Awkward Stars

Chapter 05

chapter five
emma montoya

I stand in a group of only five girls, and Jenna is not one of them. We were separated by grades again, so I will be the last to test. Until then I can listen and watch attentively until my turn. The first girl rises from the bench we sit at slowly and one of the volleyball players kindly pushes her onto the court. Another player-- I think she introduced herself as Amy-- stands behind the net cutting across the middle with a bucket of various types of sports balls. At the girls feet-- they called her Jay-- is a oval, stitched racket with a small stick for a handle.

"Jay," Amy proclaims. "I will through each one of these balls at you and you must react in the appropriate way. You may either hit it with the racket, kick, bounce, throw, or hit it with only your arms." Her explanation is followed by a head nod from Jay.

Amy first removes a rubber, orangish ball from the metal bin. She plays around with it in her hand and then, with a smirk, throws it as hard as she can at poor Jay. I can see fear dancing across Jay's teal eyes as her pupils go wide. With a swift duck, the ball goes flying over her head, barely skimming her head.

I follow the ball to find a panel of girls shaking their heads while scribbling down notes on thick clipboards. I don't realize how I couldn't figure this out before: We are getting evaluated on our reactions.

Jay picks up the racket this time and uses it as Amy goes through the other three balls. I can see why she uses the racket each time: one of the balls has bound to be hit by it. But when Amy throws the last ball, a white fabric one that had different stripes, it broke the stitching of the racket, flying through the middle.

Groan erupted from the room, and though they are muttered, I can hear them quite clearly.

Without being asked to, Jay quietly comes back to the bench and buries her face in her hands. Its hard to tell if she's crying or not, but when the next girl among us is brought up to the court, Jay perks up as if woken from a dream.

Dani steps onto the court with a determined look scribbled across her face. In this small group, Dani is the only person I have met personally. She was apart of my dwelling in Young City, always more aggressive and distant from the group. She would set her mind to something and refuse to be bothered until it was complete, like mopping the floor would come first to lunch.

Amy goes through the same process as she did with Jay, but this time in a different order. Since I've seen this once before, and know the most probable outcome, my mind wanders, as it does so often.

My life is such a mess right now, I spend this time to get things back in place. It is almost as if the Guild Ceremony tossed my life in the air and everyone grabbed a little piece of it.

My parents. There is some throbbing sensation in the back of my throat telling me I need to find out where they are. I've read fairy tales and novels under my covers when I was younger about boys and girls longing to be free of the rules their parents weigh on their shoulders, but yet here I am only dreaming to have a mother embrace me with a hug and a father to read stories to me as I can hardly keep my eyes open. It is clear that other sixteen year-olds wouldn't want their parents reading to them or kissing them tonight, and but maybe just one night I can make up many memories the leaders took away from us.

Jenna. She seems so distance in a time I need her the most. We have spent numerous years together believing this life was perfect and we were blessed to be a part of it. That was a time in our lives when we believed nothing bad, wrong, or disappointing would ever come upon us. Life would be a happily ever after. It seems as though she is still living in that world and I have moved on too, well, I suppose reality.

The Guild. In the County, when a choice goes wrong there are two possible solutions. The person who has made chaos from his actions may either be banned and set to live outside the fence or may spend his days in Young City again under strict watch of the leaders. The Council fears greatly that a wrong choice will tear apart our civilization and will do anything to rid the County of Arbiters--those among us whose terrible ways influence us as a civilization. I need to fit in my new Guild, but it's not as easy as it sounds.

"Emma?" My heart misses a beat.

I pulled myself up and onto the court, deftly moving away from a woman who was to push me onto the court. I face Amy and her bewildered eyes proudly, every second my conscious telling me I can do this.

For some reason, when I stand alone while other gazes are on my every move, there is this feeling pouncing throughout me that is hard to describe. I find myself frequently pressuring myself into not messing up, I fear that I would let my audience down. They probably wouldn't care, but those thoughts are quickly erased and replaced by self-importance thoughts. It can have both positive and negative effects.

Amy first picks up the small green ball. I have easily concluded that that one should be hit by the racket, for all the other balls would have zero effect by the racket, as Jay demonstrated perfectly.

The sound of the racket is differently, kind of like a metallic whoosh and when the ball is smacked it recoils off the ground and onto the back wall... over the net. I pray I did it right.

Shaking off my successful hit, Amy pulled the fabric ball from the chain container. This was an easier one. The girls were playing with this kind of ball during their volleyball game while hitting it with their forearms.

Amy tosses it high in the air and I see it will barely fall over the net. In panic, my feet find their way to the front of the net and I punch the ball with a closed fist. The second I do it I realize it doesn't feel right.

>

Hey Turtles,

I'm back. This chapter is again shorter than most, but I feel really sick and can hardly keep my eyes open. I can only hope soon I can write a normal-sized chapter again.

THE WATTYS: Please Vote, Comment, and Share! Or even just one of the three! It would mean so much!

This chapter is dedicated to xsummersongx because she is one of my most loyal readers who votes every chapter! Thank you so much and know that you are appreciated :)

Be Brave,

KATHERiNE