Gosh I really didn't want to write this chapter. I had it in the works but abandoned it. Few weeks later, I had the inspiration and finished it up in a day. Hope you enjoy! The next chapter should be more...interesting. :x

After her grand exit, Halley was forced to tell Allison everything. Her running away, the training, and even James...partly. She had to admit she felt a bit better confiding in her best friend.

"Halley I'm going to have to agree with Phil on this. It sounds like you need to relax." The expression on her face was wary at best.

"Yeah I know but as of recently, things have gotten...complicated." Halley averted her gaze.

Allison glanced at her, "Wait do you mean Tucker? How is that—"

"Because now I know I'm going to be worried about what he's doing and that's a distraction and I can't have any distractions or I'll lose control and I'm trying to relax but—"

"Halley," Allison took her by the shoulders. She was ranting, a telltale sign that she was freaking out. "You are blowing this way out of proportion. Tucker's just one guy and you have enough self control to not let yourself get distracted."

"I don't know if I want to risk it." She mumbled.

"Well I'll be helping you," Allison smiled. "And first part of your taking it easy agenda is getting us some ice cream."

They hopped off the thrones and headed towards the kitchens.

"I hope the chefs won't mind if we steal a little." Halley laughed. Her friend was already making her feel better. Ice cream sounded wonderful right about now.

"Hopefully they—"

There was a loud creaking sound and the two looked around. When the sound of metal snapping above them was finally recognized, it was too late. The chandelier came crashing down towards them and Halley pulled out her wand just in time to stop it from crushing them.

Their screams alerted the Queen who must have been close by.

"Girls!" Halley moved the chandelier to the side, shakily as her mother approached. "Are you two alright?!"

"I think we're okay Queen Star." Allison picked herself off the ground. Halley, meanwhile, was still trying to recover. Her eyes darted towards one of the open doors, and in the shadows she saw a figure darting past. There was no doubt it was Aunt Etheria. Halley clenched her chest. It felt like she was having a heart attack. She got up and ran to her room, Allison close on her heels.

"I can't do this, Allison!" Halley had stopped in the middle of her room. "I can't deal with all this stress!" She began to frantically pace.

"Halley it was probably just and old chandelier, it happens."

"No, it was her. Etheria. I know it. She and James are trying to kill me."

Allison's eyes widened, "Are you sure?"

"I don't know! Probably! It's not fair! Every time I get a step in, someone's always there to push me back 15 more. I was so close Allison. So close to having all this under control," She grabbed at her horns. "I can just feel it getting out of control."

With that, a potted plant caught fire. Halley waved her wand over it to reverse the effects, with a sigh.

Her mother finally reached her room, out of breath, "Halley what's—"

"Mom, Aunt Etheria can't stay here anymore."

"What?"

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "As long as she's around I can't feel safe. You have to believe me. I've been so stressed and she isn't helping in the slightest."

Star's expression was masked with worry, "Hal, I'm so sorry that you've felt that way. I...I will talk to your aunt."

"Thank you," She said breathlessly. Relief just wasn't a feeling that came to her at Star's words. Her mother came over to her and gave her a hug, "Are you okay?"

She squeezed back slightly, "I will be. Honest. Go to your meeting."

Star pulled away and cupped her hands over her face. "I'm so sorry, Halley."

"It's fine, Mom. Really." She gave her a forced semblance of a smile.

She rubbed a thumb over her cheek before leaving. Halley let out a deep breath and put her hands on her knees, catching her breath.

"Hal? You alright?"

After a pause, Halley lifted her head, "I'm going to relax. No distractions."

Her friend nodded and Halley caught her glancing over at the charred plant. "It's for the best." Allison murmured.

...

The next day, the two sat in the cafeteria in their regular spot, eating quietly. That is until a hand clapped down on Halley's shoulder. She slapped a hand over her mouth to try to stifle her borderline choking. Tucker sat down beside her, and her eyes widened.

"You good?" He asked once her eyes were streaming and the coughing had stopped.

