The Peacefire Chronicles (Novel) (T)

[Ninmast]

I've been posting this on Fiction Press, but at the moment, it seems to be cranky with me. Having been working on a rewrite for some time, the novel is only just now catching up to where it was before, and I'm eager for feedback. If anyone wants to compare it to the original version, you can find it here.

So, without further ado, I give you the first two chapters (with more posted as I finish them) of the first book of The Peacefire Chronicles!

Chapter One



The young man walked calmly into the dark chambers, flicking his light blonde hair away from his pale blue eyes. On either side of him were demons of all shapes and sizes, but when he stepped in, they all cringed back. In fact, they all fell silent as soon as they laid eyes on him. He smirked. The response was almost as good as the one his master got. He looked up at the end of the room where a man sat wrapped in shadows, brooding in his throne.

Speak of the devil, he thought. Literally. This caused another smirk to come to his face as he kneeled before him. “My lord, I believe I have found the one we have been searching for.”

“I search for many. Be more specific.” The man seemed more interested in the ends of his fingers than in the young man.

“I speak of the Chosen One, my lord.”

Any of the demons who hadn’t been paying attention now turned to them. Not a talon scraped as the entire room stood in rapt silence. Even the man in shadows turned away from his fingers to give the young man his full attention. “You have found him? Are you sure of this?”

“There is always the possibility for error, my lord, but I am certain. An interesting fact, however, my lord. It’s a girl this time around.”

The man raised his eyebrows. “Really?” He threw his head back and laughed. “That movement has been progressing on that mud ball of a planet for 50 years, and it just now got to the boys upstairs. They always were hard stuck in their ways.” He focused on the boy again. “So, when will you begin training?”

“Soon, my lord. I must make sure she is ready first.”

------------------

“Star!”

The girl rolled over in bed at the sound of her mother yelling up at her from the kitchen.

“Star! Time to get up! You’re going to be late!”

Finally, she rolled her legs out of bed and sat up, her blonde hair a tangled mess as her blue eyes looked around blearily. She groaned. Her room was a mess. Papers, books, clothes and shoes were strewn all over. She rubbed at her eye. “I’ve got to clean this up.” She stretched her arms up and started to yawn, but saw the clock on top of her dresser. 7:00. She had to be at the bus stop in thirty minutes.

She dashed around the room, throwing clothes on before grabbing her backpack and running out the door. “Bye, mom, bye, dad!” she called as she ran past the living room, not even taking time to look in at them.

Her parents looked at each other for a moment. Ken, her Native American father, sighed heavily, his broad shoulders sagging. “There she goes. Late again.”

Dianne, her mother, where she got most of her looks from, smiled half-heartedly over the edge of her magazine. “Well, at least she’s not as late as usual. She didn’t have time to eat, but at least she’ll be able to get there on time.”

Star hit the sidewalk running. By the time she ran several blocks, she figured she had cut enough time off that she could afford to walk. Not long after she slowed down, she heard someone talking behind her.

“Twinkle, twinkle, little Star ...”

She turned around to see Jake, the leader of a local gang of punks, with three others behind him. Star’s neighborhood was what he claimed as his “turf,” and he took what he wanted of it. As she turned, he stepped forward, continuing to recite the words. “How I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle, twinkle, little Star, how I wonder what you are.”

Star clapped sarcastically. “Congratulations, Jake. You’ve finally memorized a song that most Kindergarteners know by heart! Those special ed. classes must be paying off, huh?”

Jake smirked at her. “You know what? I’m having such a good day today, I’m going to let you get away with that. Just give us your stuff, and we’ll part ways nice and peaceful.”

Star grinned widely. “Sorry, Jake! You know I’d help you if I had anything, but I gave it all to the last pathetic gang. They didn’t have any jobs, either!”

Jake’s smirk turned into a growl. “You think you’re really smart, huh? A real smart ...”

A shrill whistle interrupted him. Down the block, 14-year-old Tina Brighton held her cell phone above her head. “Hey, you guys! I’ve got the police on the phone right now! So just stay right there, and they’ll be here in a couple of minutes!”

Jake turned back to Star and shook his finger in her face. “You got lucky this time, Peacefire. Next time, little Red won’t be there to come to your rescue.” He turned to the others. “Come on, guys. Let’s get going before the pigs get here.”

