rollins #1

Joel didn’t care about grades, as least not in high school. He coasted his way through and called it good. Then Wymack showed up and everything changed. As it turned out, Joel was actually really smart and actually enjoyed school. Joel had it with studying though, between Exy practice and finals, he was exhausted. He had started to doze for about the fifth time, only waking this time when his face hit his book. He slapped his face lightly before packing up his backpack and head back to Fox Tower. He saw Grant as he was heading toward the exit. He said a quick “Hey” as he was passing but it was clear that Grant didn’t hear him. “I said, hey.” He said with a slight smirk. “Clean out your ears sometime, it’ll do wonders for you.”

“My bad, Joel.” He said, stopping now to turn his attention to Joel and not the stress he had thinking about his finals. “Where you headed to? Get any training done today?” He asked. Grant was annoying when it came to training and exercising, but it was an important factor in the way his team worked. They could be great strategists, knowing the best ways to move the ball through the court, but if they weren’t in their best physical shape, none of that mattered. Exy was intense, and his players had to be the same.

There were only a few places one could usually find Zia, one of them being the library. Though she was there less often than the was on the court or in her room, she often found herself there when she only had an hour or so to kill or the desk in her room ceased to become a center for productivity. With half an hour before she had an appointment with her advisor, Zia found herself getting a head-start on homework - if she had the time to kill, she figured she’d be productive. She was situated at one of the smaller tables in the library (in the hopes no one would bother her) when she saw Grant’s familiar profile pass her, walking with his own purpose. Zia was surprised to learn he heard her at all, as she tried to catch his attention while avoiding the glares of the librarians at their counter not too far away. “I was just saying hi,” she replied with a shrug. “But now that you’re here, do you know when we’re supposed to be back to start training after this semester?”

“Oh, my bad.” Grant felt silly for stopping and thinking she was talking to him about anything important, but he was so used to most of the Foxes talking to him about Exy that when anyone actually tried to make simple conversation with him, it took him by surprise. Being the captain of the team meant that he had a sense of responsibility and authority, which meant that many people came to him for guidance, not friendship. It didn’t really bother him, Grant knew that he didn’t need to be their best friends, he needed to be the person who carried the team to the championships, but sometimes it got old. When she asked him about training, Grant felt a bit better, able now to talk about something he was particularly knowledgeable in. “You know I always train over the break, so you’re more than welcome to join me. But official team training should be starting about a week or so before the break is over. Wymack hasn’t told me the actual dates, but I’d just leave about a week empty in your calendar.”

Since her freshman year at Palmetto, the library had been her safe place. The Fox Tower was always bustling with Foxes and other athletes, the campus itself was a breeding ground for socializing ants, and she could only practice so much before she remembered that school was an actual thing that she was required to do. Not that Marley didn’t adore school; it was the one thing that could distract her other than Exy. And considering Marley had spent more time in the past two weeks on the court than anywhere else (possibly having fallen asleep there at one point but she’d deny it), it was time for her to do anything else. So, with final exams approaching, it was no surprise that she’d packed up her textbooks and grabbed her backpack to find herself her safe little spot away from the noise. The library during exam time was far more crowded than Marley liked, but it was bearable. And surprise for her, there was a Fox. Marley called out for Grant, voice quiet not to disrupt anyone and she had to jog a bit to reach him, juggling the textbooks in her arms. “I said, fancy seeing you here. I didn’t think you ever left the court.”

“I said-” Teddy lifted his head from the desk and rested his chin on his arms that were folded in front of him, “-kill me.” Teddy was completely done, he was done with studying and exams and the lot of it. He wanted to be asleep or at least not having to think about anything, he’d barely slept since finals started and that inbetween practice and stressing over Christmas break had completely drained him. He looked awful, the bags under his eyes could’ve caught Exy balls by themselves and his hair had the tousled quality of someone that had spent the past week tossing, turning and falling asleep at their desk. “Also, could you…” Teddy picked up the book he’d been resting his head on and he pushed it across the table in Grant’s direction. “Tell me what that word says.” Anthropocentrism was not a word Teddy could process at that moment in time. “Forget it, I’m just gonna drop it. Nice knowing ya.”

Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything. He was clearly in his own head space, his team had just stomped the competition hardcore. He probably wanted to talk to the Foxes or celebrate, not talk with her. But it was nice of him. He was really sweet, a lot of people had been really sweet, she’d almost forgotten that everyone wasn’t hostile, she’d spent so long convinced she was only safe in her little bubble of reality. “I mean, a shut out like that, not really hard to get a crowd cheering when you guys are doing all the hard work. But everyone nailed their tricks, which we haven’t been doing in practice, so that was great but– I mean, the game was still way more amazing.”

She swallowed, taking a breath. She was always starving after a game. Juliette wrapped both arms around her stomach and clenched her abs to keep her stomach from growling. “But you made it to the championship! Congrats, obviously. I mean, we were rooting for you because it means we get to perform but, still, it’s huge for you guys, right? I mean, obviously it is, stupid question. I just– I’m just saying good game. And talking too much. Sorry.”

He’d only really known the girl for a few months, meeting her through other Vixens he knew, but they’d never really had a conversation alone. He could tell that she was a bit nervous, or intimidated, though he hoped it wasn’t the latter. She squeezed her arms around herself and he had to wonder if she really was nervous to be talking to him. He’d done his best to appear civil to the cheer team, since he knew it was an unspoken job of his to keep them happy. But he could only wonder if he wasn’t doing as decent a job as he thought. He nodded at her statement of their performance. “It sucks that we usually have to miss most of your routine for a huddle,” He told her, watching as she started to ramble.

“Thank you, it’s a pretty great feeling. And we always appreciate what you guys do for us. Sometimes it feels like you’re better at getting us riled up than the people watching, cause when y’all come out it really hypes us up.”

Send ✆ for a morning text

[Text]: What exactly did we bake with last night?

[Text]: Because I just woke up from one of the best sleeps in my life.

Send ♔ for an angry text

[Text]: Yeah, I fucking get it, so can we not mention it for a while, please?

[Text]: You’re going to leave, and there’s nothing I can do. But I’m not going to pretend to be happy about it.

Send ⁇ for a worried text

[Text]: I just saw the news. Are you okay? If you’re upset and need somewhere to go, you know dorm room 1218 always has a spot on the couch.

Send ☼ for a congratulatory text

Send ✆ for a morning text

[Text]: Sent at 5:45 AM - Up and at ‘em, Mendez! I wanna see you on that court in 30 minutes. Don’t be late.

Send ☢ for a desperate text

[Text]: Don’t be like that, please.

Send ♔ for an angry text

[Text]: I get that you’re angry. Hell, I’m fucking angry. But you need to grow the fuck up and move along and think about the team and not yourself, okay Felix?

[Text]: We need to look good out there, and I don’t need you bringing that kinda shit onto the field.

Send ♠ for a drunk text

[Text]: h oly shit im beNT

[Text]: who ever brougt that needs do fuckinq die lmaoooo

Send ✺for a saucy text

Send ☏ for a vague text

Send ☏ for a vague text

Send ✺ for a saucy text

[Text]: Some woman today asked me for a hot sauce...

Send ☠ for misguided advice

[Text]: Sometimes you gotta just... take risks I guess...

Send ♔ for an angry text

[Text]: What in the actual fuck was that, Beck?