Nothing shines as bright as your eyes - (Leah Williamson x OC)

Part 24

"Why did you even choose for England? I mean it's not like some of us were the most welcoming to you, including me. And, honestly, I still wanted to say sorry for that, I shouldn't have treated you the way that I did." Beth said.

"It's fine, really. I think we should all just get over it. And why did I choose for England? Well, frankly, I think Sarina has played a big role in that decision, she's just shown me that she's willing to take a risk by giving me an opportunity. While with Mark Parsons I just didn't have the same feeling. I think, in the end, I realised that I could achieve much more if I'd be part of the England squad. And, to be honest, it would mean the world to me to represent England." I replied, while we continued walking towards the cafeteria.

"Yeah, I get that. Always go with your gut feeling, right? What did your parents think? I mean, they must be in a bit of a struggle." Beth asked, as if it was the most normal question in the world. Though, to her it probably was.

My breath hitched a little and I couldn't find the words to give her an answer. What should I say? I didn't want her to know about my parents, because before I knew it the whole camp would know. And I do not want sympathy.

"Ehm, yeah, no, they're alright," I started to say, trying to give her the most vage answer ever, "they just want what's best for me." I replied slowly, not making eye contact with her. I saw that she just nodded in response, probably convinced by my weird answer.

Fortunately, by now we were in the cafeteria and the conversation died down a bit. It was lunch time, so everyone was already sitting at their usual tables. I saw Lauren waving me over and signalling that she had saved a chair for me.

I sat down and thanked her, while I joined in with the conversation that was already happening. Lucy and Georgia were talking about the upcoming match against Sweden, which would be tomorrow. There's no way I'm playing, since Sweden is a very tough opponent. But I was still very much looking forward to it, because it would be a great achievement if we could beat the second ranked team in the world.

"Do you think you can sleep tonight?" Lauren whispered in my ear. She was the only one who knew about my little flaw. "I hope so, but I'm not very confident." I said, while sighing slightly. I hated this. Why does this have to happen right now. Even though I still wasn't completely sure that this was what was actually going on, I was extremely scared that it was.

~~~

After lunch we had a tough training session, and after that we would have a tactical meeting. These meetings were very important, since we'd get loads of information about the opponent, and you'd also get a personal folder with everything about your direct opponent.

Most of the time, a lot of the girls got multiple folders, because they could possibly be playing multiple direct opponents. For instance, if they make a substitution, which changes your opponent, or if you get a change in position.

To my surprise, I also got exactly 3 folders. Which, now I thought about it, would be perfect to study tonight since I wouldn't be sleeping anyway. Lauren had a total of 4 folders, which she actually needed as well, since she'd definitely be playing.

My only chance of playing tomorrow would be a late substitution, or multiple people getting injured. Though, I hope it would be the first one, because I really don't want anyone to get injured. You can see how hard everyone works everyday, it would truly be such a shame if even one of them got injured.

After the meeting, the day went by incredibly quickly. We had dinner and a bit of time to ourselves. So Lauren and I decided to watch a bit of Netflix before we went to bed.

By now, I was laying in bed with my eyes wide open. There was no way I was going to be able to get some sleep. I, of course, already knew this, but secretly I had hoped that it was just a coincidence that I couldn't sleep the other night. Unfortunately, it wasn't.

And so I decided to go down stairs, to the bar, to see if Jack was awake. I took my folders with me, and told myself that I really was going to study them, incase I actually got subbed in for some reason.

A/N
- hello lovely people! It's been a long time, but I'm back!
- I've decided to probably update once a week. I know, very slow but I really don't want to put too much pressure on myself by promising that I will update a lot, right now.
- so update once a week, though it can change a little, maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less.
- for now, have a lovely day and hope you liked this one! See you soon!

:)