You're The One

Chapter 8

October 2020 - north London, England

"Happy Halloween bitches!" Jill exclaimed, walking out to training with Viv, Lisa and I. We were all dolled up in over the top costumes, although mine was thought of rather last minute. When I had picked up a call at around 10pm wondering what I was wearing, little did I know I would end up in a blue tracksuit two times too small, blonde hairspray and purple-ish blush on my nose and call it a day.

Viv was Batgirl, Lisa was Avatar, Jill was Super Mario and I was meant to be some variation of Violet Beauregarde.

"What the fuck are you wearing?" Leah said, laughing at my ridiculous outfit. I rolled my eyes at her, realising I was going to have to succumb to some outfit slander. I really did look silly.

"Not my fault I was forced to make a costume from scratch late last night. And it's not like you're wearing anything special!" I said, commenting on Leah's plain Arsenal training gear and glaring at the girls beside me.

"Arsenal is more than special." She answered with a wink, before saying, "next time, work on your organisational skills if you're going to come in costume!"

Jill and Viv broke into laughter, exchanging looks as if they were planning my demise. Which they weren't, or at least I hoped so. Lisa had a slightly sympathetic look on her face, saying, "I think you look great, and the blush looks cute!"

"You're just saying that because you feel guilty for putting me through so much stress!" They had told me that everyone would be wearing costumes, when in reality it was just us four.

"Well, you're here now, wearing that, and it's time for some training." Viv said, continuing to laugh with Jill. "It's meant to rain anyways, so you're lucky that you're fully covered up."

The extreme rain in London was a stark contrast to the blistering, year-long heat in Houston. I had never been more pale in my life, the sun was constantly covered by dark, gloomy rain clouds! In almost every training session I could recall in the past month, it had rained, and it seemed as though it would happen yet again.

The training session went alright, although I was undeniably uncomfortable in my small tracksuit and the humid weather. There were a lot of pictures being taken, purely because of our outfits. Not only that, but my blush had smudged all over my face, and I certainly looked more like a Smurf than a gum-chewing little girl.

"Hey, Al? Here's a towel for your makeup." Leah offered, running up to catch up to me as we were walking back inside.

"Thank you so much." I said, taking the towel gratefully and trying to remove the purple-blue tint off my face, but from the devilish look she had on her face, I knew that instead of taking it off, I had smudged it even more.

"Sorry, I think that made it even worse." She said, grimacing, with a mischievous glow in her eyes. "Maybe some water might help!"

Before I could respond, or even process what was happening, I felt freezing cold water drenching me. Practically everyone who had been seemingly walking back innocently to the training centre, had dumped the remainders of their water bottles onto me, and Beth had even brought a water gun. "Oh my god!" I squealed, jumping in shock. "What the-?"

"The first of many Arsenal pranks." Leah announced, smirking and exchanging satisfied glances with the others. Before I could respond again though, I impulsively squirted the water from my water bottle into her face.

I felt a compulsive urge to apologise when she had a look of irritation on her face, but she was unable to suppress a giggle. "Laughing now are we, van Alstine?" She put on a serious expression, and as I backed away in defeat, the playful look reappeared and she began to chase me down the rest of the stone path.

The rain had picked up, and soon enough everyone else followed suit in running, desperate to get inside. With Leah and I still running, the smooth floor of the training centre messed up my footing, and I dragged Leah down with me. She had been able to catch up and grab my shirt just as I fell. We were absolutely drenched and full of laughter, albeit slightly embarrassed.

"You two look like a bunch of wet dogs." Katie said, smiling at our ridiculous predicament. "Get up off the floor before you become Arsenal's mops."

"Ew, what the hell!" I said, swatting the Irish woman with my now stained towel, pulling myself up in the mean time. "I hate you all."

Later that afternoon, I had an interview scheduled with the BBC. I was told that it would be about a variety of things, my international and club career, as well as how I was settling into a new team.

"So Aleid, it's great to be able to chat with you today!" The interviewer, who's name was Abigail, said, smiling warmly at me.

"It's great to talk to you, too." Over the years of playing professionally, I had gotten used to these interviews and had plenty of media training, especially as women's football continued to grow in popularity in recent years.

"This is the fourth league you have played in throughout your career, has it been quite similar, or rather very different?" Abigail questioned, and I kept the smile on my face.

"Well I think that my experiences in each league have been individual, I mean, the players and locations and coaches are all different from each other so it does make sense that they would be different. I have loved playing in the WSL so far - it's competitive, filled with veteran players and young talent, as well giving me the chance to learn from a whole new set of teammates."

"On the mention of teammates, how does it feel to play with some of your national team teammates?"

"It's great actually, we already have a connection from playing together internationally and now we can put it to show at the club level."

"Arsenal is one of the biggest clubs in the women's game, with an array of trophies, although there has been a drought in the past few years. How hungry are you, and the team, for a trophy this season?"

"Well I wouldn't say we are on a trophy drought, we won the league last season!" I remarked, talking about Arsenal's win of the 2018-2019 season. "Oh sorry, two seasons ago! Time's gone by so quickly recently..."

"I completely agree, it's already nearly two months into the season and I feel like it started just yesterday. Since you are rather an experience player, on club level as well as internationally, how important is it to you to find a club that you are comfortable in, and are you looking for a more long term option?"

I knew what she alluding too, many people, journalists and fans, were desperate to know if I would be extending my contract with Arsenal. In the NWSL, Houston still owned my rights so I could choose to return next summer, or I could stay. When I first flew across the world a few months ago, I hadn't thought that I would be anywhere other than Houston this time next year, but now I wasn't so sure.

"I personally love being able to play for great clubs in great leagues all around the world. I play as best as I can for whichever team I'm playing for and I'm definitely comfortable at Arsenal, so we'll see how it goes." I answered with a smile, putting an end to the questions.