...“Whooo I’m amped now! Let’s go Harry!” Luke called standing up. Harry stood up quietly. He rolled the sleeves of his hoodie up, and rearanged his red hat before taking to the field. Luke rushed down and leaped onto the field. 

“He’s gonna tire himself out before he can even fight.” Lauren giggled. I laughed and nodded. He’d always been so energetic but nothing  makes him more excited then watching someone else fight. 

“Can we start Stevenson??” Luke yelled, ashy smoke began pouring off of his body.

“Whenever you’re ready.” Mr. Stevenson said gesturing for them to begin.

“Alright Harry! Here I come!” Luke roared, he rose both hands and turned them clockwise. Two portals appeared on either side of Harry’s head. “Let him have it Benny!” Luke called. Benny’s fists extended from the portals throwing punch after punch. Harry effortlessly dodged each one, barely leaning back, but escaping every blow. He then took a deep breath and rose a fist. He opened his hand, then clenched it quickly. A metal coating expanded from his hand, turning his skin to a shiny metal. Harry used Metal magic, A combination of what I would assume to be Earth and Lightning. This spell was something new he’d developed on his own. I’d seen very few magic users apply the element onto their own body. I sat forward, intrigued. Benny threw out another punch, colliding with his metal target, there was a loud *clang* we all winced, as Benny shook his hand and retreated back through the portal, forcing it shut. 

“Oh come on now!” Luke yelled. “You’re gonna take a little damage, then just cower back into your portal?? Ya big baby.” He crossed his arms. Luke then turned his attention to Harry, who had begun walking slowly toward Luke. “Heyyyy buddy...” Luke smiled as Harry stood about two feet away from him. Harry cocked his fist back, and let it fly toward Luke’s face. Quickly Luke snapped. A portal opened and a chain shot out of it wrapping around Harry’s right wrist. Harry looked up and examined the chain. A second portal opened to Luke’s left. He reached in and grabbed the chain, pulling on it. This was a defensive ability Luke had learned a while back. Satans Shackles  Summoned chains from the underworld and allowed Luke to catch his enemies. Harry struggled against the chains. “Oh come on Harry you’re never gonna break fre-“ Luke was cut off by the metal of the chains groaning. The weight of Harry was pulling the chain links apart. “Holy shit man.” Luke muttered. Luke quickly put all his weight into the chain he was holding, leaned back, then released the chain, it fired back into his portal and popped out the other side whipping Harry in the back, Harry stumbled forward. Luke cocked his right arm back. He was about to use Satans Blow a physical attack that borrowed satans fist. Luke’s fist enlarged into a red, fiery demon hand, a shroud of smoke blasted out from behind his elbow as he drove the fist forward, contacting with Harry’s face.

“Pfft. Not like a physical attack would hurt him.” Caleb scoffed. “Did that buffoon not see his demon couldn’t damage him?” 

“Look!” Lauren squealed standing up and pointing. The metal that covered Harry’s face had melted away, his face was back to normal, but metal still covered his body. 

“The heat from the fist must’ve melted the metal as it contacted Harry.” April muttered. 

“Whoooo!” Luke yelled shaking his demon hand. “That stung a little.” He laughed. “Why not just cover back up big guy?” Luke asked gesturing to Harry’s face. Then he smirked. “Uh oooh... someone overestimated his mana controlll.” Luke teased. Harry gritted his teeth and threw a punch with his left hand, Luke’s demon hand, caught the punch. Luke twisted Harry’s wrist, Harry fell to a knee, writhing in pain as metal melted from his fist. 

“That’s quite enough Baker.” Mr. Stevenson called. Luke sighed, his hand returned to normal and he pulled Harry up. 

“You good?” Luke asked. Harry nodded before returning to his seat. Luke looked up in the stands and made eye contact with Caleb. “Still want some of this, glow stick!?” He called extending his arms outward. 

“How does he still have so much energy??” Lauren asked. 

“Luke’s great at mana control for some reason.” I answered shrugging. 

“He’s incredible.” April marveled. 

“Weeeeell.” I muttered as Luke made his way to the stands. 

“Stevenson, next time I’m fighting you.” Luke said stretching. 

“If we did that I would kill you.” Mr. Stevenson muttered jotting something down on a clip board. 

“Aaaalright.” Luke said sitting down on my right. 

“And lastly.” Mr. Stevenson called. April shot up quickly. 

“Let’s do this!” She called excitedly. 

“Yeah come on!” Lauren called from her spot down on the field. April looked down at where Lauren had been sitting, confused. 

“She uses lightning magic.” I said smiling. “Good luuuck.” April smiled and made her way down to the field. 

“Ok girls.” Mr. Stevenson said. “Whenever you’re ready.” Lauren smirked, her heels crackled with electricity, and she bolted forward. April rose a hand. It burst into flames, and she slammed it to the ground. A large circle of fire wrapped around April. Lauren came to a screeching halt just outside the flames. Slowly, the circle expanded outward. Lauren’s eyes widened as she stepped backward. The fire continued outward. 

“Alright then...” Lauren muttered. She glanced around and turned to her right. Electricity bursted from her feet as she took off toward the wall. Suddenly she changed direction, upward. She ran her way up the wall, and kicked off the wall. She flew over the wall of fire as it expanded to the edge of the arena. April looked up and smiled. She snapped, and a flame appeared at the tip of her pointer finger. She turned her hand into a finger gun and pointed upward. She pushed her thumb forward and a flame fired from finger. Lauren winced as the flame clipped the side of her arm. She grunted and hurdled toward the ground. She fell at April’s feet. April put her right foot on Lauren’s back and pointed the finger gun toward her.

“Game over.” April whispered. 

“Very good ladies.” Mr. Stevenson said as he jotted down the results and Lauren and April made their way back to us. “Alright. Thank you all for your time.” Mr. Stevenson started. “I know we do this from time to time just for fun, but this time it was a bit more serious.” I rose a brow. “In a few weeks you all will participate in your ‘graduation cermonial battle’ as it were.” Mr. Stevenson explained. 

“What does that mean?” I asked. 

“It means that other schools who are also going through graduation at the same time will be facing off against each of you, the winner will be awarded a Magi certification. This training excersize was meant for me to gauge your abilities so I can tailor future training accordingly.” I nodded, understanding. “I know you all celebrate after training days, so I apologize for setting a heavy tone, but it’s more important that you know.” Luke put a hand on Mr. Stevenson’s shoulder. 

“No worries Stevenson, were your students so it’s impossible for us to lose in this...”

“Graduation ceremony?” I finished. 

“Yeah that.” Luke said pointing to me. Mr. Stevenson laughed. 

“I hope that to be true, but you six aren’t the only powerful student Magi. Other schools have top students as well, some with magic you’ve never seen.” Mr. Stevenson said quietly. 

“We’ll do fine.” Harry said crossing his arms. Mr. Stevenson nodded.

“I hope so. Let’s return to class.” Mr. Stevenson turned to the door, and led us out. I was quiet on the walk back, I was still feeling the effects of my battle. I yawned. 

“Hey!” April called catching up to me. I turned to her. 

“Hey.” I responded. 

“Soooo Luke...” she muttered. “You guys live together?”

“Well. Yeah but it’s not like... it’s no- we’re siblings.” I finally said. April laughed. 

“You guys don’t act very similar.” April laughed nervously.

“Well... were not related by blood.” I started. “His parents died when he was ten  so my dad took him in. He’s lived with us here ever since.” I explained. 

“And your dad... he’s the headmaster correct?” April asked. I nodded. 

“Why don’t you come to the party tonight?” I said. “It would probably do ya some good to socialize with the rest of the class instead of just me and Luke.” I said. 

“Party?” She asked.

“Well, as Mr. Stevenson said after practical exams, like this one everyone comes over to me and Luke’s dorm and we celebrate, it’s just a little tradition we have.” I explained. April smiled. 

“Sure, sounds like fun.” She said. 

