Our Kiddo

Fucking amazing

Camp was flying by. They had so much fun and it was all an exciting blur.

"Kiddo do you want to come and lose at table tennis?" Lucy asked.

"I never lose," Evie said, walking over and standing opposite her. It instantly got very competitive. They both wanted to win.

"Get in there!" Lucy cheered as she went 8-6 up.

"I'll catch up don't you worry."

It was intense and people began gathering around to watch them play. The commentary was a little off putting but it was also highly entertaining so they couldn't complain.

The score line had flipped and it was now 10-9 to Evie.

"Match point," Lucy said as she served. The girls around the edge began cheering and a large beam crept onto her face.

"Kiddo! Kiddo! Kiddo!" they all said loudly.

Evie was trying to block them out and focused on returning all of Lucy's play. She was trying to send it to different edges of the table, making it hard to do anything. Evie managed to the hit ball and send it spinning quickly. The flight of the ball tricked Lucy and it bounced on the table before flying off behind her.

They all erupted and began swarming her. Despite losing, Lucy couldn't help but chuckle at the antics of her teammates. They now had Evie on Millie's shoulders and were parading up and down the room. She was sat in the air, roaring with laughter.

After the chaos had finished, they headed out to train. It was cold and miserable and despite their love for football, none of them were feeling it. They were putting in the same amount of effort as always but the looks on their faces made it clear that they weren't having a good time.

All of them stood listening to Sarina, the wind howling around. Leah was stood behind Evie, her arms wrapped around her and her chin balancing on the top of her head. They were both grateful of the warmth.

Once it had been explained, they all went off to complete the drill. They were doing 1 vs 1s and Evie was up against Ella. They both laughed as they tried to out play the other.

Evie was on top and she dragged it back, Tooney extending her leg to get it. With the gap opening up, Evie rolled the ball through her legs and ran past before tapping it into the goal.

Everyone else was laughing at the megs and Ella stood shaking her head, laughing that she'd been mugged off.

***

The time was flying by and it was their final match day. They had a good chance of winning the tournament if they played well today.

Evie was on the bench but she didn't mind. It meant a bit less pressure. She'd been having a lot of sessions with the England psychiatrist and it was really helping.

"What does it feel like when you're nervous?"

"I feel like a proper sense of doom. I know that's a bit dramatic but I do. My stomach is rushing like the sea, like it's just crashing and all I want to do is cry. I just feel rubbish like I'm going to mess up and let everyone down."

She was sat on the bench and even though rushes and rushes of fear were pouring over her, she remembered what her psychiatrist had said and she took a long breath with her eyes closed.

Mrs Cooper had made the long journey from Southampton to watch her play and Evie was hoping that she actually got on the pitch.

Ellen White managed to score in the 15th minute and get them ahead. That was good. England were playing good football but Germany weren't to be doubted as they were also playing well. Five minutes before half time they got one back and they felt a bit flat.