From cero to a hundred

Bus ride

After 15 years of living in Spain I was moving away from the only thing I knew, and moving over to Ireland.

You see my parents decided to get a divorce and well they agreed for my mum to take me and my brother with her back to Ireland, where her parents lived.

She moved to Spain after college, she got a job as a teacher and stayed there for over 25 years. That's where she met my dad, they hit things off and after dating for 3 years they got married. Then they had my brother, and after a year they had me, Jamie.

But for the last two years things haven't been the greatest between them, they fight constantly and never actually reach an agreement. I feel like neither of them are good at communicating but who am I to judge a relationship when I've never been in one.

But anyway there I was looking out the airplane window as we flew away from Spain and over to Ireland. I probably wasn't gonna be there for more than 2 or 3 years, since I wanted to study in England, it being my nationality.

A lot of my friends were sorry for me when I told them I was moving to Ireland but I'm actually happy about it, I'll be able to spend more time with my grandparents, get away from my shitty town and just start over again.

The only downside of it was football. The level of football from one country to the other was a massive difference and bigger if we looked at it from a girls perspective, I didn't even know if I'd have a club to play with near me.

But saying that I was actually really excited about moving, my life was getting repetitive back in Spain and I wanted to live new experiences and live more freely.

"Jamie get up!" My mum called me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

We had landed in Dublin and everybody was rushing out of the plane to get the bus they needed, me and my family being one of them.

We ran through the airport, past security and ran out to where the buses were. Luckily for us our bus hadn't left yet, so we gave our luggage to the driver before getting in and sitting down in the few places that were free.

I put my earphones on and played some mumford and sons while the bus driver drove through the roads of Ireland, as I took in the countryside.

Suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder, I turned my body towards the person beside me to see this woman, about 17 or 18 smiling at me. She had black hair, that was just below her shoulders and these grey eyes that caught my attention.

"I love mumfords and sons too." She said pointing at my earphone.

"Oh my god, I didn't know the music was so loud! I'm so sorry." I said as I lowered the volume. "I'm Jamie." I told her, putting out my hand.

"I'm Shannon." She told me, shaking my hand. "Where are you headed to?" She asked me.

"Gort, Galway, where my nan lives. What about you?"

"I'm headed to Galway city."

"You live there? or visiting or something?" I asked her.

"I'm gonna spend a year studying over here actually."

"Well welcome then." I said, making her giggle a bit.

"What about you? Why are you going to Gort?"

"Well, I suppose I'm going home. I just moved here." I told her.

"Really? How old are you?"

"I'm 14, about to turn 15, I came with my brother and my mum."

"Ah, that's nice." She said

"What about you, let me guess you're about 17 or 18." I said.

"Almost, I'm actually 16, but I mean, I'll be 17 in February, so just a few months' time. So I'll give you that one."

We sat there in silence for a few minutes, I had turned around not knowing what to ask her to keep the conversation going, but for some reason the girl intrigued me more than she actually should.

After a while of procrastinating and overthinking, I turned around to look at her once again. "You look like you play football or something." I told her, catching her attention.

"If by football you mean soccer then yes I do." She told me.

"I do too!" I said excitedly. "Who's your favorite football player?"

"Hard choice, probably Messi in mens and Louise Quin, fellow Irish in women, or maybe Magda Eriksson, she's great too, what about you?"

"I'd have to go with Messi for men and Katie McCabe as fellow Irish and then It would be a tough draw between Pernille and Vivianne."

"So you're Irish then? And you're a striker then?" She asked me after I told her my favorite players.

"Well, I'm English, Irish and Spanish and I am a striker. What about you?"

"I'm half English, half Irish and a right back." she told me

"Wanna watch Arsenal against Chelsea? I've got the FA player app so we can see it." I told her as I pulled my phone out.

"Sure, that'd be dope."

I put my phone in the middle of both of us and pressed play as both our eyes darted to my phone screen. Our shoulders brushed against each other as did our hands and thighs.

"The GMIT bus stop." I heard.

"Shit this is me." I said as I passed by her. "I'll hopefully see you around some day, if not good luck with the season." I said before I winked at her and hurried out of the bus over to my grandad who waited for me with open arms.

I jumped into his arms giving him a hug after not seeing him for a few months. "Hey Kid!" He said before giving my brother a hug.

"I've missed you so much." I said giving him another hug.

"I missed you too kiddo. How was the flight?"

"It was good. I mean same old."

"Well we'll have to get the same old dinner we've had the last few times you guys arrived. Some supermacs!" He said excitedly.

"You're the best!" I said as I gave him a hug.

The drive back to where I would be living for the next few years was quiet, my brother was asleep while my mum and grandad chatted about how things would be now that we had moved over while I just listened to a song on my phone, my mind going back to the girl on the bus.

I never got her number or instagram, and now I would have no way of knowing how she gets on this season. She really did captivate me for some reason. Not sure if it was her looks, her voice, or how she acted. But I didn't mind it, I just wished I had gotten a few seconds more with her, just to get her contact.

I snapped out of my thoughts as we pulled into my grandparents driveway. Before the car even stopped I was already rushing over to give my nan a hug.

She opened the door as I came out of the car with a big smile on her face, making me smile, I ran into her arms, nudging my face into her collarbone with smelt like her perfume.

"I missed you." I said gently, making her put her fingers through my hair.

"So did I baby, so did I." She said before letting go and giving my brother a hug.

We ordered food and sat down to eat it while we caught up on everything that had been happening the last few weeks.

"I made a friend from galway on the bus back, she's 16 and also plays football. But I didn't get her number or instagram which sucked." I said.

"Really? Well maybe you two will play against each other at some point, or together, you never know." My grandad said patting my head.

As the night went on I could feel my eyes slowly closing, so I decided to head upstairs to bed and call it a day. I could get up early tomorrow and go for a run before doing some weight exercises in my back garden. Just to start getting my fitness back.

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