The door to the dorm opened, and with heavy sighs, Team Aster trudged in. Stella dropped onto her bunk, Eve onto theirs, Rakesh to the floor, and Mayra splayed out across the couch. “What a day,” she groaned.

“I really thought Dr. Pinho would go easy on us for the first exam,” Rakesh grumbled. He rubbed at where his metal arm connected to his shoulder. “Guess that was a hell of a false hope…”

“We did good, though,” Stella said, wiping the sweat from her brow. “And we deserve a nice, long rest tonight.”

Eve moaned. “I’m going to sleep so hard.”

Stella stretched her arms over her head, and then peered at Mayra with one eye. “Hey, have you heard anything from your sister? How’re Prevail doing?”

Mayra grunted with her eyes shut. “Better. Guess they had a heart to heart the other night and talked it out.”

“Good. Glad to hear it.”

“Mhm.”

The room fell into a comfortable silence. While the other members started to pull off their gear and get ready for bed, Mayra let to familiar sounds lull her into a doze. She could sleep on the couch if she really wanted…

The door slammed open unceremoniously, nearly cracking the wall behind it.

“We’re taking this couch! We’re taking this couch!”

Mayra yelped as hands hooked under her back and flipped her onto the floor.

“Hey, what the hell?!”

Soledad cackled and grabbed the arm of the couch, starting to drag it towards the door, where the rest of Team Prevail was just running in. Chika jumped over Mayra to grab the other end, and together, they hoisted it into the air.

“You little shits!” Eve exclaimed.

They and Rakesh moved to fight them off, but a green blur zipped by and knocked them back a step. Adela skidded to a stop next to the desks on their side of the room.

Terra, with an ecstatic grin, pointed behind her. “Grab the chairs!”

“We need those!”

As the room broke into a clatter of yelling and scraping furniture, Mayra laughed and climbed onto Stella’s bed to sit next to her. The leader raised an eyebrow.

“You’re not participating?” she asked.

Mayra scoffed and shrugged. “Eve and Rakesh can take this one.” She grinned as she watched Terra try to block Rakesh and his towering build from getting near Adela, who had a desk chair hooked under each arm.

“Stella, the lights!” Eve cried, trying to pry the couch away from Chika.

She smiled and waved a hand. “Nah, I’m good.”

“Stella!”

“Aha! An alliance!” Soledad cheered.

“Don’t get your hopes up, little drake,” Stella drawled.

A fit of laughter filled the room as Rakesh hoisted Terra up and over his shoulder. “Forget the chairs!” she ordered through her giggles. “Let’s just get the couch!”

Rakesh spun her around, grinning just as wide. “You’re not getting away that easily!”

Adela dropped the chairs and wrapped her arms around Eve’s waist to drag them back a few steps; as soon as they were clear, Chika and Soledad bolted out of the door. Adela cheered and sprinted after them.

“Run!!” Terra squealed.

Rakesh lowered her to the ground, where she dropped to her knees, still laughing. He giggled with her and lifted her back to her feet before lightly shoving her towards the door.

“Well, go on! Get!”

She howled and stumbled after her team.

“Wait for me!”

Eve and Rakesh turned to Stella and Mayra with crossed arms and raised eyebrows. The girls simply shrugged.

“Let ‘em have their win,” Mayra said.

Stella nodded, leaned forward to look out of the window. “We’ll take it back tomorrow. And we won’t hold back.”

Outside, Team Prevail cheered and laughed as they carried their trophy back to Beacon Cabin.