Librarians, Bruises, and Back Stories

Note: Takes place at the beginning of the season, whereas Thank you for Giving me a Place to Belong takes place at the end of the season.

“Sav, I swear if you do not shut up I will shut you up right no- oh my God here comes Mrs. Scheme,” Carine slumped down on the table, trying to make herself small so that Mrs. Scheme wouldn’t focus on her. 

“Ladies,” Mrs. Scheme’s lips were the same sickly pink that she had been wearing all of their four years of high school. Savannah briefly wondered if she had used the same tub and bit her lip to stop herself from laughing again, “Do we know the rules of the library?”

“Could you give us a quick recap of what those are?” Savannah asked.

“Sav,” Carine hissed and kicked her under the table before turning to the librarian, “I’m sorry, Mrs. Scheme, I’ll try to keep her quiet.” She shot a glare at her stopper, “We had a long night last night.” 

“Well, you’re disrupting the other students trying to use the resources.”

“The only other people in here are other soccer players,” Sav said, “They know what’s up.”

“Savannah Grace.”

“It’s alright, Miss. Dunlop, I can take it from here,” Mrs. Scheme said, “Savannah, if you’ll come with me?”

Savannah straightened her sweatshirt, took Carine’s bookmark and stuck it in her own page, and followed Scheme towards her office.

“Emmy’s gonna be pissed if Kate has to sub in on defense,” Goldie’s voice came from out of Carine’s line of sight. She stepped out from one of the stacks and sat down in Sva’s abandoned spot.

“Jeez, you scared me.”

Goldie smirked and looked down at the book Savannah had been aimlessly paging through, “What are you reading up on?”

“Las Vegas in the 60s,” Carine said, “for Wakie’s history class.”

“The Rat Pack and stuff then?” 

“Yeah, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin and casinos and all the good things.”

Goldie nodded and scanned a page again, “Did you know the mob helped build a couple of the casinos?”

“Did you know that during the Cold War, it was popular to watch bomb detonations in the desert?”

“I did not actually,” Goldie laughed a little bit, “What’s up with Sav today?” 

“Long night last night,” Carine answered, “We had practice, obviously, and then Cole came home for a surprise visit and her grandparents were already in town so she stayed up late talking to them, and then she had homework, so she didn’t get into bed until 3. And then we had morning practice this morning so she was up at 5, so add it all up and you get that.”

Goldie winced at the explanation; she had been the one to push for morning practice before games, “She didn’t have to come this morning. Barely anyone shows up anyways.”

“She’s V.C. though. She feels like she needs to be there.”

“I’m going to go see if there are any of those coffees that she likes in the vending machine,” Goldie stood and pushed the chair back in, “You guys’ll still be here, yeah?”

“Should be,” Carine watched Goldie gather her hair into a bun at the top of her head, “Coach got the ‘okay’ from most of the teachers to let us chill in here until we’re released for the game.”

“Cool. I’ll be right back then,” Carine pretended that she couldn’t see the bruises decorating the back of Goldie’s neck as she walked away. 

In the end, Sav got a week of helping out in the library after school for “disrespectful behavior to fellow students and librarian.” Coach Danberry sweet talked her into starting it the next day because of their game (none of the girls wanted to know how he managed it, they just accepted it for what it was).

Goldie had bought Sav not only a coffee, but also an energy drink as an apology for morning practice, and Sav was alternating sips as the Four sat in their area of the locker room while the underclassmen got ready. 

Carine was, once again, braiding Goldie’s hair for the game, and the other three tried to act like they weren’t seeing the winces on Goldie’s face when Carine pulled just a little too hard. It was an unspoken rule between the four of them; any visible bruises that couldn’t be passed off as practice bruises were to be ignored. Savannah was guessing that the bruises crept under the collar of her jersey and up over her scalp. 

The team was in various states of dress; most either had their shirts or shorts on and were walking around in either sports bras or sweatpants as the other half of the uniform. At home games, they were notorious for barely making it onto the field for warm-ups, especially the girls playing subs. 

“We’ve got five minutes before clock starts!” Savannah was always surprised at how aggressive Carine could sound with her “captain voice”, “If you’re not out the door in four, I’m siccing Emmy on you.” 

“Ooh, please, somebody, be late,” Emma’s voice was muffled as she pulled her warm-up jacket over her head, “I’m in the mood to bonk some heads.”

“You’re always in the mood, Em,” Goldie laughed, but it was cut short on a sharp intake of breath, “Dammit, Carine, not so hard.”

They all froze and the temperature seemed to drop 15 degrees.