Star grinned as she jogged on up the sidewalk to her. “Quick thinking, Tina! I thought your phone battery was dead?”

The girl grinned. “It is. I bluffed them out.”

A shrill, loud voice yelled out behind them in surprise. “You did? That’s so cool! You two have a lot of guts! Talking back to them like that, and then lying to them to get them to run off!”

Star and Tina both cringed at that, and Jake and his three people, two scrawny guys and a big, fat guy, turned around.

Jake’s face was lined with anger. “You what!?” It was like letting loose a group of dogs. “You’re going to pay for that!”

Star grabbed the strap of her backpack as they began running forward, catching one of the scrawny ones as she spun it around, then tossed it to Tina. “Here, catch!”

As Tina grabbed the bag, Star ducked under a swing from the other scrawny one and thrust her shoulder into his stomach, tackling him to the ground. She rolled with it, just missing a stomp from the big guy before coming up into a crouch and catching him with a sweep kick.

He went down as Star was standing up, but Jake was right behind her, and he slammed his fist right into her back.

Star stumbled forward, trying to catch her breath. She wheeled around to face him, bringing her arms up just in time to block another swing. Still moving backwards, she ducked again as he swung with his other arm, then jumped to the side when he kicked. When he swung again, she was ready, and she grabbed his arm, stepping beside him as she threw him over her hip, using his arm as a pivot point and snapping his shoulder out of joint. As he screamed, she twisted it again and kicked him in his back, sending him down and rendering his arm useless.

She stepped back, waiting for any of them to move again, leaning into a defensive stance.

Jake stood back up, his face twisted in pain as he put his hand over his bad shoulder. “C’mon, guys. We’ll get her later.” The rest of them stood and they left.

As soon as they were gone, Tina and Star turned to glare at the girl who had so clumsily gotten them into trouble. “What were you thinking,” they both demanded.

The tanned-skinned girl flinched at their questions, looking down at the ground with violet eyes. “I’m sorry … I didn’t mean to cause trouble … I was just so excited I didn’t stop to think …”

Tina’s angry eyes were as bright as her hair as she handed Star’s bag back. “That much is obvious. Do us a favor, and the next time you’re impressed, don’t broadcast it to the world!”

The two walked on toward the school bus sign, picking up the pace as they saw the bus round the corner, but the girl chased after them. “Please! I’m sorry! I really didn’t mean to!”

The bus slowed to a stop and its doors slid open. Star and Tina climbed on, and the girl followed. The first two sat together, but the girl wasted no time taking the seat across from them. “Please! I’m so, so sorry! But you’re both okay, right? No harm done?” She smiled weakly.

Star sighed. “What’s your name?”

The girl blinked, as if the question was unexpected. “Tanya.”

Tina waited for a moment before questioning the girl. “Do you have a last name, Tanya?”

“Coupfaith. Tanya Coupfaith.” She turned and looked out the window. She was silent for a moment before turning back toward them. “What’s yours?”

Tina looked to Star as if asking if she really had to answer, and Star sighed, shaking her head again before answering first. “I’m Star, Star Peacefire.”

The redhead barely suppressed a groan. “Tina Brighton, hi.”

It clearly wasn’t the warmest welcome Tanya had ever received. She turned forward in her seat, her head down. The other two were more than happy to allow her the space, and a few minutes passed with complete silence between them.

“Peacefire,” Tanya broke the silence, rolling the word around her mouth. “That’s a weird name.”

This time, it took a conscious effort on both their parts not to groan before Star gathered enough self-control to answer. “My father is Native American. The name was poorly translated when the Colonists came over and tried to force them all to speak English.”

“Oh.” Another one of the pauses came, and this time, they didn’t expect it to last. “Why do they call themselves Native American, anyway? I mean, back then, I could see how it would matter, but now, it seems like they’re just trying to make themselves sound like they’re better than the rest of us, just because they’re native. At least whites are just plain Americans. Blacks are called African Americans, as if they don’t really belong, and Puerto Ricans that live in America don’t even get to refer to themselves by the same country, at all. Instead, they’re referred to by another nation, entirely, or they’re called, Latinos. What makes the Indians so special that they get to call themselves Native?”

