Number on me

3. Scorpius

"Come in." A voice said. Taking another deep breath, as she felt herself getting more and more nervous, Maxine pushed her way into the office. She used her left hand, subconsciously still protecting the wrist that got so badly injured. She looked around. The first thing that catched her eye was the number of photos. Team portraits, won trophies, and countless shots from trainings. She now notices other things; an arsenal flag, an England flag, am arsenal bean bag, and a fresh bouquet of flowers. She smiles at the last item, instantly reminded of her mom, who always makes sure to have fresh flowers on the table. Her eyes fall on her new manager. A manager, she now realised has said something to her.

"Sorry, could you repeat that?" Maxine quickly asks.

"No worries, I appreciate you taking it all in. I simply wanted to welcome you officially. Did you get in alright?"

"It helped that I had been here before, to sign the contract," Maxine smiled.

"Well I'm excited to see you again, let's get started!"

They spent the next 30 minutes to go over everything Max needs to know. Just as they decided that Max would join the girls for training at 13:00, Maxine's stomach decides it's his time to speak now.

"Have you eaten breakfast yet?" Jonas laughs.

After Max shakes her head in disagreement, Jonas looks at his watch.

"The girls are starting a late breakfast right about now, let's get you over there."

Maxine digs her nails into her palms as they walk through the hallways. She wasn't prepared to meat the team, she thought she had hours to pull herself together. Deciding she refuses to get riled up over a silly thing like a change of schedule, she decides to break the silence.

"Do they know I'm coming?"

"They know their new teammate will arrive today, I suppose you told your fellow Dutchies about your arrival?"

To Jonas' surprise, Maxine denies this statement, using nothing but silence.

"Well", Jonas laughs again, "then it is a good thing they will find out before we officially announce your singing at noon!"

As they near the canteen, Max sees Viv through the window. She didn't know Viv well. She had done her ACL before Max got moved up from the national youth squads. She had met her, ofcourse. But, other then a few friendly words of advice, she and the WSL top goal scorer did not know each other.
Vic Pelova, seated next to Viv, was a different story.

When joining the senior squad for the first time, Vic was the first person to talk to her. When she joined the squad for the second time, Vic was the first person she got in trouble with, as they got caught planning one of their pranks.
Smiling at the memory, she entered the canteen.

She wasn't surprised when Vic's voice was the first she heard, before Jonas could even open his mouth.

"Em?! What are you doing here?"

Jonas quickly raises his voice, as he uses his hand to tell Vic, who jumped up, to sit back down.

"Girls, I would like you all to meet your newest teammate, Maxine van de Berg. I expect you all to give her an warm arsenal welcome."

He turned around and walked away, leaving Maxine to fend for herself. Luckily for her, it takes two seconds before Vic indulges her in a loving hug.

"Waarom heb je niet gezegd dat je naar Arsenal zou komen?"
"Why didn't you tell me you were joining Arsenal?"
 
Maxine didn't get to answer the question. As she was interrupted. She wouldn't have had a good answer anyway.

"How about you let the new one introduce herself?" A voice that Max recognised to be Beth Meads said.

"Yeah yeah alright", Vic nodded.

After a slight hesitation Maxine began.

"Hi everyone, my name is Maxine van de Berg. I'm 18 years old and I am from the Netherlands."

Like always, Max didn't share that much about her self. She didn't consciously decide to not talk about her old club, her family, or her injury. Her default simply was to tell the bare minimum.

The team all said hello, before turning back to their conversations. Max was thankful that the team didn't make a huge fuss about her arrival, but was also left without a clue what to do.

Digging her fingernails into her palm again, she looked around the room. Her eyes met those of Vivianne Miedema, who, unbeknownst to Max, got up and walked over. She gave Max a hug and whispered in her ear.

"Leuk dat je er bent Maxie, hoe is het met je arm?"
"Great to have you here Maxie, how is your arm?"

"Beter. Ik mag over een paar weken weer wedstrijden spelen."
"It's getting better, I'll be playing games in a few weeks!"

Viv let go of Max and looked down on her, smiling.

"Goedzo meissie, kom je bij ons aan tafel?"
"Great kiddo, want to sit at our table?"

Maxine nodded a bit shyly and followed Viv over.

The first person to start a conversation with Max was her new vice captain, Leah Williamson. After congratulating Max on her fine performance at the World Cup- to which Maxine grimaced, as she disagreed- she too, asked about her arm.

"It's fine, truly. In one week they will take out all the metal, and then I can start playing actual football again, and not just all the individual practices."

"Your injury looked really painful, but I didn't know it was that bad. I hope everything goes well, I think you'll be an asset to our team."

After that kindhearted complement the conversation moved on. Maxine stayed behind, her mind lingering on that dreadful injury.

After the incident, Maxine downplayed the severity of her injury, and the pain that came alongside it. She didn't need her family, and now new teammates, to know that her arm still hurt. She was hard on herself, and she blamed her injury on herself. She was the one that fell, she would suffer the consequences in silence.

"Maxine? Are you there?"

Maxine's head snaps to her left where she sees Lotte Wubben-Moy

"Are you coming? Training is starting soon."