There was a strange man at the door. Cerise peeked through the eyehole, fully taking in his gruff appearance. He looked like her papa, the same build, the same hair color, but his expression was grimmer. He did not have the same smile that her father had every time he saw her, lifting her up in his arms and calling her his little lupa.

This man was not her papa.

He pounded on the door again. "Open up, Cattivo. I know you're in there."

Cerise stepped back with a gasp. Cattivo-that was her papa's name. This man knew her papa. She shook her head. That was impossible. They had barely been in Chicago for more than a week. She'd only started school a few days ago. How could this man know her papa?

"Cattivo, please." Cerise could hear the desperation in the man's voice, the way he said her papa's name made Cerise want to open the door, despite her parents constant warnings. She had started to reach for the knob when another voice joined the one in the hall.

"Domonic, what are you doing here?" It was her papa.

The other man, Dominic, looked up at her father. "They're coming," he said, "I don't know how they know you're here, but they're coming."

The words meant something to her papa for he opened the door, causing Cerise to stumble back, off of the stool that she had been standing on. "Cerise," he said, giving Cerise a stern look. Cerise felt her mouth grow dry. This look from her papa was never a good thing.

"Is she yours?" Dominic asked. Cerise's attention snapped to him. Up close he looked even more like her papa.

Her papa nodded. "Cerise," he told her, "go get Ramona."

Cerise nodded mutely and ran off to her and her sister's shared room. Ramona was lying on her bed, already dressed in her pajamas, a book stuffed in her hands. "Mona," Cerise dragged her sister out of bed, "Papa wants you."

"Okay," Ramona said. She slid out of bed and headed towards the kitchen, her book still in her hands. Cerise followed her.

Dominic looked up as they came in, taking in Cerise and her younger sister. Her papa was talking on the phone in rapid italian. Cerise only caught one word-Rose-her mother's name.

Dominic stood up and faced her father. "You can't be serious," he said.

"I most definitely am."

"Think about the girls," Dominic said, placing a hand on her papa's chest, "Imagine what will happen to them."

"Nothing will happen to them," her father snapped back, "Cerise, Ramona, pack some clothes. We're going out of town for a while."

"But, I have a spelling test tomorrow," Ramona whined.

"You'll have to worry about that later," Papa said, "Pack a bag of clothes then go get in the car."

Cerise dragged her sister away, and followed her papa's rules. Together, they each packed a bag of clothes, her sister stuffing her easy chapter book on the top. "What's going on?" Ramona asked her sister with wide eyes.

Cerise didn't know what was going on. This was all happening so fast. They'd only arrived a week ago, and they were already moving. She was used to moving, they did it a lot, but not moving in the middle of the night.

"I don't know," Cerise said, grabbing her sister's hand, "but everything's going to be okay."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Cerise shot up in her bed, her heart racing. She glanced around the room, taking in the bedside lamp, then the clock sitting on it. 4:34 AM. She let out a sigh and leaned back in her bed. It was just a dream. Just a dream. She was at Grimm's Prep in her dorm room, not in the small two bedroom Chicago apartment. She glanced at her clock again. 4:35 AM. There was no way that she was going to fall back asleep now. Not when memories that should've been long buried resurfaced.

Her eyes shot over to Apple's bed. Her roommate was sleeping peacefully, her hair falling around her perfectly shaped face in a halo. Cerise snorted at the imagery her mind made up. So, Apple was a perfect angel now?

Cerise swung her legs over the side of her bed. Padding silently across the room, she pulled a pair of workout shorts and a tank top on, and laced up her running shoes. She grabbed her keys and phone off of her nightstand, placing her earbuds in her scarred ears.

She hadn't had the dream in months, not since her mom had died. There was no way that she would be able to fall back asleep after that, part of Cerise didn't want to. Cerise left, locking the door behind herself. The only thing that would make cerise feel better was running. Taking a deep breath, Cerise headed towards the football field.

Sparrow was crying. Daring flipped over on his stomach, trying to ignore his roommate's sobs. Whatever Sparrow was crying about was none of his business. As long as he could still play in the game tomorrow, Daring didn't care what Sparrow did in his free time. After a moment, the crying stopped, and Sparrow sighed.

"Do you think..." Sparrow trailed off from the bed next to his.

Daring flipped over again and glanced at his redheaded roommate. "Do I think what?"

Sparrow faced him, taking notice of Daring for the first time. Daring took in his bloodshot, red rimmed eyes, the way he sunk back into his bed. Daring shook his head. "Are you high?"

Sparrow shrugged. "So what if I am?"

Daring sat up, burying his face in his hands. "So what? Sparrow, you do realize that you can get kicked out of school for having drugs, right? You'd most definitely be kicked off of the football team."

Sparrow shrugged again. "So?"

Daring groaned. "Then GPA would be without a running back, and we can't win the season without a running back."

"No, you wouldn't. You'd still have the girl."

Daring shook his head. "A girl can't be Grimm's running back."

Sparrow laughed. "You know what I think? I think you're sexist."

