Chapter 3 My Fair Sport

The door closed, shutting Celia out of the classroom. The hybrid pinched a lock of her hair between her fingers and rubbed the strands together, biting down on her lip as she did so. Her feelings were...really all over the place. She didn't know where to begin with sorting them out.

Her feet took control of her, guiding her down the hallway. They moved in no particular direction; she didn't exactly have a goal in mind. She was just going where her feet led her. She could walk off a cliff for all she cared; it really didn't matter at this point. She was...in shock. She was shaken. How shaken, exactly? Shaken enough to not even notice the wall that was right in front of her face.

SLAM!

Celia took in a deep breath, not even bothering to remove her face from the wall. She placed her hand right next to her head, about to push herself away from the target of her stupidity. However...however…

"GRAAAHHHHH!"

Anger hit her full force. She needed those classes! She needed them! They were important; they gave her the education that she had been craving for a while! The education that would allow her to fit into normal society even the smallest bit. For Iggy to pry it away from her...

Celia pushed herself away from the wall. Her chest rose and fell, her shoulders doing likewise, as she stared at it. She screamed again and sent a fist straight toward the stone. Big mistake. Her hand bled from coming in contact with obsidian. Despite that, she continued punching.

"Stupid, stupid, STUPID!"

Her anger was consuming her raw. She couldn't let it go. She couldn't...she couldn't even…

"Celia!"

The hybrid barely heard the voice calling out to her, for she was in a frenzy. She grit her teeth and banged against the wall with all her might. She proceeded to throw her body against the wall, not wanting to turn away from it until she was satisfied with the anger she had dispelled.

"Celia, stop!"

A hand landed on her shoulder. Before she knew it, it was pulling her away from the wall. She bit her lip as the owner of the hand and voice turned her toward them. She was staring into the eyes of Wendy O. Koopa.

"What's going on?"

Celia didn't respond; just stared into Wendy's eyes for a brief period before turning away. "Nothing."

"That wasn't nothing!" Wendy's brow furrowed. "You're angry, aren't you?"

Celia gripped the zipper of her hoodie, wanting to have something tangible to hold. She noticed the blood again, fully taking in its presence. She wiped it off onto her front.

Wendy watched her do this before speaking up again. "Why don't we get you cleaned up so we can talk over tennis?"

Celia blinked. "Tennis?"

…

Soon enough, the two girls were outside Bowser's Castle, at a tennis court that Celia had previously never known was there. Wendy walked onto the court, holding a pair of rackets and wearing tennis shoes. She gave one of them to Celia.

"Have you ever played before?"

"Once. In like third grade."

"Okay. Well…" Wendy smiled. "I am an excellent teacher. So long as preschoolers aren't involved."

Celia snorted. Wendy went to the other side of the court and pulled a ball out of her hammerspace.

"I am going to serve, passing the ball over to your side. You need to try and bat the ball back to my side with your racket. Got it?"

Celia nodded. "Yep. I do."

Wendy grinned. "Good." She threw the ball up into the air and served it over the net. Celia ran after it, determined to bat it back to Wendy. She was ultimately unsuccessful; the ball bounced out of bounds.

"Darn it," Celia said.

"It's okay," said Wendy. "Try serving it back to me."

Celia took in a breath and grabbed the ball. She walked over to ehr side of the court and threw the ball up in the air like she had seen Wendy do. However, instead of serving it, her racket missed, sending the thing plummeting to the ground.

"Darn it!" Celia said. She picked up the ball and tried again, until to achieve the same result. Fuming, she threw the ball straight at the net. It got stuck in one of the holes.

Wendy sighed. "Well, that's not quite a serve." She didn't even laugh at the humor that was in that statement. She made her way over and freed the ball from the net. "Let's try again."

"Let's not," Celia said as she too came over to the net. "There's no point."

"Sure there is. You won't get better at tennis unless you practice, practice, practice."

"Well, I don't want to practice."

Wendy raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"I just don't."

"Celia…"

"THERE'S NO POINT, OKAY!" She dropped her racket down on the ground. "This isn't getting me anywhere, let alone helping me get my classes back."

Wendy blinked. "Classes? What classes?"

