Clubs & Hobbies
"What's this?" Teal stopped them on their way back to the dorms from lunch. He looked at the large electronic bulletin board, avidly scrolling through some of the articles.
"Clubs?" Magnolia leaned in, shoving Teal out of the way, "I didn't think they had this sort of thing here."
"Let me see that." Lake pushed Magnolia out of the way, "Sorry." He cooed at a blue digital sheet, and instantly signed his name on it with a stylus, "Ooh, I know what I'm doing."
"What is it?" Roxo butt in, resting his arm on Lake's shoulder.
"Swimming. You wanna come look at—wait…my bad."
"I'm starting to think you guy do this on purpose now." Roxo joked under his breath. Teal snickered and read some out loud for him.
"So let's see what we have," Teal anxiously spun the stylus between his knuckles, "there's orchestra, painting, and track left."
Roxo thought for a moment, and Teal tapped his foot on the ground, still spinning the pen.
"I like orchestra, actually." Roxo's cheeks flushed a bright red, "But I'm not sure—
"Orchestra!" Magnolia lit up, "I'll do it with you, I play piano."
"Really? I used to play violin when I was younger, so, uh, yeah."
"Are you any good?"
"Uh…yes?"
"How can you read notes though?"
He stammered, "I don't quite know either, it just kinda happens."
Then Magnolia and Roxo signed their names on the board.
"How about you Teal?" Lake leaned against the wall, "There's another sheet actually. You missed it, the Vytal Festival Tournament. Early registration."
Both Teal and Magnolia beamed at those words. They immediately remembered watching them on television every year until now. Teal tinged with happiness and nostalgia.
"No. Way." Teal pulled a wide smile, eyes firing with interest, "This is real? Oh my god, Magnolia!"
"I know, I know." Magnolia grabbed her brother's shoulders, "But calm down, would you, Teal?"
"What is that?" Roxo's question immediately silenced the two.
"What is the Vytal Festival Tournament?" Teal chimed, and Lake's expression fell, as he feared Teal's excitement.
"Oh no," Magnolia mumbled, "You had to ask?"
"Well what is—
"The Vytal Festival Tournament is an international festival in Remnant, held every two years. It's where the various cultures of the world are celebrated. Most importantly, they are celebrated with a Combat Tournament. I should know, I forced Magnolia to watch it with me every time. And one time we even got to go to one. It was amazing."
"Are you done?" Magnolia asked.
"Yes." Teal looked deeper into the paper, "This year it's being held in Atlas."
"Does this mean we're participating?" Lake interjected.
"Hell yeah it does." He scratched 'Team TRML' on the sheet in all capital letters.
"Why don't we figure out our schedules first?" Magnolia pulled up what they signed on the screen, "Meetings for Orchestra will be on Tuesdays and Friday, so Roxo and I will go tomorrow then."
"And swim team try-outs are this evening." Lake read, "We can all go to that."
Teal glanced around at the other wandering students, "We'll hang out in the dorm for a while then we'll head out to your try out."
~Lake~
While Magnolia and Teal changed out of their uniforms, Roxo and Lake were helping each other rabidly search around the room.
"What are you looking for?" Teal said and pulled his signature leather jacket on.
"I'm looking for my competitive shorts. I could've sworn I packed them." Lake was shuffling through the numerous board shorts he kept in a drawer.
"And I'm looking for my violin." Roxo stared blankly into the closet, "It's in there somewhere."
"Let me help you with that." Magnolia reached for the top shelf on the tips of her toes, "Help me out here."
"Thank you, Mags." Roxo chuckled, and reached for it without even stretching, "Here it is."
"Mags?"
"Oh, do you not like nicknames?"
"I like it actually." She grinned. On the other side of the room, Teal was teasing Lake.
Teal laughed, "Competitive shorts? You wear those? It's practically underwear you wear in the water!"
"Yes Teal, that's exactly what these are." He pulled out a pair of silky black jammers from the drawer. Teal squinted at them in disbelief, then lit up.
"Do all the guys haveto wear that?"
"Duh. Have you seen how much regular shorts get in the way of swimming?"
Magnolia smacked Teal upside the head, "Don't even think about it."
Lake snickered loudly, and Roxo scratched his head, "What does he mean?"
"Please don't gawk at every boy you see there, Teal." Magnolia sighed, "You're our team leader."
"Oh, I get it now." Roxo stood by the door with Teal.
"Are we ready to go?" Teal crossed his arms. Magnolia nodded and the three waited for Lake.
All eyes were on him, "Guys. Give me a minute." He slipped into the bathroom to get dressed. He came back out in the same outfit he always wore.
"Roxo." Teal blurted, "Which direction to the pool?"
"That way." He pointed, and Teal led the way.
"You know, it's nice that this school offers this sort of stuff. Besides, what else do they expect us to do here beside train and study?" Magnolia thought out loud.
"Maybe some students need more than fighting to express themselves." Lake replied, unintentionally reminding Roxo of Ivory. When they arrived at the gate of the pool, the sun was still quite warm, but beginning to sink into the horizon. Barely a dozen other people stood at the edge of the pool, ready to dive in.
"Lake?" Teal looked around for him, but he had already stripped his jacket, shirt and outer shorts off to join the rest of them, "So do we just wait here?"
"I-I guess." Roxo shuffled backwards until he found the bleachers. Teal and Magnolia joined him, along with other team members who sat around them watching whoever was in the pool.
Teal watched judiciously, eyes tracking every movement of…the boys, of course.
"Teal," Magnolia snapped him out of his daydream, "you're drooling."
"Am not." Teal scoffed and wiped his chin on the inside of his jacket.
"Sure." Magnolia drawled out, and Roxo was suddenly squished between the twins.
