Chapter Text
Agatha loved school. Always had.
At first, it was because that was the only time that she could almost guarantee no direct interference from her mother. For the most part, Agatha didn’t see or hear from the woman until she was back at home.
Then, she had started cross country and that made school even better.
Now, she was in school and on a cross-country team without Evanora in sight. This transfer was looking more and more like the best thing she ever did.
It was the weekend after coming back from camp. When Agatha finally made it back to her apartment on Friday afternoon, she crashed until midday Saturday. After she finally managed to pull herself out of bed, she realized that there was a lot that needed to be done before classes started on Tuesday.
Agatha wanted to be annoyed at Lilia for arranging the schedule so that camp was literally the week before the semester started but the more she thought about it, it was probably for the best.
If Agatha had been by herself in the past week, she would have found a way to freak out. This was the first time that she had complete control over what classes to pick and when to take them. She knew that she could handle it, but it didn’t stop the nerves from creeping up her back.
What if her mother was right? And she really couldn’t do anything right? What if Agatha finally got out from her mother’s thumb, just to crash and burn not even six months later?
Thankfully though, she only had a day and a half to finish preparing.
She had all of the school supplies she would need, but they were scattered all over the apartment. Whenever she would try and put everything in a neat pile, Agatha would inevitably get distracted by some other task, thus leaving the supplies in a random spot.
It was moments like these that she missed having Wanda around. She was always available to sit with Agatha and make sure she stayed focused on whatever work needed to be done.
For a brief second, Agatha thought about texting her. She hadn’t told Wanda that she was transferring, too afraid that it would make its way to Evanora. All Agatha had disclosed was that she was leaving and that it had been fun knowing her. No promises to keep in touch and no ill will between each other. It still felt too risky since things had been radio silent from her mother. Who knows if she had gotten her talons in the red head and was just waiting for Agatha to get comfortable.
With a shake of her head, she decided to really focus and get her stuff done.
That lasted all of 30 minutes before she needed a change of scenery.
She grabbed her phone and headed for the cafeteria.
It was a weekend before classes actually started so, she wasn’t expecting anything remarkable. If she was lucky, there would be some chicken tenders and maybe some mac and cheese.
She made it to the cafeteria and scanned her school ID. That was another thing that was nice about this school. For as nice as BU was, if you didn’t have your physical card, you were shit out of luck. No matter how much Agatha would try to bribe the random worker to just give her the thing, it never worked. And Agatha forgot her badge. A lot.
(Which really only affected her at the library. She would have to stand off on the side and search through her backpack until she found it, usually at the bottom under her other books, and was able to have it scanned.
And every time, Agatha would think about how she really needed a better system of keeping track of it that wasn’t just ‘hoping for the best’, but every time she would have the time, she had already forgotten what the problem was.)
“Hi! Are you excited for classes to start?”
Agatha looked up from her phone to see a child looking at her. “Excuse me?”
“Oh, sorry. Are you excited for classes to start?”
Looking around and finding no one, Agatha turned back to the kid. “Why are you here? Where are your parents?” At least Evanora never made her wander around a college campus alone and chatting up random people.
The boy just laughed. Seriously? “I’m actually 17. It’s Agatha, right? My name is Billy. I’m on the boys cross country team?”
“Whatever…teen.”
Agatha was tired of the conversation, so she just left it. Headed straight to the back row, not giving any mind to the fact that she left whatever his name (Iggy? Willy?) hanging.
Thankfully, they had chicken tenders. It was a meal that was always good. Agatha wasn’t really hungry for anything in particular, but she couldn’t remember if she had eaten today. She knew that she drank coffee when she finally got out of bed, but there was no food that she could recall. Now that she thought about it…she was feeling pretty shaky earlier.
That happened a lot. She would forget to stop what she was doing and eat a meal. Sometimes, she would manage to eat random snacks, but that wasn’t always a guarantee. It wasn’t that she was purposefully not eating, but when she was locked in on something…Agatha wouldn’t realize how hungry she was until she emerged from the hole she was in.
After grabbing her totally not childish meal, Agatha was planning on heading back to her own space without any stops.
“Agatha, hey!”
But of course, that wouldn’t happen. In a booth right by the exit was Rio, Alice, and Jen. Rio was giving a small wave, accompanied by Alice showing a smile. Jen just rolled her eyes and continued eating.
Why was it that every time she wanted to be in and out quickly and quietly, she saw people that she knew.
There was no way for Agatha to keep moving and pretend that she hadn’t seen them. And wasn’t she supposed to be friends with Rio again? She walked up to the table and plopped her dinner box on the table.
