After the comprehension of Rick's story, Ripley was still pissed.
She couldn't even think of Adam without rage tearing through her stomach.
She had kept so many things to herself: her paying for the Ducks meal, Rick's outburst in the locker room, and her chummy night spent with Adam.
She was tired of the secrets she held, that's why during fifth period, Ripley had finally decided to spill her guts to one of her most beloved friends, Connie.
As Ripley unleashed all of the things she had been holding in for so long, Connie listened patiently, trying her best to comfort the girl in the process.
The girls were sat in the library once again, as their teacher was out and they were told to work on their assignments quietly.
Julie was also out, the librarian had sent her to do some of her bidding so Ripley thought it was the best opportunity to finally open up to Connie.
It wasn't that Ripley didn't trust Julie, she rather tell the whole story to one person first before having everyone chip in their two cents.
"Wow." Connie stated, after Ripley finally finished telling her everything. "That is definitely a lot to take in, but I am sorry you had to go through all of that. I can assure you that you didn't deserve any of it, Ripley.
Connie embraced her friend in a hug, Ripley accepting it with open arms.
"And, also," Connie started again, "You are way too good for any boy here, even a former Duck. Please try not to think about him too much. I know it might be hard with you two still playing together, but do your best to keep him out of your mind."
Ripley nodded her head, remembering she had one more thing to tell Connie, "Oh, and more thing. I'm coming back to JV."
Connie's eyes widened, a massive smile painting the girls face, "Yay! I can't wait. We were hoping you would come back."
"I still have to talk to Coach Wilson, but I doubt he'll have a problem with it. Me being on the the team was never gonna make or break it, ya know?"
Connie shrugged her shoulders, "You never know, maybe it will. I'm hoping they all come crawling on their hands and knees begging for you back."
She smiled at her friend, a weight being lifted off her shoulders for finally expressing her feelings.
"So..." Connie posited, "What helped you make up your mind? Was it what happened yesterday."
Ripley nodded her head, "Kinda, yeah. It was a mix of things, I guess. The upperclassmen always got on my nerves and I came to the conclusion that if I was gonna play on any team, I wanted it to be a team full of people I actually liked."
Connie smiled again, and the girls returned to their work, making casual conversation about what playing would be like now with Ripley rejoining.
Ripley felt at peace, she felt soft, for the first since all of this spice made its way into her life.
That, until Julie came rushing over to the girl's, almost out of breath.
They both suddenly turned their attention to the stammering girl in front of them, wondering why she looked as if she ran a marathon.
"Whats up, kitty cat." Ripley teased, taking in the girls behavior.
Julie held up her finger, catching her breath before speaking, "I just went to the bathroom...uh... whew I'm tired. I just went to the bathroom and heard some girls talking about you, Ripley."
Ripley raised her head, perplexed at the girls motion, "Saying what?"
"It was a girl, a cheerleader...the brown haired one... awe shit.." Julie sputtered, trying to remember her name.
"Cindy?" Both Connie and Ripley answered now, eagerness lacing their voices.
"Yes! Thats her!" Julie said, placing her hands on the table, "She was saying some, uh... not nice things."
Ripley raised her eyebrows, amusement on her face as Connie turned her body to look at Ripley.
"What'd she say, Julie?"
"Well, I was pissing when I heard a bunch of girl's coming in, laughing and stuff. I stayed quiet and was about to hurry up because they were being super obnoxious, until I heard your name." Julie started. "I got intrigued because they sounded, well... not very happy to be talking about you."
"Okay, Julie, great." Ripley smashed, "But what did she say?"
"Hold on turd burglar, I'm trying to catch my breath." Julie stroke back. "Well she said a lot of things but she started off by complaining about how much time you spend with the upperclassman boys."
Ripley pushed her eyebrows together, "What the hell does she expect? I play hockey with them."
"That's what I was thinking in the moment," Julie said, taking a seat, continuing. "But she kept saying how she didn't understand why the guys were always inviting you to stuff like parties and dinners, or whatever? She supposed the only reason you were on varsity is so the boys had a pretty face to look at, but then switched it up saying if they needed a pretty face she didn't understand why the picked you."
"Wow." Ripley teased, "Low blow."
"I know, right. Anyways, she then said that must be the reason because you are trash at hockey and that you were nothing but a, what'd she say exactly, I believe it was 'Nothing but a sophomore whore on a full ride trying to sleep her way into playing at state because she lacks real talent.'"
Ripley's face dropped at the comment. An oh so familiar anger swelling up in her chest.
Ripley could take being called ugly, I mean anyone that saw the girl knew she was far from it, but hearing some girl berate her for her hockey skills really struck a nerve.
She knew she could play hockey, exceptionally well at that. But to spend years of her life working to be the best she could at the sport, and have someone who didn't know shit insult her and say she was sleeping around to get her spot, really, really pissed Ripley off.
"Are you okay, Ripley?" Julie remarked, slightly scared by the girls sudden change in deposition.
"Never better." She muttered in return, quickly standing up as the bell rang.
Her friends looked at each other confused, wondering what the girl was going to do, as they had never seen her angry like this before.
Ripley furiously clambered to her locker, unlocking it and digging though it to find what she was looking for.
She found a small pile of rings she had taken off earlier in the week, due to them messing with her fingers while she wrote, and smiled. Ripley picked up her jewelry, sliding them onto her fingers, ready for the worst.
She slammed her locker shut, and began stomping her way towards the cafeteria.
She felt relieved that lunch was right after fifth period, as she felt she wouldn't have been able to suppress her rage throughout they day if Julie had told her what she heard earlier on.
Ripley walked through the hall like she was on a mission, and to her, she was. She was absolutely fed up with letting everyone walk all over her. She was fed up with letting everyone get away with what they said or did to her, and she was going to prove it.
She was sure she was acting on impulse, and knew she was probably making a dumb decision, but she didn't care in the moment. She could take on anyone when she was on the rink, so she was sure she could take on an airhead in the cafeteria, no problem.
Her feet moved fervently towards the lunchroom, finally setting eyes on it and taking a deep breath. She could've stopped there, calmed herself down and moved on with her day, but she knew it was too late now. And, truthfully, she was ready to finally have some fun.
As she walked into the lunch room, she could see her table of friends are spotting her. They weren't waving her waving her over this time, instead, all watching her intently to see what she was about to do.
Connie and Julie had raced around to round up their friends before lunch, guaranteeing that all of them would want to witness the show that was about to go down.
Some of the boys had protested against, saying they should stop her and try to calm her down before she made a mess, but the girls convinced that whatever was coming was well deserved.
After taking in her friends, Ripley made note of her surroundings. She could see her friends off in the back of the cafeteria to her left, and when she gazed in front of her, made note of the varsity sitting only a few tables in front of her. She huffed, turning to her left again and finally coming across the cheerleaders table.
She put on a fake smile, happily making her way over to the table. When she was about halfway there some of the cheerleaders had set their eyes on her, wondering amongst themselves why the hockey player was seemingly making her way over to them. The other girls that noticed her immediately looked at Cindy, grasping for her to turn her attention to the girl stalking her way cross the lunch room.
When Cindy finally took notice of the blonde girl, it was too late. Ripley grabbed the arm of the girl sitting next to Cindy, before pulling her out of her seat and almost throwing her to the floor.
Ripley quickly took the girls place, sitting next to a confused, yet annoyed, Cindy. "Hi, my name's Ripley." The girl smiled, sticking her hand out in front of her.
Cindy looked at her, scoffed, and began to lift up her arm to shake it.
Ripley quickly pulled her extended arm to her side, "You already knew that though, considering you can't seem to keep my name out your mouth."
Ripley's smile didn't falter, and she continued despite Cindy's glare now. "You see Cindy, I really appreciate all the kind words you said about me in the bathroom, it means the world to me that my fans care enough to talk about me even when I'm not there."
Ripley adjusted her arm so it was now laying on the table before her, staring into Cindy's eyes as she spoke. "Anyways, I did want to point out that you did get a couple things wrong about me. Firstly, I heard you mentioned that the only reason I'm on varsity is because your boys enjoy having a pretty face to look at. Now while you're correct, I'm sure your boys love staring at me and ramming against me during practice, that's not the only reason I'm on varsity."
"It takes hard-work and talent to do what I do, do you need me to explain that to you? If you need me to slow down for you I can, I'm sure this is a lot of info for your brain to process at once." Ripley said, feigning a frown at the girl.
"I-"
"I'm not done." Ripley interrupted, "You see, Cindy. I'm the queen of hockey here at Eden Hall, put a little respect on my name. Remind yourself that I'm a four times National winner, but who am I kidding, I'm sure it must be so hard such shaking that flat ass of yours for a bunch of boys that rather stare at me instead of you."
"Also, try to keep in mind that I take down guys three times your size, Cindy darling, before you think about talking shit about me next time." Ripley said, moving closer to the brunettes face, "Now that I'm looking at you though, ya seem to be on the same level as them, might want to lay off the carbs, babe."
Ripley turned her attention towards the cheerleaders around the table, all glaring at her now, "As for the rest of you wonderful girls, I am begging that you guys try to sleep with your legs closed from now on. I know it must be hard for you all, but I'm not getting sleep due to all the cats outside my dorm meowing, looking for the fish smell that's leaking out of your guys's rooms."
She brightly smiled at them, before turning to leave. She began to walk to her left, before turning around quickly to speak again, "Sorry you ladies hate me because I'm the it girl, I never asked to be the shit."
She shrugged again, wearing a smile proudly on her face. Ripley continued to walk away before hearing Cindy's angry voice boom behind her, "You just think you're so great, don't you."
Ripley turned around, shrugging. "Yeah, I do."
Cindy scoffed, swiping her tongue around her mouth, "What is this about, huh? Is this about Banksie. Is this about what happened between your precious Banksie and I?"
She scoffed, rolling her eyes, and turning to walk away from the woman.
Cindy laughed, "It is, isn't it? God, you should've seen the way he was touching me. Ways you could only dream off."
Ripley turned around again, smiling at the girl, clapping, "Congratulations, Cindy. Do you want a cookie or something? Should we give Adam a medal? Cause if we're handing out awards to every boy that's touched you, there's gonna be a lot of people walking around here with participation medals."
Ripley titled her head, turning around to walk away once more. She had only taken a few steps when she heard erratic footsteps behind her. Before she could turn around she felt two hands push into her back, sending her flying onto the ground.
She pushed herself off the ground, getting to her feet and stalking towards the girl. Ripley suddenly felt two large arms wrap around her, prohibiting her movement.
She struggled against the person, swinging her head back to hit them in the nose. Their grip on the girl weakened, and she turned around in their arms, swiftly bringing her knee up into her groin and kicking them to the ground.
After the attack, she realized it was Dwayne who was holding her back, and she felt guilty for assaulting him so suddenly. Her guilt was quickly drowned out again though as she turned her attention back to the girl in front of her.
She eagerly stepped towards the girl again, bunching up her fist as Cindy took backward steps away from the woman.
'I'm so glad I wore these rings.' Ripley thought to herself.
Ripley was just about to lunge at the girl and release a week's worth of piled up aggression on her, when she felt multiple arms wrap around her again.
She struggled to free herself, feeling three distinct pairs of arms holding her back.
"Stop struggling!" She heard a familiar voice grunt.
Realizing it was Goldberg, she fell limp in her friends arm, accepting defeat.
As the boys holding her back—Mendoza, Goldberg, and Guy—guided her out of the lunch room, she looked back to see Cindy glaring at her before returning to her seat.
She allowed them to lead her out of the room, and into an adjoining hall. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes and she noticed the rest of her friends joining the group in the hall, Averman helping a disheveled Dwayne.
Guy looked at the girl, "Why are you crying? Did she hurt you?"
"God, no! You guys don't understand how badly I want to beat her ass." Ripley spoke, trying to relieve her anger, "Just give me five minutes after school, and I will die a happy woman."
"I think you already killed her, Rip. Spirit wise, at least." Kenny said, joking with the girl.
"Yeah some of those comments were good, I wouldn't even be able to come up with them." Averman joked as well.
Ripley laughed, wiping her angry tears. She heard a grunt come from the left of her and turned her head to meet the noise, finding Dwayne still struggling to breath.
"Shit, I'm so sorry Dwayne." She said, feeling genuinely bad for how hard she hit him.
"You're all good... darling." He said, getting to his feet. "I'll just keep that as a reminder not to mess with ya next time you're mad."
She laughed, and shot a look of sympathy towards the boy, before turning her attention back to her friends.
Ripley continued to talk to her friends, having to explain the comment Cindy made about Banks, and also discussing what set her off in the first place.
Unbeknownst to her, she was the main topic of discussion in the room over, especially between the varsity boys.
"Well that was... interesting." Rick laughed, turning his attention to Banks.
Adam was blankly staring at his food, understanding that Ripley now knew about the interaction between him and the cheerleader.
"Can't wait to hear her complain about the weight comment for the next couple weeks." Cole said, slamming his fork down.
"Yeah, enjoy trying to get your nut off pal. That girl's not gonna take her clothes off for weeks." Rick laughed again, eyes still on Banks. "Did you enjoy the spotlight, Banksie?"
Adam stayed quiet, not wanting to participate in the conversation. He was upset, in a way, maybe unnerved, that Ripley seemed to have no reaction to the comment Cindy had made about him.
He thought the girl cared about him.
"What's wrong, Banks? Don't enjoy your two girls fighting over you?"
"They weren't fighting over me." Adam snapped back. "I don't know what it was about but Ripley seemed pretty set off."
Rick tilted his head, surprised by the boys sudden hostility, "Okay, Banksie. Just wanted to know what you were thinking."
Cole chimed in, "Might want to go pay Cindy a visit later, Banks. She's gonna need the attention after that."
Adam ignored the boys, looking around the room trying to find the missing girl.
"Ya know, I like Cindy." Rick started.
"Yeah, and Ripley fucked her up pretty good. Didn't she?" Scooter growled, glaring at Rick. "Cut the shit, Rick. Your precious cheerleader got her ass handed to her. Just leave it alone."
Rick glared back at the boy, "Watch it, Scott."
Scooter rolled his eyes, turning his attention to Adam, before scoffing and leaving the table.
The varsity boys stayed silent after that, eating their lunch until the period ended. All except for Adam, he was too busy searching for the blonde girl, wondering where she had been escorted off to.
--
FTB!
All my friends hate Cindy.
How ya'll feel, I tried to make the confrontation less cringe than it should've been. Do you think Cindy deserved the comments?
Let me know, baes, love you all. <3