Star’s eyes were as cold and hard as stone as the bus rolled to a stop. She delayed her response by shouldering her backpack and waiting for Tina to move. “Because we were here since the last Ice Age. Try this concept on for size, Tanya. We’re called Native Americans because we’re native to America!” She mimicked a sarcastic face of shock. “Wow, that’s really hard to get!”

Tanya watched, her face etched with surprise as the two stormed off of the bus. “But-” She sighed as others began to get off. “I didn’t mean it that way …”

Some boy walked past her with a smirk. “Should have thought before you spoke, huh?” His voice was screechy, like he wasn’t through puberty yet, and his laugh was like a crow, cawing as he swaggered arrogantly off the bus in front of her.

“Yeah,” she agreed quietly as she grabbed her bag and followed the last of the people off. “I should have.”

------------------

“Gah! I can’t believe the nerve of that girl!” Star slammed her locker open to get to her books, shoving them into her backpack before slamming it shut again. “Does she never think, or is she just stupid?”

“She probably just wasn’t thinking,” Tina answered, taking out her own books. “She’s probably one of those people who just rattle off whatever happens to pop into their heads, instead of filtering it with some logic first.”

A well-built young man of about 16 with brown hair came up behind them, putting a hand on each of their shoulders. “What’d I do?” he asked, drawing a chuckle from Tina and a smirk from Star.

“Well, Jonathon, unless you’re doubling as a Latino girl with purple eyes and a big mouth,” Star answered, “nothing that I know of yet.”

Jonathon Moore was one of Star’s close friends. He attended the same martial arts classes as she did, and was often her sparring partner. He was the one who gave her the nickname, “Slugger,” in honor of her tomboyish personality and mean right hook.

He grinned, circling around in front of them. “Ah, the girl that caused such a fuss for you on the bus this morning, huh?”

Tina’s eyes widened in amazement. “Wow, news travels fast around here.”

His grin widened. “That’s high school for you! There’s no such thing as a secret, and if there is, it doesn’t stay that way for long!” Jonathon snapped his fingers, turning to Star. “Oh! That new guy was looking for you! I guess he has something to ask you, or something.”

“New guy?” Star quizzed. “Who?”

“Um,” Jonathon muttered, closing his eyes in thought for a moment. “Darien Brooks. Yeah, that’s the guy.”

Star furrowed her eyebrows and bunched her nose. “Darien Brooks? I’ve never met him.”

Tina nodded, though. “Yes, you have. Remember? He’s got blonde hair, kinda bushy on top, broad shoulders, and he’s always wearing a sweater. He’s in World History with us.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course,” the redhead answered with a nod. “He got full points on that big exam.”

Star threw her head back and laughed. “That would be how you would remember him, wouldn’t it? By test results!”

Tina Brighton was a genius, the real thing, not some figure of speech. When she was in elementary school, she was bumped up two grades because the classes weren’t challenging her enough. The school actually wanted to bump her up further, but her parents didn’t want her to be a preteen in college. School, or more precisely, knowledge, was the most important thing to the redheaded girl, and she prided herself on that knowledge above all else.

She crossed her arms with a huff. “What’s so strange about that? He never opens his book, he never participates in class, and he never utters a word! He never asks a question, and he never speaks up when the teacher asks anything! He doesn’t even say, ‘Here,’ during attendance! He just raises his hand! He never does anything, and he got full points when I missed one!”

“Tina,” Jonathon interjected, “I thought we settled that you were just thinking of the wrong Napoleon?”

Tina threw her arms up. “He wasn’t!”

“Hey, look! It’s the geek patrol! Didn’t you know it’s against the rules to have your meetings out in the hall? You’re going to make everybody sick!” Somebody with a sneering voice had come up behind them while they were talking. It didn’t take much of a guess to figure out who it was.

Jonathon turned around, letting his arms hang at his sides so they weren’t tangled in anything. “Aren’t you late for your detention, Mike?”

Mike was the boy with the screeching voice from the bus that had spoken to Tanya. “Detention? Where?” He spoke with a smirk permanently hanging from his lips that added to his arrogance.

Jonathon smirked in turn. “Oh, with your history, Michael, I just assumed you had one for someone somewhere over something.”

