Baby of the team - WSL

part 24

Tw sh, slight ed

The rest of the days before the match went by relatively smoothly. Tally didn't lash out or find herself cutting her arms up again. She had almost done it one night when she woke up from a horrible nightmare but she hadn't. She had done what she promised to do and went and got into Leah's bed and they talked it through. she had noticed the girls all watching her cautiously whenever she was with the ones who knew about her problems. it slightly frustrated her at times but she knew it was because they cared and wanted her to ok.

26th september

Tally woke up and sighed it was the day of the match but she felt anything but ready. She knew she just knew that she was about to get her period. She trudged to the bathroom and low and behold her period made an appearance. Luckily, it hadn't started enough to leak onto her clothes, but it had started enough to be a nuisance. she felt irritated that it had started match day of all days. she guessed she had synced up with someone on the team which was just great.

She hated talking about her period, her mum was a traditional woman and believed that they shouldn't be talked about at all and it had been her brother that explained the extent of what was happened at 13 to her despite already knowing the basics as being the smallest and least developed of the 3 sisters. To be honest, even now she wasn't really developed she was a cup at best and she looked like a boy but she didn't mind that, she looked like her brother and that was a comforting thing.

The cramps had started to kick in, and she was annoyed at herself for this happening. She had always had monster cramps and took as many painkillers as she could to try and get them to stop. did it really work no but it made her feel like she was trying to help herself which was something? She began to get ready as she had training in 20 minutes and although they were at camp and she was in a room with leah she didn't intend for leah to find out about the predicament even if she got them as well that didn't mean she wanted to talk about it with her.

She shoved a tampon in, grimacing at the unpleasant feeling and left the bathroom after brushing her teeth and washing her hands and face. She made sure her arms were okay and then She went to her wardrobe and got out the arsenal kit that she was supposed to wear on the coach and put it on glad that the shorts were navy blue, unlike the white match shorts they had. She was nervous about the Chelsea game later as she wasn't feeling well. At least it was an away game, so she had black shorts. That's just what she kept telling herself. She smiled at her phone and saw good luck messages from esme and her family.

Leah tried to convince her too eat but she wasn't going to give in ans leah gave up after getting her to have a smal bowl of berries knowing she would eat before the match later. She would make sure of it.

The 30-minute coach journey was quite relaxed. She was sat next to Jordan with Jen and Steph opposite her and on the set of 4 next to them were beth, viv, leah and Katie. They all knew that this was a big match for all of them and was particularly nerve-racking for the young teen so tried to make it a nice and chilled atmosphere so she wasn't too stressed. Tally was sitting next to the window so was leaning up against that with her feet in jordans lap with her big thick man city blanket. Jonas originally had had some issues with it but leah had made it clear that it was essential for the girl to be able to wind down and relax so he allowed it and it had now become a running joke.

She also had a Brighton hoodie on again with her surname and the number 14 on it, the same number that she had picked when she sighed. It was her brother's old hoodie from when he was at bhfc academy, he had just joined the 1st team when he died so not many people knew of him as he hadn't made very many appearances. That made it a bit easier for her. She loved that hoodie, she loved all of his hoodies and she had all of them. Jen laughed when she saw tally take her coat off and saw the Brighton hoodie. Tally just shrugged giggling slightly.

About 5 minutes into the coach she was scrolling through her camera roll looking for a particular picture of her baby sister Rosie. She had been talking to her every day but it didn't make it any easier. She came across an adorable picture of her and a slightly unfortunate picture of esme. She hugged Jordan giggling and showed it to her. Jordan laughed "aww you were so tiny here what were you 8?" She said. Jordan then showed the picture to Jen and Steph who were craning their heads to see. "Yeah I really was and no I think I was 11 there cos ez would have been 16ish cos of the horrible hair cut haha!" Tally said laughing. Jordan looked surprised. "Wow, you really are the teeny tiniest!" She chuckled. She liked not being the smallest anymore and loved that the girl was shorter than her, meaning she could do stuff like have her sit on her lap and pick her up if she was sleeping. To be honest she could probably do that if she was taller too she weighed almost a scarily low weight.

They just continued scrolling through tallys camera roll for a while before they arrived. As they walked into the stadium daan was next to tally with her arm around her shoulders. "How are you kid!" She asked sounding concerned. She was the only one who knew about her sister's death and that her baby sister was having massive surgery in detail. As Amanda had managed to make the article go away quickly she had managed to keep it away from the girls which she was thankful for. She knew that they would just want to help but she couldn't cope with everyone knowing. It was just too difficult for her.

leah came over to her as she got of the coach with jordan and walked in between the 2 short players and put her arms around the players. they went over to the Chelsea players and had a chat. leah introduced tally to some of the England players. tally said hi nervously to the English players. she was introduced to millie, niamh, jess, fran emily, lauren james and bethany england. she felt slightly nervous meeting the new people but leah kept her hands on the girls shoulders discretely rubbing them helping her keep a cap on her anxiety. millie noticed the affectionate nature of the pair. she knew how big leah was on family especially her relationship with her younger brother and she could see a similar relationship forming with the young player. they all said goodbye as they headed to go have lunch.

Tally could sense that leah was watching her and was worried about her not eating so ate some protein rich pesto pasta with bacon and chicken bits in with some tomatoes and peas in it with some fruit and a protein smoothie. Leah was immensely relieved when she ate something. She was worried that she wasn't going to eat. She knew that that could end badly. She knew that it would end badly. She had seen first hand what an eating disorder could do to someone who playing sports. It wasn't anything to mess about with. It was serious. She had watched one of her friends go through it when she was in secondary school and although she had recovered now she knew how difficult it was for him as a dancer when it started.

By the time they were walking around the pitch she was back next to leah who was worried for her as she thought she seemed off so wanted to keep an eye on her. Tally was doing her best to focus on the game but the cramps were getting more painful and her period was uncomfortably heavy. The warm-up wasn't the best but she tried hard and the girls didn't notice it too much except leah of course. she always noticed when something was off, having gotten used to tallys every little emotion and she was noticed the occasional grimace and wince. She wasn't starting which she was so thankful for. She had planned her pain meds around when she was starting so it was great.

This chapter is a bit bland I know but it's important for the story later and its carried on in the next chapter
Thanks for all the support so far and please give comments and suggestions as I'm seriously lacking in ideas and anything is helpful xxx