"What are you doing?" She rasped.

He shrugged, "Just felt like sitting over here for a change."

"You can't be over here."

"Why?" He asked, puzzled.

Halley was going to point out the obvious grouping of the cafeteria. The monsters sat towards the back while the Mewmans sat up front. Halley and Allison acquired a seat almost directly in the center. Instead of explaining the concept to him, she looked across at Allison and cleared her throat.

Her friend looked confused for a moment before she let out a quiet "Oh!"

Allison started, "Hey Tucker—"

"Before I forget," he interrupted. "I turned in the applications. You're welcome." He finished with a chivalrous smile.

"What?" Halley's jaw dropped. She had planned on calling the whole thing off, she just wasn't in the healthiest of mindsets to go through with the competition.

"Yeah. Allison told me the other day that once I finished I could turn you guys' in too."

Halley looked at Allison in panic. Her friend looked just as shocked.

"Allison?!"

"What!? I didn't..." Allison shut her eyes, "Oh right... I forgot."

Tucker spoke up, "Did I do something wrong or..."

Allison winced, "No, that was my fault. Halley changed her mind about the whole thing after I asked you to submit the applications."

"You don't wanna do the competition anymore?" Tucker looked at Halley. "I thought it would be fun."

"Yeah well I don't," She snapped. "But it looks like I have to now."

"Sorry Hal." Allison murmured.

The princess held her face in her hands, "It's fine. Really. I guess we're doing this." (It wasn't fine but whatever, right?)

"That's the spirit, squirt," He grinned and Halley fought back a groan. "I had to get another Mewman to join us so we could be a team."

"Who'd you ask?"

"A girl named... uh... Ce... Celia? Cecile?"

Allison's eyes widened while Halley slammed her head on the table. Tucker looked at them both.

"What?"

"Is the person you're referring to's name Celine by chance?"

Tucker nodded slowly, "Yeah that's it. I asked around and she seemed pretty eager to do it. What? Is there a problem?"

"Well—" Allison began.

"Nope." Halley shot up. "There is no problem at all. The first event is on Saturday. We'll see you there. Thanks Tucker." She finished with a smile.

"Uh... No problem." Tucker said suspiciously. After a nod to Allison, he got up and left. Halley sank down in her seat once more.

"What was that for?" Allison asked. "Celine's evil incarnated, her on the same team as us is suicide."

Halley rubbed at her temples, "I know, I know. I just needed Tucker to leave."

"Do you want me to deal with it?"

"No... honestly I'm just going to suck it up and get through it." She added in a dry tone, "Such is the life of the princess of Mewni."

They sat in silence for a few moments, "You know, I still think Tucker likes you."

"Shut up." Halley eyes closed, fingers working at her temples.

"It's true," Allison tried. "He'd only be doing this if he liked you."

Halley didn't say anything.

...

She expected to have an awful time. It was a Saturday, they were in close vicinity of school, Celine was there and her cr—not crush was there. Going in she expected the day to be fucking terrible.

It wasn't somehow.

The day began at 8 in the morning with everyone gathering behind the school while Buff Frog explained the day's activities. Star was there in a pair of athletic shorts, a t-shirt that read something about Mewmans and monsters, and a whistle around her neck, looking eager as ever. Halley stood, arms crossed in the crowd, clad in a tank top, her own athletic shorts, and her hair pulled into a high ponytail. Allison stood beside her and Celine didn't look like she was having much fun either as she scowled not too far away. And who was missing from this lovely party? Tucker. Naturally.

The game was capture the flag and throughout the woods and up the closest hill were several flags. The team with the most won the day's event. Halley could tell that her mother had gotten the idea from the traditional Game of Flags that she'd played years ago, the only catch being that no one could be by themselves. Meaning that they had to have a buddy system of monster and Mewman (Halley heard the Mewmans groan at that). They had about a minute to group up and set a game plan. Celine trudged over to Allison and Halley.