“Hah,” the boy scoffed, leaning against a locker door just as the owner started to move toward it, “as if I’d go serve some boring detention! Yeah, right, they’d have to drag me in there.” He looked up as he saw one of the teachers coming down the hallway. “Speak of the Devil,” he muttered. “I’ll smell you geeks later.” He turned and hurried down the hall before the teacher could spot him.

Jonathon let out a low growl. “Man, that guy’s annoying.” He looked up as the bell rang and people began filing out of the hallways. “Class time. I’ll see you guys at lunch!” He grabbed his gym bag from his locker and hurried down the hall, waving back toward them over his shoulder.

[Ninmast]

Chapter Two



The school’s gymnasium floor, a large, indoor basketball area with eight hoops on lifts to fold them up against the ceiling when not in use, was as noisy as always as Jonathon made his way out of the locker room, dressed in a plain white t-shirt, black shorts and sneakers. He made his way over to his usual position and surveyed the other students in the class, like he usually did while waiting for the teacher to start the warm-ups. He picked out Darien’s blonde head from across the room, sticking to himself, as usual.

As he turned the other direction, he squinted in reaction, turning to look back at Darien to make sure he saw the right head the first time. Yes, it was Darien. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and head down, blatantly ignoring several people who were trying to speak with him. When he turned back to the strange thing he had seen before, he couldn’t seem to find it again. He stood up to try to get a better viewpoint, but still, he couldn’t see what had caught his eye before. He was about to pass it off as a trick of his eyes and the milling groups of people when he spotted something else – a girl with rich black hair and violet eyes. It was the girl that had upset Star so much on the bus. Tanya. That had been her name. The girl looked rather upset.

Before he really thought about what he was doing, he found himself walking over toward the girl, sitting down beside her. He didn’t say anything at first, not even sure why he had come over, but finally, he got out a question. “What’s wrong?”

She looked up in surprise. Apparently, she had been lost in her own thoughts and hadn’t noticed him sit down. “Oh. I met some really cool people this morning, but my big mouth got them in trouble. I tried to tell them how sorry I was, but they just got more and more annoyed. Then I tried to make some conversation … It was a bad idea. One of the girls was Native American, and I didn’t think before going off on a rant about them. They ended up storming off the bus. I don’t blame them. I must have seemed like a completely idiotic jerk.”

Jonathon nodded in understanding. “Yeah, it’s easy to slip up sometimes, isn’t it? It’s like we don’t have control over ourselves, and we’re just on autopilot.”

“Autopilot,” she repeated with a sad laugh. “I like that. Too bad it doesn’t make a better excuse.” Tanya let out a sigh. “I just wish I had another chance to apologize and try to make things right. I doubt they’ll even be anywhere near me now.”

He smirked as an idea occurred to him. “I know! Why don’t you eat lunch with me today? I’ve got some friends that you should talk to.”

Tanya gave Jonathon another look of surprise. “Why?”

“Just trust me,” he assured her with a wink. “It’ll work!”

Her glance was doubtful. “I dunno. I don’t even know you.” She pulled her head back as he stuck his hand under it to shake.

“Jonathon Moore. It’s a pleasure to meet you!”

Tanya couldn’t keep in a chuckle as she accepted the hand. “Tanya Coupfaith.”

“So, are we on, then?”

She smiled, cheering up. “Yeah. Lunch sounds good.” They both turned forward, though, as the coach got in front of the students and started the class.

* * *

Star and Tina made their way through the lunch line one step at a time as the long line moved gradually along at its usual frustratingly slow pace. “So …” Star began, desperate for some way to pass the time, “What do you think is for lunch today?”

Tina raised an eyebrow at the question. “It’s Friday, Star … you know that …” As far back as any student could remember, every Friday was fish day, no exceptions.

She sighed, leaning her head back and putting her hands behind it. “Yeah, I know. The line’s just boring, that’s all. If our fourth period class wasn’t clear on the other side of the building, maybe we could get here before the line was a mile long.

“Well, it’s not much longer now,” the redhead answered, pulling out her lunch voucher. “We’re almost there.”

Star grinned, leaning forward before digging out her own. “Alright! It’s about time! I’m starving! You want your fish, Tina?”

Tina let out a short laugh. “You’re just full of stupid questions today, aren’t you, Star? You know I don’t want my fish. I can’t stand the stuff. It’s all yours, if you can get it before Jonathon does.”

