Cinder's schedule

1 period: Science with Mr. Bracken

2 period: Language Arts with Mrs. Fern

3 period: Band with Mr. White

4 period: Social Studies with Ms. Bright

Lunch

5 period: Art with Mrs. Squirrel

6 period: Phys Ed with Mr. Ash

7 period: Math with Mr. Dust

Homeroom: Ms. Bright

Locker number: 710, combo 13-43-3

Other Info:

Height: 5'10

Weight: 109 pounds

Origin: England, and Sweden

I looked at my schedule again and sighed. Dang it, I have math last. I looked at my sisters, Poppy and Honey. "Hey!" Poppy said, "We have LA and art together! Honey has science and social studies with you." I smiled, my sisters always lifted her spirits.

Their mother, Sorrel, was driving them to school. First day of High School. I tapped my sporty sneakers nervously, not knowing what to expect. Was my outfit to tomboyish? I wore a sleeveless dark blue hoodie with long athletic black shorts. My long silver hair was in a low ponytail and my bangs I tried to keep behind my ears to keep out of her face. My family just moved here from out of town, so I has no idea what to do when they get there.

My sisters paid more attention to beauty than football, unlike me. Poppy wore a white short sleeve T-shirt with a pink and orange flowery skirt that came down just above her knees. She painted her names a bright pink which worked well with her white flats. She wore her orange hair was down behind a pink headband. My other sister, Honey, wore a short bright summery yellow dress that went the same length of Poppy's skirt. She wore black flats and put her golden hair in a french braid with her bangs held in a stylish way.

The car came to a halt and Sorrel looked at her three daughters. "You girls have a great first day! I will pick you up today after school, have fun!" She smiled her mom smile and me, Poppy, and Honey went through the doors. At the front was a sign that said, all kids meet in the gym at 8:30. I checked the time, it was 8:20. They still had ten minutes, so they went to the gym which was across from the sign and when they got there there were tons of students. At the front were teachers with an ink pallet and a stamper. The stamper was in the shape of the Thunderclan icon. Poppy got her's on her hand, Honey got one on her cheek, and I got one on my upper left arm. I looked around with my black backpack on my shoulder, and saw a lonely girl reading a book on the bleachers and went up to her. She had short black hair, with a green turtleneck sweater. She had a short black skirt on with see through black leggings and wore black worn out sneakers. Her Thunder High stamp was on her forehead.

"Hi," I greeted, and held her hand out. The girl looked up from her book, looked at the hand, and took it.

"Hi," she smiled, "I'm Holly."

I sat down next to her. "I'm Cinder"

The girl looked confused. "I don't think I recognized you."

"I just moved here." There was silence for a moment. "Do you know if the football accepts girls?"

Holly was surprised by that answer, "I think so, are you trying out?"

I nodded, "I've played Football my entire life. It would be really exciting."

The girl nodded her head. "My brother is the captain of the football team. He can ask Mr. Ash, the coach."

"You have a brother?" I asked.

"Yeah, I have two brothers, were triplets. The one I was talking about is my brother Lion." She pointed at a handsome jock with glowing golden hair where the ends were sticking up with his stamp on his muscle. He was wearing a bright red hoodie with blue ripped jeans and white hightops. " And my other brother is Jay, he's studying to be a doctor." She pointed at a long silver haired boy with cloud blue eyes and his stamp was on his blind eye. He was wearing a light gray T-shirt and black jeans.

"That's cool. I have two sisters, Poppy." I pointed at my red haired sister who was talking to a bunch of girls. "And Honey." I pointed at my golden haired sister who was talking to a girl and two boys, including Lion. "I had a brother, Mole, but he died of cancer."

Holly put a hand on her new friend's shoulder. I smiled. My first day of school and I already made a friend.

Suddenly, Honey went up to her sister, grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me to her group of boys and girls with Holly close behind. She let go of my wrist and said, "This is the football star."

"Honey!" I flushed.

"But it's true. You boys should see how many trophies she's won."

"Hey," one of the boys said. Holly said that was her brother Lion. "Do you think you're strong?" I looked up at the jock and nodded. He lied on the floor with one arm up. "Arm wrestle?"

I looked at him for a moment before lying on the floor facing him. "You can use two hands."

