i sat with danny, playing a card game, when i heard dwayne call out my name,"scarlett, phone is for you!"

i nodded, calling out to him,"one second," i narrowed my eyes at danny,"don't look at my cards."

danny simply winked, causing me to roll my eyes and get up. i walked over to the phone, taking it from dwayne and thanking him.

"hello?" i questioned, leaning against the wall.

"hey, scar," i heard the voice of my brother, causing me to sigh,"can we talk?"

i looked up at the ceiling, dreading the idea of hearing what he had to say. but i figured, i might as well get it over with,"yeah, fine. where?"

"i'll come to the dorms, give me like two minutes." he replied.

i sucked my teeth, and sighed,"yeah, okay. bye."

i hung up before he could say anything and groaned.

dwayne looked at me quizzically,"who was it?"

"my brother," i answered, looking over at the door,"gotta go, cowboy."

"okay, but remember we have practice in an hour." he reminded me.

i nodded and saluted him,"thanks, got it."

i slipped on some shoes and walked to the elevators. i wasn't prepared for the berating that was going to happen when i arrived outside, but i had to face him sometime.

it had been a few days, so i was hoping that he would just forget about it. but it appears, my luck had run out.

i pressed the down button on the elevator and when the doors opened, justin was standing on the other side. i winced, knowing this would be awkward. he hadn't spoken to me since i blew him off after his track meet. 

he looked at me awkwardly,"oh, scarlett. hey."

i smiled flatly, stepping into the confined space with him,"hey."

in an attempt to fill the awkward silence, he asked,"where are you going?"

"gotta talk to my brother." i answered.

he raised his eyebrows,"you have a brother?"

i knit my brows,"where'd you hear that?"

he chuckled, looking at the floor,"oh, i'm not sure. i know you didn't tell me you have a brother, you just don't seem like an only child."

i smiled,"well, only children are weird, so thanks... i guess."

"yeah, no problem." he answered.

the rest of the time was spent in silence, and the air had filled back up with its initial uncomfortableness.

the doors finally opened and we parted ways. i walked out of the front door and saw jack sitting on one of the benches outside the building.

he looked up and smiled when he noticed me,"hey."

i smiled flatly, trying to mask how awkward this felt for me,"hey, um, what'd you want to talk about?"

"your game."

i sighed and took a seat next to him,"look, i know i sucked, but i promise i'm better than that. it really did look like i'm awful, but i swear-"

he cut me off, clearly not on the same page as me,"scar, do you know why i left?"

i shrugged, having a pretty good idea,"because i was shit."

"no," he started, looking at me dumbfounded, "because i couldn't stand seeing my baby sister getting beat up by guys twice her size. if i had stayed i probably would have hopped over the glass and beat that guy up."

i looked down at the ground, deciding it would be better if i didn't look at him,"really?"

he nodded,"really. plus, why do you think you have something to prove to me?"

i scoffed,"not just you, everyone. i want people to know that this isn't just a little girl with a hockey stick who got lucky."

he laughed, thinking my dramatics were funny,"scarlett, you know we love you no matter what. it doesn't matter that you had a bad day, i know you're a good player. i've sat through every one of your games since peewees. even then you were better than everyone else."

"okay, first of all, don't say you love me, that's weird," i started, but what cut off by his laughter,"second of all, you only sat through them cause mom and dad wouldn't go."

"well, yeah. who do you think signed you up?" he questioned, looking down at me,"i did. mom and dad didn't like it, but i knew you wanted to. So i signed you up and look where you are now! the fucking junior olympics, scar."

i smiled and shrugged,"guess i am pretty good, huh?" 

he laughed, still unable to directly compliment me,"well, i didn't say all that."

"didn't you, though?" i smirked and stood up, looking at the doors,"i should probably get going, i have practice today."

"wait," he said, stopping me in my tracks,"one more thing."

he pulled a box out of his pocket. it was a tiny jewelry box that looked like it held a ring. he handed it to me. the box read cartier on the front and looked at him in disbelief.

i narrowed my eyes at him, suspicious of him doing something nice. he's never done that before, so you could imagine my surprise,"what's this?"

