Friends for life?

14. I'll be there

The rest of the week we trained in the mornings and spent the afternoons doing something a bit more fun, we'd played volleyball and tennis a lot. I prefer tennis because I always feel like I'm going to break a nail with volleyball and the girls find any excuse to tease me about being a girly girl as it is. On the third day the coaching staff surprised us with fitness tests, we all thought we'd got out of it because they'd usually be done at the start of the week but someone thought it'd be better to surprise us. When I find out who I'll be having words with them. You'd think as professional footballers we'd take it in our stride, you'd be wrong. I've never seen so many stroppy faces at the word "bleep test" By the end I thought I was going to cough up a lung but I completed it which was more than could be said for some...Katie McCabe. She wasn't the only one that didn't finish but there was no way the team would let Miss Competitive live this one done for a while.

On the final day Jonas and the coaching staff split the team in half to play each other. Although I wasn't allowed to play yet I enjoyed watching the girls and it was good for me to see the progress we'd made in our week in a Germany. After the game Jonas announced that we could spend the rest of the day as we liked. Nobody had a chance to make a suggestion before Beth screamed "POOL DAY".

After showering and styling my towel dried hair in a messy bun, I made my way to the outdoor pool wearing the black Arsenal DNA top and shorts covering my black Zara bikini  with a pair of sliders. On my way I noticed a FaceTime call coming through from my ex, Josh, so I said I'd catch u with the girls. He had a few days off work after flying back from his Dubai office so he'd picked up Charlie from Amanda. Charlie had been our baby so even after we split up he continued to spend time with Josh whenever he was in London. I'm sure the girls thought I was mad, but Charlie was our baby and we'd always said no matter what we'd share him. After using the pill to lessen the symptoms of my endometriosis it'd been an easy decision to rule out kids. My periods had been so severe I was fainting and missing too much training, never mind the fear of passing out during a game. I had never been too bothered about kids anyway so we decided a four legged baby would be enough.

We were still on good terms so it wasn't awkward for him to call me and he knew I'd be missing Charlie. I sat on a sunlounger near the pool chatting for about 20 minutes until i couldn't ignore the screams of my name from Katie and Beth. I knew if I ignored them much longer I'd end up being thrown in the pool and I wasn't planning on rewashing my hair today. We played some games in the pool before I escaped to top up my tan. I was having a nap when I felt someone touch my shoulder, as I open my eyes I see it's Leah "Alright Le?" I questioned sitting up, I could tell something was up straight away. "Can we talk?" I nodded and followed her inside where we went to her room.

She didn't speak all the way to her room. Once in the safety of her room she fell apart. She'd gone from 0 to 100 in 30 seconds. I'd seen Leah upset before, she was known for wearing her heart on her sleeve so everyone's seen her cry but this was different. Tears falling uncontrollably down her cheeks, her lip was trembling. She was hysterical, I'd never seen her like this. All I wanted to do was protect her from what ever or who ever had got her in this mess.

Without saying a word I wrapped my arms round her and held her close. Her head resting on my shoulder since we're around the same height. I don't care that her tears are soaking my T-shirt all I want is to help her which I can't do until she tells me what's going on.

Knowing she loves a hug I moved us over to her bed where she made herself comfortable on me and cried herself to sleep while I ran my fingers through her hair knowing that would help her relax.

How could anyone hurt this girl? I'd seen all the rumours online about who she's dating, 'fans' sexualising her, all she ever wanted was to play football. She didn't deserve any of this.

"Don't worry my girl, we'll get through whatever this is." I whispered "I love you" placing a kiss on the top of her head