Hey guys! I am so so soooo sorry about how long it's been since my last update. School has been unrelenting. I've been working on this bit by bit for about a month. It's my longest chapter, and I'm very proud of it. I did some experimenting with characterization and am pleased with how it turned out. I hope you guys like it. I'll be updating again soon. Feel free to give me any thoughts/feedback on this chapter, I'd love to hear what you guys have to say. Enjoy!

It was a very important day for Dyad High School. It was the day that their volleyball team played their rival, Huxley High School. The volleyball games were almost as viscous as the football games, and after Dyad High School winning for the past three years, Huxley was bloodthirsty.

The whole school was reasonably excited, and Cosima, being one of the star players, experienced the brunt of that excitement. All day long people, some she didn't even know, were clapping her on the back and wishing her luck.

She thought her friends would give her a break, but she was wrong. In English Alison kept flashing her thumbs ups, and in study hall Sarah wouldn't stop telling her "not to be afraid to rough up a couple players." Every time she looked at Cal in physics he would give her tips on how to better serve the ball, even going as far as asking her to demonstrate how she did it, and then correcting her form. All Cosima could do was roll her eyes.

Delphine, though, was another story. She wasn't necessarily excited for the game, she thought volleyball was a little boring, but she was proud of Cosima. She was proud of her for being so good at the sport that often only tall people were good at. She was proud of her for getting so much recognition, So Delphine would encourage Cosima at every opportunity. She would give her tips like Cal, and thumbs ups like Alison, but something she did that was uniquely her was in class, when they were working together, she looked to Cosima, and said,

"Cosima." the other girl looked to her.

"Yes?" Cosima answered, already expecting where this was going. Delphine looked her intently in the eyes, staring with a quiet intensity that almost intimidated the older girl. After a few more seconds of staring, Delphine grinned and exclaimed, rather loudly,

"Are you ready to rule the court?!" And really, all Cosima could do was laugh, because Delphine should be intimidating. She was 5, 8'' and her combat boots gave her about another inch. She wore ripped skinny jeans and t-shirts with the sleeves cut off, exposing her ribs. She often looked like she hadn't slept for three days. Her general appearance, plus her thousand yard stare, should make her terrifying, but she wasn't. She was a huge goofball who reverted to French whenever she felt any strong emotion, she tripped over her long legs, she was terrified by scary movies. Cosima found it all so impossibly endearing that she couldn't begin to feel irritation when she was being like this. So Cosima gave a huge smile and replies with equal enthusiasm,

"Hell yeah! Obvs!" The two girls high fived and went back to their work, chuckling.

Later, at the end of the day, Felix approached Cosima, smiling. The girl opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off, putting his hands up in surrender.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to assault you with encouragements, I just wanted to chat." Cosima sighed in relief,

"Thank god. I'm getting tired of all this attention. I mean, like, I appreciate it, I really do, but holy watershed it gets tiring. All the pressure is messing up my mojo." Cosima explained. Felix nodded.

"No, I totally get it. It must be stressful, but, keep in mind how stressful it'll be if you guys lose. Everyone'll be super mad at you." The boy smiled devilishly. Cosima gasped in disbelief.

"You asshole! Stop reminding me!" She swatted him on the arm. Felix just laughed,

"Don't worry, I'm certain you'll do great, you're like a bloody jungle cat out there. I believe in you." Cosima was mildly surprised by his sincerity.

"Thanks Felix, that means a lot." She said. He just nodded and clapped her on the back,

"Sure thing. Good luck out there, we'll all be watching." Cosima nodded and the two parted ways, Felix to the student lot, Cosima to the locker room, where her teammates would be getting ready to get on the bus. Cosima was intercepted by Delphine at the entrance. Cosima smiled,

"Hey! It's good to see you. Are you here to demand that I rule the court?" The blonde laughed and shook her head.

"Non. I'm just here to wish you luck, and to remind you to be nice." Cosima cocked her head and smiled even wider,

"What do you mean? I'm super nice to everyone all the time!" Cosima answered, smiling even wider.

