Nothing shines as bright as your eyes - (Leah Williamson x OC)

Part 3

I had just finished my lunch when I heard a knock on the door. I opened the door and was met with a way too excited Lauren, Lucy Bronze, Keira Walsh and Georgia Stanway.

"H-hi," I stuttered, not expecting them to be here this early, "come in." Lauren gave me a hug and walked past me into the kitchen.

"Hi, I'm Lucy, and this is Keira." Lucy said. Of course I already knew who they were, but I appreciated the effort anyway. "Hi, I'm Stacy." I said, while I shook their hands. Georgia also introduced herself and shook my hand.

I'm glad Lauren didn't bring too many teammates with her, since I'm not really a social butterfly. But 3 people I should be able to handle.

They told me they had the day off today, so we went out to grab a coffee at their favourite cafe.

"So, Stacy, are you playing for any England youth team?" Lucy asked as soon as we sat down. "I play for the under-19's, but I hope I can make the move to the senior team soon." I replied, while taking a sip of my way too hot coffee, almost making me spit it out straight after.

"Don't the u-19's have a euro's this summer?" Georgia asked. "Yup," I said, "I'm leaving tomorrow." "Where is it?" "Portugal." "Oh, the warm weather must be a challenge then." Keira mentioned. "Yes it will be, but we're prepared and we still have some time on our hands to prepare ourselves even better." I replied confidently. I tried to hide the enthusiasm I had for this tournament, but I failed miserably. This was going to be a big tournament for us. I was in good shape, so hopefully I could show everyone that I belonged in the senior team. I was hoping to make the move to the senior team after this euro's, but for that to happen I had to play extra well.

"I'm sure you're gonna smash it." Lauren said, hyping me up a bit. Everyone agreed with her, which made me slightly less nervous. I know they're just being polite and nice, but it still made me feel a bit better. Because, although I was very excited, I couldn't help but let the nerves take the best of me sometimes.

A few hours and coffees later, we all said goodbye to each other and parted ways. Lauren brought me to my apartment and wished me good luck for the euro's. She said she'd definitely visit, watch a game and bring a few of the girls with her, since the senior team has this summer off.

I went to bed early, because tomorrow would be a nervy day. First day of camp and flying to Portugal. And if there's one thing I absolutely hated, it was flying.

~~~

The next morning I got up early and made my way to the cafe where a few of the girls who were also in the u-19's had agreed to meet.

We all greeted each other and drove to St. George's Park, where the rest of the squad was.

I could tell that everyone was so excited, not only because this is such an important tournament, but also because we knew we could do it. We knew what we were capable of. We had an excellent squad, with some promising players that could definitely make the difference on the pitch.

We were one of the favourites going in to this tournament. Together with Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands.

We were together in the group stages with France, Belgium and Portugal. So it would be tough, but we had faith that we were going to at least make it to the quarterfinals.

And so we did. Our first game was against Belgium, which we won with 3-1. Then, we played Portugal, which we won with 3-0.

But the last game would be the toughest, the game against France. France also won both their games. So it would be a fight for first place in the group.