"Hey, does anyone want to go shopping this afternoon?" asked Ella to the entire room at breakfast. Nearly everyone put their hand up, but many of them had different ideas of what shopping means, and what shopping with Tooney means. Leah was one of the ones to raise her hand which quickly prompted Cameryn to do the same.
"You hate shopping," whispered Cam.
"But I love my team," responded Leah, "So you're coming with me then?"
"You bet Le."
The girls ran up to their rooms to change after breakfast. Cameryn threw on the single pair of jeans she packed and began digging through her bag for a shirt.
"What are you looking for?" asked Leah.
"Well, apparently I didn't pack any shirts. I have one pair of jeans, like two hoodies that aren't Lionesses ones, but not a single t-shirt that isn't my pyjama shirt."
"Here have one of mine." Leah chucked a white t-shirt across the room.
"Thanks," Cam said as she slipped it over her head. "I can't believe I didn't bring any normal t-shirts, what was I thinking?"
"Well clearly not much, but this is your first England camp, you're allowed to forget things," Leah fired back. "Let's head out okay."
Cameryn layered a dark green hoodie and black puffer jacket over the top of Leah's shirt, grabbing a black crossbody bag as she headed towards the door. Leah was dressed in beige cargo pants, a fitted white tank, and a black puffer jacket. Not to mention the white Nike airforces on her feet.
"You ready?" asked Leah as they headed down to meet the group. There were several cars between the girls as a large number of them lived near to camp.
"Yeah, can I drive though?" questioned Cameryn.
Leah nodded and they made their way over to Cameryn's car. The dual cab had been sitting unused in the car park for the past week, resulting in it taking a few goes to start. Leah giggled at Cameryn's attempt to get her car going again after the dormant week it had had.
The engine finally started and Leah was given a massive side-eye, "quit giggling at me".
The entire group finally met up at the shopping centre, only missing a few of the teammates. "Where to first?" asked Ella.
"Why don't we split up depending on where we want to go, or what we want to do?" suggested Lucy. The group agreed and the girls started to scatter away from the group.
Leah and Cameryn found themselves hanging with Alessia and Ella, visiting different stores one after another. Ella and Alessia set out to try on as many different articles of clothing as they could while Leah and Cameryn judged each and every item. There were dresses and shirts, shorts and pants, everything under the sun, and they tried on piece after piece.
"Do you guys not get bored of this?" asked Leah.
"I do," replied Alessia.
She was quickly contradicted by Ella, "but I don't".
"Cam and I are going to get something to eat while you two finish up here," said Leah as the pair left the changing room.
"Oh my gosh, finally a break from the insanity that is Tooney and Lessi trying on clothes," responded Cameryn.
"Come on, let's go find some food." Leah and Cameryn made their way through the shopping centre trying to find something that would appeal to both of them. Every place that Leah pointed out, Cameryn would call 'too plain or too basic', and every place Cameryn pointed out, Leah would call 'too fancy or too strange'. They settled on sandwiches so they could pick and choose what they wanted so Leah could have it as plain as she desired and Cameryn's could be as extravagant as possible.
"Are we heading back shortly?" asked Cameryn ultimately sick of the shopping.
"I have one more place I want to go and then we can go, sound good?" asked Leah.
"Sure."
The duo finished their food and then headed towards the store Leah wanted to visit. There was a massive shoe store filled with all kinds of shoes and many different brands, Nike, Adidas, Asics, everything possible. Leah walked directly to the back corner of the store and picked up a pair of plain white Nike Tiempos.
"I love to check out all the new boots when they come in, but these, these would look good on you, you should get a pair," Leah said holding out the boots to Cam.
"They look amazing, but I really can't afford another pair, I already have two pairs, that's enough. They are nice though."
"Do you have a boot sponsor?" asked Leah
"No, I play for Bristol remember," said Cameryn through a giggle.
"I'll order you a pair, I get them for free and then you'll have some really nice boots. You never know, after the England camp you might get a Nike sponsor and then you can get all the boots you want."
