Chapter Text
Chapter 1: So It Goes, So It Goes, So It Goes
They looked like shit, but they made the place feel lived in, she decided. Natalie stared at the ceiling, blinking the haze out of her eyes and mindlessly studying the old water stains above her bed for probably the millionth time since she moved in. The harsh, droning sounds of her alarm ringtone floated into her ears as she turned to check her phone. 8:42.
Fuuuuuuck.
She rolled out of bed, dragging her comforter with her as she scrambled to the pile of unfolded laundry on a chair and slipped on whatever acceptable thing grabbed first. Just her fucking luck– the only day she needed her alarm to wake her up bright and early she slept right through it. Her computer lay uncharged on her desk, and running her tongue over her teeth she became painfully aware of how it’d been at least a day or two since she brushed them, but she was supposed to leave approximately negative two minutes ago so that’d have to wait some more.
A blaring car horn cut through the morning fog. Nat pulled up the blinds to see a dingy green SUV parked outside, the driver honking like the world's most annoying flock of geese and looking right up at Nat. She shoved open the window,
“I’m coming, asshole!”
The driver leaned out, grinning
“Looks like someone owes meeee! I knew you’d sleep in, bitch!”
Nat slammed the window back shut with a groan. She barely locked her apartment door before making a mad dash down the dimly lit hall and the peeling, painted stairs to her impatient awaiting chauffeur. The car started rolling before Nat even had the door shut. She flung her bag into the back seat next to another very overstuffed backpack, and a few different duffel bags, one with a pair of worn hockey skates peeking just barely out.
“Alarm not work or something?”
Natalie turned with a forced sigh towards her old friend,
“No, Van” she hummed “... I slept through it. Hey at least I woke up while you were still here though– if you park in the back lot we can take the storage entrance and probably get there within the first five minutes.”
Van snickered. She wasn’t prim and proper or anything for their first day of classes; her red hair a bit frizzy over an old Wiskayok High Yellowjackets hoodie, but it was certainly a more put together look than Nat’s face of smudged, day-old makeup and wrinkled pajama pants. First semester at Wiskayok community college wasn’t some sort of big deal for either of them by any means, but since being late meant making Van late, she felt just a little bad. Only a little.
Nat looked out at the wondrous sights of Wiskayok New Jersey as they chugged by everything, five miles over the speed limit. It’d been a hot second since she’d been in this fucking ditch-by-the-road town. She spent her last three years in the same trailer she’d always known, just about an hour away– an hour so her mom could get away. There was no particular reason she was called back to Wiskayok, in fact, it was a lot more like the same sides of a magnet; burnout girl in a burnout town, or something like that.
Nat didn’t particularly have any people or places that drew her; she never got too close with anyone but Van, and even that was only because they spent the first decade and a half of their lives living less than 50 feet away from each other. They didn’t have too much in common anymore, but they were still ride-or-die as ever.
The car screeched to a stop in the gravel parking lot and the two jumped out, snatching bags and hurrying to the door tucked behind commercial garbage bins. Nat exhaled as Van’s student ID opened the door, and she started pulling her around hallway bends based purely on memory. She didn’t even double check the room number as the pair of them crashed into the room, shuffling awkwardly to the back just as their professor started his introduction.
“Alright everyone, welcome to your first day of chemistry 141, if you’re not in the right class feel free to leave now,”
Van elbowed Nat as a few kids hurriedly made their way out of the room,
“My name is Dr. Lowell, I’m going to take attendance, then I’ll introduce myself a bit more and go over the syllabus” he clicked his tongue loud when he stopped, and Nat clenched her jaw. He went down a list of names for a minute or two and Nat mostly zoned out,
“Vanessa Palmer”
Van raised her hand “Here, it’s Van”
At the sound of her voice, a blonde girl near the front that Nat didn’t recognize turned and threw a smile in Van's direction, which she returned with a wave. Nat looked between them for a moment, twirling a pen between her fingers,
“Who’s that?”
