Detention was exactly what Thalia expected it to be; a boring, tiring affair. Thanks to her ADHD, she was constantly receiving glares from Ms. Hernandez, an old, gruff 6th grade teacher who, according to the rumors and whispers by the student body, had once been in the army and had been forced to eat her comrades in order to survive. Every minute she spent in the detention room convinced Thalia that maybe the rumors were true.
Arianna was sitting on the far side of the room, next to a dim window. She was bent over her notebook, scribbling away in bliss. The sleeves of her jacket were rolled up, her wrists covered by wristbands; all except one was covered in spikes and studs. The wristband was black with a rainbow pattern sewed into the leather.
Rayne sat diagonal from Thalia, idly painting her nails a crisp shade of forest green, her pen pushed back behind her ear, loose strands of blond hair caressing her face.
Thalia tapped her pen against the scratched wood of the desk, ignoring the glare Ms. Hernandez gave her. The clock read 3:50; ten more minutes before they could leave. Thalia shifted in her seat for what could possibly be the hundredth time in the past fifteen minutes. Thalia tried to sit still; she couldn't, not for more than a minute. Something felt wrong; a strange buzz was in the air. The hands of the clock ticked by slowly, adding to the hunter's frustration. Something wasn't right, why was she the only one feeling it?
3:55pm. Thalia wanted to scream, she needed to get out of here right now or else she'd go insane. She fiddled with the silver bracelet on her wrist, a nervous habit she had needed to break but had never come around to doing it.
"Ms. Mendez, Coach Harris gave me specific orders to send you to practice as soon as you were finished with your punishment. Now, run along, and hurry, I believe your coach wishes to speak to you about your little episode today" Ms Hernandez smirked.
Arianna stood from her chair, rolling her eyes as she pushed her sleeves down her arms and packed up her book bag. "Yes ma`am, I'm sure coach will lecture me about the morals of respecting my fellow classmates, then she'll just send me along to replace Kashia, who, by the way, is a shitastic point guard." The brunette smirked, swinging her bag over her shoulder and darted out the door before the teacher could respond.
Thalia stifled a laugh; the girl had fire, she'd give her that.
Ms. Hernandez turned her fierce glare on Thalia, silencing any laughter that might've escaped. "You two are dismissed" she growled. Rayne was up on her feet without a moment's pause, closely followed by Thalia.
The two girls scurried away from the dreaded detention room with relief. "Hey Thalia, Amber said she'd wait for us by the basketball courts" said Rayne when they were far from Ms. Hernandez.
Thalia shrugged. "Alright, let's go" she said, jogging down the hall and pushing open the doors that led to the blacktop.
Amber sat underneath a tree, watching a group of girls take free throws. "Hey guys" greeted the daughter of Hermes, brushing dark hair from her amber eyes. "Hey, how'd the hour feel?" asked Rayne, flopping down besides the younger girl. Amber shrugged. "Pretty boring really, my only source on entertainment was watching that girl," Amber pointed to a short, slim girl with dark hair, "make a fool of herself. I think she's playing point guard. Jeez, how can Garcia's girls basketball team be any good with her as point guard?"
At that moment, Arianna came jogging out through the doors from the locker rooms, dressed in a baggy grey t-shirt that read "Garcia Gators Number 11" in dark blue letters and a pair of blue shorts. Her arms were still covered in the wristbands. One of her teammates tossed her a ball, which she caught and dribbled up the court, dodging and weaving through the throng of her fellow players before she got a clear shot, and with a flick of her wrist, sent the ball sailing through the basket. Her friends cheered, patting her on the back.
In reality, only half of the team congratulated her, the other half stayed firmly rooted besides the short girl, Kashia, Thalia presumed.
Kashia glared at Arianna, a glare that sent shivers up Thalia's spine. Her eyes were an odd mix of yellowish brown.
Kashia marched up towards the taller girl and growled something at her. Arianna raised an eyebrow, casually pressing the ball against her hip as she lowered herself to Kashia's eye level. A slight smirk curved Arianna's lips up, and smoke seemed to appear to be coming out from Kashia's flaming ears.
Kashia said something that wiped the smirk from Arianna's face, forcing her already pale skin to pale even more, cold fury flashing through the taller girl's eyes. Sensing a fight, Arianna's groupies surged forward, a cluster of athletic, strong looking girls with a few weaker ones smashed against the broad shouldered girls. A sneering, slender huddle of girls was at Kashia's side in a heartbeat, a few of them actually looking sporty, despite the bright pink nail polish.
