The Greyhounds | Jamie Tartt

Chapter 1

Will the show go on?

Headlines of the Sun, Daily Mail, and the Independent featured Ted Lasso's departure from the infamous AFC Richmond. Riddled with nostalgia for something that she didn't know she would miss so dearly, Rebecca Welton made her way into her grey office for her first day of the new season without Coach Lasso at the helm of the mighty Greyhounds. She sat, waiting for a pink box of biscuits that made her mouth water at the thought. But she would have to go without them for some time. Just as she took a deep breath, Leslie Higgins walked in the door carrying a package with a bow on it. A USA forever stamp was on the box. She opened the pink gift to find her favorite thing, with a note that read "Good luck big boss! Love, Ted" She smiled as she opened her agenda for the day and bit into the sugary biscuit. She smiled with a breath as she opened her laptop to her agenda for the day.

Ashley Lucciano stepped off the plane into yet another foggy day in London, no different than a winter day in her hometown of Portland, Oregon. She avoided the jet lag all she could by adjusting her sleep schedule in advance, which she can admit was a tad ridiculous, but Ashley at her core was a ridiculous person. The youngest captain of the United States Women's Soccer team and the youngest female World Cup scorer in history, Ashley had the workings of a large ego that she tried her best to ignore. But how can you ignore basically being the best soccer player in the world? She learned not to boast or brag from a young age, but she couldn't just not. A little cockiness never hurt no one, except if you're a woman. Although society has been trying to get women more involved in the sports conversation, Ashley had dealt with endless criticism and claims of insufficiency and inadequacy by the media and the public since she was 16. She was used to it, and she liked to rub it in everyones faces when she was doing well. So sue her! She was on top of the world, playing for her hometown professional team the Portland Thorns, which is one of the greatest professional female soccer programs in the world, and dating the American (the only other American in the Premier League) Forward of Arsenal F.C. , the sexy and charming Grayson McGrath. The only thing left for her to do was to prove she was the greatest soccer player ever. Join a nascent Women's Premier League Team and take it from nothing to the championship. Take them from losers to winners and shut the mouth of every naysayer that ever got in her way. After all, that one football coach from Wichita did the same thing. And so, Ashley made her way from the airport to the A.F.C Richmond headquarters.

The Richmond Greyhounds were coming off a high. Getting third in the Champions League and Second in the Premier League after facing relegation a couple of years earlier, while expanding their facilities and now adding a women's team, the locker room buzzed with excitement as they changed into their jerseys for the first official day of summer training. The newly inaugurated coach, standing tall in front of his team, yelled "OY! Welcome back shitheads. Obviously we've had some changes in the past year, and to walk you through the current ones, here is.." Quieting down, Roy turned the teams attention to someone walking in the door. Glittered from head to toe, the fabulous Keeley Jones platformed heel stepped in and then the rest of her. "Hi boys!" She shouted enthusiastically. Roy looked at her longingly, wanting to tell her how lovely she looked today but couldn't muster up the words to do so. She got a few things set up for her presentation. "Okay so as you know, we have a few new faces joining us as a program this year! Say hello to the Lady Greyhounds!!" Pictures of the roster appeared in a powerpoint as Keeley mulled over the logistics of how the women's team was going to work with the mens. They had separate training fields and facilities, but shared Nelson Road. "This is my brainchild so I'm really quite proud. And we all want you to meet them! So as the genius I am, I have paired you up with someone from the other team that plays in the same position as you to act as a buddy throughout this transition. You can do movie nights, hangouts, work on your footy skills, just be a friend so they can get to know who we are here at Richmond! Right then...Sam, your partner is Shannon..." She read off the list of corresponding teammates: "...and Jamie. You're partnered with Ashley Lucciano." Jamie had heard this name before but never payed attention to American sports. He turned his attention to her picture on the powerpoint. He thought she was beautiful, and suddenly the first day without Ted Lasso as coach didn't seem so bad.