Mi Liefje

Chapter 1

 Sometimes time is still like a pond on a sunny windless day and sometimes it is the rushing river traveling across the country. Giselle never expected this day to come so quickly. She kept her eyes closed for a few extra minutes to avoid the impending doom.

Ring ring ring!

The alarm that she set last night was not calming her dread, with an annoyed grunt, she peeled her eyes open and shut the sound off. She wished this day wouldn't come for another while. Before she could even fully get up from her bed, she heard the pitter-pattering of footsteps in the hallway.

"Stop running!"

Giselle knew she only had a few more seconds of peace before she had to go into the kitchen to get breakfast going before the big day. Taking a quick look at her phone and sending a message to her sister, she walked to the kitchen.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"I want to eat pancakes," she shrugged as her pajama shirt was dusted in flour. "You're being too slow!"

Glaring at the four-year old infront of her, Giselle reached for the bowl that was overflowing with flour and added milk and the eggs that was thankfully still in its carton.

"Bird, you know you have to wait for me. Why don't you get dressed in your reception clothes and while I make the pancakes schatje (sweetie)."

"Okay."

By the time, Giselle finished making the pancakes, she was wondering what was taking her daughter to put on her uniform. "Birdy?" She wandered into Birdy's bedroom and almost brust out laughing at the figure in the middle of the room.

"Oh Schatje, why is your head poking out of the armhole?" She moved to rescue her daughter from the mess she got herself trapped in. Every since Birdy was a baby, Giselle has always been the one to dress her, but since she mentioned reception to the child, she wanted to become more independent. For her first try dressing in the uniform, Giselle was impressed by Birdy's ability to put on her bottom and undershirt. "Now that you are dressed, are you ready for your pancakes?"

"Yes!" Birdy grinned and got ready to start running into the kitchen, but not before could go anywhere, Giselle's hand shot out and grabbed her arm.

"No running!" She said for the second that day.

By the time breakfast was finished and Giselle got ready, all of Birdy's spirit and energy seemed to have all been used up. She hid behind her mother's legs as they approached the classroom. Trying, but failing to get her daughter to come out from behind her, Giselle had to introduce herself to Birdy's teacher.

"Good morning!" The teacher chirped. "How are you guys?"

"Fine," Giselle replied, and the gestured to the body glued to her legs, "Just a little bit nervous."

"Oh, lots of little kids are nervous to leave, but once they get inside and see everyone and get use to coming they will all be fine." Then she bent down and tried to get Birdy to talk. "Now sweetie would you be able to tell me your name?"

The only reply the teacher got was Birdy tugging on Giselle's pants and gestured to be picked up, which Giselle quickly did. "Can you tell her your name?" Giselle asked. With a shake from Birdy's head, Giselle knew that Birdy was not going to talk to the teacher. Turning to the teacher who had since stood back up, "Her name is Cecily. I sent a message about her to the principal about her talking."

"Yes! Yes, I got it right here in my notes for Cecily Ainsley van Holt. Please take a seat at any table until everyone is here."

Giselle was glad they did not cause a big scene as Cecily, or more commonly called Birdy, was not a big fan of talking to anyone other than a her family and a few of Giselle's friends. As she took a seat near the windows, she looked around to see Birdy's classmates. This was one of the best schools in her area and they are really good at keeping the class sizes small and offering them more individual attention from the staff. As the youngest mother in the room by far at 22 years-old, there was no one in the room that she knew. No one form Birdy's nursery is here, so Giselle hoped that Birdy can make some new friends and become comfortable with the new class.

"Good morning class! It seems as if everyone is already here, so I'll start introducations. I'm..." Giselle was not interested in what the teacher was saying, even though she probably should. "Now we can go around and introduce the students and their parents."

Halfway through the circle, it was Giselle's turn, "My name is Giselle Van Holt, this is my daughter Cecily Ainsley Van Holt." She got a few surprised looks from some of the parents, but she brushed it off and turned to the person beside hers.

"My name is Ricardo Aguilar Duarte this is my son, Ricardo," the man next to her spoke with a thick Spanish accent. This time Giselle was the one with the surprised look. If he did not say this name outloud, she would not have recognize the name of a popular Spanish footballer. Even though she did not care for the men's side as much, she grew up a fan of the both spanish leagues and heard his name thrown around a lot.

She was able to catch his eyes and she nodded her head, hoping to get a chance to talk to him after they were done with the initial introduction.

It seemed as if Birdy knew her mom wanted to talk to this man besides them because she went up to Ricardo Jr. and smiled it him.

"Hello," he said as he extended his hand out for Birdy to shake.

She did not hesitate to shake his hand, but said nothing back. It did not bother Ricardo as much as he dragged her towards an empty table say they can work together.

Giselle and Ricardo's father followed as the school was doing a shortened day today and the parents were allowed to stay.

"Nice to meet you again," Giselle said and then gestured towards the two kids, "They seem to get along well."

There was a moment of confusion in his eyes before he replied, "Yes they are. I hoped Ricardo can make some new friends. We haven't gotten a chance to teach him much English since moving here from Madrid."

"That is completely understandable. At home we mainly speak Dutch and moving here last year was a bit difficult for Bird at nursery. Y también puedo hablar espanol. (And also I can speak Spanish."

"La mayoria del tiempo la madre de Ricardo va a venir por Ricardo, pero hoy ella necesita ir al trabajo. (The majority of the time, Ricardo's mom will came with Ricardo, but today she had to go to work)."

"Yes, ¿ella esta con Chelsea ahora?" Giselle knew his wife also played football and recently signed with her rival football club.

"Si, y tu estas con Arsenal?"

"Si."

Note:

Hello I'm very excited for this story, I have been thinking about trying to write something for a while. 

This is a football/soccer (since I'm in the US) story, there will be no real life footballers involved. There will be characters with the same name and nationality as real life players, but they are not the same people.

Even though I am a fan of women's football, I do not actually know a lot about how every detail works. Timeline of events like Champion League, the WSL, or other international breaks will be changed to fit into the story.

Also being from the US, I don't know how things work in England, so things I write may be wrong. The different languages that I use in the book would also be google translated or for the Spanish it would be my horrible Spanish that I am trying to improve.