Still fuming about losing the spot that was rightfully hers, not Victoria's, Sarah walked up the driveway leading up toward her parents' farm. The early fall air of the evening chilled her shorts-clad legs. She pulled her track jacket closer to her skin for warmth, but unfortunately, it did nothing to warm her legs. Perhaps she should have brought a pair of pants to change into before heading home but it was too late for such decisions now.

Not that her clothing was the worst decision of her day. That top spot went to the intimate encounter in the storage room with her newly appointed nemesis Victoria.

Victoria, who had taken her spot on the team. Victoria, who was the root of all evil.

Perhaps, if Sarah had been at the meeting in time, Coach Torres would have written her name on that board. Because who knew when that decision had been made? Maybe it had been a last-second call to favor the player who showed up when she was supposed to.

If only Coach Torres knew Sarah's tardiness was all Victoria's fault. Although, it was probably for the best that the coach didn't know, as Sarah suspected fraternization between players was something that she frowned upon. Not that the coach minded lesbian relationships, in fact, she was married to a woman herself--Sarah had seen the other Mrs. Torres in the stands during games--but she did seem to mind anything that took players' attention away from the game.

And Sarah had to admit, her head wasn't really in the game lately. She'd dropped the ball to instead play games with a teasing bad girl, and now she would have to suffer the consequences of her blunder.

Walking over the last hill, her family's farm came into view. Endless green fields, grazing alpacas, and an orange sunset shading the whole world in twilight made her mood improve somewhat. It was hard to be upset around such beauty.

Sarah's lightened mood lasted for approximately three seconds. Until she saw a pair of familiar red pigtails by the barn.

What was Des doing here? Sarah had told her not to bother her brother.

When she came closer, Sarah's mood sank even lower when she saw her brother's unmistakable ponytail wagging next to Des. They sat next to each other on a pile of hay bales, seemingly wrapped up in fascinating conversation.

Jogging the remaining distance to the barn, Sarah quickly made her way to the chattering couple. This couldn't happen, not on her watch!

"Des!" She shouted, perhaps slightly affected by her anger toward Victoria and the starting position situation. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh..." Des smiled brightly toward Sarah, posing a look of innocence. "I really wanted to check on the alpacas, so I drove by on my way home from school." Considering that Des lived on campus, this was a blatant lie. "Hernan spotted me when I drove up and we started talking. He asked if I wanted to help gather the animals for the night and I agreed."

Hernan gave Sarah an exasperated look. "Am I not allowed to talk to your friends now, Sarah?" he asked. "It was nice to not have to work alone for once."

"Great, now you're blaming me for never helping you around here," Sarah muttered, feeling a dark cloud of emotions envelop her. There just wasn't going to be anyone who was on her side today.

"I'm not blaming you for anything." Hernan rolled his eyes. "What has gotten into you today?"

The correct answer was Victoria's fingers but Sarah was certainly not going to tell her brother that.

"Nothing..." she mumbled. "Can I talk to you for a bit, Des?" She nodded toward the barn, which would give them some privacy to hash this out.

"Sure!" Des jumped up from the hay bale.

"I'll better get back to work," Hernan said, rising while brushing off some straws from his worn jeans. "Thank you for the help earlier, Des."

"No problem," Des chirped. Sarah wanted to smack her. Could she stop being so nice to her brother?

Dragging her friend into the rickety barn, Sarah took the opportunity to give Didi a fast pet on the nose on her way. At least she had one loyal friend around here.

"I told you not to call my brother!" Sarah yelled at Des once they were out of sight from Hernan. The eyes of every alpaca around them were directed toward her. The fluffy animals didn't like raised voices.

"And I didn't!" Des countered, not breaking the stereotypes of redheads being feisty at all. "I just happened to run into him when I drove over here."

"You had no reason to drive by here! And you knew you would run into him!"

Des rolled her eyes. "And why can't I talk to your brother, Sarah? I like being out here, it's nice and peaceful to hang out with the animals after stressing in school all day, and your brother is good company."

"Don't play innocent, Des," Sarah threw back, lowering her voice to not disturb the animals.

Des looked aghast. "What do you mean? Sorry that I didn't grow up on a farm and got to be around animals all day like you."

"That's not what I mean."

"So what do you mean?"

Des' incredulous look didn't appear like an act. "You really don't know?"

"Know what?" Des' furrowed her brow in confusion.

"That he likes you, Des! Like really likes you. And you coming around like this will only end up hurting him."

For a moment, Des was quiet, looking down at her purple sneakers. "I'm not playing games," she mumbled. "And I don't want to hurt anyone. I don't understand why you assume I would. I thought we were friends, Sarah."

"We are friends," Sarah tried, suddenly realizing how she must have come off. The day had hit her hard and she'd let it all descend upon Des. "I just care about my brother."

"So do I," Des assured her while petting one of the alpacas to avoid looking at Sarah. "If we're friends, you should trust me not to hurt him. Hernan is my friend too, just like you are. Although you should probably learn a thing or two about not hurting your friends." Zipping up her hoodie, Des turned toward the barn door. "Since you don't want me here, I'm heading out. I need to do homework anyway. Tell Hernan I enjoyed hanging out with him and the alpacas."

After her friend had left, Sarah slumped down on the floor of the barn, not caring that her shorts would get dirty from mud and straw. Didi leaned out of her pent to sniff Sarah's hair. Sarah petted the soft nose absentmindedly.

This day really wasn't getting any better. Now she would have to find a way to make amends with Des before her friend abandoned her for good.

"I would appreciate if you didn't meddle in matters that didn't concern you." Sarah looked up to meet the disappointed gaze of her brother. Perhaps shouting hadn't been the best course of action when the person she didn't want to hear was right outside the barn.

"Des is my friend, so it does concern me," Sarah mumbled, resigned to be on the receiving end of her brother's ire.

"But what I feel or think isn't your business, Sarah, so please don't assume things and then bassoon it out for everyone to hear."

"So you don't like Des then?"

"That's not of your concern..." Hernan gave her a tired look while reaching out to pet a curious alpaca who probably wondered if it wasn't time for their evening feeding yet.

"I just don't want to see you hurt."

"Me getting hurt isn't your concern. I'm twenty-two years old, do you not think I've been hurt before? But I have survived without my little sister's intervention." Hernan shook his head, reaching down into the pellets box to shovel a serving of dinner for one of the inhabitants of the barn. "Now can you get out of here so I can feed these guys? You're in the way of Didi's food tray."

Sarah rose to her feed, brushing off dirt from her legs. "Sorry, that I care..." she mumbled passive-aggressively, digging her heels in that she was in the right even though she knew deep down she wasn't. She could allow herself to lose an argument against her brother.

"It's alright that you care," Hernan assured Sarah, moving past her to serve Didi her dinner. "But your concern does make me wonder... like why is it so inconceivable to you that your friend would like me back? If I like her, I mean. You obviously don't have very high thoughts of me then. Am I not good enough for her? I'm just your hillbilly farmer brother, not good enough for your college friend."

"That's not what I mean, Hernan," Sarah protested. "She's just never really shown any interest in guys, or girls for that matter. Not in that way."

"Then that is for me to figure out, not you." Hernan gave her a sharp look, signaling that the discussion was over. "Now didn't I tell you to get out of here so I can finish the evening feeding?"

Walking out of the barn, darkness was falling over the farm. Sarah felt like blackness was surrounding her very soul. This really was the worst day ever. And she only had herself to blame. She had lost focus and lost her starting position on the team and she had lost her temper and made enemies of both her best friend and her brother.

Really, this was all Victoria's fault.