"You guys mind scooting over?" He shifted uncomfortably, and the two obliged. After nearly half-an-hour of swimming back and forth non-stop, the air began to cool, and Lake emerged from the water.
"Teal, you're staring." Magnolia teased.
"You're disgusting Magnolia, that is my partner right there." He grimaced and made a gagging sound, earning a discreet snicker from Roxo and some other students around them.
"Lower your voice a bit would you?" Magnolia said in between giggles.
Teal glanced around, "My bad. I'm sorry."
"What is he doing now?" Roxo whined under his breath, "It's been, like, an hour."
Lake was talking to the coach, and drew the water off of his body. He didn't seem uncomfortable in the compression shorts, nor did he seem fazed by the cold whatsoever. He nodded and ran a hand through his hair. Now he was heading back toward them.
"How'd it go?" Teal slapped him on the shoulder, "I don't know much about swimming, but I think you did well."
"Gosh Teal, I know I'm hot, but being hot isn't what swimming is about." Lake joked and Teal deadpanned, "Just kidding, I'm straight Teal. Straight as a kickboard."
"I have no idea what those even look like."
Roxo crossed his arms, trying to hide the fact that he was cold, "Well? How'd it go?"
"Is that even a question? Of course I did well." He replied and picked his clothes up from the bleachers, "But I also found out that this isn't actually part of the school. It's a club team that uses the pool here."
As they walked back, Roxo replied with, "That's cool," when no one else spoke.
~Roxo & Mags~
After school the following day, Roxo and Magnolia rushed to the dorm to dress out of their uniforms and dash over to the music hall. Meanwhile, Teal and Lake strolled behind them, conversing good-naturedly, though birds and passing students easily distracted Teal.
"Did you grab your violin?" Magnolia shouted from the end of the hall. Roxo held up the case and caught up to her.
"For someone so short, you walk pretty fast." Roxo sighed.
"The audition starts in five minutes. Do you have the violin?"
"Yes, you don't have to shout please."
"Hurry up." She commanded, and dragged him through the streets. Along the way, four other familiar students waved at them.
"Roxo! Magnolia!" Lilac shouted, but Magnolia was hell bent on being on time.
"Uh, Mags." Roxo tapped on her shoulder as she dragged him.
"What?"
"Lilac." He gestured to where he heard her voice.
Lilac and the rest of team LTVS trotted over to them.
"Are y'all headed to orchestra?" One of the blonds, Saffron, grinned excitedly at them, "So are Vermillion and I!"
"How'd you know?" Roxo nodded.
"Cause you're carrying a violin, silly."
"Nice talking to you guys." Magnolia actively checked her scroll, "But we are running a bit slow, Professor Port would not stop talking."
They sped up their pace, and neared the building. Before Magnolia, Roxo, and the twins headed for the stage, Lilac held up Roxo.
"I just wanted to say," she nervously said, "good luck."
Roxo flushed and smiled, "Uh, thanks."
The maestro called the pair up first, and Magnolia sat at the piano, while Roxo stood aside her with his violin. Though the audition called for a memorized song, Roxo and Magnolia only had two days to practice. Roxo swallowed nervously, but Magnolia called to him.
"Ready?" She half smiled at him, exposing one of her dimples.
"Y-Yeah." He swallowed, and held the instrument up to his chin. He held up the bow and pressed it against the string.
"Alright. One…two…three…four." She counted off and played a measure, Roxo followed in after the second and fell into a harmony. During the middle of their song, Teal stepped outside, and Lake followed, looking concerned. He had been tapping his foot nervously, looking around, fiddling with his fingers.
"Are you alright?" Lake heard applause from inside, and peeked inside to check what had happened.
"Huh?" Teal turned to him, not seeing he was behind, "Oh me? pssh, I'm fine."
"Really?" Lake threw his hands in his pockets, "You're sure?"
"It's just a little too quiet in there, too slow paced for me. That's all."
Lake looked at him intuitively, "Is there something you're not telling me?"
"There're plenty of things I haven't told you, but my ADHD shouldn't have to be one." Teal shuddered and sat on a bench.
"I didn't want to assume."
"It's alright. I'll just be out here if you need me."
"Alright."
Lake disappeared back inside. Magnolia and Roxo caught up to him. Now, the twins were on stage. Vermillion had a bass the same size as him, and Saffron was in the middle of sustaining an opera note.
"Where's Teal?" Roxo tilted his head.
"Outside, it's too quiet for him in here."
"I'll go check on him." Magnolia walked outside. Lake sat in his seat, and Roxo sat aside him, beads of sweat on his forehead.
"A singer in the opera? Strange, don't you think?" He watched as the twins' audition.
"No, n-not really," Roxo's lip trembles, but he breathes in deep trying to calm his nerves, "I've seen lots of singers in orchestra before, it's just not traditional."
"Roxo, turn to me." Lake cupped his cheeks and faced him, "It'll be alright, you did great."
"You think so?" He fingered a tear from the corner of his eye, "But I missed a few notes."
"Don't worry about it. You're a prodigy, heck, I can barely read notes and my vision actually works. You're blind and you can read notes, isn't that amazing enough already?"
Roxo wasn't sure whether or not he should be offended or pleased, so he uttered out, "thanks?"
Lilac jumped over the row to sit next to Roxo, "That was amazing Roxo!"
"Please be careful…" Tungsten tinged with worry, and sat next to her, wary of her movements.
Red crept up Roxo's cheeks, "Th-Thanks Lilac."
Magnolia and Teal followed back inside, and Teal shot a cheeky smile at the both of them. They scoot over towards the other side of Lake, and watched the rest of the audition for Saffron and Vermillion.
"You did great Magnolia," Lilac whispered and threw her a thumbs-up.
"Thank you." She mouthed in reply.