“I’m here, aren’t I?” she asked as she gave her ticket to the woman behind the desk as they passed and she punched a hole in it, showing they were being charged for the meal.

The redhead laughed again. “Yes, but when it comes to fish, that boy has the quickest fingers in the school. It’s off my plate before I’m in my seat!”

It was a few minutes later before they were out the other door of the kitchen with their trays of food, and Star looked both ways before suddenly forking Tina’s fish and slapping it on her own plate. “Yeah, well, I’m not taking any chances today. If he wants it that badly, he can just try taking it from me.”

“Really? Why, thank you, Star!” The boy’s fork whisked across her plate and snatched the fish from it in one smooth movement.

The blonde stopped in stunned silence for a moment before she gathered her mind enough to turn to him with an angry glare. “Hey! Jonathan! Give that back! That was my fish!”

Jonathan’s face was all grins as he sauntered to the tartar sauce and slopped some on, a sure way to make sure Star was no longer interested in it – she hated tartar sauce. “You said I could try to take it if I really wanted it, and fish is my favorite food, next to a good steak!”

Star’s expression was crestfallen as the tartar sauce landed on top of the desired food. “Ah well … I guess it’s salad again …” She proceeded to dish up the lettuce, following it with various other toppings, including carrots, diced eggs and a couple cherry tomatoes, topping it with Ranch dressing.

“Aw, come on,” Jonathan chuckled. “Don’t take it so hard. I invited a guest to our table today that I thought you two might want to talk to.”

“Oh?” Tina asked, curious as they walked toward the tables. “Who’s that?”

“Look for yourself,” he answered, motioning toward their usual table … and Tanya.

“You know who that is, don’t you?” Star asked as the two girls stopped in their tracks.

Jonathan nodded. “Yeah, I know. She’s the girl that upset you this morning. Still, I think you should talk with her.”

“Oh, fine,” Star sighed and started forward again. She set her plate down and took her seat across from the girl. Jonathan sat to Star’s left at the circular table, and Tina sat to her right. “Your name’s Tanya, right? What’s this all about?”

The girl fidgeted uncomfortably. “I know I really spoke out of line this morning on the bus, and I just wanted to apologize. I didn’t stop to think before I spoke, and ... I’m sorry.”

Star scowled down at her salad as she stirred it up a bit. “Yeah, no problem, you only called me and everyone I’m related to a bunch of lazy, cheating deadbeats.”

“Star,” Tina declared sharply.

“What?” she demanded, raising her head to glare at the 14-year-old. “So she apologized. Great for her. At least she realizes she was out of line, but that doesn’t mean she’s had any change in opinion. So she slipped. That’s fine. At least, now we know what she really thinks, right?”

Tanya sighed in response. “No, I was wrong. While it may be true for some, I’m sure people like that are present in every ethnic group. It was incredibly racist of me to label the entire Native American people like that.”

Star raised an eyebrow as if waiting, chewing through a bite of salad before speaking. “So is that the best withdrawal I’m going to get?”

This time, Tanya responded in anger, raising up to slam her hands against the table. “What do you want from me, a declaration that every Indian in the world is perfect and incapable of wrongdoing?”

But instead of a backlash, Star just chuckled. “There we go.”

The others gave her confused looks and the entire table was silent for a moment before Tanya spoke again. “... There we go?”

“Yup,” she nodded, “there we go. Apologies don’t mean anything if the person’s willing to just curl up and be stepped all over. I was hoping you weren’t doing that. I wanted to see how far you’d go before your backbone kicked in.” She offered her hand with a grin. “Apology accepted. Sorry about seeming like a brat.”

“Not the b-word I was thinking of, Slugger ...” Jonathon muttered just loud enough for them to hear.

The blonde shrugged and grinned. “Guilty as charged. You know you wouldn’t have me any other way.”

Tanya hesitated as if she still wasn’t following, but accepted the handshake, repeating herself again for good measure. “Thanks. I really am sorry.”

“Oh, I know,” Star answered as she took her seat again. “Don’t worry about it. It’s over and done with. Welcome to our little circle of friends!”

Those violet eyes blinked slowly for several long moments. “That’s it?”

