The next morning and they were all sat outside having a coffee together. Evie heard tales that apparently the curtains had opened every hour. She felt relieved that she was a deep sleeper and hadn't been disturbed by it.
Everything felt too relaxed. They were here having a coffee and a chat like any normal day and in barely any time at all, they'd be playing in the euro final.
None of them realised quite how big the final was until they were on the coach. There were six police cars escorting them and the loud noise of a helicopter could be heard, filming them on their way.
Each of them had been given a ticket allowance and Evie had given hers to Jamie, Jemma, Ella, Mr and Mrs Copper, Poppy and Kiyana and each of their dads plus Ava and her mum. Everyone else was bringing more people but these were all she needed. The fact she even had family there at all was enough.
As they got off the coach and walked to the stadium, their breaths were taken away. Thousands and thousands of people were all gathered, all there to watch them. This was hours before kick-off, what would it be like when it was closer?
The noise still rung in their ears as they walked inside. Once they were in, they began to get ready to warm up. They did everything as usual, Less doing her hair and the like, but it was still scary. Evie actually couldn't do it. She only had one boot on when she ran into the toilets, only just making it as she threw up. She was so scared.
Quickly she locked the cubicle door and curled up onto the floor, the nervous sobs coming from deep within. What if they lost? What if she played badly? What if everything they'd worked for was taken away from them?
A knock at the door pulled her from her thoughts.
"Kiddo? You okay?" Leah's voice asked.
"Fine. Go warm up. I'll be alright," Evie lied, her voice raspy.
"No. I'm not leaving you. Open the door."
"Please just leave it. I don't want to ruin this for you."
"You won't. Please open the door. I want to help you. It can distract my nerves at the very least."
Evie reached up and pulled the lock. Leah stepped inside and shut the door, before sitting down next to her.
"What's up?" Leah asked.
"I actually can't do this. I'm not good enough. I can't compete at this level."
"Yes you can. You're world class. I know you're young but use that. Use your passion and your instincts."
"What if I play badly? What if we lose? What then? We've worked so hard. We can't lose now."
"We're going to give this everything we've got. We might lose and that won't be nice but if we do at least will be able to say we gave it a bloody good go. That's what's so good about this team. We care. We work for each other. We need you kiddo otherwise this doesn't work. We need every single one of us to be out there, on the pitch or the bench, for us to work at our best. I know we can do it and I know it will be tough but we could win. We could leave today with a trophy. Come on. We need your help. And we want you to do well as well. I have so much belief in you, in every single member of this team. We could fucking win this thing," Leah said, her arm wrapped around Evie's shoulders. Her words had worked and she felt more relaxed. Win or lose they'd already done so much. They'd gotten this far, might as well give it a good fucking go.
Sarina had gone to check they were okay and over heard everything Leah had said. That was exactly why she'd made her captain.
They all made it out to the warmups. The crowd roared as they went out. It was loud. And it wasn't even full yet.
Evie tried to shut everything off and just focus on the warm up. It was very difficult but with the ball at her feet, she was relaxed.
When they went into the changing rooms, they were having a whole tactical rethink. Popp had been injured. This consisted of a last-minute change and all of them hung onto Sarina's every word as she spoke.
With all the tactics said, they huddled together, arms wrapped around each other, ready to hear exactly what Sarina had to say.
"We don't need to win today, but we really, really want to."
With that they were ready. This was it. Now or never.
They went out and took their places on the bench. Evie was sat on the end of the row with Lotte next to her. She felt so sick but there was nothing she could do now.
All of them stood with their arms around each other as the national anthem blared out over the ground. It was packed and the noise was unlike anything Evie had heard before.
Her heart was pounding and she felt like being violently sick. This wasn't it. The game was tense and she spent the whole time with her head between her knees, or pacing up and down. She was putting all her nervous energy into little repetitive movements. It wasn't helping in any way but she couldn't help it.
"Are you alright? Do you need anything?" Beth England as she leant forward and put her hands on Evie's shoulders.
"I'm fine," she replied. Big lie. But what could be done?
It was tense. Very, very tense.
England had started the game on top but they weren't finishing their chances. It then switched to Germany having more of the possession.
A complete scramble led Evie to duck down and hide her face. She couldn't watch. There was a big cheer and Lotte patted her on the back, telling her it was okay, Mary had it.
Then there was more concern, a potential penalty check.
"What's happened?" all of them on the bench were asking. None of them were really sure, it had been too chaotic they couldn't see properly.
Eventually it was confirmed it wasn't a pen and they all breathed a sigh of relief. Mary was having a cracker saving everything and keeping them in it.
They went into half time all square. The main question they had was what had the penalty been about.
"It was for me. It hit my shoulder. Dodgy one though. I've seen them given," Leah explained, beyond relieved that nothing had come of it. They discussed more tactics and then were back out.
They were to give it ten minutes before Ella, Less and Evie would be on. She felt good that she could do something but she also felt terrified.
The crowd roared as the three of them entered the pitch. They'd become the super subs throughout the tournament and people were expecting a lot.
It was a little odd at first. Evie couldn't block the crowd out and it was making her head spin. The ball went out of play for a throw in and Lucy came over and took her face gently in her hands.
"I know it's hard. But focus on the game. We want this. We're going to get it," she said. Evie nodded. She needed to calm down.
Not even five minutes after they'd come on, Keira sent the perfect ball for Ella to run onto. It flew perfectly through the air, avoiding the defenders, and landed beautifully at her feet.
Tooney just ran with it before chipping it expertly over the keeper. The stadium erupted. The noise was deafening as Evie ran to celebrate. She felt on top of the world.
They all bounced around, overjoyed to be in front.
Now with the confidence that the goal had given them, Evie was more in it. She was slotting into her comfort zone and creating some brilliant passages of play.
"Fuck!" she yelled as she poked it round the side of the post. That should've been in.
Everything was picking up a bit and Germany were making some brilliant chances as well. Mary was yet again forced to make an incredible save.
Evie got the ball on the halfway line. She ran and ran, scanning round for an option. She picked out Less who skilled up a player before tapping it back to her. It was a very physical game and Evie found herself being thrown onto the floor.
Just over ten minutes from the end and disaster struck. Germany got a goal. To be fair to them it was a cracker but frustrating nevertheless. They reset and went again but something was off. Their concentration lapsed for 30 seconds and they conceded another one.
Two in two minutes; what was happening?! From that moment their hunger was intensified. They wanted this. They wanted it so badly it hurt. Evie was in her element. They'd got this far, she wasn't letting them lose now.
She outran players, created passes, did everything she usually did. Their only problem was they couldn't seem to score. The minutes were going by, every minute getting closer to them being out. That couldn't happen it just couldn't.
They were dominating and pounded attack after attack. The Germany defence were cracking and they knew their goal would come soon but how soon? They didn't have long left.
It was four minutes from the end when they won another corner. Lauren set up to take it and she whipped it in. Evie was sat off just outside the box and she watched as it bobbled around. It was so scrappy and no one could get any solid touches to it.
Eventually it got poked away and began rolling towards her. She had a player on her but as the ball touched her foot, it was as if it stuck it to it. She dragged the ball round the defender before smashing it towards the goal.
It was hit with such power that it curled spectacularly through the air. Time seemed to slow down as she willed it to go in. After what felt like an eternity the ball thundered off the underside of the bar and exploded into the back of the net.
Holy shit! She'd done it! A banger to keep them in it.
She sprinted off. They weren't out! It was still possible!
After sprinting a little way, her teammates behind her, all of them screaming and cheering as much as her, she slid onto her knees.
Her arms were outstretched as she took in the crowd. All those thousands of people, screaming and jumping up and down. All because of her.
Soon her teammates had bundled her to the ground and she could hardly tell who was who as they hugged her, patted her on the back and kissed her.
Nothing would ever beat that feeling, the feeling of scoring a goal for her country in a final. It was something she wanted to bottle up and keep for the rest of her life.
They went to reset and spent the last few minutes of normal time battling hard to get one. The goal had given them such confidence and Evie was having a belter. She wanted this so badly. She needed it.
When the whistle went, they all walked over to Sarina. There was no time to celebrate their two incredible goals, focus now was on finishing the job.
Adrenaline was pumping through Evie's veins, all she wanted to do was play and play and play. She could keep going forever.
After giving some solid tactical advice, Sarina finished in her usual calming manor.
"Do the best you can. That's all we can do."
With that they were back out, ready to play and prove who they were.
Both teams were fighting hard. They wanted this and they'd do anything to win. Despite the circumstances, Evie felt relatively calm. This was fun. She was enjoying it. She was loving pelting down the wing and even though the situation was a serious one, a smile couldn't help but creep onto her face.
She sent in a beautifully weighted cross that fell for Less to poke goalwards. The keeper snatched it out of the air before booting it up for a counterattack. It was all very end to end.
The first half of extra time was a deadlock with both teams attacking and defending with everything they could.
They were ten minutes from the end when Lauren whipped in a corner. Evie didn't see who poked it in, she only heard the eruption from the crowd and saw it bobbling in the back of the net.
She ran off after her teammates, only realising who it was as she spotted Chloe swinging her shirt round her head. They screamed and celebrated, all of them over the moon to be ahead once more.
From that moment it was all about time wasting. They kept the ball in the corner, rolled it between themselves and generally wound up the German players. It was working spectacularly.
The minutes were dragging by. Evie kept looking to the ref, praying she had the whistle in her mouth.
She was in the middle of the pitch when the whistle finally did go, confirming it. They'd won. They'd actually won.
Nothing could explain how she felt. She was so happy but even that didn't cut it. It was as if everything had aligned, all the hard work, everything she'd overcome, all of it was coming together now. European champions. How about that?
She sprinted over to Leah who was on the floor bawling her eyes out.
"We did it baby," she shouted over the noise as Evie slid into her arms.
"We did it!" Evie repeated. The two of them spent a moment just crying and allowing it to sink in. They'd done it. They'd fucking done it.
Soon enough they'd been mobbed. They were all so happy and celebrated so hard.
Together they ran around the pitch, singing, screaming, dancing, doing whatever they could to celebrate. This was their moment. They were going to take it all in.
Evie spotted Lena Oberdorf, a young German player, sat on the floor and looking upset. She was an incredible footballer and Evie had massive respect for her. She went over, wanting to comfort her in any way she could.
She stuck out her hand and Lena shook it.
"You are an incredible player. I've loved watching you this tournament. I hope we get to play again soon."
"Thank you," she said, a weak smile on her face, "You're incredible as well. One of the best players I've ever come up against. You have a bright future. Who knows? Maybe we'll be seeing a lot more of each other in years to come."
Sounds of 'Sweet Caroline' and 'It's Coming Home' blared around Wembley, thousands and thousands of people singing along.
They jumped up and down, screaming loudly and doing it with the fans. This is why they played football. This is what all the years of dedication had been for.
Between them all, they'd probably hugged about a million times. They were a team. They'd done this together.
Soon enough, a man in a suit was gathering them all together.
"Girls, girls, guard of honour," he said.
"Not you two," he said to Evie and Beth as they went with the rest of the girls.
"Why?" Beth asked.
"You've won young player and player of the tournament. The guard of honour is for you."
As if things couldn't get any more surreal. Evie's jaw dropped. Young player of the tournament. No way.
She went first, the beam fixed on her face as her teammates cheered loudly.
"Super star!"
"Star girl!"
She reached the podium and shook Prince William's hand. Prince William. The heir to the throne.
"I'm so proud of you and what've you achieved. You have a very exciting career ahead of you," he said as he shook her hand. She didn't know what to say. It wasn't every day that you were presented with royalty.
"Thank you sir," she said, still in disbelief at the whole thing. She was handed a trophy. Her trophy.
She went and re-joined the others, handing it to Arjan for safe keeping as she cheered for Beth to collect hers.
After applauding the Germany team through, they went up to collect their medals. Evie admired it as she turned it over in her hand. It was beautiful. And it was hers.
All of them gathered together on the podium, waiting for Leah to come over with the trophy.
"The winner of the UEFA women's euros 2022!" a man announced over the loud speakers.
Their anticipation was building as Leah walked over, a huge grin on her face.
"ENGLANDDD!!!" he cheered, everyone in the stadium exploding with him.
"Get right in there!!" Evie yelled.
They leapt up and down, screaming 'It's Coming Home'.
After the madness of everything, all the girls wanted to do was see their families.
Evie climbed along the top of the metal wires, not caring that they were scraping against her knees. She had her medal around her neck and her young player of the tournament trophy in her hand.
When she spotted Jamie, the tears began to flow again. They were both weeping as they embraced. Things had changed so much.
Once they'd broken apart, Jemma handed Ella over to her. She had ear defenders on and was smiling at the sight of her Auntie.
"No sad," she said as she used her little hands to wipe the tears from Evie's cheeks.
"I'm not sad. I'm very, very happy," she said, kissing her niece on the forehead.
She spoke a bit more with her friends and Mrs Cooper before going back to the team. There'd be plenty of time to chat at the after party.
Evie ran and slid straight onto her front, joining her teammates who were lying on the grass. They lobbed confetti at each other and acted like oversized children.
Together, they spent ages on the pitch. Even when most of the fans had gone, they still stayed. Soaking it in. Enjoying the place where they'd made history.
The celebrations wouldn't stop. Not even when they made it back to the changing room. The playlist was stuck on and they carried on their party.
Now they'd cracked the alcohol open and Evie was handed a can of sprite. They were being filmed so it couldn't be made to look like she was drinking. Not that that was stopping them.
"What are you two up to?" Sarina asked as she spotted Leah and Evie huddled into a corner.
"Nothing," Leah replied as she poured a can of beer into the youngsters fizzy drinks can. Sarina just laughed. They deserved this.
In that changing room, the atmosphere was something else. All of them were together, dancing and enjoying their win.
Evie wasn't sure exactly what was happening but her teammates were all running from the room. She followed. From the way they were giggling they were obviously up to no good.
They burst into the conference room, loudly singing 'It's Coming Home'. It was chaos with all of them bouncing and then suddenly Mary was on the table. Sarina just sat and laughed.
With their song done, they ran from the room, giggling like little kids and going back to enjoy their party.
They felt on top of the universe, like at any moment they'd be able to take off.
***
A/N: If Millie Bright is badly injured I'm going to actually weep