Hello everyone. This is my first time posting on this site and I wanted to let you know something important: I do not write in English originally, this chapter is translated from my native language into English. If there are any spelling mistakes or the translation of a character's name is wrong, please let me know.
—X—
"Have you ever looked at someone and thought: What's on their mind?"
In a room in an apartment in San Francisco, a girl was finishing getting ready and her school supplies. Doing everything quickly.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
An orange figure was running around: "Have we got all the books? Have we got our pencils? Have we brushed our teeth? We've brushed our teeth, haven't we? We can't arrive at the new school with breath! We'll lose a lot of popularity points if that happens, and if we lose popularity points we'll lose our friends! No, no, no. What do we-"
"Wow, wow, wow. Calm down, will you? Everything's under control!" A yellow figure said to the smaller figure, holding her by the shoulders "Now, you remember what we talked about, right? Take a deep breath." The orange one did "And exhale." She did as she was told "See, wasn't that nice? You're calmer?" She nodded "Perfect! Crisis averted, everyone!" She said excitedly.
You're probably wondering: Wow, who are they?
Answer: Emotions.
All living beings have such emotions. But our story focuses specifically on the emotions of one girl, Riley. Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust and Anger. They are the first emotions that everyone awakens in childhood, the primordial and basic ones that take care of living beings from birth.
Joy, making sure that every day is the best it can be. Sadness, taking care of the burden of life's problems. Fear, taking care of physical safety. Disgust, caring for physical and social poisoning. And Anger, caring for life's injustices.
And later, as we entered puberty, other feelings appeared: Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, Ennui. These were emotions that arrived as Riley's life became more complex, complementing other aspects of life.
Anxiety, planning for the future. Envy, seeking to obtain what others have. Embarrassment, to deal with embarrassing moments. And Ennui, dealing with the boring things in life.
All the emotions working together to take care of Riley's life.
Who is she? Riley Andersen, a girl from Minnesota who, between the ages of eleven and twelve, moved to San Francisco, where she tried to escape when she found herself unhappy there. And now she was finally going into the eighth grade. But it wasn't just anything. Because she was finally joining her dream team: the Firehawks.
The team that her idol, Valentine 'Val' Ortiz, was captain of, despite being in her penultimate year at school.
And this after a long, long, long three-day mess. Caused by Anxiety: The orange, green-eyed sentiment; Who, in his first attempt to help Riley, ended up making her try too hard and suffer a panic attack on the day of the tryout for the team. The mess went much deeper, like: Her banishing the first feelings, reshaping Riley, destroying her old sense of self and almost destroying her completely.
But that was settled, water under the bridge.
Nowadays, she was controlled by the other feelings, who learned to deal with the emotion's personality, and the one who dealt with it best was Joy: The yellow feeling, wearing a green dress and having blue hair. She was considered the leader among the other emotions.
She is the main one in control of the Command Room, the place where they controlled Riley's reactions to life and had their own 'home' in her mind.
"There's no need to worry. I would never let us embarrass ourselves like that, not with breath." Disgust said: The green feeling, wearing pretty clothes and a purple bow "I guarantee Riley will look so pretty, the others will melt with Envy~!" She said confidently, looking at her nails.
"Uh, uh! I want the others to melt with envy!" A smaller figure, Envy, jumped up with excitement: the cyan-green feeling, with rather childish clothes and sparkling eyes.
"But wait, wait, wait! Anxiety is right! We mustn't forget anything! In fact, we should take some safety equipment, don't you think? We could take some protectors or something, don't you think?" Fear intervened in the conversation: The light purple male sentiment, wearing a turtleneck and a red tie. And he would have continued to ramble on about his worries, where he could even go so far as to talk about impossible disasters.
"Oh, stop it! We're only going to the first day of school, not to the center of a disaster!" Anger intervened and hit him with a slap on the beads: The feeling colored red, wearing a suit and tie. He crossed his arms "It's annoying enough that we have to get up early again, we don't need the daydreams of the two desperados." He spoke with irritation about the orange and purple duo.
Another sentiment approached the group, despite its size, being rather quiet and shy, not speaking. This is Embarrassment: The pink feeling, wearing a sweatshirt that covers his entire body and almost his entire face. He remained quiet during the group's conversation.
"It would be horrible if we started the school year unprepared... we're already starting without friends..." Another emotion spoke in an unhappy tone, this one being Sadness: The dark blue feeling, wearing heavy white clothes and purple glasses. She sniffled as she thought of Riley's friends who would no longer be studying with her "Ow, it's going to be so hard without them." She whimpered sadly and instinctively leaned against the dashboard, making Riley cringe at the memory of her two friends.
"Aaaaarf." A voice grumbled from the sofa, throwing its head down in annoyance "We're not starting, not this morning. We still have school." It was Ennui who spoke: the dark-purple, long-haired sentiment with a cell phone in his hand.
"He's right. Riley can't be crying, not now. We've had the whole of last year and the vacations for that, so pull yourself together." Disgust spoke to the blue-colored sentiment, not wanting to even think about his classmates seeing Riley sad or, worse, crying because they missed her, not on her first day. The greenish one pushing Sadness away from the control panel.
Everyone then heard a sound, which made them look at the main screen, Riley's eyes, which allowed them to see the world and analyze situations. Of course, they also had taste, hearing, smell, but sight was one of, if not the almost main, way of assessing Riley's life.
{X}-[World]-{X}
"Riley, are you ready?" Her mother's voice drew the girl's attention to the bedroom door, where she saw the matriarch of the family entering. An older woman with brown hair and wearing glasses. She scanned the place "Did you get everything?"
"I did, Mom." Riley replied and put the bag on her back. Riley is a young girl, with blonde hair, blue eyes and wearing braces. Her clothes were quite simple, but put together in a way that made her feel comfortable and comfortable with her appearance being judged by other people (which Disgust was proud of for the work she had done during the night) "I'm ready!" She said, flashing an excited smile (courtesy of Joy, who was in charge of the main control).
"Good, let's go. Your dad's already waiting in the car." She turned and left, Riley following soon after.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"Urgh. Going with parents to a new school? Embarrassing." Disgust touched a few buttons.
{X}-[World]-{X}
"Mom. I could take the bus, or, I don't know, get an Uber or something. You don't have to take me." Riley tried to argue as he followed the woman up the stairs.
"It's no problem for us, darling. We're happy and feel better knowing that you've arrived safely. Your father, especially." Her mother countered, without making a move.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
This drew a grumble from Disgust, who crossed her arms: "If any of our classmates see us with parents, so much for popularity." He commented with the thought making her angry.
"Oh, come on. Parents just want to take care of us. The others might even think they're cool, don't you?" Joy tried to see the positive side of the situation, but hardly anyone seemed to agree with her.
"Statistically speaking: Disgust is right. If people see us with our parents, they might think we're childish, they won't want us around, Riley will be alone, with no one, she'll be sad and distracted from field hockey and her studies, she'll never graduate, our parents will be sad, and we'll end up dying of loneliness without having achieved anything!" Anxiety began to speak frantically, listing the possibility opened up by Disgust with that scenario "No, no, no. We have to intervene. Let me-" She was grabbed by Joy.
