Lionesses- Harry Hampton

Welcome to Brixton, innit

Harry sat up, quickly. He'd had a bad dream. They seemed to come randomly. He climbed out of bed, trying to keep himself from crying.

"I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry," Harry muttered, repeating it to himself in an attempt to hold it together. He made it to the corridor, and he knocked gently on Hannah's door. Nothing. He knocked again but slightly louder. Still nothing. He knocked one more time and when there was no response, he slid down the door and sat on the floor.

Harry couldn't bring himself to go back into his room, so he stayed sat down. After about 30 seconds of just sitting with his head in his hands, the door behind him opened.

"Harry?" Hannah's sleepy voice asked. Harry scrambled up off the floor and gripped her tightly.

"It's alright. I've got you," Hannah comforted him, hugging him back.

***

It was Lionesses' match day. England vs Northern Ireland, World Cup qualifier at Wembley.

Everyone was up and on the coach at 10, ready to leave. They were all pretty chilled and sat around chatting.

"Are you guys not nervous?" Harry asked. He had come to the realisation that he was the most nervous person on the coach, and he wasn't even playing.

"Not really. We're confident in how we play. We'll be fine," Leah told him.

"Fair enough. But playing at Wembley must be mad."

"Oh, it is. Wembley will never cease to amaze me."

They carried on chatting and Leah explained about her different Wembley experiences. At one point, Harry was sitting and thinking about how mad it was that he was talking to the England captain about Wembley.

When they made it to the stadium, Harry went to the place where the players families could go. It was 4 hours before kick off so he was the only one in there. He didn't mind though; Hannah had given him her laptop so he could watch Netflix while he waited.

Half an hour before kick off Harry made his way out to his seat. There were already two people in the seats next to him. He guessed they were Mary Earps' Mum and Dad because the woman was identical to Mary. They seemed to have been told to keep an eye out for him and Harry didn't mind because they seemed lovely.

It was a great game, and they came away with a solid 4-0 win. Beth Mead had scored a 14-minute hattrick, with Bethany England getting the other one.

After the team had made their way back inside, Harry went back to the family area and waited for Hannah to call him to say they were leaving.

The atmosphere on the coach was good. They were all pleased with their win.

"MEADOOO! MEADOOO!" was the main chant they were all singing. It didn't take long for Leah to get the music on. Everyone seemed to be in agreement that she was the DJ of choice.

"Leah what the hell is this?" Lucy asked when Welcome to Brixton came on.

"I have no idea. I'll skip it," she replied.

"No. Leave it on. It's a good song," Harry told her. Him and his friends had always listened to it when they met up and Harry had learnt all the words.

"Alright. But you've got to give us a performance," Leah said.

"Okay," Harry replied, getting out of his seat.

"I don't really look the part," Harry said as he made it out into the aisle of the coach.

"You can have my coat," Jill said, and she handed it to him.

"Oo, I've got a pair of sunglasses somewhere," Georgia said as she began to rummage in her bag.

"Why have you got a pair of a sunglasses? It's literally October," Leah questioned.

"You never know," Georgia answered, finding them right at the bottom of her bag.

"You never know when you're going to get a hangover," Leah teased her.

"Exactly," Georgia said, handing her sunglasses to Harry. He put them on and with Jill's oversized coat he looked absolutely hilarious.

"Oh my," Leah said with a laugh.

"What? Welcome to Brixton, innit?" Harry told her, which caused even more laughter from the team. Now that he looked the part Harry jumped straight into rapping. He was really going for it and his dance moves were really adding to it. He had the whole team in fits of laughter and as the song came to an end, they gave him a massive round of applause.

***

It was a few days after the Northern Ireland win and the team were flying to Latvia for another qualifier. Harry wasn't the biggest fan of flying and he was literally grabbing onto Hannah during take-off. He felt slightly better knowing his sister was there, but it still wasn't a nice experience.

"You're okay. I've got you. Nothing will happen I promise," Hannah reassured him. Even when they made it up into the air, Harry was freaking out. Keira could see he was struggling, and Hannah couldn't calm him down, so she got out of her seat and went over.

"Are you guys alright?" she asked.

"Just don't like flying that's all," Harry replied. He was squeezing Hannah's hand so hard his knuckles had gone white.

"I'm not a massive fan either. What I like to do is listen to music so loud all sounds are drowned out and then when you shut your eyes it's like you're somewhere else," Keira told him.

"You have your headphones, don't you?" Hannah asked. Harry nodded and went to get them out his bag.

"Just make sure to take some deep breaths and keep yourself calm," Keira said. He put his headphones in and already he seemed to relax a little.

"Thanks, Kei," Hannah said. She was so pleased that everyone in the team was helping with Harry. Obviously, she loved her brother, but he could be a bit difficult to manage by herself.

"No problem. Just say if you need anything else," Keira said, returning to her seat.

***