❛ ━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━ ❜
chapter fourteen: hit that girl with a door, smack!
tw(s): brief description of an injury, see chapter title for some context lol.
— ˗ˋ ୨୧ ˊ˗ —
"I CAN'T BELIEVE he revoked my captain status!" Charlie yells, kicking at a pebble in Emma's front yard.
"Hey, easy on the yard. My mom's landscapers work very hard," Emma chastises, putting a hand up to stop him.
He's walking her home like he does every day, except this time, he's throwing a complete hissy fit.
Emma had a long conversation with Coach Orion and convinced him to let her stay on J.V. It wasn't a hard decision; Emma isn't planning on doing hockey long-term, so she doesn't need the opportunity the way Adam does. Plus, she has a feeling Charlie's vulnerable right now.
"And how'd Orion consider you for Varsity anyway?"
"Hey," Emma snaps. "Watch the attitude, Charles. I stayed for you."
All the blood drains from Charlie's face at the mention of his full name.
"Sorry, Emmy. It's just...I hate that guy. Who does he think he is? He's basically destroying the Ducks," Charlie mutters.
"Don't worry, Charlie. We can handle this. Really."
Before Emma goes inside, Charlie kisses her swiftly and waves. His smile looks more like a grimace, though. Or maybe that's just her.
— ˗ˋ ୨୧ ˊ˗ —
The next day, Emma makes the mistake of waiting behind Goldberg in line for lunch. All he can talk about is Julie this, Julie that, I'm better at this, I'm better at that.
"So what if she has a quicker glove? Who's got the better stick?"
"You do, Goldberg," Averman says.
"Well, actually, probably Julie," Emma mumbles.
"And who's got the game experience, me or the Catlady?"
"Yeah, and you sucked at hockey for a majority of your experience. We all did," Emma tells him. "And if she doesn't have any experience, it makes it even more embarrassing for you that she was chosen, doesn't it?"
"Well, she's just quicker, uh, faster. That counts on this level," Averman consoles.
"So what are you trying to say? If I lost a few pounds, maybe I'd be number one again?"
"Goldberg, take a hint," Emma says. "You're Goldilocks partly because of your name, sure, but also because the bears eat you up on that rink! There's no helping it."
"Hey, don't compare me to a little blonde girl!" Goldberg protests.
Emma snorts. "You did that on your own when you compared yourself to Julie."
"It might be easier to have her gain a few pounds," Averman suggests, ignoring Emma.
Emma's heart drops to the pit of her stomach when she sees the glint in Goldberg eye.
"Ave! You gave him ideas," she whisper-shouts.
"Nope. I refuse to be held accountable for whatever that kid does," Averman says, walking away with his lunch tray.
Emma spots Cole and Rick terrorizing Kenny, taking his lunch as he watches helplessly. Poor, innocent Kenny. He's too sweet for his own good.
"Bag of chips," Cole lists off, tossing it.
The Varsity team hears a crinkle of the bag landing in hand and the faint sound of the bag deflating. It's Emma.
She opens it, popping one of them in her mouth. Then, she pours the rest of the bag over Cole's head. She takes Kenny's arm and pulls him aside.
"Don't worry, Ken, I'm not hungry, so you can eat my lunch," she whispers.
"Thanks, Emma," Kenny says. "Man, I'm starving."
"Sorry, Kenny. They're jerks."
Emma doesn't bother looking at the Varsity table.
She takes a seat next to Julie, who is stuffing her face with pastries at the advice of Goldberg. Emma snatches a chocolate cream puff from the tray and takes a bite.
"Nice. Lots of carbs. You're the sweetest for doing this for her, Goldberg," Emma says, giving him a warning look. "Hey, Julie. As your nutritional advisor, Goldberg wouldn't want you getting sick. You should share it with the rest of the table."
Goldberg gives Emma an alarmed look, and she simply smiles.
Charlie comes into the lunchroom, Russ and Fulton on his tail. Emma eyes them suspiciously. She watches from afar as Cole sniffs something, and all hell breaks loose.
Emma dashes out behind Charlie, Russ, and Fulton, losing them in the stampede of sweaty high schoolers. She stays in a corner to avoid being trampled when a figure pushes the door open with astonishing force, clocking her in the head. The world goes black.
