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A habit of Joanna's happened to be taking longer than necessary in the locker room to get ready for practice. She rarely ever got out onto the field before stretches started, and once skipped warm ups entirely. Considering this was just the fourth practice, it was a safe bet assuming Joanna's routine hadn't changed.

Rosalie pretended she needed something from her locker across the school before heading for the locker room that day. She walked slow the entire way, and purposefully forgot her locker combination so that opening it would take longer. Ray was on the bench lacing up her cleats by the time Rosalie had her shirt off and bra straps looped down.

Rosalie tugged her sports bra on over it before unclasping her usual bra.

"Supergirl?" Joanna's voice sounded not far away. Rosalie looked to the end of her row of lockers, and found Joanna leant up against the concrete column, grinning. She nodded her chin down, and Rosalie and Ray's eyes dropped to the edge of Rosalie's boy shorts.

"I told you—I like Lena," she said.

"You... told her," Ray repeated, skeptically.

"What? Lena Luthor is a perfect human being," Rosalie argued, and Ray's eyebrows shot up to her hairline. "Objectively speaking," she added, flinging her bra into the locker. She tugged on her cutoff shirt as Ray shook her head and stood up.

"It's like I don't even know you," Ray said, walking away. "Obviously you and Kara are related."

She glanced over her shoulder at Rosalie, who laughed while Joanna lowered onto the bench and began tugging on her shin pads. "See you on the field, slowpoke," Ray said.

"Whatever," Rosalie said, smiling.

Joanna watched after Ray before turning back to Rosalie. She waited until the locker room door shut, echoing in the silence. "So, Miss Punctuality, running late, are we?"

"I just wanted to make sure you're acclimating to the team," Rosalie said, and it came out fast enough for anyone to know that it was rehearsed. Rosalie masked her wince behind her hair as she leant down to grab her shin pads and socks.

"Sure am, Rosie," Joanna said, clapping her hands on her thighs. "And you know what? I call bullshit. What do you want?"

"You want the blatant truth, or for me to sugar coat it?"

"I kind of like the sugar coat option. Be sweet on me," she cooed, and Rosalie pursed her lips and willed her blush to fade.

"Fine. I was wondering if you've made any friends in class? I noticed you hang out with the football guys a lot," Rosalie said, sitting down and forcing herself to maintain eye contact.

Joanna's eye twitched, and Rosalie noted it from her cheekbone piercings. Her eyes were a caramel brown, but they darkened in the shadow of her furrowed brow. "I guess. Why, you jealous, Captain?"

"Depends. Have you made any girl friends?"

Joanna leant back with an impressed smile, licking her teeth before turning her devilish grin back to Rosalie. "I heard gossip's just wild around Bradshaw. Know of any girls crushing on me, Rosie?"

Rosalie shrugged. "Maybe. Depends if you're crushing on them."

"I'm crushing on all of them. Maybe one in particular," she said, kicking a leg up and wrapping her arms around it. She settled her chin on her knee and dropped her eyes low to where Rosalie was rolling up her socks.

It took far too long for Rosalie to see where this was going. Her hand hesitated on her calve, heart stopping painfully fast like breaking at a red light. When Joanna lifted her eyes back up to meet Rosalie's, her smile fell.

"Oh," Joanna said. She straightened up as Rosalie kicked back into gear.

"Me?!" she cried, snapping her sock over her knee.

Joanna got to her feet, that stoic expression back as she put a hand to her ponytail. "That was—" She halted, and turned back with a sharp, calculated glare. "You were totally flirting with me."

Rosalie could have laughed. "I don't flirt."

"Right, Miss Goody-Two-Shoes, too busy with your nose in your books to think about it, huh? No wonder the guys all call you Virgin Lips."

The anger was palpable and visible in Rosalie's face, turning red from both the embarrassment of Joanna using the name and the fury from knowing what the football guys call her. Joanna snapped her mouth shut and shook her head.

"I'm—God, that was a bad joke. I'm sorry," she said, and if it weren't for all the offhanded comments Rosalie heard the past several days, she would have assumed that this was no different. However, she caught the hitch in Joanna's voice and hesitated. "I told them it was shitty to call you that. Virginity and first-kisses are just a social construct made by the patriarchy."

