I stayed with Leah for the rest of that night and the following day, making sure she was okay and her medicine was helping to ease the pain. After a few days, she was back to being her normally bubbly self as her period had ended.
Saturday was the first game of the season, and our first match was against Manchester United at our home ground. To say I was excited was an understatement. Jonas had already informed me that I would be getting some minutes under my belt as he had been happy with my progress and performances in training since settling into the team.
Leah and I decided we were not going to see each other yesterday as I explained exactly how important today was and how I needed to make a good impression in front of the Arsenal fans. As always, Leah completely understood and instead we facetimed and chatted before getting an early night, apart. I woke up on the Saturday morning before my alarm, the butterflies in my stomach causing me to stir as my focus swiftly changed to the game today. Getting myself ready, I must have checked I had everything at least 10 times, ensuring I had packed all of the essentials into my rucksack.
As I arrived at Meadow park I was in awe of the atmosphere that surrounded today. Entering the changing room I was greeted with the sound of laughter as half of the girls were singing at the top of their voices to Use somebody by Kings of Leah, whilst the remaining girls stood at their lockers laughing. I decided to put my headphones in and block the background noise out as I wanted to make sure nothing distracted me. As I finished getting changed and made my way to pitch to begin to warm up, I was met by the blue eyes of Leah, gazing back at me with a smile on her face which reached from ear to ear. "Take it all in today, I know you're gonna smash it and make us all proud" Leah assured me whilst wrapping her arm around my shoulders, continuing to walk onto the pitch. "Thanks Le," I whispered, "I know you're gonna do great too, as usual" I continued, playfully rolling my eyes at the blonde haired beauty.
The warm up flew by and before I knew it we were heading back into the changing rooms to change out of the warm up kit into our match shirts. As I looked around the changing room, watching the girls as their playful conversations continued, my eyes were drawn to Leah, who was stood in front of the mirror making the final touches to her hair, her eyes making contact with mine in the reflection of the mirror as we exchanged soft smiles to one another.
At this point, Jonas had made his way into the changing rooms to inform us of the starting 11 for today. As he listed the team, he briefly paused as he looked in my direction. "Finally, we're going with Jones upfront, I know it's a big day for you but just do what you have been doing in training, I have no doubt you'll make an impact today." He concluded before exiting the room.
All the girls gave a slight cheer as my name was announced, making me feel appreciated and part of the Arsenal family. Leah came running over to me and gave me a quick passionate kiss to my lips "What was that for?" I blushed. "Just a little good luck kiss for you" Leah giggled.
During the first 15 minutes of the game our side were shaky as the United attackers piled on the pressure. They were playing a possession game and we struggled to retrieved the ball. Their forward triangle passes were causing them to run rings around our midfield. A through ball from Russo landed straight in the path of Ella Toone, who struck the ball first time leading the ball to go straight into the top right corner, leaving Manu stood plotted in the same position as she didn't anticipate that shot from Toone. 1-0 to United. I struggled to get into the game as the midfield couldn't get the ball too me, I decided I was going to drop back and help regain the possession, which left no one upfront once we did have the ball. A foul from Kim Little outside the box resulted in a free kick worldie from Katie Zelem who made a comfortable 2-0 lead, ending the first half.
As we silently made our way into the changing room, the atmosphere was frosty as we were all frustrated. Jonas, of course was not happy with our first half performance and made it known, before leaving the changing room. Little stood in the centre of the floor and gave a speech on how we need to work and show for one another, on and off the ball. She tried to fire the girls up by saying how we know we were better and could bring this back in the second half.
Leaving the changing room, I was pulled to one side by Jonas who had confirmed I would not be re-starting the second half as he was bringing me off for Viv, he assured me this was for the benefit of the team and believed Viv would make an immediate impact which would bring us back into the game. Although I knew I didn't have the best start, I knew there were other players which could have been subbed who had displayed a poorer performance than me. Although I remained calm on the outside as Jonas gave me the substitute explanation. I was furious on the inside and felt the anger bubbling up inside me.
The game ended 2-0 to United and we performed no better than we had done in the first half. After quickly showering and getting changed back into my tracksuit, I allowed Jonas, Kim and Leah to give their talks regarding the match and listened to their opinions on the area's of improvements. Once this had concluded I swiftly collected my belongings and made the journey back to my car, not speaking to anyone or even waiting for Leah. I was still frustrated over Jonas' decision to bring me off at half time and did not want my anger to get the best of me, which would of lead to me saying something I later regretted.
