this is me trying

Chapter 3 - Earth to Eva

"Don't listen to her," Lucy then said, nudging Keira softly. I smiled, knowing what it was like to feel the way Keira felt. Feeling stuck in a place. Except, I liked feeling stuck, Keira definitely did not.

"You've played in France, right?" I asked Lucy.

"Yeah, Lyon."

"What was that like?" I asked her.

"Incredible. Definitely would love to play in Europe again."

"That would be a dream," I said.

"Would you want to? Play in Europe, I mean?" Keira asked.

"I think so," I replied. "But, I've only just got here. Definitely no plans for anything else yet." Lucy laughed softly, but I could sense that neither Lucy nor Keira would be here much longer. They both felt too big for this place. Too big for Manchester. And for me, I felt too small.

We arrived at the ground, and we were to hear the starting line up. I didn't expect to start. I was new to the team, and definitely didn't command a place. I didn't want it to seem to others that I was vying for anything I didn't deserve. I didn't want to feel too big. I liked feeling small.

"Right, so, Roebuck, Esme, Steph, Alex, Demi, Georgia, Eva, Caroline, Raso, Bunny and Janine," Gareth said, pointing to the whiteboard and showing us the formation. I would be playing in the 6. I could swap between defensive and central midfield quite seamlessly, but I didn't think I would start. But, when I started to think about it, it made sense. We had no other defensive midfielder, besides myself, as Keira wasn't in for the game.

As I sat at my locker, my jersey hanging up behind me, I counted the laces on my boots. My Superfly 2's are not in good condition, but I couldn't change them. I'd been wearing them too long now that they fit my feet perfectly, never gave me blisters, and made me play well. Without them, I would be awful. I wouldn't know how to play.

The 12 laces felt good. 12 is divisible by two to make six. And I like six. If there were 14 laces, I wouldn't like that. I don't like seven. Seven is a bad number. Seven means bad things. Seven is bad luck. I don't like seven.

We soon lined up, and as I stood behind Hayley, I counted how many people were between me and the keeper.

"Can we swap?" I asked Hayley.

"Sure," she said, taking my mascot, and I took hers. This way I was two people behind the keeper. Two. I like two.

We walked out, and soon started the game.

For the first twenty minutes, it was tight. We were getting shots on target, but none were going in. We couldn't quite get that edge to push a lead. That was until Georgia got the first goal in the 26th minute. It was a great goal, and Lucy called it a 'typical G goal'.

Janine then scored in the 36th minute, Bunny in the 38th. We had secured ourselves a 3-0 lead going into half time.

In the second half, Steph headed another goal in, and I was subbed out in the 72nd minute. I had provided an assist for Georgia, and Janine, and I was happy with that debut.

Eva.valtersen22: +3 and happy to have made my debut! Many more like this to come <3

+3 og glad for å ha debutert! Mange flere som dette kommer

Hayleyraso: amazing girl!

Stanway.georgia: who is this superstar and where did she come from?

Janinebeckie4: thx for the assist ;)

Ingrid_engen: rocking that midfield like I always knew you could. So proud of you my best friend xx