back to hell

                                    

                                          
"ugh, thank god we're all in the same dorm again. i don't know what'd i'd do if we weren't rooming together." abbie said to the three girls who were laying on their beds. their stuff hasn't been unpacked, they just got back from the start of the  year assembly. abbie was rambling and putting her stuff away with a huge smile.
she always was always awfully cheery when it was time to be back at school. which wasn't very normal.
scarlett was looking up at the ceiling with drooping eyes. she could already tell this last year of high school was going to be a long one.
"abbie, hun, you need to calm down. we're all tired, okay? it's time for bed." morgan took out her blonde braids and sighed, falling back into her bed.
"but it's barley dark out! we need to catch up. talk about summer, boys, sports, classes, come on!" she dragged aspen off her bed and onto the floor. 
aspen lifted her head up slowly and looked around, before rolling her eyes and putting her head back down. 
"this summer i did absolute shit besides work, i'm never fucking dating again, i hate my sports, and all my classes are either AP or college credit shit—which is going to literally kill me. the end." scarlett ranted before covering herself with her covers.
"well, that's depressing." abbie mumbled as aspen climbed back into her bed with a laugh.
"tell me about it. working at a hockey rink all summer with all of the little eight-year-old rink rats killed me. it didn't help that they payed scarlett a whole five dollars more than me." aspen complained, making scarlett roll her eyes. they've has this conversation one too many times for her liking. 
"i've told you already, this was like my third year working there. and all you did was yell at kids and teach them to tackle each other." scarlett yelled putting a blanket over herself.
"it helped!"
"helped what?"
"okay, that's enough! i cannot listen to your arguing anymore." morgan grumbled, putting a pillow over her face. 
"soccer tryouts are tomorrow and i'm seriously stressing. now i have to pick out the whole team since i'm captain. anyways, y'know alex?" she didn't wait for any of her friends to answer, they weren't going to anyway. they were all knew she'd just keep going. "well, she's trying to steal my captain spot. she's just a big-"
"oh shit!" scarlett jumped up. "cheer tryouts are happening tomorrow. i have to go to the three day practice if i wanna get voted captain." she groaned throwing her head back. "i honestly don't even want to."
"just remember why you're doing it in the first place." morgan said calmly and scarlett only got more nervous.
"to end my last year of high school good?" scarlett rolled her eyes.
"no to beat mindys sister the fuck up-" morgan said sternly. 
"hey, isn't that banks' new girl-"
"okay, abbie, let's talk about soccer, yeah?" aspen blurted out quickly, making abbie stop. aspen shot a warning look over to the clueless girl,
who immediately covered her mouth with both hands and widened her eyes.
scarlett let out a dramatic groan and slowly fell off her bed, laying flat on the floor. the room went silent and everyone peeked over at her. she let out another dramatic groan and rolled over to her cheek was pressed to the carpet.
"fuck him and his stupid fucking cockiness and his big ass ego and his fucking blonde bitch girlfriend."
"uh, okay.." abbie nodded slowly as aspen cheered loudly. morgan laughed before sitting up fully in her bed. 
"i hate to break this to you, scar, but volleyball starts right after cheer." morgan looked over to scarlett, who was back on her bed. scarlett looked over to morgan with an annoyed look. she slowly fell back into the floor and groaned again. "you're captain now, you've got all the responsibilities. and with me as your trusty co-captain," she grinned excitedly, "i can guide you."
"you act like your so much more experienced?" aspen raised an eyebrow at morgan.
"that was so hostile for no reason." morgan pointed a finger at aspen before continuing. "i was on the team a year before she started. i was captain freshman year." morgan shrugged like it was obvious.
"yeah, before scarlett came with zero experience and took your spot and beat your ass." aspen laughed while abbie had to hide her smile. morgan's face dropped and gave aspen an unamused look, mocking her laugh. 
"i hate volleyball too. i wanna quit."scarlett groaned again.
"aspen are you ready for basketball?" abbie asked as she finally finished putting her clothes away.
"yeah, i know we're gonna do really good." she nodded happily.
scarlett looked up to the ceiling and couldn't help but sigh. she liked volleyball, she seemed to be good at it. but it would never compare to skating around for hours and playing with her friends on frozen pond, or making fun of goldberg for being afraid of the puck hitting him as a goalie, or even doing endless laps after back talking orion. 
that day after orion called off their first game, they never talked again. ever. any of them. 
they all separated and joined different activities and clubs, far away from each other.




























-

the whole team was sitting outside, waiting for the bus to take them to their first game. in scarlett's opinion, they weren't ready. all of their recent practices were spent fighting and then orion making them do team drills because they were fighting—which didn't help.
it's been three days since scarlett and charlie's big fight. she was definitely upset to say the least. it felt weird not having him to talk to or laugh with. she thought it'd be another one of those dumb fights where they realize how stupid they both were and make up in a couple hours.
"is the bus coming or what? the game was supposed to start five minutes ago." averman complained, slumping down on the brick wall. 
"yeah, he's right. are we gonna have to reschedule? i mean, we could probably use the extra practice." scarlett shrugged, putting down her bag on the ground so her arm could rest. charlie mumbled something under his breath and she ignored it.
"i cancelled it." orion stated simply.
"what?!" 
"canceled?"
"oh well."
"why did you cancel it? cancel as in forfeit? that's gonna look horrible on our sheets-" scarlett ranted but orion stoped her quickly. 
"cancelled as in i cancelled it. not just this game. the whole season. i pulled us out of every game." he said calmly, looking down to his clipboard.
"what..?" scarlett said slowly. her teams yells and complaints filled her ears.
"i can't have a team that doesn't get along off the ice, let alone on the ice. you are a team. you need to play like one, and right now that's not what you're doing. work on being a team and depending how long it takes, you may be able to play the rest of the season. don't think of it as a cancelled season, think of it as me pressing the pause button. this will not only help you as peers but help your future season. schedule your own practices, make your own drills. let me know when your back to playing how you were." he walked away, leaving everyone silent.
that was the last time everyone was together.
there were no scheduled practices, no drills, no resuming to the season. most importantly there was no future season to play better for.
that was the end. the end of the season that didn't even start. the end of ducks. the end of it all.
at least as of then.