Choosing Love

Chapter Twenty Nine

Lonnie grinned as she shoved her long hair under the mask used by the R.O.A.R team. This was it. This was the day she was finally going to try out for the team. She'd trained nonstop, with Mal. With Uma. Hell sometimes with Harry and Gil but she was finally ready.

Or maybe it was better to say that she felt she was finally ready. Mal had been saying she'd been ready for months.

There's a pressure though, being Mulan's daughter, Lonnie thought. You've got to be flawless with the athletics otherwise people think you're a disappointment. Never mind the fact that my mom loves to bake cookies when I'm feeling down as well as spar with my dad. As long as I'm happy, mom doesn't really care if it's 'girly' or if it's 'athletic'.

But that didn't matter anymore. She was going to try out and she was going to get a spot. There was nothing in the rule book that said women couldn't try out after all. All it said was that a team must comprise of a captain and eight men. Unless you wanted to be a real jerk, there was no way that could apply to women. Nowadays, when people saw the word 'men', they just thought 'humans'.

Though really, if Hyllus, Macaria, or Mal wanted to try out for R.O.A.R., Lonnie was sure no one was really going to argue against that.

"Assembler. Salute. Lower the point. Masks down. En garde."

She lingered in the shadows as Jay started practice. Granted, she was probably pushing her luck trying out with like two weeks to go until Cotillion but she figured Jay would have enough on his mind that he'd be happy to not have to deal with official trials to fill Ben's spot since he had to drop to deal with his kingly duties.

Quickly jumping into the fray as Carlos flipped away, Lonnie grinned as all thought seemed to leave her mind. All that mattered was her and Jay—and winning. But that went without saying anything. After all, if she lost against Jay then there'd be no chance of her getting on the team.

Jay was the captain after all. He was the best. You want to be the best, you gotta beat the best.

Apparently Jay thought so too as he took his mask off and tossed it to the side. Lonnie didn't know if it was a challenge or not but what she did know was that she wasn't ready for everyone to know it was her under the mask. Not until she knew she'd won.

"Kick his butt Jay!" Lonnie heard Carlos exclaim and she realized that the rest of the team had stopped practice just to watch them spar. Jay had dodged a kick from Lonnie and flipped to avoid another attack, staying low to the ground as if to attack at her legs.

"It's practice," Jay warned, as if Lonnie needed to pull her punches. She knew it was practice. She also knew that she'd have to go twice as hard in order to win in competition if she got on the team.

"Come on Jay, you can't seriously need this Boreadon boy to pull his punches do you?" Carlos chuckled. Lonnie would have been offended if she didn't know all the other VKs still called Auradon 'Boreadon' on occasion. She had to agree—as much as she loved her home, there was no denying that it had been almost downright dull until the VKs came.

"You know, one of these days you're going to find someone who isn't as cool with you continuing to call Auradon 'Boreadon'," Emir told him.

"Spend sixteen years on the Isle and then spend six months here and see how quickly sayings and nicknames still slip out of your mouth," Carlos shook his head.

"He's got a point," Akiho nodded.

"Besides, I want to see Jay lose to the new guy," Carlos said, turning his attention back to the match.

So you think I'm a boy, huh Carlos? Lonnie thought with an inward smirk as she lunged, knocking Jay's sword out of his hand with her foot.