"You know what I mean. You are extremely competitive and when you get in that state you can be entirely too aggressive, which can be kind of hot at times, but my god, Cosima, I've heard you yell things at your opponents that I wouldn't yell at my worst enemy," Delphine explained. Cosima just nodded.

"And tonight, you're on their court, and I have a feeling that they will try to eject you if they even think you're being unsportsmanlike."

"No, I get you," Cosima agreed, "I promise to keep my smack talk to a minimum." Delphine nodded in approval and the two hugged.

"Bonne chance!" Delphine said, kissing Cosima. The two broke away and Cosima entered the locker room.

Tensions were high as Delphine and the others entered the Huxley High School gym. They were twenty minutes early, but there were already large crowds on both sides of the gym. Several members of both sides were decked out in their respective school colors, black and white on Huxley's side, and yellow and black on Dyad's side. Delphine and the others were no exception. Cal was wearing a yellow cape over a black shirt, Sarah had put yellow laces in her boots, both Felix and Alison had painted Cosima's number onto their faces, and Delphine wore a spirit shirt with the sleeves cropped off and had painted Cosima's number on both sides. Together, the six of them looked both spirited and intimidating.

They talked about various things until the game started, they were in the middle of a lively discussion about some video they'd seen on the internet when both teams entered the court and the entire group began cheering with everyone else.

The Huxley players looked cold and determined, finally ready to win after three consecutive years of losing.

The Dyad players also looked determined, but they had an air of smugness about them that could only be expected. With Cosima at the front of the line, the players waved to the crowds, receiving cheers from one side and boos from the other. Cosima scanned the crowd and found her friends. The six of them waved and cheered at their friend, who waved back with a cocky smile. After a few more seconds of cheering and comments from the announcers, the game began.

It was viscous. The Huxley players were aggressive and shouted unsportsmanlike things at their opponents, but where the Huxley players were hostile, the Dyad players were merciless. They didn't allow room for error, they served with ferocity and didn't celebrate when they scored. By the second round, Dyad was winning at fifteen to ten, and the conduct had only gotten worse. The girls were shouting expletives at them, mocking their form and their appearances, one Dyad player, Angie, shouted back,

"Come talk to us when you score!" The whistle blew and the ref penalized her for unsportsmanlike behavior, the Dyad crowd booed as Angie stalked off the court. Cosima grit her teeth, it was frustrating being shouted at by the Huxley players, she had choice words for the outside hitter who had called her and her teammates dogs, but she bit her tongue and endured, remembering that they were ahead.

At the beginning of the third and final round, it was Huxley's turn to serve. The setter volleyed the ball to the right side hitter, who sent it over the net, Cosima's teammate, Madison, sent it back over the net, to the opposing middle blocker, a girl about Cosima's height with blonde hair cut into a sharp bob. She jumped into the air to spike at the same time Cosima jumped to block and saw an opportunity. The girl spiked, but also reached her hand over the net just enough for the heel of her hand to hit the bridge of Cosima's nose in a sickening crunch. She landed on her feet, Cosima on her knees.

Delphine's stomach lurched, she saw the ball on the ground, she saw the blocker on the other side of the net, smiling smugly, but most importantly, she saw Cosima doubled over, one hand on her face, the other on the court, keeping her balanced. The referee blew the whistle when he saw that the girl would not be getting up. Cosima's teammates rushed to her side and Madison helped her up. Cosima staggered a bit and turned to face the crowd, a steady stream of blood was pouring out of the girl's nose, and she looked to her friends in the crowd, staggered a bit more, and fell back onto her knees. Delphine and the others stood to see what was going on. The Dyad coach was talking heatedly with the referee, Cosima was sitting on the court trying to stop her nosebleed, surrounded by her teammates. Cosima furrowed her brow and looked to the player who had hit her. She was standing, shoulders back, a small smirk on her face. Cosima felt her face get hot. She had been trying, and succeeding, all night to not antagonize her opponents, and now here she was, breaking her god damned nose for fun. She looked the girl in the eye,

"Hey, FUCK you. And FUCK your shit team too." As expected, the ref blew his whistle,

"Unsportsmanlike conduct. Exit the court." Cosima's team and the crowd all began shouting to the referee, telling him that the Huxley player had assaulted the Dyad player, that she should be ejected. The ref blew his whistle some more and the whole court was lost in a sea of shouting.

