~* Co-Captain, My Captain *~ As we entered the gym, Brittany shot us a glare. “Fraternizing with the ‘enemy’?” “This is Rachel, one of our friends from Girl Scout camp. Rachel, this is our co-captain, Brittany.” “Nice to meet you,” Rachel offered, despite the other girl’s rather rude introduction to herself. Brittany shrugged. “Just don’t throw the game because of her,” she remarked, turning to head inside. Rachel blinked. “Well she’s just a little ball of sunshine isn’t she?” I giggled a little. “You get used to it. She just takes the game way too seriously.”

---

Waking up next to Nicole always felt strange, but in a good way. It was like when I was little, going to bed on Christmas Eve and remembering, on waking up, that a certain bearded fat man had broken into my house during the night to leave presents.

She still lay fast asleep in my arms, so I stayed still and silent for now. I started letting my mind wander, thinking about everything the four of us had been through in the last few months. At the end of the last school year, I could have counted the number of friends I had on a closed fist.

“Mmm…” Nicole mumbled, tilting her head back to smile at me.

“Hi there,” I smiled back, kissing the top of her head.

“Hey… Ally and Jen up yet?” She giggled as Allison’s light snoring answered her question. “Guess not.”

I laughed quietly as I shook my head. “Want to help me with breakfast?”

She pouted. “That would involve not staying here where it’s nice and warm, wouldn’t it?”

“Mmhmm,” I began, leaning closer to whisper in her ear, “It would also involve my special chocolate chip pancakes.”

Her eyes lit up and she grinned, carefully setting our sleeping bag-blanket aside. It seemed I’d sold her, as she quickly scooted to the far end of the sofa to get up without stepping on anyone. I slipped off the other side, moving around to get my backpack.

“I just need to take my medicine first. Last night kind of feels like some kind of crazy dream, doesn’t it?” I mused as I started up the stairs. Nicole giggled sleepily as she followed.

“Yeah, I mean zombies, Aria Blade, freakin’ Heedless Despair… Except for Daddy being in the hospital, last night was perfect.”

“You call zombies perfect?”

“I’m not the one who fell asleep during the movie,” she teased, squeezing my hand as we stopped at the top of the stairs. “I’ll meet you in the kitchen. I need to powder my nose.”

“You look fine to me,” I teased, causing her to giggle.

“Yeah, but it’s nicer than saying that I drank too much root beer last night,” she groaned. I laughed, turning to head into the kitchen to get started on breakfast.

I knew Nicole wouldn’t be ready to go home today, with her dad still in the hospital, so Allison and I would probably spend the day hanging out with her, if not Jennifer too. We hadn’t gone hiking in awhile, so maybe the four of us could take a day trip back to the stream or something.

By the time Nicole and I had a large stack of pancakes ready, the rest of the household had only just begun to trickle in. Joe, dressed in loose flannel pajama bottoms and a plain gray t-shirt made a bee-line for the coffee pot, followed quickly by Carol. She smiled as she approached us, wrapping us both in a hug.

“You girls didn’t have to cook anything,” she offered sleepily. Joe turned, handing her a freshly-poured cup of black nectar.

“Well I wanted to stay where it was warm and cozy, but Robin tempted me with promises of pancakes,” Nicole joked. As if on cue, Jennifer and Allison appeared in the doorway, Jennifer piping up cheerfully.

“Oh my God, Robin that smells so good.” She padded closer, staring at the stack. “Uhm… What’s with the little brown speckles?”

“Chocolate chips,” I grinned, glancing at Carol next, “Speaking of which, I’ll buy you a fresh bag to replace them.”

“Nonsense, dear,” she replied, slightly more awake now. “Anytime you feel like cooking, you just help yourself. Allison’s always bragging about your cooking. I’m looking forward to trying it myself.”

As we settled in to eat, Joe stepped into the living room to turn on the morning weather, returning a moment later to simultaneously take a seat and spear a couple of pancakes for himself. Meanwhile the far-too-cheerful for six a.m. weatherman recapped the week’s forecast in the next room.

“… And with that cold front moving through, we might see our first chance of snow by about Wednesday or Thursday.”

“Hey, do you guys feel like going hiking later today?” Allison asked abruptly. I had to giggle, causing her to give me an odd stare. “What?”

“You literally read my mind,” I mused.

