Space

55

Scarlett's POV

"Which seat am I in?" I question as I walk onto the Stick to Football set.

Before Jasmine, Leah, and I head over to America to commentate the world cup, I'm doing a podcast thing for a YouTube channel called The Overlap.

The podcast is called Stick to Football and it consists of Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Jill Scott, Ian Wright, and Roy Keane.

I'm apprehensive about how this is going because Gary Neville is best mates with my sperm donor David Beckham, Roy Keane played with my sperm donor at Man United, and Jamie Carragher played with my deadbeat father with England.

I know Ian wright will be sort of protective of me because I play for arsenal and we've talked a few times, but he did play with David for England.

Even though Jill coaches for England I don't think I've said two words to her since I've joined the team so I don't know how she'll react.

"Scar you're between Jill and Roy." Ian says.

"Alright." I say as I sit in that seat then I set my bag on the floor. "Wrighty I brought something that you told me you always wanted to see."

"You didn't." Ian says with a smile.

"You want me to pull it out now or wait for the podcast to start?" I question.

"Right." Gary says which he always says to start the podcast.

After Gary says right he intros the podcast then he introduces me.

"...and joining us today is a striker who's arguably the best in the world at the moment in the women's game, a treble winner, and an astronaut." Gary says. "Scarlett thank you for joining us."

"Course." I say.

"There ain't no arguing about it." Ian says. "She is the best in the game."

"We'll get into that later." Gary says with a smile.

"Alright." Ian says.

"Now what is this thing that you brought to show Wrighty?" Gary asks then I grab my bag and put it on the table.

Once my bag is on the table I unzip then I take out the helmet I wore in space and put it on the table.

"Wow." Everyone says.

"Don't worry." I say "it's been disinfected."

"So you wore this in space?" Gary asks.

"I did." I say with a smile.

"Can I?" Ian asks.

"Course." I say then Ian grabs my helmet and takes a closer look.

"This is so cool." Ian says.

"How did you get to go to space?" Gary asks.

"NASA wanted to get more attention on them so they ran a contest with influencers and I won the contest so I got to go to space." I say. "It took two years of intense training, but I did it."

"What all did you do up in space?"

"I did weekly vlogs which documented my time on the international space station and showcased what astronauts do." I say.

"Didn't you do space walks?" Jill asks.

"I did two." I say with a smile. "The first one lasted for 6 hours and 56 minutes and the second one lasted 5 hours and 20 minutes."

"What'd you do on the spacewalks?" Roy asks asks.

"The first one was to install a Ka band antenna on Columbus in preparation for Bartolomeo's activation, replace a pin on the Quest Joint Airlock, and remove a grapple fixture on the P4 Truss for the beginning of a series of experimental solar array wing upgrades." I say. "And on the second spacewalk we replaced the batteries on the Integrated Truss Structure as well as install and upgrade several cameras on the starboard truss, the Destiny laboratory, and the Kibo robotic arm."

"Did you help on that stuff?" Ian asks.

"Not really." I say. "I just filmed for my YouTube channel, helped hold stuff, and did some easy work that the astronauts said I could do."

"So you're one of how many people to have gone to space?" Jamie asks.

"I think it's less than 700 people ever." I say.

"Wow." Jamie says as my helmet is passed back too me.

Once I have my helmet back we talk a little bit more about my time in space and the training then we move on to the

"So." Gary says. "You don't like my best mate."

"I do not." I say.

"How do you really feel about him?"

"I think he's a deadbeat cunt who has never tried to speak to me in the first 26 years of my life and only tried to talk to me when I joined Arsenal and started playing professionally." I say. "The only thing he did is send my Mommy 50 thousand pounds every year on my birthday, but we never touched that money and now it's being used for my charity."

"Has he ever tried to meet you?" Roy asks.

"He got someone that works for him to call ask to meet me, but other than that no." I say.

"You didn't want to meet him?" Roy asks.

"I want him to be a fucking man and ask to meet me himself." I say. "Not use some random person to get in contact me."

"What's the timeline for when he and Victoria met your mom?"

"They met my Mommy on their honeymoon." I say.

"And they just left her to fend for herself?" Jill questions.

"Yep." I say. "The only time they contacted my mommy was to tell her they wired 50 thousand to her account."

"That's messed up." Jill says.

"Mhmm." I say.

"Do you want to meet him?" Gary asks.

"I honestly don't care." I say. "He hasn't been around for the first 26 years of my life so nothing in my life will change if I ever meet him."

"Do you think him not being in your life has affected your career?"

"Not in the slightest." I say. "I only ever think about it when someone brings it up."

We talk a little bit more about my father then we move on and briefly talk about Jasmine, Leah, and I's relationship.

Eventually we land on the topic of Jasmine, Leah, and I being commentators for the world cup.

"Did you three set out to be commentators at the world cup or?" Ian asks.

"Jasmine's been doing it for years and Leah and I just wanted to see if we could do it." I say. "People seemed to like us commentating together so we just kept at it when we had free time and eventually we landed the CBS job.

"Who offered you spots to commentate?" Gary asks.

"We had offers from CBS in America, the Seven Network in Australia, RTÉ in Ireland, Sky Open in New Zealand, SABC in South Africa, and with the BBC here in the UK." I say. "CBS was the best offer so we took it."

"Do you know your schedule?"

"Yeah we're doing England and the US' group games then after that it's just whoever is on the East coast and close to us." I say.

"How do you think England will do?"

"I think they'll do very well, but I am nervous about what would happen if Harry Kane goes down." I say. "Pep hasn't really used any other striker since he's been the coach so that's worrying, but besides that I think they have a great chance."

We talk a little bit more about the world cup then we move on to my season for Arsenal.

"Did I read right that you scored 68 goals this past season for Arsenal?" Ian asks.

"Yeah." I say with a smile.

"68?" Jamie questions.

"Mhmm." I say. "46 in the league, 4 in the FA Cup, and 18 in the Champions League"

"Fucking hell." Gary says.

"That's why I said there's no arguing." Ian says. "Scarlett is the best in the world."

"Do you think you're the best in the world?" Roy asks.

"Yeah." I say. "Yeah I do."