Disclaimer: Winx Club would probably have been a very different show had I owned it. So it should be obvious that I do not own Winx Club

Alright now the finals are over and I can finally get to work on this. Hopefully this is out by June or before. (yeah right) After all I want to publish at least 3 chapters this year or more. And I have so far only made one. So not much else to say. I guess thanks to the people who are still reading especially since you need to opt in to the notification emails nowadays. So let's get into the story.

For the second time in my life I could gladly say, that school has finally begun. First one being when I first enrolled here, after waiting for a year on earth, to be able to study magic. And this is the second time, because I could finally get away from earth. After that horrible New Year I just wanted Cloud Tower to start as soon as possible.

Speaking of that horrible New Year. Someone had luckily found Mitzi, when I abandoned her to that destroyed gas station. I found about that in the news the next day. She seemed to survive without any significant injuries, other than a few minor scars and a broken leg, which I know I caused with my spell. I was relieved to find that out, but it also made me scared, because for all I know, Mitzi could have remembered it and told the police about it. However as days went on, it came out that Mitzi didn't remember how she got into that situation, in the first place. Most likely the shock from that events was too much and luckily (for me) she didn't remember any of it.

After that I refused to do any magic. I was so scared of how much I could hurt somebody with it. I still do. I have been to few classes here in Cloud Tower, but I'm being very careful with my magic. I even got a scolding from one of the teachers for my poor performance today, mainly because I held back so much.

I also didn't tell Mike or Vanessa about what I did. In fact it wasn't until shortly before I left earth, that we even spoke to each other. Now I certainly haven't forgiven them now, and I'm not sure if I can ever forgive them for hiding it for so long. But by end of the vacation at least we got in speaking terms. Maybe over time we can somewhat improve our relationship. Only somewhat though because it was still going to be a far cry from what it was before the revelation. All the parent-child interaction just wasn't there anymore the few times we did speak before I left. I'm not sure if I ever will be able to call them my parents ever again.

Maybe getting away from them is what I need. Having that space away from them after that, hopefully will allow me to calm down about it. It has barely even been a week since they told me about that. So maybe when summer vacation starts, we can try to become closer to what we used to be.

When I arrived to Cloud Tower once again, the first thing I did was find Mirta and Lucy. And we did exchange a few pleasantries but we couldn't talk too much, because we were all called to the amphitheater. And there Griffin made a speech mostly about welcoming the students for their second year. But she also made an announcement, about how from now on Cloud Tower would be much more strict about all the fighting and bullying, that's going on here. All 3 of us scoffed when we heard this along with probably half the school. I'll believe it when I see it.

Then the classes started and yeah all of them besides potions of all things, didn't go well. The teachers certainly noticed the huge drop in performance from me, because of how scared I'm about using my magic now.

Then came lunch and things became awkward. The conversation quickly turned to "What did you do during your vacation?". And I certainly didn't feel like it, to tell Mirta and Lucy about how I found out I was adopted and almost killed somebody. So I just lied about how my time on earth was boring and nothing interesting happened during that. Yeah right. But luckily soon the conversation turned to them telling their adventures on their home planet.

And now finally the best part of the school day optional courses. I had chosen cooking mostly because it's just fun. Mostly the class is identical to cooking class on earth. You make your dish with your own hands. Now off course there is a little bit of magic involved. But especially now that I want to avoid using magic, this is just the class I need. A relaxing class of cooking to finish off the first day.

I walked to the door of the class and there were few other first years there, inspecting something at the door. At a closer look it was a note.

"The class is being held at the amphitheater. Weird." I said as I read out loud what the note on the door said. And it was weird. Why out of all classes is cooking being held in the amphitheater? It just makes no sense.

But I still started to head towards there along with the other students. And when I reached there it was clear something was up. The amphitheater had a lot more students in it, than just one cooking classes worth. In fact as I surveyed the crowd I even noticed Mirta with the students who were already there. So I went and sat next to her.

