chapter 4 (cont.)

"Oh it's been so long since we've done this, ay? I think the last time I dropped you off at school it was the first day elementary school. You were so cute! Do you remember?"
Gloria said enthusiastically.

"..."
Carmen was too busy scrolling on her phone to take heed of what was being said.

Gloria, knowing she wouldn't get anything out of Carmen if she resorted to small-talk, decided to cut to the chase.

"So.. I've noticed that there's an opening for a job at the restaurant…"

"...So?"

"Do you not want to try it out? It would be very good for you to help you see what the real world is like. What it's like to be an adult! I know you haven't had any work experience ye-"

"I'm gonna go pro, Mom. I don't need it. Scouts know my name, they'll call eventually."

"That may be true, but-"

"Besides, even if I wanted a job, I'm not going to the restaurant for one. I know what goes on there and I want NO part of it. Some of the frycooks there are in my class and they TOTAL losers."

"Anna and Bailey are lovely gir-"

"There WEIRDOS, mom. I see them playing their gay roleplaying games in the cafeteria all the time, being anywhere NEAR them is like… social suicide!!"

"Carme-"

"And if I work there too long oh boy, I'm BOUND to end up like-"

"..."

"..."

They both sat in silence for a bit.

"Like who, Carmen?"

"..."
Carmen couldn't splutter out anything to save her skin this time.

"You'd end up like me, right?"
Gloria looked down at her burgeoning midriff cutting into the steering wheel, not feeling the usual sense of pride nor pleasure. Was this… shame? She hadn't really felt shame in a long time. Carlos never made her feel shameful and restaurant patrons never really had a leg to stand on with their average BMI. Strangers never voiced their gripes with actions other than the odd gawk or stare when her blubbery back was turned. And to be honest, the shame hit pretty hard.

"I...uh.."

"N-No no it's fine. I understand. Let's just… go to school."
Gloria said weakly, followed by silence that stayed in the car for the duration of the trip.

--

"Have a great day at school, hun!"
"Will do, Mom"
Abigail and her mother said their goodbyes with warm hugs from across their respective front seats, before the red-haired daughter exited onto the pavement of the front school entrance way. She took in a breathful of the morning air and let out a little smile of contentment, re-holstering the backpack on her shoulders as she headed through the revolving glass doors.
This is how she liked it; wandering through the halls no student gawked or gave a second stare at her modest attire, her basil green coat effectively blending herself into the hodge podge of people coming to and fro through the hallways.
Nearing her locker, however, she did sense some odd glances coming towards her way. She was confused as to why at first, but then the events of the day prior hit her like a dense brick; the way she made a scene in front of everyone, the way she had to run through all of those snickering dickwads with tears streaming down her face, the way that the only sense of solitude of any sort came locked up in the girls' restrooms.
She felt a strong wave of cringe goosebumps run down her spine; a strong reminder of her eagerness of this senior year to just be over and done with, so she could rid herself of all these bad memories and worse people.
Bad people, bar the trio of "nerds" congregating by her locker door. The same threesome of lovable dorks she was relieved to call her only friends in this humid hellhole.

"Heyyyy Abbykins!!"
Squealed Anna, the stout pony-tailed blond with an unrivaled amount of cheesiness. She couldn't help but give Abby a hug, even if it did uphold the traffic bustling by.

"Never ever call me that again, like... ever."
Abby said with a laugh, the wrinkles of tension on face on fading away as fast as Anna's bursts of enthusiasm.

"Ok bestieee!"
She replied smugly before bolting back in the direction of the other two.

"These two here was telling me about the DATE they had over the weekeeend!!"
Anna continued with a couple of fangirly claps.

"Hey! It wasn't a DATE date.. I mean, all we did was go to the local lake, rent out an old canoe, rowed across the shores, watched the sunset, and..umm…"
Derek's tangent was interrupted by a surprise peck on his cheek by the girl beside him, a blight glow of red blush engulfing him.

"Bayley?? I thought we were gonna keep this a secret!"
He blurted out, nervously fidgeting with his glasses.

"Keep WHAT up? Everyone's known you two have liked each other since like the 7th grade."
Anna couldn't help but interject with a laugh.

