Sigh. I told myself I'd post weekly. But I wanna post more, so here I am. I'm posting Chapter 13 and 14 so make sure to read both!

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Tatum stared at the grade on her screen.

Her hands were tingling and it felt like she couldn't move her head. Like she couldn't pull her eyes away. Like she didn't deserve the ability to turn away from the numbers glaring at her on the screen.

74%.

Tatum hadn't gotten below an A- since high school. Even then, it would destroy her. She had maintained a nearly unachievable GPA while in college. She worked herself to the bone for this. To make something of herself. Everything was riding on how she performed during these four years of her life. Most people tried not to think of it that way. But how could she not? This would determine where she went to med-school— if she even got in. It would determine where she had her residency. Where she would work. She couldn't falter.

Tears stung her eyes. It felt like shards of glass were lodged into her throat when she tried to swallow. She kept blinking like the grade would change. Like she could will it to change if she wanted it bad enough.

This couldn't be right.

There had to be some sort of mix up.

She refreshed the page, holding her breath expectantly.

It didn't change.

Maybe it was out of eighty points.

She checked— it was out of a hundred.

Tatum got a C on her biology mid-term.

In all honesty, she completely forgot about it after she took it. It hadn't even occurred to Tatum to stress about it after she had handed it in. She never really stressed about grades at this point. She wanted to do well, but Tatum had grown accustomed to getting perfect grades by this point. She only thought to check when she was checking on another assignment.

She had to do something. She had to fix this. This would drag her grade point average down which would bring her GPA down with it. Her thumb tapped the screen, clicking into the grade to try and see where she went wrong. Her eyes scanned through the mistakes she made, recognizing them instantly. She scolded herself for the carelessness in the mistakes she made.

Tatum had an admittedly bad habit of putting a majority of her self-worth in her academics. She tried to shake it at one point, but she just couldn't get past it. A sick part of her needed it. It kept her in check. Made sure that she didn't let up. She would push herself until she couldn't anymore.

And so, this was not okay.

She couldn't let this happen again.

"Hey, Hartley," a voice called out. She snapped her slack jaw shut, trying to blink away any evidence that she was upset.

"Hey," she croaked out, turning to see who walked in. Brady dropped his bag by the door, staring at her unsurely.

"You good?"

"Uh, yeah," Tatum said unconvincingly. "Just... some bad news."

"Not your Mom is it?" Brady asked her hesitantly, moving closer to her.

"Well, now I feel kinda ridiculous," she admitted feebly, flashing her phone at him. "Just a bad grade."

His eyes squinted at the screen, leaning forward to see what she was showing him. He scoffed, saying, "They're still gonna let you into medical school, all right?"

She gave him an impressed look. "You know how competitive it is these days?"

"You need to let loose a little," he commented, sinking into the chair.

"My stomach is still recovering from the last time you wanted me to let loose," Tatum snarked in a teasing manner. "I can never eat a hot dog again."

"Hey, the hot dog was your idea," Brady pointed out.

"You're the one who trusted our school to actually do something well," she said pointedly, tilting her head down at him.

He held his hands up innocently. "Fair enough. But still, you should come to the hockey house tonight."

She raised her eyebrows at him, disbelievingly. "I don't know what to unpack first. You inviting me to a party or the fact that you're going to the party at your house. Thought you hated them."

"Hate them when it's full of people I don't know," Brady corrected with a shrug.

Tatum placed a hand on her chest. "Brady Parker, are you saying you like hanging out with me?"

"Hey, my turn, my rules," Brady argued. "You're coming."

"Fine, but you're doing single-leg squats," Tatum negotiated as she placed her hands on her thighs.

He gave her a deadpan look. "You just wanna see me fall on my ass."

Tatum shrugged as she fought a smile. "You gotta enjoy the little things, you know?"

She set up the mat for him in her private office. Typically, she would move them to the main area with all of the equipment. However, she decided to take it easy on Brady and allow him to stay in their room. She had been wanting him to do this particular exercise for a while now. It should genuinely help him with his mobility as well as his balance. But she wouldn't be opposed to seeing him wobble around a bit.

He had a game in a few hours, so she would need to be careful. They moved the session to be before the game in attempt to warm his knee up a bit before putting him on the ice. Naturally, Brady was opposed to it since he still tried to claim it didn't bother his knee to play. However, Tatum reminded him that she got to pick considering it was her turn. She would be attending the game again to ensure he would be all right. The next game would be away. Tatum wasn't entirely sure if she would attend, but she wouldn't mind

Brady let out a sharp breath as he stepped onto the mat, adjusting his leg to be as sturdy as he could make it below him. He slowly lifted his left leg to hold it up. Instantly, he wobbled a bit on his right leg. Tatum watched his face carefully for any sign of pain. When she saw none, she allowed herself to find a bit of amusement in the situation.

"Don't laugh," he gritted between his teeth, eyes wide with determination.

Tatum bit the inside of her cheek. "Mhm, I'm not."