"No, Anxiety. Calm down, okay?" Joy put her in her special seat and turned on the massage, automatically making the orange emotion start to calm down "Let's not make a big deal out of it, guys. It's just a ride, it's no big deal." "Let's start the day with positive thoughts, okay? Because if we don't, we'll end up ruining her day before we even start." He argued.
The others had to agree.
The dynamics between the group of emotions were almost always like this; most of them, especially the trio Anxiety, Fear and Disgust, ended up creating moments like these, raising concerns that left the others, such as Embarrassment and Sadness agitated, which was something worrying.
And so Joy intervened.
She was the one who, most of the time, tried to keep everyone as calm as possible with positive thoughts and scenarios. She usually succeeded with her experience in dealing with each of them. Of course, she didn't succeed 100% of the time and there were times when she made a mistake, and a very bad one.
Like when she tried to deprive Riley of feeling sad after the move from Minnesota, which resulted in her, Sadness and the base memories being thrown out of the Control Room and Riley almost running away and having no feelings.
A mistake she fixed.
But she still had her job: to make Riley's life as positive, fun and happy as possible. Despite the difficulties. And in order to do that, she knew that she needed the others to do the job, all of them, and she had to adapt to use the qualities that each one had, but without letting them overdo their duties.
Sounds selfish, doesn't it?
But they had to see it from her side. If one emotion became too much, there could be disastrous consequences. Like her super-positivity did to them during the changeover. And if she, the positive one, who wanted to make everything good, caused such a disaster, the thought of anyone else doing it haunted her. And the Anxiety event only made her more focused on that. One feeling couldn't take over all aspects, not when life was too complicated to focus on just one.
A thought ran through her head: What if they're right?
That thought came when thinking back to last year's sports camp, where new emotions surfaced. Riley had now joined the Firehawkss, which was great, but she had also entered a new school year, without her friends, who ended up going to a different school, and she had to make a good first impression on her new classmates.
Joy was also concerned about this, looking out for Riley's safety.
She was positive, bearing in mind that Riley, like the nice girl she knows she is, could easily get along with people. But she wasn't innocent in not thinking otherwise. Only she wouldn't reveal such a thing, obviously so as not to worry the other emotions, being an anchor that prevents them from going crazy and causing chaos.
She had to stay focused.
[-Later-]
{X}-[World]-{X}
Riley was in the family car, listening to music on her headphones, while exchanging messages with her friends.
=What's up?=
-I am. But nervous.-
=Don't worry, you'll do fine.=
=You're super cool, girl.=
=Yes. You're going to do great.=
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
Joy couldn't help but smile when she saw the encouraging messages from Riley's friends, especially as they helped calm the others in the Command Room. The yellow emotion fiddling with the controller to answer the messages. Of course, Disgust helping her not to look 'desperate' and maintaining her social status, even though Joy thought it was a bit unnecessary to do this with Riley's friends.
{X}-[World]-{X}
"We're coming." A muffled voice spoke, drawing Riley's attention and emotions. Riley's mother beckoned everyone to pay attention. The girl took out her headphones to listen to what her mother was saying "We're coming, excited?" She asked.
Riley settled into her seat: "I don't know. I'm excited about joining the team, but I'm a bit nervous. Apart from the people on the team, I don't know anyone. What if no one likes me?" The girl began to ramble with worry and sweat.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
Anxiety, again, had her hands on the dashboard and was taking it over, drawing a sigh from Joy who was trying to help.
{X}-[World]-{X}
"My dear. You don't have to worry about any of this, okay? You've been through this before, remember? When we moved everything was new, new town, new house, new school." Her mother began to list.
"And it took you a while, but you got used to it, didn't you?" The father joined in the conversation and turned in his seat to face his daughter, "Everything's going to be fine. Right, monkey?" The father began to make silly monkey sounds to try to tease his daughter.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
Embarrassment and Joy leaned against the panel, creating a memory of the color of the two. They and the other feelings cracked small smiles on their faces. Anxiety, in the process, becoming relieved and automatically sitting down in her seat.
{X}-[World]-{X}
"Stop it, Dad! That's silly!" Riley said to his father, a big smile taking over his face as his cheeks turned slightly pink. All her worry vanished with her parents' words. She took a deep breath and opened the door "See you later, I love you." She said before leaving.
"We love you too!" They both said at the same time.
Riley got out of the car and watched them drive away, watching them for a while until they drove off out of sight.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
Feelings flashed through the girl's eyes: "I love parents." Anger spoke first after the moments of silence. A flood of compliments came from the other feelings. He, like everyone else, was happy when his parents supported him.
"They're not so cringe..." were Ennui's words of praise, his way of doing it.
"All right! Now that we've all calmed down, let's do it!" Joy took control and started clicking various buttons, causing Riley to put on a determined face, turning to face the school entrance "It's not going to be a school that takes our girl down! Let's show them who we are!" A collective chorus of 'Yes' came from the others, as she pushed the levers to move the girl forward.
{X}-[World]-{X}
Riley moved forward and entered the main entrance and continued through the corridors.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"Step one: Find our locker." Joy said and everyone watched the scene in search of Riley's locker number "Wow... there are so many different people here, aren't there?" Fear, Anxiety and Embarrassment were flustered by the yellow one's comment.
"And there are already some weirdos." Disgust commented as she looked at some of the people critically.
"And no one with manners!" Anger commented as Riley bumped into a few people in the corridor "Can't you get out of the way, you lot?! There are people trying to get past!" He shouted angrily, not enjoying seeing them bumping into each other all the way.
"Calm down, calm down. Let's not get off on the wrong foot." Joy continued to take charge of the situation "Oh, there!" He pointed to the numbered cupboard "That was pretty quick to find, urfs." He commented with his own dose of tiredness. Just a few moments in the crowded corridor was enough to stress everyone out. Riley opened the locker with the combination they had received with the timetables from the admission letter "Right. Now, let's look at the timetables."
Riley pulled out her timetable as she put her backpack inside the locker, to reduce the weight on her back, she looked at the classes she would have that day: English (07:30 - 09:00), Mathematics (09:00 - 10:30), Biology (10:30 - 12:00), Lunch (12:00 - 12:30), American History (12:30 - 13:00) and Spanish (13:00 - 14:30).
"Urgh!" Was a common response from almost everyone when they saw Math on the timetable for the first day.
It's not that Riley wasn't good at it, it's just that every year it got harder, more boring and unnecessarily complicated. Anger mainly; the teachers of this type of subject always gave the students the greatest amount of homework. It felt like a kind of mental torture for the students, as if the teachers wanted to torture them.
"Look, at least our other subjects will be easier." The yellow emotion continued to try to keep them positive about how bad math was going to be that day "Let's not get discouraged. Maybe our new teacher will be nice." But that would be a first for all of them, since it hadn't been like this since kindergarten "And after school, you already know what we're going to have, don't you?" She raised the question with an obvious answer.
Field hockey.
As I said before: Today wasn't just an important day because it was a new day at a new school, but as their first day on the new Hockey team. This excitement infected everyone's emotions. It was just a few hours of boring obligations before they got to live their girl's dream.
"Right, let's go to the first class!" Joy pressed the panels again to move on.
Riley again walked past the other students in search of his classroom.
