doha amor || neymar, gavi, mason mount

the second training.

pablogavi

¿estás despierto? (you up?)

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It kept me up the rest of the night. I couldn't decide if I would respond or not, so I decided to respond when it got to a normal hour.

When the alarm clock went off, I once again, had only gotten around 2 hours of sleep. If I was working with Mallory again today, she would have to be my emotional support buddy to get me through the day. I put on an outfit similar to yesterday's but changed my shirt to a white one instead and added a visor.

I walked out of the elevator to see Mallory waiting with a huge iced coffee and a grin.

"Looks like my Spanish bestie is working with me once again! Today we're working with the English team. You've seen a couple of them before, right?" I nodded, and snatched the coffee from her grasp. It was so cold and it sent a feeling of relief down my body. The sun was already shining bright at 08:30, and the heat hadn't gotten any better. I couldn't believe how hot it gets over here.

The metro ride to where England was training was fast. It was right near our hotel. Mallory was thankful as she could speak English with them instead of having me translate again. We set up our gear and started heading out all around the pitch. Mallory hung with me for quite a while, since she wasn't interviewing anyone until near the end of training.

My day consisted of following Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham, Jack Grealish, and Mason Mount around. Declan always found a way over to me during breaks, keen on talking to me about anything and everything. He told me about how he misses our Saturday morning photography lessons although it had only been two weeks since we had had our most recent one. Declan had always been found of the art of photographer, but got more interested once I joined the team. Declan, his girlfriend Lauren, and I would head out to a nearby park each Saturday and try and snap beautiful pictures. I won almost every time.

Jude was overjoyed to finally talk to me again. Declan had had a party celebrating his anniversary with his girlfriend, and Jude and I talked over champagne. I had already met Jack, and we talked just like old times. The only boy I had never met before was Mason. He was a little shy, but that quickly wore off. I took pictures of the four of them together, and even snapped a selfie with them while Southgate wasn't looking. I couldn't wait to show these to Luci.

At the end of practice, I went up close to the team with Salma and Van to get more pictures. José was with Mallory setting up lighting for the interview. She still hadn't told me who they were interviewing. I presumed Jude, but you can never be too sure.

Southgate noticed the three of us, but didn't mind. He wasn't sharing any important information, so we were free to take as many pictures as we wanted.

Declan occasionally made eye contact with me, trying to get me to laugh each time. I must admit he was successful almost every time.

When they finished their little meeting, Mallory called over Salma, Van, and I to get in position.

"Can we please have Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice, and Mason Mount over here?" The three boys walked over in an instant. A smile grew on Declan's.

"Good afternoon boys. A pleasure to be able to talk to you." The three of them smiled at us.

"The pleasure is ours." Jude said. Mason stood awkwardly. Being the man he was at Chelsea, you would never expect to see him all shy at a interview. World Cup nerves one could say.

"We know how hot it is and don't want to make you suffer, but just wanted to ask some questions. Would that be alright?" Mallory questioned. They nodded. "Great! Our first question is for Jack Grealish." Jack stepped forward and closer to us. "Jack, how do you manage to keep your hair so clean whenever you appear online?" He laughed. The one thing I missed about City was being able to talk to Jack. He was such a down to earth guy, and I appreciated that.

"Well Mallory, a highly rated shampoo and conditioner helps. Showering my hair after ever practice and game also keeps it looking shiny and clean." Mallory and I both exchanged a giggle.

"So Mason! Is it true you've been trying to bring over Jude and Declan to Chelsea FC?" She asked with an intriguing look. Mason shrugged, and I continued my photographing.

"Time will tell. I've been trying to bring them over for years now! But soon I believe we will have them with us." Declan laughed while Jude rolled his eyes. It seemed as if both of them didn't want to work with him at Chelsea FC.

"By the looks of it, it seems like you may not have the easiest task of bringing them over. But regardless, we wish you the best of luck." The four of them waved, and walked back over to Southgate and the rest of the team. They were cleaning up the remains of training.

"Another successful practice! And only three days until the opening game! Who do you think is going to win? Qatar or Ecuador?" She paused for a moment, then everyone burst out laughing. We all knew who was going to win, and it was going to be a slap of reality for Qatar.

"Like we didn't already know." Salma said with a giggle.

"I put in to photograph that game. Would love to see Valencia in person." José said. We all nodded in agreement, and started putting our stuff into the golf cart to take us back to the metro station.

"I would love to be at the Brazil or Spain game. Watching Neymar in person would be a dream for me." I swooned. As much as I hated to admit it, Neymar was my celebrity crush. When I was offered a trip to Paris with Gonzalo, we went to go see PSG play. We bought each other jerseys to wear all around Paris. He bought me Neymar's, and I got him Hakimi's.

"You and your celebrities." Mallory sighed playfully. "I would have gone for a couple of them, but Americans don't get the best rep anywhere in the world." I nodded sympathetically. It was true. Whenever I visited a touristy attraction in London, there would be swarms of American tourists all over. I never said anything to them, but they sure were loud.

We loaded onto the metro, and quickly arrived back at the hotel. It was around 7 at night, and a ton of photographers had gone out for dinner. We had gotten so wrapped up in our conversation on the metro we forgot to book dinner reservations.

"Should we just call it a night and order room service?" Mallory asked. Everyone agreed, and we said goodnight and went up to our rooms. I was looking forward to ordering some food and eating in bed while watching Netflix, when I got a text from Declan on my personal number.

Declan Rice

You up for drinks and food? Jude can't make it so we have an extra seat. You'd be hanging out with yours truely, Jack, and Mason. You in?

This seemed like fun. Meeting up with some star players of the English players and getting drinks? Of course I was in.

Me

You know I'd never turn down free drinks and food.