The Curse of Betrayal (12 page)

“The tests we did yesterday are to place us in classes. I think we might get matched,” he explains.
 

“Doubtable. I kind of bombed the sprinting one,” I explain to him, remembering the embarrassment of the running drill. He just smiles at me, probably unsure of what to say. We remain silent, so the awkwardness continues to take over. The entire room feels like a lull, and all eyes are on us. I twiddle my thumbs as I wait on the bleachers for class to start.
 

“Scoot,” Lisa says to Mikey, urging him to move away from me. He scowls at her but does what she says and moves over to where the group of boys converge. “They saw the board, and Carter realized his jersey was gone. Watch your backs,” Lisa whispers to Kara and me.

“Are we all dead?” I ask Kara, wondering why we started this war in the first place. This was such a stupid idea! They’re going to kill us.
 

Before Kara can reassure me that we’re okay, Magdelina and Ari walk to the center of the room, telling everyone to be quiet. Once the room’s still, Magdelina begins.

“Okay guys. We have the pairings and groups for the semester. Remember, these are based
solely
on your performance from yesterday. I will read off my group, and then Ari will read his.”
 

She rambles off some names, and for the most part I tune out. I do note that Kara and Megan are both called to her side. After she’s done, she takes her half of the students and goes into the weight room. Kara looks back on her way out and reaches a hand out to me like Rose and Jack, and I reach back for her, laughing at the theatrics of it all.
 

“All right, anyone called now will be part of my group. I’ll read them alphabetically.” Ari announces, looking down at his list.

Ari calls Lisa first, and I get agitated, realizing that she’s in my class. I try not to let it bother me, though, giving her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe there is a nice girl under all of that evil exterior. I know she’s only being nice to me because she found out about the curse, but maybe after some time passes, she’ll actually like me—not likely, but one can hope.
 

After a few minutes, Ari gets into the Ls, and I know that my name has to be coming up. “Eurydice Mason…” he says and then adds in my partner, “Mikey Miner.” Ari continues down the list with the rest of the alphabet.

“Told ya we’d get paired up,” Mikey whispers over to me, leaning closer and nudging my shoulder.
 

CHAPTER EIGHT

organized sports

“All right guys, follow me to the dome. We’re going to play some games to get to know each other and to test our skills.” Ari leads the pack of us through double doors out to a large field along the side of Ares Training Building. I’ve never even seen this side of the building before, and now I know why. It’s all fenced off, so from the outside you can’t see in. The field is covered in a dome with a bunch of different athletic fields underneath it. Honestly, it’s massive.

“I wonder what we’re doing,” I say to Mikey, walking alongside of him down the stairs to the first field.

“Probably some stupid friendship building shit.” Lisa pops up on the other side of me, scaring the shit out of me. I jump back and let out a small squeal in surprise. She draws her eyes together at my weird behavior before dismissing me completely.
 

Finally, we make it down what feels like a thousand steps and stop on a turf field. I look around, and it looks like the super dome where the super bowls are held. There are blue bleachers all around; it probably fits hundreds of thousands of people.
 

And the field looks larger than normal. I thought a football field was big, but this thing is easily double the size. It has similar markings, however, and there are still two forks, if that’s what they’re even called, on each end.
 

“It’s rugby time, ladies and gents. Pair up in teams of fourteen. We’re playing half games, so only twenty minutes long. Let’s go.” Ari blows his whistle, obtaining my undivided attention. Everyone scrambles to make up some teams, and it’s pandemonium on the field.

Mikey grabs my hand, and without even thinking, I reach for Lisa. I would rather play with her than against her I guess—I’m sure she’d target and tackle the shit out of me. The three of us, plus her partner, run to other groups and try to pair up with whoever looks good. It’s a mad scramble to make fourteen with everyone going berserk.
 

After a good couple minutes, we realize we have sixteen and cut some kid with glasses and his female counter part for being weak. It’s harsh, and I do try to keep them on the team just because I feel bad for them, but my group outnumbers me. The group of us run to the sidelines and size each other up, making sure we’re a solid team. Finally, Mikey nods at the team, and we all agree, liking what we see.
 

“Everyone good?” Ari calls out, looking between the groups. I look around and examine the groups. There are four teams, which works out well. I’m already out of breath from just running around and finding a group, so I know this game is going to be killer. “Does everyone know the rules?” Ari asks and a few people nod. I try to hide my head since I don’t really know the rules but I don’t want to admit it and look like a moron.
 

Ari ticks off each team, rewarding us with a number. We are number three, so we don’t play until the second game of the day, and then if we win that, we play the winner of the first game. Whoever wins that becomes the champion, and then we get some reward next class. I pray it’s to opt out of something so I can get a break later in the semester.
 

The first two teams head to opposite ends of the field to talk, and we go towards the bleachers. Once we’re there, I sit on the top row of the first grouping between Mikey and Martin, my fire friend. Lisa and her partner sit directly in front of me.

“Do you even know the rules?” Lisa asks me over her shoulder as I nervously pick at my shorts. I shake my head, notifying my team that I don’t. A few annoying people grumble, but Mikey reaches his arm around my shoulders to make me feel better and pulls me into him.
 

“Basically you want to score like any game, really. Either kick through those,” he says, pointing to the fork thing, “or ground the ball in the goal area. We start in the middle, and you have to drop kick the ball, but we won’t make you do that.” He points to the parts of the field when he talks.
 

“You just carry the ball, but be careful, because they can tackle you,” some kid chimes in, making the nervous bubbles rise through my stomach. I try to bury them, but this game sounds an awful lot like football without padding.
 

