Maisie 'Baby' Bronze

10. It's for the best

Lucy's pov-

I watch Maisie pull a confused face and climb out of the car, and walk up to Katie's front door.  I waste no time in pulling away and quickly driving off. We sit in silence for a few minutes, as I wind my way through outer manchester. 

"So... a talk?" Keira says, breaking the quiet.

"I've had an offer from Barcelona" I spit out without hesitation as fast as possible. 

A few moments pass before Keira responds, "Um, pardon"

"Barcelona, they've offered me a 2 year contract"

"Wow, I- I don't know what to say, you accepted it?"

"What! No, no, no I definitely haven't, I don't even know if I want to go"

"Are you kidding me, Barca are like one of the best teams in the world! You are going"

"No, I can't. My whole life's here" I used my hands to emphasise. 

"Ok...and, you can have another life out there"

"What are you saying Keir?" 

"Well... Maisie and you can go start again, think of it as an opportunity, it's a great experience for Maisie as well as you"

"Keira! I am not going to Barcelona without you for starters, plus can you imagine moving countries at 15,because that sounds like hell to me"

"You had a baby at 18, not much of a difference"

"I hope and pray for her sake that she doesn't because I can assure you, that was hell"

"Hmm, well if you're not going to barca because of me, then I better start looking for a house"

"Keira..."

"Yep, I am not being the reason you don't move"

"So that's it, you just up and leave"

"Yep"

"No, no, no, you are not doing this" I can feel tears running down my cheeks. 

"It's for the best"

"NO, no it's not!" I say, trying to control my tears. 

Maisie's pov

After a stressful bus ride to the stadium, Katie and I finally approach the ground, me with my hood up, in hope no one spots me. We are amongst the fans, a few of which have Bronze and Walsh shirts on, so I take a quick snap of them. Deciding to get a game day programme, we patiently queue up. 

"Miss Bronze, pleasure to see you" Keith, the man selling the programmes says, smiling. 

"You alright?"

"Yeah, you gotta get one of these signed you know, they'll be worth a bit"

"No, no, I'll get one signed but I'm not selling it, can I have three please?" I say, presenting my card.

"It's on us, don't worry about is missy"

"You sure?"

"Yeah, course, as long as you get one signed for my daughter"

I laugh, "Deal, can I have four then?"

"Ooh that could be pushing it" He says, handing me four. 

"Cheers Keith, I'll see you around?"

"Yeah, yeah, enjoy the game, and by the way, congrats on yesterday"

"Thanks, see you soon" I walk away, with Katie trailing me. 

"Lil miss famous ey? She says, nudging me, to which I smile.

"Want a picture?" 

"I'm your biggest fan"

We take a selfie in front of the stadium, then carry on, towards the VIP entrance. 

"You never said we were going in here!" Katie says amazed

"I literally told you I had to do some stuff on the pitch before hand"

"Yeah, didn't realise this meant coming in this way, you're so lucky"

"Some say lucky, some say talent"

"Oh shut up, we all know you asked your mum for these tickets"

"Actually, I'll have you know I asked one of the managery people" 

"Same thing" 

We both laugh and scan our tickets, and enter the room where we're immediately taken aback by the amount of people in the room, mainly above  the age of 50. 

"Wow, you continue to surprise me, now we're hanging out with old codgers" Katie whispers 

"Shh, I didn't know, let's go find Alex, she said she'd be here"

"Alex as in Alex Scott?" 

"Yeah"

"Bloody hell Maisie"

"What?" I say laughing and taking her hand and leading the way through the crowds of people gathered.

"You're practically mates with every celeb on earth"

"No I'm not, although I wish I was mates with Taylor Swift, that would be pretty cool"

"Ever seen  her?"

"Yeah, when we were in Italy"

"Point proven."

"Come with me next time" I say. I know how lucky I am, and Katie knows that I know that too, but it is fun to wind her up sometimes. Reaching the door that I believe has Alex behind, I show my pass to the security before knocking and going in.

"Maisie! How are you, our little champ, and I believe it's Katie?" 

"Yeah, that's me, it's nice to meet you" Katie shyly says.

"Nice to meet you too, Maisie talks about you, you know"

"Er shut up Alex" I quickly say, blushing ;Katie just laughs.

"Oh and, I'd better introduce you to the others" Alex says, motioning to the little party behind her. "So we've got Fara Williams, who you know right?" I nod my head in approval, " and then Clare Balding, Max daces,  who's my agent then the rest are mainly media guys"

Katie and I nod our heads, "So do you know when we're doing the presentation?"

"At 2 45, 15 mins before kick off so that gives us half an hour, do you know what you're doing?"

"Nope, mum only decided to tell me this morning"

"Oh right, basically, we're going to take you down to the pitch, re-give you your framed shirt, take some pictures and get a picture with the team, that sound OK?"

"Yeah, bit nervous but that should be fine, thanks"

"That's alright, you two go get drinks"

"Thanks Al, see you in a bit" We start walking away, towards the mini bar"

"No alcohol though! I've heard about last night!" Alex shouts after us

"What?!" I spin round, shocked that mum would tell anyone.

"Don't worry, all I know is you had a bit too much, let's just say"

"I'm going to kill her"

"Don't think Gareth would be too happy"