(winnie's outfit for this part of the chapter)

The next football game was coming up and Winnie was honestly a bit nervous. She got hurt at the last football game. Despite the fact she got hurt, she still thought the game was a success since she scored the winning touchdown. She had sprained her ankle during the football game that happened a few days ago and even though her ankle still did hurt she was more than able to play the game so she decided to pretend it didn't hurt. However, she knew that wouldn't last because her best friend could read her like an open book which is sometimes a good thing but in this case she thought it was a bad thing. Because that meant Stick could tell she was in pain with just one look. 

"Okay, Coach, moving on to item three, I've found something I think will really help the team."

Currently Winnie was with Stick at Coach's house since Stick had some ideas to help out the team. She wasn't really for sure why she needed to be there, but Stick said he needed some moral support so here she was. Winnie sat at the left end of the couch, watching with raised eyebrows as Victor went through the many sport magazines that were on the coffee table. Stick stood by them, looking at a iPad he held.

Winnie had her right leg outstretched, her ankle resting on a pillow that's on the coffee table. She doesn't see the point of having to do this since she can walk and it doesn't really hurt that bad, but Stick insisted that she did that, mainly to cease his worries about her. Ever since she got hurt, Stick has been non stop worrying about her and taking care of her. She thought it was sweet at first, but lately it was starting to get annoying. She didn't tell that to Stick though because she didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"Stick, for the last time, I don't care what kind of new detergent you're using or how soft you were able to make the jerseys." Victor said.

Stick shrugs. "With all due respect, you don't wear the jerseys." 

"Yeah, thanks to Stick the jerseys are a lot better than they once wore." Winnie chimed in, smiling back at Stick when he smiled brightly at her. 

Stick picks up a head scratcher off the table, and sits besides Victor, looking at him with a smile. "Check this out. This could really help the players relax when they're no on the field. You have to try it."

Victor leans away. "No."

"Coach, come on." Winnie rolls her eyes. "It's not bad. In fact, it's amazing." She smiles and Victor glances at her with confusion. She nods, sheepishly smiling. "Yeah, I already tried it." She tilts her head to the side. "Why won't you try it?" 

"Because first of all...I said so. Second of all, I'm breaking in a new cap, I steamed it this morning to get the right shape," As Victor rambles, Winnie locks eyes with Stick, pointing at him to gesture for him to use the head scratcher on Victor. "And now I'm supposed to wear it for ten hour-" He nods and smiles, using the head scratcher on Victor which stopped the man from continuing his sentence. "Wow. That feels great."

"Right? And that's through a cap. Imagine it directly on your scalp." Stick said.

"I already have." Victor admits. He takes the headscratcher from Stick. "This is mine now." Winnie giggled a bit as Victor set the head scratcher on the table and continued looking through the magazines.

"Okay, moving on to item four." Stick continues. "I've been running some numbers, and-" Stick pauses, furrowing his eyebrows when he noticed Victor looking through the magazines. "What's with the magazines?"

Victor puts a hand on his shoulder. "Research?" He stood, walking over to the counter.

Winnie raises her eyebrows. "Research for what?" She shakes her head and crosses her arms. "You can't just leave us with that and continue on with your day." 

"Sports Illustrated wants to interview me for a piece about high school football." Victor replies in an excited tone. "They're coming to the game on Friday."

"I thought you don't talk to reporters ever since that..." After Victor sent him a look, Stick quickly changes what he was going to say. "Thing that we don't mention happened." 

"I'm not scared to talk about it." Victor picks up some magazines off the counter, looking nervous. "I missed a field goal. I lost my confidence. I was called a loser by every sports reporter in North America." Winnie and Stick exchange a glance and they both knew they were thinking the same thing, that Victor was in fact scared to talk about what happened. They both look back at Victor when his voice cracks as he sits down on a nearby chair. "I'm fine, we're fine, everybody's fine."

Stick smiles at him with amusement while Winnie remarks, "Sure, you defintely seem like someone who's fine."

"Don't forget about that hilarious supercut of all your tantrums..." Stick grins and Victor sent him an annoyed look. Stick quickly shakes his head. "Which I have never seen."

"An article about me coaching a successful team can change everything." Victor smiles. "And the best part? Kids everywhere will see that you can overcame any adversity."