“Heh. Well, it’s going to turn colder soon, so I figured it’d be fun to go on one last day hike, since we haven’t been in awhile. Jen? Nikki?”

Jennifer beamed. “Sure. I’d need a ride back home so I can get my hiking boots though.”

Nikki nodded. “I can take you. I need to get mine too. I literally wasn’t thinking about anything beyond getting out of that big old house for the night.”

Joe, who had been quietly listening to either our conversation or the television in the next room, cleared his throat. “That reminds me, Nikki, you know you’re more than welcome to stay here until your dad’s released from the hospital.”

She smiled brightly at that. “Thanks! I’ll be okay though. I was just sooo drained from the party last night, and with everything else happening, I just wanted to get out of that house for awhile and not deal with security and stuff. With you guys I can just be ‘Nikki’, not ‘That obscenely rich goth girl’,” she added that last line with a bite of sarcasm I’d learned to love about her. I reached a hand under the table to give her hand a light squeeze.

“Anyway, yeah, hiking does sound like fun. Carol, Joe, do you guys want to go with us?”

Carol quickly shook her head. “No thank you, dear. I have house cleaning to catch up on.”

“I’ll take a rain check. I promised Phil I’d help him work on his new project later this morning.”

Allison glanced at her father and frowned. “More work?”

He laughed, shaking his head. “Not this time, Princess. Phil bought one of those complete home gym things. The problem is he’s about as good with power tools as I am with a frying pan.”

Allison giggled. “THAT bad? Wow, I can see why you’d want to help him then. Can’t have the department head drilling his foot or anything.”

The rest of the morning progressed relatively uneventfully. Allison and I went back to my house together to hang out while Jennifer and Nicole left to change and get some things for the hike, and I had a chance to tell Mom about the hospital job. She of course loved the idea, so much so that she left to go look into it while Allison and I were upstairs in my bedroom.

Before we parted ways, Allison asked if any of us minded if she invited Kelly. Of course, none of us did. Even despite Kelly and Nicole’s past relationship not exactly being very warm, I got a sense that they still cared about each other in their own way, and of course, to Jennifer and me, Kelly was like a sister anyway. Like Margie, she was always there when we needed her.

The nature hike ended up being even more exhilarating than I expected. The chill wind didn’t even bother me, between my heavy coat and a borrowed pair of ear muffs. I’d definitely have to reconsider my winter wardrobe before that snow stuff hit, though! We talked quite a lot as we sat by the old stream. Like the lake at Girl Scout camp, this was our special place: our sanctuary.

Allison invited Nicole and me to join the scouts at this very location, and we disclosed to Nicole about the raggedy man at this spot. Allison, Kelly and I even camped here back in September. We had just begun our trek back, the mid-afternoon sun finally breaking through the cloud cover, when a thought occurred to me. I slowed up a bit to walk next to Kelly.

“Hey, Kelly? Can I ask you something?”

She smiled at me as she nodded, her tightly-bound blonde ponytail bouncing in the breeze. “Of course. What’s on your mind?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking, and… Well, do you think you could maybe give me piano lessons?”

She grinned quite brightly as she wrapped me in a hug. “Absolutely! I’m a little rusty, but I can show you the basics. And of course you’re welcome to come over any time you want and use my keyboard to practice. I’ll even give you the friends-and-family discount on lessons,” she teased, waiting for me to ask.

“What’s the friends-and-family discount?”

“That’s the one where people I like, who have become like my awesome little sister, get lessons for free.” She winked.

Nicole glanced over her shoulder and giggled. “Hey, if you can learn to play the keyboard, we’ll just be one short for a full band. Jen can REALLY belt it when she wants to.”

Jennifer laughed, poking Nicole in the ribs. “Oh come on, I’m not that good. You and Allison got all the musical talent. Sheet music looks like somebody’s fountain pen exploded to me. Still, it could be kind of fun to start our own little garage band, y’know, just for fun.”

Kelly chuckled. “Just don’t expect to pick it all up at once. I took piano lessons for three years, and some of the harder stuff is still way out of reach. But I’ll teach you everything I know. Jen, I can even teach you to read music if you’re interested. Just promise me you won’t let yourselves get overloaded with everything else going on too.”

“We promise,” Jennifer and I responded in unison, causing the others to crack up laughing.

“We still need to finish our homework,” I added more soberly, “But maybe we can get started later tonight, if you’re not busy?”

