#none of the other yjs told their teammates they were going to be there btw

[sunbleachedlottielee]

Thinking about Laura Lee inviting her teammates to attend church with her before nationals, expecting not a single one to show (after all, why would they? She sees the way they roll their eyes and snicker when she suggests a pre-game prayer) but to her absolute delight, not one, not two — but four Yellowjackets show up to mass.

Lottie is the first to show up, and she’s not sure why she’s there to begin with. Raised Protestant and even then only nominally, religion has never exactly been her cup of tea, but Sunday morning she finds herself dressed and in the church parking lot before she knows what she's doing. Laura Lee nearly tackles her with a hug when she finds the lanky brunette milling about the vestibule nearly 30 minutes early; the deacon's daughter, Laura Lee eagerly reserved a pew in the front center for herself and any teammates that might show. Lottie feels increasingly at ease as the bubbly blonde gives her the rundown of what to expect, but when Laura Lee takes her hand halfway through mass for the recitation of Our Father, Lottie's heartbeat is so loud that she would've sworn it was ringing off the rafters.

Nat follows shortly thereafter, sheepishly ducking into the church and quickly crossing herself with holy water from the font. When she notices Lottie’s quirked eyebrow as she slides into the pew, she shrugs and explains “I was raised Catholic,” but doesn't add that she hasn't been since she was a child whose prayers for the violence to end went unanswered. Laura Lee’s quiet parish is much different than the boisterous Italian-American church she grew up in, but the rituals are the same regardless. She looks a little out of place in an old dress she borrowed from her mom and her leather jacket over it, and (what she considers to be) a touch of eyeliner but despite the judgmental looks of nearly everyone around her, she's entirely sober for mass. She does, however, line up for a taste of dry red communion wine even though she vaguely remembers something about needing confession first — it may be a sin, but she sees it as a well-deserved treat.

Shauna and Jackie arrive together (as always) with the stragglers only minutes before mass is supposed to start. They actually got there before Nat, but sat in the car for nearly 20 minutes because Jackie was dragging her feet about the whole ordeal. When pressed about why she even wants to go, Shauna says she has a renewed interest in the “tragic saints,” but she really just thinks it’s a good idea to double down on the latter half of pull n’ pray. Jackie eventually concedes when Shauna plays the God forbid we do something that I want to do for once card, and tries to make it seem like it was her idea to go in the name of "promoting team unity."

Jackie prays for Jeff to break up with her before she has to break up with him; Lottie prays that the butterflies in her stomach, born of forbidden feelings, will drop dead. Shauna, who still doesn't quite know how you're "supposed" to pray, steals secret glances of Jackie with her eyes squeezed tight, kneeling next to her in the pew, and feels a wretched pit of guilt opening in her stomach as she recalls just one of ten commandments: Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Laura Lee is the only one who prays that the team will win nationals, but even she knows the New Jersey state champion Yellowjackets don't need divine intervention to come out on top. After all, her biggest prayer of all had already been answered.