She's a Man's World - DISCONTINUED

Meeting the Squad

The three of us sauntered out onto the pitch, finding everyone else already there and waiting for us. In sync, around 30 heads turned to face us, slapping me in the face with a bag of nerves.

"Good morning everyone", Roberto addressed them all. "I'm sure you're all aware that this lovely young lady here is Kendall Hart. Kendall, meet your team mates." Noting my nerves, he gestured to the men to make the first move. Eventually, one did.

"Phil Jagielka, club captain. Pleasure to meet you", Phil smiled warmly at me, holding out his hand for me to shake. My nerves began to vanish as I put on my friendliest smile and shook his hand. "Now come on lads, she doesn't bite!", Phil exclaimed, breaking the awkward tension as everyone followed suit and began introducing themselves.

"Sylvain Distin", "Bryan Oviedo", "Romelu Lukaku". Numerous names were called out to me as I shook the several hands held out to my face. As everyone seemed to suddenly crowd around me, I felt anxiety creeping up within me. Ross seemed to begin to notice this and eventually stepped in as he had previously.

"Woah, lads, she may be rather tall but you lot are overcrowding her", he pushed everyone back to give me a bit more space and gave me a reassuring smile which I returned.

"Who made you Mr. Protective?!" Leon Osman questioned, beginning a chain of laughter as an embarrassed Ross blushed shyly. I couldn't help laughing along with the team but wrapped my arms around Ross, saying, "Awww, it was sweet".

The laughter continued until Roberto stepped in. "If we could get started with the actual training session that'd be great", he mentioned, his tone becoming more serious. We all followed suit and began to warm up as he ordered. I was busy stretching with Ross, James McArthy and John Stones when a voice struck up a conversation with me.

"You don't have to be so nervous you know", I realised it was Gerard Deulofeu speaking to me as I turned my head. "You're not the only new person here Kendall". He flashed a warm smile in my direction which I had to admit melted me inside and flooded my cheeks with heat.

I noticed Gerard smirking at my blush, whilst Ross on the other hand was glaring at him; I couldn't understand why but tried to ignore it as Gerard continued talking. "So since you're new, I'm guessing you don't really know many of us, but maybe you could get to know me a bit better?"

Suddenly I realised that I hadn't been listening a word Gerard had said as my mind had been trying to work out what was up with Ross. "Sorry, what did you say?" I broke the eternity of silence, shaking off thoughts of Ross.

Gerard chuckled before rephrasing his question. "What I said was, would you like to go to dinner with me...tonight maybe?" I contemplated this question for a few moments, taking note of the fact that Ross looked as though he was about to kill Gerard.

"Maybe another time, yeah?" I eventually answered, noticing Gerard's face drop like a stone. I began to jog away to try and avoid an awkward situation but picked up on James bursting out laughing. "Hahaha, rejection mate!", he joked, slapping an unimpressed Gerard on the back whilst Ross and John joined in with the laughter.

I soon realised that I was next to Bryan, who was looking at me with a confused expression. Sighing, I shook my head as we continued jogging, before Roberto called us all in to start the session.