The fifth time it happens—well, it's more like the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and on and on, but Toni prefers when things are simple—is another few weeks later, during Christmas break. Martha and her mother take a two-day trip to visit Martha's dad, who Toni has virtually no relationship with given Martha's parents' early divorce, so she stays behind and has the house to herself.
At school, she and Shelby still act like they hate each other—or maybe they really do, Toni doesn't fucking know anymore and with basketball season finally in full swing she can't be bothered to focus too much on anything else.
But when Shelby comes over to visit Martha and it's just the three of them, sometimes she and Shelby sit in the same room together for hours, and though they don't speak to each other a lot, they don't really argue, either. Toni's wary of how perceptive Martha might be and barely looks at Shelby when they're all together, but it's different somehow, even if it's not by much. She isn't sure how to feel about that, because it's not like she and Shelby have had some big come-to-Jesus moment and talked out all their problems; they're just kind of fucking occasionally.
She gets a text from an unfamiliar number early in the morning on the day before Martha and her mom are due to return. It says: "Martha says she's away with her mom?"
Toni stares at the message sleepily and tries to figure out who it's from. Martha has a few friends Toni doesn't really talk to. "Yeah," she replies, too eager to go back to sleep to bother asking who she's texting.
Then her phone starts ringing, and it's the same number. She groans and eyes it, considering letting it go to voicemail, then sighs and answers it just to get whoever it is out of her hair. "What?" she answers flatly by way of greeting.
Shelby's voice is on the other end. She sounds out of breath. "Sorry, I'm on my mornin' run. Forgot not everyone gets up this early."
"Jesus, Shelby," Toni mumbles, burying her face in her pillow. "Why the fuck are you calling me?"
"My daddy reads my texts even if I delete them," Shelby explains.
"That's fucked," Toni tells her, but she still isn't sure why it's relevant unless Shelby has something inappropriate she wants to say, which she literally never does, not even curse words, not even when Toni's deep inside of her trying to coax them out.
"I guess. It's always been that way." Shelby's still breathing hard and Toni can distantly hear her feet hitting the pavement. They both seem to be waiting for the other to say something, and Toni's just about to bite out that Shelby called her when Shelby asks, "Are you doin' anythin' today?"
It's a bizarre question, coming from Shelby, and Toni is very confused. "Shooting hoops with Rachel."
"After that?" Shelby presses, and Toni gives a heavy sigh and pulls the comforter over her head.
"What do you want, Shelby?"
Shelby takes a moment to answer again, but when she does, Toni's sleep-addled brain finally gets it. "To come over. Is one o'clock okay?"
"Yeah, but just say that next time instead of trying to have a fucking conversation with me," Toni complains, already halfway to hanging up. "You're so fucking shy about it." She ends the call and rolls over to go back to sleep.
She showers after she gets back from unmandated practice with Rachel, who by her own admission joined the team to boost her college applications. Normally that kind of thing disgusts Toni, given her own love for the game, but Rachel's really athletic and really fucking good, actually, and she also kind of hates everyone in the same way that Toni does, so they've become fairly close for teammates in the past month. Not enough to like, actually bond or anything, but Toni doesn't feel like blowing her brains out when it's just her and Rachel, and that's kind of nice.
