August | winrina

Chapter 7 : Winter & Karina

Things sort of seem to fall into place after that. Winter finds herself looking forward to lunch break instead of dreading it, and she no longer has to pretend not to know when Karina has after-school band rehearsals-it's pretty much essential knowledge now that they walk home together almost every day. (Karina also knows when Winter has softball practice, which she admits with a shade of deep red on her cheeks.)

Winter likes waiting outside the music room on days she doesn't have practice, and Karina seems to have claimed a permanent seat on the bleachers, but sometimes they have practice at the same time. Like today.

Every now and then Winter's eyes shift to the bleachers in case Karina's finished early, which is why she spots Giselle first. For a moment she considers not telling Ningning, because it's been a while since she's seen Ningning smile like this, but then she decides that she has no right keeping that kind of information from one of her best friends.

"Gi is here," she says, catching the ball Ningning threw her way in her glove. "She looks upset."

Ningning's head snaps up and she looks over her shoulder, and even from a distance Winter can see her nostrils flare. "We got into a fight last night. I said I was worried about how we wanted different things, and she flipped shit on me. I'm really not in the mood for this right now. Can we just pretend she's not here?"

Winter's eyes flicker back to where Giselle is sitting with hunched shoulders and a sad look on her face. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Ningning exhales sharply, taking a few steps backwards. "Come on, throw me the ball."

Winter blinks and tries to refocus on softball practice, but she can almost feel Giselle's eyes on her, and her throw is sloppy. Ningning is talented, though, and she manages to catch it low to the ground.

She gives Winter a tired smile. "Don't worry about my relationship, Win. I'll talk to her at the end of practice, just-I just want to not think about it for, like, one hour."

"Okay," Winter nods. "You're right, it's none of my business."

Ningning swings her arm back and throws the ball with such force Winter has a hard time believing she won't think about Giselle during practice, but she shakes her head and jumps up to catch the ball in her glove. As much as she's invested in her friends' relationship, it's not her place to judge about communication problems, especially considering her own track record.

Winter spends the rest of practice pretending not to notice the fire burning behind Ningning's eyes, and apologizing to the freshman that almost gets a ball in her face when Ningning throws it back to Winter with more aggression than necessary.

Somewhere near the end, Karina appears on the bleachers next to Giselle, seemingly out of nowhere. Winter almost stumbles when she sees her, her body wanting to go up there and be closer to Karina now, and when she recovers she sees Karina grinning at her.

Winter can't really help but smile back, giving Karina a small wave before she's up for batting. She's not sure if it's easier to play with Karina present or if it's just dumb luck, but she manages to get the third base before the ball is back with the pitcher. Giselle and Karina are cheering for her when she makes it back to the home base when the next player is on bat, and she raises her arms like she would if it were a homerun.

After the practice game is over, Karina skips down the steps and leans her elbows on the fence separating the bleachers and the softball field, and Winter has to remind herself that they're in public and it's not okay to kiss Karina right now.

"Hey," Winter says, hopping on the fence next to Karina. "How was band practice?"

"Fun. I got to sing," Karina smiles. She glances to her right, where Ningning has hopped over the fence to talk to Giselle. "What's up with them?"