Daring scoffed. He wasn't sexist. He was just following the rules, and the rules said that girls couldn't play on the football team. Headmaster Grimm had even called him into his office the other day to talk about it. They had agreed that it would be better for the school if she stayed on the bench, and she had. On the game the previous Friday, she hadn't been played once.

"Cerise is, like, a bagazilljilion times better than me."

"Bagazilljilion's not a real number."

"And she's hot. I would totally tap that."

Daring's eyes snapped towards his roommate. "Don't talk about her like that, she's your teammate."

"My teammate that you're never going to play."

"You're high. I don't even know why I'm talking to you." Daring stood up and yanked on his letter jacket over his pajamas. "Don't come to practice high. If you do, I'll kick you off the team."

"You wouldn't do that."

"Try me." Daring walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. High Sparrow was less fun than normal Sparrow. Daring locked the door and headed down the hall.

Somehow, he found himself at the football stadium. It made sense, in a way. Daring always solved his problems on the football field, and Sparrow was definitely a problem. Daring let himself in and went to change in the locker room. Five minutes later, he found himself on the field wearing a pair of workout shorts and a t shirt. He started his warm ups, taking notice of the figure on the other side of the field. Daring shook his head, as long as they didn't bother him, he'd be fine.

Cerise pulled her headphones out, looking at the figure across the field between pants. He'd shown up about fifteen minutes after she had, and he'd taken his shirt off about thirty minutes after that. He had nice back muscles, Cerise decided. Really nice back muscles.

Cerise wiped the sweat off of her face and headed towards the girls' locker room, located right across from the boys' locker room. She didn't know why the school had included a girls' locker room when they built the stadium, but she was grateful for it. Cerise opened her locker, took out the shampoo, body soap, and towel that she stored there, and padded over to the showers.

A few minutes later, Cerise emerged from the shower and slipped back into her sweaty clothes. She really needed to start keeping something besides her football pads in her locker.

"I'm telling you, Ramona," came a voice from just outside the locker room, "Baba Yaga has something against me."

Cerise closed her locker as her sister entered the locker room along with probably the prettiest girl Cerise had ever seen, with big blue eyes and platinum blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. Both girls were wearing workout shorts a shirts that read Grimm's Preparatory Academy Track Team. Cerise raised and eyebrow. Ramona? On the track team? When did this happen?

"Hey," Ramona said when she noticed Cerise.

"Hey, yourself. When did you join the track team?"

Her sister looked down at her shirt. "Oh, that," she said, "I let DC talk me into it. I don't know why."

"It's because you're fast, that's why," the blonde girl beside Ramona cut in.

Ramona snorted. "Not compared to her, I'm not. Cerise, this is Darling Charming. Darling, this is my sister, Cerise."

"Hey," Cerise said.

"Oh my wow!" Darling Charming exclaimed, "You're the girl that joined the football team."

"Yeah," Cerise nodded.

"I love what you did so much," Darling said dragging out the so, "I think that girls should speak up for what they want."

Cerise glanced at Ramona. "Is this the activist?"

Ramona shook her head. "She's the princess."

Princess? Darling didn't seem that much like a princess.

"You totally pissed off Daring. I can only imagine what will happen when our parents find out."

Cerise paused. Our? That would mean-

"You're saying that Daring Charming's your brother."

Darling nodded. "My older brother, unfortunately. He's only older by nine months."

"And what's-his-face, the glasses nerd-"

"Dexter," Darling supplied.

"Yeah," Ramona nodded, "He's her twin brother."

"Cool." How come Daring Charming's siblings were so nice. Did all of the niceness genes go to them? All that he ever was to her was cold. He refused to talk to her, to even acknowledge that she was part of his team. They'd lost the game last week because he refused to play her.

Ramona was looking at her. "Are you okay?"

Cerise nodded. "I'm fine."

"'Cause you don't look okay, and you're out of bed before seven, which never happens with you."

"I was having nightmares." Cerise shrugged.

Ramona nodded understandingly. "The accident or Mom?"

"The accident." Cerise glanced at Darling, who was looking back and forth between the sisters. She could tell that Darling wanted to ask what they were talking about, but was refraining herself from doing so. For that, Cerise was thankful. "Anyways," Cerise said, "I'm gonna be going. It was nice meeting you Darling."

"You too," Darling said.

"See ya," Ramona said as Cerise left the room.

"You too."

The Hood sisters never talked about the night of the accident or the things that followed. Cerise didn't know what Ramona remembered from that night, but she never had the courage to ask her about it. That would mean bringing up the past, and Cerise was a strong believer that the past should stay in the past.

Cerise was so lost in thought that she ran directly into a figure making it's way toward the locker rooms, causing her to nearly fall over. She would have kissed the concrete if it weren't for the pair of arms that shot out to grab her.

"Thanks," Cerise muttered, looking up at her rescuer. The pair of steel grey eyes that met hers shocked her, causing her to push herself out of his arms and stumble again. Again, Daring Charming caught her. Setting her upright and chuckling. "Thanks," Cerise muttered again.

"No problem," Daring said, "We couldn't have my running back getting injured, could we?"

