Stand By Me - Leah Williamson

Contract

I woke up besides Alessia, on the air mattress we'd set up in the living room to the sound of an alarm blaring from her phone. 

"Jesus, Less, could you have made the alarm any louder?" I groaned, leaning over her to switch it off. 

Alessia rubbed her eyes, slowly waking up, "Well one of us had to do it, couldn't have you being late to sign your contract."

Then it occurred to me, today was the day, "Shit, I forgot about that." Somehow, I'd managed to forget that today was probably one of the most important days of my life, I think it was a coping mechanism to keep my anxiety to a minimum but now my heart was racing a million miles an hour and I'd almost lost the capability to breath. 

Alessia sat up quickly, aware of my shock and panic, "It will be alright Kam, it's easy, you just sign your name and take a quick picture and then boom. You're done." 

I nodded she was right, it sounded so easy when Alessia said it. 

"And I'll be there the whole time," she reassured me. Alessia was staying for a couple of days to settle me in, which was sweet of her and something I so badly needed. 

Brushing my hands through my hair, I got up and went over to one of the boxes in my wardrobe, pulling it open, to find something to wear. I'd signed contracts before obviously, but this one just felt so new and different, I had no clue what to wear. 

"Alessia," I called out to her, to which she came running next to me, "What do I wear?"

She thought for a few seconds, "Well, they'll put you in a top so that isn't important, maybe wear jeans. Nice ones. You probably won't be able to see them though, but it will give a good impression probably."

I nodded, once again Alessia was right and made things seem so easy. I pulled out a pair of jeans and put then on and then a plain white tank top and zip up adidas track suit top. 

Alessia dug through the box and pulled out a jumper, then looked to me, "This is cute, I'll wear this," I laughed, it was so expected of her to just steal my clothes, at this point, I wondered if she had any of her own.

We got the lift down to the car, and Alessia slid into the driver's side of my car, which was also expected. She always drove on important days, she knew it took the stress off of me.

The journey to the Arsenal training grounds wasn't bad, it was about 25 minutes, to which Alessia tried to preoccupy us with gossip, which worked pretty well until I saw us pulling into the premises. 

Immediately, my hands started to shake and my stomach dropped, it wasn't that I didn't want this, because as soon as I saw the Arsenal crest on the flags and building, I knew I wanted this more than ever, it was just that this was all so new. This was a change, and as much as I knew this had to happen, it was so painful.

The car came to a stop and Alessia, got out and opened up my door, she crouched by me and gave me a hug, "Now listen," she said turning my face towards her, "they are going to love you, your dad is so proud right now. Remember, it's signing your name, a picture and then boom," a slight smile appeared on both our faces, "you're done."

"You ready?" she asked me holding out her hand. 

I nodded and took it, "Yep, let's do this," as soon as I stepped out of the car, the anxiety was masked by a look of confidence and peace, the anxiousness within hadn't relaxed, but I was an expert at this point, of making everything look okay. 

We entered the reception and I went over to the desk, "Hi," I spoke to the lady sitting at the desk, "I'm Kameron Quinn, I'm here to sign a contract."