I never thought my power would show me this. This is who I am. Not a forgotten thing, not a toy. My name is Valia Targaryen, and I will take what's mine with fire and blood.
☕︎☕︎☕︎
BOOK 1 in THE FIRE series.
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Chapter 7 It looks like we have to go to shcool anyway. ♛♛♛
"Jay, don't!" repeated Valia Jay moved to grab it.
"Wait, no! No! No! Don't!" Mal chimed in. Jay shot the girls a suave smile. He crawled into the exhibit, reached out, and...
Crack! Jay was blown back by a giant shock. An alarm started to blare. Valia and her friends held their ears.
"A force field and a siren?" asked Carlos. "That's just a little excessive," said Jay, regaining his stance. Valia and her friends raced down the corridor. The alarm had woken the guard in the lobby, and he ran toward the noise. Little did Valia and the others know he was just around the corner. Luckily, they ran in another direction. The group bolted for the exit, unseen, but Carlos stopped at the guard station. As his friends ran past Maleficent's spinning wheel and out the double doors, he assessed the equipment, looking for the alarm shutoff. The guard's phone rang. Carlos answered it. "Hello? Uh, give me one second, one second." He examined the guard's clipboard. "Uh, yeah, yeah. No, false alarm," he said. "It malfunctioned the LM 714 chip in the breadboard circuit. Yeah. Okay. Say hi to the missus." He hung up. The alarm stopped sounding. He looked up to see that the others had left without him. "You're welcome," he said to no one. He ran after his friends. The five, empty-handed, sprinted through the night away from the museum.
"Way to go!" Mal said sarcastically. "Now we have to go to school tomorrow."
♛
We still don't have the want. Great. Now what? Guess we're going to have to survive school till we figure out a plan B. *irritated sigh.*
The following day, Fairy Godmother taught Valia and her friends about goodness.
She stood in front of a blackboard that had WELCOME TO REMEDIAL GOODNESS! Written on it, along with phrases like MOUTHS ARE FOR SMILING, NOT FOR BITING, and SHARING IS CARING. Valia and her friends were the only kids enrolled in the class. They were downright miserable.
"If someone hands you a crying baby," said Fairy Godmother, "do you: A. curse it, B. lock it in a tower, C. give it a bottle or D. carve out its heart?" Evie raised her hand enthusiastically.
"Evie!" said Fairy Godmother.
"What was the second one?" Evie asked.
"Oh, okay..." said Fairy Godmother. "Anyone else?"
Mal, who was sketching the wand, was called on.
She looked up. "C. Give it a bottle," said Mal.
"Correct," said Fairy Godmother with a smile. "Again."
Jay sighed. "You are on fire, girl!" said Carlos.
"Yeah!" said Evie.
"Just pick the one that doesn't sound like any fun," said Valia saying what Mal thought. Mal sent Valia a smile and their friends oohed. "That makes so much sense," said Evie, starting to twirl her hair.
A girl in a pale blue dress with a big blue bow on her head entered the class. She cast a frightened look toward Valia and the others and hurried toward Fairy Godmother at the blackboard. The girl held a clipboard in front of Fairy Godmother. "Hello, dear one," said Fairy Godmother.
"Hi. You need to sign off on early dismissal for the coronation," the girl said.
Mal stopped sketching to study her, and Valia flashed her purple eyes. "Everyone here remembers my daughter, Jane," said Fairy Godmother as she signed the form.
"Mom!" Jane whispered. Jay and Carlos, and Valia exchanged looks.
Fairy Godmother returned the clipboard to her daughter. "That's okay," she said, turning Jane to face Valia and her friends. "Jane, this is everyone." Jane gave a feeble wave. "Hi. That's okay. Don't mind me. As you were," she said, bowing and rushing out of the room. Valia cast a glance at Mal, seeing her smirking. Valia only chuckled under her breath, already knowing what the purple-haired girl was thinking. "Forgive Jane," said Fairy Godmother. "I may have told her a few too many bedtime stories about your...parents." She cleared her throat. "Let's continue." She went back to the blackboard.
♛
"Ow!" said Carlos.
"Who said it first?" said Jay. "Who said it first?"
He and Carlos started wrestling on top of their desk.
Evie put on lip gloss in her mirror. Mal sighed. And Valia raised a brow in amusement.
"Boys," said Fairy Godmother. Then she said it more loudly: "Boys!"
They froze. "I am going to encourage you to use that energy on the tourney field," she said.
"Oh, no, that's okay. Whatever that is," said Carlos, "we'll pass." But before he and Jay knew it, they were on the grassy green tourney field outside the school. It resembled a lacrosse field but had two cannons at the fifty-yard line that shot a constant barrage of balls across the width of it. A big sign that read GO FIGHTING KNIGHTS! Overlooked it. Jay and Carlos were barely recognizable in their tourney helmets, bucklers, and many pads.
On the bleachers, Valia sat as she had promised the two that she would be with them to cheer or whatever she needed to do. Then, finally, the coach blew a whistle.
"Jay, Ben, offense," the referee instructed them. "Chad, you're defense!"
A handsome boy, Chad, strolled across the field.
"Hey! Hey! Put your helmet on! Get out of the kill zone!" the coach said to Carlos. "Pick it up! Put it on! Two hands!" The coach blew the whistle again, and the play began. Jay was off like a shot. He ran right over Carlos, who thudded to the ground. Jay slammed his buckler into Chad, who had the ball. The ball flew free, and Jay scooped it up. He charged down the field into the kill zone, roaring ferociously and dodging the flying balls expertly. Valia watched all this without mentioning it, but she was surprised how well but unsporty Jay played; what could she expect from a boy like Jay.
Carlos, meanwhile, was trying to crawl under the barrage of balls. Ben came to his rescue, batting the balls away as he pulled Carlos to his feet. Finally, Jay slammed the ball right into the net. The cheerleaders whooped—all except for Audrey. Jay threw off his helmet and did a victory dance. Then he realized he was dancing alone. The field, he noticed, was littered with many penalty flags and battered, beaten, groaning players in yellow and blue uniforms.
Coach blew his whistle. "You! Get over here!" Valia winced from her bleacher and crossed her arms. This should be interesting.. she thought. Jay trotted to the coach, who stood among the downed players, Carlos included. Ben was hanging over his knees, panting. "What do you call that?" yelled the coach.
Chad looked on smugly.
The coach's face broke into a smile. "I call that raw talent. Find me later; I'll show you something you haven't seen before. It's called a rule book." He chuckled and patted Jay on the shoulder.
