Stanford

Flashback

"You lied to me, Hope !"

Shelina is out of her mind, as the older girl just stares at her, only half-interested. They are in the team's meeting room, and their teammates aren't here yet. It's only hours after their game that they won to officially join the Final Four, and minutes after the brunette heard about Becky's arrest. The truth is that she hasn't seen her girlfriend ever since she sneaked out of the apartment to join Hope in the forest.

And the defender is freaking out right now. But Hope, on the other hand, is her usual calm self, when she says :

"She, I have nothing to do with what happened to Rebecca. I don't even know how they came to the idea of her being guilty."

"I don't believe you !"

"So be it."

As the brunette is about to fire back, the door opens and some of their teammates come in.

Hope immediately feels the hating looks on the girls faces, as Jess Fishlock and Lauren Barnes don't even say 'hi' to her. She knows only few people are happy she's back, and those two are not included. When Mel, Christen and Andi make their way in as well, the goalie starts tensing up, setting her jaw : she knows nobody really like her here. Especially since she screwed up big time.

Fed up with the overall atmosphere, she lets out :

"I think we need to talk."

Jess turns around, raising her eyebrows, and sarcastically says :

"What ? About the murder you committed because you wanted to gain power ?"

A deadly silence takes place, before Hope says :

"What do you know about power, Fishlock ?"

"Not as much as you do, obviously" the girl fires back, insisting on the last word of her sentence. "You've been blinded by it since the beginning, and this time you won't get away with it. Even though I didn't like Christie that much, she didn't deserve to die like that."

"So you think I'm guilty ? All of you ?" Hope asks, raising her hands in the air.

Nobody dares to answer.

The door opens again, as Shelina just lets herself fall on the chair behind her. 'When did all of this become so complicated and messed up ?' she asks herself, rolling her eyes. 'It used to only be about soccer, and now we're tangled up with death and ennemies'. But her thoughts suddenly fall on Becky again : there might be a reason why the older girl hasn't answered any of her calls, or texts, after Shelina left her that night. And now even more since she's in custody.

A rage starts exploding in Shelina's body, as Carli Lloyd makes her way in as well. When she realises the atmosphere is pretty tensed, she shrugs and sits down next to Hope, who is trying to come up with something to say.

But Christen beats her to it :

"Maybe it is time to be honest, Hope." she says in a rather bossy voice, and Mel tenses up next to her.

But the Latina is not the kind of girl who just gives up : she wants her team to survive, keep fighting and win the championship, and she's not willing to let anything about rivalry ruin their hard work.

So she stares at Hope and says :

"I think it's time to tell us what happened three years ago."

The goalkeeper sighs, before she and Carli exchange a look. Both girls don't look very reassured, and after making sure Ash isn't here, they both sigh, as Carli passes her hand on her face. Hope sets her jaw :

"You're right" Hope whispers, shaking her head. "You guys deserve to know..."

"No !" Carli exclaims, suddenly agressive. She then hisses : "This is in between us, nobody else can know, we..."

"One of us is dead, Carli." Hope interrupts her. "Christie's gone. We have to stop this madness."

The two girls exchange a long and meaningful look, as Christen and the other girls are waiting. Andi exits the room because she feels like she doesn't belong here, but apart from her, all the girls are watching and listening. Mel, who suddenly shivers, starts shaking her head : this is going to be bad. As she is frowning, Christen protectively puts her hand on Mel's leg, in order to comfort her, but only for a few seconds.

Then, Hope says :

"This story starts with an unconventional friendship between six girls, that started in the worse way possible..."

*

Present

Kelley starts walking in circle.

"They broke our agreement" she comments, shaking her head.

"We never had a real agreement in the first place" Tobin mutters, rolling her eyes. "They just tried to collaborate, but obviously something happened after Rampone's death and things just changed !"

"But, why ? If Hope's guilty, then..." Kristie starts.

"We don't even know if Solo is guilty" Kelley argues, growing angry.

The room bursts in little arguments here and there, as Kelsey and Allie are both silently sitting on the coach, a little bit far away from the talks. As the blonde is playing with her dog, the keeper is looking around her : ever since Becky went to jail, the team is falling apart. Yes, they won their game against Duke to join the Final Four, but the tournament has been rescheduled, and ever since, nobody seem to get along. Between Megan who is having a heartbreaking week because Kailen is avoiding her big time ; Becky who is alone in a cell with nobody that can visit her, away from her girlfriend who might have betrayed her ; Kelley who has to fight her old demons after Rampone died ; and Kelsey who is in the middle of a big problem, nothing is right anymore.

