In a sudden, unplanned, and strange turn of events, the public was allowed to come to the showcase. Meaning outsiders, non-casters, were allowed in masses into Belmore for the first time, maybe ever.

The school was on full alert, full guard. Caster escorts led them to the performance field and the bleachers were filled up. The non-casters were put in their own section. I actually get to see my mom and brother before our planned meeting time.

As I was walking over to say hi to them, I passed by Asherah who was in a noticeably foul mood.

"This is my school, I make the final decisions here! I haven't broken any laws or rules, so get out of my face!" she shouted at a council member.

"Easy Ashy, easy," Cyrene patted her on the back, comforting her.

"This isn't the last of this! As soon as this is over, we will be holding a meeting!" The council member stormed off.

"What's going on?" I couldn't help but take the small detour.

Asherah huffed, the flowers on her winter sweater dress puffing up even more. The flower was like these little white pompoms, far away you wouldn't even be able to tell it was a flower.

"Let's just say the council is not happy about Asherah's spur of the moment idea," Cyrene rubs Asherah's shoulder.

"Honestly, I am the headmaster, not them. How are they going to tell me how to do my job." Asherah fumes.

"Easy girl, easy, just forget about it for now. We need this to go as smoothly as possible to prove you right. Focus on one thing at a time." Cyrene urges.

Asherah takes a deep breath to decompress and her flowers puff back down to normal.

"Atta girl."

"You're right, I have other things to worry about right now," Asherah says.

"So... you two made up?" I can't help but ask.

Immediately Cyrene pulls away from Asherah, they both avert their gaze to anywhere but me, and they both blush. Way to make it obvious.

"Go enjoy the festivities Emery," Asherah pushes me along.

"Okay," I eye them before walking off.

Lots of vendors came out to sell cocoa and popcorn and other snacks, even some go Belmore shirts that are black with the purple school emblem on them.

"Em!" Alec ran over to me and tackled me in a hug.

"Ugh, you're crushing me." I cough.

He giggles and hugs me harder.

"Alright, let her breath please." Mom chuckles.

"I knew you missed me," I give him a nuggy.

He groans and swats my hand away, quickly fixing his hair.

"Come here, oh my beautiful girl." Mom embraced me.

"We got some Belmore shirts, got to represent," Alec said, holding his up.

I giggle and nuzzle into mom.

I've missed her warmth so much.

"Are you going to sit with us?" mom pulled back.

I nod.

"Where are your friends?" Alec asks.

"Oh, they are over there, upfront. One of my friends, Bastion, is actually in the show. He's the fire Caster. He was actually like the first person I met on campus."

"Awe, how sweet." Mom retakes her seat.

"You should have told them to come sit with us," Alec pouts.

"I didn't want to cause any commotion or make them uncomfortable." I eye the people around us, who eye me in my uniform.

All students were instructed to wear their formal wear and be on their best behavior. Any incidents will not be tolerated and will be punished to the highest degree. Or so the email said. Everyone for the most part followed the instructions and looks their best.

"Okay, I got popcorn, a blanket, and hot chocolate. All the essential girlfriend needs." Vega slides in next to me.

For a moment I am frozen in closeted gay panic.

"What?" she eyes me.

"Uh, Emery, who is this?" mom asks.

"Oh shoot, did I just..." Vega eyes me.

I nod in a panic.

"Er, I'm Emery's gal pal, her best bud, girlfriends, but not like girlfriends, just girls who are friends." She quickly tries to recover.

"Ugh," I facepalm.

Alec laughs.

"Uh, mom, Alec, meet Vega. My... Girlfriend." I say.

"As in..." mom trails off.

I nod.

"Oh." Is all she says.

"Emery has a girlfriend, who would have thought it was possible?" Alec pokes fun.

"Shut up, insect!" I punch him in the arm.

He laughs.

"Well, I'm happy for you. You are very pretty Vega." Mom says.

"Thank you," Vega smiles then looks at me and mouths a sorry.

I sigh.

"It's okay Emery, relax, although we are going to talk about this later." Mom rubs my shoulder.

Vega wraps the blanket around me and offers me coco.

"I'm sorry, forgive me, I didn't know." She whispers.

"It's fine, just had a heart attack, that's all." I whack her in the stomach.

She sighs in relief.

"I thought you were going to sit with Dariyah and the others," I say.

"No way, Dariyah always makes commentary and ruins it. Plus I wanted to meet your family."

"Well, it's nice to meet you too," Mom butts into our conversation.

"I can go get more coco if you guys want?" Vega offers.

"No, it's okay," Mom says.

I take my cup and sip the warm chocolate.

"So what kind of magic do you have?" Alec asks Vega.

"Mind magic, I can melt your brain!" she lashes out at him.

He flinches back.

She laughs.

I stomp on her foot to shut her up, that's when she notices all the dirty stares pointed in her direction.

"Just kidding, but I am a Psy Caster," Vega says.

"Oh, cool." Alec smiles.