Celia let out a huff. "The classes that Iggy was giving to me; the classes that I was paying for. He decided to cancel them."

"What? Why?"

Celia's shoulders slumped. "Because...because I don't have a dream."

Wendy gawked. She stepped over the net and approached the hybrid. "You don't have a dream?"

"No. I don't." She sighed. "If I did, I would probably be halfway done with achieving it by now."

Wendy's mouth formed into a serious line. She faced the hybrid with a sympathy of sorts as she firmly gripped her racket in her left hand.

"Do you want one?"

Celia shook her head. "I don't know." She put her head in her hands. "There's just…" She rubbed her face. "So much complicated bullshit I would have to deal with if I did have one."

Wendy nodded. "Mmm. I see." She stepped over the net again. "Well, let's try the game again. That way, we can take our minds off of this kerfuffle."

Celia sighed. Good idea. No, great idea. She wanted to desperately take her mind off of this issue.

However, she couldn't. She realized this as she picked her racket back up and watched Wendy serve. She ran after the ball again. And again. And again. Every time she missed, every time the Koopaling scored, it just made her more and more frustrated. This added fuel to the fire when it came to the emotions that Iggy had been responsible for causing.

"Do you want to serve the ball?" Wendy asked. "Or do you want to get a water break?"

Celia stared down at the fuzzy yellow ball in her hand. She couldn't serve it to save her life; that fact was as clear as day. Knowing this, she shook her head. "Water is fine."

Wendy nodded and made her way over to the side of the court. Celia threw the ball over her shoulder and followed. The two girls stood in front of the cooler, allowing the crisp clear liquid to flow down their throats as they drank it.

"Ahh," Wendy said as she lowered her glass away from her lips. She wiped her lips and turned toward Celia. "Good game."

Celia snorted. This was especially true for Wendy considering that she had curb stomped her. "Yeah. Good game."

Wendy, noticing Celia's sarcasm, took a step closer. "You didn't seem that into the game, even after you told me your problem."

"That's because I suck, Wendy."

"No. I don't think that's it." Wendy took another step closer. "Do you want a dream?"

Celia stared at her. "You already asked this! The answer is still no!"

"I know. But...why?"

"I told you that…"

"I know what you told me, and I don't buy it. There's a bigger reason. There's always a bigger reason."

Celia cursed internally. Dang, why did this girl have to be so persistent?

"It's…" she sighed. "How can I get a dream when i don't have a talent?"

Wendy's brow furrowed. "You have plenty of talents."

"Oh yeah? Name one."

Wendy blinked. "Uh...well, I can't name them off the top of my head…"

Celia nodded and crinkled up her cup. "That's what I thought." She turned toward the castle, prepared to go back inside.

"But you and I barely know each other!" Wendy shouted. "I bet if you asked someone like Roy, he'd give you an answer!"

Celia stopped. That was probably true, more than likely true. She stared at the ground, considering that statement.

"Celia," Wendy said as she approached. "You have plenty of talents. I just think the problem is you're too scared to do stuff with them."

Celia turned around. "What could possibly make you think that?"

"Well, for starters, it looks like your body seized up just now." Wendy smiled. "That means I hit a nerve."

Celia grit her teeth. "Okay. Fine. You got me. You win."

"It's not about winning; it's about helping you." Wendy placed her hand on her shoulder. "I want you to realize your dream. I want you to reach for the stars."

Celia batted her hand away. "I am more than satisfied with keeping my feet on the ground, thank you."

"More than satisfied?" Wendy asked. "Or more than terrified?'

Celia seized up again. She kept her eyes away from Wendy, not daring to look at her for fear of the judgemental look she would more than likely receive from her.

She sighed. "Please. Just...I want to go inside."

Wendy paused before sighing. "Okay. I can't stop you. Just...there's nothing wrong with trying to conquer a fear every once in a while."

Celia bit her lip. While that was true, some fears were permanently ingrained in her mind. A fear of judgement, for example. A fear of failure. A fear of pain.

"Okay. I'll consider that."

Wendy smiled. "Good."

Celia made her way back. She realized she didn't want to spend time at Bowser's Castle any longer. She wanted to go back to the Mushroom Kingdom, to her own house and her own bed. That would probably be the best place to brush off this soul-searching conversation.