Babe slung an arm around Henry's shoulders, a bit of a funny sight considering the height difference. "Told you." She said confidently, a huge grin on her face. "Speakin' of matches, Hawk, imma need t' talk to you after oractice, if you're free."
Henry leaned down so his shoulder was closer to her height. Hawk grinned at the girl. "Anytime, I'm available to talk. That goes for all you hooligans, now get back to the ice and give me seven laps, move!" The boys broke apart, laughing as they all headed back to the ice to give the coach what he asked for. Henry moved out from under Babe's arm, playfully pushing away from her to get his first momentum.
"Hey!" Babe righted herself fairly easily, turning as she skated past him to stick her tongue out. Then she was facing forward once again, only stumbling once thanks to her ankle. She was pretty sure it might have been bruised, but shoved it away to continue her laps.
"Babe is your ankle alright?" Henry recalled her fall, and he kept pace with her. He watched her ankle, noticing any tiny limp he could. The rink spun by as the two of them whipped around it, and Henry kept a close eye on her. Any kind of injury was bad, and he wasn't letting her fake being alright.
"Of course, why d'ya ask?" Babe looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. The only tell that she was lying, since she wasn't making a concentrated effort to stop it, was the twitch of her ear, visible with her hair braided back.
He caught a tiny flicker of motion outside of her gentle swaying with the ice, and decided he was pretty sure she was hurt. "Because, I saw you fall, and it looked like it was pretty hard. You should at least let it be looked at, it isn't good to just pretend you're fine." He got all serious, with the same tone he used around little kids that needed to share their crayons.
"If it starts hurting-" It was. "-I'll ice it when I get home. Stop worrying, Jacobs, and focus on your breathing." With that, Babe sped up a bit, trying to lose him.
He kept the pace, now certain. She wouldn't have sped up she were really all right, and he could tell she was favoring the ankle. "Coach, can you tell Babe to stop so we can get her some ice? She hit her ankle and isn't accepting help." The coach looked up from his clipboard, watched Babe for a moment, and then blew his whistle to call the team over.
Babe pulled to a stop, sending Henry a withering glare as she passed him. "Thanks, Jacobs." She drawled sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest. Soon they were loose again, unbraiding her hair for something to focus on instead of the looks she was getting.
"Anytime." He said it in a joking voice, but he was dead serious. If she was injured, she was going to have to learn to speak up. He unlaced his skates, and went to run for ice. "I'll get the ice, coach." His footsteps sounded steadily as he ran to the locker room where they kept a cooler perpetually filled with drinks and ice. He got a large chunk and headed back, enjoying the quiet of the dim halls.
Babe was immediately instructed to sit down, and she did so grumpily. "I'm fine." She insisted, taking off her skates. Hawk pointed to her socks, and she grumbled, removing those too. Her right ankle was visible swollen from twisting it, covered in splotchy bruises. "See, fine."
"You are obviously not fine. What the he**, Babe?" Hawk's voice was gruff, but the concern was evident in his voice. "You can't play injured."
"If I can't play injured, what kind of player am I?" Babe spat, an odd intensity on her face as she spoke words that sounded rehearsed and repeated many times.
Henry made his way back and handed Babe the ice, holding back a small gasp at the bruises. She'd been playing with those? They didn't look good, that was for sure. Hawk sighed and folded his arms. "The stubborn kind who would try to play injured, and get hurt. In the end, if you're hurt, the team's hurt. I though I taught you that." Henry swallowed hard, wondering if he should say something. Hawk said something first, though. "Boys, practice's over. One of you should get Babe home, did you drive or walk?" He questioned her.
Babe held Hawk's gaze, but eventually looked down. "Rico has the car." She muttered, pressing the ice to her ankle and choking back a gasp at the sharp pain. She'd sprained it pretty bad, that was for sure. "Don't stop practice 'cause of me, I'll walk back." She lived two miles away. She'd be fine.
"I drove." Henry said, wanting that to be perfectly clear. "I'll drive you home." Hawk nodded at him, then stood to grab his bag. Henry turned to Babe and waited for her to stand, while pulling his keys out of his pocket. "Where do you live?"
"A perfectly walk-able distance from the school." Babe shot back, standing and managing to walk back to wear she had left her own bag. She grabbed her shoes from the seat her bag was on, and paused, staring at them. After a moment, she shoved them in her bag and pulled out a clean shirt.
"Not with that ankle. We have practice tomorrow night, and you need to be as close as possible to 100% healthy. Don't make me carry you." It was a quiet threat, and he was entirely serious. He would make her go with him. While he waited for her, he slid on his shoes and grabbed a jacket, not bothering to put it on.
"I'll break your nose." Babe replied, slipping the clean shirt on over the one she was wearing. In less than a minute, she had the old one off and was shoving it in her bag, all without flashing anyone. She zipped her bag shut, and slung it over her shoulder, turning and starting towards the doors.
He waited a minute, surprised, before taking off after her. She was favoring her ankle, he could tell and he caught up to her shortly. He grabbed her wrist, pulling her to a stop. "Running isn't good for your ankle." He braced himself for anything she might try, getting ready to defend himself if necessary.
Babe froze, and almost frantically tugged her arm away from him. She turned to look at him, the panicked look quickly being covered by a sharp glare. "I can decide what's good for my ankle or not, Jacobs. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get home. I'm watching my brothers tonight."
"Then you need to get home faster. Just let me drive you!" He was confused by her stubbornness, but annoyed with himself for grabbing her arm. Her reaction had made him apologetic, and now he just wanted to help her.
"It's only two miles, I'll be fine." She said that word a lot, fine, even when it was obvious she wasn't, or when it seemed she wasn't quite sure what the word meant. Babe turned back around, pushing open one of the double doors and walking, bare foot, out into the parking lot.
"You won't be fine." Henry matched her pace, following her. "Put some shoes on." He wasn't going to let her walk, that much was for sure. "I'm serious, this parking lot is a mess. You'll probably step on glass and cut your foot, and then where will you be? At the emergency room, because that's where I'd take you."
"I'd put a band-aid on it and keep going." Babe said, refusing to look at him as she slowly made her way across the parking lot. "My shoes are heeled, and I'm not in the mood to walk that in them."
"Then let me drive you. Henry ran to get in front of her, blocking her as much as he could. "It's four minutes. I can have you home in four minutes, and you can put ice on the ankle. Why won't you accept my help?" He was borderline annoyed now, but still worried.
"I don't need help!" Babe exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "I can manage on my own. I'm a Nova, after all." As though that explained it. And to her, it did.