A New Beginning

nerves

-One Week Later-

"I think that is it." I said as I looked around my new apartment. "I think it is." Chloe said fixing a pillow on my couch. "You know how proud I am of you." She said giving me a hug. "I know." I said holding her tighter. "The announcement is about to come out." I said as we sat on the couch and got on our phones. 'Welcome to the FC Barcelona Family Arin Summers!' was the caption under the picture that Barca posted of me. Instantly my phone flooded with congratulations, I was a bit overwhelmed but it was nice to know people cared. One message caught me off guard though, it was one I didn't think I was going to get. It was from Mark Parsons, my old coach, telling me he was super proud of me. I thanked him for the message and went on with thanking everyone else. Chloe and I decided to head out for lunch to celebrate a little bit, we found a little cafe that had good ratings so we went. I was able to communicate well with the people because I took Spanish and spoke it pretty well. I ordered for Chloe and I and we both took a seat at a booth. We talked about her and her life, and how she was going to miss me when she leaves tomorrow. Our talk continued until our food came out and we both sat in silence eating our food. The whole time I kept thinking about tomorrow and how it is my first day with the team. I was actually pretty nervous. 

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My alarm went off, and I groaned at the sound. I turned it off and then it hit me today was the day I had my first practice. I was nervous, yet excited at the same time. Chloe and I had said goodbye to each other last night. So now I was on my own. I got up and got dressed and put my hair up. I grabbed my bag with my gear in it and walked out of my apartment. I drove to the training grounds, and the closer I got the more nervous I felt. I had only ever been with Portland and Sydney, I was never one to really try new things, but this was so new. I pulled up to the training facilities and saw a few of my teammates walking in. "Holy shit is Mapi!" I said to myself as I saw the Spanish international walk into the training building. I had to talk myself down a little bit, and tell myself not to fan girl over the players. I grabbed my bag and got out of the car. I walked towards the doors and took a deep breath before opening the doors and letting myself in. I walked towards the locker room where all the girls were. Music was playing and everyone was doing their own thing when I walked in. My old teammate Ana recognized me and squealed as she ran up to me and engulfed me into a hug, which caught everybody's attention. "I am so happy you are here!" she said and I smiled at her. "Me too." I replied to the Switzerland international. "Everyone this is Arin Summers, she is new to the team so please treat her well. She speaks Spanish and English so do not be afraid to talk to her and get to know her." Ana said and I just waived at the girls. The room filled with greetings in Spanish and English. Ana showed me to my locker which was near the front of the locker room. I thanked her and set my stuff down. I looked down at my training gear with my initials and number 2 on them and smiled. I quickly changed and then sat down in my locker fixing my hair. One of the girls next to me dropped her sock so I picked it up and gave it to her. "Here." I said handing it to her. "Thank you. Oh by the way my name is Stephanie" she said offering her hand for me to shake. "Arin. Wait you probably already know that." I said frantically. "No, no you are fine. I know how it feels to be new here." she said with a slight chuckle. We continued to talk and slowly everyone came over to my locker to say hi, and introduce themselves. Everyone was super nice and welcoming. We all headed to the meeting room and I sat next to Ana and Stephanie. Coach gave me an introduction and I had to speak a little before we headed out onto the pitch for training. We walked out of the meeting room and I was approached by a girl a tad bit shorter than me. "Hi, my name is Alexia. It is nice to meet you." she said "Its nice to meet you too." our conversation went on for a bit and she was super nice.  She invited me to go get coffee with her after practice which I accepted. Once we got to the pitch we started to warm up, I was feeling more at ease. All my nerves started to go away. We did some agility drills,  then rondos, then finishing. It was actually a good training session. We all headed back to the locker room and got dressed. Alexia texted me of the address of the coffee shop and I thanked her. A few of the other girls were going to go with us. I finished getting dressed and walked out of training to my car.  I got into my car and got a call from someone I didn't expect. "Hello?"