“Hm? Oh that’s Melissa, she’s on the hockey team. She’s new this year but honestly really not bad for someone who claims she didn’t really do it much before joining.” Van paused, slowly tilting her head,
“Speaaaaking of the team Nat~”
A groan escaped her as her forehead found its way to the desk,
“It’s a maybe. It’s been a maybe. Honestly? it’s a probably not. So better answer– no.” Van upturned her lip with clearly all the dramaticism she could muster,
“Pleaseeeee? C’mon Nat, we loved it as a kid, and I know you’ve been thinking about joining since I pitched it.”
Nat turned to face her, cheek still squished against her keyboard. She wasn’t wrong. Fuck, it’d be kind of fun. She didn’t have that many classes, and it’s not like she’d try meeting new people in them anyways; she didn’t want to deal with a ton of new people, but maybe having a few more connections for whatever reason might not be awful.
“Okay here's the deal: I’ll come once. I’ll see what it’s like, and if it seems fun I’ll stay a bit, but that's not a promise I’ll join for good yeah?”
Van beamed– a year of pulling Nat’s ear finally paying off.
“Hell yeah! Knew you’d give in eventually. Okay I’ll pick you up tomorrow at six, and I can bring an extra pair of skates if you’re still waiting to get a pair.”
“Oh that’s–” Nat stopped herself, “that sounds great.”
This was okay. If she didn’t like the team, or she actually turned out to be ass at hockey this whole time, she just wouldn’t go again. This is just to entertain her friend, and it’s not like she would’ve done anything but maybe a drink or two on a Tuesday fucking night. That would’ve been a sad celebration anyways.
—
By 5:30 the next day, Nat had eaten some reheated leftovers, gotten her Psych 201 homework done, and even put away her pile of laundry. Something about having an actual plan gave her a rare productive itch, maybe she wanted to seem like a decent person- though she wasn’t sure who she was trying to prove that to.
It’d started pouring since she got back from classes, so she started rummaging through her closet to find an umbrella she maybe had if it wasn’t sitting in her car. Underneath a pile of shoes and things she probably only touched once in a blue moon, a box stood out to her that she took a second to recognize.
Oh no shit, she muttered under her breath. Brushing off the dust, she pulled out a worn, battered pair of hockey skates. Did she even mean to keep these? Nat knew them all too well- freshman year, zipping by people on the ice, having the absolute time of her life pissing other kids off with the intent only a 14 year old Natalie Scatorccio could. A smirk creeped up her lips as fond memories came rushing back. Fuck maybe Van knew her better than she gave her credit for.
It’d be a long shot, but maybe the skates fit her still– she shot up 4 inches between 7th and 8th grade, and hadn’t grown since. Nat slipped the old, baby blue skates on over her socks, and lo and behold they fit just the same as when they were new.
Ten minutes earlier than expected, the same awful honking as yesterday started outside, illegally parked on the wrong side of the street.
“Vaaaaaan!” she groaned, scrambling to the window, “You’re early! Bitch!” Van grinned like a damn kid at Disney, earning the double bird from Nat. She rushed out to the car holding her bag as a shield over her head from the rain before sliding into the open passenger seat and shaking the water off of her hair.
“Ack Nat! you’re like a fucking dog!”
“Yeah, well you’re the one barking out here– I have neighbors y’know! You can just send me a damn text!” she flicked a few rain drops into Van’s eyes as she scoffed.
“Yeah yeah, alright... You still owe me by the way,” She held out an expectant palm, “for yesterday.”
It took Nat a second to process. How was that even a serious bet?
“You. Greedy. Fucking. Asshole.”
Nat glared daggers as she dug a crumpled five out of her wallet.
Van pulled away from the curb cackling, and Nat perched her chin on the bag clutched to her chest, staring out at the rows of apartments on her street. This’ll be fine. She’ll have fun, probably.