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

Chapter 40 - this isn't about losing

A/N - thank you for the support recently. I actually can't believe that we're nearly at 100k reads!

September 30th

Rosie's POV:

1 missed call - Leah 🥰

Me: i'll call u in about an hour, i'm a bit busy x

Leah 🥰: okay, no hurry x

"Rosie?". I looked up from my phone screen to see Millie walking towards me with a few other girls. Pulling her in for a short hug, she took a step back and narrowed her eyebrows, "what are you doing here today? You don't have training...". I shrugged my shoulders and explained, "my coach wanted me to meet him here". She asked, "are Lucy and Keira here?". I answered, gesturing to the doors leading out of the building towards the car park, "Lucy's here. She's just talking to someone". The two other girls stood facing me with their arms crossed. One of them nudged Millie, "come on Mils, don't want to be late". Millie nodded, "yeah, we can talk later Rosie?". I nodded slowly and allowed them to walk past my shoulders, leaving me stood by myself.

Since Millie had joined the Under 18s, things had been different. I would even go as far as saying that things between us had been difficult. She trained on my off days, and I trained on her off days. Seeing her with her new friends made it clear that she had settled in completely fine. Me, on the other hand, hadn't played a game all season and was struggling to make friends with Ruby dominating everybody. Both Millie and I are at different stages in our lives. She's 17, I'm 15. She's becoming an adult and I'm still technically a child. I wanted us to last desperately, but we seemed to be drifting apart. I pushed it to the side of my brain, convincing myself that things would get better, as Lucy and Lauren walked up to me. 

Lauren pulled me in for a hug, "Mini Bronze! It feels like I haven't seen you in ages". I grinned, "I know, how are you?". She replied, "good, we need to have a catch up". An idea appeared in my mind, "can we get Dominos tomorrow?". Lucy frowned, "don't you have a game tomorrow night?". I shrugged my shoulders and rolled my eyes, "fine, what about friday?". She grinned, "i'll pick you up after training". After Lucy agreed and told Lauren to bring me back before 8, we said our goodbyes. 

As we were walking to where we had been told to meet Gary, I asked Lucy, "do you know why he's asked to see us?". She raised an eyebrow, "no, I thought you would have known". I shook my head and thought of all the possible reasons he may want to see me. Replaying all the times I had annoyed him or been late or done something wrong, Lucy placed her hand on my shoulder, "stop overthinking, I'm sure it'll be nothing". 

I knocked on his office door firmly before he shouted for us to enter. Lucy placed a hand on my back, guiding me into the room. Sitting myself down on a chair, Gary greeted Lucy with a wide smile as she shook his hand. He began, "thank you for coming down Miss Bronze". Lucy interrupted him and said awkwardly, "Lucy is fine, thanks". He continued, "right, okay Lucy. I have been in touch with the coach of England under 17s, Natalie Henderson. She told me how she had offered Rosie a place on camp in October. Unfortunately, due to the limited game time that Rosie has had, she doesn't want her to attend anymore. She asked me to let you both know in advance before she talks through it all with you at a later date. I believe that if Rosie puts the time and effort in to improve, she may have a chance next year". Every single organ in my body sank. Leaning back in the chair and folding my arms, I tried to protest, "I don't see how that's fair. It's your fault i'm not getting any game time. If you played me, not only would we have better results, but I would be going to that England camp". Gary glared at me, "The decisions I make are for the benefit of the team. If you're not happy, then you can leave. As far as I'm aware, you haven't proven that you deserve a spot in the starting 11". Rolling my eyes, I allowed Lucy to do the talking, "Rosie played every single game under her old coach, surely she's already proved herself to the club in general?". Gary sighed, "unfortunately, i'm in charge. And i'm certainly not going to give a player preferential treatment". Lucy replied, "I wasn't suggesting that, I'm just trying to understand why her old coach played her all the time and this season, she hasn't played a single minute". Gary shrugged his shoulders, "maybe her old coach had favourites". I began to protest, but he cut me off, "you should take this rejection as motivation to work harder and become a better player. Unfortunately, the very few become professional. Sometimes you have to accept that you won't be good enough. Anyway, thank you for coming in and i'll see you tomorrow Rosie". I stood up in anger and shock, I couldn't believe that he basically just said I wasn't good enough. Lucy thanked Gary for his time before joining me outside of his office.