“I’m not busy. I’m going to head into town to get an application, and talk to my super at the clinic, though, but I’ll be back before you’ve finished your homework. She’s not going to be happy about having to fill my slot, but she’ll get over it,” she mused as we broke through the edge of the woods, into the little clearing separating the forest from our little cul-de-sac.

True to her word, later that evening, Kelly gave me a few basic lessons on her 61-key keyboard, with Allison occasionally strumming along on her guitar. Between the two sisters I actually learned quite a lot about the basics of music theory. I never realized how much math was involved, but when Allison put it in those terms it made a lot more sense, even though English and Literature were more my fields of expertise.

School Monday and Tuesday progressed relatively normally. I noticed Trent seemed a little quiet, but neither he nor Laura wanted to talk about it, even with Nicole, so we both made it known that if either of them needed to talk, that we’d be there.

I even gave Trent my cell phone number. Of course, Kathy joined us for lunch that day, and we were more than happy to have her. Once she came out of her shell just a little bit, she turned out to be a really fun person.

Brittany though, was a bit of a surprise. She and Chelsea seated themselves about halfway through lunch, the latter smiling a friendly smile, and the former, her usual, neutral apathetic glance.

“Hi girls,” Chelsea began, “I just wanted to remind you the team’s meeting after school to talk strategy for tomorrow’s game. It’s non-conference so there’s no pressure, but we need to finalize our starters before tomorrow.”

Brittany stared right at me, “There’s no pressure for SOME of us.”

Chelsea glanced at her co-captain, shaking her head. “Brit, relax.”

“Whatever,” she shot back, standing to walk away. Chelsea sighed, shaking her head.

“Don’t take it personally.”

Nicole watched her leave, rolling her eyes. “What’s her damage anyway? Robin’s been nothing but nice to her. She even got you guys’ coach to reconsider making her co-captain.”

“Brittany thinks that her dad doesn’t care about her. Her older brother was the starter QB last year, and now that he’s in college on a full football scholarship … Well, it’s a big shadow to live in. Kind of like how everyone thinks I’m perfect,” she trailed off and shook her head.

“Anyway, Maria’s down with a sore ankle so Robin, you and Allison are going to probably be starting with Brittany.”

“Maria’s hurt?” I frowned. She was just fine when I saw her last Friday.

“Yeah, but she’ll be okay. It’s just a mild sprain, so she’ll be back in school tomorrow, and at the game tomorrow night. She just won’t be able to play this week.”

“I hope she feels better soon. I wanted to ask her if she’d like a modeling job.”Chelsea raised her perfectly sculpted eyebrows at that, causing me to giggle a little.

“Um, well, we’re doing the modeling work for the characters in the Aria Blade comic book. My sister knows the artist, and helped design the costumes we wore for Nikki’s Halloween party. The only problem is we don’t have someone to portray Psychic Strike yet, so I was going to ask Maria if she’d be interested.”

“Ohh, coolness. I’m sure she’d love to. My parents can handle any guardianship waivers; just stop by my house whenever. Anyway, I’ve got a boyfriend in need of attention,” she grinned as she stood.

The day of our first big game was both exciting and nerve-wracking. The Vikings would be coming here, and since New Haven was only about an hour at most away, a couple of players like Rachel got permission to drive out early.

As for ourselves, Allison and I stepped out of Carol’s SUV dressed in our purple-on-gold Lady Tigers uniforms. We both had our hair tied back, with minimal makeup, and matching purple socks peeking over the edge of our basketball shoes.

Rachel, clad in her orange-and-black uniform, called as she spotted us, waving us over to the black extended cab truck. I could have sworn she was driving a car last Saturday. “Hey girls!” she spoke warmly, even as she tied her hair back with a pair of orange and black ribbons. Allison and I wrapped her in a hug, which she happily returned.

“Hey Rachel. How was the drive?”

“Pretty boring, but it beats riding the bus. It was a bit bumpy though. I had to borrow my Dad's truck because he didn't want me getting stranded again.”

As we entered the gym, Brittany shot us a glare. “Fraternizing with the ‘enemy’?”

“This is Rachel, one of our friends from Girl Scout camp. Rachel, this is our co-captain, Brittany.”

“Nice to meet you,” Rachel offered, despite the other girl’s rather rude introduction to herself.

Brittany shrugged. “Just don’t throw the game because of her,” she remarked, turning to head inside. Rachel blinked.