"I don't think so." We linked hands, and he counted down. At the last number, he caught me by surprise at his strength and I caught my hand at the last moment. I can do this. She felt her muscles tighten. More kids began to gather whispering and cheering for Lion. I used all my strength and I brought our hands back to the middle. I squeezed my eyes in frustration, and when he least expected it, I slammed his hand on the ground so hard, I thought I broke his hand.

For a few moments, there was dead silence, no one spoke. Poppy and Honey went up to me and checked my arm to see if I broke anything. Boys from behind Lion helped him up from the floor, all focused on the new girl. Then, at once, everyone started cheering for me. They started shaking my hand and patting me on the back.

"Everyone take your seats, please." Someone said politely in the microphone. He went to one side of the front and handed the microphone to a handsome orange haired man with a grey tux on.

I quickly ran back to my seat next to Holly and another girl who I didn't know. She had short pure white hair with shining emerald green eyes. On her cheek was a symbol of a crescent moon, and on her lower arm was the Thunderclan stamp. She wore a white tank top and short athletic shorts.

"Hello everyone, welcome to Thunderclan," the crowd cheered, "I am Mr. Fire, your school principal. Today, we are not gonna have a normal school day, we are just going to have a dodgeball game. Raise your hand if you want to be a captain."

I was super confused. I raised my hand anyway because dodgeball and football to me is life.

Fire pointed to a person, and I realized it was Lion, he went on Fire's left side. I began to put my hand down, but then he called on me. Crap, I'm against him again. Poppy and Honey pushed me down the bleachers and quickly went back up after I made it to the bottom. I went on Fire's other side, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"Everyone line up on the black line." It took longer than expected to form a decent line, but it was done. "If I tell you you are a one, then you go on Lion's team. If I tell you you are a two, then you go onnn…"

Holly whispered my name to him.

He continued, "Cinder's team you go on." He began counting them, going one, than to two. The first person who went on Lion's team was a boy with cream colored hair who friend punched Lion in the shoulder. The first person on my team was a red haired boy who was about the same height as me. As Fire kept counting, more people went onto the two teams. Holly went onto Lion's team and so did Honey, while Poppy went onto my team. Finally when everyone was picked, we went on our sides, touched the wall with our hands, and when the principal blew his whistle, we started running for our balls.

I was the first one to make it, followed by Holly, who was surprisingly fast. I hit one of the girls on Lion's team with really short light blond hair that was covering on blue eye. She scolded at me and went to take a seat.

"Sorry," but she didn't want to hear it.

One person on our team got a dodgeball right in the stomach. "You're out Jay." the person called from the other side.

"I know, you idiot. I'm blind, not deaf." He crossed his arms and went to sit on the bench. When he sat down, she realized he saw a scar across both eyes. What happened to him? Before she thought of that, a ball went toward my face, but I caught it right in time. The Phys Ed coach blew his whistle and the person was out.

The game kept on going until only four people were still in, me, Poppy, Holly, and Lion. We kept on going, dodging every ball until Poppy got out. I threw the ball and got Holly out. On her way to the bench, I mouthed sorry to her.

All the boys were cheering for Lion while all the girls were cheering for me. Lion threw the only ball that was either not punctured or out of the gym. It ran right into my stomach and all the boys were cheering. As painful tears went down my face, I lifted the ball with my hand, emphasizing I caught it, and the girls screamed their heads off. I looked up and I saw all the boys jaws dropped down to the ground.

The whistle blew and everyone was called back to their seats. I had a hard time getting back, but I was able to with the help of Holly and Honey.

"Everyone, check your schedules and see what your homeroom is. When I call your teacher, go with him or her to your class. Mr. Bracken," people including Honey got up to join their teacher. "Ms. Bright." That's my teacher! I got up and went over to her.

She had very short orange and white hair. She was wearing a white button down shirt that was tucked in over long black leather pants and under that were black high heels. Half of her face was gone, instead, her eye was closed, her ear was not there, and she had bandages wrapped all around it.

Once everyone was down, Ms. Bright called everyone to go to her classroom. We followed her awkwardly to her class, not saying anything. We got to a very organized classroom, and asked to sit anywhere we want. I sat in the second row from the front, and the girl with the white hair sat next to me. She smiled, and held out her hand.

"Hello," she said in a french accent, "I'm Half Moon."

