Young unexpected love

three

It's match day -1

Today started off well, me and leah woke up and went downstairs and had breakfast with the rest of the girls. I sat with my city teammates and Leah sat with everyone else. I left to go to the bathroom when sarina approached me telling me i was going to be doing the press conference with her. I nodded and she told me to meet her at the press room in 30 minutes. I nodded and walked back into the room where everyone was, i pulled Lucy aside.

"lucy, help me"

"what? are you okay?"

"no, i'm absolutely terrified. I'm doing the press conference today"
Lucy just laughed

"it's not funny luce!"

"it's hilarious. You should see your face!"

"luce i'm being serious, how do i do this?"

"just answer the questions, you will be fine"
Lucy said as she ruffled my hair

"okay, see you later then"
I said walking away. I ran to my room and fixed my hair. I put it into a high pony, i was already in my England stuff. I had shorts and the jumper on so after i fixed my hair i went to the press room and met sarina. We waited for the green light and walked in. That's when it all sunk in, i'm here at 19 years old, i'm about to play in the world cup for my country as a teenager. It's all real, so real. There's so much pressure. I snapped out of my thoughts as i sat down facing all of the press and media in-front of us.

"hello sarina, hello ella. I hope you are okay and we are just going to get started right away"
I lightly smiled

"i'm john. Sarina how hard was it naming your squad for this major tournament and what made you include ella in the squad?"

"it was tough but i think that's the same for every country. We have a lot of great players and unfortunately not everyone could be selected, some people will be disappointed but i'm confident with the squad i have selected. I believe in this bunch and i'm confident they will do well. I picked ella because of a lot of things, she has tremendous energy and her work ethic is top drawer. If she loses the ball she will chase it down and win it back. She's always making runs, her movement off the ball is brilliant, you wouldn't think she's 19 if you watched her play, i mean her numbers this season are amazing. She's a great player and i believe she will do great things for us, not only in this tournament but in the future ones as well. She's going to be a key player for us"
I smiled

"ella, how does it feel being here and being able to represent your country in the world cup at such a young age?"

"yeah, it's a great honour. It's something i dreamt of as a little kid but it's not something i expected to happen, not any time soon. It was a pleasant surprise and i'm going to be honest, i don't think it's fully sunk in yet but i'm excited and i hope i can help my country in this massive tournament"

"There is a lot of competition up top and you will need to battle with the likes of ellen white, beth england, beth mead, lauren hemp and many others for a starting place in the squad, how tough will that be?"

"it was always going to be tough but i like a challenge. The girls you mentioned are fantastic players, some of the best in the world so just being here with them is brilliant"

"what about the girls? have they welcomed you?"

"with open arms. I obviously know a few of the girls from club but all the girls have been really welcoming and they are all so nice, so yeah, they've been great"

The press conference wasn't a long one as i had training so i had to leave. It was a gym session so sarina stayed and answered a few more questions as i went into the gym. I saw lucy standing at the weights area. I saw leah doing weights and keira doing them with her as lucy watched on, i walked over and stood with lucy, she put an arm around me.