Chapter Text
nat looked out the window of the cabin, seeing lottie and the others sitting in a circle, praying or something. the whole thing of lottie being connected to the wilderness and everything she says or does is correct was really pissing nat off. there was no higher power or anything that was telling lottie anything.
tai used to agree with her, and sat inside the cabin, but eventually van somehow convinced her to come to the circle. in the words of tai: “i’m just doing this for van”
but nat has yet to actually go out there and listen to whatever lottie has to say. well her, shauna and ben.
nat and lottie used to be close, not hang out after school close or attached at the hip or anything but they were pretty close. when lottie first joined the JV team, she was just known as the rich girl. she also was standoffish, didn’t really interact with the others at first.
but once nat and her were paired for practice often; lottie started to get to know nat, and broke her out of her shell and talk with the girls. eventually lottie grew more close to nat, they would smoke sometimes together in between classes.
at some point, they had a signal. in between classes, nat and lottie would make eye contact before nat left through the double doors and lottie would follow behind.
lottie would open up more to nat than to the others, considering she was still getting to know them. nat learned things about lottie that the others didn’t know, like how she stole from T.J maxx, or how she has a stuffed rabbit named mr. buttons. how she has two younger siblings and her parents aren’t around often.
nat wasn’t as reluctant to share, she dropped a few pieces of information here and there, but not enough to go into depth. lottie doesn’t pry into nat’s personal life unless she wants to share.
during the holidays, around thanksgiving, lottie would help with the food drive, which indicated her wearing a pilgrim hat. she found it dumb at first but eventually found it ridiculous. the food drive was usually during the week before thanksgiving break. instead of going to the assembly that day, nat and kevyn were heading out before she stopped and noticed lottie at the food drive table.
“give me a second” nat shares before entering the room, and making a beeline towards lottie “wow, look at you all dressed up”
lottie looked up to find nat and a smirk crept up on her face: “yeah, i look pretty festive don’t i?”
“100%”
“what are you doing here?”
“i was just passing by, and i saw you and your hat, i had to stop by and make a comment”
lottie rolled her eyes as she continued to pack items up, while nat talked her ears off before a teacher approached them and asked nat if she was supposed to be here. nat shook her head before waving bye to lottie and left back to kevyn.
after that, lottie would wear her pilgrim hat every year with no complaints to the food drive.
when winter came around, jackie insisted to do a gift exchange before the break. having the gift price be up to $10. nat made a private comment to lottie how her gift will be for free for whomever.
lottie lightly shoved her before the focus back on the conversation. the feeling of nat’s lips near lottie’s ear caused goosebumps to creep on her arms.
“so what do you guys think?” jackie asked
“sure, let’s pull names then does anyone have a pen? excuse me, can we have a pen?” van asked, looking at their waitress passing by
“should it be optional?” asked shauna
“no, everyone has to do it! it’ll be more fun” jackie shares
the waitress gave van their pen before the red-haired goalie ripped up the straw wrapping into pieces and wrote down everyone’s names. they all watched van patiently, before she finished; van pulled off her cap, put all the names in, and passed it over to tai and told her to shake it.
tai gives van a smile before doing as she was told and passing around the hat. they all took out one piece of straw wrapping from the hat. laura lee was the last to pull out a name.
“no sharing to anyone!” jackie shouts
“we know” shares tai
they all opened their papers, some shared facial expressions, others just nodded slowly before placing the paper in their pockets.
“alright, there you have it! after the last class of the day, we can meet here and exchange gifts!” jackie cheered
the others agreed. they found it interesting how after the soccer season was over, they were able to bond with one another. possible even more with the upcoming season.
as they all dispersed back to their car or rides, lottie and nat walked together slowly, even though they were getting a ride from taissa.
“can you two hurry up! i’m freezing!” tai shouts
“maybe you should’ve heated up your car!” nat shouted back
van roared with laughter while tai stuck her middle finger. lottie hugged herself before nat asked her who she got.
“none of your business!” hissed lottie
“come on if you tell me, i’ll tell you mine”
lottie looks at her, unconvinced before nat confessed she wouldn’t really tell lottie who she got. tai’s car horn honked, rushing the two girls over to tai’s car before they officially on their way home.
surprisingly, one day, all of the girls decided to make a trip to the mall to get their gift for their secret person. it was more for people who haven’t gone already but it was also for them to get together before break.
lottie had gotten laura lee, and wondered what she would like. so, when they all broke into pairs, instead of breaking off right to nat, lottie went with laura lee. leaving nat with tai and shauna. not that she didn’t mind, but she kind of wished that lottie was with them.
a ping feeling hit her heart wondering what it was.
laura lee had brought lottie into bath and body works. laura lee shared that she really liked the soaps here, especially one called juniper breeze. lottie made a note of that before they continued out trying the lotions in the stores.
tai, shauna and nat shared with one another who they had. tai had van, shauna had jackie and nat had lottie. while tai and shauna went into almost every store they passed to find their gifts, nat still felt upset that lottie went off with laura lee.
“you doing alright there, nat?” asked tai
“yeah, i’m fine, just thinking what to get lottie” nat shares
“what can you get lottie that she doesn’t have already?” shauna asked, she meant that sincerely and not in a bratty way
nat wondered the same. what could she get lottie?
after an hour or so, the girls met up at the food court with bags in their hands. lottie had gotten her gift for laura lee. as soon, they all reached the table after ordering food, lottie sat down next to nat who’s mood rose up.
“how was it with laura lee?”
“fun, she’s really sweet” shared lottie
“did you find your gift for your secret gift person?”
“yeah! you?”