"Also, until we get there, let's go over what we talked about yesterday." Joy snapped a salute to the other emotions, Riley following on automatic from there to her classroom, looking at them seriously "Today is Riley's first day of school, so we've been preparing for this all vacation time: Anxiety, Fear..." The two emotions came to the fore "Did you go over all the problems that could happen?"
"Yes!" They answered at the same time.
"I tried to predict all kinds of disasters: from a speech at the front of the room, to a natural disaster like a meteor falling." Medo quoted, pulling out some pages and placing them beside him. The pile being big enough to lean on.
"And I thought about the problems of the future, like..." Anxiety pulled out her clipboard "Riley speaking in public, stuttering, people laughing at us and thinking we're weird, or ignoring us. We'll spend the rest of the school year without any friends just because we stuttered in front of everyone and we'll only have the team. Unless there's someone from the team in the room, or if there's some gossip making fun of Riley for stuttering in front of the whole class." She started to sweat. "Of course, there are worse scenarios, but this is the most likely one that could happen if Riley makes a mistake, in case we perform." She finished speaking.
"Good! We're prepared for what could happen in the worst-case scenario, but which won't because we're going to kick ass!" Joy said positively to try to calm them down, succeeding a little, after all, their worries were being taken seriously "Disgust, Envy..." "As soon as we get to the room, keep an eye on everything. We don't want Riley to embarrass herself in front of her classmates."
"Needless to say, she's not going." Disgust took the lead "Let's kick ass."
"That's it! Everyone will be so impressed by us, so impressed, that they'll want to be us!" Envy jumped up with excitement "Everyone will melt with envy." He said what they'd said earlier in the day in the girl's room.
"Good... good. I like the energy, but let's stick to making a good impression, shall we?" She spoke with a more nervous tone. Knowing the two of them, as she did, they would be quite brutal with anyone who threatened her social status and especially at the start of a new year at the new school. The yellow feeling turned to a specific trio "Anger, Sadness, Embarrassment." The three of them approached "It's the first day; I don't want to sound bossy or controlling, but I want you not to overreact to things that might happen. We're going to have new experiences and we need to adapt so we don't embarrass ourselves, excuse the pun, in front of everyone."
Embarrassment and Sadness nodded uncontested. They knew that any intrusion with exaggerated reactions of sadness and Embarrassment on the first day could influence the rest of the year. Also because the new console was still very sensitive to feelings since they had entered puberty, where Riley could end up crying at the slightest influence from the blue feeling.
"Tsk! That's good." Anger crossed his arms in frustration. Although he didn't like it, he agreed not to influence it too much. But his gaze remained stern "But if anyone makes any jokes about us, look." He slammed his right fist into his left palm "I'll show you that it's not nice to mess with us." He said threateningly.
"Got it." Joy nodded "But don't worry, I've chosen some good memories to calm us down in case something bad happens." She warned, being their plan B in case something threatened to make them angry. She didn't want to disguise her emotions. No, no. She learned that at the Sadness and Anxiety event. It was just a form of self-control so that their influence wouldn't be exaggerated. She then turned her gaze to the last remaining feeling "Ennui."
"I know, I know." Ennui waved his hand dismissively "Just in case things get too boring or complicated for you..." He commented, his gaze focused on his electronic device. He didn't mind taking over when he had too much work for the others.
"Perfect! Let's put our best foot forward, let's kick ass so that our amazing day becomes an amazing year!" The emotion screamed with excitement, bouncing around energetically, before her gaze turned to the main screen with the others "We're here."
{X}-[World]-{X}
After walking for some time, Riley found the room.
As she entered, her gaze turned to analyze the whole place; a large classroom, with several seats, some of them already occupied by some of the students. Her entrance quickly drew the attention of some of the students, who then went back to paying attention to their conversations and personal matters.
This gave her a cold sweat.
There are four rows of four chairs in rows from left to right, four from front to back. A total of sixteen seats.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"Right. Cupboard, room. Now, seat: which one should we take?" Joy posed the question to the team.
The room was quite full and there were only a few seats with no one in them. There are three seats. One of the two seats in the middle of the third row of the room, one near the wall on the right of the room and a final one in the two seats on the left at the back of the room, where there was already a person sitting in the seat next to the window.
A complicated decision.
"If we take the front seat, we might attract the teacher's attention!"
"But if we do badly, we might attract attention from the others for not being able to do something and they'll make fun of us for it!" Envy and Anxiety presented the main point of the second row seat.
"If we take the back seat, we won't be able to stand out compared to the others."
"But we'll be able to dictate when we want to stand out or not, because we'll be able to choose when we want to answer the questions or not. Of course, if the teacher doesn't draw our attention because we're in the back." Sadness and Fear argued.
"Let's go in the middle. We won't attract unnecessary attention, we'll be able to dictate when we want to appear, and the teacher won't have to call our attention if she thinks we're paying too much or too little attention. The middle is best." Disgust pointed out what would be the correct answer to their choice.
The seat in the middle of the room.
{X}-[World]-{X}
Riley walked to the middle seat, satisfied with her decision. And just as she was about to sit down...
"Oh, sorry." A bag was placed on the seat and prevented her from sitting down. It was a girl who spoke; long brown hair, green eyes, wearing a pink lip gloss and pompous white clothes. A 'friendly' smile, clearly fake, looking her up and down "You're busy." He said with indifference and a mocking laugh.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"Why, what a son of a-" When Anger tried to take control, Embarrassment held him back with one hand.
Joy sighed: "Calm down, it's okay." They ignored the situation and Riley turned to the second seat "Time for seat two; us standing out isn't so bad, right? Riley's smart and can handle any-" Another person who had entered next put her backpack in her bag and sat down, preventing her from getting the second seat.
"Oh, no." Sadness took a few steps to the console and pressed a button, creating a sad memory.
"What a beauty! We've barely arrived, and I already want to beat up two people!" Anger shouted and slammed his fists down hard and violently, still held back by Embarrassment. His thoughts were on slamming the seat down on the heads of the other two.
"Now, only the last one is left..." Disgust began to command and guide Riley to the back seat. During this time, she also noticed the look that girl from before gave her and the barely concealed giggle she let out as she saw her heading towards the back of the room. The green feeling snorted, "Someone has just joined my blacklist." He commented with clear disgust.
{X}-[World]-{X}
Riley took the last remaining seat in the last row.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"Now we're isolated... alone..." Sadness whimpered as she saw them at their last option.
"No, don't be discouraged yet. We can still make the best of it!" Joy continued positively, "We have our seat. Let's focus on the positive, at least for now, okay? We have to get through the first day without freaking out, until we get through training with the team." He reminded them again of the goal of getting to the end of the day without any major problems "Jealousy, Envy, do your part." Joy gave up its place on the control panel.
The two emotions moved on: "Very good. Now leave it to the professionals." Disgust snapped his fingers: "Write everything down." He said to Envy as she climbed up to get a better view of Riley's point of view, who had a personal clipboard.
"All right! Let's see what we've got here." The little sentient had a pen and clicked to trigger it to write when necessary.
What were they doing? Environment analysis.
Disgust, now with Envy as her assistant, had the duty of analyzing the other students in the room and giving feedback to the other sentients and carefully planning how to act, so that Riley wouldn't embarrass herself in front of the others. And to find out who they should interact with.
