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I wish I could say practice was fun, but Valerie makes it hard to do that. I was running laps with Hayden around the field house while the starting players practiced. "Jocelyn! Hayden! Get over here!" Coach Sabrina yelled out to us.

Hayden and I looked at each other confused before jogging over to her. "Yes coach?" I said, placing my hands on my hips.

"Get your sticks, I want you two to be prepared if I need you to start a game or two," she told us. Hayden and I glanced at each other before rushing over to our things and grabbing our sticks and eye masks.

I ran out to the field as I shoved my mouth guard in. We had to be more intense with our reflexes since we were playing with more experienced players. While we played, Coach Sabrina pointed at Charlie, the other goal keeper. "Charlie, I'm going to let Valerie sub in for you! Get in there!" Coach said. Of course.

I had to focus on the game and not her, but I could feel her eyes burning a hole in the back of my skull. One of the senior attackers, Madelyn, came running at me, so I began to defend her. She went behind the X zone so I wasn't able to follow her. I wasn't paying attention so I didn't realize how close I was to the goal, but Valerie clearly did. She chucked me in the back of my legs with her stick causing me to fall over as the back of my legs throbbed. I made hard contact with the ground and groaned. I heard Coach Sabrina's yelling, but not specifically what she was saying as I got back on my feet.

"Watch out, Jocelyn," she spewed. I turned around and glared at her. With a quick motion, I dropped my stick and shoved her as hard as I could. She fell back onto the ground as the other girls circled us. I wasn't even thinking when I pushed her, I just did.

Hayden pushed me away from the scene and got in my face. "Stop it!" she yelled. "Are you out of your mind?!"

Some of the other players went to Valerie's side. "Oh, please! You're nothing special!" she yelled out to me.

"Valerie!" Assistant coach Justin shouted.

"Trust me, neither are you!" I blurted back. Coach Sabrina sent me to the locker room so I could cool off while she talked to Valerie. I grabbed my stick off the ground and stormed to the locker room. Hayden followed after me, placing her hand on my shoulder.

"You can't let your emotions get the best of you," she said. "She's not worth your time." She got what was coming for her, I wanted to say. She hit me in the legs, I wasn't about to let her walk all over me. She was pathetic. But the way I acted was also pathetic. Now the embarrassment settled in. I threw my eye mask off my head in a swift motion and let out an agitated yell.

We made it back to the locker room and I plopped down on a bench. I threw my lacrosse stick and groaned. I brought my legs up to my chest and placed my chin on my knees. "She's such a bitch! I hate her so much!" I yelled. I sounded funny since my mouth guard was in, so I took them out.

"I know, honey, but you can't act like that." Hayden sat down next to me and rubbed my back. "You can't let her get to you like this. She's just an insecure nobody who doesn't have Luke like you do." Why does everything always have to lead back to him? "If you'd like, I'll go get your bag and water and I'll talk to Coach Sabrina."

I sighed, "Yes please..." She got up and made her way out of the locker room and back out to the field. This left me alone in the locker room. I didn't even have my phone with me, I had to wait for Hayden to get back. That meant I couldn't text Luke or Asher about what happened. Probably for the best. I would just end up blowing up their phones with angry text messages.

I got up from the bench and paced around the locker room, looking at each person's locker. What if my behavior got me kicked off the team? That means I wouldn't be able to pay for schooling. Then I'd have to go back to Canada and leave Luke all over again. Hayden entered the locker room with my backpack in her hand. "What did she say?" I asked as I grabbed my backpack from her hand.

"She said that she's gonna let you off on a warning," she smiled. "She just sent out Valerie on a harsher punishment. She suggested you should leave practice early and catch some air." She then said, "I can come with you if you'd like." She already had her backpack on like she was ready to go.

I really wanted her to go, but I wanted her to start games. I shook my head, "Nah. You should get comfortable with starting." I grabbed my phone out of my bag before throwing it over my shoulder and grabbing my stick. "I'll catch you later." I made my way out of the locker room and back to the dorms.

