Chapter 1:(1360 words)
It was just another morning for most of the students at Ever After High.
However, to those others? It was the try-outs for the bookball team for the year and a lot of boys were hyped for it to begin. Somewhere in the woods outside of the castle, though, there was a young girl of seventeen years.
She too was a student there at Ever After High, it was a Thursday, and the end of her first week at the school was almost coming to an end.
She looked exactly like a human at first glance, but unlike the other students, she was a hybrid, a half-werewolf. Well, actually… her sister was a student there and she was a half-werewolf too. Wait, that doesn't count though, she was her sister.
Her long straight hair was swaying lightly in the light wind, though the large crimson hood over her head constricted its movements somewhat. There were streaks of white on the left side of her mostly dark brown hair and fringe.
Her name was Cerise Hood, the daughter of the Little Red Riding Hood. Unfortunately, she was also the daughter of the Big Bad Wolf, making her the half-werewolf that she is. Most people didn't know this, they just saw her as the daughter of her mother, and that would be her destiny.
Her sisters Ramona and Luna had the surname of 'Badwolf', and people only saw them as the daughters of their father.
Ramona was two years older than her, and starting her last year at EAH. She didn't want to sign her destiny, as that would mean trying to kill her grandmother and her sister, so she was just absent at the end of the year when she was supposed to sign the Storybook of Legends.
She told Headmaster Grimm that she would sign it at the end of her last year.
Luna, on the other hand, was a lot younger than Cerise and Ramona at twelve years old. She was very shy, as she didn't have any friends, since everyone was scared of her and her dad. She didn't mind though because, like Cerise, she loved to be alone, running around the woods and seeing her dad's side of the family, all of the cousins.
Luckily for them, they didn't have to hide their wolf ears and their 'violent' nature, though people did wonder why they had mostly human bodies, but they were too afraid to question it.
Cerise didn't have that freedom, she had to hide hers.
It was horrible.
Having to hide a secret as large as that was stressful, because if people found out, not only would she and her sisters be locked up, so would her parents, and that would be terrible.
Her siblings still had to hide who their mother was, but they were free nonetheless.
Looking at her mirrorphone, she saw that try-outs were almost beginning. She was going to try out for them, excited wasn't enough to describe what she felt.
No girl had ever tried to join the team, though there was a girl apparently called Darling Charming, daughter of King and Queen Charming, who pretended to be a boy to join the fencing team.
What a coincidence, her brother, Daring Charming is the captain of the bookball team.
She had heard of him already.
Raven and Cedar, her friend and her roommate, told her all about the tension in between the Royals and the Rebels, and about the Charmings.
Daring Charming was a stuck-up-idiot according to Raven.
"He only cares about his reflection in the mirror in his hands and how rich and good-looking he is," she told the half-werewolf earlier in the week. "All of the girls in the school gasp and faint like idiots whenever he walked by, except for me, Cedar and some of the others. He doesn't care about those though, he's a Royal through and through."
'He already sounded like jerk,' decided Cerise. If someone could be that narcissistic, it would be him, according to her friends. Raven was one of the only few that new of her… heritage. The others included her sister and Hunter Huntsman, a childhood friend.
Cedar also spoke of similar things later that day, telling the unexperienced girl that it was best to not get involved in his shenanigans.
It was pointless, though, because when Cerise saw the captain of the bookball team's name on the try-out sheet of information, she just wanted to join ever more, in spite of him.
She could tell that he was a sexist imbecile, what with how much he probably foamed at the mouth when someone said 'traditions'.
Making up her mind, she ran from the forest all the way to the bookball stadium, her wolf side giving her super-speed.
She gets to the changing rooms and puts on a mask, lessons only start next week and she spends most of her time out in the forests, so no one had really seen her before, so everyone will just assume that she's a boy.
She'll keep the hood on, but she put on the uniform that she saw others wearing out on the field, warming up for try-outs.
She didn't have to, since she always stretches before going running, and she had sprinted all the way there.
Right in the middle of the group of boys, she saw Hunter.
Since they are from the same story, and they live near the same area, Hunter already knew who she was, and that she was a girl.
He turned when he saw someone coming towards them. Then he saw the signature hood and chuckled quietly to himself before walking over to his disguised friend.
Since they were best friends since they were young, he already knew of her secret, with her parents approving.
"Hey, Hood," he greeted, not calling her by her first name since it was usually used for girls. Also, she was wearing a hood so it made it sound like they don't know each other.
"Hi, Hunter," she whispered so that only they heard.
He chuckled again, "Look, I know that you're fast and… all that, but I didn't think that you would try to join a boys-only team!"
"Yeah, well, I'm just full of surprises, aren't I?" she shot back.
"True, true. Well don't worry, I won't tell," he assured her.
She gave him one of her rare friendly smiles, "Thanks, Hunter."
"No problem, Hood," he then parted with her so that all of the boys (and girl) were in a line, though Cerise and Hunter still stood next to each other.
They saw the famous captain leave the changing rooms and stroll suavely over to where to others were standing. With him came the coach, the professor who taught gym.
"All right, men. Ready for try-outs?" he asked.
"We are!" chimed the rest of the students. Cerise stayed silent, her 'boy voice' was horrible.
Daring, obviously pleased with the noisy response, began try-outs.
He separated all of the students there into groups depending what position they wanted. Cerise definitely wanted to be a running-back, what with her blazing speed. She was sure that she would get the position, she was a half-werewolf after all, no one can beat her when it comes to running.
When Daring reached those who wanted to be running-backs, he counted how many there were, four students were playing for that position, including Cerise.
Daring made them run around the pitch to see who was fastest, which was obviously Cerise by a long shot.
The expression on the Charming's face was priceless.
'Even if I don't make it on the team, that face made it all worth it,' she laughed to herself, very amused by the situation.
Then Daring made all players play a game, they would have to play more than one since so many students tried out.
After the games, several hours later in the day, Daring stood by the bleachers, discussing who would get into the team with the coach, as the group of boys (and girl) waited near the edge of the field, wondering who would be those lucky students.