Hello! So I'm back with another story. I found it in my drafts partly written - so I'm uploading what I've got so far. Feel free to suggest what else I can include/ what you like or don't like

I hope you're all doing well - on with the story!

School was never Nat's favourite thing and going to Waterloo Road was definitely not going to change that. Although it was going to be a little different as she was going to be at the same school as her mum… great.

There wasn't much she could do about it though as none of the other schools in the area had any spaces.

Rachel Mason sat at the table at a friends house, leafing through estate agent listings. She and her youngest daughter would be staying at their house until they found somewhere.

She felt bad for uprooting her daughter, Natalie and moving her into a new town, new school and forcing her to leave her football team - but when Ria Cheetham had called in such a panic. She knew she had to take the job. Besides, Nat was used to it by now. This was what her job entailed.

What she wasn't so used to though, was being at a school where her mum was headteacher. Rachel wasn't sure how Nat would find it, hopefully by the end of the term, there would be a place at another school (if she wanted to move).

The only thing Nat was really annoyed about was having to leave her football team. With them, her skills and fitness had improved rapidly. She had even been invited to join the football academy at the local club, but her mum had said no. She needed to focus on her schoolwork.

Natalie had a half-sister, Samantha, who was currently studying English literature at Uni. She was the intelligent, academic one and Nat was the thick, disappointing one. Neither girl knew or had any contact with their father, in fact, Nat didn't think they had ever been mentioned in conversation. Men were unspoken territory.

As her alarm rang on Monday morning, Nat rolled off of the air mattress that had been put up in the living room. She yawned and stretched, groaning at all her aching muscles from a bad sleep. It was much earlier than she would usually get up for school, but seeing as it was her first day and she had no idea where she was going - she was going to get a lift with her mum.

As they pulled into the car park, she was glad to see that barely any of the students had arrived yet. She wasn't sure whether she wanted the other students to know she was the new headteacher's daughter. Maybe it would be best not to mention it… At least not until she had settled in.

Rachel's first day hadn't been that great, along with the hostile welcome from her new deputy and team of teachers, she'd also been thrown up on by the sister of a teenage runaway. She was glad when the day was over, it looked as if Nat was too by she fell through the door and collapsed onto the sofa.

"Bad day?" Rachel began packing up her stuff, she didn't feel like staying late to work today.

"Actually, no," said Nat sitting up, "It wasn't too bad - just really tiring. Going by what everyone else was saying, yours wasn't that great though. Take away tonight?"

Rachel sighed, her daughter always knew when to get her to agree to a takeaway. "Yes, okay - we can get one after we've been to the house viewing."

"Yesss! Oh, I almost forgot, my form tutor - Miss Koreshi, said Waterloo Road has a girls football team. Can I join? Pleaseeeee."

"As long as you keep up with your schoolwork." Rachel didn't feel like arguing with her today. If Nat was playing for the school, then she could control the amount of time she spent playing football - Nat had GCSE exams in just under 15 months but cared much more about perfecting her skills than them.

The house viewing went well and within a week, they had moved in. Nat was very glad she had an actual bed to sleep in and a wardrobe to put her collection of joggers and hoodies in.

Although she had joined the school a lot too late to try out with everyone else for the team, Mr Clarkson had been nice enough to try her out on Tuesday lunchtime before their training session on Wednesday after school.

On Tuesday, Natalie spent the morning waiting for lunchtime to come - football was her most favourite thing.

She spent most of her English lesson with Mr Budgen dreaming of football stardom, not paying attention to anything he was saying.

She hated English even when it wasn't in the way of football - her dyslexia made it all even more difficult for her. She was yet to find a teacher that really made the subject interesting for her.

As the lunch bell rang, Nat flew out of her seat and was out of the door before Mr Budgen could even make an attempt to stop her.

The weather had turned nasty since she had walked to school that morning, the wind had picked up and rain had started tumbling from the sky.

She tugged on her boots - they were blue in colour and had a pink rim, her mum had bought them for her two Christmasses ago and they were her absolute favourite. They were her lucky pair too.

Waiting for her on the field was Mr Clarkson, Miss Koreshi and a girl she recognised from a few years above her.

"This is Maxine," Mr Clarkson told her, "She's the captain of the team so I thought she deserved a say in your fate. We'll keep this quick so we don't all end up drenched."

Nat played winger, she was small and quick and so was well suited to the role.

She worked her hardest at every drill and challenge they gave her and by the end, she was dripping in sweat, exhausted. Mr Clarkson said he'd catch up with her the following day and she went off to get lunch.

Rachel sighed as she looked through some of Nat's books as she sat at the breakfast bar of their new house, glass of wine in hand. She was trying to block out the thuds her daughter was making in the garden as she kicked a ball against the wall. She'd let her go and practice out there after she'd finally finished her homework. She wished that Nat was more interested in her grades and schoolwork but the truth of it was that she wanted to play football - especially now she'd made it onto the school team.