“Wasn’t an invitation but sure, join us I guess,” Jen moved her tray further from Agatha and sent a glare towards Rio. “Anyway, Rio, continue. I still think it would have been easy credits.”
“Maybe but it still would have felt like cheating. Just because I am fluent in Spanish, doesn’t mean I want to take tests on it.”
That was something Agatha had forgotten. She could remember hearing Rio on the phone with her family and that even though she couldn’t understand a word of it, she loved hearing it spoken. She hadn’t heard any Spanish since joining the team, but she had also been making a pointed effort to not interact with Rio.
Maybe that would change since they were friends again. “I agree. Why take a class on something when you can test out of it. Seems like unnecessary work.” Upon hearing Rio’s quiet thanks, she continued. “But I do also like the idea of having an easy credit done with.”
(Since most of her senior year of high school was online and changed in a hurry, her mother picked her classes. Agatha had been in a beginners Spanish class, wanting to understand more of her girlfriends first language, but was not surprised to find out it had been switched to french. This is much more respected Agatha. Less people speak it here, so it will help you stand out more.
Agatha was pretty sure that the real reason for the switch is because she simply didn’t want Agatha to have anything she picked out herself.
Her freshman year of college, she had to either test out of a foreign language or take a semester of it. Seeing as her mother controlled everything still at that point, Agatha tested out and hasn’t done one since.)
“Plus, my schedule is packed enough. If I don’t have a class for my bio major, I’ll be in a lab for my botany one. Then, there’ll be practice and homework too. I’ll be too busy to take a class for a language I already know.” Rio wasn’t looking at anyone while she spoke. Instead, she was focusing on making sure her food wasn’t touching.
“How will you even have time to sleep? Are you going to be able to do all of that?” Alice seemed genuinely concerned, and Agatha was right there with her. For as much as writing long papers could be difficult, she only had the one major and no lab time.
“I have it all planned. I have the earliest class times and an hour break for lunch. I also have time before practice starts and my Friday afternoons clear. I’ll use then to study. Unless we have a meet where we leave on a Friday. Plus, my weekends are mostly free.”
“Geez. And I thought being a chem major was hard.”
Rio looked at Jen and shrugged. “I’m looking forward to it. I like having the structure of my day already made and planned out.”
Agatha could relate somewhat to that. She liked scheduling her classes close to each other, but with enough wiggle room in between. If she gave herself enough time to make it back to her apartment, she would inevitably miss class or be late.
However, she liked to play fast and loose with her schedule. If her whole day was planned out from start to finish, Agatha would start to feel boxed in and constrained. Having set class times was one thing. Knowing what was going to happen outside of that? That was a day-by-day basis.
“I for one am excited that I have a set practice time built into one of my classes. That is so helpful. Do you know how much it sucks to get to the practice rooms and remember that you never actually finished booking the room. Then you have to just hope that there’s one available?”
Agatha needed to bond more with Alice. They seemed to be two peas in a neurodivergent pod.
“Alice. Has anyone ever actually come to the room you’re in and told you to get out because they had reserved it?”
Alice looked up and sighed, “No Jen, they haven’t. But! It could always happen. Just because it hasn’t happened yet, doesn’t mean that it never will.”
Agatha found herself laughing. Not at anyone or even the situation. But the fact that she was willingly sitting and eating dinner with her teammates. Never in a million years would she have guessed that this would happen.
Maybe trying to actually have friends wouldn’t be so bad.
“Since classes start tomorrow and I know that this week can be quite an adjustment, there will not be a meet this weekend. However, that does not mean that we won’t be getting together,” Lilia had to pause for the groans to stop before she was able to continue. “Oh hush. I was going to have us participate in a mock meet, but based on how the competition went at camp, I have decided that we are just going to be watching the boys' team do theirs.”
It was the Monday before classes start and Lilia made everyone come in for a ‘light workout and meeting.’ The workout ended up being jogging a mile on the track, and the meeting was starting to bore Agatha.
She had no desire whatsoever to interact with the boys’ team. In fact, she believed that there shouldn’t even be a boys’ team. Not when the girls were so much better. And prettier, but most importantly better.
Frankly, Agatha’s day was always worse when she had to interact with a man.
“Since I know you girls will not want to stay long after the mock meet, which you are all expected to be at, I will be passing out uniforms now.”
