To Play Or Not To Play
"Coach, I can't play tomorrow night..." I'm in Coach's office the Friday before the game. The game where everyone is counting on me thanks to Vision being injured... I really screwed myself over there, didn't I? "What do you mean you can't play the game tomorrow night? You mean you can't wait to play the game tomorrow night." Coach says back, crossing his arms with an incredulous look on his face as he leans back in his chair.
"No, Coach. I can't play the game tomorrow night." I say. "I'm having some personal issues..." Grimacing, I readjust my backpack on my shoulder. It sounds really awkward when you put it like that... Nice job, me.
"Is it a guy?" Coach asks. "No..."
"Is it a girl?" He continues, and I blink at him dumbly for a second. He's a lot more progressive than I thought he would be, for him to suggest that it might be a girl so quickly. But then again... "You know our goalie, Loki, is gay. So it's completely fine if you are, too. Sure, it's not something I see every day, but I don't mind. It's really no big deal if you were-"
"Coach! I'm gay, you're right, but it's not about a girl!" I cut him off, exasperated. It's good to know he's an ally or whatever, but that's really not the point of this conversation. "Well then it must be drugs! Are you on meth? I had a brother that was addicted to meth. You should've seen his teeth; they were all cracked and rotted -"
"Coach!"
Finally, he shuts up and looks at me with a serious face, rather than continuing with all of his weird hand gestures and his rambling. Ugh. "I'm just having some issues dealing with... Aggression." I choke out, avoiding his gaze. It's not entirely a lie, I am having issues with being too aggressive, but mostly because I may wolf out and hurt someone again. As much as it may feel nice to knock someone like Vision down a peg, I really don't want to tear someone's face off with my claws.
"Listen, McCall. Aggression is a good thing in lacrosse, it's an aggressive game. And part of being First Line is shouldering the responsibility of being First Line, so if you can't do that and play the game tomorrow night, you may as well be back on the bench." Coach leans forward with his elbows on his desk, giving me a look. "If I don't play tomorrow, you're kicking me off First Line?" I ask slowly, needing him to clarify. Because there is no way I'm giving that up, I've worked so hard for it and dreamed of it for so long. "Yes." He states.
I take a deep breath, mulling my options over in my mind. I can't lose First Line, so I have to play. There's no way around it. "Okay, Coach. I'll play."
"Atta girl! You'll do great!" He beams at me, pulling out some paperwork. "Now get out of my office."
Readjusting my backpack again, I walk out into the halls to start heading for my next class. I'm totally fucked if I play tomorrow and Steve is there, watching me. He said he'd kill me!
I'm so caught up with my own thoughts that I don't even catch sight of Yelena until I'm bumping into her, causing her to drop the textbook she's holding. "Hey, watch it!" She says, accent rough with anger. Her face softens and splits into a smile when she realizes its me, and I lean down to pick up her book for her before offering a smile of my own. "Hey!" I say, handing her the biology textbook, its ocean blue cover faded from so much use.
"Hey!" Yelena beams back, tucking her things into her messenger bag and pulling me with her to the side of the hallway so we can talk. "You play tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah, I do." I sigh, trying to show some excitement. She doesn't buy it, but chooses not to comment on it, instead opting to just raise a manicured blonde eyebrow at me before continuing. "Good. I'm going to come and see you play! Wanda and I will be in the bleachers." I blink stupidly, eyes scrunching in confusion on why Wanda would come if Vision isn't playing. "Why?" I ask, earning a smack to the arm. "To support you, idiot." She rolls her eyes at me. "Afterwards, we're all hanging out, too. You, me, Wanda, and Vision." My face pales. I definitely do not want to hang out with Vision. "Why would Wanda and Vision want to hang out with me?"
Yelena laughs at my expression before answering. "Because your my friend, and they're my friends - or at least Wanda is - and I want to support you and hang out with you. Wanda is nicer than you think, anyways. She actually wanted to come and support you, even though she doesn't really know you all that well." She waggles those manicured brows at me. "And you can't tell me you don't want to be around her. I've seen the way you look at her." Point made, Yelena. Point. Made.
"Besides..." Yelena starts again, glancing away almost shyly. "Maybe you can bring Kate along? She seems pretty cool." My eyes narrow at Yelena's face, scrutinizing over the details. She seems like she's... blushing? Oh my - DOES YELENA HAVE A CRUSH ON KATE?!
My face breaks into a shit eating grin and I tilt my head at her. She looks at me, her face getting redder before she mutters something under her breath. "Cyka." She rolls her eyes, before saying, "You're coming. Deal with it." And walks away to go to her next class. Laughing, I give her a mock salute as I walk backwards towards my next class.