"Also, one positive article could change your top hit on Google." Stick added.

Victor nods, looking surprised. "Huh. I hadn't thought of that."

Winnie glances over at the door when it opens and she smiles upon seeing Ashley and Brooke. "Hi, guys." 

"Hi, Nini." Brooke greeted with a smile and Winnie smiled back at her.

"Wanna see something cool?" Stick inquired in a hopeful tone.

Brooke sits down on the chair across from where Victor sat. "Nobody cares about how soft you can get the jerseys, Stick."

Stick looks at her with hurt. "Hurtful."

Winnie scoffs at what Brooke said and she raises her hand. "I care 'cause I'm one of the ones who have to wear them." 

Stick smiles brightly at her. "Thank you, Winnie." Winnie nodded, lowering her hand and smiled back at him.

"That reminds me, tio Victor," Ashley sits on the couch beside Winnie after she closed the front door. "I looked into it, and if three additional outlets link to the article, it'll totally change your top hit on Google."

Winnie and Stick look over at Victor with raised eyebrows and Victor looks embarrassed. "I don't remember asking about that, but it's good to know." 

"Now, can I show you this cool non-jersey thing?" Stick questions. When Victor nodded and set the magazine he held on a nearby table, Stick moves to kneel beside him. "I've been running analytics on the team's performance. Turns out Tad plays well whenever he has what he calls his 'lucky headband'. See, he lost it for these games. When he found it again, his completion percentage spiked."

"Stick, this is amazing." Victor smiled.

"Yep." Stick agrees and moves to sit back down on the couch. "We're practically guaranteed to win as long as he has that headband." 

As if on cue, Tad runs onto the back porch, standing at the open back door and he looked panicked. Everyone turns to look at him with surprise. "I lost my lucky headband." He walks into the room. "I'm head. I'll lose everything; my shot at college, the respect of my peers, my father's conditional love." Winnie frowned and she looked at her friend with sympathy. She felt bad for him. She's not for sure if she believes in his headband being lucky, but she knows she believes that he is a great player no matter what happens. 

Victor stands up, grabbing the head scratcher. He offers it to Tad. "Try this." 

Tad furrows his eyebrows. "Seriously, Coach, that's not gonna help me at all...." His voice trailed off and he completely relaxed when Victor use the head scratcher on him. 

"Alright, that's enough for you." Victor takes the head scratcher off Tad's head. "You're gonna dull the scratchy bits." Tad then began searching for his headband throughout the house.

"Hey, guys, this is ridiculous. Tad's talent has nothing to do with this stretch piece of terry cloth." Ashley comments. "Actually, the entire concept of superstition has absolutely no scientific basis whatsoever." 

Victor points at her. "Tell that to Michael Jordan. He wore his Tar Heel shorts under his uniform during every Bulls game."

"Correlation does not equal causation." Ashley argued.

"Six championships rings, Ash!" Six!" Victor exclaimed.

Tad smiles when he found his headband in his back pants pocket. "I found her!" He pulls out the headband. "Bandy. I thought you were gone. You were just hiding in my ketchup pocket."

Ashely sits back down on the couch, glancing at Tad with furrowed eyebrows. "You keep ketchup packets in your pocket?"

Tad glances at her, Brooke, and Winnie. "I don't have a purse like you guys."

Winnie smiles at him with amusement. "He has a point."

Brooke grimaces as she looks at Tad's headband. "Bandy's looking a little...What's the word? Yuck."

"Do you ever clean that thing?" Ashley inquired.

Tad scoffs. "And wash away all the luck? Clearly, you don't understand how luck works." He sat down on the armchair of the couch near where Ashley sat. Everyone was doing their own thing until Victor stood and looked surprised, gaining everyone's attention.

"Oh."

"What is it?" Ashley asked him.

"The writer from SI just emailed me. They're bringing a camera crew to the game to film the interview." 

Ashley smiles, then she looks at her uncle with confusion when he started walking away. "Where are you going?"

Victor stops walking, looking back at her with a grin. "To get a facial for my on-camera interview." 

"The game's not for two days." Ashley reminded him.

Victor scoffs. "You don't get a facial on the day of an event." He laughs. "Have I taught you nothing?" 

