Chapter Text
It was only the second week of school, and Jackie Taylor had officially gotten under her skin.
Not many things phased Natalie. This was, like many things, a skill she had to learn growing up. When her dad came home, drunk and pissed off, and Natalie could hear him knocking over things in the trailer, she had to force herself not to be scared. If she hadn’t, Natalie was sure that the fear of what her dad may do would’ve killed her before he even got a chance to lay a hand on her.
So, it was equal parts remarkable and incredibly annoying that Jackie Taylor had been able to phase her in such a short amount of time.
It was the Monday of the third week of school, and Natalie was in her first period English class. She, like almost all of her classes, shared this one with Jackie.
Thanks to the cruel hands of fate, or maybe just pure dumb luck, Jackie and Natalie were sat next to, behind, or diagonal from each other in every class. The only period they got to pick seats in was Algebra, which they shared with Lottie. Naturally, this meant they sat in line, the two girls finally separated by Lottie.
It was English, and Jackie was sat right next to her on her left hand side. They were supposed to be annotating a poem. Natalie hated poems. Why couldn’t the author just say what he meant? Forget about the road not taken bullshit, just say you have regrets.
Natalie was stuck on the first stanza, her pen hovering over the page, like something profound was just going to magically spill out of her.
But it was hard to think at all, with Jackie next to her, her knee bouncing and pen clicking. Seriously, her nervous energy was almost palpable in the air. Natalie was surprised the whole room wasn’t choking on it.
“Jesus, Taylor, can you stop that. I’m trying to read.”
Jackie rolled her eyes, “Don’t blame your poor reading comprehension on me.”
Natalie laughed a little under her breath, “Seriously though, wanna tell me why you’re wound up tighter than a-“
“Stop, I have no interest in whatever crass comment you plan on making.”
Natalie felt chided, like a little kid, “It wasn’t going to be crass.”
“Sure it wasn’t.”
“Girls,” their English teacher Mr. Peterson called from where he sat at the front of the room, “this is not a collaborative assignment. Stop talking.”
Jackie nodded, ever the golden girl. Natalie just lowered her eyes, attempting to focus on the poem in front of her.
“Okay, but don’t make fun of me,” Jackie whispered, eyes darting over to Natalie.
Natalie nodded. She wasn’t sure why Jackie felt like confiding in her, but strangely, she was going to try and take her seriously. For once.
“Soccer tryouts are today and-“
“Wait you still have to try out? Even as a senior?”
“Let me finish. All returning Seniors just help with tryouts, but we also find out who team captain is.”
Natalie was unimpressed, “So what? You want to be captain?”
“Obviously I want to be captain.”
“Okay, chill. Is Lottie on the soccer team?”
Jackie’s eyes narrowed, “Yes. But don’t get any ideas about joining the team Scatorccio. That’s our thing.”
“You don’t own the soccer team Jackie,” Natalie scoffed.
“Sure, but I guarantee you if I get captain, I will make your life a living hell.”
“Well that doesn’t matter to me,” Natalie said, leaning back in her chair.
“Why, because you’re not gonna try out?” Jackie asked.
“No, because you’re not gonna get captain.”
Safe to say that Natalie Scatoricco was a little stupid.
She felt the full force of this stupidity when she got to the locker room after school, opting out of a smoke behind the bleachers for fucking soccer tryouts.
She wasn’t exactly sure why she was there. She had about narrowed it down to two reasons. One being the look of pure excitement on Lottie’s face when she made a passing comment at lunch about trying out. Natalie wanted to keep that look on Lottie’s face, and she let the high of it carry her all the way to the locker room.
The second reason, was of course, Jackie Taylor. The comment she made at lunch, meant to be a jab at Jackie, had landed full force. Her nose had scrunched, face turning a light shade of red. It was almost worrying, the way that Natalie craved the attention from Jackie. If Natalie was ever pressed on why she verbally sparred with Jackie so much, she would say it was fun. She could even tell the story of their first meeting, how Jackie had looked at her with such disdain, an insult waiting on her tongue. She could claim that Jackie had started, but deep down she knew that that wasn’t true. Natalie would start the argument, throw the first punch, if it meant getting Jackie’s attention. Sure, the jokes were funny, but it wasn’t about them. It was about that moment after, when Jackie stared at her with pure hatred, and Natalie didn’t care because at least she was staring at her at all.
