Needle in the hay
The hallway outside the locker room still smells like sweat and floor wax. Practice is over, the sun’s sliding behind the school roof, and most of the team has cleared out.
Lottie walks alone, earbuds in, gym bag slung over her shoulder, ponytail damp and high.
Jackie steps out from the shadows by the vending machines like she’s been waiting.
Lottie stops, pulls one earbud out. “Hi?”
Jackie crosses her arms. “You two aren’t exactly being subtle.”
Lottie blinks, eyebrows raised. “Excuse me?”
“You and Shauna,” Jackie says, stepping forward. “The whispering. The hand-holding. The stretching each other’s calves like it’s some intimate bonding ritual.”
Lottie shrugs. “She had a cramp.”
Jackie laughs once—mean, breathy. “Right. That’s what we’re calling it.”
Lottie shifts her weight, cool as ever. “You want something?”
“Yeah,” Jackie says. “I want to know what your deal is.”
“My deal?”
“You show up out of nowhere, and suddenly Shauna’s your little project? You don’t even talk to half the team and now you’re playing girlfriend?”
Lottie tilts her head, voice flat. “I’m not playing anything.”
Jackie rolls her eyes. “Oh please. You don’t even like people. You walk around like we’re background noise.”
“And yet here you are. Talking to me like I stole your car.”
Jackie glares. “You didn’t steal anything. She just—forgot what she wanted.”
Lottie doesn’t flinch. “You think she’d forget if you actually gave her something to want?”
Jackie’s mouth opens, but no words come out.
Lottie steps in, voice even. “You think standing around waiting for her to read your mind counts as effort?”
“You don’t know anything about me,” Jackie snaps.
“I know you’re not used to coming second,” Lottie says, calm as glass. “That’s not the same as being right.”
They stare at each other.
Jackie’s jaw tightens. Her voice drops, low and bitter. “You’re not her type.”
“And you are?”
That lands.
Just in time for Shauna to round the corner, earbuds still in, hair damp, eyes locking on the scene in front of her.
She pulls one bud out slowly. “What’s going on?”
Jackie turns, her voice fast, defensive. “Nothing. We were just having a little chat about—boundaries.”
Shauna blinks. “Uh-huh.”
Lottie doesn’t look away. “Jackie had some questions about your choices.”
“Did she now,” Shauna says, tone clipped.
Jackie steps back, scowling. “I just wanted to make sure she wasn’t—confusing you.”
Shauna gives a sharp, bitter smile. “No confusion here.”
Jackie swallows. “You really like her?”
Shauna shrugs. “I really don’t care if you believe me.”
Jackie scoffs, suddenly sounding small. “Right. Well. Good luck.”
She turns and walks down the hallway, fast, shoulders tense.
Shauna watches her go. Her expression unreadable.
Lottie glances over. “You okay?”
Shauna exhales. “Eventually.”
They don’t say anything else.
They just keep walking.
⸻