We had one more event that we had to attend before we would return back home. One that probably had me the most excited. None other than Taylor Swift had called our manager and had invited us to join her on stage during her concert here in LA.
"Can you believe that we're gonna meet Taylor Swift?!" Sam yelled excitedly.
"I guess not." I shrugged my shoulders.
"Of course she can, it's normal for Ellie." Sonnet smirked. I scoffed at the defender.
"I think you have mistaken me for the other Queen sibling. Penny is the one that works in showbiz and with celebrities, not me." I pointed out.
"Who says anything about working with them?" Kelley joined the conversation with Rose right behind her.
"Exactly." Sonnet pointed at Kelley, who seemed to understand what the blonde was talking about. I however didn't.
"What are you weirdos talking about now?" I sighed, probably looking really confused.
"We know you don't know a lot of celebrities besides the Glee cast. You ARE the celebrity." Rose laughed.
"No I'm not." I crossed my arms over my chest.
Alex walked up to us and swung her arm around my shoulder.
"Yes you are." She smirked. "My manager just called. Maroon 5 is making a music video for their new song 'Girls like you' and they want female celebrities to appear in it. They asked if I was interested in doing so an-"
"See, she is the celebrity." I smirked at everyone.
"Aw!" I rubbed the back of my head that Alex just had hit.
"I wasn't finished." She playfully glared. "As I was saying they asked if I wanted to ask you to appear as well." She smiled proudly.
"They want me? To appear? In their music video?" I looked surprised. Alex just nodded.
"See! Celebrity!" Sonnet laughed while I just sent her a glare.
"Alright ladies! Let's get ready! We can't let Miss Swift wait." Carli walked into the room. We all grabbed our bags and started to get ready.
It was a half-hour before the concert and everyone was ready, chilling and hanging around in the backstage room when there was a knock on the door. In came Taylor Swift herself.
She introduced herself individually to all of my teammates until she finally reached me.
"Hey, you're Eleanore Queen. I'm Taylor. I'm a big fan of yours." She pulled me into a hug. I was way too shocked to even react. I just stood there in her arms.
"Yeah that's me. Uhm you're a fan?" I asked her, shocked.
"Yeah, I am and even more so after the way you've handled the press and the president. Would you mind giving me one of those media lessons?" We both laughed.
"You think we could get a picture together?" She held up her phone.
"Sure." I went to stand next to her and we both smiled at the camera.
Once the picture was taken, we took one with her and the whole team. Then she had to excuse herself because she had to get ready for her show.
"See you on stage." She winked at me and I waved.
"See, celebrity." Sonnet came up from behind me, making me jump.
"Shut up." I punched her arm when suddenly my phone pinged. It was a notification from Instagram saying that I had a new follower and someone mentioned me in a post. When I saw who it was I almost dropped my phone.
"Holy shit! Taylor Swift just started following you and posted a picture of the both of you together on her insta!" Mal yelled out after she had picked up my phone.
"What does it say?" Ali Asked.
"You know, just a normal day, meeting a goat and then a heart behind it." Mal read out loud.
"That's sick!" Ash yelled.
"Alright ladies, time to go." One of the backstage people said.
It was time for us to take our place. First we would watch the show a bit till it was time for us to get on stage. It was during the song 'Style' that Taylor introduced us.
"Please welcome home with a win from the women's world cup, the US women's soccer team!" She pointed at where we would walk out.
We walked out from our hiding spot and danced our way over to her. Alex was in the front with Kelley beside her and I was behind them with rest following close behind.
When we reached Taylor up front, she grabbed my hand and started dancing with me till the end of the song.
"First of all, we wanna congratulate you guys for bringing home the trophy." The crowd started cheering for us
"Second of all, I saw on Instagram that you guys know how to party, something that we can definitely use here." Now it was our turn to cheer.
"Now, I saw something else on Instagram, it turns out that someone here on the team has another talent besides being one of the best soccer players in the world." She looked at the team this time, searching for me.
This grabbed my attention. I immediately took a step back, hiding behind Christen and Tobin but it was no use when she found me behind them.
"Eleanore would you do me the honors of singing a song with me?" All eyes were on me now. There was no way I was getting out of this. My teammates started cheering and pushing me to the front.
Taylor pushed a mic in my hands and the crowd erupted. "Seems like they really want you to sing." She smirked.
"Okay, I guess." I said unsure.
I got set up with the equipment that I needed when Taylor gave me some reassuring words. She told me what song we were gonna sing and that everything was going to be fine.
