Chapter 19

New Years Eve was fun. Dimitri and I went out on the balcony and kissed at midnight, something we weren't doing just because it was New Years. We did that a lot. But this time we had the excuse of it being midnight on New Years. Not that we needed it, but still. THe whoel group partied, and Matt had all twenty of his strobe lights set up for the occasion. I was suprised that no one had seized yet.

The next day, however, was not so fun. We were at our normal Monday practice, when an office worker came up and called us into Harks' office. I followed reluctantly ( I just really disliked the guy.), Dimitri on my tail. When we got there, he went over our statistics with us, asked us how we were doing, even started off with some small talk like we were good friends. As if. The whole time Dimitri handled the talking while I tried not to glare too much. I had just gotten him tuned out nicely to some OneRepublic when he said something that caught my attention.

"...effective immediatley. Understood?" Dimitri nodded, a shocked look on his face, and I, with all of my poise and grace, asked in a dull voice, "What?" Harks looked down his nose at me in disapproval, and then repeated himslef: "Your Pack is being entered into the Sophmore system, effective immediatley. Did you get that?"

"WHAT?" I said with a little more enthusiasm.

He sighed, and explained himself. "Well, since none of your year can beat you, you are all getting straight A's in honor classes, and have started coasting, we decided to move you up in line. We think it best to challenge you a little. So you will play them, take classes with them, become one of them. Go and tell your Pack that they, as of now, have graduated from their Freshman year." I gawked at him, and he made a shooing motion, making it clear that his previous sentence was a dismissal. I stood and took the schedules that he was holding with the hand that wasn't motioning for me to get the hell out of his office.

I then stumbled out of his office, down the hall, as if i was drunk. He couldn't move us up. That wasn't fair. Sophmores were bigger, faster, stronger, and smarter than us. They played the game better and knew more about the rules to begin with. They had more experience. We couldn't beat them.

But at the same time, some part of me knew that it was the right way to go. We had gone through all of our classmates three times, not once losing more than two people. We had won all of the tournaments, were undefeated, and had the best times in the school. If they hadn't moved us up soon, i probably would've ended up asking for it anyways. So why was i fighting it?

Was i one of those people that felt the need to fit in? Did i not want to move up because no one ever did? Or because it would just add more stress to the heap building up inside of me?More bang to the bomb i was building. Whatever the reason, i decided that there was nothing i could do about it, so it was best just to move on with my life and start training harder.

I looked down at the schedules to gadge how hard the semester would actually be. Dismay crossed my face when i saw my class load.

1: Conditioning
2: War Strategy H
3: Tactical Theory 2 H
4: Leadership 2 H
5: Martial Arts 2 H
6: Weapons Training 2 H
Lunch
7: Equestrian Skills H
8: Physics and Pre-Calculus H
9: English 2 and World History H

Aside from Equestrian Skills, which would be easy, i had the hardest classes in all subjects. I also had two more classes than the average Sophmore, and didn't get home from school until 5 PM, wchich meant that Pack practice would also be moved back to 5:15 and cut short. We were going to be squeezed and stretched until we broke, i realized. And then i thought, I don't want to be broken. I won't let them break me. I would rise to the occasion and show them what i was worth if it was the last thing i did. I made it a personal goal to win the monthly tournament and went home.

When i told the rest of the Pack, their jaws all dropped. Then i handed them their schedules, and their faces fell to meet their jaws. "They can't be serious. I mean, we didn't even finish our regular training. How are we supposed to beat them while trying to do all of this advanced stuff? What were they thinking?" Abby asked.

My face hardened, and I told her, "They want to break us, Abby. They're mad that we're better than the rest of them and they want to make us feel bad. So they're going to squeeze, and stretch, and bend us until we break, all the while saying it's for our own good. We just have to rise to the occasion. We just have to prove them wrong." She nodded at the ground, clearly unfazed by what i thought was a pretty good speech.

It was getting late, and we had a big day tomorrow. We had to adjust and learn and try to not get killed. So i told them it was lights out, got ready for bed, and then waited until the rest of the girls were asleep. Then i walked onto the balcony, and stared at the moon. I wondered where Alex was. If he could see the same moon as me. It was a question that i often asked myself at night, but this time it lead to a different train of thought. I started to wonder if my mom and her Pack could see the same moon as I, if maybe they could see it from the heaven that my mom always believed in. I would've liked to think that she could, but i never could quite get myself to believe that there was a god up there so twisted that he would let my life shatter into a million pieces in front of my eyes. I went to sleep after a while, and dreamed of a heaven that my mom would be happy in. It was a good dream, the first i'd had in a long time.