The boots were placed back on the shelves and they headed back to the car. "Did you have fun today?" asked Leah as the car pulled out of the park.
"Yeah, I was thankful we weren't with the entire team though. I get quite overwhelmed with them sometimes, I'm not sure why, I just do."
"You'll get used to them, they can be a lot sometimes but they are the most lovable people on the planet. You've only been with them for a week, wait until you're at the five to six-year mark and it'll all be fine."
"Damn, you sound old. I've been playing with England for five years!" mocked Cameryn receiving a punch in the arm.
"Hey! I'm not that old, I'm only 26."
"Exactly, 26 is old." Leah acted offended but took none of the comments to heart.
"Let's get back to camp and then you can call me old all you want?"
"Okay then," Cameryn agreed and they continued driving back to camp without arguing, just singing their hearts out to whatever song came on next.
"When we get back can we head out to the pitch and practice some long shots? I wanna work on them and make them as good as possible."
"Yeah sure, it sounds like a plan," responded Leah.
"Thanks Le, you're the best."
"Cam, what's with the nickname? You only started using it recently," asked Leah.
"I don't know, you have a nickname for me so I wanted one for you. Is it okay?"
"Yeah it's cute, makes me feel like you care."
"Haha, you're funny," Cam said sarcastically.
They finally made it back to camp, it seemed like a much longer trip on the way back, but Leah put that down to the number of wrong turns Cameryn made.
They headed straight into the locker room and threw on their training kits and boots before heading out onto the pitch. Leah tapped a ball forward for Cameryn to shoot, the first one went directly over the top of the crossbar.
"You're tilting your ankle too sharp when you connect with the ball, straighten it more." Cameryn took another shot, it went in but much lower than a top bin.
"Make sure you lean back when you connect with the ball, keep your ankle fixed and lean back on your other leg." She lined up another shot where Leah tapped it towards her, once again it went straight into the middle of the net, with no height or direction.
"Let me show you, tap one to me," Leah said switching places with Cam. Cameryn tapped the ball out in front of Leah the same way Le had done time and time before. Leah's foot shot out perfectly hitting the right top bin.
Cameryn's jaw dropped, "I can't believe you just did that."
"Neither can I," responded Leah. "That was my first shot on goal since my ACL, it felt so good to shoot the ball the same way I used to." Leah collapsed to the ground laying on her back and staring up at the darkening sky.
Cameryn joined her on the ground lying in the same position beside her, "I'm so proud of you Le, I can't wait to play by your side."
"Is that you hinting you're coming to Arsenal?" asked Leah as she rolled onto her stomach to look at Cameryn.
"Nope, sorry love, haven't got an offer yet," responded Cam with a giggle in her voice.
"Ugh, I should message Jonas and get him to check out your match tapes and stats before he thinks about new signings," mentioned Leah.
"No, don't."
"Why?" she asked in response.
"I need to do this on my own, I don't want help from other people, even you. Can you promise me you won't interfere?" asked Cameryn knowing Leah always kept her promises.
"I promise. Now come on, we need to get these long shots on target and out of the reach of the keepers otherwise you'll have no chance with Arsenal."
They set up the same as before, Leah slowly knocking balls out in front of Cameryn and Cam attempting to slot them into the top bins. She began to get the balls progressively higher with each shot, finally being able to consistently hit them in the top portion of the net.
"Okay, remember that feeling, now I want you to focus on body position, point your hips to where you want the ball to go, and follow through with your leg to point there too," Leah instructed. Cameryn continued shooting ball after ball after ball as the sun set on the pitch.
"You know you would be a great coach one day, right?" said Cameryn as she collected all the footballs from the net. "Look at how much my long-range shots have improved in just one afternoon, it's impeccable."
"You never know, maybe one day I will, but for now I'm just a player, a captain, helping out one of her teammates and best friends," responded Leah a smile on her face. "Let's head back inside," said Leah wrapping an arm around Cameryn's waist as they walked back into the locker room. They quickly changed out of their training kits and back into their clothes from the day before sneaking into dinner.