I grab Vega's hand and she squeezes mine; I peck her on the cheek to comfort her. I can tell she's uncomfortable surrounded by all these non-casters.

Mom smiles at our little affection, which makes me blush in embarrassment.

All the snow was brushed off the field for the showcase they made sure to make everything look nice and pristine.

"So what's it like being a Caster?" Alec asks as we wait for the presentation to start.

"Stressful," I sigh. "So much work, so many books to read, ugh," I complain.

"And here I thought you might have changed and actually become a good student," mom sighs.

Vega giggles.

"Leave me alone," I pout.

"Mom says you can teleport now," Alec says.

"I totally can, so you better think twice before messing with me." I glare at him.

Everyone laughs.

"Please find your seats, the show is about to begin." An announcement is said.

"Nerissa says Bastion is so stressed out now, with all the extra eyes," Vega says.

"Hopefully we don't get another rouge dragon incident," I say.

"Emm," she hums in agreement.

"What incident?" mom asks.

"Nothing, just a practice run gone wrong. No one was hurt though." I say.

"You'll understand once you see the show," Vega says.

The lights dim for a moment before focusing on the field. Everyone goes quiet.

"Welcome all," Asherah walks out to the field holding a microphone.

"I am so happy to see so many members of our community here to partake in this Caster tradition. As promised, change is coming to Belmore, and I hope to host lots more events like this in the future. I am so glad so many of you have shown interest in us here at Belmore. The students and faculty here are of the utmost elite talent. We pride ourselves in ranking number one among other Caster schools. But enough about all of that, it's time to show you what you really came here for. A performance from one of our more popular student organizations. That takes magic and casts it in a new and beautiful light using their artistic talents. They have trained and practiced very hard to get ready for their competition season. You will all be the first to witness this season's showcase. Without further ado, I present, The Elementals." The lights flash off for a moment and Asherah quickly hurries off the field.

When the lights come back on there are four Casters standing on the field, each wearing a different colored outfit. Red for fire, blue for water, yellow for air, and green for ground. Three more Casters move to the very front of the field, almost where you can't see them. They are all in black outfits. Then they all cast the same spell and three glyphs appear that begin to play a loud and ferocious sounding music. The first sudden bang of a note, causes many in the crowd to flinch.

The first main Caster to cast a spell is the Air Caster. A huge wind dragon appears under them and they ride it up into the sky and all around the field, coming in close to the crowd, blowing hats off of heads.

"Wow!" the crowd gives audible cheers of amazement.

Then the ground rumbles and shakes and the next Caster casting a spell is a ground Caster. The ground moves up and down like a wave, or a worm crawling beneath the surface. The Caster jumps onto the wave, riding it like he is surfing. The ground splits open and out comes a dragon made of dirt and stone.

People clap and cheer.

We watch as the wind and ground dragon "fight" for power. The wind one unable to come close to the ground, the ground one unable to reach the sky. While we were distracted the two Casters in the middle started to do the dance. The fire dragon is the first to appear, quickly taking over the center stage while the other two dragons go into hiding. Then the water Dragon appears, large and menacing.

The music picks up in volume and tempo.

Several guard Casters come out also dressed in black and cast a force field around the performance, acting as if they were trapping the dragons in cages. The water and fire Dragon dance around each other, "ramming" the cage walls.

I can see the focus on Bastion's face, even from all the way up here. He knows there is no room for error.

It's impossible to look away from such an amazing sight.

The two dragons smash into each other and create a steam cloud where the air dragon reemerges. The ground dragon comes back and is able to break down the cage. All four dragons start to dance around each other in rhythm.

The Air Dragon is the first to leave, it roars loudly and flies up high into the sky. Then the ground dragon roars and dives back underground, causing the floor to rumble. The fire dragon burns very brightly causing people to squint to see, when the light dies down, it's gone.

I notice an ice Caster off to the side cast a spell and when the water dragon goes up into the sky it burst and turns into snow, with the help of an ice caster. The music slowly dies down as all four main dancers dance to the center of the field and reclaim their original stances.

Then it's over.

People clap and cheer, some even standing.

They all bow.

"That was awesome!" I clap.

"Wow, am I right?" Asherah comes back onto the field.

People cheer louder.

"The man responsible for this, Francis Sinclair," Asherah hands him the mic.

"Thank you, thank you," he bows. "The show you just saw is called the original guardians and was actually mostly choreographed by one of my students. Bastion Robshaw," he indicates to Bastion.

Bastion bows again.

"I am so proud of him and all the members of this team. Our mission is to show that there is more to magic than meets the eye, when we put our minds together, anything is possible. Now there will be other student organizations performing after us, but we just want to say thank you all for coming out, and I hope you have a wonderful time." He bows again.

The crowd is all full of energy now, everyone talking over each other talking about how cool and impressive that was. Not even my mom can stop gushing. It definitely set a good impression.

I can even see Asherah beaming from here.

Looks like her spur-of-the-moment plan, was a success.

Council members: 0

Asherah: 1