"I'm going to do you a deal." Nat had finally emerged from the garden, red in the face. "I was just looking through your school books, and I don't think you're even trying to apply yourself in lessons."

"I would but…" Nat tried to protest but her mum held up her hand to silence her.

"So, I want you to promise that you will start taking your education seriously. I want to hear good things from your teachers or I will pull you from the team. Is that clear?"

'Yes mum."

Rachel felt a little sympathy flicker in her stomach, "I love you Nat."

"Love you too mum."

Nat's first school football match was on Thursday after school, she was very excited. The day couldn't have gone any slower, it was if time was taunting her.

Finally, it was time for her to make her way to the pe changing rooms to meet the rest of her team for a pre-match talk.

As she ran out onto the pitch, adrenaline surged through her veins. This is what she was born to do.

She jogged off at half time and realised that her mum was standing at the sidelines watching along with most of the teachers and half the school it seemed.

It was all to pay for as the second half started, neither team had yet to score.

The ref blew his whistle and play began again, Nat felt the sudden urge to prove to her mum what football meant to her.

The ball landed at Nat's feet and she made an amazing cross into the box, Maxine got on the end and volleyed it into the back of the net - the goalkeeper had no chance. The crowd of Waterloo Road supporters cheered and Mr Clarkson punched the air but Nat was sure she heard Mr Budgen grumbling.

It was nearing the end of the match and she was beginning to worry that she wouldn't get a chance at goal but then one of her teammates made a terrific cross into the box - she finished it with an astounding overhead kick. Everyone went wild, it was an amazing goal!

Rachel gave Nat a lift home that evening, seeing the massive smile spread across her daughter's face rid her of all the stress and tension she had been feeling earlier that day. She knew that football meant everything to her, but she couldn't help but worry that if Nat didn't also do well in school, that she might end up with nothing if the football dream fell through. Rachel's sometimes tough and harsh treatment of her daughter did all come from a good place.

The next few months came and went as the two women began to settle into life at Waterloo Road.

One evening, Nat was sitting in the kitchen waiting for her mum to come home - it'd been an awful day at school as some students had found what was a baby buried in the school field. It had turned out that the baby had been Maxine Barlow's (the captain of the football team) which was a shock to nearly everyone.

Nat knew that her mum always felt very protective over her students so she knew that this would affect her deeply, even if she hadn't been at the school when it had happened.

At the sound of the front door shutting, she stood up. Her mum entered the kitchen looking nothing less than exhausted but on her face was an emotion that she couldn't quite read.

Rachel gestured to the kitchen table, "Sit down Nat, I need to talk to you." She didn't know why she felt she had to tell her daughter this now - but somehow, she knew the time was right.

She watched Nat lower herself back down into her chair uneasily and began to talk:

"Years ago, I was a different person to who I was now. I didn't come from a loving family and I was forced to work from a young age to put food on the table for my sister and I. This work wasn't fun, or easy and I dropped out of school early. It wasn't until I became pregnant with your sister nearly 10 years later, did I realise that I had to take control of my life get a steady job and income. Going to Uni as a mature student with a baby was hard, but I survived. Mainly with the help of alcohol - which I am not proud of. That was when you were conceived - a drunken one night stand ending in two lines on a pregnancy test. I want you to understand that I haven't held this information from you because you didn't need to know but because I am so ashamed and embarrassed of it all. You see, I don't even know your father's name, nor what he looked like and I don't think he would have wanted to know about you at the time even if I had told him. Of course, you have every right to be angry at me and if you want to try and track him down sometime in the future, I will do everything I can to support you. But after everything that happened today, I knew I had to be transparent and open with you - you deserve it."

Nat was quiet for a very long time before she eventually spoke, "Thanks… thanks for telling me. You didn't have to, but I understand why you wanted to. For the moment though, I am happy - this guy, my dad, can wait. We've survived long enough without him. You and Sam are all the family I need."

Rachel felt a tear slide down her face, at what point had her daughter become so mature? "Oh Nat, thank you, thank you."

She pulled her into her arms and held her there for a long time - glad of the enormous weight that had been taken off of her shoulders.

After the conversation that night, Nat felt a stronger connection to her mother. All these years she's despised how easy she thought things had been for her; now she knew how much she had struggled too, she felt comforted. She could also see more clearly why her mum was so adamant that she should get the very most out of her education - because as a teen, she hadn't.

That said, she still felt it was unfair for her not to be able to treat football as a number one priority - school still really wasn't her thing.

Alas, now was not the time for arguing. Rachel barely ever opened up her hard exterior and as a result, she had become more grouchy and tough than ever before. It was a defence mechanism and Nat knew that.

Thanks for reading (: