Page 24 of Chasing Football Dreams

“What are you doing here?” She asked eyeing the wall and the little girl scribbling over the wall.

“Oh, Shane, you should see the black mould…,” Angela paused when she saw Zoey.

“Zoey,” She greeted with a smile and a hug. She also greeted the little girl who shied away for a second behind Zoey’s legs. “It’s so good to see you again,”

Zoey nodded, not hiding her suspicion. “What’s going on?”

“We want to make a donation that could help the orphanage to fund a foster care program,” Angela explained and I saw the way Zoey didn’t stop expressing her doubt of having us here.

“Is it because of what you found out the other day?” She asked looking right at me, unblinking.

She made it obvious that she didn’t love the idea of having people feeling sorry for her. Angela has dealt enough with kids who lost their parents to make me see that I’ve overstepped a boundary.

“Shane only told me because he knows it is part of my work to help those that are less fortunate and I am glad that he informed me because no child deserves to grow up like this,”

Zoey’s eyes darted from me to Angela. And it looked like she dropped her defences when she nodded. “They do deserve better but nobody cares about this place. We’ve tried,”

“And that’s why we are here to help,” Angela placed her hands on Zoey’s shoulders and smiled at her. “I care about this place and I will make sure I will do my best to give every single one of these children a chance,”

Zoey nodded. “Thank you,”

“You are very welcome, darling,” Angela barely covered the emotion in her voice. I know she battling to suppress her emotions ever since I told her about this place.

“Zoey!! Can we play some ball?” A few other kids came running into the room, grabbing her by the hand and tugging her hand.

She looked at us with an apological look. “Sorry,” She mouthed before letting the children pull her away from us.

Angela came to stand next to me, snaking her arm around my waist and dropping her head against my shoulder. “I wish we knew about this place sixteen years ago,” She whispered.

I rested my arm over her shoulders, nodding my head. “You would have adopted her,” I noted.

She nodded her head, letting the tears fall. “Nobody can take our baby girl’s place but I would have fallen in love with that girl. She’s not only caring and selfless or shares your ambition but there is just something that pulls you to her,”

"You already love her," I noted, tightening my arm around her shoulders, and pulling her against me. “I believe this used to be her room,” I told Angela remembering her name painted on the wall.

She turned around and faced the wall where her name with another name was painted.

“Hey, Zoey! Where the hell are you? I don't care if you are a football player. I am going to kick your ass…Oh, shoot!”

Angela and I turned around at the same time, finding a girl Zoey’s age standing in the doorway with big round eyes. I’ve seen her hang around at the field with Zoey.

“Eliza!” The little girl on the floor cheered, jumping to her feet and running over to her. Eliza caught her in her arms and hugged her. “I waited for you to show me how to draw,”

“I brought all my supplies, so we can draw whatever you want,” The little girl shrieked excitedly and I saw the way Angela’s eyes lit up to see that she wasn’t the only person who cared about these children.

“I’m sorry that you had to hear that ranting of mine but I have been looking for Zoey all morning. She usually waits for me before she comes over,” Eliza explained, her cheeks flushing.

“You come here often?” Angela asked.

Eliza nodded. “Yeah, the team as well,”

I frowned. “Team?”

She pointed out the window and we turned to see that Zoey’s whole team was there and they had bags with them. I chuckled when I saw Duncan carrying an upside-down Zoey over his shoulder with the kids cheering at them.

“The team has been supportive of Zoey and my background and have come here with us since they learned of this place. The kids absolutely love the attention,”

“You’ve got a great team, coach,” Angela said with tears in her eyes and I couldn’t disagree.

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