"What's going on?" She asked equally confused as I am.

"I don't know. The note on the cooking classes door said the class was being held here." I explained to her.

"Weird. There was a same kind of a note in the fortune telling classes door." Mirta answered and that just confirmed it something definitely was up. Unless for some odd reason they wanted to combine cooking and fortune telling.

By the time all students had arrived there were well over 40 people in the amphitheater. And while I didn't recognize everyone's faces from what I could guess, everyone besides Mirta was a first year like me. Which made it even weirder.

Then Griffin walked out to the amphitheater herself and hopefully we could get some answers. "You must all be confused why you are currently here." Griffin began as she looked at all of us. "Good looks like everyone of you is here." She said as she walked to the center of the amphitheater.

"Due to the recent events in Red Fountain, optional courses will be replaced by the self defense classes." She said as she once again surveyed the crowd of students. "After such an attack on their school, it is a very high priority, that first year students and the few second year students, who have not completed these classes, complete them." She said and looked at Mirta specifically when she said "few second years." I guess that explains why Mirta is here.

"Now your other peers will be taught by Professor Zarathustra and Professor Ediltrude. But you can consider yourselves very lucky or very unlucky as you are going to be taught by me, which means I will expect the best from you. And these classes will be anything but easy for you." She said as few of the students, who weren't that good could be heard gulping. "And I expect every single one of you to pass." The headmistress finished.

"Now for the few students who are worried about their optional courses. They have been moved to the end of the year. And the first person who will protest about this, will get a weeks worth of detention. So keep your complaints to yourself." She said while giving a very stern look to everyone.

Then she clapped her hands together. "The class has now started." She simply stated.

"Now as unlikely situation as it were. What should you do if you were to encounter Trix or anyone else attacking Cloud Tower?" Griffin asked us and none of the students raised their arms. Too afraid of her to answer the question. "Anyone? Surely one of you must know?" Griffin asked us and you could hear she was annoyed at the fact no one dared to answer her question.

Then she just pointed at one of the students. A first year who I didn't know too well. "You over there. What should you do in this situation?" Griffin asked this poor first year. I certainly would not want to be in her position.

But it turned out this girl maybe had a bit too much confidence in her. "Try to get together with a group. And then together beat them." She said with way too much confidence.

"Wrong." Griffin said and instantly all the confidence this first year had vanished. "In this situation you need to run away from the attacker. As the attacker most likely is far more skilled than you, and even a group of you is potentially no match for them. Instead you will need to find a member of staff and alert us. We will be able to deal with them." She explained. "However the reason you are here, is because sometimes running away isn't an option. And for those situations you are here."

"Now let's begin with today's class. Today is all about finding out what I'm working with. So to test your skills you will face each other in a tournament." She then snapped her fingers and a giant tournament bracket manifested in the middle of the theater. And as I looked at it, I found out who my first opponent would be.

Mirta.

In fact very quickly you could feel the atmosphere becoming unruly. As it seems that me versus Mirta isn't the only tournament battle, that is putting a friend against a friend. In true Cloud Tower fashion almost all the first round matches were forcing friends to face each other.

This caused some of these friends to start arguing each other. Some of them began protesting this move at Griffin. While me and Mirta just looked at each other awkwardly in the middle of the chaos. This continued until Griffin finally had enough.

"Silence!" Her voice echoed in the amphitheater causing everyone to shut up. "Lena and Astra come here." She said as the competitors of the first of the first round matches were called out. The two first year witches went to the middle of the stage, facing each other. I looked at the bracket and me versus Mirta would be the last first round match of the whole tournament.

"Rules are simple. First one to get their opponent fall to the ground or to verbally submit wins. There is a three minute time limit, if the time limit is exceeded both competitors are out of the tournament." Griffin explained as she went over the rules. "Using spells that cause permanent injury or death, will result in an instant disqualification and you will be suspended from the school. Have I made myself clear?" She said as she looked at both competitors and all of us. Everyone just nodded.

