Rising Shards

It took me a few to notice it wasn't just the five we agreed to play against approaching us. My immediate attention was on Risa, Nikki, and P.D. Even though I just saw them a bit ago, it still felt like they each got in a line specifically to punch me in the gut. Each hit for a different reason. Risa from the stress of her asking me out, Nikki from my crush crashing and burning and me still not knowing what to do around her, and P.D. for her being an ass. A mysterious ass, but an ass nonetheless.

But with them was another Wildfire Hearts student with them. Chickadee, a really dopey girl who had been a persistent thorn in my side. She was like the embodiment of why Wildfire Hearts was a complete dumbass institution that I couldn't even half comprehend why it was allowed to exist the way it did. Chickadee had regularly messed with us from spying on us, sending a generic boy monster at us, and more really annoying happenings. And she got school credit for it, it was ridiculous.

"Hey, I hope it's cool Chickadee's here," Risa said.

Risa and the others were so casual about this, while I was ready to take on my rivals. 

"Chickadee's pretty sweet," Nikki said. "This is a cool group, I'm excited!" She grinned and patted P.D. on her back. "P.D.'s been teaching me how to play."

Nikki said that in such a chill way, like she had literally no clue what a dagger to my heart that was. I shouldn't have cared. It had been months, I should have been over this stupid crush. But I was supposed to teach her how to play beam chasers. Maybe things would have been different if I just had a few lessons with her. My mind barraged me with all the times Nikki and I had alone time, and I thought we were getting closer. I almost ran away right then and just gave up on this stupid thing, but I bit my lip and kept a stone face.

"Ha...cool," I said.

Nikki being such an airhead did a number on my crush, but not as much as I wanted. I still got these weird butterflies. Part of me was hoping she and P.D. would break up and I could try again. It made me feel like an idiot. Just like that night Nikki called me, flaking on our plans and revealing to me that she was dating this helmet girl.

I was so lost in that that again, Chickadee was the least of my problems.

"I'm gonna be backup in case any of you break your backs or something," Chickadee said.

"Well, hold your horses there," Roux said. "We need a backup player, then, correct?"

I groaned. "We'll just wing it, it's fine."

"About time," Scrungy said. "I'm sick of standing around here."

Honestly, it was a miracle Scrungy made it through that whole conversation without starting a fight with someone. I made sure to warn Marmalade to stay away from her in the game itself, as she liked to play rough, not quite as violent as she got off the court but still.

"I know I'll play well here," Caeda said. "I haven't been able to show my prowess, but just wait. It will be a mind blowing experience."

Just as Caeda was gearing up another awkward speech hyping up how great and important she was, my mom showed up just in time. She still wasn't explaining why she was on campus, but she spared us from a Caeda speech.

"Alright, if any of you cheat or anything, you have to answer to me," Mom said. "And you don't want to answer to me. So just have fun and have a good game."

I found my mom trying to threaten my classmates really lame and embarrassing, but I guess they didn't know what a dork she was because the others reacted like a terrifying horror movie monster just told them to keep in line.

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