Protective

Tryouts

Yeremy

Lana had ordered me to sit in the bleachers while she got ready. Iosef took less time than expected of him and Lana said she would be taking her time getting ready.

She was definitely strange. Everything she had been doing today, it was if she was moving to infiltrate an army. I told her brother as much when he called me at lunch and all he said was that he wasn't surprised.

Mikhail may have cultivated Dmitri's physical skills but Lana's mental skills were are sharp as Mikhail's.

Everything she had done today reminded me of him.

The girls had already set up on the school's football field for tryouts. It seemed like a pretty small team and they were all in uniform. They preformed a couple of group stretches before I could see Lana finally stepping out onto the field.

She wore light blue high waisted shorts and a matching short sleeved top that showed off some of her skin. Her blonde hair was parted in the middle and brushed back into a neat bun.

She was much more in shape than I would've guessed. Frankly, she seemed lazy and a bit immature but that was to expected when it was clear she was spoiled rotten.

But the more time I spent with this girl, the more I began to realize that I didn't know absolutely anything about her that she didn't want me to know.

Violette, Bria, and Olive all exchanged the same smile as Rose moved to hug Lana. Clearly it was no coincidence that they had invited her here.

After she stretched, I began to realize quite the audience had been built up in the bleachers. Particularly, Roman and his friends had taken center stage.

Just what the hell was Violette planning to do to Lana.

I decided to move closer down to the last bleacher to get a better view just in case and after moving I took notice to him much better I could hear.

"Alright Lana," Violette began to direct her, "It seems like you're the only one that actually showed up so here's the routine you need to copy to actually join. Bria and Olive tell me you have some experience."

"Just a bit," Lana smiled sweetly as the team moved into formation, "I'm a little rusty."

"That's not problem at all," Violette reassured her warmly, "Just do everything I do."

In a matter of seconds the squad erupted into a series of intricate moves none more complex than Violette herself.

I saw now what the plan was, they wanted to embarrass her while simultaneously asserting dominance.

From the look on Lana's face you might've thought it worked but I was just starting to understand her plan.

Violette had the smuggest of smiles after she stuck the landing, "Just try your best Lana. Even these girls need a little more work."

Lana smiled, a flicker of worry in her face, "Okay I'll try that."

She took a deep breath and began to complete Violette's impossible routine expertly. She rounded off into a back-walkover before somersaulting following a cartwheel as she launched herself into the air off her hands before tucking in the air and sticking the landing.

She somehow managed to make the routine much more complex than Violette's. Each move was executed effortlessly and elegantly which made it seem as if she hardly broke a sweat. She moved as if this was something just anyone could do and from the smile on her face, I could tell just how well she knew she did.

The other girls on the squad moved to compliment her while some people on the bleachers even moved to applaud her performance.

I could see now this was part of her plan. She was going to take Violette down.

_____
Lana

"Jesus Lana," Rose whispered, "Didn't you say you were rusty?"

"Well the last time I practiced was over a month ago," I shrugged, "By my own definition, that is rusty."

Rose laughed before turning to the squad, "I think it's pretty clear she should be on the team, right girls?"

The rest of the girls agreed excitedly including Bria and Olive.

Violette smiled warmly at me, "I agree. You would be an asset to this team, Lana. We're happy to have you. Rose will get you situated with a uniform."

"Yes, I'll handle all of that," Rose agreed, turning to me, "She is seething. I've never seen her smile that hard before. We should go before she explodes."

Rose grabbed my hand and led me off the field back to the locker room, "You know I had my doubts, but that plan worked beautifully."

"How could you doubt me?" I frowned putting my uniform back on, "My plans are flawless, which is why I managed to get invited to that party tonight by Roman himself."

Rose shook her head laughing, "My God you're scary. Are you going to go?"

"Nope," I grabbed my bag and walked opened the door, "Dmitri wouldn't let me and it'd be too easy for me to just let Roman invite me like that. It's not enough. It's too simple."

Yeremy had been standing in the hallway and as Rose and I walked passed him, I put my bag in his arms, "Let's go home Yeremy. I'm tired and unfortunately need to find a way to do this Calculus homework."

He nodded and I turned to Rose, whispering, "If I change my mind about the party I'll let you know," as I pulled her into a hug and said goodbye.

It didn't take long for Iosef to pull the car around.

"That was impressive," Yeremy started once we got into the car, "I didn't realize you were so efficient in gymnastics."

"I think my exact words were, 'I'm not bad at anything' yes?" I smiled at him, "My father and brother were right about me being lazy but the gymnastics part of my training was actually fun compared to hand to hand combat. Learning hand to hand combat is like forcing yourself to get beat up until your reflexes catch up with your eyes."

I shuddered at the thought of training with them. It was one of the very few times Dmitri lost his patience with me.  It was a strange feeling so I did give a little more effort into it. I could defend myself very well, but not nearly as well as Dmitri could.

I didn't want to be on that level, even when I was much younger I knew it. To get to the level my brother was on cost much more than just a few punches.

"Can I ask you a question?"

I nodded.

"What exactly are you planning to do at this school? It seems as if you are planning something and tryouts were just phase 1."

"No," I shook my head, "Phase 1 was finding a friend that knew everything about the school. Someone who was an insider that I could use my skills to piggyback off of. Lucky for me Rose just happened to be an old friend."

"What's at the end of these phases?"

"Total domination, Yeremy. Every little girls dream."

- - End of Chapter - -