The Heart of the Stars

by Nicole Shay

  “Yeah Chloe?” Maeve asked, her voice rising. “Well at least I pay attention to where I’m going!”

  “Maeve,” Olivia said, placing a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Let’s go home.”

  Maeve shook her off. “No!” she shouted.

  Kerrie ran over to them. “Maeve, we need to go home.”

  “Yeah run along home with your whore of a mother!” Allie spat as she glared at Olivia

  Olivia’s head whipped to Allie, eyes narrowing at her. “What did you just say?”

  “You heard me, but I’ll gladly repeat it for you grandma…” She snarkily said as she gave Chloe a high five.

  Once again, Elaine’s protective instincts kicked in at the jab at Olivia. “At least Olivia wasn’t cheated on,” Elaine pointed out in an unusually calm voice.

  “Shut it Strongman, Don’t pretend to care now...as I recall you walked away from your own teammate the other day….no use trying to be the hero here” Chloe stated matter-of-factly.

  Elaine clenched her teeth. “Don’t you go there, Chloe.”

  Kerrie was the only one out of her teammates not saying a word. She was just watching each of her teammates, waiting for who would snap first and she had a feeling it would be Maeve.

  Ornella felt a wrenching in her gut at Elaine getting involved in the fight but she couldn’t help but input her own say as she listened to Chloe’s words. Adrenaline was pumping through her as the rival enemy Ornella came out instead of the cute and adorable girlfriend Elaine came to know her as.

  “Walking away from a teammate...that’s pretty low, even for you keeper” Ornella directed to Elaine challenging her steely eyes.

  Surprise took over on the inside, but on the outside, Elaine’s steel blue eyes trained on Ornella. She wasn’t expecting Ornella to add on, especially not towards her. She knew it was because of the situation they’d been put in and everything going on, but she glared anyway.

  “At least I know my time and place,” she said, looking back at Chloe. “Trying to start a fight in the middle of a mall. What are you?”

  Imogen had enough, as much as being with Olivia had helped her look past the rivalry, the old flame was lit again. “Fair to say, Thenard most likely started it..” She then turned her attention to Olivia “You should really learn how to train your dog, or at least get a muzzle for her, might keep her out of trouble. Or maybe you’re not even capable of that..” Imogen immediately regretted what she said once she saw the hurt in Olivia’s eyes. She had gone too far and she knew it yet given the moment her body was unable to move or back down from where she stood.

  Olivia couldn’t believe what had just come out of Imogen’s mouth. Everyone else had a supposed reason to fight: they hated each other. But not her and Imogen. She thought that now that her and Imogen were together, they’d chose not to attack and instead just let it drop. She was so wrong. The look of hurt in her expression quickly passed as she tried to regain her stand in the conversation. “Oh, like you’re one to talk,” she scoffed. “Did you not see Long go ape shit in the club earlier?”

  Before Imogen could say anything else she felt Allie brush past her from behind and push Olivia right back into Elaine. “Want to see me go nuts?” the girl shouted in a frenzy.

  “Don’t touch her!” Elaine screamed at Allie, holding Olivia by her arms to keep her upright.

  “Oh I’ll destroy her!” Allie said as she began to tear away to continue the fight but was held back by Imogen.

  “Too far!” Imogen said putting up a strong arm to hold back Allie. She turned to look back at Olivia and Elaine but before her eyes could get there she met a fist with a strong conviction behind it. Imogen cried out in pain as she fell to the hard ground holding her now bleeding face.

  CHAPTER 7

  Olivia’s eyes widened and she felt a gasp come out of her mouth, but she didn’t even hear it. All she was focused on was the fact her girl was on the floor bleeding. “Oh my god, Imogen!”

  “Damn…” Maeve muttered, shaking her fist in pain. “That hurt.”

  “Oh your hand hurts? Let’s see what else hurts after I’m done with you!” Chloe shouted as she started to make her way to Maeve.

  This time Britta stepped in to restrain her teammate “Come on Chloe, She’s not worth it” she said as she struggled to hold the strong goalkeeper.

  “Maeve!” Kerrie yelped, scolding the forward.