“Well she’s just a little ball of sunshine isn’t she?”

I giggled a little. “You get used to it. She just takes the game way too seriously.”

“Obviously. Anyway, I’d better go check in with my coach. Good luck out there Spirit.”

“You too!” I called back.

From the opening tip-off, we had a heated, extremely close game. Maria, despite her ankle brace and crutches, had worn her basketball uniform to help support the team, and she had some great insight into plays to run from her vantage-point on the bench as well. Rachel scored more than a few two-pointers, and by the half, the Tigers and Vikings had it all tied up at 29-29.

Since no one would be changing, I joined the rest of the team in the locker room during our half-time break. While Chelsea gave us a pep talk, I sat with Allison, toweling off my sweat. Even if I had only played part of the game, I still managed to work up quite a bit of perspiration. A good, hot shower would be in order after the game.

As we broke to head back out, I noticed Brittany off by herself with her head resting against her locker. Against my better judgment, I stepped closer. “Brit? Are you okay?”

She turned and stared at me for a moment. She looked like she’d been crying. “He’s not even here. The bastard didn’t even bother to show up.”

“Who, your dad?”

“Yes! He promised he’d be here, but big surprise, he skipped out.”

“Well… Maybe he had a good reason?”

“Oh, I’m sure he did. He always does. Come on, let’s get this over with.” She turned to brush past me, though this time it wasn’t forceful. Not like every other time she’s shoved her way past me. This time it almost felt like an accident, like she wasn’t even thinking.

“Hey, Brit, after the game Ally, Rachel and I are going out for pizza if … you want to go with us. Your call.”

She paused and slowly turned to stare at me. She didn’t respond, but I thought I saw a hint of a smile at the corners of her lips as she turned back toward the door. “Don’t be long or we’ll start without you.” I couldn’t tell if she was teasing or not, knowing her, but I didn’t want to find out, quickly following her back onto the court.

I’d love to say I scored the game-winning basket, but that honor went to the other team. They played a great game though, and we gave them a real run for it, pushing the score up to 34-37 before the final buzzer. Allison and I walked across the court, much to the surprise of most of the rest of Rachel’s team. Rachel grinned as we high-fived and hugged each other.

“That was an awesome game, guys.”

“Yeah,” one of her teammates spoke up, “That was a lot of fun. I hope we see each other again in conference!”

“Anyway, I think I owe you guys a pizza. I just need to shower first.”

Allison giggled, “Yeah, me too. Hey, is it okay if we bring someone along?”

“Of course!” Rachel responded immediately. “Nikki and Jen, or someone else?”

“Both,” I added. “I’m not sure if she’s actually going to accept my offer or not, but Brittany’s dad never showed up, and she took it pretty hard.”

Rachel seemed to digest that a moment, but nodded. “Sure, no problem. I trust your judgment.”

I’m glad Rachel trusted my judgment; at least someone did. I certainly didn’t. I didn’t know what kept driving me to be nice to people like Brittany and Jason. Maybe it was because of my positive experience with Natalie, or maybe I just hated seeing people suffer.

I found myself dwelling on those thoughts as I showered in the coaches’ office. I still hadn’t had a chance to ask Coach Wilson how we were going to handle my shower arrangements at away games, but it wasn’t exactly as though I were a threat to the other girls anyway. It was really the other way around, in that I didn’t want them to see me. Being a teenager was complicated enough already.

I changed into a white t-shirt and jeans, pulling my knit purple v-neck sweater from my gym bag and tugging it over my head. After pulling my hair out and letting it fall across my back, I stepped out into the coaches’ office. Coach Wilson smiled as she looked over at me.

“That was really sportsmanlike, what you and Allison did out there.”

“Huh?” I blinked at her, not quite sure what she meant.

“Going to congratulate the other team like that. Their coach complimented me on having such great players.” She smiled broadly.

I had to giggle. “Oh, um… Well, one of their players is actually one of our best friends. We bunked with her at Girl Scout camp last summer. See, there’s an unwritten rule where when you make friends with someone through the Scouts, if you end up playing against them in school sports, the winner buys pizza to show there’s no hard feelings, that it’s all left on the court.”

Coach Wilson chuckled. “Well that explains a lot. Still, it showed good sportsmanship that you’d be willing to put a loss aside like that.”

As if on cue, Rachel knocked at the open door. She smiled as she stepped inside. “Sorry, I’m not interrupting anything am I?”

