Bambi - Natalie Scatorccio

I

Ivy started undressing. It was unusual for her to feel uncomfortable while being half naked with her teammates - no, she wasn't feeling uncomfortable, more like very self conscious.

She untied her brown hair and took her sweaty uniform shirt off, then she grabbed a towel to dry the sweat.
She wasn't going to shower in the locker room. she never did that: she'd just wait till she went home, and then shower there.
That's what most of them did anyway.

As soon as she was completely dressed, she said bye to the girls and waved at Taissa, then she left.

Tai and Ivy had been best friends since as long as they could remember; they've always done everything together: middle school, high school, soccer team, band...

Tai was the only one who really got her, she was the only one who really understood what she was going through and what she thought.

In high school, they met Van.

She was a tough but sweet girl with a big heart. They all clicked immediately.

After a little, Ivy had noticed that Van and Tai hung out with each other more than usual, and started doubting her and Taissa's friendship, so she had decided to confront her.

"Can you keep a secret?" Tai had asked her.
"Yeah, why?" she had replied.

"Me and Van are a couple"

Ivy was very happy for them, but still she didn't like always feeling like she was third-wheeling whenever they went out together; soon enough, though, that sensation was gone.

        

Ivy walked home, it wasn't very distant from her school - something like five minutes by foot and two minutes by bike - so she would do that everyday.
When she arrived, her dad was sitting on the couch and her mom was making dinner.

"I'm home" she said as she shut the door.
Her dad turned around and smiled at her, then he went back to watching tv.
"Hi, honey! How was school?" Her mother asked her.
"It was alright... practice was harder than usual, though."
"Aw... I'm sorry to hear that. I bet your coach wants you all big and strong for the big match, huh?" She smiled.
"Yeah, I think so" Ivy nodded and smiled too, then she went to her room.
Dinner wasn't going to be ready until at least thirty minutes.

After taking a shower and putting on some clean clothes, she sat on her bed and started reading a magazine.

Her phone rang and Ivy picked up.
"Hello?"
"It's Jackie" a soft voice spoke.
"Oh, hi!" she grinned.

Jackie and Ivy were childhood friends.
With time, they had grown apart from each other, but they were still happy to hang out sometimes even if they weren't that much alike anymore.

Ivy liked Shauna. She thought she was hilarious. Not the "Haha! Such a funny joke!" Type of hilarious, more like the auto ironic type of hilarious.

"Hi, Ivy... listen, I know you and Taissa are friends, right? Yeah. Today she seemed a bit... off. I don't know why, but she wasn't very concentrated on soccer. More like on the trees or whatever bullshit she was staring at in the sky. Do you have any idea what might be going on?" The girl asked her.
Ivy thought for a moment.

Tai didn't seem off to her today. Not more than usual, at least.
She knew that Taissa loved to do things the right way, especially soccer, but maybe she was just a little tired.

"I'll talk to her, alright?"
"Thank you"
"See you tomorrow, Jackie" Ivy concluded.
"See you tomorrow." Jackie hung up.