Jessie Miller

THREE

Im home from having coffee with Addison and alone in my apartment. The cat has gone back home now and I'm sat by myself at the dining table with my laptop in front of me. My cup of tea is sitting on the table next to my laptop with my food next to it. Im scrolling through my emails whilst i wait for my too hot soup to cool down. I'm actually a decent cook but i really couldnt be bothered to cook tonight. Soup is easy and tasty.

My phone brings me out of my thoughts about food and its the Man City Management calling me.

"Hello, Jessica Miller! Just following up on some information regarding you first training session. This will be on this monday coming. Before you start, you will need to sign your contract and retrieve your new training kit and we will need to give you more information about the club and your position. A nice lady named Megan will meet you in the reception at 8am. She will show you to the designated area for you to sign the papers and then will take you to the changing room where a set of training kit will be provided." The man runs through the information quickly but i manage to keep up with him.

"That is amazing. Thank you for all of this! I cant wait." Excitement is building up in me again but i try to keep myself calm whilst on the phone.

"Miss Miller! I would also like to inform you that Nike have been intouch with us. They would like to make you a Nike Athlete. Because of this, you will receive a package on Monday in your locker with a bunch of things in. We have sent you an email which asks questions about sizes of items that you could receive. If you could try and fill this in as soon as possible that would be a huge help. Both Manchester City and Nike hope you like this and wish you the best with this opportunity. Goodbye!

"I will do that as soon as possible! Goodbye" holy shit. First I get into the first squad and now I might become a Nike athlete. This is all so amazing.

***MONDAY***

It's currently 7.55 and I'm in the reception of the training ground. I go up to the desk, tell them who I am and then give me a lanyard with a badge on it. It's my temporary one just so they know who I am.

I am told to sit over on one of the chairs in the room and Megan will come over to me when she's ready.

Not 5 minutes later, a girl around my age comes over to me smiling brightly. She's too happy to say it's only 8am on a Monday morning.

"Hi! You're Jessica Miller right?" She has a thick Manchester accent like myself so I know that she was born and probably raised here.

I nod and answer her with: " Hello, yes I'm Jessica. You can call me Jessie by the way"

"Okay Jessie. Would you like to follow me? I'm going to take you to an office where Gareth Taylor will be with your contract so you can become an official Manchester City First Team Player." I stand up and gesture for her to lead the way. I feel so nervous. I have butterflies in my stomach but I'm also so excited.

A short walk later, I'm told to sit in a blue chair behind a white table. A screen behind me has the Man City emblem imprinted on it. A single pen and a small pile of paper sits on the table in front of me. Evidently this is my contract. A Man City shirt is face down on the table next to the contract with my name and my new number on it. Gareth Taylor and a few other members of the team walk in so I stand up and greet them. I shake their hands and say hello.

After some small talk, me reading over the contract and some more small talk, my signature is scribbled on the dotted line and I am an official Man City Lady!

The photographer takes a photo of me whilst I was signing. Gareth Taylor hands me my first shirt.

Miller 26

Again the photographer snaps a photo of me holding my shirt at the camera and smiling. Another one is taken with me stood next to Gareth with the shirt held in both of our hands.

Megan comes over to me again after all the photographs are taken.

"Congratulations! Next, we need to take your headshot for your ID card and for the website ect... Follow me"

She leads me to the changing room first where i am asked to get changed into the home kit and then i have to follow Megan again. We arrive at a room where there's a desk full of equipment and then 2 screens. One is a green screen so they can use the photo on multiple different occasions and then the other one is plain white.

The photo shoot goes well and i am escorted back to the changing room by Megan.

"Well, i hope you like your time at City. I will more than likely see you around the complex but we'll both be busy. Your locker combination is just 0-0-0 for now but there's a piece of paper in there that will show you how to change it. The package from Nike will be in the bottom of your locker and there will be a black bag from Manchester City containing a couple of training kits. I advise that you open the Nike bag before training. If there's any issues with anything, come and tell someone at the front desk. Have fun! I'll see you later." She smiles at me as she says every word.

"Thank you so much for today. Goodbye" I am then left alone in the changing room.

When i open the locker with the three zeros i instantly change the numbers. As promised, there's a black bag on the middle shelf and another one at the bottom. I take out the city bag and look through there first. I find 3 nylon training shirts, 3 pairs of shorts, 3 pairs of joggers, 4 pairs of socks in different colours and 2 track jackets. All of the above have the emblem on. I get changed into one of the shirts and a pair of shorts with the navy socks to match the shorts. I then think about the bag from Nike.

The bag itself is so heavy so i place it on the floor. Once unzipped, i find: 2 nike t-shirts, some shorts, a black hoodie, a black track jacket, white socks, black socks, long sleeve t-shirts and a sweater. In the bottom i see 3 shoe boxes. I open one box to reveal a nice grey pair of running shoes. The next box has a very nice pair of football boots in. They are alight blue with white writing and then rainbow studs. I also spot that they have personalisation on the back - "JM26". The last box has another pair of football boots in which are the same, however they have different studs on. The first set are soft ground and then these ones are hard ground.

To finish getting ready, i put my boots on and sort my socks out. I throw everything neatly back into the locker, including my phone and wallet. With that, i turn and head for the door to start my first training session. I'm ready for this...