Rivals (chapter one)

Rivals 

A Short Story

Disclaimers 

Hiiiiiiiiii :D 

This is an original book, please no stealing.  This book is not on Teenfic or any other site.  

If there's any songs, those will also be original (probably, if not I'll make sure to put that at the end of each part) cause I somewhat write songs too.  

Please no hate, you can give constructive criticism but please don't bully or anything.  I'm self-conscious about my writing enough as it is.  

This is a work of fiction, all names, (most) places, and things are fictional.  

Hope y'all enjoy, please comment and vote, your feedback is very much appreciated <3 

- Claire

My eyes popped over and I groaned quietly, rolling over to see what time it was. The alarm clock vaguely showed that it was around six am. No wonder there was barely light at the windows, and why my roommate was snoring away.

I sat up, defeated, and stumbled over to the bathroom, sighing. I grabbed a towel from under the marble sink and soaked it with warm water, pressing it to my face. Sleep was overrated. Who needs sleep?

Knowing it was a lost cause—again—I tugged on a pair of faded, ripped jeans, and a baggy white T-shirt, forcing my hair into a ponytail. Then I trudged over to my canvas by the window and set to work on finishing the banner I was working on.

Grace's (my roommate) fluffy white cat, Daisy, stretched her back and lazily made her way over to me, her outrageous fluffy tale bumping between my legs as she craned her neck at me. She wanted attention.

I bent down to scratch her between the ears quickly before focusing my attention on the banner. I'd been chosen a while back to be head of the art committee, and had been tasked by the school committee to design and paint a banner for the Annual Tournaments.

The Annual Tournaments bring together all five schools (River Rock Academy, Ridgewell University, Justice Academy, Mountain Crest Academy, and PineBridge University) for a series of competitions.

The banner was supposed to have something to represent each school. It had blue and silver for River Rock, green and gold for Mountain Crest, red and orange for Justice, yellow and mahogany for PineBridge, and a small touch of purple and sea green for Ridgewell.

The reason Ridgewell had the smallest recognition was because River Rock and Ridgewell hated each other. Everyone was competitive, but us two. . . we've had some sensitive history, let's just say.

We still fight about something that happened ages ago. People have spread so many rumors about it that we don't even know what the truth is anymore. Whether someone stole a mascot or egged a campus, the truth got lost in the gossip.

But we still despise each other.

Disgruntled noises alerted me that Grace was waking up. I glanced at the clock to realize I'd been painting for three hours. The banner needed just one final touch. . . finally, after two weeks late, it was finished.

"Morning, Grace," I said, hearing that she'd toppled out of her bed, taking her many blankets with her.

"Mhmm," she mumbled, sleepily tossing the blankets onto her bed before she trudged into the bathroom to get ready for the day, Daisy trotting after her in hopes of getting attention.  

I hung the banner up to dry and opened the door to the balcony, leaning against the white metal rails. Across the school grounds were four large buses, each parked at a separated dorm building for visitors. Each bus had their mascot painted on the side, few lines of their colors, and their school names painted rigidly beneath the mascot.

Mountain Crest's elk head stared endlessly. It would have been a bit creepy if it hadn't been painted to look like a cartoon. PineBridge's coyote head was more realistic but missing certain details to make it look realistic. Justice's bear was just barely able to make out from its dark colors. Ridgewell's falcon was the only one with a full body, wings outstretched to look as if it was about to take off.

A boy hopped off the bus and looked around. I narrowed my eyes; Ridgewell was known for pranks, he could easily be scouting out which places to wreck, I wouldn't put it past him.

His eyes wandered up to the dormitories and found mine. We stared at each other, too far away to make direct eye contact, until he was led away into Ridgewell's visiting dorms.

"Morning, Gwen!"

My head whipped around, and I spotted TJ a couple balconies to my right. So far away I'd barely heard him, but he was closer than he would have been during the regular school year.

Since the Tournaments were held during the summer, a large portion of the school went home for the summer, coming back on the weekends to watch competitions, or not coming back at all until the Week of Tournaments, which would be the last two schools competing for the trophy.  

"Morning, TJ," I called back, giving a short wave.

His golden retriever, Bonnie, dashed out from inside his dorm and bounded around his legs, squeaking a tennis ball in her mouth and moving all too fast for TJ to grab the toy. He waved to me before heading back into his dorm.

"Glistening, listening," I sang quietly. "Ready to attack. . . ugh, what's the rest? Like an orca, ready to attack. . ."

Even though I'd been at River Rock for years, I still hadn't memorized the anthem. Which I needed to do, since I was the backup for the backup who was a backup for Chelsea Stevens, the Flyer for the Cheer Team.

Yeah, I was a last resort. I wasn't terrible, but if everyone had been back for the summer, I wouldn't even be a backup.    I only stayed the whole summer because I was head of the art committee. Well, that and. . .

"Gwen, come on," Grace said suddenly, grabbing my arm. "We're going to be late for breakfast, and I am starving."

I rolled my eyes. "You're always starving."  

We made it to the mess hall, and I grabbed a tray from the long buffet counter. On Sundays it was a buffet 24/7. I scooped a sunny side up egg onto my plate, a piece of bacon, a sausage patty, and a pancake with strawberries. Then I grabbed a mug and used the cure machine to hastily make an iced coffee.

"I don't mean to sound rude or mean or anything," Micheal Dean said as I began walking to my table. "But we need the banner—"

"Don't worry, I finished it this morning," I told him, sliding my tray on the long rectangle table next to Grace's. "I'll bring it before the Introductions tonight."

"Before, right?" He clarified, eyeing me cautiously. "Not, like, twelve seconds before? You'll bring it and hour before doors open, not at the last second—"

"Micheal," I said. "I will have the banner there. Now please let me eat in peace."

He watched me carefully before heading off, a slight look of worry and disbelief. Worry because last year I delivered the banner late, and disbelief because he believed with every fiber in his being that I didn't eat food and was some sort of robot programmed to be late and lazy.

I took a bite of my pancake and closed my eyes, subtly rubbing my temples as another dizzy spell painfully appeared.  

A/N:  Yay, we lived.  I had to rewrite that chapter cause it got deleted, but we did it!  In under and hour, which I wish happened with the rest of my stories... 

Hope y'all enjoyed, please comment and vote, be safe and have a great day/night!   

- Anne