Stand By Me - Leah Williamson

Forever A Gooner

Kameron's POV

"You ready for this?" Ingrid asked me as we walked into the Barcelona grounds, ready to sign my contact. 

I huffed and nodded, trying to prepare myself, "Yep."

"Okay," Ingrid kissed my lips gently and gave my hand a squeeze and as much as I tried to ignore it, that squeeze reminded me of someone. And it wasn't Ingrid, "You'll do great Kammy."

"Thanks Ingrid. I'll see you in a bit."

The receptionist led me into the conference room where the papers sat in piles on the table, waiting for me to sign and so did the manager's, Jonatan Giráldez. 

"Hello Kameron, please to meet you," he shook my hand. 

"It's great to meet you too," I smiled at him. 

"Are you ready to get seated and sign these papers?"

"Yeah," I nodded and we both took our seats, cameras flashing as we signed every single piece of paper, the pile seemed to take forever to get through. And every time I signed my name, I missed Arsenal a little bit more, I was becoming more and more detached from my childhood club. But I was so certain that this was the right move for me, so I just continued to smile and write.

Eventually, it was all sorted and I was officially signed to Barcelona for the rest of the season, a sentence I'd never imagined myself saying so everything felt rather surreal. 

Jonatan took me on a tour of the facilities and they were state of the art, there was everything which we could possibly want and more. When people said that Barcelona were one of the leading and best women's teams in the world, they really weren't kidding. 

"I think that is us about sorted for today Kameron," Jonatan told me.

"Training starts tomorrow right?"

"Yes, we'll all be pleased to see you there. Possibly even your debut this weekend."

I beamed back at him, the idea of getting back onto the pitch was a literal dream, "That would be incredible. Thankyou for everything today Jonatan."

"Pleasure's all mine, we're lucky to have you with us this season."

We parted ways and I walked over to Ingrid who was sitting in reception with her back turned to me. Quietly, I crept up behind her and shook her shoulders, making her scream and jump out of her skin, it was hilarious. 

"God Kameron, you really have to stop doing that," she laughed, clutching her chest, "you'll give me a heart attack one day. How was it?"

We began walking to the car, "Well, I'm now officially a Barcelona player!"

Ingrid jumped up and down, excitement etched onto her features, "Oh my gosh! I literally can't believe this, it's so amazing!"

"I literally can't believe it either. It doesn't feel real."

"It's mad."

"Yeah, it's mad."

As Ingrid began to drive us back to her apartment, I couldn't help but find the moment a little bittersweet; I'd now officially left my childhood football club, I'd hung up the jersey that I'd always dreamed of wearing and I'd left the badge which meant so much to me.

What would my dad think? He'd be happy that I was putting myself first but I knew that he would be waiting for the season to be over so he'd see me back in the classic Arsenal red. Though he had always loved Messi, so maybe he'd be overjoyed about Barcelona.

But the thing about this transfer, was that it was completely for me; it wasn't for my dad, it wasn't for Alessia and it wasn't for Leah. This is a step I felt I had to take in order to return to Arsenal and give them my all. This was a break from the tension and past memories in London, I just had to see it as a holiday where I could continue playing the sport I loved.