Kaelyn sat underneath the pouring rain. But, even the heavy torrent of pattering water droplets could not clear the blinding haze that cast itself over the depths of her mind. Her thoughts and feelings were scattered, she looked into a puddle on the ground and only saw a shattered reflection of herself. A reflection of many pieces. Her hands were shaking, heart beating heavy and tears streaming down her face. Who was on her side?

[i]No one.[/i] The voice in the back of her mind rang out. Kaelyn got up and went inside her dorm, ignoring the various stares that came her way. She slowly made her way up the stairs and eventually into her room, slamming the door. 

In the bathroom, Kaelyn looked at herself in the mirror. She took a few deep breaths and tried to steady her shaking. It didn't work.

Kaelyn left the bathroom and stormed through her dresser, ripping through clothes and tossing them about. She picked up a picture of her and Landon. Her gaze pierced into the picture until at last she tore it in half. Kaelyn pulled out other pictures and started ripping them all together. Kaelyn ripped all of them except for one, the last picture was one of them with Kaelyn putting her hands over Landon's eyes from behind him; sitting by a fire. They both were smiling.

She let out a exasperated breath and tossed the photo to the floor, returning to her dresser and grabbing a bottle of anti-depressant pills. A bottle never opened. Kaelyn popped the cap and took two pills, awaiting the sense of numbness that would soon wash over her.

----

The rain that had been incessant since the day before finally cleared up as the dark clouds soon turned white and then dispersed to reveal a dark blue, autumn sky. The sun was very still strong, and it began to warm up the college campus.

Katrina stood in front of her athletic locker, watching herself carefully in a small mirror that hung on the inside of the door. Her hands worked to pull her bright blonde hair into a tight ponytail for minimal distraction during practice. So far, their team had been undefeated, and Katrina wasn't about to let that record be shattered.

But something was bugging her. Landon hadn't responded to any of her concerned texts from yesterday or that morning. She wanted to believe he was just busy, but this wasn't like him. Was everything okay with him? He hardly ever opened up to her about his personal problems. Maybe, if she told him how much she cared, he'd be a little more open. Yes, that's what she'd do. At any rate, she was still very concerned about him in general. For some reason, Katrina always felt insecure when she was around him, like she was never good enough, not pretty enough, not athletic enough, not funny enough.

Well she was going to prove that she was.

After doing a final check in her little mirror, Katrina calmly shut her locker and grabbed her gym bag that held her water bottle and some gear. As she turned to exit the locker room, she passed by Kaelyn. Katrina didn't say a word, but the brunette's presence made her skin crawl. Something was off about her today, but she couldn't quite tell what exactly it was.

Early as usual, Katrina took a seat on the bench on the side of the athletics field with a sigh. She took off her gym bag that had been hanging from her back and reached inside to grab her water bottle and her phone. After taking a few generous sips of water, she set the bottle down when her eye caught a notification flash across her phone's screen. It was a message from Landon, finally. It read simply: "I'm fine, sorry."

A wave of relief washed over the blonde. At least he was okay. She quickly typed back a response, "It's okay, I'm just glad you're okay. How about I come over tonight? :)"

As she locked her phone and stored it in her gym bag, a few of her teammates were beginning to show up, along with Coach Sanders. She stood up and joined them as they congregated on the center of the field, preparing to begin warm-ups.

Kaelyn ignored Katrina as she passed by her. Katrina wouldn't know it, but she wasn't the earliest one there. Kaelyn had been there two hours ago already doing pre-practice work-outs, she was just finishing up resting for the actual practice. After getting all suited up again, Kaelyn returned out onto the field to see the team gathering up for warm-ups. Simple stretches, and the opening jog. Then, they always began with an early sprint. Kaelyn usually finished in the middle of the pack because that's all she needed to do to avoid running again.

Today was different. The minute Coach Sanders blew the whistle, Kaelyn shifted into a gear that no one on the team knew she had. She flew by the 4th and 5th place girls, easily getting into third, then second. All that was in her way was Katrina. Kaelyn's focus intensified, and soon enough she easily passed her, smoking the entire team past the line.

All the girls didn't know how to react to seeing Kaelyn run that fast. Whether she had that in her the entire time or what. Kaelyn looked at Katrina with an eerily cold gaze.

"Why the wide eyes? You [i]actually[/i] thought you were faster than me?"

Katrina, panting, looked at Kaelyn in shock, partially because of her sudden burst in performance but mostly because of her malevolent glare. There was no emotion in her voice. It was like she was a robot. It was kinda scary.

Katrina wasn't the only one who noticed. The other girls on the soccer team whispered among themselves and wondered why she was acting like this all of a sudden.

"I saw her crying yesterday," one whispered. "Or maybe it was the rain... But she looked pretty shaken up."

