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

Chapter 37 - together

Rosie's POV:

"Meadooo", Bramall Lane shouted at the top of their lungs as Beth Mead scored yet another goal. She is on fire. That was her sixth goal of the tournament and she had scored the opening goal of the Semi Final against Sweden. However, it was only 10 minutes before half time, meaning that there was still a minimum of 55 minutes left to go. 

Sweden had looked threatening from the beginning, forcing Mary into a very early save. As England grew into the game, we slowly gained more possession and therefore more shots towards goal. Finally Beth got the breakthrough goal, and ever since then, Sweden looked stunned, not believing how their strong start was demolished. 

I was still sitting next to Rachel's girlfriend, Millie. Even though I had a VIP seat closer to the pitch and the subs bench, I wanted to spend some time with the person who might have saved my life. At half time, we began to talk again. She asked me, "so tell me more about yourself". Never in my life had someone asked me that question before. I just presumed that no one was really interested, but it made my eyes light up to know that she actually wanted to know more about me. It's like when someone asks you if you're okay. The answer they're expecting is for you to say that you're fine. Even if you're not fine, the most obvious answer is to say that you are. Over the past few months of being around such welcoming people, I have learnt to be honest and not be afraid of accepting that i'm not okay. I know that when i'm at my lowest, I have so many trustworthy, accepting people in my life that won't judge me no matter what. Just thinking about that makes my heart feel warm. I replied, "err...well I'm Lucy's daughter. I play football for Man City as a right winger. I moved down to Manchester about 7 months ago". She nodded as I was speaking, as if she was taking all the information in. She paused for a moment and then spoke, "you play for the rival club then...you ever thought about joining United?". I laughed lightly, "no way. I think if I did, Lucy would disown me". She shrugged her shoulders, "you could always come and live with Alessia, Ella and me". I shook my head, "I'm good, but thanks for the offer". She sighed in defeat. There was no way I would go and play for Manchester United. City was my home and I hoped I would stay there forever.

As we were talking about the game amongst numerous things, I spotted one of my favourite players out of the corner of my eye. Vivianne Miedema. She was sat right behind the subs bench eating a packet of ready salted crisps. I don't care what anyone says, they are the best flavour of crisps by far. I was confused why she was there because she had only lost her quarter final against France a week ago. Maybe she just wanted to take her mind off of it by coming to the game. I nudged Millie in the side, "look over there. Isn't that Vivianne Miedema?". She looked towards where I was motioning to and nodded, "yeah it is, she probably just came to support her Arsenal teammates". I realised that she was probably right and looked back onto the pitch, awaiting the players coming out. The last thing I wanted was one of the best players in the world catching me staring at them. 

The stadium erupted into applause as both teams came running out of the tunnel ahead of the second half. I hoped that we could maintain our lead for the remaining 45. Keira sent a wave my way and the people behind me went crazy thinking it was for them.

It seemed that as soon as the whistle blew again England were attacking once more. Constantly desperate to run forward with the ball and score some more balls to secure our spot in the final. 

When Lucy headed the ball from a Beth Mead corner, it felt like it took forever for it to reach the back of the net. I launched out of my seat and began celebrating with Millie and the people around us. That's one of the great things about football - it brings everyone together. No matter your gender, race, sexuality; when watching football, it doesn't matter. People sitting near me in all of the games I have ever been to became my friends for the night. We would celebrate any goals together, discuss the match at half time together, and celebrate once more when the final whistle went. Having the Euros in England has boosted the support for womens football massively and now, the whole country are behind the girls. From ex-footballers such as David Beckham and Fara Williams to F1 drivers like Lewis Hamilton. Everyone is hoping that the lionesses bring football home to finish the job the men failed to do last year.