You can't be my mum (a Lucy Bronze fanfic) - Book 1

Chapter 16 - just a friend

Keira's POV
I walked down the path I have walked so many times to get to the 3G training pitches. As I drew closer, I could see about 20 girls all in blue and white Man City training kit, one of them was Rosie.

It had been about 2 weeks since Rosie had joined the U16s, and she absolutely loved it. She had training most nights, like me and Lucy did so there was never a problem with travel arrangements. Everything was going perfectly. Until Lucy received a call from her lawyer denying her request to have full custody over Rosie. This came as a complete shock as we had always expected her foster parents to just give her up without a fight. From the few stories that Rosie had told us, they didn't deserve to be parents in the first place. Lucy hadn't told Rosie any of this though. We had spent countless nights arguing over it. I believed that Rosie deserved to know and if she found out Lucy had kept that from her, it could cause a complete meltdown. Lucy argued that if she told her, it would bring back unnecessary pain and memories that she was trying to forget about. Despite not agreeing with her, I respected her wishes to not tell Rosie. The only part of Lucy's argument that I was in complete agreement with was that we both thought Rosie looked happier now that she has joined Man City. I could see why Lucy wouldn't want to take that happiness away from her.

As I reached the gates to the pitch, I greeted a few of the girls and their parents. I knew most of them from seeing them around the academy. Sometimes our sessions would overlap and we would often be together in the gym, the pool or the pitch. This helped calm Lucy a lot, seeing that Rosie was perfectly alright throughout the day. Lucy has also decided that sending Rosie to school wasn't the best thing to do yet so she found an online tutor who did a few hours every day with her. This way, Lucy knew she was safe at home and it also gave Rosie a lot more time to practice on her football.

After having a quick conversation with her coach, I found someone giving Rosie a piggy back whilst running around the field. I could hear them laughing and having fun so decided not to interrupt them. Lucy had to rush off for another meeting with her lawyer after training so she wouldn't be done for at least an hour. I didn't want to get back home too early or Rosie would probably ask questions. For the minute, she was just enjoying me picking her up from training for a change. Eventually Rosie and the unknown girl walked towards me, still laughing and smiling. This made me smile, knowing someone was still able to make Rosie that happy. As they came closer, Rosie said, "sorry, I only just saw you. I would have come over sooner". I reassured her that I didn't mind waiting and then she introduced me to her friend, "Keira, this is Millie. Millie this is Keira, Lucy's girlfriend". I smiled at her and said, "nice to meet you. How was training?". They both replied, "good" and then Millie said, " we have a match against Chelsea next Saturday". It was only Thursday so there was still a week and a bit until then.

Me, Millie and Rosie walked up to the car park together, them walking slightly in front of me. When we got to a familiar white BMW, they gave eachother a hug and said goodbye. As Millie got in the passenger side, I looked across to the driver's side and saw one of the Man City instructor, Joanne. I walked over to the window and exclaimed light-heartedly, "I didn't know you had a daughter!" She laughed and said, "yep, had her for a whole 16 years now". Still shocked, I replied, "you kept that quiet didn't you?". She shrugged her shoulders and said back, "so did Lucy". I laughed lightly at her, said goodbye and followed Rosie who had already made her way to our car.

Rosie's POV:
"Did you know that her mum's Joanne?" Keira asked me whilst getting into the car. I shot her a confused look and asked, "who's Joanne..." It took me a while to remember "ohh..is she that really nice instructor who gives you free sweets when you see her". It was now Keira's turn to be confused, "you get sweets? All I get is confusing exercise and meal plans" she grumbled.