· Kali's POV

I sighed heavily as I tossed my overfull bag of books onto the bed before collapsing there myself. It had been a long day. Admittedly, most school days feel a little longer than they ought to be, but today's had been particularly bad. In Potions, Rebecca had managed to blow a hole in the wall of the potions lab resulting in all of us having to check for aconite poisoning, we had a 3-page essay assigned in Darkness, a test in Mayhem, and a snooze-worthy lecture in Magical Culture. However, the grand finale was when Dueling was canceled due to the aforementioned hole in the wall (See above: Totally Rebecca's fault) making the courtyard full of rubble and unsafe to duel in.

Not to mention how everyone had been acting lately. Apparently, some of the others had seen me hanging out with the new Winx Club, not to mention my date with Sam, and they, simply put, disapprove. A lot. In turn, I am well aware of their disapproval of said relationship, I quite obviously don't care, and for reasons unknown (read: totally known) that seems to bother them even more. I have said it before, I will say it again, this is all going to hit the fans soon, and it's not going to be fun. I heard the door open behind me as Rebecca and Ashley filed in, silent, staring, like they had been all week. I took another deep breath and decided to head out. It was obvious to me that I wasn't going to get anything done in my current mood. As I slipped my favorite black leather jacket over the gold and red top I was wearing, I reached for my cell phone and hit the speed dial. Setting it between my ear and my shoulder as I snatched up my purse. I listened to the ringing as I headed for the door.

"Hello?" I heard Eric question over the phone, sounding a little distracted, presumably due to him attempting to multitask by talking to the boys and I simultaneously. "Hey, Eric. You and the others up for doing something right about… now? I could use a pick me up at the moment." I said. I really could use a little time away from all the witch-iness of CT. I just couldn't deal with any more of it right now.

"Sure," he responded his voice jocular, if a bit concerned (but then, his voice generally is), "I'm sure the others would be happy to have something to do. Any input on what?" he questioned me.

"I don't even care. Anything away from CT sounds good at the moment." He laughed, wordlessly sympathizing with me.

"Alright we'll meet up with you in the square; we can decide what to do then." He answered before we said our farewells. By this point, I was heading down the long bridge/ramp from the doors of CT to the path to Magix, only too eager to get out of there. As I walked, I could feel the tension and resentment from the other witches. I was the most powerful in my class. I was supposed to be their leader, but here I was flaunting my preference for fairies and heroes' company over time spent with witches. To say the others were pissed at me would be the understatement of the century. The only one who hadn't either openly glared or cautiously tiptoed around the subject with me all day had been Marianne. A fact I decidedly appreciated from her. I made a mental note to keep Rebecca off her back for the next few weeks as a thank you.

The whispers followed me down the street as I headed towards town square, and they bothered me a bit, but I didn't let that show. That was a lesson that had been drilled into me early. One of the few lessons I was glad to have. It was just easier to hold my head up high and pretend that they don't perturb me in the slightest, even if I end up looking a little arrogant and haughty due to it. I reached the square and Will spotted me first, he smiled cheerfully and then started waving in a dorky, trying-way-too-hard kind of way to make the others laugh. He succeeded when Eric and Sam rolled their eyes and Tanner and Lily chuckled.

"Hey guys." I said walking over. I already felt a little lighter in their company, as if all the accusatory glares and whispered insults had vanished in an instant. I think Eric could tell that was how I felt when he gave me a knowing little smile and a side-hug. "So where are we headed?" I asked curiously.

Sam responded to this one, "We were thinking the park. Is that cool with you?" I nodded agreeably my eyes catching on his as we both tried not to blatantly stare at each other. We had gone on a few dates now, but hadn't officially labeled the relationship which meant just hanging out was a little awkward. After all, how do we act? Can he treat me like a girl he's seeing or is that only when we're on dates?

Anyway… I was shaken out of my thoughts by a sudden outburst from Will, "So… has everything been okay up at CT?" He asked, unusually serious, it was obvious to me (although apparently not the others as they looked fairly confused) that he had heard about the tension there and was worried about me.