So, here Natalie sat, tying up a pair of sneakers. She didn’t have any cleats, but she figured she should actually make the team before she jumped to buying the shoes.
Lottie had said that getting on varsity would be easy. That as long as Natalie could run and kick, she was a shoe in. Natalie hoped this was the case, because if she didn’t make the team, she wasn’t sure how she would be able to face Jackie at school tomorrow. She would rather stab herself through the hand than hear Jackie Taylor say “I told you so.”
Jackie was determined for today’s tryouts to be perfect.
So what her new arch-nemesis might be trying out just to spite her? She had better things to worry about, like the meeting that would take place after. The one that would, hopefully, declare her captain.
“Is anyone else nervous?” Jackie asked.
“Fuck no.” Van said, face splitting into a grin.
Tai was right beside her, “We aren’t even trying out.”
“She’s not nervous for tryouts,” Lottie said with a lilt in her voice. She was practically dancing around Jackie, her excitement clear, Jackie not even knowing what it was for.
“Oh you wanna be captain? Figures,” Shauna grumbled as she helped Misty set up the cones.
Jackie immediately flushed, “No. I’m
nervous for the tryouts.”
“Mhm sure,” Lottie said, uncharacteristically sly.
“Okay, forget about me. What’s your deal?”
“You didn’t hear at lunch? Natalie’s trying out.”
Jackie scoffed, “Please, that was just something she said to make me mad. In fact, I think everything she does is to make me mad.”
“Don’t flatter yourself Taylor,” a voice called from behind her.
Unfortunately, Jackie knew this voice. She had become uncomfortably familiar with it these past two weeks.
“Seriously? You’re trying out?” Jackie asked, incredulous.
“No shit. I am quite literally here, at tryouts,” Natalie said, mouth slipping into a grin.
“Hell yeah!” Van said, practically skipping over to Natalie. The redhead slung an arm around her shoulders.
Jackie closed her eyes and genuinely considered praying. She herself had never been a religious person, but it felt like only God could solve her Natalie Scatoricco problem. She truly needed divine intervention.
Luckily, Coach Martinez walked out, blowing his whistle and telling all the girls to huddle up.
Tryouts were boring. The returning Senior girls demonstrated drills, watched as Freshman fumbled through them. Jackie wished she’d had enough time to pray, because maybe if she had, then Natalie wouldn’t be doing so good. Like, seriously, it was almost unnerving how at ease she looked on the field, despite not having any previous soccer experience.
“Alright, everyone, bring it in!” Coach called.
Once the girls were huddled up, he said, “Good job out there ladies. List will be up tomorrow morning in the locker room, JV and Varsity. You’re free to go. Varsity girls stay with me.”
Jackie was nervous. She wasn’t nervous for tryouts, she was nervous for this, the moment when her dreams would either come true, or be utterly crushed.
She knew that it was just being soccer captain. That, in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t really that big of a deal. But it felt like something to her. It felt like it would be some sort of validation for all the years she’d painstakingly pried away at herself until there was nothing but the perfect left. Like it was all actually worth something.
“Okay girls, practice starts Wednesday after school. Coach Ben, like always, will be assisting. It’s gonna be a good year. Which leads me to my next announcement,” Jackie could hear the blood rush in her ears, she grabbed Lottie’s hand and squeezed, “Our Wiskayok High 1996 soccer captain is, Jackie Taylor.”
A light applause spread through the group, and Lottie pulled her into a hug.
“Thank you,” Jackie said, a little breathless, to Coach Martinez.
“Of course, see you all Wednesday.”
With that, Coach left, and the remaining girls milled about. Most gave half hearted congratulations to Jackie, but at least Van gave her a real smile, and Laura Lee seemed genuinely happy for her.
No one was more happy for her than Lottie. She was grinning, “Jackie I am so proud. You’re going to absolutely crush it as captain.”
“Thanks Lot,” and for the first time, Jackie felt calm. Almost serene.
She wasn’t worried about where she stood with Lottie, not with the way she was looking at Jackie now. She was happy, she was captain. And she was not thinking about Natalie Scatoricco.
Not about how good she’d played today, not about how she was totally making Varsity. Jackie wasn’t thinking about her at all.