Sorry for the late update, hope you guys had a great weekend and enjoy the chapter 🙂
Charlie's POV:
Today was match day. We all woke up early and had breakfast. Ellie is in a very goofy mood, and I think it might be driving Kei slightly crazy. Me and Mum have just been watching, chuckling at times. When we got to the stadium, I held Mum's hand getting off the bus and Keira followed close behind with Ellie in her arms, with her ear defenders on, and clutching her Man City blanket. When we got into the changing room, I put my backpack in Mum's cubby before going over to Keira. "Are we going out to the pitch now ?", I asked Keira. Keira turned around and sat down in her cubby with Ellie at her feet. "Yeah, we'll go once Mum comes back", Keira replied, sorting out some of her stuff for after the match. I whipped my head around, looking around the changing room for Mum. "Where did she go ?", I turned back to Keira. "She just had to talk to Sarina, she'll be back in a minute", Keira explained, patting her knee, indicating for me to sit down. I cautiously perched on her knee, watching out for Ellie who had stood up between Keira's legs. Keira wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer. She trapped Ellie in between her legs and we both laughed as Ellie tried to figure out a way to escape.
As we were watching Ellie, Mum came into the changing room and walked over to us. Ellie squealed seeing Mum and reached her arms to get out of her little jail. Mum chuckled and lifted her up and tickled her. Ellie squirmed and tried to get out of Mum's arms. Mum put her down and then held her hand out for me to take. I took her hand and she started leading me out to the pitch. I checked behind us to see Keira carrying Ellie in her arms who was trying to escape and was wriggling a lot, which definitely made it hard for Keira to hold her. I carried on towards the pitch with Mum.
Once we got to the pitch I saw the Spanish team also checking the pitch out. Mum looked down at me and said "want to meet some of my new teammates ?". I looked up at her shocked and slowly nodded my head. Mum gathered that I was nervous and gave my hand a small squeeze and began leading me over to where a bunch of players stood. I recognised some of them including María Leon, Aitana Bonmati and Patri Guijarro.
Mum led me over and Aitana turned around and cheered making the whole group turn around. "Lucy !!", she squealed. I walked slightly behind Mum. Once we reached the group Mum gave the girls all side hugs, as I held tightly onto her hand. Mum gave my hand a squeeze and said "this is my daughter Charlotte", bringing me into a hug. I looked around at all the girls and they smiled over at me. Mum then spoke up again, "this is Aitana, Mapi, Patri, Claudia, Sandra and Laia". I nodded my head but didn't say anything. I turned around when I heard Keira behind us. I looked to see Keira walking with Ellie holding her hand. Ellie was pointing her finger at Mum, and dragging Keira behind her. Mum turned around and grinned. She then let go of my hand and crouched down. She opened her arms up and said "come here Ellie". Keira let go of Ellie's hand and Ellie ran into Mum's arms. Mum picked her up and smothered her in kisses, causing Ellie to giggle and wriggle in Mums arms. Keira came to stand next to me. She said a hello to the girls. Mum continued to tickle Ellie. I looked up at Mum and nudged her. She stopped tickling Ellie and then turned to the Spanish girls and said "this is Elleã, or Ellie as we call her". Ellie just giggled and wriggled in Mums arms. "Elleã, it sounds Spanish", Laia spoke up. "Sí", Mapi agreed, looking over at Mum and Keira for an explanation. Mum looked over at Keira before speaking, "we all liked the name Ellie, but we couldn't name her Ellie, because we already have one of those on our team, then we thought of Leã which is Spanish for lioness, as you all probably know, but we decided to join the two names together and it suits her too, which is perfect", Mum finished explaining. All the girls smiled and then we looked around to see we were the last ones on the pitch. "We better get going", Keira said. She took Ellie from Mum, and Mum looked at me and then asked "want a piggy back ?", I nodded eagerly and Mum bent down to let me onto her back. The Spanish girls waved goodbyes and we made our way to the changing rooms.
Mum let me down and then I raced over to my backpack and grabbed it. I went over to Keira's locker and said "I need to get Ellie in her jersey", Keira nodded and let me lead Ellie out of the changing rooms. I quickly got Ellie's jersey out of the bag and slipped it over her head, and gently pulling her arms through the sleeves. I showed her my bag, while I got my jersey on. I then put her hoodie back in and put mine on too. I took her by the hand and led her back into the changing room, where we bumped into Leah. "Tell Auntie Le whose jersey you're both wearing, I won't tell anyone", Leah pestered. I shook my head chuckling at her pleas. She crouched down in front of Ellie and looked at her. Ellie looked up at me and then looked back at Leah and giggled and then let go of my hand and ran past Leah over to Keira. Leah stood up and huffed.
I headed over to Keira who was holding Ellie in her lap with Mum stood beside her chatting. They both looked up when I reached them. "You ready to go ?", Mum asked me. I nodded my head and Mum stood up, taking my backpack from me. We started walking out of the changing room with Keira behind us, talking to Ellie. I grabbed Mums arm just as we turned the corner and headed to where I presumed our families were. "Mum ?", I asked looking up at Mum. Mum looked down at me and replied "mhmm", waiting for me to reply. "Will you please try to get me a Mapi shirt, Keira is a big girl and can get her own, and Ellie told me she wanted Mapi's shirt too", I pestered one last time. Mum chuckled at me and then said "did Ellie really say that, I'll have to ask her about that". "Please Mum", I replied. Mum shook her head chuckling, because we both knew Ellie couldn't care less whose jersey Mum got.
Mum lifted me up over the barrier where I felt a pair of arms wrap around me. I recognised the person as my Nana. I hugged her back and then turned back around to say goodbye to Mum, "good luck Mum and don't forget about the jersey". Mum chuckled again and then pressed a kiss to my head. Keira leant over to give me a hug and a kiss and then passed Ellie to Mum and I heard her whisper "cause Nana as much havoc as you did to me earlier baby girl" to Ellie. Me and mum both laughed at Keira's comment, and watched as she ran over to join in the warm up. Mum gave Ellie a tight hug and then passed her to Nana and said her goodbyes while everyone chorused good lucks her way. I turned to Nana and said "good luck with Ellie Nana, she's been in such a goofy mood all day". Nana sighed and looked at the toddler in her arms who looked all innocent and cute with her ear defenders on and clutching her Man City blanket. "I know exactly who she gets the goofiness from", Nana replied chuckling. "Who ?", I ask, even though I know exactly who she's talking about. "Your mum obviously, look at her, she's sitting on a football right now", Nana replied pointing at Mum on the pitch. I looked over and laughed, Mum is so odd.