I shrugged, not really eager to talk about it. "It's fine, and I'll be alright for now. I don't think any of them are willing to pick a fight with me, not yet at least." Now you could see the concern appear on the other's faces. Obviously, they didn't have their ears to the ground when it came to gossip and as such they hadn't heard the news.

Eric, always the protective one, spoke first, "What are you talking about? Is something going on, Kali?" I glared at Will for a sec while he pretended not to notice; apparently, I won't be getting away from the witch-iness so easily.

I rolled my eyes before reassuring Eric and the others who were at this point all looking at me with concern, "It's nothing really. Some of the witches at CT… disapprove of our friendship and they've been making waves about it, but really it's nothing." Eric nodded, the trusting sort, he was willing to take my word for it, Sam on the other hand gave me a look that told me he didn't believe me in the slightest.

Luckily, for me, we had at that point arrived at the park and I managed to evade Sam's questioning eyes by following Lily after she peeled off from the group into the brush. As a nature fairy, she was always eager to visit the park, the woods, and the like. We would stop to set up a picnic or some such and she would disappear for a moment to visit with the plants. I didn't really see the allure of the wild, buggy, messy groves and grottos she liked, but I didn't mind tagging along once in a while. She seemed to relax the moment we were out of sight of the tall buildings and well-kept trails of the city and park. She sat down cross-legged and I sat next to her even though the grass was anything, but comfortable. I watched out of the corner of my eye as the plants themselves tried to reach out for her the trees rustling in a language only she could understand. Moments like that are what make me a little jealous of my friends' abilities. They control music, nature, and water. They can heal and fight. Fire only destroys.

We sat calm and quiet until the boys called for us. Someone else might have worried about getting turned around, but Lil knew which way she was going of course. Although, looking back I almost wish she didn't. Maybe if we had gotten turned around, or maybe if we hadn't walked right back into the middle of things, the center of the whole mess, things could have ended differently, although I'll admit; I doubt it. The whole thing was a train car headed for broken tracks with no turn off. Either it had to stop altogether or crash. There was no avoiding the issue.

But, it ended as it did, with us finding the guys… and Lindsey finding us.

I'm telling you. Worst. Day. Ever.

· Will's POV

Much to Sam's over-protective annoyance, the girls had disappeared the moment we got into the park. Lily heading, quite literally, for the hills while Kali followed close behind trying, rather blatantly, to avoid clearing it up herself. I considered just explaining the whole thing to them personally, but I ultimately decided it was really Kali's job to tell them. Not to mention, it was and is seriously entertaining watching the oh-so-put-together witch squirm on occasion.

Unfortunately, for her though, she could only hide for long and soon Tanner was yelling for them to rejoin the group. It only took a few moments for Lily to slip gracefully and for Kali to extricate herself rather less gracefully from the undergrowth, although I could tell that for Sam, ever impatient, it was a few moments too long. To his, seriously whipped, credit though, he resisted the urge to turn it into a big public tell-all, seeming content to just keep her safely within his, rather paranoid, sight for the time being.

I had to resist the urge to laugh at the two of them as Sam sat down on the checkered blanket and Kali, without a hint of consideration or discomfort, tucked herself under his arm. Those two may not have defined their relationship yet, but somehow they still acted more sweetly to each other than I had to most of my ex-girlfriends. Although, if I said that out loud I had no doubt that Kali would remark on how that probably said more about me than it did about them. Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. That's really besides the point.

It was at about that pleasant point that we were so rudely interrupted from our regularly scheduled picnic to hear a special announcement from the Witch-Of-The-Year. She stalked up to our little group as if what she had to say was the most important thing we could ever possibly hear. Brat. My first inclination was to ignore her for a while just to see how she would react, but Kali unfortunately halted that burgeoning little plan by standing up to face the pissed-off witch and her posse of equally peeved women. On the bright side, this is probably the first time I'd ever fought a group of women pissed at a friend rather than at me.

