𝙄𝙣 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙌𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩 𝙈𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 - 𝘊𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘯 𝘍𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘥

𝙏𝙬𝙤. 𝘋𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳

I dribble the ball away from Leah, who tries getting it off me. I pass the ball over Kim's head to Caitlin, who doesn't hesitate to shoot.

"Nice pass, Elena!" Caitlin calls after me and I thank her. I'd been at Arsenal for nearly 2 weeks bow. My first game with Arsenal was on sunday, 3 days away from now, and I was excited, but also nervous. Jonas had shown an interest on putting me in the starting 11, but I wasn't actually expecting since I was new.

Caitlin had slowly stopped being shy and welcomed me with a slight push from Lia, who I'd learnt was her girlfriend. I'd felt a bit weird when I'd found out they were dating, but I wasn't sure why. Maybe because I didn't expect that them two would be together, but it was quiet obvious by how they'd never be too far from one another during training.

"Okay, to finish the day off, I'm going to put you into partners for passing drills." Jonas tells us and we nod. "Katie with Steph, Leah with Viv, Elena," I hear my name and look up, "with Caitlin."

I turn and look at the brunette australian and she gives me a smile as we find a space and grab a ball to begin passing to one another.

"So, you're first 2 weeks at Arsenal, how have they been?" Caitlin asks me with a smile that warms me up.

"It's been good, everyone here is so welcoming." I say while I look around at all the girls laughing with one another.

"Yeah, they are." Caitlin smiles back at me.

"Is it weird that I still kinda miss Houston?" I ask her in a quiet tone.

"No, not at all. You were there for years, it's normal to miss it." Caitlin reassures me. "Hey, Lia and I are hosting a dinner for the team tomorrow and a few of the Matilda girls that are close by, wanna come over?"

"Steph will be there, right?" I ask, already knowing she will be since she's both a Matilda and in the team.

"Yeah." Caitlin nods.

"I'll be there then."

"Steph?" I knock on the girl's door and she hums to let me in. "Exactly which Matilda girls will be at this dinner?"

"Oh, just me, Caitlin, Sam from Chelsea and Hayley from Everton since they're playing Chelsea on saturday and are here a bit early." Steph tells me.

"Can you introduce me to Sam and Hayley?" I ask.

"Of course, don't worry about it."

"Thanks."

'That's one weight of my shoulders' I think to myself.

Steph and I arrived to the dinner in only 15 minutes since Caitlin and Lia's apartment wasn't far from ours.

"Steph, I'm nervous." I admit. I'd grown really close in the 2 weeks I'd spent staying with her. I felt as though I could share my feelings with her and not feel like an absolute fool for doing so.

"It's alright, don't worry." She reaches out and takes my hand on here as she leads me inside. "You've already hung out with the team a few times and for Sam and Hayley, both of them are welcoming and I'll be beside you while you talk to them. I did say I would introduce you."

"Thanks." I smile up at her.

Steph reaches up and knocks on the apartment door infront of us. Lia opens the door with a bright smile, welcoming us in.

Most of the girls are already here. I see that Leah, Katie and Beth are sitting on the sofa, flicking through channels on the TV while talking to one another. Some of the other girls are stood around the apartment talking. I don't see any new faces so, I take it that Sam and Hayley haven't arrived yet. My eyes wonder to the dining table where I see Caitlin setting up the table.