  “What the hell was that?” Elaine demanded, turning to Maeve.

  “I was going for the blonde,” Maeve murmured, still shaking her hand out.

  “Let’s play fetch with my fist and your face,” Allie exclaimed boiling over in the moment. Both sides were too caught up in the moment to realize Olivia had run over to Imogen’s side.

  Olivia squirmed out of Elaine’s grasp, not even thinking about what she was doing. She kneeled down next to Imogen, even though her knees were making contact with the concrete and it hurt; She didn’t care to notice. “Imogen,” she said softly, covering her mouth. She reached into her clutch purse, desperately digging for a tissue or something to clean Imogen’s face and finally found a pack. She tugged at it until one came free and pressed it against all the blood. “God, I’m sorry,” she whispered, noticing no one was even paying attention to them.

  “Get off of me!” Imogen snapped uncharacteristically. She had every reason to be mad, but she never meant to take it out on Olivia. Imogen jumped up to get in the middle of Chloe and Maeve who were about to go at each other and strongly pushed Chloe away.

  Olivia was shocked at the tone Imogen used, and how she reacted. She stood, shaking a little. So much was happening in seconds and she wasn’t sure she could even keep up anymore.

  “Let’s go” Imogen muttered as she began to walk away not bothering to look back at Olivia.

  Seeing their captain bleeding, they decided it was indeed enough for one night “This isn’t over, you hear?” Chloe spat as she pushed Britta off of her finally and heatedly followed Imogen.

  Allie shook her head as she nastily spat at Olivia’s feet before following her teammates.

  Elaine was in the middle of holding Maeve back with Kerrie, but when she saw Olivia staring at nothing specific and shaking, she immediately walked over to her. As she passed Ornella, she shook her head as if to say ‘This is too much’. “Go check on Imogen,” she whispered as she passed, knowing no one would pay attention to the exchange.

  “Olivia,” Elaine said, placing her hands on either shoulder. When Olivia didn’t respond, she pulled the forward into a tight hug. She could feel the girl shaking now and all she wanted was to make it stop.

  “Say it,” Olivia said in a weak voice. “You were right.”

  Elaine shook her head, still hugging Olivia. “This isn’t the time to say ‘I told you so’,” she sighed. “Come on, let’s get you home, showered and in bed.”

  “Okay,” Olivia nodded, not in the mood to argue or say otherwise.

  Elaine turned to Kerrie, who was whispering words to calm Maeve down. “Kerrie, take her home and get her to bed, okay?”

  Kerrie nodded. “On it!” she called back, guiding Maeve to the car.

  The next morning, Olivia woke up to find a glass of orange juice and a pop tart sitting by her bed with a note. She leaned over, squinting to read it as she was still trying to wake herself up.

  Sorry Ollie, had to go somewhere early. Enjoy your breakfast kid. - Elaine

  Olivia smiled, happy to have someone who was always looking out for her no matter what. She slowly sat up as the previous night’s events returned to her.

  “Such a mess,” she muttered before reaching over and taking a sip of her orange juice.

  What really worried her the most was Imogen. Imogen, who agreed to go with the plan, who tried to keep the peace at first, but in the end ended up adding fuel to the fire and got hurt.

  Whenever Imogen used to snap and give snarky comments to Olivia or her teammates, it didn’t do anything except make Olivia want to snark b
ack. But that was different. That was when they believed all they could do was hate each other. Now, recalling what Imogen said took Olivia by surprise. For most of the week, all she’d heard from Imogen was sweet nothings and smart ass comments that made her laugh. To hear something as bad as what she’d heard come out of Imogen last night was practically unbelievable.

  Although she was still upset and honestly a little freaked out by Imogen’s performance last night, she was still worried about her. The injury to her face didn’t seem very forgiving. So Olivia grabbed her phone and dialed Imogen’s number.

  After countless rings, the call went to voicemail. Olivia was debating on whether or not she should just hang up when it beeped, signaling for her to leave a message.

