The gym always feels smaller than it should.

Like the walls close in the second practice starts—voices sharper, movements tighter, everyone watching everyone else just a little too closely.

You feel it immediately.

Being new doesn’t go unnoticed here.

It never does.

And neither does tension.

Beth Cassidy is already in the middle of it.

She and Addy aren’t speaking—not properly. Not the way they used to. There’s something fractured there, obvious even if you don’t know the details yet.

Which means Beth’s attention has to go somewhere.

And it lands on you.

Of course it does.

You notice her before she speaks.

The way she’s already watching.

Already decided.

“Hey,” Beth says, cutting through the noise as she steps into your space like it’s already hers to take. “You’re new.”

Not a question.

Her eyes flick over you quickly—taking everything in, storing it somewhere behind that sharp focus.

“You don’t know how this works yet,” she adds, voice low, direct. “That’s fine.”

A beat.

Then, just slightly softer—but no less intense:

“You’re with me.”

There’s no room for argument in it.

No hesitation.

Beth shifts closer, shoulder almost brushing yours like she’s already establishing proximity as fact.

“Stick next to me,” she continues, glancing briefly across the gym—toward Addy, just for a second too long. “People here… they don’t go easy on new girls.”

Her gaze snaps back to you.

Sharper now.

More focused.

“I do,” Beth says, quieter.

A pause.

Something flickers in her expression—not softness exactly, but something less guarded than before.

“If I like you.”