"Then you may begin." Griffin said and just like that, the first match of the tournament began.

Since the match against Mirta was the last one, it meant I had a lot to think about. Most of the matches took well over a minute until a winner came out. And few of them even lasted until the time limit expired. And the most surprising thing was, nobody tried to disobey Griffin when it came to using her banned spells. And during that all I could think about the inevitable match with Mirta.

Last time I used my magic against someone it didn't end well. I mean sure Griffin is there to control the thing. And she will supposedly put an end to it, if someone were to step out of the line. But what if she doesn't? I mean the half a semester I have been here, the staff rarely does anything about bullying. So how likely would Griffin truly stop it, if I went out of control?

Maybe I should just take it soft on her. Do just enough to win. That way the chance of hurting her is very small. I mean it's not like Mirta is going to be that much of a challenge. I mean she's a pretty good witch, but she doesn't do well in fights. At least from what I have seen.

The alternative is to drag the match out for those 3 minutes. That way both of us are out, which is good since I never wanted to be part of this tournament. But it would mean my reputation would take a hit. Not being able to beat Mirta wouldn't do good here. But doing it would mean, I don't have to risk facing the other students.

"Bloom and Mirta!" I heard Griffin call out, as the match before us finally came to an end. It's showtime now I guess.

I could hear few murmurs around me as I stood up. It wasn't that many to be honest but still. I guess this was one of the more anticipated matches of the tournament. "Good luck." I heard Mirta say as she began to walk towards the center of the theater.

"You too." I replied and joined her.

When we finally reached the center of the theater we went started to face off each other in the opposite corner. "Are the competitors ready?" Griffin asked rather dismissively but both of us nodded to her regardless. Well this was it no backing down for either of us for sure.

Then came a wait as we anticipated when Griffin would start the match. And while that was going off I was still debating whether I should win this or drag it out until time ran out. Both ones had their pros and cons, and I wish I had more time to think about it.

"Begin." Griffin announced abruptly.

Alright then. Maybe I need to just win this quickly. No that would embarrass Mirta and I don't want to do that. Play it easy for a minute or two and do just enough to win. That way I won't go all in and the chances of hurting her are low. And she'll feel better for having lasted that long. Or maybe the dragging until time limit is the bes...

Before I could even react something hit me in the chest and in a second I fell to the ground flat on my ass.

It took me a while to process just what had happened. But when Griffin announced it in front of everyone it became clear. "Winner Mirta." She simply said and raised her arm. And then the true realization hit me.

I just lost

To Mirta

In less than five seconds

And just as it was processing the laughter came. Almost all of the students started laughing and that someone they were laughing at was me. Just like that I became the laughing stock in front of everyone. The meager reputation I had was now in shambles. I was now the girl who lost to Mirta in less than five seconds. And I could feel the anger coming the more I thought about it.

"Are you alright?" I heard someone say. And it was Mirta, who had extended her hand towards me.

But instead of taking it, I ignored it and got up myself. Something which earned me even more laughs from the hostile crowd. I gave her an angry look when I was up and I could see her face morph into sadness, just before I turned to look away from her. And then stomped my way back into my seat.

My reputation. Just like that my reputation was ruined. And while in Alfea it wasn't that bad to be known as the 'loser'. But here in Cloud Tower you do not want to have a reputation like that. And right now Mirta was at the bottom of the food chain. And by losing to her I was now even lower than her. And unless the staff was actually serious about taking a serious stance at bullying, I know I'm not going to like it from now on. Only reason why Mirta's life in Cloud Tower is tolerable is, because most of the time Lucy is there to protect her. And Lucy shares most of her classes with Mirta so she is available to protect her. Unlike me who shares zero classes with Lucy.

