The captain and me

Practice

"Pass the ball" Sarina shouts! She's the best manager that the Lionesses have had, and is our best chance of winning the trophy.

I had my first camp call up a week ago after the best season of my life with Liverpool, I scored 14 goals with 6 assists and finished second in the league behind Arsenal. Training had been brutal but so much fun getting to be with my heroes everyday! I play upfront on the left wing so competition is tight for a place on the starting 11 especially going into the world Cup but in all honestly I'm just happy they know who I am.

Currently I am sat on the bench on the first training game, the team has been split in two with a mix of the usual starting 11 and the ones hoping to get their chance.

My team ( Green) is losing 1-0 at 60 mins we are captained by Ellen White who is doing her best to lead the young players hungry to impress. I am waiting patiently for my turn and just as I'm about to give up hope Bright slides in catching Kelly on the side of her calf and brings her down, it's not serious but takes her out of action for the rest of the game.

" Y/n you're up" Sarina calls. Brilliant I can finally show what I am capable of outside of the drills we have been running.

As I reach my position I am closely guarded by Lucy bronze one of the best right backs in the world however I know her weakness I just have to bide my time.

The ball is passed through from kiera Walsh a pin point switch that takes out the blue teams midfielders and lands perfectly at my feet. I quickly look around for support but everyone is being marked by the other team so I decide to go alone and run at Lucy. Now it may not seem very sportsman, sorry sportswoman like to use this against her but she is still recovering from a knee injury on her right leg and to anyone else she is fully recovered but to her team who train with her day in and day out if you catch her quick while she has that leg planted she is a fraction slower in turning to run with you. So naturally I used this to my advantage and faked right and quickly switched to her weaker side, I only bought myself a second or two but that's all I needed, not to brag but I am the second fastest on the team and the best with the ball at my feet, so passed Lucy I only had Earpsy to beat. I aim low and with as much speed as I could I boot it home and it slides past her outstretched arm into the back of the net!

White is the first to greet me with a smile and a hug and more hugs from the rest of the team as they catch up, I look up to the manager who gives a slight nod of her head which coming from her is all the praise I need. I do look towards Leah, our true captain who is playing for the other side ( no pun intended) and she gives me half smile walking over to me when everyone had gone back to their positions for the restart she says a very quiet " nice one kid" so her team cannot hear. I can only smile in response as we make eye contact and I melt into the grey  noticing the freckles across the bridge of her nose where the sun has kissed, is it petty to be jealous of a star?

The game finishes not too long after as a draw and we head inside to shower and debrief. Unlike the male fantasy we shower separately and get dressed. The debrief was short and sweet as we had a long few days of travel and acclimatisation ahead of the tournament that was being held in Australia, I listened to most of what was being said but I kept picturing grey eyes and freckles and soft blonde hair, I did however catch that the team sheet with the final list of who was travelling will be posted in an hour so for us to have dinner and relax, as if we could, and then final arrangements will be emailed to us.

The hour passed by so slowly I thought they had changed the clocks to mess with out heads, the majority were relaxed as they were almost certainly guaranteed a spot and it had already been announced that Leah would be our captain following the hug success of the euros where she lifted the trophy for the country. With 25 mins left to kill I decided to head outside for some fresh air and a walk around the edge of the pitch. Around half way round I heard someone running up behind me

"Hey kid, wait up!" She shouted out to me
"Leah? What are you doing out here?" I asked when she had caught up. " I, er, saw you leave and I wanted to check up on you" great , beautiful and considerate ad crushes go ive had worse. "Ohh thats nice of you, I'm okay just nervous so I thought a walk would relax me" she tilts her head in the direction of the building " yeah sometimes it can get a bit loud in there, has it helped relax you?" The lights around the pitch catch her eyes and make then sparkle as she looks back to me. Shit. "Erm. Well. Yeah. I mean kkkinda" great y/n real smooth you haven't had a stutter since you were 12 years old but now it comes out. Luckily it doesn't look like she's picked up on it but smiles a half smile and takes in a deep breath "well we better head back in the team sheet will be up any minute" without another word we both turn and head back in, walking in comfortable silence towards our fate, just before we go through the doors she stops and looks at me, hand on the handle ready to open it "for what it's worth, I hope you make it you know, for the teams sake" I may have imagined it but does a little shake of her head before walking through the doors.

The list is up the usual line up or the winners from the Euros is there but at the bottom listed with the subs in black ink is my name, I scan the room looking for Leah and see her talking to Serina smiling and laughing, she catches me looking and gives me an upwards nod and mouths "well done" as to not shout above the noise

This is it I'm going to Australia for the world Cup, I hope I'm not the only one who's stomach is doing little flips