“I’m not pulling very hard, Golds,” Carine said carefully, “Maybe if you would tell us why you have a giant bruise all along-”

“Car-”

“Okay, nevermind,” Carine dropped it and exchanged a glance with Emma and Sav, “We’re just worried. You know that.”

“I know,” she agreed, “but you don’t need to worry. I’m fine.”

Emma sucked on her teeth before saying, “You know, Golds-”

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” She hissed again when Carine pulled the hair near her neck into the braid and Carine frowned deeply.

“I’m telling Coach that you’re not good to play.”

“Don’t you dare,” Sav was glad that Carine couldn’t see Goldie’s facial expression, because she was ready to run out of the locker room door, “I just need some ibuprofen and I’ll be fine.”

“Marigold-”

“Carine, just leave it.”

“We are talking about this later otherwise I’m dropping this braid right now and telling Coach that you’re not playing.”

“Fine.” 

Carine tied off the braid and threw it over Goldie’s shoulder, “Thank you.”

The game itself was just short of being a disaster. There was little to no communication between Carine and Goldie, the two ends of their field, and with Emma and Sav on the defensive line, no one was there to check in with Goldie as she kept getting slammed by the Rams’ defensive line (their irony never failed to escape Carine). There was one time that she got checked so hard she flew, but she brushed off the ref asking if she was okay and the other girl was given a yellow card. 

At halftime, Carine and Goldie stood on opposite ends of the huddle. Sav stood next to Carine and Emma next to Goldie to try to appear less disconnected, but the team was feeling the strain. 

“You  know, if it had been this quiet in the library earlier, I wouldn’t have gotten time with Scheme after school,” Sav said and Carine snorted.

“It was this quiet before you opened your mouth, you dummy.”

“Alright ladies, listen up,” Coach Danberry drew everyone’s attention as he rubbed the bottom portion of his face and stuck his dry erase marker behind his ear, “I don’t know what’s going on out there, but we aren’t playing at our 100%. We shouldn’t be tied with that team right now, do you hear me?” There were nods from around the circle and he continued on, “Good, I’m glad we understand each other. Same starters as last half, get out there, do some passing drills, stay warmed up. Four, I want you all to stay.”

The younger players all scramble to leave as if they could sense the heavy tension in the air. Goldie and Emma took a slight step forward towards their coach and teammates, but Carine and Sav stayed where they were.

“Now, what is going on?” Coach Danberry asked.

“Show him, Golds,” Carine said, “Show him why we’re so worried about you.”

Goldie sighed but turned around and pulled her braid over her shoulder, “It’s not that bad-”

“It goes under her collar,” Emma said and ignored Goldie’s glare.

“And probably up over her scalp too,” Sav added, “she cussed at Carine when she was braiding Goldie’s hair.”

“Holy shit,” Zach breathed, “What happened to you?”

“Zach, language,” Coach Danberry’s voice was harsh like it always was, but then he addressed Goldie in a tone softer than any of them had ever heard, “I thought you said he was getting better.”

“He was.” Goldie threw the braid back over her shoulder and crossed her arms in front of her chest, “He got fired from work and needed a way to let out his frustration.”

“Why’d he get fired?”

“Went to work drunk again.” She shrugged like she hadn’t just dropped a bombshell big enough to change all of their lives,  “Can we go warm up now?” She met their concerned glances with a determined and set jaw and finally went on the field herself when she didn’t get a response.

Savannah was about 90% sure she had never seen Carine so upset, “Coach what the fuck is going on-”

“That’s enough, Carine,” Coach Danberry shot her a tired glare, “She’ll tell the four of you later.”

“But Coach-”

“It’s not my story to tell, Carine,” Coach cut her off again, “Now get out there on that field and lead your team and forget about this for 40 more minutes. Understood?”

Carine frowned, but answered, “Yes, Coach.”

The three girls jogged back onto the field and Carine groaned when she saw Goldie waiting at the penalty mark to shoot goals before halftime was over.

“You know, I wasn’t expecting to have an entirely life-altering conversation when Mrs. Scheme was chewing me out,” Sav said when they stopped just out of Goldie’s ear shot, “but-”

“Wait, how’d you get chewed out by Scheme again?”

“In a sec, Ems, it’s a good one,” Sav said and grabbed Carine’s arm before she could stalk back to her goal, “Car, everything’s going to be okay. It’s still Goldie and even if she’s pissed at us for a while, it’s gonna turn out. Okay?”

“Yeah. Talk to you guys in a little bit,” Carine adjusted her gloves on the way back to the goal as she listened to Sav tell Emma about lack of sleep, caffeine, and other noise in the library that morning.