Stella glanced out the window as the St. Francis bus pulled up to First Baptist School in Rosemount, where the MACS teams were having their volleyball tournament.
We're here. She texted Emma and followed the rest of her team off of the bus. The soccer players had their game right away, so Stella followed them to the soccer field.
Emma's response came a few minutes later. Yayyyy! Midterm time, wish me luck.
Stella glanced at the soccer field. The game hadn't started yet. Good luck! She texted Emma and turned to face the game.
Emma sat in the computer lab staring at the screen of her laptop. She had left Speech class early to get an early start on the History midterm she had to take for PSEO, and now she was almost done, but she was stuck in the computer lab. She grabbed her phone and texted Stella.
I'm trapped in class; please help me. As Emma put down the phone, she began to remember what had happened at the last two tournaments. She needed to stay near the other members of the group, just in case.
She looked at her computer. "Should I submit it?" she asked Amy, one of the other girls in PSEO.
"Yeah, go for it."
"I'm too scared." Emma groaned, tapping her fingers on the wooden table as she stared at the computer.
"I got it." Betty, Emma's friend, and the volleyball stat person, said. She took the computer and pressed the submit button. Emma grabbed the laptop back and scanned the test. Two wrong. Not bad, but Emma was too focused on getting out of class to see Stella. She looked around the room, hoping for any excuse to leave class and slip out to the soccer field.
The teacher stepped into the room. "So, I have to leave to go take tickets at the soccer field. Could you turn off all the computers before you go?" She gave them all instructions on how to shut down the computers, and Ellan, one of the other girls in the PSEO class, began to work on shutting down all the computers. Emma glanced at her phone. No response. She quickly packed up her laptop and swung her backpack onto her back.
"I'll be back," she told the other four PSEO students and walked out of the computer lab.
Emma shoved her bag into her locker and was about to return to class but changed her mind. She ran over to the door leading outside but hesitated. She would get in trouble if one of the teachers saw her leaving. She peered through the door, trying to see the soccer score, but it was far away. She sighed and turned away, heading into the gym. Two girls were sitting on the bleachers. One of them, a short girl with blond curly hair, jumped up.
"I'm so hungry!" she exclaimed. "They aren't letting us eat for two hours."
Emma smiled at the strange statement. "I have an apple if you want it."
"Yes, please!"
"Come with me." Emma led the girl to her locker and handed her the apple. "Here."
"Thank you so much!" the girl beamed, gently holding the apple. Emma walked with the girl back into the gym.
"I'm technically skipping class right now," Emma admitted. "Maybe I should get back." She left the gym and was about to return to class when some of the girls from the St. Francis team walked into the building.
Emma spotted Annika, Ada, and Moriah, some girls she had met at an earlier tournament among the group and walked over to them. "Hey!"
"Hey," Moriah greeted her.
"Do you know if there is another bathroom we can use?" Ada asked.
Another girl answered. "Maybe the upstairs one is open."
Emma looked over to see the other Emma, the libero on the St. Francis team. "Yeah, the upstairs bathroom is open. Here, come with me."
As the St. Francis girls were leaving the school, Emma slipped out among them, hiding among the group of girls. None of the teachers around noticed her leaving, and a bunch of the boys were already on the soccer field anyway.
Lilly sat in class, staring at a wall. Unfortunately, her school's teams didn't play in the tournament until later, so she was stuck in five classes before they left. She sighed, yawning. She couldn't focus on school right now; a tournament was going on! She rubbed her eyes, trying not to fall asleep. She just wanted to leave and get to the fun part of the day.
Becca sat on the bus as it rattled down the road. Her team's first game was the third game of the day. The Chisago team was playing Fourth, the first-seed team. Becca hoped her team could at least win a set, but she was pretty sure that wouldn't happen. Either way, she would be rooting for St. Francis to win the tournament.
Emma followed the girls onto the soccer field and over to the bleachers. Stella and a couple of other girls on her team were sitting there. Stella was sitting next to a beautiful senior girl with brown hair named Grace. Emma climbed onto the bleachers and sat beside Stella, but the other girl didn't acknowledge her. Emma opened her mouth to say something but then changed her mind. Instead, she turned to face the game happening in front of her.
"We need an entrance to the world."
"How are we going to do that? After all of our shades were killed, there is no magic left in this world, and we need a connection to magic to enter this world."
"There is still magic left. Remember? To banish the shades, the seer gifted humans with abilities."
"Those humans are good. We need bad emotions and magic."
"All humans experience bad emotions. These five are no exception. It is only a matter of time before one experiences enough sadness, anger, or jealousy for us to connect and take them over."
"Are you sure we need to get to this world?"
"Yes. Though our shades failed us, we still need to enter the human world. Our world is collapsing; to survive, we need to escape. These so-called "Star girls" will provide our entrance."
As soon as the soccer game ended, Emma headed inside with Anastasia, the right-side hitter from St. Francis. The two girls had gotten to know each other since their first meeting, and Anastasia no longer just sat and stared at Emma. "I'm going to be my team's best post-player this year," Anastasia told Emma.
"Oh really," Emma said.
"I'm going to make my entire team rely on me," Anastasia bragged. Emma stared at her, and Anastasia stared back.
"What about Grace and Emma?"
"I'll be more important than them."
"What about Stella?"
"Oh, I can beat Stella."
"Can you?"
"You see that boy?" Anastasia asked, pointing to a very tall soccer player.
Emma nodded.
"I beat him and broke his ankles," Anastasia informed her.
"Cool," Emma said.
"Broke his ankles," Anastasia repeated.
"Cool."
The two girls walked into the building. Anastasia joined a few boys in hitting, and Emma pulled to the side and found Stella and Grace, who had just walked into the building.
"I love my dog so much! Look at him; he's so cute!" Stella cried, showing pictures of her dog to Grace and Emma.
Emma looked at Grace and smiled. "Stella clearly cares more about her dog than anyone; let's just go."
Grace laughed and followed Emma. "Yeah, bye, Stella!" The two laughed and then turned and returned to Stella's side. Emma stood there and felt like she was fading into the background as more people joined the group.
"Stella." Emma implored, but there was no response. A hand pulled Emma backward, and she fell to the ground. Everything around her swirled, and Emma found herself standing in a dark corner staring at two dark figures. One of them was leaning over a woman who Emma quickly recognized at the seer.
"Who are these girls?"
The seer mumbled something, and one of the figures turned to the other.
"Perfect situation," he confirmed. Emma frowned. What was going on? Suddenly a voice whispered in Emma's ear.
"Gotcha!"
Emma screamed and felt herself thrust back into her body.
"Are you okay?" A voice next to Emma asked, and Emma jumped and turned around. Anastasia was standing there.
"Yeah, I'm completely fine." Emma turned to find Stella, but the other girl had already disappeared. Emma felt something stirring in the back of her mind as she felt a wave of sadness.
The St. Francis girls left on the bus for lunch, and a volleyball game began in the gym. Emma slipped away and found the St. Francis locker room. She began to write encouraging messages on the board, hoping that even though her team couldn't win, she could at least encourage another team to do well. As Emma was writing, she felt as if she was falling again and found herself watching the events that had happened at Spikefest as if she was reliving them. She watched Stella carry the unconscious version of her and watched as Stella destroyed the shade girl. She wondered off-handedly where the girl was now, but these memories told Emma one thing; she had to find a way to tell Stella everything.