Le pire, c'est toi et moi
Shauna watched as Jackie and Jeff danced together, jealousy bubbling up inside her. How could that idiotic jock deserve her? How come he got to hold and kiss her in front of everyone when he was cheating on her?
Of course that thought is very hypocritical of her, he probably wouldn't be cheating on Jackie if it wasn't for her. But she didn't care. She deserves Jackie not him.
So Shauna left, seeing Taissa by the beer keg and deciding to pick a fight. She didn't know why she did it, she likes and respects Tai. But with her emotions running rampant and the booze in her system making her bolder, her words came out before she could stop them.
Jackie always said she couldn't handle her liquor.
Now here Shauna was, getting off of Jeff and hurriedly fixing her dress, pushing it down her legs to rid herself of the awful feeling of betraying her best friend and the person she loved most. Jeff cleared his throat next to her and pulled his pants up, getting ready to drive.
As the jock put in the keys to turn the engine on, an odd sputtering sound came from the front and smoke started to billow upwards. Shauna closed her eyes tightly as she could feel a headache coming on.
“I- shit, something's wrong, hold on,” Jeff said before exiting the car and opening its lid.
Shauna rubbed at her temples, she just wanted to get home and sleep the night away, hopefully she'll sleep past her alarm and be too late for the flight to Nationals. Maybe she could help speed things up, unfortunately she'll have to be in Jeff’s presence for even longer.
She got out the car and slammed the door, ready to make her way over to the meathead before she felt a heavy weight on her back push her to the ground. She yelped as her face met dirt and she could hear whatever pushed her land a bit further away.
“Wha- oh my God!” She could hear Jeff exclaim as she looked up to the culprit.
Her eyes met that of a big black dog, unnaturally big actually, it seemed more like a wolf. It growled as it got up on its feet and turned its black eyes towards Shauna, lips pulling back to reveal sharp canines.
‘Shit,’ Shauna thought before standing up and bolting into the woods, ignoring Jeff's cries for her to come back as she heard rapid footfall following her.
She hoped all of Jackie's praise of her being the fastest player on the team wasn't actually ass kissing and that she could outrun this wolf that was targeting her for some reason. She almost tripped on sticks and roots multiple times but kept her footing because she could still hear the thing right behind her.
Shauna didn't know how long she was running for but she was so incredibly tired, but she couldn't stop. Her pants were getting heavier and her calves were basically screaming at her but she forced herself to keep going. She knew she was getting slower, but held onto hope that she could make it out.
Until she felt the same weight from before crash into her once again, she yelled as she fell down a small hill, tumbling to the bottom, landing on her back. The black wolf pounced on her claws digging into her skin. She grabbed onto its body and attempted to push it off her.
Her attempts were futile as it only growled louder and dug it's claws deeper into her chest before sliding it's paw downwards, creating a gash. She yelled out in pain before trying to push it off her again with all her might, succeeding this time as it rolled to her left.
She managed to turn over to her stomach and get into her hands and knees before she felt a sharp pain in her ankle, and was dragged backwards, landing onto her stomach. The wolf got on her back and bit into her shoulder, the pain in her body becoming more excruciating with each new wound the animal made.
She screamed once more, her eyes wildly scanning the area for something to help her, as she felt another gash made to her left shoulder blade, when finally her eyes landed on a medium sized jagged rock. She grasped it and turned slightly to knock it against the dog's head.
It whimpered as it landed on its side before getting up, as Shauna readied herself to strike again it's eyes met hers. It's mouth was covered in blood, her blood, and she could see some of its own trail down the side of its face. ‘Good,’ she thought, ‘let it bleed.’
It whimpered once again before turning and fleeing with it's shaggy tail between its legs. Shauna sighed in relief before allowing herself to collapse onto the ground. Breathing heavily as she stared at the stars in the sky.
She assessed her wounds, they hurt a lot, but they weren't too deep, she didn't need to go to the hospital, she could just bandage the gashes herself. She grunted as she stood, holding onto her shoulder as she looked through the forest.
She had no idea where she was, and was desperately hoping that by some miracle, someone from school would find her and take her home. She saw a road distantly and walked towards it, finding herself on some random street.
From there, she doesn't know how, but she made her way home, shrinking in on herself so that no one would see her blood. She saw that her mom's car wasn't in the driveway, and felt relief for not having to explain herself or worry her mother.
She bandaged herself slowly in the bathroom, making sure no blood would leak through. She wondered on if she could use this to get her out of Nationals, or if she should suck it up and just get the whole thing over with?
After all, she's done horrible things to Jackie behind her back, she could at least make it up to her by doing just this one thing. Shauna sighed and turned on her shower, making her decision.
“You ok, Shipman?” Jackie asked once they took their seats on the plane.
Of course Jackie noticed when Shauna limped, of course she noticed when Shauna winced in pain. The brunette gulped as she stared at the seat in front of her, thinking of what lie to come up with.
“Yeah, I'm just worried about the flight,” Shauna explained, looking to Jackie and seeing the concern in her best friend's eyes.
Her heart flutters as Jackie tells her how she swiped her mom's Valium and gives Shauna her necklace. She thinks about her and care for her and it makes Shauna feel so much more guilty about the words she writes in her journal and the things she does with Jeff behind Jackie's back.
That's why she needs to hide how hurt she is and continue with playing soccer, even though she hates it. Because Jackie will always be the better friend, and Shauna can do this one thing for her.
It's been a few days since the plane crash, Shauna is exhausted and she now no longer has any more backup bandages as they had to be used for everyone else's wounds. On top of that, she has to keep her own wounds a secret and is stuck with old and dirty bandages.
