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#Post#: 999--------------------------------------------------
The Friendship Test - Chapter 10 - Never Say Never
By: RampageSports Date: January 5, 2015, 10:33 pm
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The Friendship Test - Chapter 10 - Never Say Never
As the adrenaline subsided, the weight of what she'd just done
became apparent to Danni. She closed her eyes, and gave a heavy
sigh. "I'm sorry," she said. "I should've kept my mouth shut."
Sophia knew Danni's heart was in the right place, and also that
Olga didn't have one, but she wasn't at all keen on having that
kind of confrontation in her stable, even after hours. She
smiled softly at her friend. "Well, I'm sorry my teammate's a
b*tch. Thanks for sticking up for me I guess." Slowly, her smile
faded and she frowned, thinking aloud. "But, that was pretty
hardc*re. Do you talk to your teammates that way?"
"No," Danni replied, "because they don't talk to me that way."
She regretted the words the minute they left her mouth. It was
bad enough that Olga had treated Sophia the way she did. Danni
reminding her of it that way only made it worse.
And it was obvious. Sophia's face sunk. She was feeling
dreadful. Dreadful about dragging Danni out there; dreadful
about everything Olga said; dreadful about the truth. She walked
over to the practice cage near where Danni stood and collapsed
next to it, leaning against it for almost all the energy
required to balance on her own had been drained from her.
Danni realized that she hadn't been doing much good over the
past few minutes. In fact, she'd been doing a pretty good job
of screwing things up, instead. It was time to pull the plug on
this little disaster.
"I think it's time for me to go," she said. "I don't think I'm
helping, anymore."
Sophia looked up from her seated position. "I'm sorry I dragged
you out here." She smiled sincerely, genuinely admiring what
Danni had done for her. "You're a good friend."
Danni slid down the cage and sat next to her friend. "You can
make this work Sophs, but you can't fix it all at once," she
said. "Just find a place to start. One thing will lead to
another."
Sophia leaned her head back against the cage and looked up to
the sky. "You're right," she sighed. "I was silly to try and fix
this place just like that. I need to fix me first. Like you
said, lead by example. If I'm losing and a mess, of course this
place will follow suit."
"So, you'll fix it," Danni said. "These women came here for a
reason. They want to be led." She looked toward the door Olga
had just passed through and added, "Well, most of them, anyway."
"Sure, they want to be led," Sophia agreed, "but they were
promised something that doesn't exist here. We all were."
"You have what you need," she continued. "Get with Briana.
Figure out how you want to divide up the training. Then, get in
there yourself and show them how it's done."
Sophia smiled. "Sounds simple enough doesn't it? There's just
one problem," she shrugged. "I don't know how it's done."
Danni went to say something but Sophia raised her hands
defensively and cut her off. "I mean, the leading and the
organizing and the training and all that, sure." She lowered her
hands and sighed. "But, like you said before, I don't know how
this winning thing is done. And that's what they care about.
That's what they're really here for." She frowned again. "I
don't understand why he didn't put someone like Woz in charge.
All she does is win."
Danni looked sadly at her defeated friend. Sophia had been the
key to success on One Tree Hill, and that had been the role that
put Danni on the map. By sheer coincidence, she had the unique
opportunity to return the favor now, and it occurred to her that
Olga's arrival had prevented her from finishing what she'd
started.
"Listen," she said, "if you're free Saturday, maybe I can come
back and help you get a plan together."
Sophia looked up in surprise. "You would do that?"
Danni shrugged. "Olga sort of cut us short," she said. "I'd
like to finish what we had going. But, it has to be Saturday.
I can't be slipping out of RSI, anymore."
Thinking of Olga made Danni realize that the secret was no
longer so secret. Even if Olga told no one, Danni knew things
were eventually going to slip out. So, if she was going to help
Sophia lay out her plan, they might as well do it right.
"See if Briana can be here, too," she said.
Sophia did her best to contain herself. "Um, Saturday. Right. No
problem," Sophia said, trying not to grin from ear to ear. "Bri
will be pumped. And don't worry, she's much nicer than Olga."
Sophia could feel herself beaming with joy, so in an attempt to
hide her goofy grin, she leaned over and affectionately dropped
the side of her head against her friend's shoulder. "You're kind
of awesome, you know that?"
I'm kind of screwed, Danni thought to herself. But, what was
done, was done, at this point.
Danni smiled and playfully pushed her elbow into Sophia's side.
"I'm not doing anything you wouldn't do for me," she said.
Now that she'd officially given in, the RSI leader had suddenly
had enough of today's adventure. She threw an arm around Sophia
and gave her a quick squeeze.
"Time for me to get out of here," she said. "I'll see you
Saturday."
"Saturday it is," Sophia nodded. "Thank you."
Danni rose and started for the door, already thinking of what
Sophia could do to get things on the right track quickly.
Planning out the training schedule was important, but there was
still the other thing. She stopped walking as she once again
came to grips with the only real solution.
"Sophs?" she called without turning back.
"Have your gear with you on Saturday."
Sophia grinned again, but centred herself before she spoke.
"Okay," she said as calmly as she could.
Danni shook her head lightly as she continued to the exit. She
decided then and there to stop telling herself there were things
she would never do.
Clearly, it just wasn't true.
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