Brady let out a strained grunt as he tried to balance well enough to squat. He shook slightly from the effort, body swaying from side to side. She tried to cover her laugh with a couch, dipping her head down. He shot her a glare which quickly turned into a wince. Tatum straightened her back instantly, narrowing her eyes as he tried to hide any sign of showing that he was in pain.

"You okay?" Tatum asked in concern, the smile gone from her face. Brady opened his mouth to answer before he leaned too far to the side, toppling over. His arms flailed out in attempt to break his fall, but all he did was grab onto Tatum. He dragged her down with her, much to her dismay. She squealed as she cried out, "Hey!"

Brady quickly maneuvered their bodies so he broke their fall, landing on the ground with a groan. She let out a short grunt as her body hit his roughly. Her hair sprawled in front of her face and she lifted her head from his shoulder. Tatum placed her hands on either side of his head as she pushed herself up. She froze at their position, eyes wide. He stared up at her, seeming just as startled as she was.

After a moment, Tatum's gaze narrowed. "I knew it."

Brady's eyes mimicked her own. "Knew what?"

"You just can't resist me, can you?"

"You're the one who wanted me to do those stupid squats," he countered instantly. "You knew I'd fall."

"Fall, sure," she agreed easily. "Didn't think you'd drag me with you. Hence, you can't keep your hands off me."

"Hartley," a new voice called out from the door. Tatum recognized it instantly, scrambling off Brady as quickly as she could. Her back hit the metal chair harshly and she winced. She fixed her eyes on Doctor Evans who stood at the door with her hands on her hips, a pointed look on her face. "Didn't think I needed to give you the 'don't sleep with the athletes' talk. Do I need to reconsider that?"

"No, ma'am," Tatum assured her quietly.

"Glad to hear it," Doctor Evans quipped in a short voice, moving on from the door.

"Her timing is impeccable," Tatum said to herself, shaking her head.

After that, Tatum reluctantly agreed to move on from that step in the plan. She had a few other exercises she had wanted him to do before the game anyway. It would be a shorter session than usual, but she was comfortable compromising since she got time before the game. She had him on the stationary bike right now, figuring it would help with range of motion and warm the muscles up. It took him a few moments to get comfortable with it. She could tell his knee was stiff, but it gradually got smoother as he went.

Brady got a bit quiet as the session moved forward. He would zone out every few moments, almost as if he was lost in his thoughts. Tatum watched him with a careful eye, curious as to what was going on. She knew this would be the last exercise she had him do before the game, opting for an easier plan today since he would be exerting his knee to its limit during the game. When he stayed uncharacteristically quiet, Tatum decided to break the silence.

"You feeling okay for the game?" Tatum checked with her arms crossed.

"Of course," he grumbled, continuing to peddle away on the bike.

She raised her eyebrows challengingly. "Cause if you're not—"

"You really are a broken record sometimes, you know?" Brady questioned, frustration in his tone as he sped up a bit.

"Sort of my job," Tatum reminded him in annoyance. "And ease up a bit, your gonna be putting a lot of strain on your knee in a bit."

"Whatever, I'm fine," he retorted dismissively.

She hummed noncommittally. "Which is what you said last time before collapsing in the locker room."

Brady paused at the reminder. "One time thing."

She just hoped that was truly the case.

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To Tatum's surprise, the game had actually gone decently.

The team they were up against was nothing to write home about. To be honest, they were ranked as one of the worst in the league. Brady hardly even played in the game except to get them at a comfortable spot on the scoreboard. They let their usual benchwarmers play for a few minutes, allowing their starters a moment of rest.

She was relieved that she wouldn't need to deal with him collapsing in the locker room this time around. That wasn't exactly a moment she'd like to repeat.

Brady had just gotten put back in for the end of the game. He and Isaac were tossing the puck back and forth idly as they let the clock run out. With the final few seconds, Brady glided to the opposing team's net, lazily sweeping in the puck for one final point.

The score was 7-0.

Tatum didn't even know that was possible.

The team huddled in the middle of the ice as the crowd lost their minds. The buzzer was booming through the stadium and the audience was cheering at the top of their lungs. Tatum smiled as she watched Isaac slam his body against Brady's in an embrace, patting his hand on his friend's helmet. Brady grinned and Tatum felt something swell inside her. She didn't know what it was, but it was nice to see Brady like this. He was always very contained, she didn't see him just be happy very often.

Brady spotted her across the rink, skating over to her. She gave him an impressed look. "Well done, Parker. You don't even look like you're about to collapse."

"No time to collapse, not with what's happening next," Brady told her vaguely, leaning over the railing of the rink. She crossed her arms, raising her eyebrows expectantly as she tried to ignore whatever feeling was nagging at her. Normally, Brady towered over her. But with his body crouched over the rink, they were face to face. Maybe she finally understood what he meant by all of his height jokes. His floppy hair was glistening with sweat under his helmet and he was panting just slightly. She did her best to ignore their close proximity.

"And what's next?" she quipped with a drawl like he was leading to the punchline of a joke.

He shot her a grin.

"Next, it's my turn, Hartley."

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Tatum crumbling at a 74% oh wait until she hears I once got a 24% on a final where I thought I needed a 25% to pass the class, but turns out I just needed a 24% and I'm just really that bad at math.