“Alright, six o’clock.” I said pointing to her. April nodded as we entered the classroom, and grabbed our things. 

“Ok class. Have a good weekend and I’ll see you on Monday.” Mr. Stevenson waved to us as he exited the room. 

“Let’s go.” I said walking over to Luke’s desk. 

“Woah someone’s in a rush.” He joked. “What’s up with you.” 

“We still have to clean up from last night. And we should probably dissinfect your side of the room first too...” I said smiling. Luke rolled his eyes and stood up. 

“See you guys ‘round six.” He announced waving. We exited the room and made our way downstairs then outside. 

“The transfer seem a little off to you?” I asked. Luke turned to me and rose a brow. 

“What? No she seemed nice.” He said. 

“That’s just because she has a weird obsession with your magic.” I returned.

“It’s not weird, my Magic’s awesome.”

“Wow.”

“You think it’s not?” 

“I mean, it’s ok.” I said shrugging. Luke narrowed his eyes at me. “I don’t know she just seems off.” I said. 

“You’re just jealous of how she used her magic.” Luke teased. “I mean she played Lauren like a fiddle.” 

“It wasn’t that impressive.” I rolled my eyes. Luke rose a brow. 

“Plus she might take your place for hottest girl in our class.” Luke joked. 

“Aw you think I’m hot, I’m flattered!” I returned, punching his arm. Luke opened the door and we walked into the dorm building. We made our way up the stairs and into our room. 

“Wow this place really is a shit show.” Luke muttered. Empty Chinese containers littered the floor. I breathed in and coughed. 

“This whole place smells like someone dumped scotch into a Chinese restaurants dumpster...” I gagged. Luke laughed starting to pick some of the garbage up. “... and Harry.” I said quietly. Luke turned to me. “... it seemed like you went a little far today...” I muttered. 

“What do you mean??”

“You almost broke his hand Luke!” I yelled. He rolled his eyes at me. 

“We were fighting I wanted to win!” He argued.

“Luke he’s like your best friend!”

“Which is why I can’t let him slack off on training Sabrina!”

“Oh come on you know how you get when you fight.”

“What’s that supposed to mean??”

“You’re not always in control!!” I yelled. Luke stopped and stared at me. Our dorm fell silent. “Luke I’m-“ Luke rose his hand, cutting me off.

“Let’s just clean. We’ve only got a few hours...” Luke said turning away from me. I took a deep breath. Luke was a good guy, he really was But whenever he fought he often forgot where the line was. I’d seen it before when we trained, and a few times Mr. Stevenson had to step in. I don’t think Luke had murderous tendencies he just jumped into everything a hundred percent, often without thinking. I felt bad for bringing something like that up now this close to graduation, and on the day where we’re supposed to be celebrating... but he needed to hear it. 

“All done over here.” Luke said sitting back on his bed. What?? He was done already? I wasn’t even done and my side was far less messy. I turned to him, putting a hand on my hip. 

“You can’t just throw Benny all your trash.” I said. 

“Why not?? He loves left over food garbage!” Luke argued. “He eats the paper and everything.” I cocked my head. 

“Does he really eat garbage.” I asked, Luke nodded. 

“He’s like a goat and it’s amazing.” Luke said crossing his arms. I laughed, at least He got over criticism easily. I turned around and finished cleaning my side of the room. As Luke moved to the kitchen. It was a small section to the left of the room, it only had a tiny stove top, microwave, and refrigerator. “What should I make for tonight?” Luke asked. I turned to him. Yes, Luke cooked most of our meals, I’ve tried to cook in the past but I am definitely not a chef. “If you say anything Chinese I will throw up.” He said clutching his stomach. I laughed and shook my head. 

“We don’t need anything big.” I said. 

“Alright I’m goin with pizzas.” Luke said reaching for the flour. 

“Kay’ that’s the opposite of what I said.” I said sarcastically. 

“Exactly.” Luke teased, winking at me. I rolled my eyes. 

“Don’t make them too big.” I huffed…