A/N: Happy monday everyone! I'm still buzzing from the weekend 😂 Anyway are there things you would like to see in the future of the story? Let me know.
Are you all ready to meet baby Queen and learn a bit more about her? Enjoy the chapter!
As some sort of celebration, some of the girls decided to go out for dinner. Choosing the place wasn't that hard with the Barcelona girls obsession for Sushi the decision was easily made.
Kristie tagged along and I introduced her to the whole bunch. The girl's made it their mission to make her feel included and once we were all seated at the restaurant, conversation flowed between everyone.
"I have to ask how did you two meet? I mean you two never played on the same team right?" Patri asked, causing everyone to look at Kristie and I in curiosity.
"It was during her first youth camp back in 2012." Kristie pointed at me, smirking when she thought back to that camp. It was a chaotic mess to say the least but it was the start of it all.
"Oh God no don't remind me." I groaned and dropped my head in my hands.
"You remember that one?" She mocked me again. That smug smile never left her face, spiking the curiosity of my teammates.
"How can I forget, that camp was so chaotic." I threw my head back and groaned but this time there was a small smile on my face as well.
"But you were only 13? And you were 22?" Mariona pointed out correctly.
"The federation thought it was a good idea to organize a camp with all the national teams in the same place to publicize the senior team going to the London Olympics." Kristie explained how we crossed paths during our camps. Mariona nodded along as did my other teammates, intrigued now by the story.
"And that was your first camp?" Aitana asked this time.
"Yup it was. I met most of my current teammates there now I come to think of it." I furrowed my eyebrows once I realized that that camp was truly the start of not only my national team career but also a lot of friendships I held close to my heart.
"It was the start of the Queen." Kristie smirked.
"Don't say it like that." I glared at the blonde, sitting next to me.
"Oh come on, tell us about that camp!" Jana clapped her hands together, all excited.
"I'm curious if you were this annoyingly good from the beginning." Sandra piped in as well.
"No." "She was." I said while Kristie agreed with Sandra at the same time.
"Okay we can still go if we turn around now. We don't have to tell my mom or dad. We can go snowboarding like last time." I turned around in my seat of the car and faced Cory.
I pleaded with him to turn the car around so I didn't have to go to my first national youth camp. I was nervous beyond words and was doing anything not to go but he wasn't budging.
"No, we won't turn around and we'll go snowboarding at the end of the year. Now you're going to that camp." He calmly said with a smirk on his face while he parked the car. He knew this was coming and he was fully prepared to face my bribing and shoot me down everytime.
"But what if I'm not good enough?" I quietly mumbled, barely loud enough for him to hear when I focused on my fidgeting hands.
"You play for Arsenal. They literally begged you to join their team." He chuckled, trying to lighten up the mood but my stubborn ass wouldn't let him.
I looked up from my hands to face him again. He was looking at me with a loving smile that reminded me of my brother's and kept looking at me, expecting some kind of retaliation. The boy knew me almost better than I knew myself.
"The academy, not the real deal." I said matter of factly.
"You are the real deal. Give it time." He calmly answered. I groaned, realizing he wouldn't change his mind. Not today so I focused back on my hands.
"What if no one likes me?" I mumbled again.
"You're you! Everyone likes you." He said a bit louder, causing me to jump but still I refused to look at him and stayed in my head, worried about all the things that could go wrong and whishing that I had just stayed in London. I heard Cory sigh and shuffle around in his seat.
"Okay look I get that you're scared and I know you don't like new situations but you can't pass up good opportunities like this just because you're scared." He said and bent down a bit, looking for my eyes, desperately trying to comfort me in some kind of way.
"Okay." I groaned, giving in.
"Besides I promised your mom I would drop you off so that's what I'm doing." He cheerfully said and opened his door, getting out of the car.
"Fine." I grumbled and followed his lead.
Cory grabbed my suitcase while I grabbed my backpack and we met at the front of the car. Cory was waiting patiently for me to join him.
"Let's go." He said and we went inside of the hotel I would be staying at.
When we walked in, we were greeted by a young man in his mid thirties, wearing a USA shirt. He seemed friendly but that still didn't calm my nerves in the slightest so I let Cory take the lead and hid behind him.
"Hey, I'm here to drop off Eleanore Queen." Cory pointed at me and took a step to the side so the man could actually see me.
"Good morning Eleanore. I'm happy to see you. You can place your bags right over there. Put on your cleats and then you can go outside to that field. Some of the girls are already there." He said in a very cheerful voice. I simply nodded at him and instantly turned around facing Cory with a frightened look.
"Alright Ella, you got this okay. Show them who you are and I'll pick you up in a week." He pulled me in a hug and once more tried to calm me down. I clutched onto his shirt and held on for dear life.
