Shoot Your Shot

III: Cocoa Hooves (Dina)

Dina gingerly rested her head in her hands, feeling the events of the week rattling around in her brain, so much so she felt the beginnings of a headache slowly beginning to bloom across the space between her eyebrows.

"Dina?" Jesse asked as he touched her arm, the defender pulling her arm away and stretching.

"Sorry, I'm awake." Dina grumbled.

She had spent another night restlessly tossing and turning over the upcoming state testing until she hunkered down and studied well into the morning, barely getting any sleep. She didn't have time to think about anything else.  Or anyone else for that matter.

"Well, what do you think problem 1c is asking for?" Jesse asked, reviewing his study packet.

Dina opened hers and reviewed her neat penmanship, Jesse's eyebrows shooting up.

"How do you even have the time to do all this?" He said as Dina smiled at him sheepishly.

"Haven't been able to sleep with all this testing coming up."

"Sleep is the best way to retain your memories, you know that."

"Well it's only a week or so away, I can handle a little more of this." Dina said as she took a sip of her chamomile tea, feeling its warmth soothe her jittery nerves as she steeled herself and stared down at her study papers.

Her life for the last month had been to study with Jesse, attend her classes, go to soccer practice, shower, sleep, rinse and repeat.

It was monotonous and mind numbing, but it would be over soon, thank god.

"So I've been meaning to ask..." Jesse started as Dina paused her work in mild horror, waiting for him to finish.

"You seemed a bit touchy after we left the party, and I meant to ask if you were doing okay." Jesse finished and Dina breathed a subtle sigh of relief.

"Yeah, weird night is all." Dina said tentatively, thinking about her weed induced kiss with Ellie and frowning, Jesse picking up on it.

"Well if you want to talk about whatever happened, I'm here. My friends problems are my problems." Jesse said with a shy smile as Dina nodded, her face relaxing.

"Thanks Jesse, I'll keep that in mind. Did you have fun?" Dina asked, subtly changing the topic. If she spent one more moment thinking about the rival striker she would only get pissed at herself all over again.

"Yeah, it was cool to talk to the guys. Owen did seem a bit on edge though. Guy can hold his own with alcohol but last night?" He shook his head.

"He was just out of it."

"That's strange, is he doing okay?"

"I don't know, he excused himself from the couch before I could ask and I haven't see him since."

Dina nodded and pursed her lips in thought. Her close friend Mel was in a relationship with him, so Dina would have to follow up later.

A finger tapped against her shoulder, pulling Dina from her train of thought and startling her as she swiveled around and looked at the short haired girl.

"Jeez, you scared the crap out of me." Dina said as the girl smiled.

"Sorry, I just..." Mel's eyes darted around the tutor center like something was going to leap out at her.

"Can I talk to you?" She said meekly,her voice hollow. Dina picked up on the seriousness of her tone and she stood up, haphazardly throwing her things into her bag as swiftly as she could.