BR - Education

Not knowing what the word “posh” means has opened the door to Beth educating you about England. She’s not impressed when you already know all the European soccer terms. After dinner, you take a walk downtown where the nice stores are and resist the urge to buy each other things.

You’ve started to think about introducing Beth to your family, although it’s… a bit early for that. You aren’t going to do it tomorrow or anything, you’re just thinking about how to do it. You spend so much time together with FUTA on hold that it’s almost like living together, although your home changes each night. The city has lots of nice hotels, and you might as well see them all.

As you soak with her in your arms in a bubble bath, surrounded by chic string lights in a bathroom that’s bigger than your bedroom back home, you remember that you had something that you wanted to talk to her about. Her wet head rests against your chest with your arms snug around her. It’s not the best timing, but you don’t want to forget.

“Eliza and Meghan came to see me,” you tell her.

She perks up. “Who?”

“Uh, the White Team captain and the jacked blonde from Green Team. American.”

“Oh. What did they want?”

“They think that something weird is going on. They wanted me to like… spy on Annette.”

“Are you being funny?” Beth asks, turning her head to look at you worriedly.

“No. It was weird.”

“Weird,” Beth echoes, shaking her head and going back to resting. “What’s anyone got against Annette?”

“It’s something to do with those girls that left.”

“Oh. Jill. Hmm.” Beth touches her lips, looking thoughtful. “Are they worried about her? They shouldn’t be. She seemed like she could take care of herself.”

“Lara’s worried too.”

“Riley, you may not know this, but Lara… she gets up to things. She’s not normal. Let’s just leave it at that. I shouldn’t tell you her business. She’s odd. All right?”

You take that in. “So I take it, you don’t think I should help them out?”

“No! I don’t know Eliza, but I did see that Meghan at the Lodge with her hand in her coach’s dress.” Beth giggles. “Actually, it was a little exciting to see that. But you don’t know these people. It could be a trap.”

“A trap?”

“To weaken your team. Get you into trouble.”

“But they’re on different teams,” you remind her.

“It’s called a strategic alliance, love,” Beth tells you. “It’s not unheard of.”

Huh. You have heard people calling some of those girls “Army girls” and you aren’t sure what that’s about. Beth has a point. Trusting them would probably be a mistake.