After some more encouraging words from Cory, I eventually let go and said my goodbyes. Just like the man had told me, I put on my cleats and went outside. Right next to the building we were staying at was a huge sportcomplex.
Overwhelmed by how big it was and not knowing where I had to go, I picked the field with some smaller goals and some girls messing around with a ball. I came to a stop next to it and saw a couple of balls, grabbing one and having some fun.
"Wow, you've got some serious skill. Makes me question even more why I'm here." I jumped at the sudden voice behind me and spun around to meet the person who just scared the shit out of me.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you but I saw you keep the ball up and it's insane how good you are. You seem like a nice person so I thought I would come over and introduce myself so I could make at least one friend. God now I hear myself out loud, I realize how crazy that must sound. I'm sorry I'm not good at new situations and with new people and this is probably weird for you." The girl started to ramble. She was around my age, a bit smaller than me.
"It's not weird. I get it. I feel the same. I'm Eleanore." I held out my hand for her to shake. The girl's smile just got bigger when she realized that I wasn't weird out by her nervous ramble.
"I'm Mallory but my friends call me Mal so you can as well. I mean if you want to. You don't have to." She shook my hand and rambled again.
"It's nice to meet you, Mal. If you want you can call me Ellie." I smiled at the girl and that seemed to do the trick and calmed her down.
We passed the ball back and forth between us while we got to know one other better. This brought the both of us some peace.
"Hey do you two wanna join in with a two versus two?" Two girls around our age approached us.
"Yeah sure." Mal smiled at the two and walked over to them while I was more resistant.
"What? Mal." I whispered to her. Now that I wasn't as nervous as I was before that didn't mean that I wanted to interact with other people just yet.
"Ooh come on, it will be fine. We'll take that goal." Mal pointed to one of the goals and started walking over there.
"Mal." I groaned, staying close to the Colorado native.
"Oh I'm Ashley by the way and this is Tierna." The two girls introduced themselves politely. Mal didn't seem as nervous anymore as before and took the lead in the conversation. She took a step towards them and introduced the both of us.
"I'm Mal and this nervous wreck here is Eleanore." She pointed at me with a smile.
"Hey!" I glared at my new found friend. Not knowing back then that I just made some friendships for a lifetime.
"Good to know." Ashley smirked and kicked the ball in the air.
"Nervous wreck!" Leila and Mapi burst out laughing. While the others were intrigued by the story and eagerly waiting to hear more, the two defenders couldn't help themselves anymore.
"Some things remained the same!" Leila gasped for air while laughing like a maniac.
"Shut up." I grumbled at the two who were sitting opposite of me.
"I think it's cute." Ale said and placed her hand on my thigh while she pecked my cheek, trying to give me some comfort.
"Of course you do, you think everything she does is cute." Mapi started laughing again. Of course Alexia being so caring and loving made her laugh even more.
"Ale is right though, baby Queen is pretty cute." Ana agreed with the Catalan and she wasn't the only one.
"I can already imagine her staying close to the side being all shy." Pina chuckled at the thought.
"We don't really have to imagine it, we've seen it at her first training." Lieke smirked at me while I let my head fall down in my hands again.
"You know what, forget it. I'm done telling the story." I glared at my friends but was soon met with a lot of protest.
"No, we're kidding." Sandra said wide eyed.
"We'll shut up." Mariona assured me and glared at everyone around, warning them to shut up. Mapi and Leila both held up their hands in defense, playing the innocent card.
"Who's Cory though? I thought your brothers' names were Tom and Mathew." Jenni asked, confused.
I knew that this question was gonna come up if I mentioned him. I rarely talked about him so they had no idea who he was and what he meant to me and my family.
"Oh uhm he was a friend of the family." I mumbled out and discreetly grabbed Alexia's hand.
The brunette casted a glance my way to check if I was alright. She of course knew about Cory so it was without a doubt that she knew this was a tough subject.
"Was?" Patri reluctantly asked. She already had a slight idea what I meant.
"Cory died a little later that same year." I said, looking down at my hand that was playing with Ale's.
"Wait a minute." Pina suddenly said, getting everyone's attention. "Cory as in Cory Monteith? The glee actor?" She looked at me in disbelief and I felt everyone's shocked eyes on me, all of them except Lieke, Ale and Kristie's because they obviously knew.
"Uhm yeah." I shrugged my shoulders like it wasn't a big deal and it wasn't for me but I understood that for them it was.
"You know the glee actor?" Mariona asked, surprised.
"She knows the glee actors." Lieke corrected her fellow forward while I just nodded.
"What? How?" Aitana furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, trying to work out how I knew them.
