Only Friends

Chapter 3 - Welcomings

A couple of days passed, and it was time to meet the team. Already knowing both Lia and Caitlin made life a lot easier. I went with them both to the training and hung around them, as I am socially shy before people get to know me.

Luckily for me, Lisa Evans was my saving grace. She was so bubbly, and outgoing towards me, that when I first arrived, she came over and introduced herself, and took me under her wing. She introduced me to everyone - Viv, Katie, Beth, Daan, Leah, Jords, Kim, and Jill. After only one training session, I felt like I was a part of the team.

In the lunchroom, after training, Lisa pulled her camera out. Lisa is an ambassador for the company called "We Play Strong" and she does weekly vlogs, and she decided she would interview the new girl this week... me!

"Hello Indi," Lisa said, pointing the camera towards me as we sat in the dining hall getting our lunch.
"Hi Lisa," I replied, somewhat awkwardly.
"Now, everyone," she said, talking into the camera, "this is our new recruit for the season, Aussie legend Indi Harrison." I blushed. "Now Indi, give us a little information about yourself - how old are you, what position, et cetera."
"Um," I started, "I am twenty and I am center back." Katie came up behind me and lifted me up.
"This chick," Katie started to say, "is the best young gun around, no doubt!" I laughed and Katie put me down. "Today, in training, she was a beast. No one could get past her!"
"That is true," Lisa said, turning the camera around to herself, "Viv didn't score, neither did Beth."
"What's your secret?" Katie asked with her rough Irish accent.
I laughed. "I don't know - slide and hope?"
"Well, you heard it here folks," Katie said, "if you wanna be as good as Indi Harrison, you gotta slide and hope."
Lisa turned the camera off and gave me a hug, as she knows how camera-shy I am. I sit down next to Katie, at a table with Lisa, Viv, Katie and Jill. They all made me feel so welcome, and that I was a part of the team, I loved the feeling.

Throughout the training week, leading up to our first game of the season, I stuck with Lisa and Katie, as they were both so welcoming. I met, and grew closer with Viv (AKA the best player in the world at the moment.) Viv and Lisa have been together for around five years which is such an achievement. Viv is a dutch player, and I have played against her quite a bit at the international level, and she always seems to play fluently. Defending her is the biggest challenge.

We had our first game on the weekend, a home game, which was nice. My first week training had been good, I felt as if I had slotted so easily into the welcoming team and had a feeling I could make a difference.

We got to the ground, and I went into the stadium locker room for the first time. It was so cool seeing my jersey hung up, next to Jill and Lisa's, and having "Harrison" on the back of an Arsenal jersey was a dream come true. The team sheet for the game was announced, and I was starting, which was unexpected. I thought that I would maybe sub on, but definitely not start. Joe, the manager, told me that we needed to win, and he couldn't take a risk starting one of his "stars" on the bench. I nodded, disregarding the "stars" compliment and instead looked at the other players on the team list. Leah, Sari, Walti, Caitlin, Jords, Lisa, Katie, Kim, Mead, Miedema, and myself were all starting. A solid 11 I think.

In the locker room before the game, I was dancing and singing with Jill. Jill has always been the crazy chick in the team, says Lisa. She can never sit still and always has to be doing something. It's quite cute I think. We sang the High School Musical duet that Troy and Gabriella sing - she was Troy. We laughed, and many of the girls were recording it and streaming it on instagram. It got us all relaxed before the match against Manchester United. Jill and I fell to the floor laughing, tangled together. The Dutch girl, in my opinion, always wore the prettiest smile.

We sat up and changed into our game jerseys, still laughing from the funny fall and hilarious singing. Jill and I, after that, became very close.

It was a tough game. Viv scored in the opening half, to help us lead by 1 at half time. Both Leah and myself made some tackles that helped keep Manchester off the board. In the 21st minute, Manchester got a break, and luckily for myself, Sari and the team, I was able to catch up to the number 9, and do a clean sliding tackle to stop a potential goal.

In the second half, I sent a high ball from the midfield, across to Mead on the wing, only for her to provide an awesome cross which, accident or not, ended up in the net, to help us lead 2-0.

We won the game, thankfully, and beat the likes of Christen Press and Tobin Heath, both outstanding American players. The high in the locker room was epic, with all the girls, especially Jill and me, screaming our lungs out to the songs on the Bluetooth. After the game, I went home and got a message from Jill.

Jill: The pregame singing was the highlight in my opinion...

Indi: Couldn't' agree more. Those girls are lucky to have such capable singers in the team.

Jill: Not sure if they appreciate our great voices.

Indi: Neither! But they will.

When I arrived, Lisa told me that Jill was usually quite reserved in who she talked to, so being new, I didn't expect to grow as close to her as I did, and so quickly.

Note:
- sorry about the formatting, it stuffs up itself
- also, the timeline is probably wrong at some points, just ignore it