Just Try It

Chapter 44- Apologize?

Thursday, February 16th, 3:20pm

Lincoln High School tennis courts

Practice went downhill after Sondra's argument in the locker room. Coach Marshall was panicking about their first match being in a couple of weeks and her captain was gone from practices again. As she had them run drills, set up matches, and practice aiming at targets, the coach had them run a lot more than she had in the past. The running wasn't what was making practice so bad though.

Running no longer was a problem for Sondra. The problem was that Danica was still glaring at her. She had tried to approach to apologize a couple of times, but Danica was still avoiding her. Sondra just wished that she could take back her impulsive words, and hoped she hadn't ruined years of friendship.

They weren't far into practice, but many had laps, yet again. As Sondra watched most of the team take off, she couldn't help feeling proud of herself. Only a handful had managed to hit the small target at the farthest corner of the court. Usually, Sondra would join her friends to congratulate them, but Danica still wasn't talking. Jamie and Hillary had given her reassuring nods before heading over to Danica. They had been talking to her off and on since practice had started, but so far, Danica didn't seem to be answering. Sondra just hoped that they would soon convince her to give Sondra a chance. Instead of interrupting, Sondra turned to the coach and offered to help pick up the balls for the next round. She didn't even notice Nancy standing off by herself bouncing a stray tennis ball while the rest ran.

Sondra was about half done, when Danica glanced over at her. Hillary and Jamie had been nagging at her the whole practice, and she had mostly ignored them. It wasn't that she wanted to worry them. After all, one argument wasn't anything compared to all the years of being best friends, but she just needed some time to think. Even after looking at it from all angles, she didn't feel that she was wrong. It would be better if Sondra and Moe stopped pretending that they were only friends, but she understood that Sondra would feel that going to the Valentine Dance was a big deal. Even though it hurt, she also knew that Sondra might be right about her too. She just wasn't used to Sondra confronting her like that. It would have seemed natural coming from Jamie, or even Hillary, but not Sondra.

Sondra was probably right about her serial dating being bad for her, but Danica couldn't quite believe Sondra was right about Samuel liking her. For one thing, he rarely talked to her and had never asked her out. Both of his parents were important doctors, while her family barely made enough to get by. Besides, if Sondra had one flaw, it was that she thought her friends could do anything. Maybe it was because everyone seemed to like her, but Danica knew her own flaws too well. There were plenty of people that didn't like Danica Simpson. That was okay though, she reminded herself, because Danica Simpson didn't like everyone else either. She just hoped that Samuel wasn't in the group that didn't like her.

Danica sighed in self disgust before stiffening her shoulders. People pleasing and popularity contests may not be her thing, but neither was arguing with her friends for expressing their opinion. It wasn't right to stay mad at Sondra just because her words cut too close to the truth, and she knew she needed to fix things. Apologizing sucked though, and Danica kicked the fence as she wished there was another way to put things right.

After one more kick to the fence, Danica turned to go over to apologize. If she worked it right, they would apologize at the same time. As she turned, she noticed Nancy out of the corner of her eye. Danica turned toward the movement and saw that Nancy was serving again, and she was aiming at Sondra. Danica called out a warning even as she ran forward, but Nancy had already started her serve.

Unfortunately, when Danica yelled, Sondra looked up and glanced toward her. That just made her a better target. Danica's yell wasn't totally in vain though. Nancy hesitated, and Danica briefly hoped that her shot would miss. The hard "thwack" and Sondra's surprised cry of pain shot down Danica's hopes though.

Danica's horrified gaze watched as the force of the tennis ball spun Sondra around and she landed in a crumbled heap. Fear beat rapidly in Danica's chest. With the force of that shot, Sondra could be seriously hurt. She was afraid to look over at Sondra, so she kept watching Nancy. At first, Nancy looked thrilled, but then a shadow of disappointment covered her face.

When Danica made herself turn around, she saw Sondra cautiously sitting up. At first, relief washed over her, but it didn't take long for rage to take a foothold. She whipped her head around to glare at Nancy just in time to see the disappointment be masked by a look of concern.

Nancy's worried voice carried across and courts and were extremely convincing. "Oh no. Are you okay, Sondra? I thought that it was time to serve again."

Danica actually started to wonder if she had imagined it all, until she heard Hillary mutter, "Bitch."

Hillary almost never cussed. When Danica spun around in shock, she saw Jamie nodding her head in agreement as she added, "Don't forget at add 'two-faced,' too."

That was enough for Danica to stop doubting herself. There was no way she was going to let Nancy get away with this though. Danica had already taken her first step, and was envisioning how the grid pattern from her tennis racket would look imprinted on Nancy's face, when the coach spoke up.

It seemed that Coach Marshall wasn't buying Nancy's act either. Instead of accepting Nancy's words, she glared at Nancy and yelled, "That is IT! This was the last straw! RUN!"

Danica reluctantly gave up her fantasy, but still didn't think it was enough. One look at Nancy's shocked face almost made her cheer though. Her mouth actually opened and closed several times before she managed to splutter out, "Run? How long?"

"Until the end of practice. You can choose to leave, but I will consider it a skipped practice, and you will be ineligible to play. I have had enough of you doing things that endanger other players. Things are going to change, starting NOW!"

Nancy looked at Coach Marshall in shock before she slowly began to jog her laps. Danica smirked, but her glee only lasted until she turned back to Coach Marshall and Sondra.

Coach Marshall was already examining Sondra's shoulder, and Danica shoved past the other girls to get to the coach's side. When Coach Marshall finished moving Sondra's arm in all directions, she declared that there it didn't seem to be any real damage, but that it would hurt for several days, and Sondra might want to go to the doctor.

Sondra made a face at the mention of a doctor, and Danica almost laughed in relief. However, the dark and rapid bruising covering Sondra's right shoulder concerned her, and she silently prepared the ice pack for Sondra's arm. While the rest headed back to practice, Danica helped settle Sondra on a bench off to the side. Sondra smiled up at her, and Danica smiled back.

Danica opened her mouth to apologize, when Sondra nudged her and nodded over at Nancy running her laps.

Nancy was already panting as she did her laps, and Danica felt some satisfaction watching Nancy run. As she thought back, she realized that Nancy had always managed to avoid the extra running, and wasn't in nearly as good a shape as the rest of the team. Slacking at previous practices was coming back to haunt her, Danica thought with a smile. From the look on Sondra's face, she was enjoying the sight too.

Before Danica could try to apologize again, Sondra smiled and shoved Danica away with her good arm as she insisted, "Get back to practice. We'll talk later. Okay?"

Danica couldn't help grinning at Sondra's commanding tone, but she was about to argue when Sondra winced. It didn't take Danica a second to agree. After all, the important thing was that Sondra was okay. Her apology could wait until later.

How do you like Danica in this chapter?  Ever argue with your best friend because they tell you something you aren't ready to hear?  Apologizing does suck though. 
As always, I would live to hear your thoughts.  Comments are great, but I also like votes.  Hope to hear from you soon.  New chapter coming out soon.