"Hmmmm." Riley's eyes wandered around the room as she was guided by Disgust "First those two." She pointed to the girl who had prevented them from taking the middle seat and was talking to another girl, with reddish hair in a ponytail, wearing a purple blouse "They must definitely be the pussycat type; I bet they even have a third."
As if in response to the sentiment's words, the last person in the class entered.
{X}-[World]-{X}
"Heather!" The other two girls stood up to welcome the third.
Heather, a girl with long, silky blonde hair, wearing extravagant clothes in a vibrant pink color and a red lip gloss. Her appearance made her look like a human version of Barbie. She would have been the typical rich girl, leader of the trio of naughty girls.
And the way she reacted to the girls' shouts showed that: "Girls." Her voice made them shut up. "What did we say about shouting nonsense in front of everyone?" She looked at the rest of the class, a sweet smile and a penetrating gaze "Sorry about them." She said, but her tone clearly showed indifference to whether she had upset them.
The girl walked over to the reserved seat and sat down elegantly, arranging her things on the seat, the other two only sitting down after her.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"Queen bee?" Envy asked.
"Queen Bee." Disgust nodded and Envy began to take notes. "She must be the type who likes people who are chic, popular and submissive to her. You can tell those two are her helpers. We shouldn't get on her radar. Well, for now." He said, knowing how problematic it would be to get on the radar of someone like that on the very first day. No, no.
"I wish we had helpers." Envy said with a glare, imagining two girls fawning over them and doing their bidding.
Riley's gaze then wandered to the rest of the class; she saw a group of four boys at the back, in the seat to her right, talking intensely while throwing paper balls at each other. In the first row and the row to the left, where the windows were, up to the third seat, there was nothing too important or anyone particularly known or strange.
But the last person in the last seat of the last row was someone both emotions had difficulty analyzing; it was a boy covered by a green hood that rose to cover most of his face, leaving only some tufts and a small part of his face visible, and he was constantly turned away from Riley's gaze.
"Odd and isolated. Must be the anti-social type, doesn't like to interact and acts like, 'Look how mysterious and dark and cool I am.' Sorry, but no. That kind of style is already very clichéd," Disgust commented while analyzing what it could about him. But apart from his appearance, there was no other sign of anything that could be analyzed about him. "My opinion? Don't approach him. We don't want to get involved with someone like that," he warned the others.
"I agree. We think the same thing," Envy jumped from the panel back to the floor, carrying the clipboard full of notes that the dark green emotion had asked to be written down.
{X}-[World]-{X}
The bell rang outside just as the duo of emotions finished their work. A figure entered the room shortly afterward, making all the students stop what they were doing to pay attention to her: a woman with curly black hair, wearing a brown suit dress, with a black skirt and a gold chain around her neck.
"Good morning, students. It's a pleasure to meet all of you. My name is Jessica Morgan, and I will be your English teacher for the entire school year. I hope we can get along well, and I want you to feel free to ask any questions you might have about the subject," the woman began to address the class. "To start, I'd like everyone to introduce themselves. Please stand up, say your name, and mention something you like, whether it's something you enjoy eating or doing, it doesn't matter," she asked the class politely.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"INTRODUCTION IN FRONT OF THE CLASS?!" Anxiety and Fear screamed simultaneously, panicking, both emotions starting to run back and forth.
"What are we going to do?! We weren't prepared for this kind of thing!" Fear began to hyperventilate.
"Why did the teacher want to do this?! If Riley makes a mistake or says something stupid, we could become the laughingstock of everyone!" Anxiety pulled her hair forcefully.
"Calm down, both of you," Joy tried to calm the two emotions. "It's not a disaster."
"Have you forgotten what happened the last time we presented in class?" Anger reminded Joy of the event when they moved to San Francisco, at the new school, where Riley cried in front of the entire class.
Sadness lowered her head, embarrassed. "But that was more my fault. I had restrained Sadness to the point of her... 'bursting' and trying to get rid of a core memory when Riley needed it. I take responsibility for that." Joy spoke, casting a reassuring look at the blue emotion. "And also, this time will be different. All our classmates will be doing the same as us! We just need to stay calm, so...!" Her gaze wandered to the emotion on the couch. "Ennui~~" she called out cheerfully. "You'll help me, right?" she asked.
Ennui groaned with exhaustion. "Fine... I'll help you," he said without taking his eyes off his cellphone, but knowing he would have to act for everyone's sake.
{X}-[World]-{X}
Gradually, the students introduced themselves, row by row, starting from the first person in the first row on the right and moving from right to left, from the first row to the fourth. Riley's turn came after all the other fourteen students.
One of them, part of that group the girl had seen earlier, also mentioned liking sports and being part of the basketball team.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"Alright, let's go!" Joy started pressing some buttons, encouraging the girl, while Ennui tapped on his cellphone to ease the yellow emotion's nerves.
{X}-[World]-{X}
Riley stood up. "I'm Riley Andersen and... I like hockey, I recently joined the team, and I also enjoy sports and music," she said, giving the basics about herself. It wasn't much, but it was enough to satisfy the teacher.
"It looks like we have two new athletes. I'm excited to see both of you excel on the courts," she said with enthusiasm.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"Ugh." Joy sighed. "Well, we're all good. No mistakes, and Riley did really well." She said cheerfully, happy that everything went smoothly.
The other emotions were also satisfied. Nothing went wrong, none of them had to intervene, and the incident from the year they moved to San Francisco didn't happen. It was perfect, in their view.
{X}-[World]-{X}
As Riley sat down, the teacher's gaze turned to the last student. She was waiting for the boy to stand up. But nothing happened for a few moments. The teacher cleared her throat, trying to get his attention, which seemed to snap him out of his stupor.
"Oh, sorry." The last student said as he stood up. "I'm Evan Greenfield Ortiz. I like drawing, studying, and cinematography. It's a pleasure to meet you all." He said quickly before sitting back down.
His presentation elicited a few small laughs from the students at the start, due to his late realization that it was his turn to present. The teacher didn't seem to mind much, but her smile seemed a bit more nervous towards this particular student.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Evan. But, hmm." The teacher approached a bit closer through the rows. "Would it be uncomfortable if you took off that hood? Doesn't it bother you? It must be uncomfortable, right?" She tried to argue/ask politely.
"Um? No, it doesn't bother me. Thanks for asking." He replied, seeming not to understand what the teacher had asked.
This frustrated the woman and drew another laugh from the students.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"Is he clueless?" Disgust wondered upon seeing that scene.
Joy chuckled. "But it is funny." She commented, watching their interaction.
Embarrassment turned red. Just thinking about it happening to them made him feel embarrassed, but he couldn't help but find some amusement in the scene. A mix of these two states.
{X}-[World]-{X}
"Well..." The teacher set that aside and returned to the front of the classroom. "Since today is your first day, we should start slowly. Let's try to review some of the previous topics you studied." She said in an upbeat tone, drawing sighs from the other students.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"Ugh." Ennui clicked on his app, and Riley's expression changed to one of boredom, also sighing. "Reviewing last year's boring stuff to learn new boring things...? Whyyyyyyy?" He complained, seemingly melting into a shapeless form on the couch.
