Dark Vision (Ballad of the Seer, Book Two)

Chapter 8 - Tryouts

Dianna watched from the bleachers in the community center as several boys tried out for Drew's open spot on the basketball team. A lot of kids from school had turned up to watch the show. It wasn't surprising given just how little there was to do in town. She barely noticed them, though. She tried to focus on what was happening in front of her, but she was having trouble with that. Jack had just informed her half an hour ago that her best friend had collapsed and had to be taken home, still unconscious. She wanted to be by Lily's side. She wanted to make sure that she was alright. In fact, she had rushed to her car the second the words left Jack's mouth. However, Duncan wanted her to stay and try to do "damage control" on the situation. Though, with Sara being present at the time of Lily's bizarre freak-out, she wasn't really sure what she could do to help.

During practice, earlier, Sara had already begun to poison everyone's minds. From Jack's version of the story, Sara had seriously embellished. Like a lot. She told the whole squad that Lily was running around the room screeching like a banshee, trying to attack people.

Dianna wanted to walk up to Sara and punch her in the face when she heard her say that Lily must be on drugs. Or when she casually suggested that Lily might be schizophrenic. But she held herself together, knowing that it would only add fuel to the fire. Hearing all of the slanderous allegations against Lily, Hilary became very concerned. She had asked Dianna if she knew anything. Dianna, not wanting to lie, gave her the gist of her knowledge on the event - leaving out the possible magical explanations, of course.

Dianna cut her eyes across the room where Sara was seated with Wendy and Brittany, whose arm was wrapped in a hot pink cast, cradled to her chest like a baby. Dianna knew that they were there to watch Jason. Sara had locked her sights on him. She wanted to sink her fangs into him and make him her new arm candy. It must have made Sara's blood boil when Jason had agreed to a date with Dianna. She smiled wickedly, thinking how wonderful it was to see Sara's face contort into first shock and then rage when Jason said yes.

Dianna noticed Jack enter through the door near Sara. He walked over to sit on the bench beside Eric. He wasn't on the basketball team, but he was Coach Edwards' favorite player. Jack was the reason the football team had gone to the playoffs and then defeated the other team by an extreme margin. Dianna couldn't remember the score because all of her attention had been focused on watching Jack zip up and down the field. Watching him in his element was amazing. When the game was over and everyone was celebrating she had wanted to hug him - most of the other cheerleaders had - but Lily had been there and Dianna had been afraid that her feelings would be too obvious. Lily was too good at reading people's faces. Even Dianna's.

She smiled when she saw Jack laugh at something Eric said. It was nice to see him more at ease. Especially after what happened in the cafeteria earlier. She had spent the rest of the day trying to figure out what that was about, coming up blank.

"Jason Theron," Coach Edwards called out, his voice echoing throughout the large room.

Jason, who was standing with a group of girls, ran over to the coach. Coach Edwards said something to him and he nodded. He took off his jacket and tossed it onto the bench a few feet away from Jack. Jack wrinkled his nose as if the jacket smelled terrible and scooted further away from it, causing Eric to have to move too. Finally, Eric stood and sat on the other side of Jack. He said something to Jack that looked like, "What's wrong with you?"

Jack shrugged and turned to watch Jason jog out onto the court, facing off against Carson - one of the best players on the team. Lily had told Dianna that Carson had a crush on Jason. Of course, looking at Jason in his sleeveless shirt that showed off his well-developed arms, Dianna couldn't blame him. Jason was hot and if not for her feelings for Jack she probably would've gone after him for real. She thought it was going to be interesting to see how Carson dealt with the situation.