"Where have you guys been?" asked Keira.
"You look sweaty," followed Lucy.
"We were just shooting a few balls at goal on the pitch, lost track of time," responded Cameryn.
"We, or you?" asked Lucy again, "because as far as I'm aware Leah shouldn't be doing anything other than running for right now." Lucy's tone sounded slightly angry and controlling, yet also caring and scared.
"It wasn't me, just Cam," responded Leah, "I'm not stupid enough to risk injury again, and anyway you don't need to mother me".
Dinner was short and brief after that, tensions were high around the table as Lucy and Leah continued to bicker.
"Can you two cut it out?" asked Keira hoping to relieve some of the pressure in the air.
"Yeah I agree with Keira guys, you're acting like children," chimed in Cameryn. Leah suddenly stood up from her chair and stormed out of the room.
Cameryn jumped up and followed her out of the room, "Leah," she called after her but she wasn't stopping. "Le! Come on!" she called again hoping she would get Leah's attention with the nickname, but nothing. Cameryn finally caught up to her, "Seriously, what are you doing? You can't just storm out on your teammates, those people are your friends, your family, your lifelines, think before you act Leah."
Leah took a deep breath, "I was thinking. I was thinking that if I stayed in there any longer I would say something I regret, so I left. I removed myself because I was thinking."
"Okay, I'm sorry, but you still need to go back in there and apologise."
"Later."
"Leah! Lucy is in there thinking that she was being too overbearing and you're just going to let her keep thinking that?" asked Cameryn hoping to win Leah over with guilt.
"Yes, I am, because she was being overbearing, she doesn't get to dictate my life or my recovery, she's not my mother."
"Fine then, go to bed. We are going to bed right now," ordered Cameryn grabbing Leah by the shoulders and forcing her towards the elevator. They travelled up and then took the turn to their room, Cameryn immediately climbed into bed rolling away from Leah so she couldn't see her face. She could hear some movement behind her back but didn't care enough to check if everything was okay. The movement continued and got more frantic.
"Leah I swear to god what are you doing?" Cameryn asked furiously.
"I've lost my phone," Leah replied as softly as possible.
"What?" responded Cameryn as she couldn't quite hear.
"I've lost my phone," Leah said a little louder this time but still as timid as possible.
"Do you need me to call it?" asked Cameryn trying to lighten her tone.
"Yes please." They rang the phone together but they couldn't hear the ringtone.
"Where else could you have left it?" asked Cameryn.
"Well, it's not in the dining room otherwise someone would have answered it, so it must be on the pitch," Leah said in frustration. "What are you doing?"
"Getting back into bed," was the response as Cameryn pulled the blankets back over herself.
"Are you not going to come with me?" asked Leah.
"Nope. You're in a mood. I don't help people who are in moods."
Leah stood biting her lip and staring at the floor as if silently pleading with Cameryn to come with her. Cam finally gave in a climbed back out of bed sliding Leah's Arsenal hoodie over her pyjamas and slipping her shoes on.
"This is ridiculous," Cameryn said as they finally made it out to the pitches for the second time that evening, "it's freezing out here."
Leah ran over and picked her phone up off the ground. "See exactly where I left it," she said as she ran back over.
"You're a pain Le, I hope you know that."
"Cam, look up," the stars were out and shining bright as ever scattering the dark sky like a sprinkling of pixie dust.
"It's cold Leah," she responded.
"Please, just enjoy the moment," Leah said as she spun Cameryn around and wrapped her arms around her waist once more. Cam leant her head back on Leah's shoulder and looked up at the stars, taking in each and every one.
"Cam?"
"Yes, Leah."
"Can you tell me about your dad?"
WORDS: 2356
a/n: wanted to leave you guys on a bit of a cliffhanger with this one, still not sure how the rest of the book is going to go, or how long it's going to go for but we'll see soon - hope you guys are enjoying it