Blood on the Pitch

Chapter Twenty One

School was the last place Madison wanted to be.
Even when it came to the morning of, she had to force herself to get out of bed, force herself to eat and get dressed in actual clothes and to do her hair.
Madison made her and Sophie leave early so they could take a different route to school.
One that didn't include driving by Veronica's house.
Sophie rested her hand on Madison's thigh the entire drive, Madison smiled at her, beyond grateful that she had Sophie during all of this.

Madison had Spanish first, it was hard enough walking by Veronica's locker that had been decorated with pictures, flowers and teddy bears.
What was harder was sitting beside her empty seat.
She couldn't focus on the class itself, instead her eyes were locked on Veronica's empty seat.
When the bell rang, she dashed out of the classroom.
Everyone kept looking at her, kept saying that they were sorry for her loss, but she just wanted to bury this all and not to be thinking about it constantly.

When lunch eventually rolled around, Madison hesitantly sat next to Talia, keeping her eye out for Sophie.
Her eyes meet Joanna's, the latter gives her a smile, but Madison looks down, only looking up when Talia nudges her arm. Madison looks up, seeing a distressed Sophie approaching the table.
"Sophie? What's wrong?" Olivia asks.

Sophie shakes her head, sitting beside Madison.
Madison takes her hand under the table, gently rubbing her knuckles.
"Sophie-"
"I'm fine," she snaps at Joanna, she takes a deep breath, "Sorry. It's just been a bad day," she mumbles.
Madison offers a sympathetic smile, Sophie smiles slightly at her girlfriend, but goes back to staring ahead.
"Are you guys excited for practice?"
Madison groans, leave it to Joanna to bring up what no one wanted to talk about.
"No." Madison bluntly states.
Joanna looks at her confused, tilting her head.
"Why? You're the captain,"
"How about you just drop it?" Talia looks at her, "Seriously,"
Joanna frowns, then continues to stare at Madison.
"Stop fucking staring at me," Madison scrunches her nose. "It's so freaking weird," she mumbles.
"Someone's in a bad mood," Jill mumbles.
Joanna looks away, "Sorry,"
"Jill, shut up," Jenifer snaps.
"Wow, look who decided to finally say something," Jill rolls her eyes.
"Guys, can we not?" Olivia pleads.
"Honestly." Rebecca adds, "Besides, we shouldn't be doing this in front of Maddie,"
Madison scrunches her nose, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Well, you know..." Rebecca trails off.
"Oh my god," Sophie puts her face in her hands. Madison sighs, closing her eyes.

"Hey Trailer Trash!"
Madison clenches her jaw, turning around to see some asshole jocks on the baseball team approaching the table. Sophie turns around, "What?" she snaps, a mean glare on her face.
The boy chuckles, a newspaper in hand, "I always knew your family was a hot fucking mess, but this just makes it even better,"
Sophie looks at him confused, her eyes widening as he roughly shoves the paper against her chest.
"If you need a bone to clear your head, then we'd be happy to-"
"Shut the fuck up" Madison glares.
Sophie and Madison look at it, Madison feels rage run through her veins as she reads,

Steven Parker arrested for child abuse.
Guilty or Not?

Richard and a few members of his squad had been looking for Sophie's father, but he never came home after Sophie had run. Sophie's nerves had been crazy over the past couple days, but this was worse.

"What the fuck?" Madison snaps.
Sophie's chest heaves up and down, she crumples the paper in her hand, throwing it back at the boy, "Go fuck yourself!" she yells, then storming out of the cafeteria.
Madison shoots up to follow, cursing when she sees all the other students with newspapers in hand. Madison follows the shaggy blonde all the way down to the bleachers. Sophie slams her bag onto the ground, sitting underneath the bleachers, grabbing her smokes.

