The Throne

2

Anna's POV

"Alright we have 8 hours left on this flight so let's get everything organized and see if we missed anything." I say.

The three other people on the flight, who also helped me plan this tournament and work with me at the HALO Trust, come over and we sit around a table.

"Alright so we have 4 groups of four teams who play each other once." Beth says.

"Right."

"We need to make sure the stadiums are ready." Freya says.

"What are the stadiums' again?" I ask.

"Well the tournament is taking place in California so in LA we have Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, The Rose Bowl, Dignity Health Sports Park, and Banc of California Stadium. There's one stadium in San Diego and then in the bay area we have Levi's Stadium, Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, and Avaya Stadium." Leah says.

"Alright cool." I say.

The four of us call each stadium and confirm that they know who will be playing at their stadium and on what date.

It's kinda nice having cell service, but I guess that comes with flying the royal jet.

"Alright so what are the groups again?" Beth asks.

"Group A is USA, England, Nigeria, and China." Freya reads off the sheet.

"Group B?"

"Canada, France, Australia, and Brazil." I say.

"Group C?"

"Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, and South Korea."

"And Group D"

"Netherlands, Japan, New Zealand, and Germany."

"How did you manage to get most of the top 20 teams into a tournament together?" Leah asks.

"Since the World Cup collapsed due to the corruption scandal I called the top federations and ran this by them and these were the teams that agreed first." I say.

"Cool."

"Yeah...so everyone's clear with what's being done with the money?" I ask.

"Yeah." Beth says and the other two ladies nod.

"Good...have we covered everything?"

"Let me check." Freya says then looks at our list. "Yeah we're good."

"Sweet." I say then the four of us put all of the stuff away then relax.

"What group games are you going to Anna?" Leah asks.

"All of the England games, the kickoff game USA vs China, and maybe some others."

"Nice."

"Yeah. I also need to find time to get George, Charlotte, Louis, and Archie trinkets from LA."

"How is Archie?" Beth asks.

"He's good. Keeping up his parents all night, but they say it's worth it."

"Your families Christmas must be very rowdy."

"You can say that again. Last Christmas, George and Charlotte, woke me up at 6 in the morning. Needless to say I now lock my door."

"Speaking of George and Charlotte." Freya says. "How are Kate and William?"

"They're both pretty annoyed with all these baseless rumors of cheating. I mean William know what cheating did to us."

"And how are you and Camilla?" Leah asks causing me to roll my eyes. 

"I guess you're not a fan of her?"

"I can't stand her. I only talk to her in public."

Suddenly my phone rings for a facetime.

"Excuse me." I say then get up and move to a more private part of the plane.

Once I'm sat down I quickly put on headphones and answer the facetime.

"ANNA." One of my favorite little girls yells making me smile.

"Hi Poppy." I say.

Poppy is a girl I met in a cancer ward one day when I was working with Children with Cancer UK. She was doing one of her treatments and I sort of fell in love with her. She's so cute and so bubbly even though she has cancer. I usually try not to get attached, but Poppy captured my heart in maybe 2 seconds. When I had to leave I gave her parents my number so they could keep me in the loop and so Poppy could talk to me when she's sad or doing treatment.

"Guess what?"

"What pretty girl?" I ask making her giggle.

"I'm cancer free."

"WHAT?" I yell.

That shouldn't be possible. She had an incurable cancer.

"YEAH." Poppy shouts.

"That's amazing Poppy. Are you and your family going to celebrate?"

"Yeah Daddy's taking us to a fancy restaurant."

"Well when I get back from America maybe Mummy and Daddy will let me take you out for the day so we can celebrate."

"Really?" Poppy asks and smiles wide.

I nod and she giggles then I see her running in what I assume is her house.

"MUMMY...DADDY." Poppy yells.

"Hello my little flower." Poppy's dad says and picks her up. "So that's where my phone went. Hey Anna."

"Hello." I say. "Exciting day in your household."

"Best day of my life." He says with a smile.

"Daddy?" Poppy says.

"Yes love bug?"

"Anna says when she gets back from America she wants to take me out to celebrate."

"Oh she does?"

"Yeah. So can she?" Poppy asks with her best puppy dog eyes.

"I don't see why not Poppy."

"Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you." Poppy says while kissing her father's face.

"Well I'll let you three celebrate and I'll call when I get back to Britain." I say.

"Okay. Bye Anna."

"Bye Gary." I say.

"BYE ANNA." Poppy yells

"Bye pretty girl." I say then everyone hangs up.

What a day.

"Anna you need to come pick where you want to go work this year." Leah says.

I nod then walk back over to the group of women. I'm then handed a paper with the available places to work with the HALO Trust.

"Okay so haw many places do I need to pick?"

"4 or 5." Beth says.

"Nagorno Karabakh, Angola, Afghanistan, Georgia, and Colombia." I say.

"Alright I'll get that set up."

"You know you picked some of the most dangerous places right?" Leah asks.

"That means they need the most help."

"Will Buckingham palace let you go there?" Freya asks.

"They don't really have an option." I say.

"What do you mean?"

"It's my life and they have no say in it."