"Wait—what?" Rosalie said, surprised by her own laughter. "And—Oh my God, Joanna, you're the reason I've never been kissed before. You punched Lennie Pittmen before he could kiss me!"

"Yeah, 'cause he was a hormonal dick who needed his face punched!" Joanna said, exasperated. "Sorry you haven't been able to get some since. I mean, come on, blaming me for that?"

Rosalie snapped her laces too tight and stood up to face Joanna. She had a good few inches on Joanna—The Devil was just a compact version of raw angst, and Joanna's short stature attested to that.

"The reason I was asking—" she started, voice clipped. She balled up her fists at her sides. "—was because I hoped you might put some effort for the team if I helped you score a date with your crush."

"That—" Joanna started, eyes flitting between Rosalie's. Rosalie's gaze narrowed into a scowl the farther Joanna's smile stretched, returning to her smug face. "Yeah. I'd take you up on that, Captain. When's the date?"

Rosalie opened her mouth, expecting to explain herself further, but stopped short. She clamped her mouth shut, and her shock just made Joanna all the more eager.

"I—" Rosalie started, leaning back on her heels. "I don't—"

"Didn't think that far ahead, did ya?" Joanna said, voice low as she winked one perfect cat eye at Rosalie. "Don't worry, I've gotchya covered. Leave it all to me—"

"No, wait—" Rosalie started, and struggled to get her brain working. Joanna crossed her arms, waiting patiently with that provoking grin. "How do I know you'll hold up your end?"

"You don't. That's what so exciting about it," she said, clapping her hands and rubbing them together diabolically.

"Then after Regionals," Rosalie said, and Joanna's smile instantly dropped. "And only if we get to Nationals. Deal?"

She slumped forward with a groan. "That's so far away!"

Rosalie grinned, and she felt like she was embracing her inner Joanna. So this was what it felt like to be cocky. "But you're confident we can get there?" she said, and Joanna gave her a dull look.

Joanna shrugged uselessly and said, looking at the lockers, "I mean, I guess. Yeah, we can give it a shot."

"No, it can't just be a shot. We need to at least make it to the first Nationals game. If we lose first game, I'm okay with that," Rosalie insisted, wishing she could shake the sense into Joanna. Instead, she got a bored, blank stare. "Honestly, Joanna, this is all I've ever wanted since I got to Bradshaw. This is my last year to get it. Besides, it'll be fun. We'll go to Regionals together... go to waterparks during tournament games... that party I may or may not have promised the team..."

Joanna pursed her lips, and studied Rosalie a moment longer. Rosalie took her silence as Joanna's moment to consider, so she turned to close her locker and tie up her hair. She stuck a bobby-pin between her teeth as she did so, only to have it plucked out of her mouth. She glanced over at Joanna, who jabbed it at Rosalie's shoulder before pinning her with a hard, concentrated stare.

"And afterwards? I'm taking you out, alright?" she promised. She raised her eyebrows when she got no reaction other than shock from Rosalie. Rosalie nodded quickly. Joanna slapped the bobby-pin into Rosalie's Marceline The Vampire Queen-bandaged hand. "It'll be the best fucking date ever, Mason—mark my words."

"Okay," Rosalie all but squeaked, and watched Joanna turn on her heels and storm off. A moment later, she burst through the locker room doors, and left Rosalie to contemplate what the hell she just got herself into.

***

Practice... improved.

If no one being able to score a goal was an improvement.

Rosalie found herself at the edge of the touchline after Maguire waved her over. She panted, rubbing a hand over her forehead. The scrimmage went on without her, and the sounds of the girls passing the ball cut through the grass behind her. She narrowly missed dodging it.

"I'm glad you weren't exaggerating. Seems like she never really did quit soccer," Maguire said, gesturing towards the goal.

Rosalie turned to look, leaning an elbow back on the wall. Joanna was in the penalty box, looking flushed from exertion, but no less tired. The fun of Joanna joking around was over, and from the look on Brynn's face, some of the girls weren't happy to have Jade's permanent position replaced.

"Our first league match is with the Taft Memorial Highlanders," Maguire said. "I'm thinking if Joanna keeps this up, we should save her for a tougher team."

"She'll keep it up," Rosalie promised, and despite how constrained her chest felt, she crossed her arms. She couldn't meet Maguire's eyes. "I made a deal with her."