I looked at her. Half Moon? That's an unusual name. I eventually shook her hand. "I'm Cinder. Are you from here?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm from France, but my family moved here because my mom got a job here. I did live here though, when I was very little."

"Really?"

"Yes, but we moved after . . ." she paused, "It's personal."

"That's fine."

"Okay, class, I'm going to take attendance," Ms. Bright announced, "Berry?"

"Here." I recognized him, he was the first one to get picked for Lion's team for dodgeball.

"Cinder?"

I flushed. "Here."

She kept going down the list until she was done with everyone. She set her paper and clipboard down on her brown desk.

"Hello everyone, I'm Ms. Bright, your homeroom teacher and also your social studies teacher. Our section, Thunderclan, is one of the four sections in Warrior High. The other three are Windclan, Riverclan, and Shadowclan. They will be on our school teams such as soccer, basketball, and football."

The last word caught my attention, football! So there are probably gonna be lots of people trying out, the thought made me nervous. I can do this, if I beat Lion in arm wrestling and dodgeball, i can be a football player.

"Tryouts for the football team begin after school today, so if you're interested, go to the main gym next to the lunchroom."

I held that thought to my head until lunch. At lunch, I sat with Holly, Honey, Poppy, and Half Moon. Apparently, all the clans meet for lunch, because I saw a bunch of different people I didn't recognized.

At one point, I felt like I was being watched, so I turned around and a girl in a middle of a group was glaring at me and whispered to the other girl next to her. She had dark blond hair and the tips were black and was held by a black clip. She was wearing a white crop top and had a short black skirt on. She had a nose ring and devilish blue eyes.

"Ugh, Heather," Holly commented.

"What's up with her?" asked Poppy.

"She's a big idiot, especially to Lion. In middle school, she forced my brother to date her, but thankfully, Jay told Mr. Fire and Heather got in big trouble," she growled under her breath, " She's still trying to date him, but my guess is that she's jealous of you, Cinder."

Me?" I asked surprised, "Why?"

"News travels fast in High School, I'm guessing the story of you and Lion competing is now famous."

I rolled my eyes and went up to throw my Apple core away. As I got back and was heading back to my seat, Heather stood in my path.

"Look who the new at school here is people," she smirk and several Windclan cats laughed. "What's your name, boy?"

"Better than your face," I snapped back. Everyone laughed, and now a crowd has began to gather.

Her face grew red in anger. "You don't even know what you're up against." I looked down at her in confusion. She was over six inches shorter than me, and probably had muscles the size of her irises.

"Neither do you."

She snorted, "Yeah right, I heard about you, the football star, the muscle crusher, and wooing every guy with your strength. Face it, I'm better than you, and you won't steal my boyfriend."

I was confused, so I raised an eyebrow.

"You're even dumber than you look. Lion has always loved me, he said that himself. I saw how he was looking at you during lunch, and you think you can woo my man?"

She stomped away in anger, the crowd began to go their separate ways, except for me. Was he staring at me? I turned around to his table, he quickly jolted his head and blushed.

I felt a blush coming onto my cheeks, so I went back to my table without eating anything else.

The rest of the day went by quickly, but I was super stoked for football tryouts. When the bell rang, I texted Mom and said football tryouts are today, so pick me up later. After I texted her that, I ran to the gym.

When I got there, Lion and some of his friends were already there, talking about positions. On my left, some girls were sitting on the bleachers, and I immediately recognized Heather. Who was making her way over to Lion, who was clearly annoyed with her.

As time passed, more and more boys came to tryout, but no girls. Holly came with her brother Jay, who said they always come to practice, because their father is the coach. I didn't know that Coach Bramble is their father, but he kinda looks like Lion.

Once most people were inside, the assistant coach, Ash shut the doors, Coach Bramble ordered everyone to stand on the black line. We did so.

"Okay everyone, welcome to the football tryouts for Warrior High. Today, we will test your endurance, strength, and speed. The first round is if anyone is not trying out, but is here to see a boy work out, please exit the gym."

Most of the girls exited the gym, but Heather stayed behind, refusing to go anywhere. Holly and Jay had permission to stay, because their Dad was their ride home.

