Uncertain Love

chapter 1

Placing both feet on the gravel car park floor behind her, she climbed out the back of the hire car which had made the half an hour trip, taking in the building in front of her. 

She stood in front of the large London Colney training grounds. It was a grand building, the car park itself bigger than the entirety of her old training grounds, taking in the extremity of the building in front of her. She quickly found her backpack shoved into her hands, allowing it to rest over both shoulders without tearing her eyes away from the grounds in front of her. 

It was a modern building. Most of its sides were covered in windows, a couple of Arsenal badges plastered here and there whilst maintaining it's modern theming. The car park was practically empty, but the cars that were already there put her hire taxi to shame. There were BMW's, Tesla's, even a Mercedes, which she had never seen in real life before. 

A shuffling noise came from the distance, breaking her attention from the cars. Somebody begun to approach her, and her supporting adult who was stood a small distance from her. It was a young woman, who was small, but smiley. She wore the Arsenal crest proudly on the collar of her shirt. It didn't take much for her to work out who she was.

"You must be our new signing! I'm Emma, it's lovely to meet you!"

Her warm smile didn't faulter as she introduced herself, holding her hand out with an expectancy on her face.

She didn't take the hand though, carefully avoiding it to instead return the warm smile. She was still trying to take everything in.

Everything felt... out of place? 

Here she was, a recently turned 16 year old from tiny old Stoke, stood surrounded by high end cars and modern buildings encrusted with Arsenal. There was nothing about her that fit in. Her patched hoodie, that was slightly tight on her contrasted Emma's branded Adidas Arsenal shirt, and her converse which had holes in the toes didn't fit the ground either. Either way, there was nothing she could do to change it, taking a deep breath to look back to Emma.

The staff member hadn't taken notice to her anxiety, still chatting away about Arsenal. She seemed to have moved onto explaining the grounds they were in, what it was usually like for them there.

She thought it was best to pay attention, following in Emma's footsteps as she started to guide them through to the front entrance.

"Obviously it's usually busier than this. Most of our girls are away on international camp at the moment, so it's quieter than is usually would be."

Nodding her head, she continued to try and take everything in. 

The corridors were lined with red and white, a sense of home within the air. Emma spoke with such a confidence about it all that it was hard to even faulter from the heart of Arsenal for a moment. Both her words and environment were full of pride and esteem, holding the concept of Arsenal football club in such a high regard that she begun to question her own integrity.

Though she wouldn't necessarily deem herself a fan of any other club, such a strong portrayal of Arsenal had her wondering whether her own passion for the club really did stem as deep as the grounds seemed to hold itself. Arsenal was everywhere. It took a lot to remind herself that she did, indeed, grow up exploring the realms of Islington and Highbury every Sunday, having grown accustomed to the usual 3 hour trip.

Even that wasn't enough for her to convince herself fully of Arsenal. 

"I read somewhere that you are a lifelong fan of Arsenal?" Emma's words broke her train of thought.

The staff member was simply trying to make conversation. Getting to know her, she supposes, considering she would be spending a long duration of time with her.