"Yea.. the jig's kinda been up for a long time now. I'm surprised it took you so long.."
Bayley said shyly, slowly interlocking their hands together.

"Ugh, get a room.."
Abby grimaced half jokingly, half jealously, if she was being honest.

"OH!! I almost forgot!"
Anna shouted suddenly, alerting the whole hallway for a second.

"I hope you all haven't forgotten to free up your schedules Wednesday, cus I, for one, am HYPED for some D&D babeeey!!!"
Anna raised her hand up for a hype high 5, only to clap herself in defeat once seeing neither Abby nor the schmoozing couple were paying much attention at all.

"..Alrighty then, well I dibs dungeon master..."
She added, rather peeved.

--

Carmen was not her usual, bodacious self as she geared up in the dressing room. In amongst the other girls' chatter her irritable sighs were audible across the room, and her exaggeratedly deep pout was hard to miss, even from afar.
Concerned for her new friend, Paige Daniels decided to arise from the wooden bench and see what was up with her newly minted mentor.

"..Is everything alright, Carmen?"
She asked tentatively, cautiously extending an arm as she shuffled forward as if to approach a hostile velociraptor. Carmen was aggressively tying her shoelaces, mumbling some sort of amalgamation of curse words. But upon hearing Paige, her expression strangly changed in the opposite direction.

"Oh hiii Paige! I'm just uhhhm…getting in the zone, yknow?"
Carmen said with an exaggerated laugh.

"Are you sure? If this is about the team selection i had noth-"

"Positive!!"
Carme n butted in with a beaming smile and an unusually tense thumbs up.
"Have a good game, champ!"

"Oh-uhm alright! T-thanks!"
Paige said rather nervously, turning away.

"...undeserving bitch.."
Carmen muttered when out of distance.

"Wait what?"

"O-oh um- I said y-you deserve it!"
Carmen spluttered out, going back to being her true moody form afterward.

--

With that awkward interaction aside, Carmen trotted out onto the field with purpose. She was gonna give Coach a real good piece of her mind, to remind her who REALLY ran this team.
Coach Anderson meticulously surveyed the layout of her pregame warmup exercises, darting over to each bright orange cone to confirm that everything was going exactly to plan. She had moved onto scribbling down tactical notes before Carmen's strong and audible struts grew near.

"Ahem."
Carmen made an overemphasized cough, her arms on her hips and chin up in entitlement.
No response.

"AHE-"

Yes, Carmen?"
Coach said rather bluntly, continuing with her scribbles rather than looking up.

Carmen's sourness temporarily changed to a smile.

"Heeey, so, I think you might've made a mistake with the team thing?"

"What team thi-"

Carmen, as if on cue, quickly picked up a copy of the teamsheet and smudged it in between Coach's notepad, tapping her against her name on the bench list.

"This isn't right, right??"
Carmen said with total bewilderment, laughing nervously.
"I mean, there's no wa-"

"It's right."
Coach said flatly.
"Paige showed me what she could do in training, and I liked what I saw. She's a good girl, she deserves to get a chance."

Carmen couldn't help but let her jaw hang wide.
"..You cannot be fucking serious. Do you KNOW who I am?? What I can do??? What I've done???? This team ain't shit without me!"

Well, Carmen, that's quite...the amount of passion you've got there, but this is a clean slate. Maybe you're the best we've got here, maybe you're the worst, I don't know. All I know so far is who puts in good effort and who has a good attitude. Paige has shown me both of these, you have not. Maybe if you show me the same effort and RESPECT I receive from Paige, you'll reclaim your supposed spot. For now, you're on the bench."

Carmen could only squirm and stamp on the grass in petty fury before storming off. Strangely, as Coach watched her go, she couldn't help but let a smirk out. She laughed quietly to herself, scribbling what looked to be like a tick in her notebook.

As the match began, Carmen trudged begrudgingly over to the bench. Shuffling through the various undesirables, she spotted Jenn in amongst the group sneakily snacking on some Hershey's.

"Gimme that!"
Carmen snarled, snatching a bar from her grips and wolfing it down with aggression.