  “I uh...Hey,” she said awkwardly. “I just wanted to check on you after last night. I’m really sorry about Maeve...actually, I’m sorry about everything from last night. I shouldn’t have dragged you into it all. It could’ve been avoided.” She paused for a moment, thinking of what else to say. “Oh...call me, I guess? Bye Imogen.” She quickly hung up, running a hand through her hair. There was so much damage done last night she didn’t know where to start.

  Ornella stayed over at Imogen’s to help her clean up her face after the run in. The two sat at Imogen’s kitchen counter the next morning, both not knowing what to say after the events of the previous evening.

  The silence was interrupted as Imogen’s phone began to ring in the other room.

  Ornella jumped up to go get it for her friend but by the time she got there, the phone stopped ringing.

  “Yo Imogen, it says you have a new voicemail” Ornella said as she made her way back to the kitchen.

  “Listen to it” Imogen said assuming a call from Olivia was the last thing that would happen at a time like this. Imogen didn’t bother to pay attention to her friend’s reaction until she heard her gasp as a wild eagerness came to her eyes.

  “Who was it?” Imogen asked looking pathetic as ever with her bandaged face, still swollen.

  “I-It was Olivia? McBray? W-What the hell?” Ornella wondered confused as to what all of this meant.

  Imogen swallowed hard trying to think of an excuse as to why her supposed rival would be calling her but nothing convincing came to mind.

  “W-What did she say?” Imogen questioned scared of what she might have said.

  “You listen..and you tell me” Ornella surprisingly ordered calmly.

  Imogen gingerly took the phone and listened to Olivia’s message, she closed her eyes knowing what had to be done.

  “Olivia and I…..are together..well after last night I’m not so sure about anything anymore but uh yeah.. that’s the truth..”

  “You mean, together together?” Ornella exclaimed in disbelief.

  “Yeah Nella, I mean together together.” Imogen sternly stated obviously frustrated that she had to repeat herself.

  “Whoa...does anyone else know? I mean what are you guys going to do? How did this even?” Ornella rambled on.

  “I don’t know Nella! Okay I don’t know and frankly I’m not in the mood to talk about it right now, so can we just drop it?”

  Ornella painfully watched her best friend lash out. It wasn’t the Imogen she knew, yet she could tell the girl was distracted, it was always obvious.

  “Hey” Ornella said as she put a hand on Imogen’s shoulder “It’s okay Imogen, I’m sorry, I know it’s not easy..I’m always here for you though.”

  Imogen let out a sigh “I know, thanks Nella”

  “Are you going to call her back?” Ornella asked

  Imogen shook her head “I’m not ready to talk to her yet..” She stated.

  By the end of the day, Olivia’s voicemail was still left unanswered and it worried the forward. Imogen never did anything like this. Her texts and calls were always answered, and if it was really late the midfielder would apologize. She wasn’t okay with leaving things the way they were. She just wanted Imogen with her and laughing about something stupid, not avoiding her because of what happened last night thanks to the stupid rivalry. So she texted the girl.

  Imogen, we really need to talk. You can’t run when things get bad every single time. No one can. Come to my place? No interruptions this time, I swear.

  She sent it hoping she’d get some sort of response.

  Imogen was lying on her bed when she heard her phone buzz with a new message. She read it a couple times before sitting up. Olivia was right. They had to talk and it was true, she couldn’t keep running from her problems as if they would go away if she ran fast enough. She put on her shoes and pulled a hoodie over her head. She grabbed her keys and caught her reflection as she walked out the door. The left side of her face was busted , her eye was swollen and the cut under her cheekbone was going to leave a scar. She grimaced at herself but decided she needed to go to Olivia’s anyways.

  It was a long drive. Too long, Imogen decided for her to be left alone with her rampant thoughts. She pulled into the McBray’s driveway and hesitantly walked up the steps. She knocked on the door hoping she would be brave enough to not run away.

  Olivia hopped up, praying that Imogen was the one at her door and not anyone else, especially not Maeve. She opened the door and smiled at first, but then gasped. “Oh my god, your face!” she exclaimed, pulling Imogen into her house.

  Imogen let out a tired and knowing laugh “Yeah … my face. I’m sorry about last night.” She stated not knowing what else to say.

