I'm so sorry this took so long! D:

I've just been getting back into life, and trying to fit in again with friends and things. It's hard, but I think it's all going good. My family is fun, and I had a wonderful time. I hope you enjoy this part.

Thank you all for being there through thick and thin.

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all." ― Oscar Wilde

A pair of green eyes open slowly. Andy turns, stretching. She looks at the alarm, "Holy fuck I'm going to be late!"

Jumping out of bed, she sprints into her bathroom. Taking a speed shower, Andy dresses in some sweat pants and her usual tank top. As she leaves her apartment, her neighbor hold out a caramel frappe.

"Thank you, Steph," Andy says, "Gotta go, running late, I'll pay you back later!"

"You better," she says, laughing.

Andy looks around, at first trying to get a cab to stop. She finally gives up and just runs, carefully so she doesn't spill the coffee. She bursts into the lobby where it's being set up, and takes a sigh or relief, happy that no one was waiting on her. As she sits down she takes a deep breath, letting it out. Her hands shake a bit, but she knows she'll be alright. It's just an interview, she tells herself. One with possibly one of the most famous women in history, who just so happens to give the hardest interviews. Andy knows that when this comes out, her personal life is all out there. Andy has always been aloof in interviews when they try to crack open her personal life. A life of greatness, sure, but people are not interested in that. After all, it's common knowledge. They want to know the scandalous tales, and the darkest parts of her life. They want to know that Adeline Val, who little kids across the world adored, isn't the picture perfect person they think she is.

And Andy was about to give it to them.

The door across the room opens, and Oprah Winfrey smiles at her, "Hello!"

Andy smiles back, "Hey!"

Standing, they both hug as they begin to start to get comfortable. They were in a lounge at UNC, and there were cameras on her in every direction.

"It's such a pleasure to meet you," Andy says.

"Oh no, the pleasure is mine!"

Andy fidgets in her seat, trying not to seem so nervous.

"So," She says, "I was told, by many of your teammates over twitter that you're actually quite… awkward, or even quiet, in front of people and doing something over than playing soccer."

"Jumping right on in, I like that," Andy says with a laugh, "Well… I sort of am."

"Do you think that there's a reason for that," She asks, looking at Andy. In her eyes, Andy saw that she was truly curious, and that she really wanted to know the answer. Most interviews don't care.

"I suppose it comes from being picked on a lot throughout middle and high school… and the things that are said don't exactly go away easily."

Oprah nods, "Does it ever hit you? That you're 17 and already an Olympic gold medalist. Already a world cup winner. Already the women's world player of the year?"

"The last one doesn't really… it was never on my radar," Andy says. "The first… I'm proud of it, I really am, but I'll never be able to separate it from what else happened. The middle… that is what meant the most to me. Some of my teammates would possibly retire without a world cup title, and that just couldn't happen, because they deserve it."

"Why do you feel so passionately about that? As well as not give the recognition you deserve for your award?"

"Collectively, they are all passionate, driven, and strong. Everyone on the team is their own person, and they stand firmly in everything they do. I admire that. On the field… my teammates drive me to be a better person, and they do the same off. They've given me so much. As to the award, I couldn't have done it without someone passing me the ball. I wouldn't have been the 'hero'," Andy does finger quotes, "if we couldn't defend them off from getting another. Also, honesty, Abby… Abby was the one who taught me everything. She took me under her wing and taught me. I had the skills, they just needed to be tweaked a bit. I annoyed her, asked her questions every day, and never once did she ever tell me to stop. She encourages me to do that. She understand that, to keep this going, the legacy of the team to continue, you need to teach the younger generation, so that when the time comes, they can stand on their own. Abby is like my big sister I never had… and to know that she took her time to do that for me means more to me than she'll ever know. So really, that award is a testament to what she taught me, as well as what my father taught me, more than anything I've ever done."

"Most athletes don't say that," She says, "It's always 'my accomplishments', and 'what I've did for the team'".

"Without a team behind you, you are a nobody," Andy says.

She smiles, "I like people like you, who understand that the world has more people than just you… that other people should get recognition for what they do as well."

"Thank you," Andy says, smiling, before taking a sip of a caramel frappe.

"What was your childhood like?"

"Pretty normal," Andy says, "I was just a normal kid. Playing and running... my mother actually put me in all types of sports, like gymnastics and basketball, but soccer stuck with me."

"When you play now, do you feel the connection you have with your father," She asks, before taking a sip of water.

"Always," Andy said, "At first, I started to train with him because I wanted to just do something with him... to make him proud. It only took a few days for me to fall in love with the game. But every time I step on the pitch, I feel like he's looking down at me."

"Are there moments n your life that he wouldn't be proud of?" She looks at Andy sincerely, "I know it's hard to talk about your personal life..."

"No it's fine," Andy says as her heartbeat quickens, "I... I'm not proud, of the things I did. When my mother started to drink, I went into a very great depression. I was a bomb waiting to explode. I did things that were dangerous. I didn't drink, or do drugs. I hated those things, because I thought they'd make me like my mother. I did drive illegally until I got a license, and went about 90 miles an hour. I was also very... provocative."

"In the way you wore your clothes or...?"

"Sex," Andy states, her cheeks turning a bit red. "I'm not saying that if you are that way, that it's a bad thing. It doesn't make you a bad person. But finding who you are, first. But that pert of my life came from me believing that my mother really didn't love my father, and that turned into my believing love is a joke and a lie. I thought that about her because I thought she was making a fool of herself, when it was just the booze."