"Why do teachers keep doing this kind of nonsense? If we already studied something last year, we shouldn't have to study it again. It's idiotic!" Anger complained with flames almost exploding from his head and slammed the console, Riley's frown, a memory of both Ennui and Anger at the same time.
Joy wanted to protest against their use, but didn't. Even she didn't like having to revisit boring content from the past. But, unfortunately, they had to do it. And she understood that everyone felt the same way about what they had to do.
"Alright... Anxiety, could you...?" Joy started to request the memories of the topics.
"One step ahead of you." Anxiety was already searching for last year's materials, at least some basics and other important ones about the subject, not too many, but enough to prepare for what was coming.
Despite the emotions' complaints during the class time, it wasn't anything really complicated. They only reviewed text and grammar from some previous texts they had studied. Nothing complicated. It was something simple, and the organization and teamwork of the emotions helped a lot. Ennui took on most of the task during the resolution of what the teacher asked.
The next class was another one Ennui had to take on. But Anxiety would intervene at times, especially because of the teacher: Mrs. Kim. An older woman, quite old, which was noticeable by her faded hair, wrinkles, and stern appearance, with a robust body, dark skin, outdated clothes, and a rather intimidating gaze.
"She looks like one of those villain teachers from movies. I'm almost sure she's a cranky old maid." That was Disgust's comment on her appearance, which was almost confirmed by her next actions.
Besides revisiting previous subjects.
The worst was when she asked everyone to complete an assignment to test their knowledge and wanted it handed in as soon as they finished. Which was, well... interesting, for lack of a better word. The questions were:
Exercise 1: Simplify the following fractions:
a) 18/24
b) 45/60
Exercise 2: Convert the following decimals to simplified fractions:
a) 0.75
b) 0.4
Exercise 3: Solve the following fraction operations:
a) 2/5 3/10
b) 7/8 - 1/4
Exercise 4: Calculate the percentage of the following values:
a) 20% of 150
b) 35% of 80
And more exercises to test the students' knowledge of the previous year's material.
It wasn't really that complicated to solve once they got the specific memories of the subject, but it was still quite challenging. The entire class time was used for everyone to complete the tasks.
"Math is a !#$!" Anger screamed with fury in the girl's head and felt like breaking everything around just to avoid spending another second on that subject. All strongly agreeing with the red emotion's aggressive line of thought. Of course, Joy, with some help from Embarrassment, prevented the little brick-shaped emotion from taking over the console.
The only interesting thing that happened was the fact that the student next to them, Evan, had finished the assignment in less than five minutes from the start of the knowledge test and handed it in right after. The teacher reviewed it, seemed intrigued, with Disgust noticing the minimal change in the older woman's expression, and accepted it, with a shadow of a smile almost appearing on her face and giving him the rest of the class time free to do whatever he wanted, which he spent just observing the outside through the window.
"Ugh! I wish we had been the first to finish the test." Envy complained, puffing her cheeks and crossing her arms, sulking about the event. Creating the first negative memory about their classmate. They also wanted free time.
But the Math class passed in a blur.
Truth be told, there weren't many memories created by them in that study. At least not any that they would be happy to revisit. Part of the problem, of course, being the lack of interest and fun for everyone. But they wouldn't discard them. No memory was useless, a lesson learned about who Riley is today.
And the next was Biology. This time it was a teacher: Mr. Robert. A man of at least thirty-one years, with dark beard, white skin, reddish hair, and green eyes. Wearing a darker brown suit and a gold watch on his left wrist.
The class had a review activity with several exercises again:
Exercise 1: Describe the difference between animal and plant cells. Cite at least two main differences.
Exercise 2: Identify and describe the five kingdoms of living beings and provide an example of each:
a) Kingdom Animalia
b) Kingdom Plantae
c) Kingdom Fungi
d) Kingdom Protista
e) Kingdom Monera
Exercise 3: Complete the sentences with the correct words:
a) The genetic material is found in the _.
b) The _ are responsible for transmitting hereditary traits.
"At least it's not so bad..." Anger commented.
They couldn't say the activity was fun, but it wasn't boring either. And it wasn't challenging. It was easy to answer most of the questions. That was enough for them.
Only again, their classmate finished the activity first and handed it to the teacher: "No! We should have finished first this time!" Envy again fumed with anger and bounced with irritation.
Anger also couldn't help but agree, feeling it was unfair that their effort only earned them second place, while Anxiety felt frustrated but also sad, feeling that their work was becoming futile. Disgust, in turn, was undecided: On one hand, letting another person be first in the class wasn't something she liked, wanting Riley to stand out, but also saw the positive side: She wouldn't be the center of attention before the time and wouldn't be considered the 'know-it-all' of the class.
A mix of emotions. If they had to be divided, it would be into:
[Envy: Envy, Anger, Anxiety, and Fear (due to a shared fear with Anxiety).
[Positivity: Joy and Embarrassment (who defended their classmate for being faster, after all, "everyone deserves to stand out in something!").
[Neutrals: Sadness, Disgust, and Ennui (the group that would support either side or none, but Sadness and Disgust would side with Joy if she asked and Ennui would remain impartial unless necessary to intervene, opting for the least problematic).
In the end, they were divided but wouldn't conflict over it.
They finished the activity a few minutes later. It wasn't a huge time difference from the first place; after all, they ended up in second. But the class could only continue once the others had finished. This gave her plenty of time, thanks to the emotions, to review other memories related to the events of the previous year, in case it was necessary for anything more that the teacher wanted to cover.
To summarize the first three classes of the day: They just introduced themselves, reviewed, studied, and did activities on topics from the previous year, and met the new teachers they would have in the coming years.
And finally, the most anticipated and important moment for everyone arrived.
The lunch/break bell rang.
It was a moment of relief for everyone, as it meant they had reached the halfway point of the first school day. They quickly left the classroom to head to the cafeteria. Of course, they knew where to go, having been there before, during the time they were at Camp, which allowed them to enter Firehawks.
But this time, it was much more crowded than before.
"Minnesota." The familiar voice excited everyone.
"VAL!" Everyone said.
{X}-[World]-{X}
Riley turned around, a lively smile on her face, to see the girl with brown skin and a red streak in her long hair: "How was the first day?" She asked enthusiastically.
"It's going well. Just the usual boring stuff, you know? Introductions, activities... that kind of thing." She commented with an excited yet restrained tone (Joy and Ennui working together for that).
"Haha!" Val laughed cheerfully. "Like always. The team is gathering to eat..." She pointed to the table where the Firehawks team was sitting together. "Get your tray and come join us!" She said.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"Ah, oh, oh, ah! Val inviting us to sit with the team! Our—The team we joined!" Anxiety said excitedly, hopping along with Disgust and Joy, inadvertently mentioning a future plan (Riley becoming captain) which was ignored by the other emotions. "Now, we need to relax!" Anxiety ran ahead of the others. "Last time we met the team and Val, we ended up making a terrible first impression... my fault, and I'm really sorry about that." Again, she spoke the apology she always gave to everyone when referring to such an event. "But... it's time to make our second best impression! Everyone excited, right?!" She looked at Joy.
"Yes." Joy gave a few pats on the orange emotion's back. "And this time we'll do it right! So, first, let's get something for our girl to have for lunch." She took control of the girl again and led them to the cafeteria line.
