The Journey to a Better Life

Chapter 2

Knock knock knock. 

The sudden noise awakened me from my slumber. Unaware of the time or who was stood on the other side of the door I quietly said 'come in'. Less than 5 seconds later both Leah and Alessia were stood just in front of the door. ' we have training today' Alessia said, Leah followed with 'would you like to come with us?' 'she must be crazy if she thinks I don't want to come' I thought to myself. After a few moments I reply with 'I would love to' 'Ok then kiddo, we need to leave in 5 minutes, so get changed and then we can leave, we're going to eat breakfast at the training centre' Leah said excitedly.

2 minutes later I walked down the stairs as quietly as possible to avoid being shouted at for making too much noise. Once I made it to the front door I put my old trainers on so that I was ready to leave as soon as Leah and Alessia were. 'ready to go?' Leah asked whilst Alessia grabbed the car keys. I nodded as we headed out the door. once Alessia had locked the door we all headed towards the car  so we could drive to London Colney where the team trained. As we got closer to the training centre I started to get nervous, I was going to be meeting some of my biggest footballing idols. I started fiddling with the bracelet that has never left my wrist. ' you alright kiddo?' Leah asked she had obviously notice that I was nervous. 'Just a bit nervous' I replied still playing with the bracelet on my wrist.

A few minutes later we arrived. All the nerved disappeared as we got out of the car and I saw Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema waving at Leah and Alessia as they walked towards us. 'hi girls' Beth said 'who's this little mischief maker?' she asked 'this is Madison, life long Gooner and our foster kid' Alessia replied with. I gave a slight wave and shyly said 'hi'. I held Leah's hand as we walked towards the training centre doors. Once the girls had put there bags in the changing rooms we headed towards the canteen. The nerves started to kick in again. This time Alessia noticed and held me back whilst Leah, Beth and Viv headed into the canteen.

'Hey kid, you ok?' Alessia asked. 'Just nervous I guess' I replied whist shrugging my shoulders. 'it's ok to be scared kiddo, this is a big thing, you've had some big changes in the last 24 hours, but I promise you all the girls are really nice, you've already met Beth and Viv.' ' thanks Alessia' I said slightly less afraid then I was before. After taking some deep breaths to help calm my nerves some more Alessia and I headed into the canteen. We went and stood with Leah who was stood talking to Katie and Caitlin. For breakfast I grabbed a banana, some yogurt, a slice of toast with Nutella and a bottle of water. Once both Leah and Alessia had their food we went and sat at a table with Kyra, Caitlin, Steph and Katie.

When we finished eating Caitlin and Katie began speaking between them selves and Leah and Alessia did the same so I was just sat there not really knowing what to do with myself. All of a sudden I felt something hit me on the side of the head. My head shot up, as if I was a meerkat, looking around to see who had thrown what I had learnt was a screwed up napkin at me. I locked eyes Kyra who gave me a 'it was me' sort of look. I pick up the same napkin Kyra threw at me and after making sure I wasn't being watched by Leah or Alessia I threw it back hitting Kyra right on the side of her head. 'it's on' she mouthed confidently. As she threw it back towards me I was determined not to get hit by the napkin again and just before it hit me I ducked and it hit Leah on the shoulder.

Leah picks the napkin up and looks around to see who threw it, this time Kyra not making eye contact with anyone to avoid getting told off by Leah for throwing things across the canteen. After a few minutes of Leah not being able to figure out who it was I whispered 'Kyra threw the napkin at you' with a hint of laughter in my voice, Leah took aim and threw the napkin at Kyra who turned around as soon as it hit her looking at Leah knowing that she had been caught.  Leah stood up and said 'Kyra next time you wanna throw a napkin don't get the kid involved and definitely don't hit me.' Kyra just smirks at Leah's telling off and mutters 'sorry' before making eye contact with me and laughing.

Another few minutes later Jonas walks in and announces to all  the girls that training will be staring in 5 minutes so they need to go to the changing rooms and get their boots on ready to go out onto the pitch. Once everyone had their boots on we walked out to the training pitch, I walked by the side of Alessia whilst Leah was speaking with Jonas before training about how I would be at training for the next few weeks before I started school as next week was half term. Whilst the girls were training I sat on the sidelines, luckily today's session wasn't a long one as they had a game against Manchester City.

Whilst the team were doing some passing drills a ball rolled towards me and instinctively I stood up, did a few keepy-uppies with the ball and once I felt it had enough speed on it I kicked the ball whilst mid air volleying it into the goal.

The next thing I knew the whole team was stood around me cheering at how good of a goal it was, Leah picked me and sat me on her shoulders. I had never experienced this kind of excitement before, they seemed so proud of me. The team all jumped around Leah and I cheering my name.

Once Leah placed me down the goalkeeper coach Daniel came over to us and asked if I would like to take some shots against the keeper. Leah looked at me and said 'would you like to Madison?' I thought about it for a few seconds and then replied ' ummm...... sure.' Leah walked back over to the team whilst watching Daniel and I walk towards where the goalkeepers were practicing. I grabbed a ball placing it on the penalty spot and took a shot against Manu, and to my surprise it went in, I scored against Manuela Zinsburger. 'Nice shot kid' I heard Sabrina say 'My turn next' Sabrina stepped up to the goal whilst I once again placed the ball on the penalty spot. I took a deep breath and ran towards the ball kicking it with all I had but it was saved, 'let me have another go' I said excitedly wanting to score against her, she threw the ball back towards me. This time I didn't place it on the penalty spot I took one touch from the throw and volleyed it into the top corner of the goal. I once again scored against a professional goalkeeper.

After a few more shots I went and sat down on the side of the pitch as Jonas wanted to split the team in two and have them play a mini match so that he could work on the tactics for tomorrows game.

Some time later Leah and Alessia came over to me and we all walked back into the changing rooms where all the girls changed out of their boots and back into their trainers. 'What do you want to do for the rest of the day kiddo' Alessia asked. I shrugged my shoulders not really sure of what I wanted to do, I never had the opportunity to choose what I had wanted to do. Once they had bothered changed their shoes we all walked out to the car together after saying goodbye to the girls. Once we got in the car Leah said ' we have some things to do before we go home is that ok?' ' that's not a problem' I replied not wanting to be a bother or get in the way of their plans.

A/N: thank you to everyone that has voted, read and commented on this book, the support has already been crazy, I'm hoping to be able to get new parts out everyday. But as we all know life can get in the way so some days that may not be possible. Once again thank you all for the support and I hope your enjoying the story so far