marlita: a cringe way to disguise myself being downbad for footballers

chapter one: prologue.

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there it was. i was grasping it in my palms. looking at it with disbelief and pride. so much pride and happiness. happiness, yes i've never felt as joyful. i was proud, so proud i have achieved the impossible. none of this made sense, yet here we are. i have officially made history.

flashback.

6th of july 2021.

" it's time for you to blow the candles! !" 

and i did. my 20th birthday, man i feel so old, but most people around me told me this was just the beginning, and i believe they're right, i was going to start a new chapter in my life, a brand new one i have never dreamed of living. my family and friends surrounding me, cheering for me and applauding, genuienly heartwarming. we were now plunged into darkness, laughter and small chats all around me.

the light were on, i stood with a knife in my hand and the other on my mother's shoulder.

" thank u for the cake maman, it's truly 'something'. " i said. it was pretty embarassing really, it had a pixelated harry potter on it, but that's not the worse part, written on the top was a very big " yer a wizard brit " and a badly edited picture of me on a broom. truly creative mother, thank you. 

" i suppose i had to do something special for you, considering we might not see you for a really long while ". she said, with a frown dawning on her face, her eyes watering and glowing.

oh right, im a football player, an ordinary one i believe. playing for a small club in england in 4th division in women's league. i liked to believe that luck wasn't my thing, that i had to be quite an unlucky individual actually, until the 29th of june 2021 happened. champions league: next generation happened, a pretty normal format with groupstage and single elimination brackets, but with a twist, only players under 26 were allowed in the competition, but THE twist was that a single female player would be allowed take part in it. a football tournament, possibly the most important one for the future of football, with a woman in the midst of hundreds of professional men, playing a sport that's been known to be fully dominated by them. now that prospect was quite scary. but this was the biggest tournament of the year, and doing well in it would be more beneficial than harmful. there was quite literally 0.01% chance of me getting picked as the only female representative in the championship, and what can i say, it somehow worked out. during the sorting ceremony my name was called out, i shamelessly watched it believing i had a chance of making it, and the world rewarded me for being stupid and hopeful, well world i won't disappoint you. the worst part isn't over yet however, because tomorrow i will be leaving for berlin, where everyone will be sorted in their clubs, yes very weird, players will randomly get dropped off in a club and somehow expected to work together as a team and be good teammates to each other. i can already see some of them being sorry for anyone who ends up in the same club as me, well we only have to see.

" aw, don't worry maman, i'll facetime you everyday if i have to, you know how important this is to me. " i said. she looked at me, with a warm gaze, and wrapped her arms around me pulling me into a hug, the last one i'll have in a while. 

BUT, on second thought i wasn't leaving alone, hell no, i had to bring emotional support with me, whom is also called lita, my best friend, we've been inseperable for so long i've lost count. (not really it's been 14 years.) she just had to be my +1 and partner to embark with me on this new adventure yes. that was my attempt at being poetic, my bad. on a more serious note, it makes digesting all of this much easier and definetly less scary. no who am i kidding, i am scared, terrified even, there is too much at stake, but losing my composure won't do me any good, i must be strong, and lita makes me strong, her presence makes it all go away, stress, pressure all of it.