"So that's what took you so long to get to warm ups," Coach said, and Rosalie could hear the smile in her voice. "Well, whatever it is, I'm sure you know what you're doing. I'm glad you were able to bring her onto the team."

Rosalie glanced over her shoulder at Coach to make sure she was being serious. Maguire smiled at her, and pride swelled in her chest. She straightened up. "Thanks," she said.

She merged back onto the court with the others, and slipped into the game as though she'd never left it. Over the years Rosalie became the top scorer on the team ever since alum Heather Watts left for Houston, Texas. She wasn't captain for that, necessarily, but it certainly played a factor in the respect she gained from the other teammates. As a kid she antagonized the opposing goalies in her mind, and she forgot what that was like before Joanna.

Ray kicked the ball back to Rosalie from over the penalty box corner. She kicked it up at a sharp, narrow angle to the closest corner of the goal, over Joanna's head. Joanna lunged for it, though, gloves in the air. The ball ricocheted off of them and sent it soaring over to Juliana Lane.

Juliana curved the ball back to towards the opposite end of the field, dribbling it cross-field and over the midfield line. She struck it at Jade, who saved it with a sharp dive through the grass, kicking it towards the edge of the field. Rosalie hesitated among her defenders, and looked back at Joanna, who responded with an obscure finger-gun (the gloves sort of got in the way).

Rosalie would have smiled had she been less exhausted.

Due to the difficulties with Joanna now actually putting effort in, the team left discouraged that evening, and late due to Coach refusing to let them leave without scoring at least once on Joanna. They gave up the scrimmage to practice taking shots, practically ganging up on Joanna until exhaustion made her cave.

The boys soccer team walked back to the locker rooms a full half hour before the girls team because of it, and Rosalie caught Lennie's eye and wondered if they all looked like death from the boys' team's perspective.

It was then that sophomore striker Erin McAllister faked a narrow shot to the near corner and kicked a wide arc to the back of the goal. As soon as the ball hit the net, Erin fell face-first in the grass and Brynn leaned down to give her a congratulatory pat.

The walk of shame back to the locker room ended with Rosalie walking in stride with Joanna, who tore the velcro straps off her gloves and tucked them under one sweaty armpit to free her hair.

"Now you know why I hate putting effort in during practice."

"I don't think you hate it," Rosalie confessed. "Besides, this just means we all get to improve. and get to your level."

"Oh? And what level would that be, my Captain?" she said with a flourish.

Rosalie shook her head, grinning. "I don't know, if I'm being honest. I don't even think Adams High has a goalie better than you."

"You flatter me, my Captain," Joanna said, grunting as they arrived at the top of the hill. She stretched her arms back and hollered, "I'm sick of trying—!"

"Mood," Brynn muttered as she lumbered past, shoulders slumped. She stopped to hold the door for them, and as Joanna walked by, she said, "I honestly think I hate you right now. It won't last, but right now? I really hate you."

"This isn't the worst outcome," Joanna said.

The response was so needlessly ominous that Rosalie felt a shiver run down her spine, and she stopped to make sure Brynn was okay as Joanna went ahead to the locker room. Brynn had a hand on her head and one over her heart, and said, breathlessly, "I mean, I don't think I've ever seen a goalie do that before. And we aren't a terrible team?"

"I know, I know—"

"Maybe we were just... having a bad day?" Brynn offered, and Rosalie shrugged. She couldn't admit that, but the least she could do was give Brynn a pat on the back for doing her best.

In the locker room, everyone was congratulating Erin on saving them from further suffering. Rosalie clapped the scrawny girl on the shoulder before departing for her locker.

Rosalie kept her phone in her locker during practice, and pulled it out to a message sent by Sami thirty minutes ago saying that he was unable to hang around the school any longer since his mom needed to borrow his car. "I could hear Ray's screams of frustration from the top of the hill," he added, and Rosalie showed the text to Ray.

"Damn straight he could. My vocal chords are impeccable," she said with a snap of her tank top.

Rosalie shook her head to herself as she found the arm holes in her shirt and tugged the collar overhead. She shook her hair out and flipped it back, narrowly missing Joanna, who had walked up in the process.

"All pretenses aside, was that what you were looking for?" she asked, leaning her shoulder against the locker beside Ray's. Ray looked between them, suddenly intrigued.

