Losing isn't as much fun as winning. Even after hours of coaching and taking the first round, my team lost the final round of the day. It started off strong, we had a pretty solid strategy.

Joni stuck pretty close to the original plan, the only difference is that she made Moriah and Dariyah switch places. So now Dariyah was stuck guarding base. Which didn't sit well with her.

We spent the first ten minutes arguing about who should and should not stay at the base. Joni ended up throwing her hands up at the situation and let Dariyah, Moriah and I go off on our own while she stayed at base.

Which was a bad call. We had wasted too much time and didn't even make it halfway before the other team came upon us. We tried to defend as best as we could but their shadow caster grabbed the flag and dragged it through the shadows to their base.

It was over before it even started.

Dariyah blamed it on Joni, Joni blamed it on Dariyah. Things got ugly, almost a full-on fight. Coach had to rip them apart.

"Enough!" Coach called, pulling Dariyah back who tried to get in Joni's face again.

Dariyah yanked out of her grasp and glared at her.

"Take a lap, now!" Coach shouted at her.

Dariyah huffed but did as she was told.

"You," she pointed at Joni. "another quip from you, and you're out of here. Am I clear?"

"Yes coach," she clenched her jaw and looked away from everything.

"Now, which one of you wants to tell me what the hell happened in there?" she asks.

"Dariyah and Joni were arguing, we got ambushed." Moriah supplied.

"Wrong!"

We all flinched at her tone.

"There was no teamwork! None! You saw Dariyah and Joni arguing, what did you do to stop it?" She asks Moriah.

She looks away.

"Elsah? Jacky? Amaya? Emery, what did you do?" she turns to us.

We put our heads down.

"Yes they were fighting, but it's your job as a team to work together to come to a quick and satisfactory solution. Don't just give up and let it play out! Cut it off as soon as it starts. Not a single one of you stepped up and handled the situation." She said.

Well, when you put it that way.

"I said it at the start of this tryout if something affects one of us, it affects all of us. Now, Dariyah is the only one running a lap right now. Do you think that's fair?"

No one answered.

"What are you going to do to make it right!?" she clapped in our faces.

Joni sighed and was the first one to take off and start running her lap.

Soon the rest of us followed.

"Move it ladies!" she shouted at us.

Let me tell you, running in body armor, on a snowy track, is not fun.

At all.

It's on my lap that I see Cyrene watching from the sidelines. All bundled up and sipping a cup of hot coffee. She waves at me when we lock eyes. I sigh and keep running.

"So not fair right?" Joni slows down to jog next to me.

"I don't even want to be here," I pout.

She chuckles.

"I do have a girlfriend by the way," I say cautiously, I don't want to give the girl the wrong idea.

"Is it Dariyah?" she snorts in amusement.

"Ew!" I gag out loud.

She laughs.

"No! I'd never. I have some dignity." I say.

She laughs harder.

"It's her sister, Vega," I add.

"Ah, Vega." She nods.

"You know her?"

"I do. We used to be in the same class and all that. Our mothers are like best friends. We kind of grew up together. Before her mom married Dariyah's dad, then she got pretty distant after that. Only ever talking to me in school, always keeping the conversation short."

"Oh, well nice to meet you. Kind of." I say.

"Back at you, kind of." She teases.

I giggle.

"What's so funny ladies!?" Coach calls.

We both sigh and put some distance between us.

By the time I finish, I'm out of breath.

"So, how's it going?" Cyrene asks, walking over to me doubled over trying to breathe.

"I..." I suck in air. "hate you."

She chuckles.

"She's not you, that's for sure." Coach walks up to Cyrene.

"Is anyone a me?"

"Point taken." She shrugs.

"Told you she could make it at least a day," Cyrene says.

"Fine, you win." Coach sighs.

"What?" I ask.

"You can go, Emery," Coach says.

"Really?" I say in confusion.

"I was never going to add you onto the team. This was just a trust and team-building exercise. Cyrene's idea actually."

"What!?"

"I just wanted you to learn co-operation and team building. In life, we don't always get to work with people we like. But we still have to find a way to make it work and do what we can to be the best team player we can be." Coach explains.

"I know you don't want to work with Lorelei, so I thought maybe some team-building wouldn't hurt. Forcing you to trust people you don't like to achieve a common goal. Do you understand?" Cyrene asks.

"You could have just told me that! I'm tired, and hungry, and cranky." I pout.

They both laugh.

"I'd never force someone to join the team who didn't want to be here, but if you ever reconsider magic siege, I'm always open to options," Coach says.

"Don't hold your breath," I eye her.

She pats my helmet.

"Alright ladies, bring it in. Here are the first cuts!" Coach shouts.

Everyone eyes her nervously.

She calls out some names, nothing major until she says the last name, Dariyah Ross.

"What!? But, But..."

"Hit the showers, if I didn't call your name I expect to see you here bright and early tomorrow!" coach says.

Joni made the cut, but Dariyah didn't.

"Coach wait," Dariyah jogs up to her.

"Decisions are final," Coach says sternly.

"But that's not fair! I try out every year, why won't you give me a chance!?"

"I told you already Dariyah, your kind of magic isn't very useful or helpful. Physical confrontation and violence will only give us penalties in the game. Blood Casters are just not meant to play magic siege."

"How can you say that!? You're a blood caster yourself. It's not fair!"

"You can try again next year if you like, but I don't foresee myself changing my mind any time soon." Coach walks off.

Ouch.

Dariyah slams her fist into an ice pillar, cracking it. Blood seeps out of her knuckles. Tears fill her eyes and she quickly runs off. I stare after her.