— ˗ˋ ୨୧ ˊ˗ —
"Averman, you idiot, now she can't play anymore!" Russ complains.
"What? What do you mean?" a frantic voice that probably belongs to Averman asks as he pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
"You probably gave her a concussion because you had to push on an already opened door," an annoyed voice says. It's Julie.
"Is she dead? Averman, god damn it, did you kill her?" Charlie shouts, shoving Averman's figure. "I'll have to rewrite my whole entire life plan if she's dead, you understand?"
"I didn't do anything, I swear!" Averman cries, wringing out his hands.
Emma watches as fuzzy figures crowd around her body sprawled out on the linoleum floor, and the sides of her vision are bright with white like she's in a dream. A very bad dream, judging from the ringing in her ears and the pain in the back of her head. The figures come into focus.
It's her whole team, standing over her in a circle in a fisheye lens almost, with concerned looks on their faces.
"Are you conscious, are you breathin'?" Connie asks, slapping her palm on the side of Emma's face.
"Yes, yes, ow, now stop it!" Emma says, wincing as she attempts to get up. "My back is killing me, though."
"You took a pretty nasty fall. Here, let's get you to a nurse," Julie says.
Connie grabs her shoulder and Julie supports her back as they walk her to the medical office.
"You sure you're going to be okay?" Connie asks, reluctant to leave.
"Yeah, I don't want you to be late for class," Emma says, giving them a weak smile.
"Well, I'd love to be late for class," Julie says. "But we'll leave now and check up on you later, 'kay?"
When Emma walks in, there's a boy in a red jacket with messy blond hair with black sunglasses perched atop his head.
"Oh, hey, Jude."
"Oh, hey, new girl!" he says with a smile, putting away a roll of beige gauze into a white cabinet.
"Where's the nurse?"
"Right here, in front of you," he says, throwing his hands up proudly.
"Sure, Doogie Howser," she says warily. "Do you even have any credentials?"
"Nah, I'm not really a nurse. I just like to tell people I am when they come in here. I'm actually the nurse's assistant, so I go here during free periods. But if it doesn't require an X-ray, I could probably help you out."
"Great, because I some kind of relief or pain pill, and I need it fast," Emma groans, seating herself on the medical bed, the parchment paper crinkling beneath her weight.
"Yeah, the pill part, I can't do without a nurse present, sorry," Jude says. "What happened?"
"Oh, I had a door slammed into my face, I fell, was knocked unconscious from the impact, the usual," Emma mutters.
"Just grand. Well, do you think you've broken anything?"
"Nah. But I've gotta brace for some serious bruising," Emma says.
"Ooh, tough. Let me get you some ice, and we can figure out what to do next."
As Jude scoops ice from a cooler into a plastic bag, he lists off instructions for a concussion test.
"Well," he says, tying the bag tightly. "I can pretty much guarantee, even without much expertise, that you don't have a concussion, which is good. You'll still be eligible for hockey, but you might want to be careful about lots of physical exertion so you don't injure yourself further, because you're right, that bruising's has gotta be pretty nasty. So don't get yourself kicked off the roster before the J.V.-Varsity showdown."
"Hm. Funny that you mention the J.V.-Varsity showdown. Am I going to walk out the door with a happy-go-lucky attitude before getting stabbed by you with scalpel?"
"A scalpel? This is a high school nurse's office, don't get too carried away, new girl," Jude says, laughing.
"You didn't say anything about the stabbing me part, though. Are you considering it?"
"On behalf of my team? On behalf of Rick Riley? Definitely not," Jude confirms. "I want no animosities before or after the showdown. Friends?"
"Sure. Friends," Emma agrees, getting up to leave.
"Hey, wait, I didn't catch your name," Jude says.
"Well, I didn't really throw it."
"Well..." Jude says, pursing his lips. "Can you throw it now?"
"Hm," Emma hums. "Why should I?"
"You wouldn't want me to reduce you to new girl for the rest of the school year, right?" Jude reasons.
"True."
A beat.
"It's Emma."
— ˗ˋ ୨୧ ˊ˗ —
CLARA'S CORNER
it was honestly so fun writing the nurse's office scene, since the banter just came so naturally to me.
i'm trying not to think about when charlie gets all salty and emotional, but the storm is coming soon, so brace yourselves.
what do we think of jude???
can't stop, won't stop adding song and tv references. see? did it again.