The Hive

2

"She'll be here at ten." Wally brushed it off and went to Natalia's room, jumping on her bed and landing in the empty space next to her. Her room was truly fit for a queen. Instead of the cramped dorms with their two bunks with their desks underneath them, she had a queen sized bed. Not only that but she had postcards stuck to her walls and Seek upon Seek poster on her wall and pictures of her and the team and various pictures of the girls. Wally's favorite part was the tapestries that hung from her ceiling, yellow and black of course.

"What're you doing?" Natalia grumbled, covering her face with her pillow. Wally ignored her, staring at the lights strung above her bed. Boredom was not exactly an uncommon occurrence. She pulled a knife from the harness on her thigh and turned it over in her hand. She had a matching one on her left leg and if they were out and about she had a harness around her stomach as well and in new places, one in each sleeve.

"Sasha's arriving at ten." "Think she'll like it here?" Natalia said, yawning toward the end as she rolled over to look at her.

"If she doesn't, she'll have to learn to." Natalia only laughed, "Coach is going to make the first week hell." "At least she isn't eight." Natalia's smile fell and her hands brushed Wally's leg quietly with a small, "Hey,"

Wally's first week here hadn't exactly gone well. In fact it'd gone the complete opposite. Coach wanted her players in line, she'd cut them to shreds for mistakes. Literally. She'd spent so many nights in the shower, watching the red water swirl down the drain. Now the cuts only came when she missed a cone during drills or failed to catch a ball in a scrimmage.

She wasn't the only one to suffer. She wouldn't blame Sasha for wanting to leave, unfortunately, a signature trapped her here. One day, four or five years from now she'd leave. Maybe make a pro team. Wally was property. Owned and controlled by Coach Hart and her family of many powerful people Wally had never seen but knew of because of Alina.

"I'm sorry." Wally whispered as Natalia wrapped her arms around her, pulling her against her chest. Wally felt the muscles on her stomach as she let her body relax against her and felt Natalia kiss her shoulders. "You're okay, you're alright."

But Natalia would never know the weight of being owned. Not that she minded after so many years, but every time Coach grabbed a fistful of hair and tossed her against the bleachers after a mistake or a witty remark, she couldn't help but slip away. Natalia, to outsiders was considered Alina's sister. Really she was a family friend's daughter who was taken out too soon. She was the closest things to Alina's equal but a sister wouldn't describe her. She was a trustworthy noblewoman to a queen. Either way, she was above them.

"I love you," She said. She didn't say it often. That was Joan's thing. But she needed Natalia to know.

She nodded, letting her lie on top of her now. Wally slipped a hand under her shirt as Natalia returned it and kissed her.

She didn't intend to see Sasha standing in the hallway with her duffel. Especially not while she was standing in Natalia's doorway in one of her shirts that was big enough to hang off her shoulder and reveal the hickeys left on her shoulders and the base of her neck. No one was usually our and about this early. If they were they were in the kitchen because morning practice didn't start until nine. Afternoon until one.

"Am I interrupting?" Sasha asked, scanning the walls of the the Hive. The yellow and black could be off putting. Sasha would learn. Wally only stared at her, straightened her shirt and moved back into Natalia's room, shutting the door behind her.

"She's outside." Natalia shot up, scrambling out of bed. She moved across the room to her closet, quickly stripping for a pair of jeans and her jersey. 02 Run written in yellow on the black jersey with a hornet on the front. She tossed Wally a spare set of clothes, all the articles of clothing she'd left over the last few weeks, and she changed just as fast.