"I wonder what her deal is," pondered another one with a slight tone of irritation.

Before Katrina could think of a response to Kaelyn, Coach Sanders stepped in.

"Good job, Kaelyn," she said with a small but cautious smile. "Keep up the good work and we'll smash the Panthers next week."

She then turned to face the rest of the team and blew her whistle loudly. "All right, let's get to our ball-handling drills!" she yelled in her stereotypical, harsh, female coach voice.

Keeping a close eye on Kaelyn, Katrina followed Coach's instructions and began the drills.

Kaelyn didn't reply to any of the comments she heard under the breath of the other girls. Instead she shot them all harsh glares. She simply nodded at the coach's comment and followed in line with the other girls into the drill. It was basic handling drills, knowing the positions to kick and cross over and do other sorts of maneuvers with the ball.

She didn't lose sight of the ball once, and never lost control. Her pace was almost perfect, and her footwork was flawless. Kaelyn kept her breathing calm and controlled and then at last the coach blew the whistle.

"Great job, some of you are still sloppy though. Kaelyn, that's more of what I like to see. Katrina, sharpen up. You're better than that!" Coach Sanders then broke up the team into two squads, one with Kaelyn as captain and Katrina as the other. They were going to go head to head.

Coach brought the ball to the middle of the field and Katrina's team would be starting with the ball. Kaelyn watched Katrina from the defensive side of the field, making sure she could see her piercing glare.

All she had to do now was wait for Katrina to fall into her hands.

Katrina stood with the soccer ball underneath her right foot and her arms crossed across her chest. Kaelyn's cyborg-like performance was not only unnatural but extremely infuriating. In reality, she wouldn't mind if anybody was better than her. She wasn't trying to be the best. She just wanted to do the best that she could, but in the shadow of Kaelyn now, Coach has been riding her ass nonstop.

"Is she trying to threaten me or something?" she breathed, irked, catching sight of the brunette's glare from across the entire field.

But Katrina knew she couldn't let her irritation turn into anger and get the better of her. Anger gave you power, but it is sloppy and difficult to control. She took a deep breath through her nose and slowly exhaled. No. She needed to stay calm. That was the key.

"Begin!" Coach Sanders's whistle blared.

Immediately, Katrina darted forward with the ball, her teammates behind her for support. A girl approached her to try to steal the ball, but Katrina quickly kicked the ball to the side to Jocelyn and attempted to find an open area where she had a clear shot of the goal. Before she got too excited, she looked around to make sure she knew where exactly Kaelyn was. For a moment, she was focused on Jocelyn, who quickly saw the opportunity to pass to Katrina.

The ball flew toward her and without giving it a second thought, she slammed it toward the goal. The goalie's gloved hands grazed the ball but couldn't stop it from landing inside the net.

The whistle blared again. "Good!" Coach bellowed. "Kaelyn's team, you have the ball now."

Kaelyn watched as Katrina streaked down field past some of their lesser skilled teammates. She watched as Jocelyn and Katrina worked together, she felt she had the right read and was ready to jump the pass but her shoe got caught in a divet in the ground. Katrina scored on the play. Kaelyn seethed and snatched the ball from one of her teammates fiercely. 

She kicked the ball to Lacey who played a more physical game like Kaelyn preferred. They worked it down the field, evading defenders and by being tougher with the ball. Kaelyn moved to a scoring position but Katrina was on top of her. It was time to see what Katrina was made of. Kaelyn got in close and started being rough with Katrina, lowering her shoulder into her. Hitting her arm away with hard elbows. Then Kaelyn held her arm up to signal Lacey for the pass. Kaelyn hip-checked Katrina viciously into the ground. She received the ball and it was just her and the goalie. An easy cross-over and the goal was in.

Kaelyn trotted over to Katrina. "Make yourself comfortable down there, that's where you're going to be all day."

Katrina looked up at Kaelyn, her eyes filled with confused rage. Her ankle throbbed slightly as she hadn't fallen correctly. "What the hell do you have against me?" she asked, trying to stand up.

"I have nothing against you. I'm just letting you know who's number one on this team. Get used to it." Kaelyn replied.

"It's a [i]team[/i]," Katrina replied, now shakily on her feet. "There is no number one player, just a number one team. Your being a bitch isn't exactly working out for cooperation."

She laughed. "Sounds like something a loser would say. You're not a loser, are you Katrina?"

Katrina narrowed her eyes. "I wouldn't care if I was."

"Yeah, I can tell. That goal was easier than your boyfriend last night." Kaelyn said with no emotion in her voice.

A deafening silence emerged between the two girls.

At first, Katrina didn't understand. Then she remembered. Their psych project... No... They didn't... They couldn't have...

Katrina's expression turned into one of surprise and confusion. "What are you trying to say?" she asked, her voice shaking. She was afraid of Kaelyn's answer would be.

The silence nor the stares bothered Kaelyn. She only watched as the realization slowly crept over Katrina's face. Kaelyn thought it would satisfy her... but she still felt as numb as before.

"Are you stupid? You know exactly what happened. He cheated on you, like I told you he would."

Katrina couldn't believe her ears. "You seduced my boyfriend?" she asked, disgusted.

"Hah. Seduced? Did you know he told me he loved me once? He wanted it, I wanted it. Nothing more to it. And he loved every second of it. I guess you just weren't enough."

It felt like Kaelyn had just stabbed her in the heart. The ache was nauseating.

Immediately, some teammates noticed their exchange and their tension quickly rising.

Jocelyn started to approach them. "Hey, Katrina, c'mon we should set up for--"

Katrina held out her hand to signal her to stop. "Shut up. This is personal now," she said, not breaking eye contact with the emotionless brunette.

"You're lying," she said to continue their dispute. "Landon never said that you. He would never cheat on me. He cares about me too much."

Kaelyn rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'm definitely lying. I mean, it's not like me and Landon had a project to do last night. It's not like he never came to your room last night. Odd, right? Hate to tell you, he did tell me he loved me once. But it was a long time ago so don't worry about it. He definitely cares about you, I'm surprised he hasn't told you already crying like a bitch when he cheated last night."

Kaelyn's voice was growing more and more painful and annoying to listen to. Finally, Katrina cracked.

"Just shut the fuck up!" she screamed suddenly, and, not resorting to a slap, sent her right first forward and punched Kaelyn square in the cheek.

The outburst caught Kaelyn off-guard even though it shouldn't have. She took Katrina's punch and held her hand to the stinging side of her cheek. But, the city-side of Kaelyn wasn't about to let that go unnoticed. 

Her head turned slowly back to Katrina, a death glare plastered on her face. She leaped at Katrina and tackled her to the ground, using her strength to pin her down. 

Immediately, Coach's whistle blew. "Skye! Fierro! Cut it out right now or you're both suspended from the team!"

Katrina glared up at Kaelyn who had her pinned against the turf. "I'll fucking kill you!" she seethed, resorting to everything she had left, which was biting her hand as hard as she could since both her hands were stuck behind her.

Kaelyn heard coach clear enough, but she cringed as Katrina bit her hand. Before she got up, Kaelyn landed a quick hit to Katrina's face to put her in her place.

She got off of Katrina and they were both pulled away from each other by teammates. Kaelyn broke free from Lacey and the others and went on her way to leave by herself. "Go fuck yourself, you stupid bitch. I hate you!" It was the most emotion that escaped from Kaelyn's mouth the entire day. Every word dripped with raw anger which no one knew where it came from.

Katrina too was being restrained by her teammates, glaring at Kaelyn as she insulted her for the last time and began to storm off. Her anger was still boiling though.

"I can't believe this!" she screamed, struggling to break free. After a few futile attempts, she finally broke down and began to sob. Only then did her other players reluctantly let her go. She feel to her knees and continued to bawl with her face in her gloved hands.

"I don't blame her," someone whispered. "That was completely uncalled for... Poor Katrina."

A few other nodded in agreement. Jocelyn knelt down and attempted to cosole her friend.

"Katrina, it's okay, I'm sure--"

"Don't touch me!" Katrina screamed, swatting her hand away. "Everybody just leave me alone!" She continued to sob on the field and her teammates stood hesitantly at a distance.

Coach Sanders rubbed her temples. "Drama," she muttered. "Now I've lost my two best players." She took a deep breath and blew her whistle again. "Katrina! You sit the next drill out. Everyone else, take five laps!"

The soccer players didn't complain. They glanced back at Katrina's shaking form before beginning their half-hearted laps. As the girls ran, Coach Sanders approached Katrina who was still in shambles.

"Why don't you head home," she told her in a calm voice. "You probably have some issues to sort out."

Katrina nodded with her head still down, but didn't say a word. Wiping her face, she stood up and walked dejectedly to grab her gym bag and walk off toward her dorm.

Kaelyn packed all her things and wandered back to her room. Everything had happened so fast and she didn't understand what she'd done. She felt bad for what she did to Katrina... It didn't make her feel any better to unleash all her anger on her. But yet, her numbness still controlled her actions.

She pulled out her phone and sent a short, sweet message to Landon. "She knows." Were the two words she sent.

Her body was shaking again as she entered her room. Emotions of guilt, sadness, anger, hate, betrayal, inadequacy started to cloud her mind again. Regret and loneliness stung the most. Kaelyn grabbed the bottle of pills. 

She took more than what is prescribed. Kaelyn gulped down four of them and felt lifeless as she crumpled down to the floor and just leaned her back against her dresser, staring at the wall with clouded eyes that veiled the despair underneath.