“still doing a bit searching”
“well whatever it is, i’m sure the person will love it!” smiled lottie
nat nodded before they all started to talk.
on the last day of classes before break, as promise the team met up at the same diner they discussed about the secret gift exchange. they were all a bit dressed up, prior, van wished they had a ugly holiday sweater contest but the girls disagreed saying they didn’t want to. leaving van a tad upset.
after eating their food, the girls cleaned up the table, helping the trip to be easier for the waitress, before finally exchanging gifts.
“alright who wants to go first?” asked shauna
“it should be jackie, she started this” tai shares
everyone else agreed before jackie pulled out her and sliding it over to tai who was taken back by the gift.
“you got me?” asked tai
“duh, now open it!” jackie says
tai opened the gift to find a mug and keychain of a soccer ball with a face. the mug had taissa’s number which caused her to smile.
“wow, jackie did you have a two for one deal?”
“you be surprised”
tai thanked her before it was her turn, giving her gift bag to van.
van smiled as she unboxed it to find a DVD collection of the halloween movies. van thanked taissa before tackling her tightly and thanked her for the gift. van than gave her gift to nat which was a gift card to hot topic. nat couldn’t help but laugh loudly and thanking van for the gift card.
when it was nat’s turn, she insisted she go last before laura lee went next, giving her gift to shauna which was a journal. laura lee expressed she noticed shauna writing a lot and thought a journal would be nice in case her journal suddenly was filled up.
“thank you, laura lee” smiled shauna
shauna gave her gift to jackie. it was the virgin suicides, shauna shares she vaguely remembering jackie talking about reading this book before so she decided to finally get it for her. jackie thanked shauna before giving her a hug. it was now lottie’s turn and she pushed her bag over to laura lee.
oh that’s why she was hanging out with laura lee nat thought to herself
“oh! lottie! this is so cute!” laura lee shares
it was a snoopy plush with a scarf around his neck
“yeah, i thought you would like it, and that leonard would want some company” lottie shares
“thank you very much, i really admire it!” laura lee expressed
lottie smiled before realizing that she hadn’t gotten a gift which means nat had her for a gift.
“uh…so don’t judge my gift, alright?” nat shares
“i would never” lottie answered, sincerely
nat hesitated before grabbing the bag from nat and saw that it was a small bracelet woven with yarn and a small pennant in the shape of a heart. lottie smiled happily before thanking nat for that bracelet. lottie quickly put it on her arm and thanked nat once again.
after that night ended, the girls said their goodbyes. lottie and nat once again got a ride from tai and van.
“thanks for the gift” lottie responds
“i know it’s not much but then again it was limited to $10”
“nat, i don’t care about the price, i appreciate the thought that count”
nat smiled shyly before they got into the freezing car before nat exclaimed what was wrong with tai and not heating up her car.
when school returned in january, the girls were ready for soccer. there were some new girls trying out for the team. others who were returning like mari, gen, and akilah; the few new girls were crystal, melissa and allie who’s a freshman.
“did you see the sign up list?” nat asked lottie during study hall
“yeah, quite a list we got there” answered lottie, before sharing if there was a chance a freshman could get on JV team, before adding she was more worried about getting on the varsity team.
“you’re gonna get on it, coach says you got good footwork”
lottie gives nat a smile before asking if she was nervous
“no, because i know i won’t make it on varsity, i’ll be one of the many upper class on JV”
“you’re a good player, nat! even if you weren’t there is a very very small percentage you stay on JV”
nat rolled her eyes before the bell rang for the next class. lottie noticed nat playing with her lighter, indicating to meet her outside before their next class.
“god it’s freezing” lottie whispered, rubbing her hands together
“i would say let’s smoke in the locker rooms but pretty sure it would set off the fire alarm”
lottie was now slightly jumping (but more leaning on her toes) up and down to keep herself warm. nat couldn’t help but let out a small laugh, seeing lottie’s actions to keep herself warm.
“i can’t stand this anymore” lottie headed back instead
“where you going!?”
“to class! i’ll see you later!”
lottie ran off in a rush, leaving nat on her own. the blonde hair teen scoffed lightly before dropping the cigarette on the ground, then stepping on it. nat then followed lottie’s action and returned back instead.
warm weather was coming around finally. the yellowjackets were hard at work, training for their season in hopes of getting to go to nationals.
there were some new members which included crystal, melissa and allie. expect allie ended up getting on the varsity team which pissed off mari a bit but she kept her comments to herself. apparently her try-out proved she’s a great player, enough for her to be part of the varsity team.
“can you believe coach put a freshman on the varsity team? god, the look on the JV girls face…” lottie shares
“guess she’s a good enough player, we can use that to get to nationals this year” nat responded
lottie nodded before keyvn tan called out to nat, causing her to look at lottie who shook her head and said: “you go on, i’ll see you later”
nat gave her a quick smile before rushing off leaving lottie to watch her go.
when lottie re-entered the cabin with the others, nat was getting ready to leave with travis to find food for the group. lottie approached her before they headed out.
“be safe out there, nat” lottie shares
nat doesn’t answer her, as she puts up her face mask to keep her war, she gives one look to lottie before pushing past her. lottie was taken back by the action. ever since the make-shift homecoming, nat has been more distant from lottie.
lottie frowned as nat left with travis, she hated that they’ve grown apart. she always enjoyed nat’s company prior to the crash in the wilderness. but now, they’ve been further apart than ever. lottie feels a hand on her shoulder, before turning to see mari
“it’s okay, you don’t need her” mari shares
but that’s the thing, lottie needed nat more than anything.