Oprah nods, "What was this part of your life like?"

"It's something I never want to go back to," Andy says, "I got called every name in the book. Whore, floozy, slut... but at that point, I was in so much pain, I didn't care. The only time I never did care was when it was something soccer related. But it got to the point where I honestly didn't care if I knew them or not. I had friends with benefits, one night stands, all of it. In hindsight, I wish that never happened."

She nods, "We all make mistakes, Andy."

Andy nods, "That we do."

"Do you know why you acted that way?"

"Because I wanted someone there for me," Andy says, "I wanted someone to love me, someone to just be there for me, or listen, at the very least."

"Speaking of love," She says with a smile, "I'm probably going to ask a bit later how that aspect of your like is going now."

Andy nods, "Alright." Taking a sip of her coffee again.

"What was the turning point in your life, to change it away from promiscuity?"

"Getting on the US team," Andy says, "There are rules, and things like that. I had responsibilities, a duty. It was a huge honor that I was given the chance, and I wasn't going to let it slip away."

"Let's fast forward a bit, if you don't mind?"

"Not at all," Andy says with a smile.

"World cup final," She says, her voice very even, but a smile was on her face. "What went through your mind when you saw not that the ball went into the net, but when you saw your teammates faces, after scoring that last minute goal?"

"No one has ever asked me that," Andy says. Closing her eyes, she tries to bring back those thoughts and emotions. It was easy, really. "The first face I truly saw was actually Pia's. All I could feel was happiness, because she was happy. Pride, really, seeing how not only were we all happy, not only have we all survived this together, but I could tell that they were proud... that I made them proud, and that, on everyone's face, that our dream was still alive."

"Someone once told me that you didn't care about what other people thought of you," She says, "But you care what they think?"

"I know them, and they know me, as a person, not just as an athlete. There's more to me than soccer... but I care what they think."

"And everyone else?"

"To be frank, If I don't personally know you, those people who think their opinions of my life should matter, that their opinions should dictate how I live my life... they can go fuck themselves." Andy shrugs as she takes another drink. This is who she is. This is her, and people can take it or leave it.

Oprah laughs, "You know, more people should live like that!"

"I know," Andy says, lifting her legs into the chair and sits on them cross-legged.

"Is that the reason why you stray away from doing anything like magazine covers?"

"No," She says, "I don't do those for two reasons, but one of them is that I dislike how... photoshopped everything is. They make women look skinnier and curvier or, for female athletes, not as muscled. It's just disgusting, honestly."

"Isn't it," She says, "It's telling people that this is what they're suppose to be, when the people in the pictures are not even like that."

"Exactly," Andy says, "People should be who they are, and only themselves, because that's all anyone should as of you."

"You," She says, pointing at Andy, "You are wise beyond your years."

"No," Andy says, "I was just raised right. The lessons I learned as a child were the ones to teach a kid. That's why I am the way I am."

She nods, "Do you feel any anger toward your mother, still today?"

She closes her eyes again. She knew this would be brought up as well, "If you would have asked me that about a year ago, I would have said yes."

"What changed?"

"She did," Andy says, "She tried. My mother... she because a mom again."

"Do you feel as if what happened to her is some higher power or so punishing her for what she did to you?"

"No," Andy says, "Because she was in such a great grief, she just wanted to escape. I can understand that... I did the same thing, in a way. She just picked the wrong way to take her mind of it, and then it took control of her, is all."

"Do you believe in a higher power? Or a religion?"

"There have been moments in my life where I can't explain what happened. I feel as if there's something there. Am I religious? Well... that's complicated. Do I believe in God? Yes, but I'm not sure how to go about it. However, I don't attend anything, because some of the thing, the hateful things people do in his name is wrong, and I can't support that hate."

"Before I continue to ask about your life, I have a few questions, ones with one word answers. What do you think is the quality all humans should have?"

"Compassion."

"A word you try to live by?"

"Strength."

"What's wrong with the world?"

"Selfishness."

"Something you feel to lack in life?"

"Peace."

"How so?"

"My mind... it's not always my friend. I'm very critical of myself, sadly."

She nods, "Thank you. Now... Japan?"

Andy laughs, "Alright, what do you want to know?"

"Was it easy, making friends?"

"Well, they sort of just fell in place. There's a story about that, as well."

"Can I hear it?"

"Well, I met two of them before, because they were the president and vice president of the class. But I was practicing soccer. My knee gave in as I kicked it, and I look and see it hit the windshield of a car."

"No," She says, "Were the people alright?"

"One just had a cut over his eye, but it was the same two people. I'm not going to say names, even if you already know who they are."

"Their privacy?"

"Yes," Andy says, "I have every right to tell my life, but no right to tell their lives."

"Alright, I respect that," she says with a warm smile.

Andy can't help but smile back. "But I was so upset I did that, that they could have been killed, that I offered anything. So I made a deal. If I worked for their school club, I'd be ok."

"What kind of club?"

"It's a Host Club. They really just let anyone in and they have tea and talk. The name makes it sound worse than it is, but that about it. But because of that, I made friends with seven people whom even now I hold very close."

"Now, through all you went through with your friends, you met someone."

"Yes I did," Andy says, with a smile.

Oprah smiles and looks at the camera, "When we come back, we'll talk to Andy about this person in her life, as well as get to the Olympics."

Andy makes a face at the camera, causing people to laugh as everyone takes a break.