‘We want to come and support you,’ Amma insists. ‘We never missed watching any of your matches on the TV when they were on. Or any of your interviews. We’re not going to miss this one – we get to watch it live, finally.’
Even though I don’t want Amma and Abba there, I can’t help but smile. There are some parents who wouldn’t have wanted their daughter to ship off to America at the fresh, young age of eighteen. Who would have felt uncomfortable with the TV appearances, the celebrity-adjacent life. But Amma and Abba have been nothing but supportive of every single thing in my life. How can I tell them not to come to this match?
‘OK, but you have to behave,’ I say firmly.
‘We always behave,’ Amma says brightly.
‘Maya!’ Ms Jacobs is waiting by the football pitch when I arrive for training later that day. I have to stop myself from frowning at her. I may be annoyed at her for speaking tothe reporters, but at the end of the day, she’s still my current employer and I shouldn’t get on her bad side.
‘Hi, Ms Jacobs.’ I force myself to smile. ‘What can I do for you?’
‘I heard about the match,’ Ms Jacobs says. ‘You should have told me that you were setting something like that up. It’s a fantastic idea. I mean, what a great way to inspire and motivate the team.’
‘It wasn’t really my … Yes, it’ll hopefully be a good match.’ I sigh. The match is happening with much more pomp and circumstance than I had expected, and I have to get used to it.
‘Well, I’ve sent out an email, inviting everyone to be in attendance,’ Ms Jacobs says enthusiastically. ‘The parents, teachers, supporters of the school. Hopefully we’ll get a good turnout. I spoke to Jen and we agreed that it would be best if you used the school football pitch for it. We want it to be as professional as possible, especially with all the media attention. There was an article in the local paper the other day, I don’t know if you saw that.’
‘I did, my mum showed it to me,’ I say. I can hardly believe that somehow even more people are going to be turning up to this match. I’m not sure if I want our team to win or lose. If we win, I wonder if that will be the nail in the coffin for me and Dina. I’m not sure if I would be OK with that. If Ishouldbe OK with that.
‘Well, I just wanted to tell you how great a job I think you’re doing.’ Ms Jacobs practically beams at me as she says this. ‘Maybe if everything goes well, we’ll have a coaching position for you as we start the school year as well. I think the students would really like that. It seems they’ve really taken to you.’
As frustrated as I am by Ms Jacobs speaking to the reporters, and inviting so many people to our match, I can’t help but feel touched at her support. After all, without her, I wouldn’t even be here. I’d probably still be moping around the house with no reason to get out of bed in the morning. She’s given me the motivation to actually move past what happened in my football career. She’s given me the chance to look forward, to see that I have more to offer to the world even if my football career is over.
‘Thanks, Ms Jacobs,’ I say, giving her another smile. This time, one that’s actually genuine.
Chapter 29
Dina
Three days to the match
I spot Maya through the glass doors of the cafe. She’s sitting on one of the couches to the side, her black hair swept out of her face, a frown on her lips as she stares at her phone.
I have half a mind to turn around and just go back home. Despite what I said to Maya about the two of us starting something being a bad idea, I’ve spent the past few days doing little else but thinking about her.
Taking a deep breath, I push the door open and step inside. Maya must hear it, because she turns towards me as soon as I’m inside. A hint of a smile crosses her face, and I ignore the fact that it makes my heart skip a beat.
I march towards her as nonchalantly as I can.
‘Hey,’ Maya says.
‘Hi.’ I take the seat opposite her, trying not to show her just how much simply being in her presence these days rattles me. ‘You wanted to talk?’
‘Yes … did you want to get something?’ She looks from the steaming cup of coffee in front of her to the menu on the wall on the other side of the room.
‘No, I’m okay.’ A cup of coffee would be good just to distract myself, but it would probably also make me even more jittery than I already am.
‘OK, well … have you seen the newspaper lately? And your player Jade’s Instagram?’ Maya asks, her frown returning.
I wonder if that’s what she was looking at before. I should have known this is what Maya wanted to talk about.
‘Yes.’ I sigh. The whole match has blown up more than I wanted it to. Clearly, more than Maya wanted it to either. I’ve even had a conversation with Jade, but she just shrugged and said that if they were going to show Westbrook that they were a real team, they might as well have an audience for it. I hadn’t pointed out the fact that the Divas have yet to win a single match, not wanting to crush their spirits. And it’s not like I can dictate Jade’s social media.
‘We have to do something about it. I spoke to Ms Jacobs, and she’s invited people from school – parents, students, teachers,’ Maya says, sounding a little distraught. ‘Who knows how many people are going to show up? And Jade isn’t slowing down with her posts.’ She holds up her phone to show me Jade’s latest viral post. She has started counting down the days to the match now, and the people in her comments are loving it.
‘Jade is passionate about the match,’ I say. ‘All the players on my team are. That’s why they’re posting about it. I can’t ask them to stop.’ I don’t mention that it has taken a lot to get them to care even a minuscule amount about football, and while I’m not a fan of what they are choosing to do now that they are invested, I’m proud of them too for how far they’ve come.
‘You’re their coach. You can tell them to stop,’ Maya insists. ‘Or Jen can. Maybe we should talk to her.’