When the beats of 'Don't blame me' started I closed my eyes and hoped that I wouldn't make a fool out of myself.
At the beginning of the song I felt very uncomfortable but after every second that passed by, I started to feel more at ease.
When the song ended, Taylor pulled me into a hug and then turned to the crowd.
"Eleanore Queen and the US women's soccer team everybody!" We waved one final time at the crowd and went to our places to enjoy the rest of the show.
When the show had ended a staff member of Taylor came to get us and guided us towards the backstage area. Apparently Taylor had asked us to stay behind a bit to hang out.
I grabbed a drink when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Taking a sip of my water, I turned around, choking on my water when I saw who was standing in front of me.
"Hey I'm Selena, this is Blake, Cara and Zendaya." The black haired woman before me introduced herself and her friends. Not that they needed any introduction.
"Uhm hey. Uhm I'm Eleanore." I barely got out because of the shock.
"Yeah we know ever since Taylor made us watch the world cup we kind of became a pretty big fan." Blake Lively chuckled at the shocked state I was in.
"Although I like you a little less now for kicking England out of the tournament." Cara playfully glared at me, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Yeah, sorry about that." I scratched the back of my neck, laughing.
"Nah no worries. You were a badass out there." The English woman waved me off.
Zendaya added "And not just in the field but off it as well." A light blush crept onto my cheeks.
"The way you stood up for your teammates or to the president was sick!"
"Yeah, your press conferences were my favorite thing to watch. The way you handled those journalists was brilliant." Cara smirked.
"I guess." I shrugged.
"Do you think we could maybe get a picture with you?" Selena took out her phone.
"With me?" I asked them in shock, pointing towards myself.
"Yeah, with who else?" Zendaya laughed.
"Uhm yeah sure." I shrugged my shoulders and was about to stand in between the women until someone interrupted us.
"Alright ladies move." Hey I'm Ryan Reynolds and I don't know what these women have told you but I can assure you they are lying because I am your biggest fan." He pushed them aside and stuck out his hand for me to shake, while the others playfully glared at him.
"If you want me to, I can dump Blake and we can elope together." He said, making me laugh.
"Ha, you're too late man, her heart already belongs to someone else." Kelley suddenly appeared behind me.
"No it doesn't." I glared at the brunette. Hearing myself say it out loud made me realize that it maybe sounded a bit weird, making my eyes go wide.
"I mean not that you should break up with Blake and date me, I mean you're hot but not really my type." I tried to explain myself only making Blake laugh more.
"Don't worry I would dump him for you too." She assured me.
"Well I for one I'm single." Cara said, pushing Ryan to the side a bit.
"She comes closer but still not her." Kelley pointed at Cara. I glared at my friend, hoping she would keep her mouth shut.
"Kelley shut up." I glared at her.
"I feel there is something behind this." Selena said amused.
"No there isn't" I said at the same time as Kelley said "yes there is."
"Kelley." I glared at her again. Challenging her to continue.
But with Kelley there is rarely backing down. "Ellie." She accepted the challenge and looked amused.
"You are aware that you're dating my sister."
"I am." Still with that amused smile on her face.
"And that I've known you for a very long time." I pointed out.
"I know."
"We've done things together," again hearing me say it out loud made me realize it sounded all wrong. Without breaking eye contact with Kelley I held a finger out to the rest of the group. "Not in sexual way, that she shouldn't know off." I continued on.
Kelley simply smiled at my statement. "You are aware that that goes both ways right?" Her smile turned into a smirk.
"Crap." I mumbled. "I didn't really think this through." I crossed my arms over my chest.
"So who is the lucky girl?" Blake asked.
"Alexia Putellas." "No one." Kelley and I both said at the same time. For the millionth time in this conversation I glared at the brunette.
"I'm gonna kill you." I mumbled.
"Oh yeah she's hot." It was Cara who said that. Not gonna lie, hearing her say that about Alexia did something to me.
"I missed my shot didn't I?" Ryan mumbled. Looking down in fake sadness.
"Don't worry, you'll get over it. You've got me." Blake wrapped an arm around his shoulder.
"I guess it's an okay consolation prize." He shrugged, making me chuckle.
"I see you've already met my friends. I hope they're behaving?" I turned around and came face to face with Taylor.
"Yeah, it's mine I'm more worried about." I chuckled, making Kelley glare.
"You should quit soccer and become a full time singer." Taylor pointed out.