“Yeah, actually, that’s about it,” Jonathon replied with a laugh. “What’s the point in trying to make friends if you’re going to rule out everyone after one mistake? I told you it wouldn’t be a mistake to come talk to them!”

As he turned to go back to the tartar sauce, however, Star snatched out with her fork and grabbed his other, non-tartar-covered fish. She quickly covered it in salad so he wouldn’t go after it. Now laughing, as well, she pulled the lettuce back and, despite his protests, started eating. She snickered as she cut a piece off. “Looks like I’m having fish for lunch, after all!”

Jonathon, however, simply waited patiently, grinning a moment later when she gagged on it.

"Gah, Jonathon," she coughed. "What the heck did you put on it?"

"Oh, nothing," he answered smugly, leaning back slightly. "Just your kryptonite."

This, of course, drew an odd look from Tanya. "Her kryptonite? What do you mean?"

It was, however, Tina that answered as she shared Jonathon's impish grin. "Malt vinegar."

* * *

The fourteen-year-old redhead lifted her head from the words within her book as she watched a person approach whom she actually thought was going to ditch again. “Star! You actually came!”

And indeed, the blonde tomboy was walking up toward the gymnasium with her gym bag in hand. She jutted her lower lip out as she looked off to the side. “Of course, I came. I said I would, didn’t I?” As she turned her head to the side, though, she glanced out the doors toward where she could see others practicing running, jumping and throwing outside, and her gaze softened. “Though if I’m going to try out for a sport, I’d much rather it be something like Track and Field.”

As if Tina needed a reminder. In fact, she really had to think on why she was grinning. Was it because of the comment, itself, or how many times she had heard it? “I’m sure you’d enjoy throwing heavy iron weights and giving the boys a run for their money, Star, but what you want is something that will stay a challenge, not just entertain you for a couple of weeks before it gets monotonous.”

“Is that why you suggested being a pom-pom girl first?” Star inquired as she turned her bland gaze back to her best friend. “Because you thought it wouldn’t be monotonous?”

“You need something that’ll constantly be testing your dexterity, balance, creativity and showmanship,” the young genius answered with a shrug. “That’s why you like your martial arts so well, but since you seemed to want to practically blow up the whole cheerleading squad at the suggestion, we’ll have to settle with just putting your dexterity and balance to the challenge. To be honest, though, I can’t see why you’d turn down wearing a skirt for wearing spandex.”

“Because the spandex serves a reasonable purpose in allowing the best flexibility,” Star almost seemed to spit. “I absolutely refuse to dress up in short skirts just to motivate the football team.”

“You could do it for the basketball team,” Tina commented with an impish grin just before jumping out of arm’s reach. “Then Jonathon would be there.”

“Y’know, Tina, you may be in the same grade as I am, but you’re still short enough for me to give you a noogie,” the other girl threatened half-heartedly. Tina knew well enough that Star and Jonathon were only friends and didn’t have that kind of interest in each other. To Jonathon, Star was more just another one of the guys than an actual female interest, and Star returned the sentiment.

“Well, even if all that was accomplished was that we both could keep you from forgetting it ...”

A half glare was Star’s immediate response. “Somehow I doubt he’d have to actually be on the team for that ... He’d probably be right there beside you as he ran the digital camera and you firewired it directly to your laptop and began blowing up posters of it.”

“No probably about it,” Tina answered with that impish grin. “You know us too well. But let’s get going. Gymnastics is going to start any moment!” Like a child eagerly entering a candy store, the redhead grabbed Star by the wrist and all but dragged her inside.

Along one gym wall, several girls were already doing stretches in preparation and a couple more were coming out of the locker room. It was reasonable to assume there were more in there still changing. Others were helping set up equipment, still in their school clothes, while the coach, a woman in her late thirties, supervised. Star never really learned her first name, but her last was Benson. She noticed the girls as the door shut behind them and gave a few more instructions to the girls before coming on over.

“Well, well, well, what have we here?” she mused as she tucked her clipboard under her arm. “Miss Peacefire, let me guess. You got lost.”

Oh boy, here we go, the girl thought as she sighed, slinging her gym bag over her shoulder. “No, Miss B. I’m fairly sure this is where I’m supposed to be.”

“No, couldn’t be. You must be lost,” the coach insisted, “because I believe your parting words the last time you left my dance class your eighth grade year were, ‘This sucks, I’m never coming back.’”

