matilda | MV01

15 | media

++++ i never had friends again

like the friends i had back then ++++

SUMMER IN THE MANOR louis dunford

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"Wake up!" Lily shouted, her accent thick in her words. Lily was the only person on the team who wasn't Dutch, and Senna loved the sixteen year old.

Senna had an odd interest in Americans, Lily and Logan being the perfect examples. It actually started when she was younger and Denzel dragged her to one of her half brother's first Indy500. Denzel had a habit of that, ignoring his children -at least the ones with living mothers- until they accomplished something. Then he would show up and take all the credit.

Senna heard all of the accents, and met so many people. It was amazing and she learned all about their culture for the week she was there. That was where her infatuation began.

"I'm up! Why do you have to be so loud?" Romée shouted back, stumbling up from her sleeping position. Lily seemed to be the only one on the bus who was actually awake for the early morning travel. The rest of the women who were now awake could see Lily try and process what the fast talking Dutchwoman had said.

"She is complaining about your loud." Quinty told her and Lily huffed.

The majority of the team had learned English, as it was the most important language for footballers. Also quite a few of them used to play in England, including Senna herself.

"You're not so quiet yourself." The American pointed at Romée who pretended to be offended, and fake cried.

"Look what you did!" Kay-Lee complained and rested Romée's head on her shoulder.

"Girls! Quiet down, you can shout at each other when we're not in a confined space!" Nate scolded them in his calming voice. He spoke clearly and slowly though, so Lily was able to comprehend what he was saying. All the Dutch girls knew how difficult it would be for a teenager to learn Dutch, so the whole team tried their best to help.

"But then we have to wait until we're at the promo, you don't want us embarrassing the team, do you?" Senna brought up and Nate shrugged. She felt like a hollow shell of herself, but that didn't mean she would shut down. She couldn't, she had to keep running.

Senna didn't really feel like talking at the moment. She felt both physically and mentally drained from what happened on Sunday, but she coped the only way she knew how. Humor, it is what her dad had taught her. What she had grown up with to be the only acceptable thing, rather than facing problems. And thanks to that training, she was damn good at deflecting her emotions now.

"If that's what it takes, then so be it." He spoke honestly, before continuing to chat with the other staff members. Senna chuckled and winced a bit. She still had bruises all over from... yesterday. The ones on her face had significantly faded, but the rest of her was still covered.

"We're here!" Deau shouts and Lily is the first to jump up.

"No standing in the bus!" Nate scolds her and she whines before sitting back down in her chair.

The UEFA foundation somehow decided to book a five star hotel in north London for all four teams competing. Nobody knew why they thought it was a good choice, but they did. It was mostly for media purposes, since they would be doing quite a few interviews and promos while here.

The Ajax women hopped off the bus, not worrying about their stuff, which the staff were kindly bringing inside for them. They were given their room keys, and they all headed up together. Senna was sharing with Regina, Chasity, and Nadine. The Ajax team happened to be on floors 7-15 of the fifteen floor hotel, sharing the floors with the Dortmund men, as they were both considered home teams here.