Rosalie cleared her throat after getting a closer look at Joanna's mused, post-workout hair. There was a kink where her hair tie used to be, which gave it the false appearance of waves.

I can't believe I agreed to date this girl, she thought, and then in a panic, I can't believe I agreed to date a GIRL.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's what I was looking for," she said, and Joanna's smile was back.

Joanna walked forward and clapped Rosalie on the shoulder along her way out. "Good. Pleasure doin' business with ya, Rosie," she said, and saluted her with a wink before disappearing around the corner.

Rosalie schooled her expression so that when she turned back to Ray, all Ray saw was an impassive face and a what-can-you-do? shrug.

All through Rosalie's day of making a deal with The Devil, Sami had his own plans in the making. As Rosalie walked through the vacant Bradshaw lunch room, Sami was back at home convincing his parents that they hadn't gone with with Jenn Mason in ages. Rosalie got the confirmation text as she sat on the curb waiting for her mother to pick her up. She settled back on one hand, grinning down at Sami's text.

___

SAMI: Party on for Friday night! Parents are taking Jenn out clubbing.
And by clubbing I mean one of those wine-and-hookah painting things. Mom's making plans with a college buddy out in Baltimore for them to stay the night.

ROSALIE: You're kidding.

SAMI: Call me the genius because that's what I aaaam.
Swim team all knows. No drinking, just clean fun in your hot tub.

ROSALIE: Yeah, "clean", perv.
I know that saucy Woodrow Preece can't keep his hands to himself

SAMI: Even better ;)
How was practice?

ROSALIE: Just got out. Waiting for Ma to pick me up off the curb.

SAMI: I'm stuck in the car running errands with Mom :T I feel. Wanna join? Bet I could convince her to stop by Bradshaw

___

She thought about how difficult it was to get her deal with Joanna out of her head, and how impossible it would be to keep that from Sami. She couldn't imagine what he'd think of her, suddenly planning her first date with a girl when she spent her entire life content in heteronormativity. The ease of it and the complexity of her life in general made questioning her sexuality more of a third thought than a second one.

And with Joanna of all people, she thought, still boiling at the repercussions Joanna's stunt made on Rosalie's life.

Joanna's right, though. I did sort of succumb to the Virgin Lips thing without a second thought, she thought, about to bite her thumbnail when she stopped short at the bandaid still wrapped around her finger. She began picking at the edge of it when she heard a motor ride up.

A pair of wheels stopped just in front of Rosalie. She jumped, and looked up sharply to find none other than the girl on her mind sitting on a—

"Is that a vespa?" Rosalie squeaked, and Joanna looked down at it as though just as surprised.

"Oh, this? Yeah—Lieutenant Colonel Spencer isn't a fan of motorcycles, so vespa it was," Joanna said with a sort of "Tada!" display of her hands. Rosalie hesitated at the title, and then at the last name, and pieced it together as Joanna's father.

"Oh. Still cool though," Rosalie said.

"You need a ride or something?" she asked, and just then the courtyard lunchroom doors opened to the sound of the stragglers on their team. Joanna looked back at them, but Rosalie was too focused on the banana yellow vespa.

"Uh, no thanks. My mom's picking me up. Eventually," she added with a mutter.

"Killer," she said, and saluted Rosalie before taking off. The silver side mirrors glinted in the evening light, and Rosalie watched as they disappeared around the corner of Bradshaw and out onto the boulevard.

Her teammates approached from behind, and Juliana stopped beside Rosalie, brown oxfords teetering on the edge of the curb. She lifted her sunglasses up, squinting after Joanna's vespa.

"You two besties now or something?" Juliana said, and behind her, Brynn whined.

"Aw! I was kinda hoping for first dibs!" she cried, and Juliana snapped her elbow back into Brynn's boob. The silver-haired girl immediately crumbled with a scream, collapsing on the concrete by Rosalie.

Juliana skipped off the curb and twirled in the middle of the road with a singsong, "Oops!" while Brynn hissed, out of breath, "Get back here bitch! So I can maim you!"

Lu walked out from behind Rosalie and came to sit beside her on the curb. She was a blue-haired, too-edgy-for-Rosalie-to-fully-understand type of girl. She had a plethora of bracelets over her hands that slipped down when she reached out to point to Rosalie's bandage.

"What happened there? I noticed it at practice," she said, and Rosalie freed the edge of the