Lily Daly - My baby girl

chapter 1

* thud *
* thud *
* thud *

Those were the noises that (to me) indicated that I had overslept. I tossed my bedsheets around onto the floor to get out of bed as quickly as possible before my foster dad was able to come into my room and drag me out. Luckily for me a managed to escape the trap that was my bedsheets just as the door handle turned.

"You little bitch, you are lucky you got out of bed in time, and trust me you would know that" i stood their still half asleep trying not to let a yawn escape my mouth. Ooops....

"Why do you think its acceptable to do that in front of me! You rude little brat" i can feel his stinky warm breath on my face. He takes a step back and when i thought i was in the clear, i get a strike across my face. That hurt.

After he had left my room i rushed to put on my school uniform and used my old, cheap makeup to cover any visible bruises up. Since i had football after school, i packed a bag with some old shorts, a cheap shirt that was probably 3 years old (and it showed by the amount of holes on it) as well as my boots, socks and the makeup to touch up throughout the day. I ran downstairs, avoiding my foster parents as much as could and left for the day.

I arrived at school 10 minutes late, even though i practically ran from the house, i signed in at reception and made my way to my first class of the day, science. As soon as i walked to the lab i saw the abundance of eyes pierce at me, i slipped in next to my best friend as she caught me up on what were doing.

"Lil, how are you?"

"Alright, i mean the best i can be" we both chuckle, "Dais, what are we actually doing?"

"Um some science thing"

"You have no idea do you"

"I mean its 9AM in the morning of course i don't you idiot" she playfully punches me and we get the look from our teacher to say 'come on, i don't want to have to deal with you this morning' so get on with our work.

Daisy is my best friend and has been since forever. She has been by my side through the little bit of good and all of the bad. We share laughs, cries, smiles and joys and even illness. We also share the love football, with us both being on the school football team. Daisy plays in midfield, whilst I play as a forward. She is also the captain of the team which is pretty cool. Daisy's family is more than i could ask for; they treat me like one of their owns and i really appreciate it. So yeah, i guess you could say i have the best best friend ever.

The rest of the day consisted of boring lessons filled with Daisy making me laugh and then getting told off from our teachers. That cycle repeated for our 5 lessons with lunch making a small feature, as we spent most of our lunch break kicking about a football. Once the day came to an end we made our way to the changing rooms and got changed into our sports clothes as well as putting on our boots. As per usual we were the first ones outside, so we started kicking around the ball and doing all sorts of weird tricks. After around 15 minutes our teacher, Mr Michaels, came outside and joined us.

"Hello girls, anyone else joining us today?" we both looked at each other and then back at Mr Michaels. Sadly this isn't a one time thing, me and daisy are the only ones that turn up to every training session with the girls only coming if they can really bothered.

"Don't think so coach" daisy said whilst playing with the ball at her feet.

"Ok well it is up to you what do you want to do? We can do some drills and shooting?" We both nodded and started practice.

Mr Michaels or 'Mikey' as we call him sometimes is my favourite teacher at school. He is not only an amazing teacher and coach but also an amazing human being. He is the only teacher that knows about everything that happens at home and does everything he can to support me.

We did some fitness drills which where quite challenging but i really liked them (i know, you can call weird for that but what can i say) and then went into some shooting drills which went really for me as i got in nearly everyone of them in. After about 40 minutes there wasn't much else we could do as a 1v1 match doesn't really exist or work, so we took an extra long water break and talked about the upcoming England match.

"So are you girls watching the England vs Norway this weekend, it's in Manchester isn't it?"
"Yes! I am so excited to watch it. Lil are you gonna come to mine to watch it?"
"Yeah probably if I can't get out the house that is cause you know I would be dead if I got caught" I chuckle to avoid the true of the fact.

Soon enough, training came to an end. I put back on my school uniform attempting to look the exact same as I did when I left the house, and started the walk back. The thing is, is that my foster parents don't actually know I play football, well they did because after they caught me and lectured me about how it's for boys i started to hide it from them as with the lecture also came one of the worst beating to date. So I try and hide it from them as much as possible. 

As i walked through the door, i was greeted with the lovely smell of cigarettes and stale, mouldy food. I quickly chucked off my shoes and ran upstairs before i could be greeted by my so called parents. Unluckily, this time i got grabbed by the hair and pulled into the sitting area, where i was met with my foster mothers patronising sweet smile. 

"Hello emma, how was your study session?" oh yeah, i forgot to mention that she will only call me emma as that is what my name should be as they are my parents and get to decide everything single little detail of my life, like what the actual hell. at this point i just let her do it to avoid the beatings.

"umm alright i guess" i stood there unsure what to really say.

Her smile changed to a dead pan face as she looked me dead in the eyes. She indicated something to her husband and before i knew it, something bashed me across my head, causing me to collapse and pass out on the floor. All i could hear was laughing in the background of my unconsciousness.

When my eyes opened, i was greeted with the sight of my foster dad buckling his belt up. I tried to think of happy thoughts instead of the possibilities of whatever the events that had just occurred were. As quickly as i could, i scrambled up the stairs and into my room, placing a makeshift door stopper at the bottom. I then got changed out of my uniform and into the only set of pyjamas i owned, hoping that my uniform could look somewhat presentable for tomorrow. Homework was an easy job for me as i was quite smart, so i managed to get that done fairly quickly before i sneakily took out the phone that Daisy's parents got me for my birthday meaning we could chat for the rest of the evening.

Daisy 👯‍♀️💕

hey, managed get home alright? xx |

| yeah i mean i got the usual greeting but i am still alive. x 

good, have you done the science homework? x |

| yeah haha, i'll show you it in tutor x

thank god! you are a lifesaver x |

| no worries, that is what i am here for haha x

haha, you excited for the england game? x |

| omg yesss! i can't wait to watch rach! x

i know! i need more daly brightness in my life! x |

My favourite player is Rachel Daly and Daisy's in Millie Bright. Together they have the nickname daly brightness and me and daisy love their friendship as it reminds us of our own. I love Rach because not only do we have the same last name (omg its amazing, like sharing a last name with one of your heroes is so cool!) but she is also an amazing versatile player that i take great inspiration from, and i am so glad she is back playing in the WSL. Hopefully one day i can meet her and that day will make everything worth it.

________

I hope you like this story so far and hopefully you will join me as we find out more about Lily Daly! As always let me know if you have anything you would like to see or predictions xx