Kali's expression shifted rapidly from content to haughty and dismissive. It was always astonishing to me how much her mannerisms changed when she was dealing with us versus other people. Especially Lindsey. Her voice was low and patronizing as it dripped with a condescending sort of amusement. All sarcasm and cruelty. "Oh… Lindsey. Do you need something or are you just unusually bored today?

Lindsey turned red and she drew herself up, all narcissistic pride and self-righteousness when she heard Kali's quip. "I was actually wondering how bored you must be if you're spending time with these pixies." She spat before continuing with the sort of false innocence that made you want to slap her, "Unless, you actually want to spend time with them, but surely you haven't stooped that low, right?"

You could see Kali narrow her eyes at the insults before she smiled coldly her eyes ice, as she responded mockingly, "Is it your eyes or your English giving you trouble today. You do realize that there's only one fairy here, right? Personally, I think it's the English language troubling you again. Need make words more simple?" Normally, the other witches would have tittered at that, just as eager to see Lindsey humiliated as to see Kali. However, today they stayed worryingly silent muttering darkly instead.

Sam and Eric had already drawn their swords by that point, Tanner had pulled out a dagger, while I grabbed my staff, and Lily tensed ready to activate her powers at any time. It was unfortunate that the witch hadn't come alone. The small crowd of angry witches behind Lindsey was going to be a bother and more of them seemed to gather as the encounter inched closer and closer to a fight.

The games and posturing came to a sudden and certain end when Lindsey stalked up until she was nose to nose with Kali and gave her an ultimatum. "Look, you don't get to play both teams here. Either you're with us or you're against us. Now pick a side or we'll pick one for you." This was the first thing that Lindsey had managed to say that actually got under Kali's skin, but it didn't happen at all like Lindsey had wanted it.

For all of her fire, Kali's voice was ice as she asked, "Excuse me? Do you really think any of you can make me do anything?" She looked right in the other girl's blue eyes as she hissed, "None of you stand a snowball's chance in hell against me. So think, very carefully, before you start a war with me, because if you start one I will end it. Is that, perfectly clear?"

For her part though, the girl didn't cringe back she leveled her glance at Kali and repeated, "Pick a side." The witches had fanned out now facing us in a tightly packed semi-circle.

Kali suddenly struck out, as fast as light, a whip of fire knocking several off their feet before they could react. I tore my eyes off her impressive show of magica as she switched into her witch form and leapt at Lindsey. I saw another flash of light from the corner of my eye as Lily entered her battle form as well. I in turn headed for Eric's side my golden staff alight with red-hot flames as I struck aside any attacks that went near my prince or me. I watched Sam, fast and powerful; send several hexes arching back at their casters by reflecting them off his phanto-blade. Lily for her part flew behind their line and sent a wall of vines and plants rushing for them, tying them up and defending us from their spells. Kali, on the other hand, was dueling a number of the witches some 15 feet in the air. She spun and rolled midair as she threw fireballs, swung whips, threw knives, and created shields of fire as she dueled. Her face and form were obviously powered by sheer fury as she struck one witch down, and then another.

Eventually they started running for the hills with only a couple standing their ground. Lindsey and two other girls, a blonde and a brunette, all depowered themselves as a sign of surrender. Not that it mattered of course. Lindsey's glance was dismissive as she locked eyes with Kali and told her, "Well, I guess we could make you pick a side after all. Every witch in CT will know about this before sunset, and no one will forget this."

Kali's response was vengeful and threatening, "I would hope not. I'd hate to have to repeat myself." Lindsey's eyes flashed angrily once more before the three defeated witches turned and stalked away, the brunette I didn't know catching Kali's eyes for a moment with a threatening glare. I glanced at Kali, concerned. Her jaw was tight, but her eyes unrepentant if still upset. I wanted to say something funny and comforting and kind, but I drew a blank. What could any of us say to her?

She had just given up her position for us, and those witches were not going to make this easy on her. We walked back to our respective schools in silence, but I could see Kali take a last worried breath before heading up the ramp into what had been her school this morning. Those witches were not going to make this easy on her.