Multiple girls cheered and many hands shot up. “Yes, there will be archival pieces. Yes, seniors will get first dibs. Now, my upper classmen- I know that you know the rules. Newbies, just sit and wait to be called. There are new bags this year, somehow we have the money for that, so everyone will be able to take their items home neatly.”
Never one to really follow directions, Agatha walked towards Lilia. The lady had just started bringing out the boxes into the fieldhouse and was going about setting everything up.
There was only one uniform top and spandex shorts. Next to the shorts though? Buns.
Agatha had seen these before. Wanda had shown them to her, and she had seen professional runners wearing them. Depending on who you ask, they really weren’t all that bad.
They didn’t have them in high school, so Agatha had never personally worn them. Not that her mother would have let her wear them anyway. Probably would have said they were inappropriate and complained to the school board.
“Agatha. Go sit with the other girls. I will call you up when it’s your turn. Don’t even think about grabbing anything.” Lilia didn’t hesitate to give Agatha’s hand a light tap and then shoo her away. Rolling her eyes, she turned to the other girls.
She could not pretend to be interested in any conversation whatsoever. There was a section of the pull-out bleachers that was calling her name and scrolling mindlessly on her phone was the voice.
Not long after Agatha got comfortable finding someone new to rage bait online did she notice there was someone sitting too close for comfort.
It was Yelena. Which was interesting to say the least. “Can I help you?”
The freshman didn’t answer. She wasn’t even looking at Agatha. Almost as if she didn’t even realize how close they were sitting. “Has the big bad Natasha sent her guard dog to keep an eye on me now?”
That got a chuckle at least. “No I was not sent over here. I’m a big girl. I can make my own decisions.”
“Oh? And what would those be?”
“I don’t know if you really did what my sister says you did. I know you say you didn’t, but you could be lying. That is not what this is about anyway.”
Agatha was confused. Was this not publicly announced to the team during camp? “This is nothing new to me. Get to the point or leave me alone.”
“No matter what, whether you did or didn’t do anything, you better not do it to my friends. Understand?”
Agatha just nodded. She wasn’t intimidated by Yelena, but it was getting to be exhausting having to defend herself at every twist and turn. If she needed to believe Natasha, then let her. “Understand. Loud and clear freshie. Loud and clear.”
Thankfully, Lilia called the juniors up and Agatha left Yelena sitting alone.
When she made it up to the tables, Sharon handed her the backpack. Other than the uniform itself, this was what Agatha was looking forward to the most. In high school, she would just use whatever bag she could find to hold her things. Now, she would have a designated bag to hold her shoes and meet items. Less chance that she would lose things now. It wasn’t anything fancy either. Just a giant black athletic backpack with the schools initials on it.
Moving further down Lilia was handing out the uniforms. The top was turquoise with yellow lettering. Thankfully, the bottoms were black. Agatha had been a little worried that they would be yellow in order to balance out the school colors.
“This is actually the first year that they aren’t yellow. We complained so much last year that the higher ups must have decided to listen.” Oh, she must have said that out loud. Rio was next to her and chuckling. “But if you really feel like you missed out, there are some extra bottoms and buns from previous years. They aren’t see through or anything. Just kind of ugly.”
Never one to pass up free clothing, ugly or not, Agatha grabbed one of each. She also grabbed a few sports bras from years before. There was a black one that just said ‘WESTVIEW’ in white letters and a nice grey one with a small ‘WU’ in the corner in yellow.
After grabbing her warmups, a deep yellow with the same blue lettering, Agatha was free to leave.
Agatha has always loved the first day of school.
Where most kids would be dragging their feet knowing that they would have to be in class for 8 hours, Agatha usually had her backpack prepped and ready as soon as stores started setting the new supplies out.
The more time she spent at school, the less she was at home and that is exactly how she liked it.
Once she was in college, it was even better. Sure she didn’t live on campus and her mother was always breathing down her neck, but she had more freedom. Since she was 18, Evanora couldn’t look at her schedule and wasn’t able to see what classes she was taking.
After the first year, Agatha realized that she could just…lie. It wasn’t foolproof and there was significant risk in doing so, but if he happened to say she had an evening class once a week? It was a risk she had been willing to take.
Here? Now? Agatha felt like she was on top of the world. Her backpack was prepped and ready, finished at midnight the night before. She didn’t have to lie about what classes she was taking and didn’t have to make up a fake one to have just an hour to herself.
This school was significantly smaller than Boston, so she didn’t have to leave for her first class for another 10 minutes. She prepped a rather large coffee that would hopefully last until she could stop home and make another, and triple checked that everything was in her backpack.
Walking to the social sciences building, Agatha thought about how much her mother had hated that she wanted to major in history. ‘That isn’t a real degree Agatha. How are you ever going to get a job with something like that.’
Who cares? That was a next year Agatha problem. She was happy taking her classes and would figure out the job outlook later.
Just ahead of her was Rio, walking with big green headphones on top of her head. In the spirit of trying to be friends again, she sped up to her and tapped her on the shoulder.
Rio jumped and ripped the headphones off. “Agatha?”
“Heading to class?”
“Yeah, I have an anthropology class this year. Human variation. How about you?”
“History of the colonies and the lasting impact on witchcraft in popular culture.” Agatha waited to hear it. Hear the comments on how that wasn’t a real class and that it must be so easy to fly through college.
It wasn’t new. Her mother said it. Wanda said it. Hell, random people would say it. Agatha knew that there were technically harder degrees that required things like lab hours and clinical work, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t putting in work. So many hours were spent in the musty, old basement of the library doing research and writing very long papers about a very small section of time.
“That’s cool. I remember you said you liked the Salem witch trials, so that class sounds perfect for you.” Agatha was not going to think about the fact that Rio kept that tidbit in her mind. “You should also talk to Lilia. She knows a lot about witchcraft that I think you’ll enjoy. Sometimes, I think that she is actually a centuries old witch that really lived through that stuff.”
They had made it to the building, and Rio turned to look at Agatha. “Do you want to maybe...swap numbers? I’m assuming that you have a new one? In the past, my texts wouldn’t go through. If you don’t want to, that’s totally okay. It’s just...we are on the same team and are somewhat friends.”
For a moment, Agatha thought of telling her no. But she was looking at her with her big brown eyes. And she didn’t write off her class as a joke, so that was a few brownie points in itself. “Fine. Yeah, it’s a new number. Got it as soon as I left Boston.”
Before she could talk herself out of it, Agatha took Rio’s phone and texted herself and made a new contact.
She wasn’t going to tell Rio that she still had her phone number memorized. Or that the reason the texts wouldn’t go through was because Agatha had blocked her. Or that it was one of the first numbers she had put in when everything got switched over and just happened to leave unblocked.
Kindness and Friendship and all that.
Agatha handed the phone back. She started heading towards the stairs and turned to point a finger back at Rio. “This doesn’t mean I’ll text you back immediately. Or at all. Or answer if you call.”
Laughing, Rio nodded her head. “Sure Agatha.”
By the time Agatha got to the room, she had a text.
Rio: You know, it’s not polite to point fingers. You know what they say.
Agatha: I’ve never said I was polite.
Rio: Thought you weren’t going to text back?
Agatha: Don’t get used to it. Won’t happen again.
Unsurprisingly, Agatha loved the class.
It had only been one day, and they really just went over the syllabus, but it was looking out to be a good semester. Agatha actually already had a couple of books that were needed, which was great for her bank account and only had to scour around for cheap copies of the last two.
There was only one slight bump in the road.
“Hey Agatha!”
She had strategically sat in the middle section. That way she didn’t look too eager but still gave the impression that she wanted to pay attention. She put on her best RBF so that no one got the wrong impression that she wanted a chat.
Someone had sat down in the seat directly to her left and somehow knew her name? So much for a resting bitch face. That would need work before the year really got underway.
Agatha barely glanced in the persons direction before looking back at her phone. Agnes O’Connor was almost done ragebaiting some old man and was hoping to wrap it up before the professor walked in.
“Are you a history major too?
Since they clearly weren’t getting the hint, Agatha wanted to nip it in the bud quickly. “How do you know my name and why do you want to know?” The boy, who didn’t look more than 16, looked vaguely familiar but as with most people of the male species, Agatha didn’t care to figure it out.
“You probably don’t remember me, but we met a couple days ago? In the cafeteria?”
Ah, yes. The teen. “Aren’t you a freshman? Why are you in here?”
“I’m actually really advanced for my age. I’ve been studying witchcraft for years and there aren’t any prereqs for this class, so I talked to my advisor and she agreed that I would probably be fine!”
“Swell.” She couldn’t be less invested in this conversation if she tried. Where was the professor? Would it kill them to be early?
“Anyway, I figured I would sit next to you. Since we’re both on the cross-country team and already know each other.”
Agatha had no intention to keep sitting next to him the rest of the semester if she could help it. “Listen teen, I can’t stop you from sitting wherever you want, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to chat with you.”
The teen must have finally gotten the message because he just nodded and went about getting his computer out.
Well, she thought he got the message.
“You handwrite your notes? That’s so cool. Very retro.”
Oh my god, should could not catch a break.
There was no way that she was going to tell him that she simply couldn’t afford to buy her own laptop yet. That would open up a whole other can of worms that she really didn’t want to get into.
“Ew, no. I handwrite my notes because it helps me remember them better. And it’s not retro. I literally had to write all my notes by hand until I was in like…my senior year of high school.”
And it wasn’t because the school didn’t have them. No, her mother just refused to sign the form saying that Agatha was allowed to use the school’s property and that it would be returned at the end of each school year. Evanora believed that Agatha was ‘too irresponsible to use electronics like that and she would not be responsible when it was inevitably destroyed’.
And the only reason she was finally allowed to use a computer to do her schoolwork her senior year was because her mother pulled her out of public school and barely let her leave the house.
Finally, the professor came in. If she had been a minute later, Agatha probably would have continued to pretend to be invested in whatever it was the teen was talking about now.
“Be quiet teen.”
There were a lot of places that Agatha would rather be.
Her bed. Meeting Rachel Weisz. Her bed with Rachel Weisz. At a bunny shelter. In her bed with her new pet bunny that she got from the shelter.
Not at some park in August at 8 in the morning on a Saturday.
She could wake up early for meets. That was no problem. The adrenaline and nerves were great wake up calls. But right now? All she had to motivate her was the fact that Lilia said they had to be there and that it wasn’t an option. That wasn’t motivation. That wasn’t even what got her up. When her fifth alarm went off, it was accompanied by a text.
Rio: I can pick you up to go to the mock meet today, if you want.
Agatha: Who said I was even going to that? What is Lilia going to do?
Rio: That woman is secretly terrifying, believe me.
Rio: I’ll be there in 20 and I’ll bring coffee.
Agatha: uggghhhhhh
Agatha: Fine.
That led to her being ready within 25 minutes, purposefully taking five minutes longer than Rio said. Rio was just pulling up when she came outside, which Agatha proceeded to comment on the entire drive there.
When they got there, Lilia gave them the rundown. They were going to do their workout before the boys’ team got there. That way, the girls would all be able to spread out along the course and cheer them on.
Agatha didn’t mind the workout.
What she did mind was the fact that she was currently being forced to watch Peggy aggressively make out with her idiot boyfriend Steve. She had nothing to back up the idiot part but to Agatha, all men are idiots until proven otherwise and none ever passed.
Steve was a senior and quite frankly, ripped as fuck. Apparently he was super scrawny in the past? Agatha really didn’t care. It wasn’t that she was a prude or anything. She didn’t mind seeing a girl locking lips with someone, especially if that someone was herself, but Peggy could do so much better.
The boys’ coach, Fury, came over to break the couple up and started explaining the meet to the boys. Lilia had already told the girls that they needed to spread out and sent them to different parts of the course. Obviously, Agatha took that to mean she should just hang out wherever. Which really meant that she was going to follow Jen, Alice, and Rio.
The area that Alice picked to wait around at wasn’t half bad. It was shaded, which was nice, and it was far enough away from everyone else that Agatha could be on her phone without Lilia yelling at her.
“We should go out tonight guys.”
“Alice, you literally just turned 21.” Rio laughed and flopped backwards onto her back.
Whereas Agatha didn’t care to pretend to be waiting for runners to come, the other three girls were sitting in perfect view of the turn.
“Exactly why I suggested it. Now I can go with you!”
“This would be a good week to do it. The first meet is next weekend and you know I won’t go out again until after the season ends.”
“I’m game. Agatha, how about you?”
To be honest, Agatha didn’t expect to be included. She was fine to scroll twitter while the trio chatted. So, when Rio looked over to where she was, it took a second to register. “How about me what?”
Jen scoffed, “Are we supposed to believe that you weren’t being nosy? Be for real Agatha.” Fair point.
Looking at the sky, seriously rethinking her decision to not go with the sophomores just to make fun of them, and made her way over to the group. “Again, I ask, how about me what?”
“We are going to go out tonight and wanted to know if you wanted to come!”
Agatha laughed. She hadn’t spent much time with Alice, but it looked like the girl had jokes.
She knew a little about her though. Her mom had been a pretty well-known coach for a big D1 school years ago. Then one day, she had went running on an unmarked trail at the base of a mountain and was never seen again. Agatha also knew that Alice wasn’t as good as a runner as her mom had been, so her teammates hadn’t always been kind to her.
Huh. Maybe that would be a good bonding topic for them.
Agatha realized that the girls were staring at her, waiting for an answer. “Oh! Um…really?”
“Yeah! It’ll be fun!” Oh, the girl was serious. This was a legitimate offer to hang out with Agatha outside of practice. And with alcohol.
Jen rolled her eyes and Rio laughed. At least someone was enjoying this. “Come on. Live a little. We won’t be able to do anything like this until after Halloween.”
That was a good point. Agatha hadn’t been able to drink a lot at BU since her mother watched her every move. Then, since moving here and able to legally go into a bar, she hasn’t really gone out. She doesn’t have a lot of money and there are a lot of things she would rather do than sit alone at a college bar.
But she wouldn’t be alone tonight. And she has some money saved up. “Sure, why not. I don’t have anything better to do.”
“Alright. Agatha, why don’t you just meet us at Rio and Alice’s tonight?” Jen doesn’t look up from her phone at all. What could she possibly be doing that doesn’t allow her to tear her eyes away from that screen for one second?
Just as the little devil on her shoulder is yelling to snatch the phone and be nosy, the first of the boys’ start coming around the curve.
Steve is in the lead and by quite a large margin it seems. If Agatha cared about them and if he wasn’t disgustingly eating his girlfriend’s face earlier, she might find that impressive. But she doesn’t and he was, so Agatha doesn’t really care.
Alice and Rio are jumping a cheering for them, which is a little cringy. It wasn’t even a real meet! Jen has locked her phone, but very halfheartedly clapping and cheering. Respect.
More boys are coming through. There is one that has a prosthetic arm that is running with an African American guy that has some serious sunglasses on. From the cheering, it seems like their names are Bucky and Sam?
Seeing as Agatha has no interest in really learning their names, she mentally checks out. She stands next to Jen to join in on the semi-clapping and her brain starts to think about anything else.
It starts with her classes. There wasn’t any homework yet, so there isn’t much to really think about there. She needs to get a couple more books, but that can wait until the next week starts. She should really try and finish up the book she was reading over the summer, Frankenstein, before things get really busy or else it’ll never get finished. Mary Shelley was really an icon if you think about it. The fact that there is a possibility that she lost her virginity on her mother’s grave? Icon behavior. Too bad her mom is still alive to do the same. She wasn’t a virgin either, but that couldn’t be that important. That ship sailed her freshman year of college, thanks to Wanda. They hadn’t been together, but Wanda wanted to make sure that she was really attracted to women and who was Agatha to deny a pretty girl. They didn’t date and definitely worked better as friends, but the largeness of the school proved to be helpful in trying to discreetly hook up with people. That was one of the only parts of BU that she missed. But the good here far exceeded the good there, so. You win some, you lose some.
“Let’s go Billy! You got this, don’t give up!” Agatha was brought back to reality to see just one kid running by. Must be last place. And he looked familiar.
The teen from her witch class.
Poor kid. Must suck to be last. But at least it’s happening at a fake meet instead of a real one?
“Come on teen, you can’t be last every time. Don’t start now.” That’s helpful, right?
“Agatha!”
Guess not.
“Thanks for cheering for me out there.”
Agatha looked up from her phone to see the teen again. “What?”
“You’re right. I can’t be last every time. I’m going to think about that every time I’m falling behind and use it to make me better.” Billy didn’t even look like he was trying to be funny, which meant that he was being serious. That was…not what she expected him to get out of her comment, but whatever floats his boat.
“You’re…. welcome? Now, go please.”
The meet was over and everyone had reconvened by the makeshift start line. Coach Fury had just finished going over the results with the boy’s and Lilia wouldn’t let the girls leave until everyone was ready.
Agatha had been around people enough for a while. And she had said she would go out tonight. There needed to be at least a 4-hour buffer between things or else she was going to become mean.
Well, meaner than she normally was.
“I just really liked the honesty. Most people just cheer general things like ‘you’re doing great’ or whatever, but sometimes…you just aren’t. There should be more people like you. Just telling it like it is.” What was it with the freshman just not being able to take a hint? It wasn’t even a hint! She had outright asked him to go!
However, the teen did say something that piqued her interest. There should be more people like you. Now that wasn’t something that Agatha heard on a daily basis. Or ever. People usually want the opposite to happen. She could use this to her advantage.
“I do try to be helpful.”
“Well, in the spirit of being helpful, do you think we could make a study group for our history class? Just the two of us?”
“Teen, the year just started. Why could you possibly need a study group yet? And didn’t your advisor think you were ‘probably fine’ to take this class?”
To Agatha’s surprise, he laughed. “I meant for the future. We already know each other and this way, we can make sure we each have the correct notes.”
How this kid thought there could be incorrect notes for a class, she didn’t know. But Agatha wanted to have someone in her back pocket. Not necessarily for any nefarious reasons, but just in case. Her current track record with the freshman wasn’t great, so anything helped. “Alright! Give it like 2 weeks and check back in. Now, seriously. Go away so I can leave.”
There was only so much idle chitchat she could take.
Rio: Hey, are you still coming tonight?
Agatha had only been in her apartment for a few hours and already she was being bothered. Was it not enough to have gone to practice, but then having to stay for a fake meet?
Agatha was all peopled out.
When the text from Rio came through, she almost ignored it in favor of laying on her bed, scrolling on her phone.
But. Agatha had genuinely been asked to join. Her specifically. That never happened.
In high school, she had Rio and they usually hung out under the guise of studying.
After she got pulled out, she was so isolated that there was no one to even think about trying to do anything with.
At Boston, she had Wanda sure. But Evanora rarely let Agatha out of her sights and when she did, it was with a purpose and very hard to stray from.
Now however, she had freedom. No one was watching her every move. No one was forcing her to stay inside and do nothing. She could do whatever she wanted.
Agatha: I guess I could treat you guys with my presence.
Rio: It’s okay if you don’t want to.
Rio: I know Alice sort of sprung it on you.
Rio: And I know that we were with people all morning.
Agatha: Rio, it’s fine.
Rio: Okay, cool.
Rio: Whenever you want to come over you can. Jen is already here.
Agatha looked at the time. It was already 6pm. If she was going to go, she needed to eat and figure out what to wear. She pulled herself up and went to her closet to try to figure something out.
She settled on baggy jeans and a dark purple crop top.
Agatha was just shoving her foot into her adidas superstars when her phone pinging.
Rio: I don’t know if you’ve eaten yet, but we have pizza here.
Pizza worked. And free is free. Why spend money on food if given the option not to?
Agatha: I'm on my way.
The walk to Rio’s house felt like it took forever. Whether it was the fact that she was tired from the events of the day, the heat, or if it was because she was suddenly aware of how hungry she was.
When she got to the house and knocked, it was Jen that opened the door. She was dressed in a denim skirt with a sparkling pink tank top tucked into it.
“I didn’t think you’d actually show up.” By the time that Agatha made it through the doorway, Jen was already almost to the kitchen. “The pizza and alcohol are in here.”
“I thought we were going out?”
“We are!” Alice yelled, coming down the hallway. She was in the middle of tightening the belt of her black cargo pants while holding a sheer red long sleeve with her teeth. Once next to Jen, she paused to slide the shirt onto her body. “This is just the pregame so that we spend less money on food and alcohol while we’re out.”
“Unless you ask Rio. You know that we are going to have to stop somewhere afterwards.”
“Obviously. It’s not a successful night out unless I manage to get french fries.” Rio seemed to just appear in the doorway, fully dressed and ready. Dark jeans, black docs, and a black tee that was underneath an undone short sleeved green button up.
Agatha couldn’t help but stare.
Rio was hot.
Nope. Not doing that. Not going there.
They were friends. That’s it.
It had just been a while since she hung out with people. Voluntarily. She was just thrown off balance for a moment.
The three ladies seemed to forget that she was in the house, let alone the same room as them. Which gave Agatha time to come back to herself.
She didn’t find Rio hot. At all. They were friends and teammates. That’s it.
“So, are we doing shots or what?”
Agatha was just on the right side of too drunk. Enough that she was feeling pretty good, but not too much that she thought she was going to vomit.
Which was better than Jen and Alice seemed to be doing.
(She couldn’t remember the name of the bar that they ended up at, but it was fairly close to campus and a lot emptier than expected.
Jen decided to order a pitcher of a flavored vodka drink and Alice had the brilliant idea to play some convoluted game of 20 questions. It very quickly went from any structure at all to each person randomly asking another a question whenever they felt like it.)
Agatha was slowly working on her second drink, along with Rio, while Jen and Alice were finishing the pitcher with their third drinks each.
“Okay. Agatha. Leave anyone behind in Boston?”
Alice asked the question so innocently, with no ill intent. Somehow, even with the alcohol in her system, she didn’t immediately just blurt out her answer. “I had a friend. Wanda.”
Just as Jen laughed out “just one?”, Rio’s head flew up. “The one you would watch movies with?”