"My sister is a screenwriter. Did an internship with the show. That's how I met them but Cory we met at the beach, became good friends with my sister when I was like 5 or so." I explained how I came to know them.
"You never got to go on that trip." Sandra soon realized. The goalkeeper's eyes immediately found me. I looked up from my hands to look at Sandra with sad eyes.
"No, I did not." I breathed out and looked back down. Everyone had a sad look on their faces, and gave me pitiful looks but soon the tension got broken by Mapi snorting to herself, earning everyone's attention once again.
"A nervous wreck." She quietly laughed, earning a slap to the back of her head from Lieke, making me smile.
"Sorry." She mumbled, rubbing the spot Lieke had hit.
"But how did you two meet then?" Jana asked again, eager to hear more about my first camp.
"Well." Kristie said, her voice very high pitched.
Kristie's pov
It was day two of our training camp and we were about half way through our first training of the day. The federation had decided that it would be a good idea to bring all the teams together for a week to advertise and promote the senior team going to the Olympics in London.
So here we were with all the teams even the boys and men were here, training. Syd and I were standing near the sideline of one of the fields taking a sip from our bottle during our drink break when I noticed some young girls hanging out at the field next to ours.
Five girls were walking towards the side, four of them were acting all excited and full of energy. They were carrying equipment and placed it down when they reached the field. The fifth girl did the same but she was a lot more chilled, quiet, shy maybe.
"What are you looking at?" Syd grabbed my attention again.
"The newbies." I pointed their way and took a sip from my drink again.
"Look at them being all shiny and fresh. Probably all full of themselves." Syd scoffed all bitter, making me laugh.
"Maybe. Except that one. She looks rather shy." My gaze shifted back to the quiet girl. Something about her intrigued me.
"That's the Arsenal girl." Syd said with widened eyes.
"The Arsenal girl?" I looked at Syd confused.
"Yes Kristie, the Arsenal girl, keep up." She sassed back. I turned around and focussed on my friend, waiting for her to explain what she meant by that.
"She got recruited by the Arsenal academy when she was twelve. She's supposed to be the next big thing. The rising star." She said in a duh tone. I rolled my eyes at her.
"Doesn't look like it. It's like she's out of her element." I shrugged, remembering the girl who I just saw a couple of seconds ago.
"Let's find out." Syd said with a mischievous smirk on her face.
"What?" I furrowed my eyebrows at her and spun around as quickly as I could, coming face to face with the girl we were just talking about. Apparently one of the balls the girls were using was kicked our way and Eleanore was the one who had to retrieve it.
"So you're Eleanore Queen right?" Syd smirked at the girl and placed her foot on the girl's ball.
"Uhm yes?" She mumbled out but it was more like a question than an actual answer.
"Are you sure? You seem unsure." The smirk on Sydney's face frew with the second and definitely when the poor girl visibly gulped.
"Syd, leave her alone." I scolded the older girl.
"I'm just messing with her." She shrugged, laughing and gave the ball back to the girl that apparently was called Eleanore.
"Don't mind her, she's just crazy. So you're the one playing for Arsenal?" I pushed Syd away a bit and focused back on the girl. We had gotten clear instructions. Be nice, make them feel welcomed.
"No, I play for the academy, not Arsenal." She was fast to correct me and surprisingly with more confidence than a few seconds ago.
"Kind of the same thing." I raised my eyebrow at her but she immediately shook her head again.
"Not really. Just because I play for the academy now doesn't mean I'm good enough to play for the senior team." She said matter of factly.
"Are you?" I challenged the girl.
"What?" She asked, confused. Syd was interested in her answer as well and stood beside me waiting for her answer.
"Good enough?" I clarified myself.
"I guess we have to wait and see." She shrugged with a smile.
"Mewis! Leroux! Break's over and leave the newbies alone, they have to train as well!" Our coaches yelled and we instantly ran back to take our positions. Now it was Eleanore's turn to smirk.
The whole training I couldn't help myself glancing over to watch Eleanore train. And boy was she good. It was like on the field she was a different Eleanore as the one standing next to the field or the one I had just met.
This one was fierce, confident and wasn't afraid to speak up. The way she controlled the ball, how she read the game would bring most of my teammates to shame. She made it all look so easy and she did it all with the biggest smile on her face.
As we neared the end of our training, the coach called us all together and said some different age groups would join us in a small scrimmage. The goal was to inspire the next generation in potentially becoming the star in the future of the national team, not to scare them.
It was Eleanore's team that would join us. The teams got mixed and we got strict orders not to go all out on them. Eleanore was put on the opposite team and took her position in midfield just like I did.
I was impressed. I had witnessed some snippets of her in training but to actually experience it and to play against her was insane. There was no stopping this girl as she was focused on the game. She moved around with ease and danced her way around her opponents, scoring and assisting whenever she'd liked.
