When I woke up the next morning, determination burned in the pit of my stomach. The first day of training meant the first chance I'd have to prove to Gareth and the rest of the team that my selection was justified. I knew from experience that first impressions were everything and even though I'd played with most of the team before, this still felt like a new start for me.
The fiery purpose saw me through the day. A photo-shoot followed breakfast, after which we headed out onto the pitches for the first time. Naturally, I always anticipated the training with England to be tougher than it was with Chelsea. That was true in some regard, but the high intensity Frank demanded from us at Cobham saw me through without too much struggle.
That was until the last session of the day, at least. A longer than usual mini game left me puffing, my legs taking strain. The difference from the Chelsea squad where everyone seemed to read each other's mind to this semi-foreign England squad became obvious as we played. It was hard to anticipate where my teammates were moving, or where they wanted passes, leaving the play overall kind of sloppy. I knew it would improve in no time, but still I still felt a bit disheartened as Gareth ended the session.
With Kyle and Marcus Peterson next to me, I trudged off the pitches. From the corner of my eyes I spotted Mason gathering some balls with Abby, Walter Wright and George. Turning my head properly, I considered joining their extra free kick practice, but the drizzle that had just started to fall put me off. Even with the amount of running I'd just done, my toes and fingers were freezing.
"You seem a little tired there, Beck."
Kyle laughed at Marcus' remark as I tore my attention away from the group. Without noticing I'd stopped walking and the pair had pulled a couple of steps ahead of me. Rolling my eyes, I caught up with them.
"Yeah, because I am." I huffed as Kyle laughed again. "What? That was more tiring than it needed to be."
A snigger from my other side sounded. Raising my eyebrows already, I turned to face the person I knew it was going to be.
"Wouldn't be so tired if you passed the ball for a change," Lance said with an innocent shrug. He walked alone a bit away, but drew closer as he spoke.
"Well if my teammates did some running, I'd be able to find passes," I said back.
"I was on your team, too." Kyle's soft words were drowned out by Lance.
"We made plenty of leads today. I guess someone with better vision would have seen them."
"Grow up, Randall," Marcus added before I could continue the argument. "We were all average out there."
"Speak for yourselves; I scored three goals."
Kyle's words lighted the mood and even got a chuckle from Lance before he sped up, pulling ahead of us.
"Don't know how you put up with him all year, MP," I said to Marcus, shaking my head. "A day in and he's exhausted me."
"You get used to it."
I took a final look over my shoulder before we started descending the stairs towards the changing room entrance. Catching sight of Abby's strike sail just over the crossbar, I wondered again if I should be there. The quartet practicing were definitely higher up the pecking order to take a free kick than I was, but it did offer me a chance to put my name out there just in case.
"Hey, Beck, wanna come watch a movie with us?"
The question from Marcus drew my focus once again. A movie did sound tempting, especially after a warm shower and with a cup of tea, and it was certainly more appealing than standing in the rain practicing something I probably wouldn't do any time soon. And plus, we had a good few hours until dinner without any meetings.
"Yeah, okay."
I followed the pair of strikers inside, listening with amusement as they debated about a movie to watch. Declaring myself uninvolved from the decision, I quickly de-booted and left them still arguing as I headed up to my room. Once showered and feeling a whole lot warmer, I made my way down to the common area to make myself some tea.
By the time I reached Marcus' room on the first floor, he had already set up our makeshift cinema. With his laptop connected to the TV and the movie already open, I just had to plop down onto the bed next to Kyle and we were set. Kyle offered me some biscuits and Marcus pressed play.
The lack of noise that came from Kyle and Marcus shocked me, to the point where I wondered if one of them had fallen asleep. The relationship between them had always entertained me big time. Both had been at Chelsea from a young age, but Marcus moved to United when he was sixteen while Kyle stayed in London. They'd obviously stayed close, because every international break saw them inseparable.
Sitting forward, I looked past a focused Kyle to see that Marcus was just as invested into the movie. I hadn't had the heart to tell them that I'd already seen the movie they picked, so it wasn't a surprise that I was loosing interest already while they were so fixated. As a distraction, I fished my phone from my pocket, which was vibrating a moment before.
No longer than a couple of minutes later, Marcus' door burst open. My nerves shot, I look to see Mason entering the room, true to his message that he wanted to come find us. His hair still wet from a shower, he flicked it out of his eyes and took in the three of us.
"Thanks for the invite, lads," he said. "Pretty sure I was the one who said we should watch a movie this morning."
"Shut up!" Marcus protested. The empty packet of biscuits flew past my head and landed at the feet of a laughing Mason.
"What are you watching anyway? Is this Captain Marvel?"
"Just sit down," Kyle said. "Yes, it is."
Mason pulled up the chair from Marcus' desk and dragged it to my side of the bed. Sitting down, he lifted his feet onto my stomach.
"Thought you would have least invited me, Hart." I rolled my eyes as I took in the teasing expression on his face.
"Sorry, you were too busy sucking up to Gareth."
With a pretend gasp, he shook his head. "Me? Never."
"Shut up, Mase," Marcus repeated. I looked back at the screen before setting my gaze on Mason again.
"I thought you would have come to join," he said, digging his heel into my side. Squealing in protest, I pushed his heavy legs off my body.
"I thought about it." I motioned to Kyle and Marcus next to me. "But how could I turn this down?"
Kyle nudged me in the side and shushed me.
"Well, you didn't miss much," he sighed. "George just made us all look like fools."
"No surprise there."
Mason huffed but nodded, bringing his feet up to the edge of the mattress again. "You still should have joined, though."
I chuckled. A deep sigh from my left made me think that one of Marcus or Kyle were going to kill us if we kept this up. Mason must have thought the same thing.
"Want to come get some tea?" he asked, prodding me with the toe of his trainer.
Looking between the screen and him, I nodded. Kyle groaned as I climbed from the bed and pulled my shoes on again.
"Finally," I heard Marcus say as Mason pulled the door open. "Bloody distractions."