From the bleachers, the six were getting anxious. They wanted to know if Cosima was okay, and if the Huxley player would get in trouble. Apparently not, because even through all the commotion, the offending player looked as smug as ever, grinning slightly and trying her best to hide her laughter. Delphine had had enough. No one was addressing Cosima's injury, her nose was still bleeding rapidly, and she had nothing to absorb the blood steadily trickling down her face. It has run down her chin and onto her neck, almost reaching her jersey. Delphine rose quickly, grabbing Cal's cape, taking the boy with her. She stepped out of the bleachers and onto the court. The others looked at her, bewildered. She reached Cosima, Cal in tow. She knelt to the bleeding girl, taking her face gently in her hands, whispering to her,

"Are you okay?" Cosima nodded and grinned, looking somewhat woozy. Delphine pulled the cape to Cosima's face, causing Cal to kneel, and held it there, staunching the trickle of blood. She rose and looked around the court. Everyone was still arguing, she looked to Cosima's assailant, who was watching them with a bemused smirk, her head cocked slightly, patronizingly. Delphine stormed to the net and ducked under it, walking to the shorter girl with an intensity that would startle even her closest friends, much less a complete stranger. She squared up to her, she was easily five inches taller. Delphine grabbed her by her uniform roughly, wearing an expression of blank fury. She opened her mouth to speak, her anger only allowing her to access her native tongue.

"Quel est votre nom?" The taller girl turned the girl roughly, looking at the back of her uniform,

"Duncan? Votre nom est Duncan?" The shorter girl nodded, getting the gist of what her captor was saying.

"Pourquoi avez-vous frappé? Est-ce autorisé dans les règles? Je ne pense pas. Avez-vous la frappez parce que vous étiez en colère à perdre? Êtes-vous un enfant? Un animal?" Delphine's voice rose and she was shouting, "Peut-être que vous devriez rester à l'écart de la cour jusqu'à ce que vous apprenez à gérer vos émotions comme une personne normale!" By now, Delphine was shaking the girl, who looked absolutely terrified. Duncan opened her mouth to say something, but Delphine shook her again, "Ta Gueule! Ne pas ouvrir la bouche, sauf si elle est de présenter des excuses pour être un morceau de poubelle dégénéré!" Delphine had gotten so angry that she had pulled the girl to her level, the tips of her feet were barely touching the ground. She was shouting into the smaller girl's face, which had drained of all color. Delphine opened her mouth to speak again, but she felt someone tugging her arm. She turned to see Sarah, her mouth displaying glee, her eyes mortification.

"Delphine, soooo sorry to put a stop to this, I really love it," she looked to Duncan, "fuck you, by the way," she looked back to Delphine, "but if you don't stop now, you're probably going to be arrested for assault."

Delphine looked around, the entire gymnasium was staring at her, she didn't know for how long. She looked to Cosima, who was standing now, Cal's cape still pressed to her nose, she was grinning confusedly. Delphine released her grip on the girl, who stumbled a little before finding her balance, and walked to the other side of net to Cosima. Sarah pretended to hit the intimidated girl, making her flinch. Sarah chuckled and followed Delphine, "Bitch."

Delphine approached her girlfriend,

"Are you okay? Has the bleeding stopped?" Cosima nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but I think we should leave before, you know, someone calls the cops on you." Delphine nodded in agreement, she looked to Cal, who had untied his cape and handed the entire thing to Cosima, but was still standing by her,

"Carry her please, Cal." The boy assented and scooped up the smaller girl like it was nothing. Cosima sighed, but knew there would be no point in fighting it.

The seven exited the gym, Cosima threw up a peace sign from her place in Cal's arms, which was met by several cheers from the Dyad side. Sarah and Felix, practically skipped out of the gym, reveling in the disruption their friend caused.