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"Miss McCall, Miss Maximoff. Care to solve the problems on the board?" Ms. Danvers, my math teacher, calls out. Wanda nods her head and smiles, artfully styled auburn waves bouncing with the movement as she gets up and makes her way to the front of the class where the chalkboard resides. "Uh, I don't -" I try to see if she'll call on someone else, as I haven't really been paying attention, I've just been watching Wanda and doodling in my notebook. Ms. Danvers doesn't allow it though, cutting me off. "Now, Miss McCall. Let's go."
Sighing, I stand up and go to the board to solve the algebraic equations on the right side. I have to reach past Wanda to grab a piece of chalk, and she graciously steps back to allow me the room to do so after my knuckles brush against her soft grey sweater. She's standing so close to me as she works through the problems, her perfume invading my senses - something warm and floral, like vanilla and... jasmine? I can't quite tell, but it smells amazing. My palms sweat as I clear my throat and try to make sense of the problems on the board, my eyes occasionally darting over to look at the girl beside me and her work. The test of the classroom continues on with the worksheets we were given earlier, the teacher at the back of the class helping a few students who seem to be struggling.
"Why were you staring at me?" I hear whispered to my left, and my eyes dart to Wanda. She's not looking at me, just continuing to solve the problems and showing her work. I get the distinct feeling that she could solve them quicker than she is, though. Like she's slowing down just so she can question me. My cheeks flame at having been caught, and by her at that. "Uh, I wasn't."
The girl looks at me then, I can feel the weight of her gaze on the side of my face as I stare intently at the chalk markings I'm making. She makes a small noise, too small for me to make it out for what it was truly, almost like a scoff. Which is fair, I did just lie to her face - err, or to the chalkboard.
"You were." She says softly, turning back to her work, and it feels like I can breathe again.
"So, you're okay?" She asks even softer, and my brow furrows in confusion as I solve the equations. "What do you mean?"
"The party. You lef- Yelena said you left kind of suddenly, something about a migraine problem?" She quickly glances at me, and my chest feels tight at the concern evident in her voice. I swallow thickly before answering. "Yeah, I'm okay. Working on getting the, um, migraines, under control." The lie feels like ash on my tongue. I hate lying. If I were to switch out the word migraine for wolf, it wouldn't be a lie... But I can't, so I swallow the feeling and ignore it.
"And from practice? Were you hurt at all, too?" Wanda asks, and my eyebrows shoot up in surprise before I try to smooth out my facial expression when I feel her turn to look at me. "I'm okay..." I whisper, lips tugging upwards into a small smile. She cares, and it's kind of cute. She's just trying to make small talk, Dianna. You're friends with Yelena, of course she'd be curious about these things. Stop reading into it. "Good..." I hear her mumble as she turns back to the board.
It's quiet a moment as we work, until she asks something I didn't expect had traveled around the school so fast. I had literally just talked to Coach about it... "What's with the rumor that you won't be playing tomorrow?"
It's my turn to look at her. Her brow is furrowed in concentration, lower lip caught between her perfect teeth. I hesitate before answering, and her eyes dart to me. "I will be, though I didn't want to." I decide on, shifting my weight from leg to leg.
"Why not?" Her body angles more towards me, hand slowing down her work on the board. She seems genuinely interested in the answer, and I'm confused. I may have had a crush on her for forever, but she's never even really noticed me. Why is she suddenly talking to me, wanting to support me with Yelena, and caring about if I play or not? Or if I'm okay or hurt at all? "No offense, but... Why do you care?" We make eye contact, and her jade green eyes bore into mine. It's like she's trying to see into my soul, opening up my mind and spilling out the contents of it for her to see.
Then her eyes narrow, body suddenly stiffening as she turns back to her work. Whatever genuine curiosity I saw there for a moment is gone, and in its place is the popular girl persona that the rest of the school tends to see. Still, I can tell she's almost... upset. I can't figure out why, however. "You have to play tomorrow. Vis' may or may not be able to play, and if he does then he won't be at his peak. You're the one that injured him, so you have to make up for it." She says lowly, a slight accent to her words that hints at her upbringing before coming to Beacon Hills. Her entire demeanor has become distant and kind of cold, and it sends a slight shiver down my spine. Her hand speeds up, and she quickly finishes the rest of the equations in no time before placing the chalk on the side bar and turning to me with a slight flip to her hair.
"I'm dating the captain of the winning lacrosse team. If we lose tomorrow, I'll count it as your fault." She snaps quietly. "And I do not like losing." She adds on in a lower tone that's almost sultry despite her demeanor, an eyebrow raised, and her head tilted as she slowly walks back to her seat. I gulp as I watch her return to her seat, eyes wide and the sound of her words banging around in my head like a game of pinball. Taking a deep breath, I turn and finish off my assigned problems, thinking about how much easier my life would be if my problems were as simple to solve as these ones on the board.
Tomorrow is gonna be fun... Maybe I need to get some help from someone more experienced.