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

Chapter 22 - just hold me

Keira's POV:

Thursday 17th February - England v Canada 

The past week had flown by. Training had been very intense to help us to be prepared for today's game. The Arnold Clark Cup would officially begin with England v Canda and it would come to a conclusion with England v Germany on the 23rd of February. It is the first real test that we have come up against during Sarina's management. Everyone was so focused on the task in hand and wanted to prove themselves worthy of a place in the starting 11 for the Euros this summer.

Much to Lucy's unhappiness, Rosie had managed to get away with doing the bare minimum amount of work. All of our teamates wanted her to join in all of our training sessions which meant that she had no time at all to be even thinking about work. Most schools in England would be breaking up for February half-term tomorrow anyway so I personally didn't see why Lucy was so focused on Rosie doing work. Even for me, trying to concentrate on anything else at camp is near impossible with the constant buzz about the place. I can't even being to imagine how Rosie is supposed to sit in a hotel room and focus on anything other than football while the rest of us are off enjoying the sport we love every day. Luckily, some of the players had come to her rescue and dragged her onto the pitches. Lucy just put her hands on her hips, shook her head and frowned. However, she was too busy thinking about the looming competition to argue. I knew that by the end, win or lose, she would definitely have something to say about it.

Rosie's POV:

Due to Steph not taking part in the competition because of her injury, she had offered to take me round Middlesbrough for a walk and something to eat before the game began. We flew up from St George's Park and I sat in between of Ella Toone and Alessia Russo on the flight. I am trying to sit next to everyone in the team by the time the Euros start to get to know them all better. Most of Lucy and Keira's close friends, such as Leah and Jordan, have been around me the majority of the time and I already know lots about them so I just wanted to get to know the rest of the team, including the ones I have only spoken to a few times. On one bus ride, I even sat next to Sarina. Fair enough it was a dare from Georgia but she actually turned out to be a very interesting and entertaining bus partner. It was only my second time on an aeroplane in my entire life and I was still cautious of it but Ella made me relax when she said, "you're more likely to die on the drive to the airport than in the air". 

Lucy sat next to Keira, obviously, and it felt like I had barely had any time with her since the week had begun. I understood that she was busy with football but it felt like I didn't really exist at the moment. The only time we spoke was when she came in the room in the morning to wake me up and give me her laptop to do my schoolwork on. Even at meal times, both of us just seemed to sit on different tables to eachother. In the evening, I would often go round to Rach and Millie's room for a bit, while her and Keira relaxed in their room. By the time I would arrive back at my room, they had already turned off their light and had gone to sleep. I have no idea what I would have done if I didn't have any friends on camp. Hopefully things would go back to normal after the competition. 

When we arrived at the stadium on the coach, Steph and I began the short walk into the town. Both of us had been before, due to our north-eastern origins so we knew roughly where we were going. It was just like any normal town centre - lots of concrete buildings and shops. 

We were walking down the highstreet when I spotted an oddly recognisable couple looking in Poundland's windows. Stopping in my tracks, I could see the grey  tracksuit the man had on and the bleached blonde hair on the woman. It made my stomach drop. Trying to convince myself that I didn't recognise them, I caught Steph up who didn't seem to notice that I had stopped walking. She said, "how do you feel about going somewhere nice for dinner?". Barely comprehending what she was saying, I just nodded my head as I tried to listen into the familiar couple's conversation happening just a few metres away from us. Straining my ears, I picked up bits and pieces, "I need you to buy me some fake nails for tonight...Gary are you listening?". The man responded, "what babe?". That was all I needed. I didn't even need the confirmation of their faces to know that they were indeed my abusive, ex-foster parents. Pulling Steph into the closest shop to us, she spoke, "or we could just get a Greggs?". It was only then that I noticed that we were standing in the middle of Greggs while the staff behind the counter just eyed us uncomfortably. I replied, trying to make something up on the spot, "errr...yeh. It's quick and easy I guess so we'll be back in plenty time".