Before The Whistle Blows

Normally you meet your team weeks and weeks before a tournament, not at the airport before you fly out to start your training camp. But here we are. "You're fine, stop playing with your hair." Ella scolds taking all my hair in her hands and she begins to put it in a braid to try and stop me from fiddling with it. "Everyones gonna love you. And if they don't I'm gonna hurt them."

"She's not gonna do that." Les corrects. "But they all will love you." She tries to soothe my nerves. We arrived at the airport early, Joe dropped us off, we stayed at Ella's place last night so we were all together, none of us slept much which probably was a big mistake, though Ella seems to have so much energy whether she sleeps or not.

People started to arrive and I had met everyone already at social things but not as an official part of the team so I greeted everyone. We were all wearing the same, our luggage was all the same, making us look like a cohesive team.

"It's wild out there." Lucy says to me.

"We missed it," Les said proudly.

"Smug much."

"Yeah I am." She said back and I laughed. We sat and waited for the rest to arrive. Leah arrived last, looking super stressed, and lacking sleep, more so than anyone else here. We all got checked in, our bags got taken and then we went through security before being ushered to the 1st class lounge where we waited for our flight. The energy was high. Everyone was practically vibrating. Maybe it was nerves mixed with excitement. I try to relax a little and sit on myself, I fiddle with my mom's locket that was secure around my neck.

"You good, Rory?" Ella asked, she set a glass of OJ in front of me and an apple. I nodded. "Eat something." I nodded again. I hear Ella tell one of the girls to leave me alone after they asked if they should try and include me in their shenanigans, it was nice of them. But Ella knows me best. And I do really just need a minute.

I felt guilty for leaving mum behind, for moving on so fast, for picking back up like she never exsisted, like my heart wasn't still breaking, like my whole world wasn't still shattered around my feet.

Someone didn't listen to Ella though and sat in the chair next to me, I guess I don't own it and can't force anyone to listen to Ella. I don't look up from the apple on the table. "You can't be in freeze mode forever, remember. She'd want this." I look up slowly to meet the clear blue eyes.

"It's too soon." She shakes her head.

"It's okay... She's not here to give you permission but she would if she could." I nodded and reached for the apple and took a bite. We sat in silence.

"Why do you look like shit anyway?" I asked so casually, it caused her to laugh which was the desired effect.

"Scared of flying and this is the longest travel day of my life."

"You're scared of flying?"

"Yep." I smiled trying not to laugh. "It's a genuine fear, let's not make fun of it, thank you." She folds her arms over her chest.

"Okay, I'm sorry." I take another bite of my apple. "Flying isn't that bad, you just have to fill your time."

"We're literally in a death trap in the sky."

"You're actually pretty safe."

"Defying gravity is safe?"

"They wouldn't do it if it wasn't safe. You're thinking too much about it. Stop. You need to pick a good movie. Sit next to the right people. Get a good nap position. Get a good nap buddy. That's the best. Me and Ella have the best naps on flights. We just cuddle right up."