Peyton Ackley - The Beginning of Change

Chapter 7 - Take a Chance

"Leah, are you sure about this?" I asked as we climbed back into the car. We'd been playing football for what seemed like ages, passing back and forth, running faster than ever before. It felt like freedom if I was being honest, nothing could hold me back except for the niggling feeling in my knee that was constantly in the back of my mind. Either way, we stopped before the pain could get any worse so it's okay. "Leah... I'm talking to you," I spoke again trying to get the blonde's attention.

"Sorry, what's up?" she replied still out of it.

"Are you sure about this?" I repeated.

"About taking you to the Arsenal training centre to meet with Beth, Viv, Laura and Kaylan... yes, you need to trust me, just take a chance, because it could turn out good PJ," she said having finally engaged in the conversation. Leah continued to fiddle with the ring on her finger as she drove but I neglected to ask what was bothering her.

As we pulled into the training centre Leah scanned her ID and we were immediately let through, "I'm meant to have training this afternoon so all the girls will be here".

I'm pretty sure my face expressed pure shock, all the Arsenal women were in this training centre, that's unbelievable. As we pulled into a car park I saw some of the girls walking in the front door, one stopped to see Leah, it was Lia Walti.

"Hey Le, who's this?" Lia asked.

"Hi Wally," she replied hugging her, "this is Peyton. I met her at a cafe this morning, well first a few days ago, but that doesn't matter. Now she needs to do some research on athletes with ACL injuries and the recovery it requires".

"Leah, you worded it like I asked you to bring me here after I bumped into you getting coffee, that's not the case. You invited me remember, can we keep that at the forefront of our minds please?" I asked not wanting to seem like I begged Leah to bring me.

"Hi I'm Lia," Wally said as she held her arms out for a hug which I happily accepted.

"Hate to say it, but I'm getting a photo with every single one of you before I leave today," I laughed. I was really fangirling, but can anyone truly be expected not to fan girl around their idols, it's just not fair to have that expectation.

"You ready to head in?" Leah asked in a comforting tone, giving me a side hug in the process.

"Yep," I nodded holding myself up straight and heading into the centre with Leah by my side.

"Follow me, I messaged the girls to meet us in the gym. Don't worry, just the ACL girls," she continued, that extra part was definitely added to calm me down.

The doors to the gym opened and the red and white that I'd seen before in behind-the-scenes videos and player posts were now surrounding me. It looked exactly how you'd imagine it, so much equipment, so much room, exactly what a team of football players needs.

Suddenly someone came bounding across the gym towards us, "Leah!" was called out by the bouncing blonde figure as she leapt onto the girl standing with me.

"Beth get down, I have a guest," Leah mumbled as she tried to detach the shorter girl from herself. It was Beth Mead, holy hell, I couldn't believe I was standing in a room with not only Leah Williamson but also Beth Mead.

"Beth get off Leah," came a familiar voice, Dutch mixed with a touch of Scottish.

"Okay this is insane," I finally spoke which brought everyone back down to Earth.

"Oh sorry PJ," Leah whispered. "Guys, this is Peyton, she needs some help with her dissertation, and we can help her. We're going to run some tests on our ACLs because we're all at different stages in our recovery and can help her with her paper," smiled Leah as she looked my way.

The group slowly went around introducing themselves. Beth went first with her over-the-top introduction before Viv saved me with her more tame one. The group seemed lovely, but as a fan, I was absolutely stunned.

"Okay, I can't lie, this is insane. I've been a fan of Arsenal since before I can remember, and now I'm standing in your gym with a bunch of the players, that's unreal."

"So how'd you two meet?" asked Laura, one of the quietest ones in the group.

"I met her at a cafe this morning," replied Leah, "well first saw her a few days ago in the same cafe but properly introduced myself today".

I laughed thinking of how Miles had completely embarrassed me the first time, "my friend called out something along the lines of 'she's the captain!' at the top of his lungs making me feel absolutely embarrassed but Leah still came and spoke to me," I explained to the girls.

"I'm still not convinced he's not your boyfriend," Leah spoke.

"Trust me, he's not. He's far from my type," I laughed.

"Okay PJ, whatever you say," she giggled, "but what do you want to do about this ACL research?" Leah asked.

"Umm, maybe we can just chat about what recovery you've been doing, how comfortable you've been feeling with it, what testing you've done?" I suggested which was quickly agreed to by the group of players.

"Do you want me to just talk?" whispered Leah as she took a seat and invited me to sit next to her on one of the benches.

I nodded not wanting to make it obvious how stressed I was. She began to talk about the groups' recovery process, and all the exercises they did, "yeah, we mostly had to do exercises focusing on quad and calf strength. Which, don't get me wrong, helped to strengthen the ACL, but it still didn't feel like the best we could do, you know what I mean?" Leah asked.

"Yeah I get what you mean, does anyone have a different viewpoint?" I asked the rest of the group. Beth seemed to agree with Leah in saying that it was adequate, but maybe not optimal for fast recovery.

Laura spoke up next, "Well Kaylan and I are a bit further behind in our recovery. I feel like seeing how the others have progressed has definitely helped us to see how we can speed up our personal recoveries through their wins and losses but something is definitely missing."

"Whatever you do, do not compete to be back with Leah, Viv and Beth, it's not going to help your recovery in any way. It may act as a motivator but you will never step back on that pitch unless you are fully capable, understood?" I may have snapped at Laura a bit but I wanted to make sure that my story never repeated itself, especially under my watch. "Kaylan, do you feel the same as Laura, that maybe your recovery has been quicker after seeing what worked best for the others?" I asked.

She nodded, "I definitely think it's helped but I've seen players with other teams recover faster, so I don't know what we are doing wrong."

"Well, that's what I want to research, I'm not sure of the wording exactly but something about the optimal recovery plans for ACL injuries in professional female soccer players would be cool," I spoke wanting to provide the girls with some hope for the future.

"Soccer," mocked Beth attempting to copy my accent, but failing massively.

"Beth, don't", said Viv as she jabbed her girlfriend in the ribs, "be polite, she's a guest".

"Why do I feel she mocks your accent too?" I asked Viv.

"She does." The group started cracking up laughing while Beth sat awkwardly realising she'd been called out.

"Okay, I want to start with some quick measurements on the LSI and then we'll see where we go from there?"

"What the hell is an LSI?" asked Leah.

"You're kidding," I replied in my comical Australian accent. In that moment I realised just how underprepared these girls were to return to their sport, the more worrying thing was that three of them were already back on the pitch with no clue about ACL testing. "Leah, I'm going to ask again, you're kidding, right?" She shook her head and my concern grew, this is going to be a long research project.

WORDS: 1378

a/n: hi, vote if you're enjoying :)