Don't Give Up, I Won't Give Up On You

Chapter 1

The hustle and bustle at St. George's Park would be enough to unnerve anyone on their first day, but for Riley Taylor, it was just amusing. She was leaning up against the front desk, watching all the staff and coaches run around as they prepared for the Lionesses arrival. It was very clearly all hands on deck.

"I hope this doesn't make you change your mind." 

Riley's head lifted up from the paperwork she had been filling in and saw the Lionesses' manager Phil Neville standing before her.  He also wore an amusing look on his face. "I promise it's not always like this." 

Riley walked forward and shook his hand. "I don't mind it at all. It's nice to see everyone so excited." She grinned. "Thank you again for this opportunity Phil." 

"You're welcome. It's about time we got some younger people in to do social media stuff. I'm excited to see what ideas you have for us. But I'm sure you'd rather get to know the team first right? They'll be here soon."

 "Yeah." Riley replied, her mouth going  a little dry. As much as she was a professional, she couldn't deny that meeting the Lionesses made her nervous. A cross between a good, giddy nervous because she was such a big fan, but also nervous because she really wanted them to like her. She would probably be spending a lot of time with them throughout the World Cup. "I can't wait." She nervously adjusted her glasses and followed back over to the front desk.

"Why don't you get yourself checked into your hotel room and then join us later when all the girls get here? We'll be having a meeting and then you can introduce yourself to everyone." He took his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. "I think they're looking to start the meeting at 3 pm so you've got plenty of time." 

It was only just midday. Plenty of time for her to overthink things and become even more nervous. "Perfect." Riley choked out.  "Thank you Phil. I'll see you at 3." She finished up her paperwork and gave Phil one last smile. It was going to be a long three hours, she thought to herself as she grabbed her bags. And made her way over to the hotel.

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The problem with being stuck in a hotel room for three hours is that Riley got bored really easily. There really wasn't much she could do and there was no reason to get too comfy because they would be travelling to Nice in a few days anyway. By 2 pm she had had enough and grabbing her camera she decided she would go and explore the grounds and take a few photos. Maybe that would help to calm her nerves. 

Riley was definitely in luck though, it was another gorgeous day and it was very peaceful walking around the beautiful grounds. She had taken a few simple photos; birds, trees, the goalposts. Just to make sure she hadn't lost her touch. But it was then as she turned to take some shots of the few empty seats that surrounded the training pitch, she heard voices that made her jump.

"Well I thought for a minute that they'd called up Siobhan Chamberlain to the squad. Would that be you going home then CT?"  

"Ha ha, very funny Jill."

Turning around quickly Riley could see standing in front of her was Jill Scott and Carly Telford. Both were dressed in the standard England casual wear and were holding Starbucks cups. She straightened herself up and was surprised to find out that she wasn't that much shorter than Jill and she was a little bit taller than Carly. It was weird to think of it, but now she was here with them in real life, it was one of the first things she did notice. The second thing Riley noticed was that both Jill and Carly were smiling at her. And that she hadn't said a word yet. And probably looked really strange.

"So you must be the new social media person Phil was telling us about." Jill started as her and Carly began to walk closer. "Welcome to the madhouse."