I had completely intended to sleep in and stay all warm and cozy cuddled up with Vega. I mean, it sounded like a good plan. Classes were over, I didn't have to start training until lunch. Just me and Vega, in the silence of my room, being cute together. Really, what could be better?

Sadly, even the best of plans go array. Bright and very, very, very early. Almost too early for even the sun, I hear my bedroom door creak open. I try to ignore her, being half asleep it was easy to do. But then I felt this looming presence over me, which I knew couldn't be Vega because she was curled up next to me. A looming presence I was very familiar with.

I cracked open one eye and Dariyah was inches from my face.

I flinched in surprise.

"What are you doing?" I grumbled a complaint.

She smirked at me before cracking her knuckles. My body tensed up in response. Then, as if I weighed less than a feather, she jerked me out of my bed and flung me over her shoulder.

"Ah! Dariyah! What are you doing!?" I repeated, now very much wide awake.

"You and I have a date with tryouts." She said.

"No!" I whine and struggle in her grasp.

Vega groaned a complaint and rolled over in bed. No help at all.

"Put me down! I'm not going!"

"Coach said if I could get you there, she'd actually take my tryout seriously." She proceeds to carry me out of my room in my pj's.

"Vega!" I shout for her.

"You'll be fine," she grumbled half asleep.

"Vega!"

"She knows of my plan, and approves." Dariyah boasted as she carried me to the elevator.

"You two are so dead!" I screamed as the elevator doors closed.

"Oh, stop whining, you'll never make it on the team. You just have to endure for a few hours and make me look good." She finally set me down.

I angrily punch her in the arm as hard as I can. She barely flinches. I glare at her. Worse than waking up early in the morning, is being forced to get up to do something you really don't want to do. I can't think of anything more evil in this world. Honest.

"I'm going to let that slide but touch me again and it's your face. I don't care what Vega says." She threatens.

"You're the worst." I snap at her.

"Thank you, I do try." She pretends to toss her hair.

I pout, on the verge of frustration tears. All I want to do is go lay back down and cuddle with my treacherous girlfriend. My bed is warm and soft, and cozy. And tryouts are out in the snow, and I don't even have shoes on! Ugh!

"You'll live," Dariyah says to me as she forces me to walk with her to the gym.

I have to cross my arms and borrow someone's rain boots by the door to walk to the gym. It's so early the sky is still mostly purple and dark blue. My teeth start chattering halfway there.

When we get to the Gym coach smirks in satisfaction at my very distraught and grumpy presence. She checks my name off her list. I look around and see a bunch of other tired girls getting dressed out for tryouts.

"I don't even know anything about this stupid game," I say as I get changed into the body armor uniform.

"That's because you," Dariyah pauses to put on her boots. "are a moron."

"I hate you."

"Ah, thank you, your hate fuels my will to live."

Ugh!

At least under all these layers of body armor and clothes, I am much warmer now. Coach grabs a helmet and slaps it on my head. I glare at her, crossing my arms in defiance. The rest of the girls also grab helmets with numbers on them, coach writes what number they are next to their names.

"Alright ladies, we are going to run a few drills, before going up against the boys. Even if you don't make the cut, we still have a jr varsity team that has many open spots."

One girl yawns and blinks her eyes, still trying to wake up.

"Dariyah, give Emery a quick rundown, the rest of you, out in the field for some stretches," Coach says.

"I can just teleport away you know," I say to coach.

"If you do that, I will automatically put you on the team." She threatens back.

"Ugh!"

She laughs before walking out.

"This is kidnapping!" I shout after her.

Dariyah snorts in amusement.

I plop down on the bench with a huff, turning my glare onto Dariyah.

"Alright listen up," she begins. "There are two main divisions in Magic Siege. Our division is the upper one. This means anyone from the four pillars is allowed on the team. Teams are made up of several different Casters, mostly elemental Casters. You'll never find Psy Casters, Blood Casters, Wild Casters, Lingual Casters, or Necro Casters on a team. It's just not common because they can't really do much to help. Which is why I need you here, me trying out is basically a joke to everyone. No one wants a blood caster on their team, but I want to show the world there is more to blood magic than just healing." She explains.