Here I was, taking the walk of shame back to my dorm room. I put my airpods in my ears and unlocked my phone. I didn't hesitate to pull up Luke's contact and call him. He answered immediately, "Hey, thought you were at practice."

I shook my head and licked my lips. "No... uh. I kind of got in a fight with Valerie." I cringed slightly remembering how I pushed her. "Yeah, she hit me with her stick causing me to fall on my face and then I pushed her."

There was silence on the other line. I guess he was processing the fact I got in a fight. Or maybe he just thought I was stupid. "Well are you okay?" he responded.

"There's just a little bruise, and I have a couple scrapes on my knees. But I should be fine," I said. There was more silence.

"Are you sure?" he asked again.

A small sigh escaped through my mouth and I shook my head, "No, I'm sure..."

I heard him mumble something incoherently, "Okay..." I could tell that he didn't believe me and wanted to ask more, but decided against it. "See you tonight?"

"Yeah, see you tonight," I said hanging up the call. I made it to my dorm and locked the door before sitting on the couch. I texted Asher, explaining what had happened.  He called me less than five minutes later. "Dude... I'm sorry, what the hell happened?" he exclaimed.

I explained the story again and leaned back onto the couch, resting my head on the backrest. "It's not a big deal though. It was mostly my fault anyway. I got pissed off and lashed out."

"Yeah, but she started it, you're not supposed to push people around." I always liked how he always stuck by my side no matter the situation was.

"Yeah... you're right," I said. I rambled about it for a bit longer while he silently listened. I stopped once I felt he was getting annoyed and switched the topic over. "Anyway, enough about me. What do you have planned later?"

He chuckled softly, "I'm hanging out with Luca tonight, actually."

I rolled my eyes playfully, "Of course you are." He chuckled again and I could hear the smile on his face. We talked for a little longer before I hung up and went into my bedroom to take a small nap before I had to go to dinner with the Hughes family.

...

Luke and I entered the restaurant, looking around for his family. I wore a nice black halter dress that Hayden lended to me and a pair of black chunky heels. Luke wore a white button up shirt and khaki shorts with slip-on shoes and a UMich cap.

He checked his phone, "They should be near the bar." We walked through the restaurant and toward the bar area. I immediately spotted Ellen's blonde hair sitting in a booth.

She looked over at us and waved. She sprung out of the booth and ran toward us, pulling Luke into a hug. "My babies!" she exclaimed as she let go of him and pulled me into a hug. "I missed you two so much!"

She led us to the table and gestured to us to sit down. It was a big booth. Next to Ellen sat their dad, Jim, and Quinn. On the other side of the table sat Jack. Luke and I sat down next to Jack, specifically I sat in the middle of the two boys.

Jack wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into a side hug. "I missed you, Jocelyn!" he said before letting go.

"I missed you too," I responded. I then looked over at Quinn and smiled. "I missed you, Quinny."

A small smile cracked on Quinn's face as he said, "I missed you too, Jocelyn."

Ellen spoke up, "So how've you guys been?" she asked as she placed her wine cup down. Before one of us could answer, she turned her attention to me, "How's college?"

I gave a soft smile, "Good, good. How's everyone at home?"

Jim cleared his throat. "Uh, we're all good. You know, same old stuff here." Jim didn't say anything else after that. The server came to get our drink order so I ordered a Coke and Luke ordered a root beer.

He came back just as quick with our drinks and passed it to us. I turned around, sipping on my soda. Luke had his arm draped on the back of the booth. "Are you guys dating now?" Jim laughed.

Luke and I looked at each other. We weren't dating. What should we say? "Um, yeah, sort of..." Luke replied. "We like... kissed a few days ago."

Ellen smiled wide. "That's so cute." Jack and Quinn looked at each other from across the table and high fived. I smiled lightly. "We knew this day would come eventually."

"Not me," Jim said.

He pulled his arm away from the booth and held onto my hand. I felt the blush rush to my face as I intertwined our fingers.

Jack turned his attention back to us and frowned. "Hey! Stop that!" Both Luke and I looked at each other and giggled.