Maisie 'Baby' Bronze

16. That's all in the game

Maisie's Pov-

I would be lying if I said this hadn't been the best 2 weeks of my life. We'd done pretty much everything there had do be done in San Fransisco, from the cable cars to the beaches.Leah Williamson and Ellie Roebuck had also flown out a week after us, so at least I wasn't third wheeling too much. Not only had we explored the city, I also felt like we'd all finally been able to switch off and just relax, without the constant strict training schedules or matches hanging over us. It also gave us some time to prepare mentally for the euros, less so for me, but for Mum and Keira, I knew that after these euros, we'd be straight back into it- eat sleep train repeat. The toll a big tournament like the euros or the world cup takes on a person is huge, I had second hand experience of it, after watching Lucy and the whole of the lionesses go through it in 2019. 

02.07.19

"Come on mum" I mutter under my breath, watching the time on the big screen tick closer to 90 mins. I'm stood between my granny and grandad, wearing my bronze "10" (for my age) shirt and my lucky england cap that Keira had given me before the tournament. It was still 2:1 to the Usa and currently England had 1 minute to change that. The whole England section of the stadium was silent, the Usa fans deathening us with their strange chants. There it was. The three whistles. We all drop to our seats, as I watch the whole England team drop to the floor, some crouching, some shaking their heads, and some just staring nowhere. Everyone around us has their heads in their hands or are simply just getting up and leaving. 

"Oh dear Luce" I hear Granny whisper, as I hug her and wipe the tear falling from her eye. 

"It's ok Granny, Mum will win the euros next year" I half smile, the innocent me not quite understanding the consequent of this match. 

We stay in our seats, watching the dissapointed England fans slowly trickle out of the stadium and try our best to ignore the cheering USA fans to our left. Eventually, Granny says, "come on Maisie, I'm sure mummy would like to see us"

Excitedly, I jump out of my seat and run down the steps to the barrier, where I say to the security guard, "can I go see my mum now?" To which he grunts and nods his head in reply, and although I'm half shocked he knows who I'm talking about, I clamber over the barrier onto the pitch, rather then following Granny and Grandad round to the actual entrance.

The first person to see me is Jill Scott, who comes up, clearly upset, and gives me a hug and whispers, "go see your mum, she needs a hug too"

I nod, and run over to where I can see her and Keira sitting on the other side. On the way I see Demi Stokes, and give her another quick hug too. When I reach Mum and Keira, I can see that Keira's trying to comfort Lucy, so I slowly approach behind Mum. Keira sees me and a small smile peaks through on her face and mouths "be gentle"

"Hi mum" I say quietly but loud enough for her to hear and wrap my arms around her, kneeling down.

"hey Maise, I'm sorry about this", she replies, quickly wiping her eyes and sniffing in her cries.

"It's ok, I'm sorry you didn't win" I come round to her front now, and give her a big hug, to which she reciprocated, half clinging onto me. After a few minutes of comforting mum, letting her cry into my shoulder, I pull bag from the hug and use my sleeve to try mum's eyes, and whisper "shall I give Keira a hug?" She nods in agreement and we both turn round to where Keira was sitting opposite mum, to find she's no longer there, in fact most of the England players have now gone down the tunnel. "Oh she's gone"

"Never mind, I think we should head in now, and I'm sorry you have to see this but at the end of the day football isn't just the highs, when you go win trophies after trophies after trophies but also the times like this, sat on a field, watching another team win him the trophies that you wanted to be yours. And that's all in the game."

Now- June 2022-

'That's all in the game'
I'll never forget that. I carry that with me now, every game I win and lose. And I don't even think mum remembers saying that to me, but I do and I can assure you, I'll never forget it.

We're now back in the UK, after our 2 week holiday, and I couldn't be more ready to get the euros underway. Mum and Keira have placed bets on when we'll get the call ups- mum thinking tomorrow and Keira today. Although the bet is only on who's making dinner.

"MAISIE! Keira and I are just going out, we'll be back in like 3 hours or something" I hear mum call up the stairs.

"Wait where are you going?" I stand at the top of the stairs, watching them put their shoes on.

"An appointment" Mum replies after a moment.

"What for?"

"Nothing that your nosy nose needs to know" mum jokes at me, laughing as I pull an annoyed expression.

"Come onnnn" I plead

"Nope, you'll find out in good time, good bye, love ya" and with that, they leave, leaving me stood absolutely baffled about what they were doing. I eventually came to the conclusion that it was probably just some stupid pre euros check up that mum was just trying to wind me up about, just to leave me in the dark.

After a good 3 hours, spent revising for my upcoming exams, I finally hear the key in the door and Keira and mum entering, chattering away.

"MAISIEEE" Keira calls up the stairs.

"Yeah" I reply, still moody from earlier.

"Guess who was right!"

"No way! Did you both get in?"

"Yep, and looks like we're getting lasange for dinner, woop woop"

"Let's go, that's karma for you mum" I say, still standing at the top of the stairs, smirking as mum flips me off and enters the kitchen.

"Woah, was that appropiate and mature behavour to a minor?" I say, as I come down the stairs and follow mum into the open-plan kitchen.

A/n-

Sorry for the slow updates, but I hope everyone remembers that this is just a side thing of mine and I do have other work and school to be doing so I can't always prioritise this.
Feel like I needed to get this one out, so this hasn't be proof checked but oh well 🤷‍♀️, I guess I can do that after.