I raise an eyebrow at her, relaxing a bit in my seat.

"Caster's that can teleport, like Shadow Casters, or in your case Star Casters, are very vital to a team. There isn't a single team out there that doesn't have at least one person who can teleport. Time Casters are also a hot commodity, time casters love to try out because it's really the only place they can use their powers without being ridiculed or reprimanded."

"I didn't know you knew any big words," I tease.

"Focus or I'll punch your lights out," she threatens.

I pout.

"This is an all-inclusive sport meaning anyone of any gender is welcome to try out and make the team. It's good to have variety in people because there are some things girls can do that guys can't and vice versa. Although there are some schools out there that continue to try and prove that point wrong with all boys or girls teams. They never make it to the playoffs. The point of this sport is to work seamlessly with your team to capture the opponent's flag and bring it back to base. There are three rounds. Round one is a full team round, you have 45 minutes to complete the match. If no one is in home territory with the opposing flag there is an overtime addition of 15 minutes, you can go into overtime 3 times before they call it a draw. In round two you pick four players to go head to head in a team battle match. The goal is to deplete the opposing team's magic and or trick them in order to get their flag off of home plate. You don't have to bring their flag back to home base, just take them off home plate to win. The last round is a direct one-on-one showdown between two casters. You have to knock the other player out of the square in order to win. Or get the other player to concede. This is where the teleporters come in handy. Usually, you don't want to use up too much magic in round one, because round two is always up in the air. We don't know who will be in round two until teams are announced after round 1. Whoever is going to be in round 3 is usually held out of round 2."

"Geez, it's too early for all this," I complain.

"Do you have it or do I need to knock a few brain cells into you," she slams her fist into her hand.

"I have it, geez," I grumble.

"Good now let's go." She quickly exits out of the locker room.

I follow.

"So, your blood magic is looked down upon?" I ask her as we quickly walk in the snow onto the field.

"Something like that, more like people think I'm a joke. They think that the field of blood magic I want to develop is stupid and not very useful for anything but violence. But they're wrong." She says sure of herself.

I eye her, sometimes I wonder what goes on in the thick skull of hers. One minute she's being a bully, the next she's crying and running away from her stepmom, now she's determined to prove the world wrong about blood magic. What a roller coaster.

"Alright ladies, in these tryouts it's boys versus girls. Now I don't mean to add any pressure but I and the other coach bet on this every year and I haven't lost once. I bet a lot of money this year and I intend to collect. If I lose this bet, each of you will have to find a way to make it up to me this upcoming semester. Am I clear?"

"That doesn't seem fair," I grumble.

"If you are serious about being a team player it's perfectly fair, what affects one of us, affects all of us." She walks in front of me.

"But I'm not serious." I point out.

"You will be," she gives me a knowing smirk.

I glare at her.

"As you can see we are in a snow-covered field. This is perfect for practice because, in the game, you never know what your field will look like until you get there. My assistant coach is here to help make things even more difficult for you." She indicates to a short and stout lady who yawns before cracking her neck and having a glyph appear in front of her. Then she shoots out ice beams.

I yelp and duck along with several other girls. When the ice beams hit the ground large ice spikes and glaciers shot out of the ground turning the field into a maze.

"Awesome," Dariyah says, she seems to be the only one excited about this.

"I'm going to divide you all into two teams, then after we run a few drills I'll make the first cuts. Those who survive to the next rounds will stay longer for more training and be prepped to face against the boys. This is a sport of strategy and skill. You must use your head. Those who make the cut today will come back tomorrow for more practice and the showdown with the boys. Sunday we will announce the results of the tryouts."

Okay so basically I have to make a fool out of myself all morning and I'll be off scott free. Easy peasy. I mean, that's like my specialty.

"Okay, I want everyone to mingle and get to know your new teammates for a bit. Teamwork makes the dream work!" Coach clasps at us.

Before I can walk away coach says, "Ellison, front and center."

I pout but drag my feet through the snow over to her.

"Yes?" I ask.