"So you are good." I went over to congratulate her after the small game. She spun around with a smile on her face.
"What?" She questioned, her smile faltering a bit but she had no trouble in recovering.
"I asked you before the game if you were any good. You said that we had to wait and see. Now I saw. You're good." I explained my train of thought for her but it only made her blush more.
"I'm okay." She shrugged down playing the compliment again. I've noticed she does that a lot.
"You're more than okay. You have a bright future ahead of you. I have to go. See you around Queenie." I saluted her and walked over to Syd who was waiting for me.
"See you around."
"So your first meeting was your friend scaring Queenie and Queenie then taking revenge embarrassing you all?" Jana summarized the story.
"Pretty much, yeah." Kristie agreed with the young defender and laughed along with the others while I just blushed at her story.
"God, I think I love you even more now." Jana looked at me in adoration.
I chuckled at her comment but a blush crept up my neck. Alexia laughed at the small interaction and kissed my cheek.
"So she's always been this annoyingly good. Great." Sandra mumbled, slumping down in her seat.
"Be happy she's on our team." Mariona gave a pointed look at the goalie.
"Ooh I am but you're not in goal trying to stop her shots at training." She countered back.
"What happened after?" Patri spoke up curiously.
"Anything embarrassing?" Leila perked up with a smile.
I simply glared at her and again she held up her hands in defense.
"The Beep Test fiasco." Kristie smirked, desperately holding her laugh.
"Kristie!" I yelled, glaring at the blonde this time.
"What's the Beep Test fiasco?" Aitana asked curiously.
On the third day the coaches decided to put us to the test. We all had a few days to get settled and get familiar with everything and now they deemed it was time for the beep test.
Mal who turned out to be my roommate was buzzing with excitement, Ashley not so much, she was rather dreading the test. Everything was all set up when one of the coaches explained the test again.
"Is it clear for everyone?" He looked around the group and everyone mumbled a yes.
"Alright then. Girls, good luck." He clapped his hands together and we all took our places.
"I hate this." Ash groaned, taking a stand next to me, readying herself for the start to be given.
"I love this." Mal clapped her hands excitedly, making me laugh at the two completely different reactions.
"Let's just do this, we got it." I patted Ash on the shoulder and smiled at Mal.
Once I heard our coaches warning us that the test is about to begin, I focused on the task at hand. The first beep was given and with ease I ran down to the otherside of the field that the coaches had made.
After a few times running from side to side, players started to drop. It was only me, Ashley, Mal and 4 more teammates left when Ashley started to struggle.
"I'm calling it." She groaned out. Slowly but surely dropping behind.
"No you don't. We're gonna get through this, even if I have to drag you through it." I dropped down next to her and gave her an encouraging push.
"We're doing this together, so suck it up Sanchez." Mal did the same as me and encouraged her to continue.
The blonde just groaned but nonetheless kept running but when most players had dropped, Ashley soon did as well. The girl stood near the side and had her hands rested on her knees, desperately trying to catch her breath while Mal and I continued running.
"Alright Queen, you're the only one left!" The coach praised me once Mal fell off as well.
"You think you've got some more left in that tank?" He asked, encouraging me to keep going.
"You bet." I said and sprinted to the other side. I didn't have to truly sprint just yet but it was a strong pace and my legs and lungs were burning.
"She's gonna break the record if she keeps going like this." Jack, one of our fitness coaches said.
Mal and Ashley had heard what the coach said and briefly looked at each other. Without a word being spoken, they started jumping up and down and yelled their lungs out of their bodies.
"Go Ellie!" "Kick its ass!" The two yelled, soon joined in by Tierna and a girl called Emily.
I blocked them all out, everything around me except for the beep. Focussed on reaching the lines on time, pushing my body, ignoring the burning pain in my legs and lungs.
"She did it." Jack said in shock. "She actually did it."
Further down the field a small crowd had formed. None other than Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly were standing at the other side of the field watching us youngsters run the legs from under our bodies, desperately trying to impress the coaches.
I pushed myself for a few more runs but then I really had to call it quits. Almost falling down when I stopped, I felt my legs grow increasingly weak, almost numb. So much so that the coach caught me right on time and sat me down.
"Nice one kid. You did amazing" he patted me on the back and handed me my water.
I took a big gulp from it and then slowly got up again, feeling the need to walk around and stretch my legs. Slowly but surely I felt better again.
My teammates were patting me on the back, congratulating me so I didn't expect to come face to face with the legend herself, Mia Hamm.
The moment my eyes locked with hers they grew as big as humanly possible. Because of my shock I took a step back and of course tripped over my own feet, falling flat on my ass.