doomsday. [ yellowjackets ]

une.

xxx.

chapter one.
une.

xxx.

      " If you missed last night's girls' soccer game, well, where have you been? " The radio host spoke over the sound of crackling static as the music of the previous song faded into the background to allow him to speak. Tara had been staring out the window almost the entire ride to school, but when she heard that, the girl turned her head with a sliver of a smile raising to her face. She pushed unruly blonde hair from her eyes and leaned a little closer to hear, " The 1996 Wiskayok Yellowjackets pulled out the State Championship win after a long-fought battle that nearly resulted in a tie, at least until senior Theodora Prince stole the ball from the Warren Tech Knights and passed to team captain Jackie Taylor, who fired in the winning goal— "

His summary of last night's game was cut short by Tara's father twisting the volume knob all the way down. She met her father's eyes in the rear view mirror with an accusatory look, but upon seeing his hardened one, she dropped it.

" That Taylor girl is always a ball-hog, she shouldn't even touch the field. " He remarked with a quiet scoff, to which Tara only responded by leaning back against the seat, again turning her attention to the passing cars as they pulled into the parking lot of Wiskayok High School. She slung her bag strap over her shoulder and fidgeted with the sleeves of her dress as her father continued to grumble, " If you'd speak up more often, maybe that could've been your goal. "

" Jackie's the captain for a reason, Dad, and all I care about is that we won. The Yellowjackets have never made it past districts, let alone states. " Tara insisted, not bothering to look back at him; she knew well enough that he was already glaring at her response before she got two words out. She did try to catch a glance at her mother in the passenger's seat though, since she'd been silent practically the entire time, and if there was one thing her mother was not, it was quiet.

However, as the gleaming car pulled up to the curb of the sidewalk that led to the entrance of the school, Tara saw what had caught her mother's eye, and her tongue, apparently.

" Your coaches should really worry about their reputation, when they let indecent girls like that on the team, they look like a joke, championship or not. " The frizzy haired woman stated, matter of fact, and Tara could see the twist of displeasure like it was carved into her face before she switched her gaze out the window.

" Hm? " Her father was the last to catch on, but he too turned his gaze to see the oh-so disturbing scene that was bothering his wife.

Dana Nuñez, a sophomore Yellowjacket, was loitering outside the school doors with her boyfriend, the ever adored Tommy Snell. Tara imagined her mom physically turning red and smoke coming out of her ears if she saw how the two of them acted after school when the soccer team was let out of practice. Tommy ran cross county and Dana played soccer, but they sure did find time in between the practices to share a shower or stall in the locker room. Considering that, Tara found their hand holding and rom-com worthy 'gazing into each others' eyes' to be a rather innocent act of PDA.

" Tara? Are you listening? "

No, she hadn't heard her mother complaining endlessly about this teenage girl she didn't even know. Whenever this sort of conversation came up, Tara wished she could reveal that she knew her parents had her when they had just turned eighteen, and only got married shortly after to hide their 'mistake'; it would likely just be met with the same lame response that she usually got for pointing out their hypocrisy: " We lost our way, but turned to God and let him guide us back".