“Guys!” Tai yells as she runs towards everyone, Shauna looks at her quizzically, confused why the other girl was so frantic, “guys, there's a lake! There's a lake!”
“I saw it from that hill. It looks about four or five miles away,” Tai pants softly from her running.
Shauna stared up at her, fantasizing about water, about maybe getting a chance to finally be clean, she glances to Jackie and sees that the other girl isn't fantasizing about the same thing. Instead she's looking at Tai deep in thought.
Shauna stands, “Do you think we could hike it?”
“It's pretty rocky, but yeah,” Tai smiles at her, mostly at her own idea.
Jackie looks to Shauna quizzically, but Shauna keeps her gaze on Tai, not wanting to feel even more guilty than she had when everyone was sharing secrets around the fire. Jackie looks to the ground before speaking.
“Uh, we, uh, we can't…” she trails, standing up and looking at everyone, “we can't just leave.”
Shauna looks to Jackie and Tai, would this make an unnecessary argument?
“We've got two days of water, tops,” Tai scoffs in disbelief, “and then what? Just sit around and die?”
“What if the rescue team comes?” Jackie starts to flounder, and Shauna looks to the ground in embarrassment for her friend, Jackie looks straight at Shauna.
“Do you think they're taking their time on purpose?” Tai frowns, “if they knew where we were, they would be here already.”
“You don't know that,” Jackie says, trying to seem like a know-it-all, annoying Shauna and apparently Taissa as well.
Someone asks for Coach's approval and that interaction is not something Shauna pays attention to, instead staring at Jackie and furrowing her brows. Tai has a point, they can't just stay here. Jackie keeps protesting and Tai orders for a vote.
Shauna makes sure not to look anywhere but at the ground when she votes to leave the crash site.
On their hike to the lake, Shauna beats herself up while Jackie ignores her. So much for making it up to her, right? First you fuck her boyfriend and you can't even manage to be a good friend on top of it.
They finally, finally make it to the lake, and Shauna is so relieved that she forgets all about her wounds when she takes off her clothes to get it.
“Damn, Shipman, what happened to you?” Natalie asks, not so much concerned but curious.
“What? Oh,” Shauna looks at her body, seeing the dirty bandages on display for everyone to see.
“You should've told me about those Shauna, I could've helped you change them, they look really old,” Misty comes up to her and starts prodding at her.
Shauna winces, “Misty stop, I'm fine, just, uh, got a bit beat up in the crash. I can take care of myself though.”
“You weren't beat up in the crash,” Shauna looks away from Misty to see Lottie looking at her in thought, studying her. Shauna finds she doesn't like it.
“Yeah, you were only a little scratched,” Jackie says, finally done ignoring her and staring in horror at Shauna’s state.
Shauna sighs, defeated, “Fine, Jeff accidentally got into a car crash on the way to my house before coming here. I didn't get too hurt so I decided to still go to Nationals.”
“You didn't tell me?” Jackie’s expression spelled betrayal, and if she was this hurt about Shauna hiding a few injuries, who knows what would happen if she ever told her the truth. Jackie turned and walked away, leaving the small group of girls to stand awkwardly around Shauna.
“Um, anyways,” Nat cleared her throat and her gaze snapped back to Shauna, “you good?”
“Yeah, fine. I’ll change them later,” Shauna’s eyebrows furrowed as she stepped into the lake and relished in the feeling of cold water surrounding her.
Shauna played some chicken with a few of the other girls, and splashed some water at Van, before her eyes settled on Mari and Jackie talking. Jackie barely looked interested in the conversation until her eyes met Shauna’s and she turned fully to face the school gossip.
Shauna huffed, of course she was acting like this. She falls back and let's herself float in the water, closing her eyes and trying to remain calm. That's until she feels something block the sun from her face. She opens her eyes and squints up at whatever was above her, seeing Lottie.
“Are you alright?” She asks, concern filling her features as her eyes flit over Shauna's wounds.
“Oh, yeah, it kinda hurts but mostly I'm ok,” Shauna says as she slowly gets up to face the taller girl.
“That's good,” Lottie says, her eyes catching something in the distance and turning her attention there.
Shauna follows the other girl's gaze and sees a light in the distance, “What is that?” She asks, squinting at it.
“I don't know. I don't think it's good though,” Lottie says, nervously staring, Shauna glances at her, curious.
“Whatever it is, we should tell the others. Maybe it's shelter.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Lottie continues to stare at the light.
Shauna shrugs before getting everyone's attention, they all rush out of the water to get dressed and go check out what the light is. Shauna almost follows until she sees Lottie is still stuck in place.
She hesitantly puts her hand on the tall brunette’s shoulder, “Lottie, we have to go.”
Lottie startles and looks at her, she blinks before looking down at Shauna’s wounds again. She touches Shauna's shoulder, where the wolf bit her, and slowly runs at the fabric of the bandage. Shauna furrows her brows, watching the motion before hesitantly looking back at Lottie's face.
The other girl stares at the wound in thought, then her eyes snap to Shauna's. They stand in the water a bit, staring at each other, stuck in a daze, before someone screams to get their attention.
“Hey! What're you guys doing?” Natalie yells at them, eyebrows creased in confusion.
Shauna looks next to her to see Jackie standing with her arms crossed, a glare and a scowl settled on her face, she stands there for a second before turning and following everyone else to go find the light.
"Shit,” Shauna whispers as she watches Jackie leave, she then turns towards Lottie, who has been staring at Jackie's back, “C’mon Lot.”
They get out of the water, quickly get dressed, then hurriedly follow everyone else.