Brooke nods. "He's not wrong."

****

(winnie's outfit for this part of the chapter)

For the next two days Winnie and Stick ignored each other. And the times that they were together, they were arguing. Sure, they argued before but usually it was just over silly and stupid stuff. This was like an actual argument, one where they both looked upset with each other and were raising their voice at each other. Brooke never saw them do either of those things. It was currently the day before the day of the game when Brooke finally had enough of it. 

Winnie scoffs, putting one hand on her hip. "Do you think I'm not a good enough player to play at the game this Friday? Is that why you don't want me to play?"

Stick's eyes widen. "No, that's not what I said!" He closes his eyes and pinches he bridge of his nose since he was starting to get frustrated. "Look," He opens his eyes, sighing heavily. "Despite the fact you say you're not hurt you clearly are still hurting and I don't want you to get hurt worse if you play the game."

"You have to stop worrying about me so much." Winnie tells him and in a sassy tone she said, "My doctor cleared me to play, so guess what? I'm playing."

"Sometimes I hate how stubborn you are." Stick muttered.

"Okay, what did I just walk into?" Brooke mumbled to herself, looking at her friends with concern. She was about to turn around and walk away when Winnie called out to her.

"Brooke!"

The blonde turns to face her friend and sighs heavily. "What?"

Winnie crosses her arms, slightly glaring at Stick. "Can you tell Stick that I only had a sprained ankle and that I'm good to play?"

Stick scoffs and turns to Brooke with annoyance on his face. "Can you tell Winnie that I think she's making a stupid decision if she decides to play and that I don't want her to get hurt worse?"

Brooke groans in annoyance. "I'm sick of you guys fighting!" Then she noticed a supply closet nearby and she smirked when she got an idea. A janitor happened to be walking by and she quickly snuck the keys to the supply closet from him.

Winnie and Stick stare at her with confusion. "Today is the only day we've been fighting." Winnie commented.

"And you've only been here for, like, five seconds." Stick pointed out.

"I don't care! I'm still sick of it." Brooke mumbles. She smiles at her friends. "So, here's what I'm gonna do." She stands behind them after opening the supply closet door. She then pushes them towards the door, ignoring their protests. "I'm locking you in here until you both are friends again or better yet confess your underlying love for each other because one of those things need to happen today. Preferably the latter."

Winnie and Stick stared at her with surprise, both of their face heating up. They tried getting Brooke to stop, but she closed the door before they could get out. Their shoulders drop in defeat when they heard the door lock. Winnie sighs heavily, leaning against the wall and looks away from Stick, still upset from the argument. "Just great." She sarcastically commented.

"Looks like we're gonna be here for awhile." Stick muttered, leaning against the wall of across from Winnie.

A few minutes of awkward silence passed before Winnie speaks up. "I just wanna know why you don't think I'm good enough to play this game." She sighs, wrapping her arms around herself. "I know this game is important since Coach is getting interviewed and I think part of the game will be filmed, but I know that I can help the team win that game or at least help the team try to win."

"I know." Stick nods in agreement,. "I didn't say that you aren't good enough to play, you're more than good enough." Winnie glances at him with slight surprise. She knew he thought she was a good player, but after being mad at each other for a couple days her anxiety and insecurity got the better of her and she thought he didn't think that way about her. Stick frowns, lowering his crossed arms. "I'm sorry about everything lately. I didn't want us to be ignoring each other. I just didn't want you to get more hurt-And I still don't want you to get more hurt."

Winnie's face softens, feeling her heart flutter.  "I'm sorry too." She apologizes, looking at him with an apologetic smile. "I never meant for this to happen." A sheepish look forms on her face. "I was just got defensive 'cause I thought you were insulting my me, but I should've known you would never do that." She rubs the back of her neck, sheepishly smiling. "I realized I was a bit stressed for this game without even realizing it. So us ignoring each other and arguing is really my fault." 

"Let's just agree that it was both of our faults." Stick suggests, sending her a small smile. He didn't want to argue with her anymore. "Deal?" 

"Deal." Winnie nodded, smiling slightly and shaking his hand that was out reached towards him. 

With smiles on their faces, they stared at each other longer than they probably should, both of their faces turning a light shade of pink as their heart rate increased. After realizing they were now just holding hands they quickly pulled away, chuckling awkwardly as they avoided eye contact. 

