the next day dele and eric walk into training together.

'so how was it?' asks harry winks.

'it went well.'

'yeah she's super nice. she is way too good for dele.' says eric jokingly making dele roll his eyes.

'can't believe you didn't make me meet her earlier mate, she's amazing!' says dele going over to harry kane.

'hey don't go blaming me now, you're the one who's always in a relationship. in my defence, i did tell you about her earlier but you weren't interested. you bumped into her at my house so it's really thanks to me you met her and fell in love with her. so i should be hearing a "thank you harry"?' says harry looking at him.

'no chance of that.'

'have you told her yet?' asks christian quietly. they know harry's fiancée's kate is good friends with zara so they didn't say anything to harry. most of the squad knows except him.

'no i haven't.'

'why not?'

'it just wasn't the wrong time. i need it to be at the right moment in time.'

'the longer you leave it, the worst it'll be when she finds out.'

• •

'hey zara do you think you could look after my year tens after break?' asks serena.'

'me? you want me to look after a class?'

'yes it's just the hospital just called me saying there's been a problem with my dad and i really need to go. they're currently doing group projects about a famous french person and i know you're pretty good at languages. all you need to do is supervise and help them if they need it.'

'i mean i'd love to cover for you but i'm not qualified and i'm only in pastoral care.'

'i've already asked the head teacher and he's okay with it. plus zara i have so much faith in you. everything they're doing is on my desk so you won't be lost.'

'alright i'll do it.'

'thank you so much zara you don't understand how thankful i am for you right now.' says serena quickly grabbing her hand bag.

'don't worry about it, just go and be with your dad. i hope he gets better soon.' says zara smiling slightly before serena leaves.

zara quickly finishing her coffee before quickly going to serena's classroom before the bell rings. zara sits at serena's desk and picks up their classwork and what they're working on.

the bell suddenly rings and a few moments later the students start walking in.

'zara?' asks one of the students as they walk in.

'where is mrs johnson?'

zara waits until everyone is sat down and settled until she decides to speak up, standing in front of the class.

'right so good morning everyone. i knows mrs johnson is your usual teacher but she had a sudden family emergency so i'm taking over this class. for those who don't know, just call me zara. i was told that you all currently have a french project so during this next hour you're just going to continue working on them. if you have any questions or need some help just ask me.' she says with a smile before sitting down as they start working on their projects.

while they're all working and talking amongst themselves, zara is reading her book until she hears something that makes her look up from her slightly.

'mate did you hear that dele alli was here the other day?'

'what? don't be ridiculous. why would he come here?'

'don't know. but he was, one of the year elevens saw him park up in his bmw.'

'why did he come here?'

'i think he's seeing one of the teachers.'

'please all the teachers here are ancient. the youngest one is literally mrs johnson but she's married.'

'unless it's not a teacher.' he says looking at zara quickly.

suddenly jack puts his hand up and zara quickly notices.

'if your question is wondering if i'm seeing dele alli, the answer is no.' she says not looking up from her book.

'how the hell can she hear us?'

'because you don't know how to be quiet.'

• •

zara walks down the hallway to her apartment before getting her keys out of her handbag and unlocking the door.

'hey baby.' says a voice popping out from the kitchen.

'dele, how did you get in?' she asks slightly confused before he kisses her.

'you told me where you kept your spare key remember?' he says looking at her.

'oh yeah that's right.' she says furrowing her eyebrows.

'are you okay?'

'yeah i'm fine. just something weird happened at work.'

'oh what happened?'

'well i had to look after my colleague's class and they started talking about you. they saw you park up the other day and they started presuming you were dating someone. they said me because i'm the youngest but i denied it.'

'you denied it?'

'look don't take this the wrong way dele but i'm not exactly ready for your lifestyle. you know, the paparazzi social media gain and all that. i don't think i could handle it, being known simply as "dele alli's girlfriend" or being part of the wags. i can't even imagine the amount of shit i would get, the amount of people that would tell me i'm dating you for the money. i'm just not ready.'

dele just looks at zara who is looking at him with a look on her face that he's never seen before.

'so are you saying, you don't want to be with me?' he says quietly.

'i do but i'm just not ready.'

'so everything you told me the other night was just a bunch of lies? the whole "the next step" speech was just complete bullshit?'

'dele please just let me explain!'

'no i think i get it now zara. you never wanted to be with me, you just felt sorry for me.'

'what the fuck are you talking about? of course i want to be with you!'

'then why won't you let me show you off to the world? why can't i just show everyone that your mine huh?'

'you don't understand, just let me explain.'

'please zara.' he says scoffing, 'i've adapted to your lifestyle now it's your turn to adapt to mine.'

zara just looks at him in shock after what he's just said.

'excuse me? you've adapted to my lifestyle? i work my ass to pay my bills to buy my food and to keep this apartment. i've nearly been kicked out twice and i would have been homeless. there has been times i didn't have enough money to eat so the only time i could eat was at the school. don't you even come and talk to me about my lifestyle when all you do is kick a fucking ball around for a living!' she says nearly screaming at him.

dele just looks at her, the way he's looking at her is making zara want to burst out crying.

'so what does this mean for us?' he says suddenly.

'i don't know.'

'are you breaking up with me?'

'how can i break up with you if we were never together in the first place?'