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Allison came off the inner court sweating, dragging her hand along the wall on the way back to the locker room. Seth had peeled off to go to the boy’s locker room after both of them were the last on court, getting a few raised eyebrows and in the case of Seth, a few pats on the back from the other guys. She held back her eye-roll for long enough, but there was no point in staving off her bad mood when she was walking in on them in the locker room.
The way the room fell silent as soon as she stepped foot in the locker room pissed her off more than it should have. Allison was used to being looked over like a specimen, whether discreetly or flagrantly through a camera lens. Her tolerance for it ended with her teammates though, people she was supposed to spend half her time with.
Allison stripped off her shirt and her gear with force, content to ignore them like they were ignoring her. Really, she thought, the only good thing about Dan was how she didn’t give a fuck about everyone having their parts out in the locker room. Renee on the other hand, changed facing away from everyone and from underneath a towel sometimes like some kind of prude. Or like it was some kind of secret. Allison would never figure it out.
“You and Seth a thing now?” Dan asked.
Her act was casual but she cut right for the jugular. It was better than easing her into it, when Allison was too jaded to believe in sincerity and knew how to turn the dagger back into her opponent.
“No,” Allison replied. Well, they were sort of – they might be a thing. But Allison would rather eat hot glass than talk about her ‘crush’ with these girls.
“Let’s not pretend you care,” she tacked on.
“I don’t,” Dan huffed. “What I want to know is if this shit between you two will mess up the team dynamic.”
Allison paused at that. “I’m not fucking up my court for some guy,” she frowned. She hoped Dan understood the emphasis – she may be Captain, but Allison was here by herself, for herself. She was playing to chase her own fate. Dan was simply there for team cohesion and direction, but she didn’t own the court or singly care about it.
“I know you think I’m just a stupid slut,” she said, ignoring the protest from both the girls at that. “But I’m not here for nothing.”
“Okay,” Dan said slowly, like she was stupid. “Remind me why you’re here again?” she laughed.
Allison doesn’t know what happened. Anger went from a spark to a blaze under her skin in seconds. She just blanked, filled with rage and asking herself the exact same thing while memories of last weekend’s party flashed through her mind. It was impossible to control, her voice was loaded with ice when she opened her mouth again.
“What the fuck is your problem, Wilds? Do you not think I deserve to be here as much as you?”
Dan was taken aback for only a second before she recovered, looking equally as thunderous as Allison. Her expression creaked and then strained, struggling against her own anger.
“I could ask you the same thing with the way you act.”
“Right,” she said, the word dripping with derision. It tasted foul in her mouth, but she kept going. “Except I haven’t done anything to you except respond to your judgment. Don’t think I don’t know what you think about me, you’re no different than the press who’ve been throwing their shit-bombs at me for years about what I do with my life and my body.”
“Well sorry if I don’t seem to give enough of a fuck about your pretty princess life not having everything be perfect. I was kind of worrying about my own fucking life,” Dan snarled.
“Oh fuck you,” Allison said, and then she charged.
The sound Dan made when she was shoved into the lockers was satisfying, the punches she threw back into Allison’s jaw less so. Before she could do anything else, Renee was there. Allison coughed as the air was knocked out of her by Renee, ready to retaliate with a fist, but Renee was too fast with her blows. In the end she dropped to her knees, only to have her arms pulled back too.
“Fuck,” she gasped. Surprise – it was surprise that she felt first. Then the tile underneath her legs, and the twinge of her arms pulled back awkwardly.
She looked up at the girl who had now moved in front of her, the light sluicing around her rainbow hair. They weren’t allies, but Renee had been somewhat neutral to her up until this point. She tried to tamp down the sirens in her head screaming betrayal betrayal, knowing she was wrong, but something had already shifted in her at this and she almost closed her eyes in defeat.
Dan’s face was frozen in shock. She twitched like her body had lost the signal to punch, to fight, somewhere halfway between, the motions coming to a halt. Even she looked surprised at having Renee come to her defense like that. They both had gleaned snippets of Renee’s past and knew some of things she was capable of, but her skills had never been turned on either of them. Renee had the gall to look apologetic too, standing half in front of Dan.
Allison was the first to speak.
“Do you always defend her like that?” she asked, voice hoarse. Lines were being drawn, whether they had intended for that or not.
Dan glanced away for a second, biting her lip. When she brought her gaze back to Allison, it was guarded and full of consideration, but she still leaned into Renee’s space.
“No,” she said hesitantly, answering for Renee. “Just whenever it’s deserved.”
Whenever it’s deserved. Like this wasn’t the first time.
“Walker?” Allison asked, breathing almost back to normal. Her heart, however, still pounded. It felt like walking away from a crushing defeat on court.
Renee said nothing, simply shaking her head cryptically and walking away. Allison glanced between the two of them, feeling like a complete stranger. There was something she didn’t understand about them, and it was amounting to a headache for her. No step was ever right, but they always seemed to know where each other’s lines were at least.
“I don’t have any sympathy for you,” Dan said. “You started it, right Renee?”
“Sorry, but she has a point, Allison.”
“When did I ever ask,” Allison muttered, moving to drag her sore body up. There was nothing to defend on her part, she conceded, so she said nothing more.
A hand stretched out to meet her. She didn’t take it, because her pride was always telling her not to take help, not to let her guard down. It was an improvement though, that she didn’t scoff at it.
“That being said, I still want this shit to work out. This bullshit with the team. We need to learn to co-exist at least,” Dan said. She sized her up with a look similar to her game face. “You in?”
Allison turned around, looking at her over her shoulder. Her jaw throbbed in protest. “Make a better offer. I don’t want to coexist with someone who hates me. For the record, I don’t…,” she struggled to find words. “I don’t hate you. But you know I’m here for myself.”
Dan quirked a brow and nodded, so Allison took that as her cue to walk away. She returned to her own locker, putting everything on in autopilot mode. They’d all come to the team with issues, but Dan and Renee seemed to have gotten over their supposed rivalry a lot faster. It wasn’t fucking fair. When the fuck did it get to the point where Renee would step in to fight Allison, not just stop her, and not even lay a hand on Dan?
She couldn’t believe she had been taking all these fucking dirty digs from everyone on the team about Seth’s protectiveness and what she was ‘doing’ for him in return. Even though Dan tried her best to break up that kind of talk, she was never subject to the same thing by their teammates to her face, and for her to privately voice something like that, questioning her like the team had gotten to her – it pissed Allison off. It made her feel like she’d never get to put her guard down. Fuck this. She refused to cry in the fucking stadium in front of everyone.
When Seth met her outside, the parking lot was empty and the sun was going down. He sauntered out with his hands in his pockets, giving her a questioning look when he saw her murderous expression and dried tear tracks.
“Not tonight,” she said, pushing his hands away when he tried to crowd her against the hood of her Porsche. He grunted, but went easily and slumped in the passenger seat. She took that as her cue to get in. It was too soon, and she was pissed at him for being like every other guy in that moment, for making her think he was different when those guys at that party –
“Don’t fucking bring any of this shit onto court, you hear me?” she said.
He looked confused for a second, like she had hit him. It reminded her of a puppy or something dumb, but he nodded silently in the end and turned the AC on while she reversed. It made her think that maybe, just maybe, if he would listen for once and play along right, that it would be okay. It would be fine if nobody liked her on the team if she just had one fucking person but herself.