Maisie 'Baby' Bronze

26. Voicemail

After moving to a new country, you soon learn what you need to do to fit in. In this case, I just needed to start learning Spanish. Although obviously, it was never going to be that easy, so why not just add the fact half the time the Catalonians were speaking Catalan.

It was extremely frustrating to not be able to communicate with literally anyone, and it wasn't like when we were in France and a lot of the locals could speak some English anyways. We'd be anywhere, trying to get the bus or trying to buy groceries and the cashier would just sit there saying "no entiendo" or "no ho entenc" at us, as we tried our best to speak Spanish to them.

We'd only been in Barcelona three days now, and having found a temporary apartment near the training ground, we were starting to settle in. Mum and I signed ourselves up to a Spanish class twice a week, deciding to save the Catalan for when we had got to grips with Spanish first. The lady running the course was originally from England but had moved to Spain years ago, so it was helpful having someone who we could actually understand, however she could be a right old bitch. It was a small class, only about 7 of us, with a range of ages, me being the youngest with the nearest to my age an older girl of about 20. I can't lie, the classes were extremely boring, however it was funny watching Mum absolutely butcher her pronunciations. I seemed to find it easier then her, much to her annoyance, and my natural ability to pick up languages, probably from moving to France and back, was helping massively.

"Y Maisie, ¿dónde vives? where do you live" The teacher asks as I sit twiddling my pen, staring out the window, completely zoned out.

"Huh?" I ask, catching a glimpse of my mum smirking at me.

"¿dónde vives?" She repeats

"Oh sorry, Vivo en Barcelona I live in barcelona"

"¿Con quien who with?" she asks further

"mi madre"

"Muy buena very good" She smiles, nods her head and then moves on to her next victim.

"Good save there Maise" Mum whispers next to me

"Had it all under control don't you worry" I smirk

"silencio por favor" The teacher says towards us

"God I feel like I'm back at school" Mum mutters and leans back, crossing her arms.

"Y tu, lucy, ¿quien esta en tu familia? who is in your family" The teacher comes towards mum.

"Er, tengo una heeja-" Mum starts, whilst I try to hold back my laughs

"No, tengo una Hija" The teacher corrects her, to mum's clear annoyance

"Ok, tengo una eeja, y tengo una novia y tengo un perro I have a daughter, and I have a girlfriend and I have a dog" Mum stumbles through the sentence.

"Buena" The teacher nods and moves off, with mum letting out a sigh, "God, I don't know how much more of this I can take"

Believe it or not, Mum decided to cancel those lessons, her reasoning being "It felt too much like school" and mine being, "She was too boring" as we called Keira to let her know how everything was going.

If all went well, Man city were going to be doing final talks tomorrow with Barcelona about Keira's move, so fingers crossed, she'd be joining us soon. After I finished chatting with Keira, I sensed mum wanted to chat to her on her own, so I took the hint and excused myself, claiming I needed a shower.

After I had my shower, I came back into the lounge, finding the sofa empty and mum not to be seen. I turned around and went back and checked mum's room. Empty. Kitchen- Empty. My room- Empty. Balcony- Empty. I gave up and decided to call her, only to find it had gone straight to voicemail, so I presumed she was still calling Keira. I settled in my room, slightly concerned for where Mum had disappeared off to but assuming she'd had to pop out to the shops or something.

By 9pm, I was starting to get a bit concerned, mum's phone still going to voicemail every time I called it. Had I forgotten she had some sort of event to go to? Or gone to someone's house? No, I didn't think so. I resorted to calling Keira, hoping she too would go to voicemail so at least I knew she was still on a call to mum.

"Hi Maise, everything alright" I hear the sound of Keira's voice come down the phone, slightly surprising me.

"Oh, aren't you on the phone to mum?"

"No, I said goodbye ages ago"

"Where's mum then?" I ask

"I don't know, isn't she with you?"

"No, she'd disappeared by the time I came out the shower, and that was 2 hours ago"

"Is she not answering the phone" Keira asks with the same concern as me

"No, straight to voicemail every time, which is why I thought she was calling you"

"Oh, hang on, I'll try" Keira hangs up and calls me back a minute later

"Nope, straight to voicemail too"

"What do I do Kei?"

"I don't know, I'm just as confused as you are, I'm sure she didn't mention going anywhere" Keira says, clearly trying to remember

"Well she definitely didn't tell me" I frown, getting frustrated.

"It's going to be fine ok, Maisie? I'm sure she's just gone to the shops or something and will be back soon"

"Going to the shop doesn't take 2 hours" I grunt.

"You never know, she's probably wandering around clueless trying to find something" Keira says, trying to lighten the mood.

I laugh lightly and then glance back up at the clock, "I think I'm going to just go to bed, and hope she's here by the morning" I sigh

"Ok, I'll keep trying to contact her, leave it to me"

"Thanks Keir"

"Go sleep, and don't worry, it'll be fine"

"Night Keir"

"Night Maise"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I woke up the sound of the front door opening, the shuffle of footsteps and the eventual creak open of my door. Although I assumed it was mum, I bolted up in bed, ready for whatever I need to be ready for.

"Mum" I croaked out.

"Sorry, I was just checking you were ok" she whispers into the room, her face now appearing. I couldn't make out much of her, seeing as the only light was the slit coming in from the hallway.

"Where have you been" I frown, too tired to make a fuss, but not too tired to want to know.

"I've um, did you call Keira" mum breezes over my question.

"Yes, cause I was worried, where have you been?" I ask again, now fully awoken and sitting up in bed, glaring at mum.

"Just to..." mum wavers, almost like she's deciding her best lie, "what did Keira say"

"No, I said where have you been? Why won't you just tell me"

"It doesn't matter" mum seems like she's almost begging me to not say anything now.

"Fine, I'll call Keira again then and let her know that her girlfriends been out and won't tell me where she's been and has got back at 4 am, I wonder what she'll think, cause I know for sure what I'm thinking and if I'm right I actually can't believe you" I say, angrily grabbing my phone and dialing Keira's number. I had no clue what mum had been doing out, but I for sure had my guesses. Not that I'd think she'd ever do that to Keira, I'd been shocked if she did, but from the way she's acting she's not helping herself.

"No, don't do that" Mum says, her eyebrows raising and eyes widening.

"Mum. What the fuck have you done"

An-

I'M SORRY....

What do we think's happened 👀