Millie

Chapter Eight - Soccer Camp

My parents were so mad at Olympia and I after the boat incident in Greece that they couldn't wait to get us home and send us off to our individual camps. Of course I was twenty and didn't need to if I didn't want to, but my Mom had taken me aside and confided in me how scared she and my Mama were that I was losing my way... and she didn't want me to take that path that my birth father had dragged me down by revealing my true identity.

Mom had placed her arm around my
Shoulder "Wren, take the summer and find your way back to yourself. The way you came to exist... it has no bearing on your identity, or who you are as a human being. You are the light of our lives. Believe it"

I had held her so tightly and let the tears come, because it didn't matter if I was one years old or twenty... my Mom still had the ability to make me feel safe, calm and adored, within her arms. They both did. I was so incredibly lucky to be the daughter of my Moms, and I needed to let myself feel that again.

"I'll go... and i'll find my way back Mom... I promise. I love you"

"I love you way too much"she says with a tighter squeeze.

"A ridiculous amount" I reply.

"Oh, beyond ridiculous " she said with a kiss to the forehead. "Just enjoy your time, little bit, and focus on the soccer. I always found when I focused on my sport... and worked on my body....good mental health followed and everything became more bearable. Soccer is your therapy, as Basketball was for me. Remember too, that it doesn't matter what was said by that man... that right foot is yours my darling... and that talent wasn't genetic ... it was hard fought for by a little girl with a big dream"

"I know Mom. Believe me. Nobody's taking my accomplishments as theirs. I booked the therapist you suggested too. I will be seeing her three times a week for the next six weeks"

"Good, let her help. My first therapist helped me change my life. Just talk, and as you do you will feel lighter and more understood. Be open to discover yourself, and grow"

"I'm sorry that O and I were a little challenging"

"You guys fight, but you love just as hard. I'm not worried about you guys. I know you will fiercely protect each other for a lifetime. I just need you to quit the physical stuff. Try and talk to each other more please. I'd rather you shout at each other than push each other off of boats. You know Olympia, and you know how she adores both you and Cam. It all comes from a place of missing you and the way you all were before you left for college"

"I know. I try to include her, but it's impossible when we are hours away now"

"Just remember she's been as lost in her own way. She may not have the same demons she's fighting but she's a teenage girl dealing with a break up, a change of friends and a sister and best friend who just upped and vanished on her"

"Yeah, that's heavy. I know Cole was a bad situation. I wish I had been here to kick his ass"

"Don't worry... I scared the shit out of him myself" my Mom confessed.

"What did you do" I asked, amused and surprised all at once.

"I couldn't possibly tell you... it would make you an accessory after the fact...but just know that Cole won't be back"

"He's alive right" I double check.

My Mom grins, and brushes her curly dark hair aside as she removes her shades. Her dimples deepen "Of course"

***
My parents let me drive myself to the camp. It was after all me arriving as an adult and not me dropped off as a kid. I had arrived on the first morning, promptly, with a bag swung over one shoulder and my kit cleaned and ready to go. I would be living in my cleats for the next six weeks, and by the time I got home before I headed back to Eugene... I would be tanned, and strong, mind and body.

This experience may have been about my soccer skills, and keeping myself as fit as possible, but it was equally about my mind, and finally letting myself heal.

Millie was always with me, and I let the visual of her be another driving force in my journey... I wanted that forever... I just had to earn it... for us both. She deserved a life partner who offered as much as she took, an equal... and not the immature and lost teenager she had had.

The days were busy. The training was intense. The girls were all amazing and competitive and made me strive to be better every day. On top of finding new friends, and skills... we were also being observed periodically by scouts from the professional league... and without knowing it ... the national team. I had thought I had been invited to this camp with many others from my team, but as I asked around, it turned out this camp was a talent pool of potential future stars... picked purposefully by those observing the leagues, and players.

A familiar face turned up a day after me, and made me smile. I knew she would be here, she was the best on our team. Clark. We were the only two picked from our state.

The age ranges were high school up to college, and the competition would be fierce, but I made my runs, passes, hit my targets... and I killed myself out there to excel.

My Mom had been the MVP in her professional basketball career, among a tonne of accolades, and then gone onto coach in the WNBA. If I could have just a small slither of my Moms success I would consider myself proud. Teddy Nomikos was a national treasure and her name was known everywhere, national and international as the player of her time. To be her daughter was a blessing, and people always got excited when I shared who my Mom was, but to try and get out from her shadow would be hard work. I didn't feel it from her, I never did. My Mom never mentioned her success or made me or my siblings feel like we had to succeed to be as good as her, she just encouraged our passions... and mine and Olympias just happened to be sports.

Olympias passion for basketball has always been strong from a little toddler, but I admit my love of soccer came later, and it was more like I was good at it and that's why I did it. I hadn't ever wanted to play soccer professionally either, but with every day that passed as I played with my university team, and then here at the camp... I felt a hunger for it I never tasted before.

The scouts were looking for something... and I wanted it to be me.