By big problem, Kelsey means something like 'Shelina Zadorsky desperately asking for her help and scheduling a secret meeting during the week, only saying that it might save Becky from spending her life in jail, or worse'. The goalie is set to make a choice : either she stays fully loyal to her team and doesn't car about Shelina's demand, or she tries to collaborate with a girl she doesn't know if she's honest or not in order to save her captain. She knows either Tobin or Allie won't forgive her if she texts Shelina back, especially since the Bruins are taking her responsible for treason toward Becky. But why would she want to risk everything to help a girl she doesn't love anymore and betrayed ?

As some girls are raising their voice at each other, Kelsey gets snapped out of her transe. She sees Kristie yelling at Tobin, as Kelley is now standing in between them. She only catches a bit of the conversation :

"... you leave my sister out of it okay ? She is the most loyal and loving person I know, and I am done ignoring her calls and texts, shutting her out because you guys don't like Stanford ! So yes, everything is messed up, but she is still my sister and I won't let you insult her like that !" Kristie yells, out of her mind.

"All I am saying is that she's just like them : a snake !" Tobin snaps back.

When Kristie reaches the highest level of anger, Gibby steps in front of her and holds her back, putting her hand on the girl's waist. The blonde suddenly calms down, as Tobin is pushed away by Steph, who is angry that she tried to hurt her best friend. Abby is not far away from them, but in the end it's Allie that wraps her arms around Tobin and makes her walk away. Once they exited the room, the door is slammed shut in a white noise.

Then, Kristie bursts into tears in Gibby's arms, as Kelley has her hands on her head. She then leaves the room, followed by Abby and Megan. Once the atmosphere is less tensed up, Kristie comes and sits down next to Kelsey, as Steph follows her, caressing her hair as she is done crying and very upset.

The goalie gives her a friendly tap on the leg, as Gibby is standing in front of them, shaking her head.

"This is exactly what they want" the young defender lets out, bitter. Once everybody is looking at her, she adds : "Tear us apart. I mean, look at us : Instead of finding a way to take Becky out of this mess, we are fighting against each other !"

"She attacked Sammy" Kristie lets out, still angry.

"You have every right to be angry" the dark-haired goes on, shaking her head. "But we need to find a way to get out of this mess, and right now ! Because the Final Four Round is just around the corner and we aren't prepared at all."

Everybody nod : of course she is right.

Therefore, Kelsey takes her phone out of her pocket and starts typing :

She then sends the text to Shelina and puts her phone on her bag.

*

It was Gibby's idea to take Kristie out of a little walk by the lake. So both girls are now silently walking, until they reach a nice spot and decide to sit down on some big rocks and watch nature raising in front of them.

After a long moment of silence, Kristie says :

"Thanks for calming me down, Giblet"

Gibby looks up at her, before shaking her head.

"Don't worry about that. I like to see a more sensitive side of you : it makes you human, reliable, and maybe also nicer."

Kristie smirks.

"I'm not usually like this. But whenever it comes to my sister..." Her voice breaks, as the tears are growing in her eyes again. She shakes her head and wipes them away before they even exists, and adds : "I'm so angry with the situation... She doesn't deserve that... So do a lot of the girls at Stanford. A-and now, she lost Steph. She lost Abby. She lost Megan... She only has me a-and..."

"Hey" Gibby interrupts her, grabbing the blonde's hand in her own, squeezing it softly in order to comfort her. "I got you."

"I don't wanna cry again"

"You can cry. Crying is good sometimes. And you know I won't judge you, Kristie. You can let it all out."

The blonde briefly looks down at her lips, before leaning in slowly. But when she feels a hand on her chest, she abruptly stops and starts blushing : Gibby kind of awkwardly pushed her away, and she knows it isn't good.

As she starts panicking, Kristie says :

"God I'm so sorry, I-I don't know why I-"

"It's not that I don't want you" Gibby immediately clears out, looking straight into Kristie's blue and intense gaze, before adding : "The situation is too complicated for us to start anything, and we both know that."

"M-mmh"

"Believe me, maybe one day. But as for now, I'm here for you... As a friend. Okay ?"

"Okay." Kristie breathes out, in between disappointment and relief. "Thank you."

"Come on, you need a hug."

When the brunette wraps her arms around Kristie, the middy embraces her as well, as her heart is beating faster. What brings a smile on her lips, however, is feeling Gibby's heart racing as well.

Maybe one day.

But right now, Kristie can't think about Gibby : she needs to focus on protecting her younger sister, because that's what sisters do. They have each other's backs.