Project Moonlark: A Fanfiction

6. TWO WORLDS

"What house are you in?" Rob asked me excitedly. "I hope it's Phoenix."

"No," I said sadly, holding up my light blue cape. "I'm a Shark. The Coach said we're dangerous—I'm confused. Does that mean we're good or bad?"

"You're bad," Rob said, amused. "But if you're talking about the Battles... you guys are pretty good. You've won quite a number of times—don't worry. With you on their side, you're going to crush every other team."

"So why did you say I'm bad?"

"Not bad," Rob said slowly. "More like... you could get very mad and kill someone. By accident, of course. It's not a bad thing. I've always dreamed of being—"

"I could kill someone?!" I asked, exasperated.

"If you have the right motivation," Rob said, shrugging his shoulders. "Most Sharks don't kill anyone; they just plot revenge... but one time, there was this crazy Shark who killed our Rules teacher." He smiled at me, like he was expecting me to go into shock.

"Why?" Was all I could say.

"It's just what they do. Like how Unicorns are naturally kind, and Lions are naturally smart... Sharks are naturally violent."

I shouldn't have shivered, but I did. "I don't want to be violent."

"I'm sure you have a violent side to you—everyone does. One day I'll see it," he promised me, grinning. I glared at him. Why were we even friends?

"I'm already having violent thoughts right now," I warned him. "You might not want to push me off the edge."

"Oh, I know. You'd kill me if I did." He looked too amused. It was irritating.

"Rob!"

"Sorry. But dang, I wish I was a Shark." I lost my grip and let myself love sweet, non-violent Rob for a second, and then I blinked and lost the moment.

"We're training for the Battle of Heroes now, since it's almost the contest," Rob explained to me as he led me to the rest of the class. "It's unfair. Most other people get free time since they aren't competing."

"You are?" Obviously he was. He was definitely more hardworking than he let on—how else would he have survived Everlore?

"My dad forced me to try out for it. He also made me practice, so yes."

I was chuckling, totally not conscious of what I was saying or doing. "Your dad makes you do a lot of things, it seems."

"Have I not told you about how he makes me study?"

"Tell me."

And so for the rest of the period, we were in our own world, completely oblivious to what Coach Oregon was instructing. I should've been listening, but it helped to remember that Elvin Skills wasn't one of the four subjects that would be graded. The Battle was the only important part of it. The Battle which we were training for. I wasn't on the team anyway.

"Hey, Rob," someone unfamiliar called. "We have Rules next. Come on, Miss Virginia's gonna make us write lines again if we're tardy."

"You are way too obsessed with her," another person said.

I finally realized we'd been staring into each other's eyes pretty intensely, and I had to rub my eyes a few times to get back to reality.

"It's already been forty-five minutes?" I asked, still in a daze.

"Wait, what?" Rob asked, looking even more dazed than me.

"You guys should just get married already," a third voice said. I suppressed an eyeroll.