Mirta eventually sat down next to me looking clearly dejected. But I didn't pay any attention to that, because I was too busy still thinking about my reputation. I never had the best reputation in Cloud Tower. But since I was never as outspoken as Mirta and I did relatively well in class, meant that people didn't really bother me that much. Which was just ideal to me. Now that was ruined.

As second round duels began, Mirta was clearly trying to say something to me. Her mouth would open but she never ended up getting the words out. And even if she did, I probably wouldn't have heard her, because of how much I was ignoring her right now.

As the second round duels started happening, I finally realized that maybe, just maybe I could salvage what happened. All that needs to happen is, that Mirta places high or even wins the tournament. Then I wouldn't have lost to the girl, that the whole school considers to be a 'wannabe fairy'. Instead I would have lost to a second year student who placed very high. And then my loss wouldn't be nearly as embarrassing.

As the matches continued on and Mirta's duel was nearing, she tried to once again say something. "Look Bloom I'm..." she said but wasn't able to finish what she was about to say. Probably because I didn't even look at her direction the whole time.

And then the time came. "Rena and Mirta." Griffin's voice boomed as the last battle of the second rounds was about to begin. I didn't know this Rena girl too well. She was a first year like me and she seemed above average. At least from what I remember from the classes we had together.

I turned to look at Mirta. First time I did so, since I sat down after my loss. "Break a leg." I simply told her with a serious voice. Hopefully that would give Mirta enough good luck to win. Mirta gave me a very reluctant nod and then started walking towards the center of the theater once again. When she was out of earshot, I mumbled. "You better win this."

Mirta and this Rena girl faced each other off, just like I did with Mirta a while ago. "Begin." Griffin said and the match had begun.

And Mirta ended up losing in under a minute.

I almost growled from frustration if it wasn't for the fact, that everyone around me would have heard it. Any chance to salvage today went out of the window.

When Mirta finally sat down on the seat next to me, it looked like she was holding back tears. "I'm sorry." She mumbled to me, but I only turned to look away from her, when I heard this.

We didn't speak a word to each other as we watched the rest of the battles happen. And I didn't really pay any attention as the final battle ended and the winner was announced. And then the class ended, which brought both relief and anxiety.

Relief that this class and tournament was finally over.

Axiety because from now on, I needed to face the reality of attending Cloud Tower, with a tattered reputation.

As soon as we were allowed to leave the class I ran. And then went on to find the nearest bathroom in the building. When I finally found one, I turned on the sink and splashed my face with water. Hoping that splashing my face would at least be able to calm me down somewhat. But it had very little effect.

"Looks like the Trix never needed to destroy my reputation after all. I just did that to myself." I said out loud to nobody, as the bathroom was completely empty.

I started to then breathing in and out. Trying once again to calm myself. As I tried to make myself think, that I'm making a way bigger deal of this, than it is. The other witches are going to make my life a living hell for the next couple weeks, and after that it will stop. Everyone will have forgotten this by then, and I can move on. And then everything will go back to normal.

Just as I was getting little calmer off course somebody had to ruin it. Or in this case three people had to ruin it. These three being first year witches that participated in the tournament that happened just moments ago. And right now I didn't want to see anybody, that had something to do with that tournament.

"Well look what we have here." Said the leader of the group. Rena to be exact, the first year that defeated Mirta. "Looks like the biggest loser of the tournament, is here wallowing in her defeat." Rena said as she turned to look at the two other girls of the group. Astra and Lena to be exact.

I did not want to deal with this, especially right now. So I started walking towards the exit of the bathroom, only for this group to move in, to block the exit. "Now where are you going? We have to talk more about what happened there. I mean seriously I thought you were decent, but you got beat by Mirta so fast. And I faced her after that, she wasn't hard to beat." Rena said while standing right in front of the door.

"I'm not gonna talk about any of this. Now can you please just let me go?" I asked her annoyance clear in my voice.

"I don't think so." Rena responded simply.