Sophie lights it, taking a long inhale, even when Madison approaches her.
"I don't wanna talk about it," Sophie declares.
Madison shrugs, sitting beside her,
"I never said you had to,"
Sophie glares slightly, taking another puff from her smoke, "This is all fucking bullshit,"
"I know,"
Sophie shakes her head, "No, you don't,"
Madison bites her lip, taking a breath, "Sophie-"
"No. You don't know what it's like. It's clear you are going through your own shit right now, no one can deny that, but you don't know what this is like," she begins.
"Everyone knows now. Everyone knows and there is no way to deny it, I mean," her voice shakes, she brings her knees up to her chest, rocking herself slightly.
"I don't want to do this anymore,"
Madison raises her brow, "What does that mean?"
Sophie shakes her head, leaning into Madison, the smell of cigarettes instantly hits her nose.
"I'm so sorry, Sophie," Madison wraps her arms around her girlfriend, Sophie rests her head on Madison's shoulder, "It's not your fault,"
"It's not yours either, you know that, right?"
"Well I wasn't the one who-"
"Not about the paper, Soph," she pauses, "I mean about everything he did. You know it's not your fault, right?"

Sophie doesn't respond, she just puts her smoke out on the bottom of her boot.
"Sophie, it's not your fault,"
Sophie nods, wiping her eyes, "Thanks,"
Madison nods, "It's true,"
Sophie shrugs, "I mean-"
"No. No kid deserves that," she begins, moving to face Sophie. "No kid deserves to have that treatment from their parents. Especially one who is as kind, caring and amazing as you," she gently holds Sophie's face.
"This, is not your fault,"
Sophie nods, biting her lip, "Thank you, Mad's."
Madison nods, a small smile on her lips, "Are you going to be okay?"
Sophie nods, "I've been dealing with these assholes since we started high school, I'll be okay," Sophie pauses. "How about you?"
"What about me?"

"Are you going to be okay to keep going? You seemed to be a bit out of it,"
"Yeah, I just wish people would stop fucking staring at me and treating me like I'm about to break at any moment."
"I get it," Sophie replies, "everyone in this school is being a fucking asshole today,"
"You can say that again,"
The bell rings and both the girls sigh, "Well, thank you for the little pep talk," Sophie smiles.
"That's what I'm good for,"
"You're good for other things too,"
Madison smiles, "I'll see you later,"
"Bye, Mad's"
"Bye, Soph,"

Practice was a fucking nightmare.
No one wanted to be there, it was clear.
It wasn't the same, not without any of their missing teammates.
The coaches were on edge, being arrested for murders you didn't commit was bound to do that.
It was clear Madison's head wasn't in it, even when they were doing scrimmage, Madison's head was nowhere on the field.
When it was over, Madison and Sophie sat in the car for a few minutes, silence drowning their ears.
"Today has been a fucking day," Sophie groans.
"Fucking tell me about it,"
Madison starts her car, beginning to drive.
Sophie furrows her brows, "Where are we going?"
"711. I need a slushie,"
Sophie smiles, "Sounds good,"
The two girls walk in, Madison gets a Blue raspberry while Sophie opts for the Cherry.
They pay then make their way back into Madison's car.
Sipping on their slushies, they drive home, smiling at Susana and Richard when they walk in.

"How was the first day back?"
"It was fine," Madison replies as they walk into the kitchen.
"Sophie?" Susana raises a brow.
She shrugs, "It was school, it's never exactly fun,"
"And practice?" she stirs whatever is on the stove.
"Coaches are pissed, they seem rather upset at me," Madison directs the statement towards her father, but her face softens, "But, I think that things are going to be tense for a while," she admits.

Richard nods, "Sophie, uh, we found your father and took him into custody today,"
Sophie nods, "Trust me, I know," she pulls out a folded newspaper from her pocket, tossing it onto the kitchen island. "They were passing papers around like Girl Scout Cookies,"
Richard cringes, holding the bridge of his nose,
"Christ, Sophie, I'm so sorry. I don't even know how the media got it so fast,"
Sophie shrugs, helping Madison set the table, "It's not your fault. Kids are assholes,"
"Language," Susana scolds.
"Sorry. Kids can be buttheads,"

Madison snickers, even after her mother sends her a playful glare.
The landline rings, Richard walks over and answers it.
"Walker residence,"
Madison watches as her fathers brows furrow,
"Hello?"
"Richard, who is it?"
Richard hangs the phone up, "No one, it was just static,"
Madison and Sophie exchange a look. "Static?"
"It was probably just a misdial,"
Madison doesn't look so sure, but she lets it go, sitting at the table.
The rest of the night continued as normal.
Once was a relief for everybody.

But, they didn't know what was in store next.