"So, um, got any idea what Brooke meant?" Stick hesitantly asked. He knew exactly what Brooke meant, he wanted to see if maybe he could get a hint that she felt the same way before he got the courage to confess.

"Maybe." Winnie nervously said, biting her lower lip as she brought her nervous gaze to the ground. She couldn't believe she was even thinking about possibly confessing to him. Her mind was swarming with questions, her heartbeat still beating rapidly. What if she confessed and he didn't feel the same way? What if she confessed, asked him out, and he rejected her? What if he was completely disgusted by the thought of her liking romantically and never wanted to see her again?

Stick notices her quiet behavior, tilting his head to the side as concern fills his gaze. "Where'd you go?" Winnie glances at him with slight confusion, in response she hummed in a confused tone. "I know that look." Stick tells her, causing Winnie to sigh and her shoulders drop in defeat. "What are you worried about?"

"A lot." Winnie murmured. 

Stick chuckles lightly. "Thanks for the informative response." 

Winnie chuckles a bit, rolling her eyes playfully. "Okay, um," Nerves overtake her features again since she was planning on confessing soon. "You have to promise me you won't freak out when I tell you this."

Stick nods, looking her with reassurance that helped calm some of her nerves. "I promise."

Winnie takes a deep breath, her face a bright red color as she confesses, "I love you." Her nerves come rushing back as her anxiety skyrockets when he stayed silent and stared at her with an expression she couldn't read. She then starts to ramble nervously. "I-I'm pretty sure I always loved you. In a platonic way, of course. B-But it wasn't until recently did that change to romantically. And now that I said it and you're not saying anything I'm beyond scared I just ruined our friendship. So say anything." She begs, looking at him with pleading eyes. "Do something. 'Cause this silence and that look I can't decipher is kill-" 

While she was talking, Stick was walking over to her, stopping until he stood in front of her and cups both side of her face, interrupting Winnie's rambling with a kiss. A kiss that was way overdue. A surprised noise left Winnie's lips at the sudden kiss. She was quick to melt into the kiss though. Winnie had brought her hands up to hold onto his wrists, closing her eyes as she kissed him back. 

Stick then pulls away, too fast in Winnie's opinion, a dark shade of red was shown on his face along with a shy smile. He looks at her with nothing but adoration and love, gently rubbing his right thumb across her cheek. "If it wasn't obvious by that kiss, I love you too." He chuckles lightly. "In fact, I've been flirting with you for a long time now."

Winnie's eyes widen with surprise and she gasps. "Wait, you've been flirting with me?"

"I-I mean, not like verbally flirting with you." Stick stutters, smiling shyly. "Well, I tried doing that, but I failed miserably. So I settled with doing small gestures to show how much I like you, hoping that you would get the hint." 

A soft smile made its way to Winnie's lips. "That's sweet." She frowns, feeling guilty she never noticed those sweet little things he did like remembering her coffee order, pulling her chair out for her to sit at a table, etc, was his way of showing he loved her. She just thought he did those things because he was being a gentleman. "I wish I realized your feelings for me sooner and I'm sorry that it took me this long to find out."

"You have nothing to apologize." Stick reassures her. "If anything, I should apologize for not getting the guts to tell you sooner or realize your feelings for me." He shakes his head and smiles at her. "But we can forget about that stuff 'cause all that matters is that we know now."

"Yeah." Winnie agrees, letting go of his wrists to wrap her arms around his neck with a shy smile on her face. "So, Stick, would you like to be my boyfriend?"

"You have no idea how much I want to be your boyfriend." Stick immediately replied, earning a small giggle from Winnie.

"So, is that a yes?"

"Yes, a million times yes." Stick responded, his lips curling upwards when she giggled again and he leaned forward to silence her giggle with a kiss. 

"Yay, finally!" 

The kiss between Winnie and Stick was cut short because of the door that opened and then it was followed by Brooke's excited voice. They both pulled away from each other with shy smiles and red faces as they look at their friend who was beaming at them.

"It's about time you two got together." 

A/N ah!! winnie & stick finally confessed, yay :) i know its a bit early for them to confess, but i figured it works out good since there sadly arent many episodes in this show