And at that point I had enough. I pushed Rena out of the way and exited the bathroom. And then I started to walk towards the direction my dorm room would be at. "Hey get back here!" I heard Rena yell from behind me. But I just continued walking. And as they started to come closer to me, I started to fast walk. Knowing that the moment I would run, they would begin to chase me.

Yet they were walking faster and were quickly gaining on me. And that's when I broke into a sprint and began to run away from them. "After her!" I heard Rena yell, as the group of three began to run as well.

I was getting quite far away from them until they started to send spells towards me. And one of them landed on my foot, which caused me to trip. And now they had me where they wanted, as they caught up to me just as I started to get up. And before I got up Astra ended up sending a magical blast towards me, that sent me to the ground once again.

I tried to get up once again as well, only to be again hit by a spell from one of the three, that sent me back there again. "Make sure she doesn't get up." Rena ordered. And then Astra started to do an another spell, which caused a white magical rope to appear. And then this rope started tying my hands up, which stopped me from being able to make spells. I tried to struggle to free myself from the rope, but it was proving to be futile.

"Now what should we do with her?" Rena asked the other girls.

"How about we transform her into some animal? See how long it takes the staff to figure out it's her." Astra suggested and when I heard, what they got planned on me I tried to struggle more. But it was futile as the magical rope was too strong.

"What should we transform her to?" Rena asked.

"I have an idea. How about we transform her into a frog. That's a classic." Lena suggested and from the sound of it, this isn't the first time they have done this.

"Nah I got a better idea. How about we make her a rabbit. And then we bring her into the forest and release her." Rena said. And the moment I heard the word rabbit I got angry, as it started to remind me about Kiko. It also reminded me of that cruel thing the Trix tried to make me do to, that rabbit in the forest. And just like that I had managed to generate enough fury, to have the strength to break the rope.

With my hands free now, the first thing I did was send a fireball towards Rena, which landed and sent her crashing towards the wall. Then I quickly got up and sent a wave of fire towards Astra and Lena. Astra was lucky enough to dodge the hit, but Lena wasn't so lucky. As she got hit by the wave which sent her crashing to the ground.

Astra then sent a magical blast towards me, but I was able to make a fire shield in time to block it. I then sent a fireball towards her, which hit it's mark causing Astra to also crash to the wall. "And to make sure you stay down." I said and sent an another fireball at Astra to make sure she would not get up.

With Astra and Lena taken care of I turned my attention back to Rena. Who was slowly getting up. She sent a weak magical beam towards me, which I easily blocked. I then sent a fireball at her and it caused her to fall once again.

"Was this fun huh?" I asked her as I sent a third fireball at her. And by now a crowd of other students started to gather around, as they noticed the fight happening. But I didn't pay them any attention, too busy on teaching a lesson to this girl.

"It's not that fun, to be the one on the receiving end isn't it?" I asked her again as I sent the fourth fireball at the fallen Rena, who by this point was completely defeated.

"You wanted to transform me into an animal as a joke. Maybe I should do the same to you." I say and started to charge up my fifth fireball. I would have transformed her to something like a toad, if I had known the spell to do that. So an another fireball would do.

Just as I was about to release the fifth fireball, until I feel something hit me and then all of a sudden I froze. "What is going on here!" I hear a very angry Griffin shout. And then I realize that it is Griffin who just used a spell to immobilize me. I couldn't even move a muscle. Then she let's go of the spell and I fell flat on my face to the crowd.

"All four of you. My office now!" Griffin shouts at all four of us. And we had no choice but to do exactly that. Rena and her two followers got up and then we started to follow Griffin, who looked like she could blow up at any moment.

Eventually we reached the inside of her office. The whole walk there being very nerve wrecking, as I knew I was in a big trouble. "Sit down." Griffin commanded all four of us, as we sat down on the chairs at the other end of the desk. "Now what exactly happened out there?" She asked still sounding very pissed off.

