"Your transcript from last semester looks great," Miss Horn, Sarah's university counselor, chirped excitedly. As a scholarship student, Sarah had regular appointments at the beginning of each semester to discuss the progress of her studies. "How are you liking your courses this semester so far?"

"They're all good," Sarah replied because her courses were the least of her problems currently. She was taking a couple of Nursing courses as well as prerequisites like Biology and Chemistry. The coursework was quite steep, especially since she was required to do labs several afternoons a week, but she could usually catch up on some reading on her bus rides home. Luckily, her study habits from high school, when she had done nothing but study and play soccer to qualify for her scholarship, had ingrained themselves in her.

"Good," Miss Horn replied, taking a sip of her tea as she flipped through the binder of paper in front of her, detailing Sarah's performances at the school. "There's just one small thing I need to bring up with you then."

"Yeah..." Sarah was quite sure she knew what this was. She had expected it since she knew what the requirements for her scholarship were.

"I'm sure this is something that will sort itself out during the season, but you didn't start the last game for the soccer team. If that continues, it could become a problem since, as you probably know, Coach Torres has to submit you as a starting member of the squad for next season for your scholarship to roll over."

Sarah nodded. She knew all this. It made sense even, since not all players on the team were on scholarships. So obviously, the ones that were needed to prove they were valuable members of the team for the school to continue to support them.

"It's only the start of the season though, so I'm sure you can make up for this down the line!" Miss Horn assured her in a tone that was a bit too peppy to be believable.

If only Victoria had never walked onto that field. Then there wouldn't be a problem. Sarah would still be starting as center-forward. She would still be blissfully unaware that she wasn't quite straight. She would still be getting along with her best friend and her brother.

"I'll try my best," Sarah mumbled, not quite convincing herself. With a deep sigh, she tucked her hoodie tighter around her and sunk into the cozy couch of the counseling office.

"Is something the matter?" Miss Horn asked. Her keen eyes never seemed to miss a sign of distress from students.

Sarah wasn't quite sure where to start. Victoria was obviously the root of all her problems but discussing such intimate matters with her counselor didn't feel right. If she was going to come out, she wanted to do so to the people she cared about the most first, but currently, she wasn't on the best of terms with either of the people she wanted to tell.

"I had a fight with my best friend and my brother," she revealed. "It's... a bit complicated, but really, I just didn't want Hernan to get hurt. But he told me to stop meddling in his business."

"Sibling relationships can be complicated," Miss Horn agreed, perhaps she had siblings on her own to squabble with. "Especially at the age you're at, when you're both becoming adults but perhaps still treating each other like children. It's an easy trap to fall into.

"I wasn't treating him like a child... I mean, he's older than me. He's always been there for me. So I was just trying to protect him like he's protected me."

"Did he ask you to protect him? And do you know he even needed to be protected in this case?"

"No..." Sarah admitted. "I may have been a bit hasty to action. I was upset about something else and stepped out of bounds. There's a lot going on with the team these days and he's the only one I can really talk to about such things, but now he won't even talk to me. He eats breakfast before I head to school and then stays out working on the fields until after I'm in bed."

"Sounds like you may have to be the one to reach out then. You can't count on him coming to you. Tell him what you just told me about how you value him being there for you."

Sarah sighed. Her family wasn't one to ever throw glowing words of endearment toward one another. It just wasn't how they rolled. They talked about alpacas and soccer. But maybe that wasn't a good thing. "I'll try," she conceded, looking down at her watch. "Thank you, Miss Horn, I need to head to class now."

"You're welcome," the always-optimistic counselor replied. "And please email me if you want additional counseling sessions. It sounds like you may have some things on your mind, not related to your schoolwork, that you may need to talk about with someone."

Sarah did have a lot on her mind. But Miss Horn, no offense to her counseling skills, was not the person she needed to talk to about it.

"Please take a lollipop before you go!" Miss Horn reached an overfilled bowl of candy toward Sarah, who decided she could be allowed to indulge herself despite usually avoiding sugary treats during the soccer season. One pink lollipop couldn't hurt.

Still sucking on her treat, Sarah walked out of the counseling office and out onto the campus. It was time for lunch and her mom--who would probably scold her daughter if she knew she was indulging in dessert before the main course-- had packed Sarah a nutritious meal of empanadas and fruit salad. She'd told her mom she didn't need to continue packing her lunches when she started college since she was perfectly able to do it herself, but Linda had refused to listen. Not wanting to cause unnecessary drama, Sarah accepted the kind gesture, reasoning that her mom perhaps wanted to take care of her youngest child for a little while longer.

Usually, Sarah met up with Des for lunch on the days their schedules aligned, which should be the case on this day. Sarah threw a glance toward their agreed-upon table, beneath a cascading oak tree with leaves that were starting to turn yellow. No red braids could be found in its shade. Maybe Des was still holding a grudge as well because they hadn't talked since the incident at the barn. Letting her eyes continue around the campus main square, where a flurry of students were hurrying to and from lessons, Sarah's attention was drawn to a pink streak in the crowd.

Was that?

No. She wouldn't let herself be lured by Victoria once again. The pleasure wasn't worth the pain.

With a determined stride, Sarah walked toward her and Des' usual table, carefully avoiding straying in the vicinity of the bearer of those pink tresses. Maybe her friend would show up eventually, having been delayed in class. While she waited, Sarah unpacked the neat Tupperware containers that contained her lunch. Taking a sip from her water bottle, she grabbed her phone from her pocket to shoot away a text to Des.

"Hey, sorry for the other day. I was having a bad day. Are you joining me for lunch so we can talk things out?"

While waiting for a reply, Sarah started chewing on one of her empanadas, filled with a mix of ground beef, raisins, and herbs. Sarah's mother had taken to cooking Peruvian cuisine after marrying a man from that culture, which meant the food customs at their home were an eclectic mix of different traditions. One evening, they may eat ceviche while the next poutine is on the menu.

Her phone buzzed. The message was brief: "Sorry, running late. Can't make it today."

No reference to them falling out or any attempt to suggest another time for them to meet up. Reading between the lines, Sarah feared Des was, just like Hernan, still mad at her. Des wasn't usually this elusive. She showed up for her friends and she made sure she had time for them.

Maybe Sarah wasn't her friend anymore. The thought was frightening, since outside of the soccer team, Sarah had few friends. Like really few. There was Tyler, her ex-boyfriend from high school, with whom she had formed a close bond after they met up again in university and Tyler revealed to her that he was gay. And there was Des, her main confidant and partner in crime.

Then there was Didi, but she probably didn't count, on account of being an alpaca.

There was Hernan, of course, who Sarah realized she hadn't properly appreciated as a friend. She'd taken him for granted since he was her brother but not ever thanked him for everything he did for her. Not all brothers were so committed.

Then there was no one else.

Sarah needed her friends now more than ever. So she had to fix this. She couldn't keep blaming Victoria for her mess because whatever had happened between them was her decision as much as Victoria's. This was her mess, which meant she had to sort it out.