"Don't think for a second that I want to be here." She growled.

Allison gave her a sidelong glance, "Suck it up, you're here and that's how it is until we find those flags."

Celine was about to bite something back but who other than Tucker jogged up to them in the nick of time.

"Hey," He said breathlessly.

"You're late." Halley muttered.

"Yeah I know, I know. I had to—"

"I think it's great that you're here!" Celine interrupted enthusiastically. "We're going to win this thing!"

Halley rolled her eyes and Allison bit back a laugh. Halley's friend put a hand on Tucker's shoulder, "Alright pretty boy, it's capture the flag. Team with the most flags wins. If we break as a group it has to be in Mewman-monster pairs. Got it? Great."

"Sounds easy enough. So I guess I'll be with uh...Allison." All three girls blinked. Celine had a look of disappointment mixed with a bit of resentment. Halley turned away and tried to mask the unsettling feeling rising within her.

Star summoned a burst of magic into the air, signaling the teams to begin. They set out into the forest and the teams all went in separate directions.

"I think we should head that way," Tucker pointed out where only one other team had gone.

"Who said you'd be making the calls?" Halley mumbled.

Tucker blinked at her, confusion lighting in his eyes, "I didn't think you wanted to."

"Well maybe I do," She snapped. "And I think we go for the hills."

They all stared at her until Allison nodded and then they were off. They scoured the base of the hill and Allison even got down on all fours to reach inside a rotting log. When she retracted her hand, it came back with a flag.

"We got one!"

"Good call, squirt. Where to next?"

Halley glared at him. He didn't seem to know why. Allison suggested that they split up and search.

So she ended up walking wordlessly in the woods with Celine. They were surrounded by teams exclaiming that they'd found flags while they weren't doing much teamwork. After a few minutes of walking around listlessly, Halley took a deep breath, "Look I know you don't particularly like me but we're in this now. Believe me I don't want to be here either but if we're going to do it we might as well try and win."

Halley looked at her cross her arms and kick at the dirt. She didn't make eye contact with her but she nodded. "Fine, I think we should go towards those trees. There's bound to be something in there still."

Halley smiled a little. She got a begrudged response instead of a nasty retort. Boy am I making strides, she thought sarcastically.

They came up to the trees and Halley watched in awe as Celine actually tried to climb. They were quite limbless at the bottom with most of the branches way up top. Halley watched for a while, about to say something, but decided against it. Celine slumped down against the trunk and whipped her head around, panting.

"Well aren't you going to do anything?!"

"I uh can... but uh..."

She stood up, "Well what the hell are you waiting for?!"

"Okay..." She twiddled her thumbs. "I can get us up there but you're going to need to grab on..." Halley quickly backtracked, "or if you don't want to—"

"Just shut up already," Celine walked up to her and grabbed onto her shoulders. Halley hesitantly wrapped her arm around her waist so she wouldn't fall halfway up.

"Okay now what—"

Halley ignited the bottoms of her feet and they were soon airborne. Halley had never carried anyone other than Allison and that was more gliding than flying up 16 feet in the air. They made it though and Halley dropped Celine off onto a branch. She steadied herself quickly and looked up at Halley almost suspiciously.

"Well I guess we should start looking..." She veered off into the trees to avoid whatever Celine was going to say. From her higher position in the trees she could see Celine skillfully hopping from branch to branch and climbing as if it were no big deal, that came as a surprise to her.

Celine just so happened to look up and see her staring. She kept to her searching but spoke up, "What? Didn't think a bitch like me could be so good at climbing trees?"

"I uh...um..." She stammered.

"Well I can. I used to do it all the time believe it or not." Celine didn't seem to be talking to herself with the wistful tone she was using. Halley ducked under a branch and maneuvered around them but a few stray ones caught in her ponytail and then she was stuck. She pulled and pulled but it seemed to make it worse.

"Crap," she muttered. Soon she heard branches creaking and fingers working through her hair. Halley was freed in no time.

