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AUSSIE STAR TURNS ARSENAL STAR
HALLIE KING SPOTTED IN TRAINING WITH HER NEW TEAMMATES, MINGLING AMONG EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS
•°. *࿐ LONDON, ENGLAND 📍
HALLIE. i'm startled from the relaxing realm of sleep by an obnoxious banging on my front door, i groan and attempt to open my eyes - the light flooding my senses and momentarily blinding me as i swing my legs over the side of the bed. i pad downstairs, yawning and half asleep, shouting "i'm coming, i'm coming!" as i advance towards my front door.
i swing it open with a "what!"
"good morning, sunshine!" im greeted by an overly-cheery aussie forcing her way past me and into my house, hands full with two cups of coffee and her car keys.
"jesus christ, steph!" i complain, shutting the door with a thud.
"get over it, have a coffee," she smiles sickly at me, thrusting a coffee towards me.
"de-"
"decaf."
"no-"
"no cream."
"alle-"
"allergy mentioned." she sings, paying me no mind as she moves around my kitchen.
"oh you're good," i whisper, bringing the coffee to my lips and allowing it to lay across my tongue. i sigh contently as it seeps down my throat, unfazed as steph begins to unload my dishwasher and put away my plates. i move to sit on the counter beside her, legs swinging over the side like a happy child. "steph, my love," i begin "may i ask why you are in my house at," i pause to look at my phone "8:37 in the morning?"
she laughs "because, i wanted to bring my bestie coffee!"
"im sensing an alterer motive," i speak suspiciously, looking her up and down with a straight face.
steph turns around, a playful smile on her face, leaning against the countertop beside me "and also, i wanted to talk about something.. i have news," she sipped her own coffee before placing it back down on the counter, her gaze flickering from the dishwasher back to me.
i raise an eyebrow, taking another sip of my own and letting it rest between my hands. "i'm all ears, but couldn't this have waited till after 10?" i tease.
she tuts and shuts the dishwasher, moving to stand opposite me with her back against the other end of the counter mirroring the stance, a sly smirk playing at the corners of her lips. "oh come on, you love our morning coffee chats, and besides, this is important."
i roll my eyes, hiding a smile behind my coffee cup. "oh really? And what is this so-called important thing that couldn't wait till a reasonable hour?"
her smile widens as she sees my attempt to restrain my own. "come on, don't give me that look. you know the best time to discuss important matters is when you're half-asleep and fueled by caffeine."
i can't help but chuckle at her response. "you're such a morning person, it's sickening."
now it's steph's turn to roll her eyes at my very cheery morning attitude, brushing off my comment and bringing her coffee to her lips for a sip. she flinches slightly at the temperature and i laugh, very sympathetically. she takes a second to recompose and gather back the meaning of her visit.
"okay, serious now, i have news!" she sing-songs
i raise my eyebrows intrigued "you've said... expand,"
"apparently," she puts in quote marks with her fingers, "we have a visitor in training today."
"visitor?"
"mhm, i don't know who or what they are, all i know is they're going to be there."
"we'll that's just brilliant," i murmur, the thought of another set of eyes on me making my stomach contort and twist with anxiety.
"you'll be fine my little hallipops," she teases, brushing her hand across the skin of my knee condescendingly - i push her off and make my way across the room towards the stairs, my middle finger up at her.
"make yourself at home, like usual, im going to get dressed." i shout as i climb the stairs, humoured by the sound of her already plopping onto my sofa and turning on the tv.
•°.
the beginning of training seems to fly by. we spend a little time on drills, working in pairs and groups to perfect the details. i try to focus on what i'm doing, working extra hard at the thought of an extra set of eyes watching my every move.
we finish on a quick round of penalties, after much insisting from the girls, who were all tired from running around the pitch. manu stands tall and wide on goal, bouncing her weight around on her feet. i stand a few yards away, ball placed onto the grass neatly and expectant of my foot.
jonas blows his whistle and i take a deep breath, eyes flicking between the ball ahead of me and manu. i step back, three steps. my knee raises along with my right arm. it's only training, only practice. no real need for any competition or achievement, but the thought of impressing the line of women who stand behind me fuels the fire in the pit of my stomach.
i pause for a beat, and then move forward towards the ball. it hits the inside of my foot perfectly, and the contact sends it up off the grass and hurling towards the goal. it spins in the air, curving to the left and finally slipping past manu and into the top left hand corner. i smile at her sweetly as she collects herself from the ground, blowing me a small kiss of forgiveness.
the sound of cheering behind me causes me to turn, faced now with a sea of red training jerseys hurling towards me. without thinking i run, laughter echoing among us as they all reach and grab for me - shouting words and sounds of encouragement. they all bound towards me, trapped between them and the small area of seating, they catch me. falling on top of me with grunts and belly laughs.
we lie there for a moment, my face now hot and red from not only training but the reaction of my new friends. they start to get up, each of us pushing and shoving as steph holds out her hand to help me up.
"keep making shots like that, the league is ours mate!" she says lowly, kissing me on the side of the head.
we loiter in the group of a second, patting each other on the back and the girls commenting on my shot. as we speak i hear a clap from beyond us, each head in front of me spinning to eye the source of the sound before stepping out of the way. i couldn't make it up - it was like something out of a shit movie.
one by one, the bodies in front of me moved aside until my view of the pitch ahead of me was clear. a few feet away, and moving closer was leah. her hands meeting in slow claps, training kit clinging to all the right places of her body. her hair pulled back messily into a loose ponytail at the back of her head. it's hard to ignore the heat that spreads through my stomach as she moves towards me, smile spread across her face and eyes locked on me.
"the star girl in action," she hollers when she gets closer,
"you haven't seen anything yet, williamson!" i shout back, face mirroring hers.