And Astra proceeded to open her crocodile tears. "We saw Bloom in the bathroom. And we just made a little fun about her loss in the tournament. And then she just blew up, and we tried to run away but she caught up on us and attacked us." Astra said while crying her fake tears.

Griffin then turns to look at me. "Is this true?" She asked.

"No it's not. They attacked me first. I was just defending myself." I tried to explain to her.

"She's lying!" Rena shouted. "She chased us down and continued to attack us, even after we were defeated." Rena interjected.

Griffin then turned to look at me with scrutiny in her face. "If you were defending yourself, why did you continue to attack them even after they were down?" She asked me.

And I froze for a minute when she asked me that. Because there wasn't an answer that could explain that. If I was just defending myself, I would have ran away as soon as, I had defeated them. Not continue to attack Rena even after she lost. "I got out of control after I defeated them." I simply said to Griffin and hoped she would believe me.

"Hmmmm. I have made my decision." Griffin said after thinking for a minute. And then she pointed at me and did a spell. And when the spell hit me I started to feel weak. A lot weaker. "For attacking these three girls Bloom, you are getting one week of detention. And during this time I have confiscated most of your magic. You will only have one fifth of your magic during this week. And now apologize to them for attacking them." Griffin explained and I saw how all three of the girls started grinning when they heard this.

I felt angry as soon as she said that. I got attacked and now I was being punished for it. It wasn't fair. "But I didn't attack them! This is wrong!" I yelled at her as I got up from my seat.

"Two weeks." Griffin simply responded. And just like that I realized there was nothing I could do. If I protested again she would probably raise it to three weeks. "Now apologize to them." So I took my seat again and gave the three girls a death stare, while they responded again by grinning at me.

"I'm sorry." I said to them while gritting my teeth. Not meaning a single word of what I just said.

"Now out of my office." Griffin said with disdain. But weirdly it wasn't directed at me. Rather she said this while looking at the three girls. Which was very strange considering it was me who got punished not them.

And so all of us got up and left the office. "See you around Bloomie." Rena said smugly once we were out of Griffin's office. And then they started walking away. I then turned around at the opposite direction and started to walk towards the direction my dorm room would be in.

Once I had walked enough I reached a spot where there were no other people around. So now that I was alone, I punched the wall in frustration because of what just happened. It wasn't fair that I got punished while the actual perpetrators got off scotfree. But it's typical Cloud Tower. Punish the victims and reward the bullies. No wonder why Trix turned out the way they were.

Once I started to calm down I realized something much more important. While I was thinking about my reputation and the unfairness of this punishment, I never once looked at how badly I treated Mirta today. How I completely underestimated her during the fight. And then when I lost, I was a total sore loser. I even refused to talk to her, because of her simply beating me. And knowing Mirta I probably made her feel like crap today. I was horrible to her wasn't I?

Once I reached the dorm room I was nervous to open it. But eventually I was able to turn the handle. And once I entered the room, I would need to make an apology.

A real one.

And finally done. Took long enough didn't it? Anyway this chapter was about Bloom being kind of a crappy friend. Off course as you see by the end, she realizes how much of a bad friend she had been, and understood she was wrong. Next chapter on the other hand is the opposite. So stay tuned for that. I will try to get at least one chapter out before 2024 begins like I promised with the previous chapter. Also I'm pretty sure I just broke the 100k word barrier, which is very nice. I guess time to answer some reviews.

Luiz4200: Yeah as you can see Bloom was quite shy about using magic in the begining of this chapter, because of how afraid she is to use it.

WinxClubCompleteFanfics: Well I guess I just did continue the story. Thanks for the compliments for the plot and keeping Bloom in her character. I hope Bloom didn't seem too OCC in this chapter.

flurry: Well I just continued this. So thank you for being interested.

Anyway that's it. Hopefully next chapter will be out in the year 2023. See you around then.

Viva out