"Hey thanks," Halley said quietly.

"You're wasting time." Was all she said.

Halley looked up and through the leaves another flag waved.

"There's another flag up there," Halley said aloud but Celine has already seen it and was climbing towards it. Halley followed suit, climbing now too. Celine was able to reach the flag first and tucked it behind her ear. She turned to make her way down and the branch she was on creaked. Her eyes widened and the branch snapped beneath her. Halley shot her hand out and grabbed her as she fell past her. Celine looked down at the ground and back up to her in shock. Halley sighed in relief. Then the branch she was on stared to groan with the added weight. It splintered and gave way too. Halley grabbed onto Celine's arm with both hands and was about to fly but realized she'd probably burn Celine in the process. Thinking fast she recited a spell and Celine was soon enveloped in a pink aura and floated slowly down. Once Celine was out of range, Halley was able to bring herself down safely.

Celine was on the ground clenching her chest, eyes bugging out of her head, "Y-you saved me...you saved my life."

"I don't think you would have died." Halley said simply.

Celine looked up at her, "When we were kids I was awful to you. I'm still awful to you. You could have let me die. Why didn't you?" She asked the question as if Halley was supposed to have let her fall. Like she made a mistake.

"Would you have let me die?" Halley asked.

Celine looked down for a moment, "I don't know..."

Halley guessed that was as good as it was going to get albeit the answer was highly questionable. Her mirror phone buzzed in her pocket. It was Allison. The message said: "Hey, we found a couple of flags. We should meet up."

The two headed back in uncomfortable silence. Halley figured things couldn't get any worse so while she had the chance she asked, "How are you and James?"

Celine looked at her like she'd just asked the dumbest question imaginable, "We're fine." It was a tight, clipped answer.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you agree to do this?"

"Why the hell are you asking all these damn questions!?" She yelled. Halley shut her mouth and looked straight ahead.

"Dimensional scissors is a promising prize." Celine mumbled. Halley could tell it was partly a lie but she said nothing.

Tucker and Allison met them with a combined 3 flags not including the first one they found. Celine and Halley were lacking at best.

"Nice going you two," Halley knew Tucker was trying to joke around but his sarcasm pissed her off. "I think we should start heading back—"

Halley walked up ahead away from her team. It was at a pretty fast pace and she expected them to be able to read the situation. Tucker apparently did not and followed her.

"Hey! Squirt!" She didn't stop. He caught up and put a hand on her shoulder, "Halley!"

"What—" She began. She was ready to yell at him, ready to make him feel bad about something she thought of out of the blue. Instead, he looked angry. She almost flinched.

"What's your problem? You have this pissy attitude whenever I say anything and I'm tired of it! What did I do? Tell me."

She felt her eyes watering. Him. He was the problem. What good was it doing when he was there. All the time. It killed her. She wouldn't tell him that. Couldn't.

Halley sniffed and crossed her arms. She looked away from him, "It's just that... I don't know... you want to be friends I'm guessing but you just showed up out of the blue expecting us to be friends on the fly. I barely know you," she shook her head. "I don't even know... you never asked me what I thought about it. If I wanted this." (She didn't say friendship. She couldn't say friendship.)

"Do you want this, Halley?" (He didn't say friendship.)

She willed herself to steal a glance at his face. Holy crap her heart was lurching at the sincerity on his face.

"...I do."

"What's the problem then?"

She shrugged, "It doesn't matter. I haven't been fair to you. I'm sorry. I do want to be friends."

"If I'm ever being too overbearing Hal," (He said "Hal" when had he started calling her that?) "Just tell me okay? I don't want to smother you."

She finally looked at him and smiled at him for the first time since he'd been there.

"Now that we've made up, let's go collect that win," He playfully threw his arm over her shoulders and she found herself finding that funny feeling settling. This was okay. She was okay. They were okay.

At the end of the day, they hadn't won, but Halley felt good...better. She was going to be okay, and whether she liked it or not, Tucker was going to be there.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad...