"Hi girls" Rachel Daly says as my teammates and I all enter our allocated changing room. We all had a shirt hanging up, as if this was an actual match which was quite fun. We also each had a coach who could give us advice and stuff but we all had to do the main organising.
"Nice to meet you all" Keira says, smiling at us as the others stand awkwardly at the door and only Beth and I enter the room.
"Come on" Beth says pulling them all in, where they again stood awkwardly. I guess it was all less awkward for me as I knew all of them, however I wasn't sure how keen I was on everyone knowing just yet. And for Beth, she was just naturally an extrovert by the seams of it.
The coach then introduces everyone to each other and does a recap on what we're meant to be doing. We all then go to our sections and start getting changed. Luckily, mine is between Keira and Alex, so this gives me a chance to talk to Keira.
"Keira, please can you not tell anyone about mum" I whisper, bending over to untie my laces.
"Yeah that's fine, how's it going so far?" She whispers back
"It's great, I'm really enjoying it but I didn't know about all of this"
"We did" she laughs quietly
"So you just thought you wouldn't tell me" I frown
"Yep" Keira smirks.
I think one of the other girls, Beth, who I beat at FIFA, notices me talking to Keira, but luckily she doesn't say anything, or at least not now.
Once we're all changed, Alex, our nominated captain, does a quick team talk, and then we head out to the pitch we'll be playing on.
As we walked over, I chatted to Liv, and I could see the other team were already on the pitch, doing a rondo. I was really hoping mum wasn't going to say anything because i don't want to be seen differently just because of my mum. I knew eventually I'd have to tell them, but at the moment, I'd like to prove myself to them first.
As we get closer and enter the astro, I see the team look over to us, which includes mum. She is looking right at me, smirking so I send her a quick scowl, without anyone seeing. She laughs and then continues their rondo.
Our team also begins a rondo, with Alex in the middle to start with. We pass it round, laughing as she tries her best to get one of us. Eventually, an unfortunate touch from Keira, leads to her being in the middle, and having to chase the ball. Beth passes me the ball and Keira is straight at me. Knowing her too well and having done countless one-on-ones with her in the garden before, i knew that Keira would expect me to fake one way and pass to the other. She would move one leg towards the fake but leave the other still so that she could change to the other side quickly if necessary. So I faked to the left, pulled it back quickly and tapped it straight through the space between her legs, into the feet of Liv.
"Wheyyyyy" Everyone shouts and I just run as fast as I can, knowing exactly what's coming.
"You bloody idiot" Keira says as she jumps on me.
"I know you too well kei"
"You'll pay for that"
"Sure" I sarcastically say back then duck and run the other way, escaping the next jump at me. I return back to the group, who have now started the next warm up and join them, turning to see Keira walking over smirking at me. If it was anyone else, I wouldn't care less however the fact it was Keira meant that she could quite easily do anything as pay back and get away with it. I could only guess what it could be.
Ep
One of the coaches, who was acting as a referee, blew his whistle, signalling the captain's over and we all bunched together in a team huddle. Once Alex has returned, she goes over the final tactics and encouragement and then we all run off, towards our positions. I would be paying in centre midfield, alongside Keira. It was actually the first match I'd ever played with her so it was quite exciting.
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"Great game girls" Alex says, as she goes round high diving everyone. We'd beaten mum's team 3:2, myself getting a goal and an assist. I had thoroughly enjoyed the game, and it made it even more fun playing against mum, especially when not many knew that she was my mum.
.................................................................................................
"Let's goo" I shout as I smash the ball top left and into the back of the net, after faking a right and beating Leah. She jokingly shoved me and said "You're better than your mum, I'll give you that"
This recurved a few confused looks from the other girls (those on the U18's), and I smirked over at mum who was standing rolling her eyes.
My assist came as I stood with the ball in midfield searching for my move. I noticed Rachel hanging around near mum, ready to make a move so I looped the ball over everyone, it landing perfectly at her feet, before she chips it over the goalie.
"What a pass Maise" Keira says, nudging me as we watch Rachel score.
"What can I say, I learnt from the best" I shrug, smiling.
"Who taught you, did keira? When did she teach you?" I hear Beth say from behind me.
"Oh just at some man city summer camp" I bend the truth slightly. She did teach me and she technically had taught me at a summer camp I went to once so I wasn't fully lying. In reality, we spent hours in the garden, or at a park or wherever you could play football, pinging the ball from one end to the other between us, but Beth didn't have to know that yet.
"Oh cool" Beth accepts and moves away again, back into position. I see Keira smirking at me and I just shake my head.
"I'll tell her at some point" I whisper
"I reckon they'll find out before you tell them"
"Probably" I laugh and the game kicks off again.
.................................................................................................
I eventually get round to shake mum's hand, who's standing chatting with Lia. I sneak up on her and jump on her back, her just about catching me.
"Good game Maise, I hope that's the last time I'll have to play you" she says, laughing.
"Well when I'm playing for man united..." I start
"You'll do no such thing" Keira buts in, pulling me off mum's back.
"What you gonna do when I'm 18 and can do what I like then?" I tilt my head, smirking, knowing I'd never commit such a crime.
"Disown you" Mum and Keira both say
"Wow, I'm really surrounded by robots, escape while you can Lia"
"It's lucky my mum's a man city fan then" she answers.
"Jeez, you've basically described my mum: into football, supports man city and Portuguese" I shake my head
"You're Portuguese too?" Mum asks, shocked.
"Yeah, half" Lia nods
"Her full name's Adelina" I add.
"Wow, same as your middle name" mum laughs
"Yeah, I was named after my great grandma apparently"
"What!" Mum says, her mouth hanging open in shock.
"What?" Lia and I just say, both as confused as each other.
"Maisie's also named after my grandma Adelina, this is uncanny" She says, scratching her head.
"I am? I didn't even know that" I shrug.
"What's your mum and grandma's name?" Mum asks. I can see about a million clocks whirling in her head but I'm not sure why exactly she's asking this many questions.
"Umm, Maria is my mum and I think my grandma's Ana"
I see mum's eyes widen and she looks likes she's completely dazed. "Tia Ana" She half whispers a smile appearing on her face, turning to me, "that's the same name as my auntie"
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Once we'd all got over the shock of Lia potentially being my second cousin, everyone had headed into the changing rooms. I say goodbye to Mum and Keira and Lia and I head back to our section of st George's where we meet everyone in the chill room.
"Oi oi, baby superstar coming in" Beth shouts as we enter the room. I try not to laugh, acting offended at the baby part. "What, it's true" She shrugs. I've grown to like Beth's unusual ways and now I know her, I find her less intimidating and more funny. She actually reminds me a lot of the other Beth, as in Beth mead, so maybe it's just something about the name.
I plonk myself next to her, on the beanbag, and get my phone out, refreshing Instagram. I see Keira's posted something on her close friends, and when I open it, I see it's a video of my pass, which she must have got from one of the coaches, with the caption, 'My work here is done🐐'
I laugh accidentally, causing Beth to peer at my phone. "Who's that?" She asks.
"Oh, nobody", I say closing the story
"Was that Keira walsh's private story?" She says a bit too loudly. "Wait is that Georgia Stanway's private too?" She asks, noticing the green circle around her name on my insta home page.
"Yes it is now shut up" I hiss, not meaning to be rude, but not wanting anyone else to hear.
"Alrigh alright, but how the fuck are you on there? Are you friends with them or something?" She whispers
"Something like that" I reply, closing my phone and putting it away before she sees anything else. "FIFA or pool?" I ask, trying to change the subject.
.................................................................................................
A little while later, there's at least 10 of us, all in the pool, mucking about. I was half expecting mum's teammates to turn up, seeing as this was a mixed pool, and low and behold... they did.
"INCOMING" I hear someone scream and then a massive splash, shocks all of us. The extremely distinctive voice of Georgia meant that it didn't surprise me when her head popped up and stared at us, looking as shocked as the rest of us. "Oh fuck, I didn't know you were all in here, sorry, KERIA DO NOT" she says, suddenly swimming away. We then hear the same yelling as both Keira and Leah bomb into the pool sending an even bigger wave over us. Their faces were even more of a picture as both of them put their hands to their mouths. "Oops, didn't know they were in here" I hear Leah say.
"Thanks for that girls" I say, forgetting I was trying to stay out of the limelight.
"Ayy, Maisie" Georgia says swimming over, "these are your teammates?"
"Yeah" I quickly introduced everyone. I think their arrival slightly scared off some of the others, as everyone but Lia, Beth and I got out of the pool and went to get changed.
"Where are the others then?" I ask, surprised that no one else had joined.
"Oh they're just coming, don't you worry, we'll know about it when your mum gets here" Georgia splurts out, clearly not thinking as she gets a sharp elbow from Keira and her eyes widen. "I mean when Lucy gets here, yeah"
"Did she just say your mum?" Beth buts in.
"Um, no"
"Yeah she did, wait, don't tell me lu-"
"HELLO MOTHERFUCKERS" I hear mum scream as she runs and jumps right in, landing on Georgia and pushing her under.
"LUCY!" Keira shouts, trying not to laugh.
"What?" Mum says, "oh shit" mum says as she turns around, "oh sh- sugar" she says again as she notices it's me, her eyes widening and a slight laughing tugging at her mouth. "You didn't hear that Maisie"
"You bastard" Georgia shouts as she re-emerges and jumps onto mum, pushing her under. The two fight for a minute, pushing each other under before Keira and Leah manage to break them up.
"She's definitely your mum" Beth states, looking slightly fazed.
"Well done, top teir detective skills" I slowly clap, smirking.
"Woah, so she really is, that's so cool"
"Glad to know that you think I'm cool" mum states.
"Come off it Luce" Keira says, nudging her.
"You can't tell anyone though Beth, this stays between us three ok?"
"Sure, but you'll have to fill me in later, I have a million questions"
"I will I will" I answer, trying to move the subject on I ask, "Are you coming to watch our match on Sunday?"
"Obviously, wouldn't miss our baby bronze's England debut for the world" Georgia says
"I might not actually play" I but in, not wanting to get mine or anyone else's hopes up.
"You 100% will, you're literally one of the best here when you're playing 3 years up" Lia shakes her head.
"I don't thi-" I begin
"Shut up Maisie you're literally as annoyingly humble as your mum" Leah says, diving on me
"I'm just saying" I laugh, pushing her off me.
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When we get back to our room, Lia and I plonk ourselves on our beds and silently mutually agree to just laze about scrolling through our phones for the next half hour. We had a 2 hour gym session this afternoon, my least favourite part, so we decided we'd rest before then.
@BBCsport
986,726 likes
Bronze X 2
14 year old Maisie Bronze has been called up to represent the U18 England women's team, making her and her mum, Lucy Bronze, the first parent and child to represent England at the same time.
Could Maisie Bronze be the next big thing?
8262 comments-
@lionesses- ❤️
@Lwilliamson- Our star girl ⭐
- @lucybronze- Me?
-@lwilliamson- No
@Lucybronze- Proud 🦁
-@maisisbronze- A group of lions is called a pride 🦁🦁
-@lucybronze- Course you know that 🙄
@IanWright- The next gen ☝️
@HarryKane- 👏
@Mancity- 💙🤍
@DavidBeckham- 🐐🐐
@KazCarney- Inspirations
.....................................................................................
I suddenly sat up in bed and gasped.
"Fucking David Beckham has commented on a post about me with a goat emoji" I say as I push my phone towards Lia.
"No way, let's see the post" she reads the post and laughs, "you two look too alike"
"Yeah but she's old and wrinkly" I laugh, "Don't say I said that!"
"I'll hold that against you now"
"Don't even, she'd kill me if she heard that" I laugh, "we should probably head to the gym now"
"Yeah" Lia sighs. We quickly change into our gym wear and head downstairs, into the gym which was half full, mainly of people in our age group however it seemed that there was some faces I didn't recognise.
"Is there another group here or something?" I ask one of the trainers, nodding towards the group of unfamiliar girls.
"Yeah, they're the U14 development squad or something"
"They're still older than Baby Maisie then" Beth laughs
"Er excuse me, I'm not 13" I narrow my eyes at her and pull a face.
"No, you're 14" they burst into giggles
"Nearly 15" I call out as I head towards the treadmill, put my airpods in and start to run. The last time I was here, only some days ago, my mind was in a very different place. I was angry but mainly confused and upset at the whole Barcelona situation however, now I'd been given time to think, I'd come to the realisation that actually it could be ok. I'd been running for 20 minutes when I notice someone start running next to me. I ignored them at first but when I continued to feel their eyes on me I turned to look at them, frustrated they'd ruined my peace.
"Hey Maisie" The girl laughs at me, then continues to run, staring ahead.
"No fucking way" I half squeal, turning my machine off and jumping off.
"Long time no see eh?" She says, also turning her machine off and catching me as I jump on her.
"What are you doing here?" I say, excitedly
"Thought I might join you" she shrugs.
A/N
Three uploads in 12 days, aren't you all lucky.
Who do we think has joined Maisie 👀
2738 words