I just want to know you better
Alessia
Alessia’s phone is pressed against her ear. She is gripping it with such a tight force her fingers are turning white. Pacing around her family kitchen with her mum sitting at the table and her dad standing behind her. They are clutching hands listening to one side of the conversation.
‘Thank you so much Mr Neville! You won’t regret this I promise!’
Relief.
Her parents smile so wide, and she thinks she might see her dad welling up ever so slightly. She won't mention that to him though. She quickly puts the phone on speaker for her parents to hear.
‘You have earned this Alessia. Your play has come on incredibly in the last year and I know you will take up this next challenge and prove me right in this decision. And please, please just call me Phil.’
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As Alessia drags her bags out of the back of the car, her heart starts to race. She can’t comprehend that she is really here. Stood in an England training hoodie. She had finally made it.
She was nervous. She was the only new person from the U21 squad that had been called up for this senior camp, so she didn’t have her closest friends, Lotte and Ella, with her to make the transition easier. She started to pull her suitcase along the gravel, making a mess of the bottom of her bag. After 100 yards or so she stops to take a break. She looks up and see’s Georgia running towards her from the front door.
‘Less!’ she shouts, ‘I heard you had been called up! That’s so amazing! I told you you would!’
Alessia takes a deep breath and embraces her friend into a hug.
‘Hi G!’
Georgia grabs the handle of her suitcase and starts to pull it towards the door.
‘No Georgia stop, it's ok I can bring in my own bag,’ Alessia protests.
‘Nonsense! Nothing but the best treatment for the wonder kid!’ Georgia beams back at her.
As they approach the front door, Alessia sees a crowd of people all hanging out in the foyer. Georgia opens the door, swings the bag inside and holds it open for Alessia.
She follows Georgia round to the side of the room until they reach a smaller circle of people.
‘You know Kiera don’t you Less and you’ve met Leah before?’ Georgia gestures at the two girls and they both give polite waves and say hi.
‘And this is Lucy Bronze, OAP.’ Georgia giggles at her own joke before Lucy swats her on the arm.
Lucy leans into Alessia, ‘Don’t mind Georgia, she just can’t handle when someone more mature can out pace her. But I think I might have my work cut out for me with you from what I’ve seen.’
She winks at Alessia playful and suddenly Alessia understands what all the other girls on the U21 team are talking about when they talk about Lucy. She is stunning and confident almost to the point of being cocky. Her arm muscles are on full show as she stands in her training top and reaches over to put her arm around Alessia’s shoulder. The gesture was friendly and although the woman was sculpted like a Greek god and Alessia could appreciate her attractiveness, she wasn’t her type.
‘More mature?’ Georgia guffaws, ‘More like closer to death.’
‘Ok stop it now children,’ Alessia hears Kiera say from across the small circle of girls.
"We should probably all go find our rooms and unpack," Leah says matter of factly. She has an air of confidence and authority that just makes people do exactly as she instructs. So it is with that that the group makes their way over to the welcome desk to get their assigned rooms and room keys.
‘Keira you are with Lucy, Georgia you are with Alessia, Leah you are with Jordan, but she hasn’t arrived yet,’ the nice lady sitting behind the desk reads from her paper. She hands the girls the keys with their room numbers, and they all make their way to the lift.
‘Are we all on floor 3?’ Georgia asks, looking at everyone’s keys.
‘Looks like it.’
They all pile out of the lift on the 3rd floor with all their bags and make it to each of their doors. Alessia looks around making a mental note of where the other girls' rooms are. Keira and Lucy are directly opposite her and Georgia while Leah is slightly down the hall next to the ice machine room.
There is nothing on the schedule until dinner this evening so the girls all use the time to unpack, relax and chat with their new roomies.