Straight from the academy

12.

"Wake up!" Beth says shaking my shoulders.
"Ok ok, I'm up." I say sitting up straight. I grab a hair band from my bedside table and scrape my hair back into a low messy bun.
"We're leaving in an hour so get dressed." Beth says before standing up and leaving me in peace. I do as she says and change into my arsenal kit, which I still can't believe is actually mine. Then, I slip my phone into my pocket and walk into the kitchen to get some breakfast. When I get there, Leah Beth and Viv are sitting at the kitchen table all having either cereal or toast.
"How long have you all been awake for?" I ask, confused.
"A couple of hours."
"How? What's the time?"
"Nearly 10." Beth says laughing.
"Oh, why didn't you wake me up?" I get myself a bowl and make my self a bowl of cereal.
"I wanted to but Leah and Viv wouldn't let me. They told me to let you sleep." She says rolling her eyes like a child.
We all laugh and then I sit down next to Leah and eat my breakfast.
"So what did she say?" I say to Leah. Leah doesn't reply, instead she kicks my shin hard under the table. It hurt so much I nearly spat my cereal everywhere.
"What did who say?" Beth says intrigued, raising her eyebrows.
I mouth 'sorry' at Leah.
"Jordan" she says timidly.
"Oh." Beth says looking down.
"Do you mind if we don't talk about it?" Leah asks, clearly wanting to move on from the subject.
"Yeah, sure." Beth says, before continuing her conversation with Viv.
"Sorry Leah" I say quietly.
"It's fine, can we talk about it later? Beth and i are still a bit awkward about it. She's 100% on Jordan's side, but honestly I don't blame her." Leah says also very quietly so that Beth doesn't hear her.
"yeah, course."

Not long later we leave the house, I go with Leah in her car and Beth and Viv go together in Beth's car. We don't have training today, but we do have some media. I have quite a bit since I'm still quite new and haven't done it yet. When we get there, everyone gets taken into a huge indoor 3G pitch which is used for filming and media. There are cameras set up everywhere. Everyone splits up and gets told what to do and where to go. Some people are having photos taken, filming videos or clips for YouTube and instagram and some people are signing some merchandise.

First I have some head shots and full body pictures before I get called over to a small set up with a table and 3 chairs with a camera in front of it. When I get there, Leah and Beth are sitting down so I sit next to them on the last seat.
"Okay girls," one of the camera men say to us from behind a huge camera, "we are going to play teammates. I will give you a scenario or ask a question and you just have to write down who you think out of the three of you would be the most likely." He gives us all whiteboards, pens and rubbers. "Ready, action!"

"Out of the three of you, who should never get on the microphone at karaoke?"
We all write out answers and flip our boards around. We all write Beth.
"You don't even have a bad voice, it's just you wouldn't get off it" Leah says laughing.
"Exactly, once you start singing you don't stop" I say, all three of us now laughing.

We finish the interview and then I sign a few things and take some more pictures before I am done for the day. Then everyone heads back to the changing rooms to get our stuff and leave.
Leah is standing at her locker collecting her things and I walk over to her and tap her shoulder. She turns around and looks at me.
"Hey, can we talk about it now?"
"Oh, um..yeah."
I sit down on the bench and invite Leah to sit next to me, which she does.
"So what happened?"
"Well I walked over and Jen said hello to me, but Jordan didn't. She just looked at me quickly and then kept taking to Jen. She completely blanked me, she acted like I wasn't even there." Leah says unsteadily, her eyes filled to the brim with tears.
"Oh Le, I'm sorry." I say putting an arm around her and letting her lean into me.
"She doesn't care about me at all anymore."
"Don't say that, maybe she just got a bit awkward and didn't really know what to do."
"I doubt it. She's moved on, she's forgotten about me and about what we had." Leah says crying more. I pull her into me and she sobs into my chest, her tears staining my shirt. I don't say anything, there isn't really much I can say, so instead I just hold her.
"Come on, let's go home."
"But it will be really awkward with Beth. This morning was already bad, imagine what it'll be like if she finds out what happened and that I've been crying about it."
"We can just go straight my room. And besides, she's probably going to Viv's anyway, they are always together."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. You can't sit in here all day, they do lock these changing rooms at night you know."
"Okay, fine." I wipe a tear from Leah's cheek and pull her to her feet. Together, we walk out of the room with our things and outside to the Leah's car.
"Can I drive?" I ask.
"Sure, do you know where you are going?"
"I think so, I've been trying to pay attention on the drives here and back."
"Okay, then sure." Leah says chucking me the car keys.
We get in and I drive us home, Leah helping me from time to time by giving me directions. When we get home, I open the door to see Beth and Viv sitting at the kitchen table, staring at me and Leah. When I first walked in, beth was smiling at me, but as soon as she saw Leah follow in behind me her smile dropped and she just stared. I quickly shut the door behind me and walk to my bedroom, Leah following very closely behind me.

"I told you!" Leah says slumping down onto my bed and stuffing her face in one of my pillows.
"It wasn't that bad"
"Wasn't that bad? As soon as she saw me she gave me a dirty look. Jordan has clearly said something and not something nice about me."
I sit on the bed next to Leah and put a pillow behind my head.
"Beth can think whatever she wants to think, but ultimately this is between you and Jordan, no one else"
"I know but I hate the fact it is tarnishing mine and Beth's friendship."
"I know Le." I sigh. "Maybe talk to her about it?"
"That's what I did with Jordan, and we both know how that went."
"Just try. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work but at least then you've made an effort. She can't ask for anything amore than that."
"Okay, maybe. I'll speak to her later though. I really don't want to right now."
"That's ok, whenever your ready." I wrap my arm around Leah's shoulders and hug her tightly.