#*freewill.

justice had mentioned that they lived next door to liza and william now, which at least gave her an approximate location to begin with. they hadn’t mentioned that they lived in the very same building, but the labeled mailboxes had told her that much.

sarah had been telling herself that she'd stop by, after what happened with rollaways. but, the gift that sarah had planned to bring justice as a thank you for helping her at tryouts had taken her longer than anticipated to finish. now, with will in the hospital, they had even more to talk about (if justice was even open to the idea of talking). jordan's text that will was in the hospital had sarah unnerved, to say the least.

sarah rang justice's door bell, or what she hoped was their doorbell anyway. gift bag in hand, waiting to see whether they'd answer, or if she'd be leaving the gift on the door mat for them to find later.

jordan had left the hospital for a while, so that will and the others that had stopped in to visit could have some privacy. plus, she had a short shift at work that she couldn't call out from. at least not without a heavy dose of guilt.

with a backpack full of supplies, including a few balloons tied to the straps, jordan jogged up the stairs of the hospital. about halfway to will's floor, she caught sight of ant. "hey!" she greeted him, pausing on the landing. "you're not here for treatment are you?"

"thank you! enjoy your day!" sarah called over her shoulder to the cashier that had just finished cashing her out at the green basket. she exited the store with a few bags full of groceries. a few for herself, but most for the recipe she had planned to make with ant.

sarah and ant had made a rudimentary plan to meet up the morning following liza’s surprise party, and go together to talk to wren. naturally, the two had some follow-up questions for him, now that they’d both heard justice’s side of things.

sarah really had been trying to cook more often in the new year, a dream of ant's that she had taken and reconfigured to improve her own day to day life. in addition to that, as shown in the crocheted gift she had given to justice, she was also trying to strive toward the dream she had revealed to him; crocheting more and gifting whatever she made.

sarah had decided on one main dish, a side, and a dessert. all vegetarian, for justice's sake. eggplant parmesan, a simple side salad, and mixed berry crisp.

silence had felt like a second home to sarah since childhood. the sense of familiarity and comfort it had always brought along with it. but, recently, it didn't feel the same. now, it felt lonely. so, she opted to open spotify before she started cooking to play music that she could bop around her kitchen to while she cooked. but, instead, she noticed the newest episode of justice's podcast on her landing page. the title of which was displayed as 'let's chat'. vague. sarah pressed play with the assumption that it would be about rollaways, maybe some updates that justice would have on her suspension or the building's renovations that sarah hadn't heard yet.

while it began, sarah retrieved the vegetables she had washed earlier from beside the sink, an advertisement playing through the speakers of her phone where she had left it on the kitchen island, just a few paces away. then, justice's voice. "okay, okay!" sarah moved the vegetables to the island to continue drying on the towel while she started chopping them. lettuce, carrots, onion, tomatoes. a pretty standard line-up. "i see your comments, and i’m going to use today’s episode to talk about amelia, but then we’ll get back to derby stuff, alright?"

sarah felt her breath hitch in her throat. it didn't necessarily mean anything, but just hearing justice's voice utter amelia's name made her feel like her world had been flipped on its axis. as she listened, sarah roughly chopped the lettuce and dropped it into a large wooden bowl that she had set beside her. then, the tomato. next, she peeled and chopped both the onion and carrots to add to the mix. she had a handful of dressings that they could choose from when they got here. in the meantime, she mixed the salad, covered it, and set it in the refrigerator for the time being. while she was there, she poured herself a glass of white wine.

sarah got the rest of the dinner ready, freezing momentarily at justice's words. "she and i always had this weird, like, liminal friendship going on. y’know? like sometimes she’d sit next to me on the bus and we’d have these whole long-ass conversations." her eyebrows furrowed. what the hell? there was a world where that could've been possible, but... it just wasn't. there was no doubt in sarah's mind. had amelia and justice been friends, sarah would have known about it. as she continued to get dinner ready, she routinely paused the podcast to process, or rewound to make sure she had heard correctly.

sarah placed dessert into the oven, the warm fruity smell wafting pleasantly throughout her apartment. then added the eggplant parmesan soon after. she stood at the counter beside the stove, two separate timers set (one on her phone, and the other on the stove itself), her wine in hand. 'it’s hard to mourn someone who told you about some very personal things but wouldn’t save your number in her phone. "just in case someone saw."'

the shock of the statement made sarah drop her glass of wine. sarah lost her focus entirely, justice's voice still discussing what information they had about amelia's case in the background (which, of course, was none). but, they sounded far away and warped. sort of like the parents in charlie brown.

a knock at the door. sarah almost didn't respond to it. but, she had to. sarah tip toed over the broken glass, and approached the door. sarah opened the door, her face pale. as she did, the first of the two timers sounded from within her apartment.

sarah had wanted to visit the william in the hospital the moment that jordan shared the news. but, she wasn't sure how much of an intrusion her presence would be. primarily, she was concerned about interrupting his rest, which seemed critical to his recovery. but, jordan had reached out pretty quickly to say that william had said she could come visit, so she got ready to do so. after a short discussion, jordan had informed sarah that she didn't need to bring anything, because jordan and the others had brought everything they could think of already. sarah stopped on her way to the hospital for a get well soon card nonetheless and put a gift card to the restaurant closest to wrensted medical center inside, in case he tired of hospital food.

once she got there, she took the elevator to the floor jordan had said will's room was on. as sarah walked down the hallway, she couldn't help but to think about how this was her mom's experience in her last weeks of life. hospitals always made her feel uneasy. sarah set the thought aside as she reached william's room, gently knocking on the door frame of his room to announce her presence, before quietly stepping inside in case he was indeed asleep.

usually when the staff at a high school returned to work after christmas break, they were well-rested and refreshed. or, in some cases, complaining it hadn't lasted quite long enough. sarah, however, had returned to work a little off kilter to say the least. she could think of at least two other wrensted high employees that she would bet felt the same.

now that she was deeply in denial about amelia's death, she was at least sleeping better. she was back to being convinced that this was all some sick prank, perhaps even started by amelia herself. after all, it wouldn't be the first prank of that caliber than amelia had orchestrated. but, sarah was still clearly distracted by her need to figure this all out. to make sure that if amelia wasn't the mastermind, that she was okay. as a result, her work performance wasn't terrible but it did definitely leave something to be desired.

sarah was walking down the hallway, toward the gym when she noticed georgia. she could only assume that she was there to help out with something cheerleading related. or perhaps to visit musa or will. "hey," sarah greeted her once they were within ear shot of one another. "here to say hi to someone, or on official cheerleading business?" she asked, in a way that she hoped came across as friendly and casual, as opposed to the customer service-esque tone she'd usually use with others that visited the building.

amara was one of very few people that jordan wasn't friends with yet but wanted to be. it had been jordan's goal for a while to get amara to warm up to her. to see her as someone she could rely on. to be her friend. but, thus far, she didn't think she'd been successful.

jordan had even gone so far as to comment supportive things on her instagram while amara was in california, with little self care reminders included. "wow what an amazing opportunity! congrats! i hope you're prioritizing rest too!" or "that outfit looks stunning! don't forget you always have one friend on your side. i'm always here if you need someone to talk to." those kinds of things.

so, when jordan happened to see amara walking about a half a block ahead of her, jordan ran to catch up. it was nice to see her around wrensted again, even if it was temporary. "hey!" jordan panted as she reached her, matching her stride. "whatcha up to today? doing some shopping? i can join, if you'd like."