"Second round, this will determine it you are on the team or not. Jog 6 laps around the track in 10 minutes." He led us to the track, which was huge. I felt some of the boys stiffen up, nervous that they're going to fail. I didn't have a problem with running in that amount of time, back at my home town, my position was wide receiver, so I ran a lot during games.

When he called the whistle to start, everyone ran. I was pretty surprised how unhealthy all of the other people are, and I sprinted past most of them with no problem.

I finished with a minute to spare, and Coach came up to me. "Excuse me, young lady, what's your name?"

"Cinder."

"Have you ever played football before?"

"For all of my childhood," I answered, a little more confident. The muscles in my legs felt stiff and solid.

He smiled, impressed. He flipped his clipboard, took something off it, and handed it to me. It was blue, with scribbled writing on it. "Welcome to the team, Miss Cinder."

My eyes went wide, it wasn't writing, it was a certificate. I couldn't help but smile. Coach held out his hand, but I gave him a hug instead.

Once everyone was done and time was up, Coach called everyone who hasn't completed it to please exit the track. About ⅔ of the boys went back to the school, the remaining of us all faced Coach Bramble. "Congratulations to everyone who succeeded the second round. You all are officially part of the football team."

I looked around to see who else was on my team, Lion was, and so was Berry, I didn't recognize the rest.

Holly cheered in the stands, but Jay just gave a grimace smile. Heather crossed her arms and glared at me, fire in her blue eyes.

I looked for Lion, but he came up to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Good job, Cinder. You are going to make a great addition to the team."

I blushed, and he did the same. He took his hand off my shoulder, put his hand on his neck, and looked the other way, embarrassed.

I brushed my silver bangs out of my face, trying to get wind to cool down my face. I looked back at the Coach, but he was smiling at me and Lion, which made me blush even more.

Coach Bramble handed us the schedule for our football season. Our first game was a week from today, and we are playing Tribe of Rushing Water Academy, or TRWA.

"Before we start picking positions, introduce our names first. Stand in a line, now, let's start from this side. What's your name, son?"

"Bumble." He looked kinda shy.

"Breeze." As he said that, he winked at Heather, but I don't think she noticed

"Berry."

"Fox."

"Mouse."

"Lion." Breezed glared at the handsome guy.

My turn. "Cinder." that sounded so stupid.

"Flame." I turned to my right, a boy shorted than me with flaming orange hair and glasses, I was surprised by how he finished the second round.

"Tiger."

"Ripple."

"Beetle."

"Nettle."

There were others, but I lost focus and zoned out. After the introduction, Coach Bramble asked anyone if they defensive, about half of the boys stepped forward, and coach wrote down their names. Then he asked if anyone played offense, I along with the rest of the boys stepped forward including Lion, who I knew was already the quarterback. The coach wrote down our names, and told us to get into our normal positions we play. I got into my position as one of the wide receivers. The other wide receiver was that guy named Fox. Across me was that poser named Breeze. He had greasy black hair with scary hazel eyes. He growled at me, as if I was the opposite team. Does he know that I'm on his team? Coach wrote down our positions and then he told us to come back tomorrow to get our jerseys.

I grabbed my stuff and walked with Holly to the front of the school, waiting for my ride to come. My Mom's car wasn't coming, didn't she get my text? I hugged Holly goodbye, as she got into her Dad's car. Jay came next, but didn't even acknowledged that I was there. Last was Lion.

"So," he shoved his hands into his pockets, blushing a little, "I'll see you tomorrow." I smiled and stared into his amber eyes, and he stared into my crystal blue eyes. I put my bangs back behind my ears and blushed. I put my hand on my upper arm, feeling self-conscious.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you during the arm wrestle." As soon as I said that, I felt so stupid.

He smiled a little more. "I don't mind," he blushed some more, "I'm sorry if I hurt you during dodgeball. I didn't know what I was thinking."

I smiled and looked down to the side. "It wasn't the first time I got hurt playing dodgeball, or by a boy." I frowned, and looked down, remembering the reason I moved here in the first place. Lion frowned slightly, but was able to keep a smile. He touched my hand, and I looked up surprised. "I'll never hurt you." He smiled a goofy and went to the car, and I watched him drive away. I couldn't help but smile, and blush bright pink.

Mom's car finally arrived, and I hopped in and we drove away. "Why are you smiling like that, Cinder?"

I didn't pay attention though. "Am I smiling?"