"open it." he encouraged me, pushing my hands.

i gave him one more suspicious glance before opening the box.

it was a pink gold ring from the flora and fauna collection.

"what's wrong with you, you know i lose things." i pointed out to him.

he laughed,"well, i trust you."

i slipped on the ring,"your first mistake."

jack rolled his eyes,"just go. you have practice."

i nodded and swallowed my pride,"okay... i love you."

he scrunched his face up in disgust,"don't be gross, scarlett."

i laughed and watched him walk away.

when i got back upstairs, danny gave me a look.

i sat back down, eyeing him,"did you look at my cards?"

"You were gone for fifteen minutes," he stated, indicating that he had, in fact, taken a look at my cards, but he played it off,"of course not."

i laughed and rolled my eyes,"whatever."

he stared at my hand in surprise,"woah, all i can look at now is that ring. is that cartier?"

"did i hear cartier?" connie walked out of our room, smirking.

i chuckled,"you guys are so dumb."

she grabbed my hand and inspected the ring,"where did you go to get that?"

"my brother gave it to me. it's not a big deal." I shrugged, taking my hand back.

she looked at adam, who was walking by, "banksie, how much does this ring set someone back?"

he knit his brows, staring closely at,"three thousand-ish."

danny laughed,"of course you knew that."

goldberg rolled his eyes, putting an end to our conversation,"guys i'd love to sit here and talk about cartier prices, but we have practice soon and the bus leaves in ten."

i nodded,"good looking out, goldie."

•

we were at the field doing our stretches getting ready for the game later today.

"and hold. two, three, four." charlie instructed as we touched our toes.

guy complained, unable to touch his toes,"if coach isn't here, then why do we have to be?"

goldberg groaned,"i'm tired. who wants to start a mutiny?"

"goldberg, i'm too tired to mutiny." dwayne said as we lifted our heads up.

i rolled my eyes,"plus, mutiny's are for ships, dummy."

"come on guys," julie tried reasoning with the lazier members of our team,"it's not like we couldn't use the conditioning."

dean smirked, looking at his toned body,"speak for yourself, babe." 

"her name is julie, not babe." adam argued, going to straighten out the disrespectful boy.

dean huffed, pushing adam,"don't tell me how to talk rich boy!"

i looked at the scene with wide eyes, knowing dean could rip adam's head off,"stop!"

everyone started yelling at each other, but i was just trying to keep the peace. adam and dean continued to shove each other, so i got in between them and pushed adam backwards.

"hey team usa!" we heard a boy yell, causing us all to stop and stare as he continued,"what are you gonna do today? a million jumping jacks."

i recognized him as the kid who had been messing with jesse for a lot of our games. he was actually kind of funny, but i would never tell jesse that.

"man, i'm getting sick of you." jesse rolled his eyes.

the boy scoffed,"and i'm getting sick of team usa being represented by a bunch of babies!"

my mouth gaped open in offense,"babies?" i tried to think of a comeback,"well- well, you're a baby!"

adam laughed,"you sure got him, scar."

jesse decided he was done with the boy's insults,"yeah, too bad you can't back up that mouth!"

"man, me and my boys can take you anytime, anywhere." he replied.

i gave him a confused look,"i don't see any boys."

"i got them around back. Why don't you grab your skates and play street puck?!" he offered, a security guard trying to escort him away, "unless you forgot how to play real puck. come on it's not too far, you wimps!"

charlie turned to us once the boy was gone,"i think we know what we have to do.

i pursed my lips,"are you sure it's a good idea? we have a game soon, i don't want us to run out of energy."

charlie sighed,"come on, we can school those guys in a second. don't even worry about it."

i looked around at the group, who all seemed on board.

i groaned,"fine, yeah, let's go."

they cheered, happy for the opportunity to shut the boy up.