"Geez, someone is dramatic," Cyrene says.

"I'll catch up with you later," I shrug her off and run after Dariyah.

I find her crouched down behind some lockers in the locker room, silently sobbing into her knees. Most of the girls have cleared out already.

"You okay?" I ask.

"Go away!" she shouts.

"There is always next year," I try and cheer her up.

"No there isn't! There is no next year, or maybe next time because no one needs me! My magic is useless. No one takes me seriously. I'm nothing but a joke to people. Argh!" she attempts to rip her hair out.

I kneel down next to her and pull her hands away so she'll stop hurting herself.

She finally looks up at me then, tears streaming down her red and blotchy face.

"You're not useless. Just because you're different doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Maybe it's just not your time yet. One day I'm sure people will see your worth." I say.

She shakes her head no, completely defeated.

I sit down next to her and bring my own knees to my chest.

"Why are you trying to be nice to me?" she asks.

I shrug.

"Just go away," she turns away from me.

"Maybe I don't understand but you can tell me about it if you want." I offer.

She sniffles and rests her chin on her knees.

"You don't have to, but I am just going to sit here until you stop crying." I shrug.

"You're annoying." She grumbles.

"I know," I sigh.

She smiles.

I smile back at her.

She sighs before saying, "It started when I was little."

I lean in closer, engaged in the conversation.

"My dislike for blood magic. My dad was one of the best healers around. Well known for his work as a blood caster. He took me under his wing early on, happy I took after his blood caster genes. Before I even got to middle school, I was basically a pro at healing magic. Then my mom got sick. Some stupid rare caster cancer. It affected her energy and drained her life force fast. My dad did everything he could to save her, everyone came to her aid. All the best of the best blood casters around. But in the end, we still lost her." She stares off into the distance.

"I'm sorry," I say.

"I decided then and there I didn't want to waste my time on healing magic anymore. I hate it. I don't want to be just like all the other stupid blood casters. So I started experimenting with my own magic, testing my limits. Found out you don't need to cut open your veins to use blood magic, you could use the blood while it is still inside of you. Vega and her Mom never approved of my work, always criticizing me and saying there was something wrong with me. It wasn't just them either, kids at school, teachers, coaches, people I looked to for help and support, all spat at me and turned their backs on me. What I'm doing is seen as silly, dangerous, reckless, ignorant, violent. No one takes it as a serious form of magic, they call it play magic. For hobbies and entertainment. It wasn't until Vega caught me trapped in my own spell that she started taking me seriously."

"What happened?" I ask.

"I was creating a new spell, from scratch. I wanted the spell to enhance my leg muscles so I could jump really high. It was stupid, I had this dream of being a superhero. Anyway, I ended up causing the muscles in my legs to explode in a sense, I couldn't even walk for like almost a year. My dad had to do special healing sessions on me. Everyone was really mad at me. But not Vega, I think she saw how serious I was about all this then. She started helping me and supporting me after that. We got really close. Sometimes I feel like she's all I have. Without her, I'm all alone in this world." She says.

"That sounds crazy, why would you do that to yourself?"

"I don't know! I was stupid and naive. I didn't think about what could go wrong." She defends herself.

"uh yeah, you could have caused your own heart to stop."

"Whatever! The point is, I've been in this uphill battle ever since. I've even taken my proposal to the council to take my form of magic seriously and consider it an acknowledged sub-class of blood magic. It got denied, twice. All they see it as is some silly play magic that encourages violence. They said if this magic were to take off in the world, all they could foresee it doing is causing lots of violence and starting wars in outsider affairs. Creating super soldiers and whatnot. In their words, there is no practical use for such a violent form of magic." She finishes.

"That's sort of harsh," I say.

"What if they are right? What if I've wasted all these years developing this magic for nothing?"

"I don't believe that at all!" I say passionately.

She turns to me in surprise.

"Sure it has its violent side, but there are two sides to everything. You could use it to lift buildings and save earthquake victims. You could use it to stop bullets from hitting your organs. Or! You could even use it for uh... I don't know! But I'm sure it has its practical uses."

She laughs.

"I am not that smart." I sigh.

"You don't say," she playfully punches me in the arm.

"Ow."

"You're still a moron, but I appreciate it." She says.

"Don't give up because people don't understand you. Who knows, maybe you'll change blood caster history." I shrug.

"Yeah," she says, fired up now.

"Yeah!" I declare.

She gets up and outstretches her spike-gloved hand at me. I take it and she hoists me off the floor. To my surprise, she hugs me. I yelp, my body tenses up.

"Thank you," she says genuinely. "But if you tell Vega I hugged you, I'll deny everything."

"Noted." I pat her on the back.

"And this doesn't mean I'll be nice to you from now on either, you're still annoying."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I sigh.

She squeezes me hard before finally letting go. We share one last smile before she sighs and goes to change out of her body armor.

"I'm starving," I also go change.

"Me too," she pouts.

"Want to go grab some brunch?" I offer.

"Sure," I can practically hear the eye roll in her tone.

But she said yes, and that's a win. Maybe Cyrene is on to something with this whole team-building thing. Maybe I've been too hard and judgmental of people. Turns out Dariyah is a big softy after all, a big softy with rough edges and violent tendencies, but a big softy nonetheless.

Maybe I should give Lorelei another chance. I mean at the end of the day she hasn't done anything but be a good overprotective girlfriend. Sure, she gets jealous and catty and has an attitude problem, but that doesn't make her a bad person. Maybe I judged her too quickly.

Maybe, just maybe, we might be able to get along if I put in the effort.

Maybe.