"It's come to my attention that you need some motivation to start taking this seriously."

"You don't say?" I roll my eyes.

"Well, I have a few things I think will help get you motivated to take this seriously."

"Like?" I say skeptically.

"Well, for starters, if you take this seriously and actually try I'll go easy on you for the rest of the semester, and even exempt you from a test."

"Is that even legal?" I ask.

"Still not convinced, how about this, show me what you got or I'll assign you to clean up crew after P.E. meaning you'll have to clean lockers, toilets, and wash laundry after every class. For the rest of the semester."

"You can't do that!"

"Oh but I can, and if you don't take this seriously, I will personally recommend Cyrene start running drills with you as a way to further develop your skills and powers."

"Hey!"

"And as a last resort I'm even willing to take away your family visitation and winter break to personally train you myself, I'll say I see great promise in you and think I can whip you into shape. After all, I did already whip one Star Caster into shape, I'm sure I can handle another." She says smugly.

"That's not fair!"

"It is, all I'm asking is for you to take this seriously. That doesn't mean you'll make the team. We have two shadow Caster trying out who could easily take that spot too. You show me you actually put effort into this, and I'll lay off of you for a while, even give you a glowing review to the task force."

I sigh.

"Who knows, you might actually like it. Now go meet your team." She slaps me on the back and pushes me towards everyone.

I stumble forward and sigh before walking over to a large group of girls. They all quickly disperse when they see me. I frown. I turn to another group and have similar results. When the crowd clears out of my way, I see I'm not the only one having trouble making friends.

Dariyah is glaring at the ground, her fist clenched, her jaw set. No one is around her.

I watch her try and approach this girl who makes a face at her and quickly walks off.

Ouch.

I walk over to her and stand next to her, sighing and crossing my arms again. She looks at me. I look at her.

Looks like we are stuck with each other.

Oh, joy.

She outstretched her gloved hand towards me, I eye it. On the glove that comes with the body armor is also her usual spiked gloved. So, she's wearing gloves over her gloves. Spiky gloves aren't very welcoming, but I take her hand and shake.

Even if she did get me into this, she's my best chance of getting out of this.

"Alright, bring it in." Coach calls.

We all shuffle over to her.

"Team one, Ellison, Ross, Tharpe, Porter, Gutierrez, and Brea."

I glance around at my new team. They all eye me and Dariyah.

"Team two, Braxton, Shape, Anderson, Herne, Winslow, and Garcia. Spread into groups, and talk amongst yourselves, get to know each other's strengths and weaknesses." She says.

My group cognates around me.

"I'm Elsah Brea, a ground caster." She's tall, broad shoulders, built like a tank. If I tried to push her over, I'd slide and fall in the snow.

"Amaya Gutierrez, Strato Caster." She's pretty, one of those girls who looks like they are always laughing. Very confident in herself, carefree attitude.

"Moriah Porter, Fire Caster." She looks so serious. Kind of scary looking. Reminds me of Bastion. Cold eyes, a stern look on her face, a burning fire of passion inside of her.

"Joni Tharpe, Reality Caster." Wow, talk about impressive. I didn't even know there was a reality Caster that was a student here. She looks very cautious, elegant even. Very much a stick to her guns kind of girl. She has pink hair, but it doesn't look childish or immature on her, somehow it works. Making her green eyes really pop.

"Dariyah Ross, Blood Caster."

"Emery Ellison, Star Caster," I sigh.

"Well, it looks like we have the makings of a winning team if I don't say so myself," Joni says.

"What exactly can you do to help us win?" Elsah asks Dariyah.

"Allow me to show you," Dariyah says.

Two glyphs appear around Dariyah's arms and her whole arms start glowing red. Then she turns to me and smirks.

"Dariyah no," I say.

She picks me up and lifts me over her head, high into the air.

"Ah! Put me down!" I scream.

"Well..." Joni looks impressed. "We can definitely work with that."

Dariyah toss me into the snow and I get winded.

"Ugh," I stare up at the sky as the lavenders turn a warm orange color.

This is going to be a nightmare, I let my head fall back into the snow with a heavy sigh.