smiling. I extend my hand to each of them. "It's nice to meet you both," I say with a smile. "Likewise. Thanks again for taking care of her," Aaron says. "Not a problem. She's a great kid," I tell them. They both get back in the car, leaving Sophia and I alone. I sigh as I look at her. "Well this has been an interesting, but fun 24 hours," I say. She looks up at me with sadness in her eyes. "Thank you for everything. It's been really awesome getting to meet you and the rest of the team. I won't forget this," she says. She gets in the car and I watch as they pull away from the curb.

As I watch them drive down the road, I find myself overcome with sadness. I know I only just met her yesterday, but I feel the connection between us. She was a sweet kid. All I want to do was be around her and get to know her more. But now she's gone and I'll likely never see her again.

*Sophia's POV*
I spend the drive home telling Luca and his dad all about yesterday and this morning. As I recount the events of the last 24 hours, it was hard to believe it even happened. Seriously. I mean in what world does someone meet their idol and then end up sleeping in the same room as them just hours later? Shit's crazy. I'm glad I had pictures and videos as proof though, otherwise no one would believe me.

I pull out the jersey that Allie, Alex, and Kelley had signed for Luca and hand it to him. "This is insane. I nearly fell off of my chair when I saw the video you sent me!" Luca exclaims. "I know! They offered as if it were no big deal. I was shocked to say the least," I tell him.

The closer we get to Luca's house the more fidgety he becomes. "Are you okay?" I ask slightly concerned. He looks at me as if he wants to say something, but doesn't. He was hiding something. I pinch his arm and demand that he tell me why he's tweaking out. "Ow! Okay fine. My parents and I have a little surprise for you," he says rubbing his forearm.

Luca throws his hands over my eyes as we walk into the house. He continues to guide me up the stairs and stops us a few seconds later. "Okay I'm going to remove my hands, but keep your eyes shut," he commands. I was smiling now, partly because I was nervous and partly because I was excited. "Okay! I promise I won't look!" I squeal. He removes his hands and I hear him walk away. "Open your eyes," he says excitedly.

I open my eyes to find that the guest room has been completely redone. My eyes immediately well up as tears threaten to fall. The room looked almost identical to my room at home. Most of my bedroom furniture had replaced the old guest room furniture. Pictures of my family were scattered around the room and as well as mementos from each of my family members' rooms. The walls were repainted and the floor had been replaced. They even hung a few plants to give it a modern feel. It was perfect. "Do you like it?" Luca asks nervously. I was speechless but managed to choke out a few words. "I love it...so much," I say smiling. "We're glad! It took the three of us all day to finish," Pam laughs. 'The three of us?'  I thought as I looked at Luca. "Don't be mad. I lied about being sick. It was for a good reason. I just really wanted to do this for you!" he says carefully putting his hands up. I just look at him and laugh. "I couldn't be mad. You did this  for me," I say gesturing to the room.

"Alright, well I worked on a little side project for you as well," he says. I look at his parents, but they look just as confused. He pats my bed with his hand and I go sit next to him. He asks his dad to hand him the book on top of my bookcase. "I hope you like it," he says nervously as he hands it to me. It's a scrapbook. I flip open the book to the first page. There's a picture. It's the very first picture of Luca and I from when we were in kindergarten. He was missing his two front teeth and I had a massive stain on the front of my shirt. We were so little and innocent. As I continue flipping through the pages, there's pictures of us together at every age throughout the years. It ends with a picture of us that was taken just a few weeks ago. Each page has little notes and captions written near the pictures along with other little mementos and memories added to fill out the pages.

I look up at him and smile. By now the tears were falling, but I didn't care. This was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. I hug him tight, feeling grateful that I had found my forever friend. His parents leave us alone as we lay back on my bed. I could feel Luca looking at me as I stare at the ceiling. "Do you already miss it?" he asks. He was referring to my time with the national team. 'More than anything'  I thought. "I do, but I'm happy to be here," I say taking his hand in mine. The rest of the day was peaceful as we spent it enjoying each other's company. Or at least it was peaceful until I received a message from Savannah telling me to watch my back at school tomorrow. Fantastic...

Author's note: hope you guys liked both chapters posted today! Looking for some feedback on them. Should Sophia and Luca be in a relationship? How should Alex and Sophia's relationship develop? Should there be a fight between Sophia and Savannah? Let me know! Chapter 9 dropping Monday!