Tina tapped her lip in thought before looking over at Star. The shorter girl superimposed an imagining of the girl in a ballerina outfit. “You were in Dance?”

The blonde knew what her friend was thinking and quickly stomped the image flat with a glare. “Briefly.”

“For five minutes,” the gymnastics coach corrected. “It was the worst five minutes of both our lives.”

“You wanted me to wear a pink dress and tights!”

“I wanted you to wear the same uniform everyone else wore. And you wanted to wear pants! You don’t dance in pants!” The coach crossed her arms as she took a deep breath. “You probably want to wear pants for gymnastics, too, but I got news for you. Everyone wears the appropriate uniforms.”

“I could do it in pants,” the teenager told her spitefully. But then she pointed over to the growing number of students doing stretches and their unisex uniforms in the school colors of blue and gray, resembling a swimsuit that comes down in shorts with legs just long enough to match the base of the middle instead of leaving the thighs completely exposed. “But I can wear that.”

Mrs. Benson smirked as she crossed her arms over her chest. Even with her oak brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, the woman's build was decidedly masculine, with broad shoulders, a barrel chest and large arms. Even though it wasn't drastically so, as the woman was no bodybuilder, and next to a man, it wasn't nearly as obvious, when next to the girls in the high school, the reason behind her nickname of Lumberjack Benson – whispered only in locker rooms and behind closed doors – was plain. “Oh no,” she told Star as she shook her head. “You think you can do it in pants, then that's how you're gonna try out for the team. Maybe you'll learn why we don't have them as part of the uniform.”

Star was shorter than Mrs. Benson and, despite being in martial arts since she was a child, decidedly more slender than the teacher. All the same, she bristled at the challenge, stretching her back and legs in an effort to seem taller, an unconscious response to the larger woman's more imposing stature. “Fine! Then I'm ready as soon as you are!”

If the instructor had been grinning any wider, Star mused, her head would fall off at the jaw. As it was, the expression was distinctly reminiscent of the Spider and the Fly. She led them over to the middle of the gym and took a deep breath. “Everybody, clear to the side,” she shouted out after a blow on her whistle. “I want you all to see this!”

“Star ...” Tina whispered worriedly. “Star, she's trying to set you up for an embarrassment ...”

The bravado the older girl had displayed earlier was gone, though. She simply gave a nod, her gaze focusing ahead, not so much on the teacher, but on what would be required of her.

“We have here,” Mrs. Benson was saying to the students, “a novice, completely inexperienced in gymnastics. Most of you probably know her.” She motioned with her comparatively meaty hands to the blonde next to her. “Star Peacefire. Athletic, sure. Probably would rather be doing Track and Field, so why she's here, we have no idea.”

At the mention, Star gave a small glare over at Tina, who wilted and gave a shy grin in reply.

“But she is here,” the teacher continued, ignoring the two, “and she likes pants. Loves pants, in fact. She loves them so much that she's going to be doing her first-ever gymnastics tryout in pants, and she says she's ready as soon as I am, so that means no warm-up stretches, either.”

By this time, all of the students along the wall, mostly girls but with a small handful of boys sprinkled in, were either sharing their coach's smug pride or, more commonly, fidgeting uncomfortably at the prospect of what they were expecting to be a very painful display.

Mrs. Benson turned back to the girl, confident that she had set the grounds for failure now. “Alright, Miss Peacefire, I'll be merciful and start you off simple. Let's see a cat leap.”

Star arched an eyebrow and scowled, both at the idea that the woman had any vague intention of being merciful after setting her up and the lack of words that followed the request. “Don't I get an explanation of what a cat leap is?”

“What's wrong, Star?” the teacher asked with a chuckle. “You seem to know so much, and yet you don't know something as basic as a cat leap?”

Tina stood up on her toes, but Star still had to bend down slightly for the shorter redhead to reach her ear. “Forward-moving double fake kick, toes pointed down.”

“Oh, and Miss Peacefire ...” Mrs. Benson mentioned as an afterthought and pointed down at her feet. “No street shoes on my floor.”

The blonde smiled back as she brought her feet up to pluck the shoes off and drop them on her gym bag. “Of course, how silly of me to forget,” she told the teacher. “I must have been worried about how challenging this was going to be for me.”