“To avoid getting hit, pass the ball. You just can’t pass forward—don’t forget that.” Lisa’s voice shows her annoyance, but I just nod my head, trying to get the whole gist of the game.
 

“Also you can kick the ball if you want in any direction,” Mikey adds, squeezing my arm so I focus on him. I’m not going to lie, my brain is all sorts of jumbled, and I can barely focus on what they’re telling me.
 

“Okay, so basically, I carry the ball towards their goal. I can only pass behind me. I can kick whenever I want. And I have to ground it in to score.” I try to sum it all up, hoping I understand it correctly.

“You can also score by kicking it, but yes, that’s the basics.” Mikey nods over at me proudly.

“You should use your powers, though. We’re not weak humans.” Lisa snorts, showing severe disgust for humans, which irks me since I thought I was one until just a few months ago.

“Just watch their game and you’ll get it.” Mikey nods to me. Lisa looks to where the other team’s game is just starting. Right off the bat, there’s a huge huddle, and people are hitting and poking at each other. Somebody gets pummeled onto the ground and a knot forms deep in my throat in anticipation.
 

I am so screwed.

Team two wins their round, and through their playing, I’m able get a better idea of the game. The whistle is blown, and the two teams shake hands, saying good game to each other—although the losing team is far from sincere. They all take off their equipment near the sidelines and replace us on the bleachers. We walk down the stairs, and as I walk, I feel like I’m being sentenced to jail.
 

We’re all given helmets to protect ourselves, and I’m definitely thankful for that. I put mine on tightly and pat my head to make sure it works. Ari reaches into a box and pulls out wrapped up mouth guards and tosses them to each of us.
 

When he tosses mine to me, I miss it, and it drops to the ground. This damn helmet is so big that I can barely see as the thing falls down to my nose. I bend over to pick up the mouth guard that’s now dirty, before shoving the thing in my mouth.
 

Ari comes to my side and pats my head, making sure the helmet fits before bending to my level. “I’m sorry; I thought you’d catch it.” He adjusts the strap on the helmet so it’s a little tighter, which makes me feel safer.
 

“I tried to. I can’t freaking see,” I wail, already dreading this game. My anxiety is through the roof, and all I can envision is me making a fool of myself out there.
 

“Just be careful,” he says and looks around us sneakily. When he sees that no one is around, he pats my butt before winking and leaving me alone with my team again.
 

Lisa walks to my side with a little evil gleam in her eyes. “I saw that,” she whispers. She turns and pats my butt, mocking Ari.

“Zip it,” I tell her as I run after her. I try to muster up the meanest face that I can. Of course, with the damn mouth guard in my mouth, I have a killer lisp. I just ignore it and branch off from Lisa, walking to the comfort of Mikey’s side.

My team lines up near the center of the field where a white line divides the sides. We win the coin toss, so we get to start with the ball. We huddle up and start talking about the game plan. Mikey decides to be team leader and stands in the middle of us, holding the ball.
 

“Break,” Mikey yells out. “Line up,” he whispers over to me, and then focuses on the game. He gets in the middle of everyone while we all flank around him. The whistle blows, and Mikey drops the ball to the ground, and then kicks it forward towards the other team. Everyone lunges towards it, hoping to come up with the ball.

I try to stay back a little behind the huddle and tell myself I’m playing defense. But in reality I don’t want in on that dog pile. Lisa gets the ball, and since she can’t move forward without going in the dog pile, she lobs the ball back to me at a godly speed.
 

I catch the weird shaped ball easily and freeze up not knowing how to do this. Do I dribble? Do I kick it?
 

Ari’s scream breaks through the rush, so I turn towards him for a split second. His mouth utters the word
run
so I comply. I sprint around the dog pile. A few errant nails scrape down my leg, but I push forward towards the goal.

I don’t look back, and I pray for people to not realize that I have the ball. Of course that doesn’t happen, and before I know it, I’m lying flat on my back. An ache erupts in the back of my skull. Some huge ass Neanderthal tackles me to the ground, but I cling to the ball, miraculously. I don’t want him to take it from me, so I focus all my strength on hanging on for dear life.

The orc reaches down and starts attempting to pull the ball out of my grasp, but I hold onto it so hard—harder than I ever knew possible. I look from side to side for an out when I feel my hands start to slip. Luckily, Mikey’s blonde head pops up behind me, so I shut my eyes and chuck the ball over my head and hope that he gets it.
 

I think I black out because my vision fades, and I feel free, like nothing is happening around me. I hear faint noises in the background, but it’s almost like I’m wearing head phones and everything is muffled. My vision comes back, but it’s splotchy and dotted.
 

I try to stand and get myself off the field, but my legs wobble beneath me. Before I can get myself up, everyone runs towards Mikey, who has the ball now. The Neanderthal is so dumb that he kicks me in the head, stepping on me in his rush as he gets up. I fall back down on the grass and cradle my throbbing body.

Before I know it, I’m above Mikey’s head being praised like an Egyptian goddess. He’s holding me up, so I’m able to focus on what’s around me instead of focusing on standing. People are cheering, but I can’t get into it.
 

Mikey spins me around, and I start losing sight again. I try to focus on a single spot, but the spinning has my vision blurring even more. My stomach flutters like I’m on a tilt-a-whirl and dizziness takes over. Before I realize it, I lean forward and puke my amazing lunch onto the field.
 

“Nice one, newbie.” Lisa’s face is the last thing I remember. She leans over me and smiles, shaking her head back and forth in disgust.