“Not at all,” Coach Wilson responded. “I was just telling Robin how proud I am of the sportsmanship you girls showed out there today.”

She beamed. “Spirit got her camp name because she was like, THE most spirited girl any of us had ever met. She’d have made a great cheerleader, but there’s always next year. Oh, Robin, I bumped into your friend Brittany after I left our locker room.”

“Uh oh. She didn’t give you a hard time did she?” I asked, concerned.

Rachel shook her head and smiled. “Not at all. She apologized for her earlier comment and said to tell you she’d wait for us in the parking lot. That girl’s got issues, but I think you were right, she does need someone to be her friend.”

I nodded, turning to Coach Wilson. “I’ll see you in school tomorrow, Coach.”

“You bet. Get some rest. You earned it.”

Nicole, Jennifer and Allison were waiting outside for us, and after a quick exchange of hugs, we started for the parking lot. Brittany, true to her word, stood with her hands buried deep in her jacket pockets waiting for us. She quietly nodded as we approached.

“Are you sure you want me along? I know I’ve been riding your ass pretty hard lately…”

I shrugged, stepped closer, and hugged her. She cringed at the sudden show of affection, but smiled a little. “Don’t worry about it. Chelsea told me about your brother, and then with your dad not making it, I can understand why you’ve been feeling pretty stressed out. Let’s just go get some pizza and hang out.”

“… Thanks, Robin. You’re too nice for your own good sometimes.”

“Not really. I just don’t see any point in holding a grudge. Do you need a ride?”

“Um… Yeah, kind of,” she responded sheepishly. Rachel held up her keys.

“You can ride with me. I won’t bite,” she teased, causing Brittany to crack a smile. “I can give you a ride home too after if you want. Any friend of Robin’s is a friend of mine.”

“Thanks.”

A short drive, and a short wait later, the six of us had piled into a corner booth around two large pizzas as we talked about the game. I had just dove into my second slice of Meatlovers when Rachel started to giggle. “Oh my God, and Robin, I can’t believe you actually made that one three-point shot. When Brittany stole the ball from Cassie and passed it to you, none of us knew what was going to happen.”

Brittany actually laughed. “Oh man, when I saw that opening I knew it was the only chance I’d get. You guys have some tough defense. Robin was the only one open.”

“I can’t believe it actually went in,” I added, shaking my head. “I saw Samara moving to rebound so I was just trying to get it to her for a two-pointer, but I was blocked for a pass so I just held my breath and went for it.”

We talked and giggled for awhile more, completely wiping out the two pizzas, and as we stood to leave, I felt someone squeeze my hand. Brittany pulled me away to the side and gave me a light hug.

“Listen, Robin… I’m sorry for the way I’ve been acting. It’s just this whole thing with my dad. I thought maybe if he could just see me play, that he’d finally wake up and realize Derrick’s not the only Scott with any sports aptitude.”

“Don’t even worry about it, Brit. Your dad will come around eventually. And if he doesn’t, well, Ally’s dad makes an awesome substitute. My dad died when I was just a kid, so I didn’t even know him. He left Mom when I was even younger than that.”

“Ouch. I guess I should be thankful he even cares that I exist, even if he can’t be bothered to remember my basketball games.” She paused. “OUR basketball games. Anyway, Rachel said she’d give me a ride home, so I guess I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

“Yeah, see you. Good luck with your dad.”

“Thanks,” she sighed dryly. “He’s so getting the silent treatment when I get home.”

Nicole approached as Brittany walked away to join Rachel, heading out. “What was that about?”

I smiled as I wrapped my arms around her, resting my head on her shoulder. “I think I just Jasoned Brittany.”

“’Jasoned’…?” She giggled. “Is that Robin-speak for something?”

“Yeah.” I laughed. “She finally admitted what Chelsea told us at lunch. She just needs to tell her dad how she feels now.”

As the four of us walked out into the chill evening, I couldn’t help feeling really, really good about the day, if a little selfish. I should have felt good about Brittany finally confronting the real reason she’d been on my case all this time, but the reality of it was I felt good about having one less person constantly antagonizing me for no good reason. Did that make me a shallow person? Maybe, but at the same time, I thought I could see potential for another friendship.

Only time would tell if this time she really had changed, but at least I finally felt I’d made the right decision in vouching for her with Coach Wilson, twice.