What should have been flattering instead disrupted the teacher's hyena grin, causing it to crumble into a suspicious scowl.

Without dwelling on the change, Star moved forward quickly, bringing first her left knee up, keeping her toes pointed down, then in mid jump, bringing it back down as the other knee came up in the same manner.

Mrs. Benson's scowl deepened. “Like I said, nice and easy. Now, let's see a straddle jump.”

Again, Tina stretched herself up to whisper the translation. “Jump and double side kick!”

Star's own smile was becoming more of a grin. She could do this, after all. She took several steps back to accommodate a running start, then jumped up, putting her hands down in the air as her legs shot out to either side. Her toes were curled up to keep them from being crushed against any imaginary target as they went entirely straight, though not entirely out to the sides, hindered by her jeans. Still, it was a more than satisfactory display and she landed with them back together under her. A few of the students clapped quietly as she threw her hands up with the landing.

They received a silencing glare from Mrs. Benson, however. The woman's face was beginning to get very red. “Alright, Peacefire. Back Handspring and Tuck.”

Tina started to whisper again, but Star cut her off. “Let me guess,” she whispered first. “Backflip and curl at the peak?”

The fourteen-year-old grinned and nodded. “Your favorite.”

Star took a few warm-up swings of her arms, then took a running start, turned around and flipped back, coming down on her hands for just a moment before pushing off again, sending her momentum up and over again, and at the height, she curled her body in, in her art a motion to control the spin and speed of an extended fall, then stretched back out to land on her feet once more, hands in the air.

This time, Mrs. Benson cut any applause short before it could even start, and she looked like she was going to burst. “Peacefire!” she practically barked. “Round-off! Double Back Handspring! Tuck!” Her gaze went quickly about the area before she threw her arm toward one end of the gym. “Balance beam!”

Worried gasps and mutterings came from the students, and Tina glanced over at them before sharing her own worried expression with her friend. “Star … I don't like this … You've made your point … Let's just go ...”

But Star held up her hand toward her friend, glancing back at her to wink and grin. “No worries, Tina. I've got this.” She turned her attention back to the beam, taking a few slow steps toward it, then increased speed until it was a full-out run to the edge of the balance beam. Without slowing down, she reached down and grabbed it as she jumped, sending her legs up over her like a cartwheel, allowing the momentum to carry her over to a stand on the beam as she crouched just long enough to spring up again, flipping back to her hands, to her feet, to her hands again, to her feet once more, now on the very edge of the balance beam, then jumping off with all of her momentum still going, curling into the tuck in the air and coming down on both feet, crouching slightly to accommodate the impact force and throwing her hands into the air as she stood back up straight.

No glare from Mrs. Benson could have silenced the applause and cheers from the students that time and the instructor threw her clipboard down in a rage. “Out!” she roared as she pointed at the blonde student. “Out of my gymnasium! Out!” Her rage was practically bubbling under her skin, and while she plainly wanted to be more elaborate, commanding her never to return and may her hair all fall out of her skull and all that interesting stuff, her anger prohibited her from doing anything more than reciting the basic command and shoving as much force into each repeated syllable as her vocal cords could manage.

Star just smirked as she strolled back to her bag, plucking the shoes off with two fingers of one hand as she slung the bag, itself, over her shoulder with the other one. “Alright, Tina,” she said. “Now we can go.”

Tina smiled timidly as they walked out. “Star?” she asked as they passed through the gym doors.

“Yeah?”

“If you really want to join Track and Field, I won't stop you.”

“Nah,” she answered, shaking her head. “As a good friend of mine is always reminding me, I need something that'll stay a challenge. For now, I think I'll stick with my martial arts. And besides, I wouldn't mind showering up and still having time to eat something before the tournament tonight.” Star grinned over at Tina. “You're gonna be there, right?”

“Of course!” Tina agreed. “My father's giving Jonathon a ride, too, so we'll be there nice and early!”

“Don't forget Max,” she reminded her. Max was the son of one of Star's neighbors, living a few houses down. She often babysat him when his parents were out on weekends or evenings and he was like a little brother to her. “My parents can't pick him up tonight. They'll be getting back from an appointment just in time to pick me up from here on their way there.”

“He'll be cheering for you and Jonathon right beside us, I promise.”