Arianna and Kashia were locked in a glaring contest, neither leader willing to make the first move. Kashia's muscles tenses, and Thalia stiffened, Kashia was preparing to launch herself at the bigger girl.
Just in time, a sporty looking, tanned woman ran up to the group, a whistle dangling from her neck. The woman couldn't have been older than twenty-six; her blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail, a few strands falling into blue eyes. She pushed the two girls apart, muttering something to them. Arianna shook her head, snarling a comment. Kashia bristled but remained still, grumbling.
Arianna turned around, flicking her hand; a signal that only the basketball players understood. Four girls stepped forward while the rest departed towards the sidelines, whispering amongst themselves. Kashia had done the same thing. The girls Arianna chose varied from the other. The shortest of the girls was thin yet strong, calves heavily muscled. Two other girls, closely similar in height, but one was a brunette, the other a redhead. The last girl was tall, as big as Clarisse, and like the Daughter of Ares, was built on solid slabs of muscle.
Kashia picked the sporty girls from her side, an equal match.
Arianna's team pulled on black jerseys while Kashia's team wore yellow. Arianna was to bring the ball in; she passed it to the redhead on her team, darting forward and turning around to catch the ball as the redhead whizzed by. Arianna faked to the left, passing to the brunette. The brunette avoided Kashia with little effort, tossing the ball to their tall friend. She caught it and sent it into the basket.
The coach blew the whistle and both teams stepped off the court, trading jerseys. Twenty minutes later, Arianna's team was up again, and Arianna had stolen the ball just as Kaisha's center had been preparing to shoot. The girls darted down the court, Kaisha hot on Arianna's heels. Arianna skidded to a step, and took a jump shot. Kaisha ran straight into Arianna, just as she was pushing herself up in the air. The two girls collided and fell in a heap on the ground.
Thalia made a move to run to Arianna's side, but a look from Rayne held her back.
Arianna stumbled to her feet, blood flowing from a fresh gash on her face. She limped aside as her teammates and coach ran to see if they were okay. Kashia was fine, she had been cushioned by Arianna's body.
Arianna wasn't fine, the cut on her face was spewing blood and she couldn't put any weight on her left ankle. The coach ordered a girl to help Arianna towards the locker room and the girl obeyed, slinging Arianna's arm over her shoulder.
Thalia saw her chance, when the two girls came close, the hunter offered to help Arianna to the locker room. The other girl looked relived, she barely came up to Arianna's shoulder, and Thalia herself was far taller than the young Hispanic girl.
"What's with you and getting hurt?" asked Thalia as she helped Arianna sit down in the locker room. The Hispanic girl had pointed Thalia to the First Aid cabinet, and now the hunter was dabbing alcohol on a cotton swab. "I just attract trouble, pain, and bad luck" mumbled Arianna, hissing through her teeth as Thalia lightly dabbed the pad over her cut.
Thalia frowned, gingerly cleaning the cut, trying to be as gentle as possible.
"Well, if I were you, I'd try and stay away from Kashia, looks like she doesn't like you much" said Thalia tossing the dirtied cotton swab into the trash. The blood had clotted already so Thalia carefully applied some antibiotic ointment on the cut.
Arianna snorted, gritting her teeth as Thalia's hands searched her ankle for any broken bones. "Kashia does hate me, she has ever since I stole her spot as the starting point guard" she answered as Thalia began wrapping a bandage around her ankle after she was sure it was just sprained.
"Well, be careful around your enemies, they're bound to pull more nasty stuff on you" said Thalia, helping Arianna up. "Can you walk?" Arianna took a few hesitant steps forward. "A bit, but one thing's for sure, I won't be running laps for a week or two" said Arianna wryly.
Thalia chuckled. "That would be a bad idea. Try and stay off the ankle if you can, I'll go tell you're coach you're alright, and you should probably call home. Bye Arianna."
"Wait, why were you watching me? Why did you follow me to practice?"
Thalia stopped in mid-stride. She slowly turned around and carefully chose her words. "I was waiting with my friends for my older sister to pick us up. She should be here by now."
Arianna seemed to be partially convinced by the lie. "Alright, see you tomorrow. Thanks Thalia."
Thalia smiled slightly and slipped out of the locker room, feeling oddly happy.