  Olivia shifted her weight, nodding. “I’m sorry too.”

  Imogen finally looked into Olivia’s eyes at her apology. She missed that gaze. But the pain in her face brought her back to reality. “Livvie...what are we even doing? How can this ever work? I mean look at me! I have a scar on my face now reminding me every day of why we shouldn’t be together…” Imogen let out finally allowing her doubts and insecurities to be out in the open.

  Receiving no initial response Imogen continued “It seems like we tend to bring out the best and the worst in each other..and I-I just don’t want to hurt you anymore.”

  “Hurt me?” Olivia asked as if that was ridiculous. “Imogen, you’re the one with the real injuries here. If I had just kept Maeve under control. Like I can’t even do that…” she mumbled the last part without meaning to, Imogen’s words from last night coming back to her.

  Imogen cringed at Olivia’s last comment, a reminder that words could hurt just as much as a punch in the face. “You see, I never should have said that...it’s like I couldn’t control myself or something. I just- you deserve more Livvie, you do. Don’t settle for me.”

  “Stop,” Olivia said suddenly, looking at Imogen. ‘Don’t you dare say that, Imogen. You know damn well if this rivalry never existed you and I would be perfect together. Hell, we are now. I’ve only dated you for less than a week, but I’m not letting you go because you’re scared,” she stated, crossing her arms.

  Imogen painfully laughed realizing the conversation was going nowhere. “Ornella knows about ‘us’” She muttered.

  “Wait, what?” Olivia asked, hoping she didn’t hear Imogen right.

  “Ornella heard your voicemail on my phone this morning..she won’t say anything though...that’s the least of our worries, I think.”

  Though Imogen seemed sure that Ornella wasn’t going to say anything, Olivia wasn’t as comforted as she should have been. She hardly even knew Ornella. Hell, she had a major problem imagining if Elaine or Maeve found out about her and Imogen. But Imogen was Ornella’s best friend, so she didn’t question it. “I...Imogen, what are we going to do?”

  “I’m in over my head Olivia...I’m really in no position to be giving any answers right now” Imogen confessed.

  “Our coach is going to be on our asses this week until we play you guys again, and I don’t know how often we can meet up like this.”

  Olivia bit her lip. “I know, same. We play you in less than a week.”

  “You know we both can’t win….once we hit
that field, it’s still you versus me. Even if we are together..”

  “No holding back,” Olivia reminded her. “Never hold back on the field.”

  “Never” Imogen said finally letting out the faintest of smiles. I’ll talk to you later Livvie, Good night” Imogen said as she gently kissed the girl on the cheek and made her way to leave.

  The striker managed a small smile in return. “Good night Imogen,” she answered. “Wait...so what are we doing?” She didn’t want to ask, but she had to if she wanted to get anywhere in this relationship.

  “We’re walking a fine line” Imogen vaguely stated leaving the girl with a reassuring smirk.

  The next day was the first day back to school since the club incident from the other night. Imogen tried her best to explain what happened to her face without actually telling everyone that she got decked by their rival school. Ornella sympathetically tried to change the subject best she could at lunch as the whole team tried to get more than just ‘I fell’ from Imogen. It was no use though as Chloe and Allie made their way over to the team’s usual table.

  “Hey Imogen, How’s your fac- Oh my god!” Chloe exclaimed as she saw the damage left from Maeve’s right hook.

  “I swear..that girl is going to regret this” Allie added as she patted Imogen on the back.

  Karen jumped right on Chloe and Allie knowing they would dish the story.

  Imogen knew the situation was hopeless, whatever dignity she had left, would surely be taken as Allie was obliviously re-creating the other night.

  “And so that dick Julio had Captain Ass on his arm, and then once I saw him, he totally denied even knowing who I was! Then we run into Thing 1 and Thing 2, plus that bitchy looking keeper, and they follow us out into the parking lot for a little ‘chat’. Then they think it’s okay to start talking shit so ..well things got a little physical. Bottom line, I got fed up with Captain Ass and pushed her back into her place, then that Thenard girl tries to punch me but clips Imogen instead...I mean the nerve?” Allie finished clearly hyped up as she relived the night.