Silver Linings (wlw soccer story)

Chapter One

                                                                                          Ellie's POV

Being a woman in todays world isn't easy. Being a woman within the confines of set standards and expectations in todays world of British nobility isn't easy. Being a woman that just wants to play football and live her life outside of others opinions in todays world? 

Impossible. 

My family comes from a long line of kissing royal British ass. So much ass kissing, in fact, that it earned my great grandfather the title of Earl. And apparently, once you go British royal, you never go back. 

Now that my father is the Earl, it makes me a member of that upper class by default. With a title that I never wanted. 

Lady Ellie Williams. 

I could really care less about any of the ideals and functions of being a member of high society. It's gala after gala and party after party, where the most significant thing that happens is losing (or winning) some wager on a horse. It's mind numbingly dull and I avoid it at all costs whenever possible. 

It also doesn't help that most of them are the most selfish, arrogant people I have ever met. For the women it's all about who has the best clothes, the best education, the best daughter. They trample on anyone below them just to make sure they are still in their little 'the best' competitions. Their noses are so high in the air that they can't see the ground and all the people they step on, yet the ground is all I care about. 

Watching a football glide across the grass. Hearing my cleats dig into the dirt. Seeing the white lines painted on the pitch letting me know I finally made it home. 

I don't care about the luncheons and holidays, the dresses and rich upper class men. For as long as I can remember, all I have ever wanted to do was play football. 

The obsession started when I was five. I found an old tattered football on my family's grounds in a shed that hadn't been looked after in years. Nanny Beth, the woman that had always been there for me, told me what it was and played a game of pass with me to teach me the basic rules. Later in the day she showed me a match on the telly while I kicked the ball around the lounge. From that day on, Nanny Beth and I would go to the park and play football together. 

The downside of football started when Beth bought me a new ball for my sixth birthday. When my mother watched me open it, her mouth formed into a tight lipped smile and she quickly took it from my hands. I didn't think anything of it, as I was too intrigued with all the other gifts I had received. After the party, I never saw Beth or that ball again. 

To say my mother didn't approve of me participating in sports was an understatement. She was utterly frantic when she found out I had been out in the parks playing football for almost half a year without her knowing. Not that she cared to know anything about me unless it in some way benefited her.

In her eyes, milling about in parks with a ball at my feet was no way for a lady to act. Especially the only child of an Earl. She always made it clear that I was to be presentable and domesticated so I may find a good man with a title. 

With my father producing no male heir for the title, my only purpose in my mothers eyes was to find a man and have a son so the title can stay within our family. 

"A Lady shouldn't be out in the filth kicking some ball around." 

"A Lady doesn't frolic around in the grass with common boys." 

The onslaught of expectations seemed almost never ending sometimes. 

My only saving grace was, shockingly, my father. For the most part he left me be. He was far too busy to muck about with a six year old girl. It was standard to only see him for important dinners or family holidays. Other than that, he left me in my mother's care. Which really just meant in a nanny's care.