It took only a few moments for Riley to grab her tray and choose her meal. Despite having only a few options, they picked from what was available in the cafeteria and then joined the team. All the emotions were extremely excited to join the table with the rest of the team. And this made Riley the center of conversation for being the newest member.
{X}-[World]-{X}
"You got Mrs. Kim as a teacher?!" One of the members laughed loudly when the girl revealed it. "Ho, ho, ho. Be careful, keep an eye out and try not to draw attention for foolishness. Once she spots you, that's it. You're on her radar for the rest of your life." She warned.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
Anxiety and Fear trembled at that comment. Both automatically began thinking up multiple plans to prepare for the future and jotting them down on their clipboards. They controlled themselves to avoid freaking out at that moment. This was watched with caution by the other emotions, ready to intervene if they tried to do anything that could compromise the interaction.
{X}-[World]-{X}
"Don't scare her like that." Val asked her friend, playfully punching her on the shoulder. "Don't listen to what she says... or do listen. She's kind of right. Mrs. Kim is very tough on those who cause problems or don't complete their assignments, but she's... neutral with those who do. Do your work, don't talk, don't cause trouble with her, and everything will be fine. She won't care about you." She advised, calming the girl down a bit.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
This calmed them a bit. Riley wasn't the troublemaking type and was quite intelligent, enough to avoid being called out by the teacher. Their girl was perfect in their eyes.
{X}-[World]-{X}
"And Mrs. Morgan and Mr. Robert are really chill; Mrs. Morgan is quite relaxed, seriously. I've never seen anyone causing trouble with her or her with anyone else. She's the nicest here." Val spoke about the English teacher, seeming genuinely excited as she mentioned the woman, with others only giving agreeing comments. "And Mr. Robert... he seems to have given up on teaching a long time ago. He teaches his subject correctly, everything is understandable, but he doesn't care about who makes trouble or not. He just wants us to pass so he doesn't have to deal with anyone from the class next year." She commented, losing her previous excitement.
"But he's not that bad. When I was just 3 points short, he let me do just one project so I wouldn't lose my vacation to make up for it." One of the students, wearing a headscarf, said, speaking with a bit of enthusiasm and still indifference about the subject.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"Alright, alright. With that, we have the information on the three teachers..." Anxiety, along with Fear, began jotting down the details on the orange emotion's clipboard. Every detail of the conversation was meticulously recorded. They started creating plans to deal with the trio.
This ended up distracting them for the rest of the conversation: "I knew I liked that teacher." Joy said about Mrs. Morgan.
"And I don't think that guy will cause any problems." Anger crossed her arms, already imagining what kind of teacher the Biology guy was. As long as it didn't affect the girl's grades and future, the professor wouldn't be a problem; the red emotion just wouldn't tolerate any injustices against her.
{X}-[World]-{X}
A few moments later, when the girl finally finished her meal, the siren rang.
"Oops! Time flew by. Good luck, Minnesota, we'll see you later." Val said goodbye, along with the other girls. None of them accompanied Riley as they were in different grades from the girl.
This left Riley alone to return to her classroom.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"Owww. We didn't even have that much time with the group..." Sadness complained about the conversation and rest time coming to an end.
"But don't worry~ We still have practice later. Let's make the most of the other classes!" Joy said with positivity. Of course, it didn't excite them, but it kept them focused. The happiness of a reward would be enough for them. "Now, let's see the next challenge!" She said, referring to the next two classes.
And the next class, the penultimate one, was with another teacher: Mrs. Linda Thompson.
A younger woman than they expected, around twenty-four to twenty-five, with long blonde hair, green eyes, wearing quite nice clothes: a white blouse with red polka dots, a black skirt, red shoes, and a silver necklace with an emerald in the center.
A woman with quite a beautiful appearance.
Disgust gave a positive assessment of her clothing choices, not overly positive, but enough for everyone to know that the teacher had her approval. Envy felt a bit jealous of her striking appearance and necklace.
"She seems nice." Joy commented with the same enthusiasm she had when talking about most of the previous teachers.
The class was American History. Again; a subject not very interesting, complicated, and that didn't attract much attention. But, as in other cases, the students received an assignment to test their knowledge and discuss the subject. Another review of the topics from seventh to eighth grade.
With a single exercise: Identify and describe the thirteen original colonies of the United States. List at least three colonies and their main characteristics (reasons for colonization, economy, religion, etc.).
"Urgh. How much more of this are we going to have? We're just going in circles! If we wanted to study last year's stuff, we'd go back to seventh grade!" Anger slammed the console in frustration, already fed up with the day's situation. This made Riley huff as she worked on her assignment. The red emotion was nearly exploding in the process, "How much longer until this is over?!" It began to overheat.
"Anger, I think you should—" Fear, who tried to calm the red emotion, received a punch in the stomach, sending him flying against the wall, where he was pinned.
Anger huffed and moved away from the console, sitting on the second couch in the room, with the first couch occupied by Ennui, while the others kept their distance: "I'm tired of this." He said and sat down to relax, grabbing a newspaper to read. "Call me when it's time to go to the team." He said to the others.
"Noted." Joy commented.
Meanwhile, Anxiety walked over to Fear and helped him get unstuck from the wall: "A-Are you okay?" She asked worriedly.
"I'm fine." Fear stretched and cracked his back. "Nothing serious." He commented and returned to his position.
Anxiety couldn't help but be surprised. She had seen these interactions before, both outside and inside the lobby they came from, but seeing it in person seemed different. The orange emotion didn't realize how resilient Fear was to withstand Anger's blows.
And that was the most important thing that happened during this class. Nothing more, nothing less. A small outburst of anger from the red emotion.
The next class was Spanish and they were introduced to another new teacher: Mr. Glassman.
An older man, appearing to be around fifty-one years old, with gray hair and bald on top. He wore a brown jacket, a light blue turtleneck shirt, brown pants, black shoes, with a small golden decoration on the left side of his chest, and thin round glasses on his face.
The class... was nothing special.
It was another repetition of the others, like a loop, but in a different subject. And they did well. The subject really wasn't complicated, no three-headed monsters or impossible tasks. Just boring, tedious, long. Nothing that made them want to get excited. Even Joy wasn't as positive or enthusiastic about it.
But with the tick-tock of the clock ticking away, time passed until they finally heard the bell they all wanted to hear: The dismissal bell.
"YES!" Was the collective cheer of all the emotions when the bell rang.
"Do you know what time it is...?!" Joy took control again.
{X}-[World]-{X}
Riley quickly got up, left the classroom, weaving through students and teachers, and reached her locker. She organized her materials into her backpack. The girl then headed, still quite excited, through the familiar hallways to the Firehawks training area.
"Look at that, seems like our new girl has arrived." Coach Roberts addressed the girl as she walked in. "Excited for your first official practice with the team?"
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"Excited! Super-Excited! Mega-Excited! Super-Mega-Excited!" Joy shouted while hopping with excitement, her energy flowing through the console. Fortunately, Ennui acted to keep the yellow emotion from making Riley embarrassed with her excitement.
{X}-[World]-{X}
"Yes. Quite, but... you know. Chill." Riley said with enthusiasm while trying to sound nonchalant. She seemed a bit odd.