"Ha yeah no. I love singing and although I've sung in front of people twice now I think I'm just gonna stick with singing in the shower." I laughed.
"Too bad If you ever change your mind, you know where to find me." She smirked.
It was time to go home now and spend some days with my family before I would go back to Barcelona.
Upon arriving home, the house was completely decorated with banners, streamers and other party essentials.
Kelley, Christen, Tobin and I got out of the car and looked at each other with raised eyebrows. I looked at Christen one more time, grabbing my suitcase from the trunk.
"Don't ask me." She shrugged her shoulders.
We continued to walk to the house. Before I had a chance to open the door, it swung open. In the door stood our families. Not only mine and Christens but also the O'Hara and Heat family.
"Congratulations!" They all yelled, popping confetti bombs. We greeted our families and got settled inside and caught up with everyone.
"Hey I thought I might find you here." Penny said while she climbed through my window. After awhile I was starting to get overwhelmed with everything so I had snuck out to my room, well to the roof really.
"Oh yeah. Uhm I'm just a bit tired." I shrugged looking at her before I turned my focus back on my laptop.
"You're watching glee." My sister came to sit beside me.
"I am." I said without taking my eyes from the screen.
"What's wrong?" This did catch my attention. I looked at her trying to convince her that I was fine.
"Nothings wrong. Why would there be something wrong?"
"You're watching glee. It's either Glee or friends. So what's up?" I sighed, who was I kidding, she knows be better than anyone.
"You think he would be proud of me?" I asked her in a small voice.
Penny let out a small breath. Losing Cory wasn't easy on any of us. As close as I was with Cory, so was my sister. She lost her best friend and a brother figure that day too.
"He would be over the moon." She chuckled "he would have been there in France and he would have embarrassed you with Alexia." She smirked, making me laugh.
"I can imagine. He would probably have said that it was in the job description of being a brother." I laughed with my sister.
After a couple of seconds our laughter died down.
"This is your moment. Okay? Three years in the making. Forget about everything else. Take it." Cory said, well more like his character Finn said in the episode I was watching.
"I really miss him." I sobbed. My sister threw her arm around me and pulled me closer to her.
"Me too."
Soon we were joined by all the other 'kids' on the roof. Nothing was said. Everyone just took a seat with their blankets draped around them and watched glee with me.
The next day was the last day I would spend at home before going to Barcelona. I had eaten breakfast with my sister, Kelley and Austin when I got ready to leave the house.
"Where are you going?! Are you already leaving?!" My little brother panicked.
"No, don't worry kiddo. I'll be back before lunch. There are some things I need to do first." I ruffled his hair.
"Promise?" He held out his pinky.
I chuckled. "I promise." I interlocked his pinky with mine. "Besides I have to kick your cute little butt in soccer before I go back." I smirked.
"Not a chance."
After a short walk I reached my destination. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, it was relatively hot and birds were singing but nothing could make this place cheerful.
I stood in front of her grave, the woman that, beside my mom and Amanda was like a mom figure for me. I must have stood there for quite a while when I felt someone stand beside me.
"She is proud of you."
"You think so?" I asked the man next to me, not taking my eyes off the gravestone.
"I still remember the day we took you to Christine's last Stanford game of her first season. You were six and she gave you her shirt. You instantly put it on and kept it on for three days straight." The man laughed and for the first time you looked at him, laughing as well.
"I remember." I chuckled.
"Your mom wasn't really happy about that anyway the next day you ran into our house yelling for Stacy to come check out your jersey and you asked her to do your hair in a bun just like Christens and she did. When she was finished you turned to look at her and told her that now you were just like Christen. You remember what she told you?" He raised an eyebrow.
"That I didn't need to be like her. That being me was more than enough." I breathed out.
"Once Christen came into the room, you ran off to play soccer with her in our backyard. That's when she told me that you were destined for great things. That you would become the greatest soccer player the world had ever seen and that you would grow into this beautiful, strong and resilient woman and she was right. The way you handled the pressure, the press, how you stood up for your teammates and stood up to the president. She's proud of you." He stared at me with a small smile on his face.
"You think so?" I looked at him again but with tears in my eyes this time.
"I know so." He wrapped me in his arms and that's how we stood there for a couple of minutes. Staring at her grave, wishing she'd still be here.
I enjoyed the time I had left with my family to the fullest. Trying to spend as much time with them as I could but now it was time for a new chapter, a new beginning.
And I was more than ready.