“Yeah, that’s her. My mom liked her enough to let me hang out with her sometimes. She runs too, but Boston is a different division than us so I doubt we’ll cross paths. She’s cool though. Wants to be a teacher.”
“Do you miss her?” The way Rio asks the question gives Agatha pause. “I mean, do you miss hanging out with her?”
“I mean, sure. We couldn’t hang out a lot because I didn’t live on campus, but it was nice whenever we did. But I’ll take missing her over going back there any day.” Feeling awkward, Agatha chugged the rest of her drink. “I’m going to go get another.”
That was weird. This happened the last time that she brought up Wanda with Rio. That had to just be a coincidence, right? The bartender handed her the new pitcher and she made her way back to the booth.
Thankfully, the trio wasn’t just sitting in silence and managed to find a new topic.
“Do you remember when that girl passed out on the course? I think we were sophomores?” Rio sounded like she was back to her normal self and Agatha loved to push things to the side so as to not deal with them.
“Oh yeah. She was sort of…pushed off to the side. I wonder what ever happened to her.”
Jen, who had just poured her fourth drink, paused and looked at her. “Wait. That seriously happened? That’s so messed up.”
“It’s not like we pushed her! I’m pretty sure that the officials just had to wait until all of the runners were out of the way before they could move her.”
After a while, Jen and Alice were laughing nonstop at Rio trying to explain how a flower grows. Or something. Agatha couldn’t really tell. Her senses were slightly dulled from all the alcohol and her hearing was always the worst one. “We should probably head back.”
“No! I haven’t gotten my french fries yet!”
“Fine, I’ll order food and have it delivered to your place.” That seemed to appease Rio enough to let Agatha download the Grubhub app. “What’s your address?”
Alice and Jen were no help, the former laughing and shrugging her shoulders and the latter just flipping her off with both hands. Rio at least seemed to be trying. “I know there is definitely a 6 in there. And a 3, but I don’t remember which one is first.”
“Okay. I’ll just order it to my place and you guys can crash there. I’m assuming that I also need to order the uber?”
“Nope! Got that part covered. It should be pulling up soon.” Jen stood up and headed for the door, leaning heavily on Alice’s shoulders. Though, they were both leaning on each other so maybe it was less drunkenness and more flirty?
Agatha waited for Rio to head out too. Somehow, she had become the most competent one out of the four of them. Would have never guessed that.
Thankfully, no one threw up in the uber. The only person to even speak in the car was Rio, drunkenly explaining how vodka came to be in the United States.
To be completely honest, Agatha missed Rio info dumping on her. There would be times in high school where they would both take turns unloading whatever new information they had to the other. It was nice to get even a semblance of that back.
Once they pulled up to the school apartments, Agatha could see the little take-out bag sitting by the door. The group spilled out of the car and Rio ran to get the food.
Said food was almost gone by the time Agatha opened her door. Rio was shoving them into her mouth like she had never eaten before and would never eat again.
“Okay. I only have a one bedroom so you three are stuck in the living room. The couch will probably fit two of you and I can try to find some blankets for whoever gets stuck with the floor.” Jen and Alice headed for the couch immediately and laid down. “Hey! You better not pee or vomit on my couch or you are buying me a new one. Understood?”
The only response was Jen flipping Agatha off again.
Turning to scrounge up some blankets for Rio, Agatha headed to her bedroom. “If you want, I have that chair in the living room that you can try to sleep on instead?” She didn’t want to yell since it was late, but she also didn’t want to repeat herself.
“I’m sure the floor is fine. I can sleep anywhere.” Rio’s voice was a lot closer than she was expecting it to be. Agatha popped her head up to find the girl standing in her bedroom doorway.
Nope. Not happening. She gathered the three blankets she had found and all but pushed them out, shutting the door behind her.
Her bedroom was her place alone. No one saw it. No one judged her for it. No one bothered her there. There was no one here that she felt comfortable enough with to let them hang out in her bedroom.
And that included her ex-girlfriend/current friend.
Plus, all her stuffies were sitting out and that would definitely not help her bitchy personality.
“Okay. Here are all of the blankets I could find. Feel free to sleep on the floor or the chair, whichever. Push Jen off and sleep on the couch for all I care. I’m going to my bedroom. Goodnight.”
Rio laughed a little and took the offered blankets. “Thanks Agatha. The floor will be totally okay.”
Agatha gave a slight nod and headed to her own bed. “Agatha?”
She turned around to see Rio in the same spot. “I had fun tonight. Glad you came out with us.”
After a moment, she smiled back. “You know what, me too.”