Love, Rosie

2

Lisa hums to herself as she makes her way to the locker room for the game. She'd changed at home, but she's brought a t-shirt and pair of jeans to change into after their inevitable victory. Her parents - well, her dad, mostly - had promised her that she could have the afterparty at their house since her brother Lucas was sleeping at a friend's and her sister Jules was at their grandpa's, which meant she'd had to sneak out and buy some alcohol with her fake ID. The rest of the team, she'd told to bring their own booze, but she'd bought three bottles of wine for herself. Not that she'll drink them all; the most alcohol she'd ever had at once was almost a whole bottle of whiskey, and in some ways, she's still paying for that now.

Pranpriya is annoyed at her for it, claiming that she needed quiet to get on with her studying. But she never studies on Friday nights anyway, preferring to watch a movie with Lisa if she's home, or their parents if she's not. She's at home more often nowadays, in part because of Aussie. She knows it's just because her sister hates parties and big social gatherings, thinks they're a waste of time. For two people who are supposedly identical, they're very different in a lot of respects, that being one of them.

"Lisa!"

She turns around, and sees Jennie running to catch up to her, another very pretty girl she vaguely recognises trailing behind, walking rather than running. "Hey, Jen. Ready to kick some ass?"

"Hell yeah," Jennie grins, and when the other girl catches up to them, she asks, "You're throwing a victory party tonight, right?"

"Yep, thought I told you," Lisa replies, "if you want to drink, bring your own. Unless you're MVP. I'll give you a bottle of wine if you manage that."

"Alright, I'll take it when we get to the party though. Because you know I'm going to have that title." Jennie flips her hair. "Always do, even if sometimes it's in my own head. Chae and I can share."

The other girl shakes her head, eyes wide, "nope, you know I'm not going to a party. I don't like them."

"You'd get along with my sister," Lisa snorts with laughter, and then that's when she realises where she'd seen the girl before. She was with Pranpriya in the library the other week. "Anyway, if you want to come, the invite is there."

"Don't worry, she's going to be there," Jennie throws her arm around the girl's shoulders, "you want to support your best friend in her victory, right, Rosieposie?"

The girl sighs. "If you're going to force me, then fine. But you can't drink, you're the only one of us who can drive."

"Don't worry, I'll get my mom to drive and then we can just call a cab." Jennie waves off her concerns, "Anyway, go get a seat. Watch me kick some ass."

"Alright," the girl looks between the two of them and murmurs, "good luck," before heading outside to get a seat in the bleachers.

"Luck has nothing to do with it." Jennie belatedly replies, "come on, Lisa. Let's kick some ass."

Lisa follows her into the locker rooms, quickly stuffing her things into her usual locker and switching her shoes from her regular sneakers to her soccer ones. She lingers for a few moments, taking her chance to check her emails, see if Aussie has sent her anything. She grins when she sees it.

--

From: <keepmovingforward@gmail.com>

To: <loveitifwemadeit@gmail.com>

Oct 13, 2021, 5:23PM

yellow,

well since my best friend has caught onto my opinion that school spirit is totally DUMB i've been dragged to the soccer game tonight. i usually wouldn't tell you anything like this but like there will be loads of people there so it's not like you could identify me from that. i honestly don't know how i feel about it so i've composed a list of pros and cons...