Are we forbidden?

twenty seven

The dizziness turned into a headache, thankfully I had some tablets and I happily swallowed three. I decided to wait and give the tablets some time to work.

" You feeling okay Robin?" Lauren asked as she was getting ready to travel.

"Just a little dizzy, it should pass" I replied.

"Hopefully, you'll tell me if it doesn't okay?" I could see that Lauren cared but with a game this big, I was not missing it for a little headache.

"Yeah, I'll tell you" I reassured her.

I wasn't going to tell her, this competition meant more to me than I could ever put into words. I was not going to let a silly little headache ruin that, not for me and not for my team.

I decided to bring a neck pillow with me, hopefully, I would be able to rest my head on the coach, however with the excitement these girls were producing it wasn't looking likely.

We finally boarded the coach at 10 am, and made sure I sat next to Lauren. She was quieter and I knew she wouldn't move around too much so I could sleep.

I dont know where Leah sat, I couldn't concentrate on a thing all I knew is that she wasn't next to Jordan. How did I know?  Jordan was sitting in front of me, with Beth, occasionally the both of them would turn to talk to me and Lauren. Jordan did not utter a word.

It was around an hour and 20 minute drive down to Falmer Stadium, and I slept for an hour and 15 minutes of that journey. Yet I still woke up with my head still pulsating. This is where I began to worry, how could I not?

As expected, camera crews and staff were waiting for us as we exited the bus. I smiled, waved, chatted as best I could to act as normal as possible. I'd packed more tablets and took them as soon as we hit the changing rooms. 

After swallowing two more tablets, I got changed into my kit ready to go for a training session. Considering it was hours away from the match, I knew it would only be light and thought maybe something to concentrate on would help distract me from the pain in my head.

Unfortunately, I was wrong. Training was just one more thing to add to the list of things that did not help my headache. I dont even think I could call it a headache anymore, it was definitely a migraine.

Regardless, the time had come for Sarina to finalise the starting line-up. I realised I was being selfish offering my self to play when I clearly wasn't fit to play just yet.

"Sarina, could I borrow you?" I asked, trying to keep it quiet until I turned to see everyone in the room staring at us some with curiosity and all with worry.

Sarina guided for me to follow her into a separate room where she had been working and we both sat down.

"What's going on Robin?" She asked, also concerned.

"All day I have had the worst headache, I took some tablets this morning, when we arrived and I'm going to take some more now however nothing has shifted it and as you could probably see from training today I'm not able to play my best until it goes away" I barely took a breath during that. 

It pains me to have to pull myself, but hopefully my third round of tablets will help me and maybe I could play the second half.

"Im hopeful that the tablets i'm about to take will help me feel better and I really hope if it does you will consider me for the second half maybe but I am not fit to start right now" I felt like I was letting her down, but I knew I wasn't.

Sarina has some of the best players on her team, I am nothing but a tiny fragment of that.

"Oh Robin, I wish you had said something before we could have tried giving you something stronger to help your pain. I'm assuming you have been taking paracetamol, we have tablets to specifically help with head pains." It was a huge relief that Sarina was so sympathetic, I thought she might be angry that I was risking myself and the team.