"Chill?" The coach raised an eyebrow, her smile still on her face (causing a mix of embarrassment and Fear in the girl), before letting out a small laugh. "That's enough for me. I'm always happy when new girls are excited to start, just don't get too excited." She warned. "Because from now on, there won't be the same easy time you had at camp."
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"And that was easy...?" Fear became worried about what that might mean.
"Don't worry too much. She's probably just trying to intimidate us. We can handle it, guys!" Joy shouted to pump everyone up. "Let's show her what our girl is made of!" She said.
{X}-[World]-{X}
They both headed to the locker room. There, the group of girls was already gathered and chatting excitedly. At least until the coach entered, where they fell silent automatically upon seeing the older woman's gaze, who gave a small satisfied smile at the girls' behavior.
"Very well." She placed a hand on Riley's shoulder. "As you probably know, we have a new addition to our team. Riley Andersen. You've played with her at camp, you must have interacted, and I hope you continue to work on improving your relationship with her. And I hope you welcome her with open arms." She introduced her again briefly. "Now that the introductions are over: Change and come on. We're starting with a welcome workout!"
The girls looked upset and began to complain.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"Oh no. They don't look happy at all...!" Anxiety noticed the mood of Riley's classmates, seeing how all of them seemed unhappy. "Is it our fault? Shouldn't we say something? We might end up losing all the progress we've made with them, and then they might start leaving us out of meals, then out of training, and then they might try to kick us out, and then—" The orange emotion continued listing what could happen.
"Anxiety, calm down." Disgust said. "They're just annoyed with the coach because they had their free time until she arrived, not with us. Whether the training starts because of us or not." He pointed out the obvious, which the orange emotion hadn't realized, silencing her from her fears. "No need to make a mountain out of a molehill over something like this. We need to focus on more important things right now."
Anxiety nodded, moving away from the console, which she had approached without realizing, and eased the grip on her clipboard. It made sense. They were irritated with the coach, not with her; it was just a coincidence that she arrived a bit later than the others. The training was going to happen anyway. She didn't need to think that Riley was to blame for such things.
"Here." Fear handed her a cup of tea. "You'll need this." He commented.
She quickly accepted the hot drink, taking a sip immediately to help relax: "Thank you." She thanked him and went back to paying attention to the scene.
{X}-[World]-{X}
Riley changed with the other girls and went straight to the hockey rink.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"Yeah! Yeah! Let's go, everyone! Let's show what our girl is made of!" Joy pulled the levers and pushed them to cheer her up.
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The girls entered the rink and lined up in front of the coach.
"To start: We'll do skating exercises for at least 10 minutes." This drew some groans from the girls. "No complaints! I know you must have enjoyed your vacation, and some of you probably didn't even train. So, let's see how much we've lost and make up for it as soon as possible. Afterward, we'll start intensifying the training." She explained her reasoning.
Despite some wanting to disagree, they couldn't. Some of them had indeed stopped training and enjoyed their time off. Well, almost all. Riley had a satisfied, even somewhat smug expression, proud of having spent much of her free time during the vacation training for when she finally joined the team.
She was ready!
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
In the center of the room, the Sense of Self shone.
The emotions looked at it and saw the roots of the place. The words in Riley's voice spoke of the memories that made her the girl they all loved. No matter the challenge they faced, they would continue to strive to make her life amazing.
The emotions positioned themselves to do whatever was necessary.
The first minutes of training were easy. Skating was natural for Riley, as her parents had taught her from a very young age, becoming almost as normal as walking or running. The training was simple. Riley had practiced both on and off the rink, improving her cardio, balance, skating speed, and keeping her muscles warm.
When the warm-up ended, Riley was fine.
She hadn't even broken a sweat.
{X}-[World]-{X}
"Perfect! Time to increase the difficulty." The coach threw a puck. "Each of you will make a full lap for three minutes around the rink. The same as without the puck, but you cannot lose control of it at any moment." She explained.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
This made Anxiety gulp nervously, but she continued sipping her tea to calm down. Joy, on the other hand, wasn't fazed and remained positive, channeling all her energy into the girl. And it worked!
After some of her teammates made their attempts, Riley had her turn.
Joy wouldn't brag about it, but, in her words: "Riley was amazing!" Riley didn't lose control of the puck during her entire run around the rink, going from one end to the other, and back to the starting position without losing control.
Fear ensured the girl didn't lose her balance during the process and stayed on her feet throughout the course.
"Great job!" Were the praises that the purple emotion received from the others when the girl returned without a scratch and without failing the coach's training request. This made him embarrassed but also proud.
This drew some looks and comments from the other girls.
Despite Anxiety being concerned about it, Envy and Disgust couldn't help but smile confidently and excitedly with the perception that they had done so. It meant to them that their girl had stood out enough to make them feel envious of Riley's skills.
At the end, Joy couldn't help but become even more excited after the event.
{X}-[World]-{X}
The coach's smile couldn't help but grow a little more, seeing the girl's result: "Perfect. It seems my girls are doing well, but they can still get better." She looked at her clipboard. "Now, goalie, get into position, and the rest form a line: We're going to test your aim." She announced.
The goalie went to her position, protective gear ready, while the girls lined up at a good and considerable distance. Riley was at the end, watching the other girls' attempts and feeling a bit nervous as her turn approached.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
All the emotions were tense when it was Riley's turn. She had five chances, five attempts, with the whole team watching. The expectations were high.
{X}-[World]-{X}
First attempt, first goal; She scored on the left side.
Second attempt, second goal; She scored between the goalie's legs.
Third attempt, third goal; She scored high on the left side.
That was the average among the other girls. Almost all had scored three goals, three points, which put them at the same level as the rest of the team. The only one who had stood out was Val, who scored five points. This calmed some down, but some like Anxiety, Anger, and Joy still held the tension they felt before, increasing slightly.
Fourth attempt, the goalie managed to save it; That was when Riley tried the same method as her third attempt again.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"We can't mess up... We can't mess up... We can't mess up... We can't mess up... We can't mess up...!" Anxiety waved her hands nervously.
"Let me take over." Anger tried to grab the controls, but Joy stayed in the corner.
"It's going to be okay. Relax... relax..." The yellow emotion asked, sweat dripping. It wasn't a game, it wasn't a special match, it wasn't anything extraordinary. It was the thought she used to calm down, keep focus, and transfer these thoughts to the girl. "Come on, Riley." She encouraged.
{X}-[World]-{X}
Riley took a deep breath, gripped the stick, looked at the puck and then at the goalie; She took a shot at the puck and launched it towards the goal. The puck flew to the right side, at arm height, and passed the goalie to score.
Fifth attempt, fifth goal.
On the outside, Riley opened a delighted smile and celebrated with a gesture.
But inside her mind, it was different from the outside.
The emotions celebrated with cheers and clapping, Anxiety releasing the breath she had been holding and joining in the celebration, Joy also relieved and letting go of the controls and stopping sweating, something she didn't even know was possible for emotions to do before jumping up.
"THAT'S IT!" The emotion shouted with total enthusiasm. "High fives, everyone, high fives!" She ran with her hands extended to give high-fives to each one, Embarrassment, even nervous, managed to get the high-five in, and the emotion went back to the console, raising her arms in excitement. "We did great!" She said.