Maybe it was due to the bad dreams, or the fact that he never played her, or that stupid project that they were doing on Romeo and Juliet, but Cerise snapped. "I don't know," Cerise snapped back, "I didn't think that you realized I was on your team."

Daring took a step back. "I know everyone who's on my football team."

"Oh, really?" Cerise laughed, "Then care to tell me why you never play me. Why you didn't play me in the game last week-which we lost, by the way."

Daring didn't say anything. He just stared at her.

"I thought not," Cerise said, turning on her heel and walking away from him, only to realize that she was going the wrong way. Cerise huffed and continued going in the direction she was going. She had a good two hours before class started, she could head back to the dorms the long way.

Daring watched Cerise go in a state of shock. He didn't think that that quiet girl had so much anger in her. Daring shook his head. Maybe he was being a bit unreasonable not playing her in the game at all last Friday, but that was what Headmaster Grimm had wanted, and Daring was one for following the rules.

"Wow." Daring looked up to find his sister standing in front of him along with a girl with long brown hair and dark blue eyes. The girl was studying him curiously. "What did you do to piss her off so much?"

"It's easy," Darling said, "He was a buttface and didn't play her in the game last Friday."

"Thanks, Darling," Daring muttered.

"This is your brother?" the other girl asked.

"Yeah," Darling said

The other girl laughed. "Listen to me, Daring," she said, slapping him on the back, "You should fix things with Cerise. Rule number one; mad Cerise is not a fun Cerise."

"How do you know that?"

The girl smiled mischievously. "I'm her younger sister," she said, "I've had my fair share of mad Cerise." With that said, the girl dragged Darling toward the football field.

"You did what?"

Cerise looked down at her feet. She had no idea why she had told Hunter about the events of the morning. She supposed it was because he was the only one of her friends who would understand. Cedar or Raven would've been sympathetic, but Hunter understood.

"I got mad. I was having bad dreams, and him being shirtless wasn't helping anything, and all I could think about was how unfair it all was, so I snapped."

"Newsflash, Cerise," Hunter said as they entered the classroom and set their books down on the desk, "Grimm's Prep isn't exactly known for being fair."

"Still-"

"I told you not to argue with him."

"I didn't really argue with him," Cerise supplied, "It was more of me yelling at him and then leaving."

"That's even worse."

"What was I supposed to do, then? Just keep practicing until he magically let me play?"

"I wasn't-" Whatever Hunter had been about to say was cut off by the arrival of Daring Charming, impeccably dressed in his uniform and, thankfully, not shirtless.

"Hunter, Cerise," He nodded at both of them, placing his books down on the table.

"Daring," Hunter said. Cerise didn't say a word, choosing instead to sink lower into her seat, and bury her face in her hands.

Daring glanced across the table at Cerise. The quiet girl hadn't spoken a word the whole period. It was strange, seeing as this was the exact same girl that had shouted at him only a few hours earlier.

Cerise was engrossed in reading Romeo and Juliet, though Daring doubted that it was that interesting. She was probably just avoiding him. Daring smiled at the thought. He was honestly surprised that she hadn't decked him the moment he'd entered the room.

Angry Cerise is not a fun Cerise. Daring shook his head. Sure, Cerise's sister had a point, but angry Headmaster Grimm was not a fun Headmaster Grimm either. Cerise shot up as the bell rang and rushed out the door.

"Can I talk to you?" Hunter asked as Daring packed up his stuff.

"Sure."

"Cerise told me that she talked to you this morning."

"She calls that talking?" Daring raised an eyebrow.

"Okay," Hunter sighed, "She more like yelled at you, but you've got to understand she's frustrated."

"I do." Daring nodded.

Hunter looked taken aback. "You do?"

"Yeah," Daring said, "but here's the thing; Headmaster Grimm doesn't want her to be played."

"And you don't either."

"I didn't say-"

"You didn't have to. You're Daring Charming, you enjoy following the rules."

Daring watched as Hunter retreated down the hall, and joined Ashlynn. Was that really how people saw him? Sparrow had called him sexist, but Sparrow had been high. Maybe he was right, maybe Daring didn't like the idea of having a girl on his award winning football team. Daring shook his head and headed towards the headmaster's office. He had some things he needed to talk about.

"Alright guys, listen up," Coach Man bellowed, "Today we're going to be scrimmaging against Beanstalk High in preparation for the game against Bloodless this Friday." Cerise felt her heart sink. A scrimmage against another high school meant that there was no way she was going to be played. "Your captain has put together the teams. Remember, we've got to beat these monsters Friday, or our program loses funding. Got it? Good."

Cerise removed her helmet and sat down on the bench, pulling out her copy of Romeo and Juliet and beginning to read as Daring Charming started to list off the first string.

"Cerise Hood."

Cerise looked up from her book. "Huh?"

"Get out there," the captain said.

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

Cerise tugged on her helmet and ran out to join the team, a smile on her face. She was being played. She couldn't believe it. Was this because she'd yelled at Daring that morning?

As she passed him, Daring caught her arm. "If you screw up, you're back on the bench for good."

"Don't worry," Cerise grinned, "I won't."