Lost and Found

thirteen

Our first She Believes match was tonight against Japan. Since we weren't playing until tonight I currently had Alex, plus her Orlando teammates Ali and Ashlyn, in my room playing with Scarlett. All the girls had become obsessed with her but it was easily clear who her favourites were. Now her and Alex had began to form a relationship I knew they would always be close but apart from that, Mal always ate with us and tried to get Scarlett to say her name which Scarlett would refuse. Kelley and Emily loved to try and make Scarlett laugh and in the process, normally make everyone else laugh too. Ali and Ashlyn had turn out to be my biggest, unexpected lifelines. Whether it was Ali playing peek-a-boo while I sorted Scarlett's dinner or Ash rocking my baby to sleep while I finished a drill at training, they were always there to step and lend a hand if I needed it. 

We were spending our time talking and really let me get to know the girls but also let them get to know me, nothing too deep but enough to start to build up our relationship. Well we were doing that until we were interrupted by a knock on my door. Alex got up to get it but she quickly shouted me over as well after opening it.

I came over and saw it was Jill standing there. Now usually, unless we had a meeting, training or we had specifically asked to speak with her, Jill tended to let us be during our free time. 

"Hey Jill, what's up?" I asked. I suddenly noticed the rest of my room go quiet meaning Ash and Ali were listening in.

"Hey Addison, I just wanted to tell you first and give you some time to process everything because of what happened at the last camp but I want you in my starting eleven against Japan tonight. You've worked really hard and deserve to be starting." Jill told me.

I glanced at Alex who was still stood in the doorway next to me, beaming. 

"We're gonna try and have you on for about seventy minutes and then see how you do but any worries or anxiety issues, please come see me or Dawn and we'll help you the best we can."

"Thank you so much Jill. It's really a honour to get to play." I told her now smiling as much as Alex was.

"Oh and one more thing before I leave. I've spoken to the organisers and if you wanted to have your own mascot for tonight's match, that's perfectly alright. You might need this though." She said handing me a small package.

I unwrapped it to find the smallest USA shirt and shorts I had ever seen but they would definitely fit Scarlett. I turned the jersey over to see the word 'Mommy' printed on the back and started to tear up. I had a feeling it would take me a long time to get used to the fact that this entire team seemed to love and support Scarlett and wanted the best for us both.

Alex thanked Jill again and led me back into the room and towards a waiting Ali and Ashlyn, who just wrapped me up in their arms.

One the bus I was hoping to sit with Lindsey and speak to her about making my starting debut but she had decided to sit with Mal. For some reason my heart sunk at the thought of not being able to sit with Lindsey especially since we hadn't spent any time together since she had knocked on my door on the first night of camp and that was five days ago now. I was pretty certain we hadn't fallen out because she still smiled at me at training and she was still texting in our group chat. In all honesty I just missed her but this was a feeling I hadn't felt in a long time and I was determined not to be that clingy friend and to give her the space she deserved.

Instead I found an empty row and sat with Scarlett allowing her to distract me with her incoherent babbling. And it worked. Sitting with Scarlett put my mind at ease and allowed me to ready myself for the match rather than internally debate why I hadn't spent time with my friends.