This is just a thank you for reading my book.
Without you, it wouldn't be a book at all. Thank you so much for that!!
I really enjoyed writing this book and enjoyed reading all of your comments.
Finding time to write this was hard, but it was time wellspent.
Check out my new book. I'll leave the prologue down here.
The day I made my debut for Barcelona was the best day of my life. It started with my coach telling me that I would be getting some minutes with the A-team. I stood next to Ona when I heard it, she got told the same thing and both our faces were covered with big smiles. I would make my debut with my best friend. It wasn't such an important game, just a friendly to get us ready for the season, but that day it was everything for me. I was 17 and had been playing with the B-team for two years along with Ona. Since day one we had been best friends, with her taking care of me whenever the boys tried to boss over us. She had quickly gotten a reputation as a man-hating lesbian while I was still in the closet.
During half-time I was told that I would go on at the seventy-minute mark. Ona would be subbed on at the same time.
I warmed up at the sidelines, with Ona running right next to me. We were laughing and joking, everything seemed amazing at that point. We were seventeen and getting ready to play with one of the best teams in the world. Nothing could beat that. Except something could. When it was time only I was subbed on. Ona spent the rest of the game on the bench. She congratulated me and celebrated, but in the end she was disappointed. I would have felt the same.
At that time, I was unaware of what had happened. If I had been I wouldn't be celebrating.
The day I made my debut for Barcelona was also the worst day of my life. It was the day I lost my mom. The day that the person who meant to most to me passed away. After years of battling cancer, she took her last breath minutes before the game started. I found out on the pitch. My sister had tears in her eyes when I saw her. I thought they were happy tears, tears for me because she was proud. They were tears for our mother.
I broke down on the pitch. Soon I was pulled into a hug by Ona and she sat there with me, trying her best to comfort me. Other players came down and asked what had happened. I never answered them.
Ana María Elisa García never told anyone about her mother. Even though her mother was the person who shaped her into who she was today. It was too painful to talk about, and she didn't need the pity that she always got when someone find out. The only one who knew was Ona, and that was how she planned it would stay. Her teammates wanted to know, it concerned them that she had broken down on the pitch after making her debut and the disappeared for two weeks. Her coach knew, her sister had told him.
Elisa never let her mother's death get in the way of pursuing her dream. Of course it affected her badly, the day when she found out was the day of her first panic attack. After that they never disappeared, triggered by the constant anxiety she was feeling. Even the smallest thing would push her over the edge. Since that day she always wore a long-sleeved shirt under her kit.