Straight from the academy

4.

I start to unpack my things, starting with my clothes. I put them all away in my wardrobe and then move on to my bedside table. I put all my makeup and some of my skincare in the top drawer, electronics like chargers, my laptop and my headphones in the bottom drawer. I also put a mirror, jewellery stand and lamp on top of my bedside table. I put my surprisingly large collection of books on a shelf - I always say I'm not that into reading, but clearly I am; who has this many books? Finally, I put my keyboard in the corner of my room and put my little black chair in front of it. Now, my room is done.

"I'm finished" I say carrying the empty boxes out of my room and putting them by the front door for Ruby and Luke to take back home.
"Well done, took you long enough" Ruby says rolling her eyes.
"Shut up" I reply hitting her on the arm. She smiles at me knowing she's done her job of annoying me.
"We are going to have to leave, other wise we'll be back super late." Luke says walking up to me and putting his arm around my waist.
"That's ok, thank you for helping me move in" I says looking at both him and Ruby.
"Of course"
Luke kisses me quickly and then they both get their things and get ready to leave.
"Hey are you guys going?" Leah says from the living room, though I can her hear standing up and walking over to us.
"Yeah, we don't want to get back too late."
"Well it was really nice to meet you both."
"Yeah, you too."
Beth walks over too.
"Nice to meet you, and don't worry we will take good care of her" she says nodding her head in my direction.
"Thank you, although I will warn you she is a handful." Ruby says.
"I thought you were leaving?" I say and we both start laughing.
"Bye baby" Luke says kissing me one last time before he opens the door and shuts it behind him.

"We were going to watch a movie before bed, want to join us?" Leah says to me.
"Yeah sure"
The three of us make our way over to the living room and sit on the sofa. It is a long grey sofa with huge, matching grey pillows on it. Beth sits on one end, Leah sits in the middle and I sit on the other end. We put on some random movie and snuggle up with fluffy blankets. We watch the first 20 or so minutes but Leah and Beth start asking me questions about myself so the movie soon gets forgotten about.

We end up talking for an hour of so and before we know it the film credits are playing and the movie has ended. And we didn't really watch any of it.
"Well I don't know about you but that might be one of the best movies over ever watched" I say sarcastically.
"Oh yeah definitely, I'd give it a 5 star rating"
"For sure, would definitely recommend to a friend" Leah and Beth say, joining in with my sarcasm. We laugh and then all start to stand up.
"I'm going to go to bed" Leah says yawning.
"Yeah me too."
"Same"
We all get changed into our pyjamas, take our makeup off and brush our teeth, and then get into bed. But before I can get in my bed, Beth knocks on the door and sticks her head around the corner of it.
"Goodnight! And hey, welcome to the arsenal"
I smile at her. "Goodnight Beth, and thank you."

I turn my light off and close my eyes. I turn over to try to get comfy but I end up turning over again. I toss and turn more and more but I just can't sleep.

It's about 45 minutes later and I still can't get to sleep. It's like my brain just won't stop working. I realise that the more I lie in bed in the dark the less I am going to sleep. So, I walk as quietly as I can out of my bedroom and walk to the living room. I tiptoe to the sofa and turn on the tv very quietly. Or at least what I thought was quietly. Because not even 10 minutes later, Leah walks into the living room.
"Hey" She says walking over and sitting on the sofa next to me.
"I'm so sorry, did I wake you up?"
"Nah you didn't, its all good. How come you're up?"
"I can't sleep. My brain won't turn off and I can't stop thinking about things."
"What are you thinking about?"
"Well firstly, tomorrow. I mean don't get me wrong I'm so excited to become an arsenal player - it's my dream - but what if I don't make a good first impression? What if Jonas realises it was a mistake signing me? And then secondly, I guess just being in a new place with new surroundings. I'm not the biggest fan of changes since they make me nervous and right now I am really out of my comfort zone."
I take a breath because I've just ranted and talked really quickly.
"Okay, it's normal to be nervous for your first day - I know I definitely was. But you can't start having doubts, you just have to focus on the positives. You get to play for your dream club, focus on that!"
I nod my head in response.
"And I know how you feel about being nervous when it comes to change. I'm the same. But you have to be brave and put yourself out there. Were you nervous when you first joined the academy?"
"Yeah."
"So you were nervous at the beginning but you settled in completely and it became your home. Just like arsenal will."
"Thank you Leah. I think I really needed that."
"Your welcome. If you have any other problems come and see me, okay?"
"Okay."