{X}-[World]-{X}
"Very good, Minnesota." Val gave the girl a pat on the shoulder.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"Val complimented us!" Envy got excited seeing the girl's gesture, becoming enthusiastic.
{X}-[World]-{X}
The coach blew the whistle: "Alright, girls, now that we've had our fun, let's start the real training. Split into two teams. Let's see if it was luck or if you're not as bad as I thought." She told the girls. "Right side versus left side. Split up, you have two minutes." She announced.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"Which team should we join?" Joy wondered to the others as they saw the options.
"Uh. Val is going to the right side." Envy pointed to the girl going there, where she already had four other girls.
In total, their team had sixteen members, where it could have been eighteen to twenty, and would have eight members on each team. With Val on the right side, there were already five girls (including another goalie) and only three more were needed.
"If we go with Val, we can ensure the victory for the right side, draw attention, and strengthen our friendship with the team. Or we can hinder her and lose the game. But if we go to the left, we might win and impress the team by beating Val. Or we might fail, and everyone will think we've only been lucky in everything we've done so far." Anxiety continued to point out what could happen, the suggestions of failures making Embarrassment shiver with the possibilities.
"Alright! Let's vote, quickly!" Joy requested.
"I vote we join Val's team: We'll be near her, we can impress her and everyone by playing a perfect game! And everyone will want to be with us! We'll be the center of attention if we stick with Val!" Envy suggested, raising her hand.
"I agree! We need to strengthen our bonds with her, and this way we can connect with the others!" Anxiety gave her point while standing next to the small emotion.
"Y-Yes, I agree too. I don't mind which team we're on, but we might face fewer problems if we have the support of someone else. It would be good if we had more protection, of course." Fear agreed with the two.
Three votes to go with Val.
"I vote against it." Envy took the lead. "If we keep following Val wherever she goes, they'll think Riley is just a crazy fan or weird. We need to stand out on our own, not just be in her shadow. And we'll only do that if we can do things on our own, without being a dead weight." She said with a severe tone, thinking about Riley's social status at school and on the team. "We'll attract attention if we show that Riley is better."
Envy then quickly went over to Disgust: "I change my vote." The small emotion said after hearing Disgust's opinion, which wasn't surprising to everyone. The small emotion always agreed with the dark green emotion and tried to stay on her good side.
"I agree." Anger took her side along with the two green emotions. "Riley won't get ahead if she's always behind someone. We need to show she has grit!" She shouted with enthusiasm, flames flickering at the top of her head.
Their gaze then turned to Sadness, Embarrassment, and Ennui. The latter quickly said: "Hmmmm. Val... we won't have to push ourselves too much..." Her vote tied the situation.
The other two emotions became nervous. Embarrassment hid inside her jacket, leaving only her nose exposed, moving away. Sadness pulled her face into her clothes, trying to hide, like the larger emotion had, but it didn't fit properly. Both abstained from voting.
"Well, it's just me left, and I choose..." Her gaze shifted between going with Val or not, and she thought for a long time. "I believe in our girl: So I vote we go left!" Her vote decisively decided the final outcome. Though disappointing to Anxiety, she wouldn't disagree with the group's decision when given the chance to voice her thoughts. Riley moved according to the decision made by the emotions.
{X}-[World]-{X}
Riley joined the right team as the last member, and the left team also completed itself at the last moment. Both teams were formed.
The coach went to the center of the rink: "Teams are set. I want a fair game; Val, Riley!" She called for the two to come forward, surprising the newcomer, before placing the puck in the center. "You know how it works: Start when you hear the whistle!" She announced.
The two girls positioned themselves, their sticks ready for each to try to take the puck, waiting for the coach's whistle. They stared at each other; Val with a smile on her face, excited and looking competitive; Riley had a forced smile, sweating, a bit nervous but also excited with the opportunity in front of her.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
The emotions in the control room were also ready to act the moment the whistle blew.
{X}-[World]-{X}
When the whistle blew, both girls went all out, and Val managed to take the puck first.
The game started off fiercely for the blonde-haired girl, but she didn't give up. Riley quickly advanced in pursuit of the girl, with the rest of the team doing the same, while Val's team also moved through the players, exchanging passes and focusing on keeping the puck with Val.
The girls continued trying to block her advance.
Val continued advancing, dodging all opponents, moving forward until she was close enough to the goal. In one strike, she scored the first point. In just under two minutes of play, a very short time, Val scored the first point of the game. This wasn't surprising to either team.
But Riley was worried. Right from the start, she had failed to take control of the puck and had failed to block Val's advance. Her nervousness was almost taking over her.
The sound of the whistle pulled her out of her stupor to return to the starting position.
This time Riley was more focused, her gaze entirely on the puck, and when the whistle blew, she advanced faster than before. She managed to take possession of the puck this time. She advanced through the opposing team, with some difficulty, but managed to dodge and pass the puck between her teammates.
The opposing team managed to intercept one of the passes, trying the previous strategy of keeping the puck and focusing on letting Val score the goal.
Riley didn't allow that.
The girl advanced with all the energy she had, dodging everyone, until she managed to intercept the puck between passes between two other girls in the center, when it was clear they intended to pass to Val. She succeeded in blocking the timed pass to prevent a new goal from being scored.
After regaining possession of the puck, Riley skillfully maneuvered between the girls. From left to right and always moving forward. Until she reached the front of the goal, where she took a swing with her stick and scored a point.
In the fourth minute, Riley tied the game, sweating intensely from the effort and nervousness.
"Congratulations, Minnesota. The first goal was from the house." Val teased as she approached, gliding across the ice. "There won't be another one." She flashed a smile with the provocation, trying to lighten the mood for the girl.
This made Riley even more excited.
The game continued as intensely as it had begun.
Both teams battled fiercely, but the standout players were Riley and Val. The two dominated the puck, dodged between the other girls, skated gracefully, and almost never missed their moves on the ice. They were the ones who scored all the points of the game.
{Val (3-2) Riley}
That was the final score of the game and the practice.
Riley thought the team would be angry or at least nervous with her after seeing the result, but they did not react that way. They celebrated with the girl and offered words of support.
"No one has ever scored a second point on me. Good job, Minnesota." Val said, giving Riley a friendly punch on the shoulder as they left the rink. "It's nice to finally have a real challenge." She commented to the rest of the group with a playful tone, also receiving teasing remarks in return.
This only made Riley more excited about her entry into the team.
They did not treat her differently or seem irritated by her presence. Of course, they had interacted before, at the camp, but Riley was afraid they were only being nice to her out of courtesy and at Val's request. Luckily, it wasn't like that. The girls were genuinely nice, and they all seemed to take the time to compliment her on her skill in the game.
"Well, well, calm down." The coach called their attention. "Today's practice wasn't as pathetic as I thought it would be. Some need to get back to their old form..." Her stern gaze fell on four girls, who became nervous. "But I can see you're all in good shape. For today, that's all. I want tomorrow's effort to be better than today's!" She warned. "You're dismissed." With that, the celebration began.
The girls left the rink and went straight to the locker room to change.
"Are you up for going out tonight?" One of the girls, with short hair, asked as she took off her helmet and placed it in the locker.
There was a chorus of agreement from some girls.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"Going out with the team?! We have to go!" Envy shouted at the top of her lungs and climbed onto the console.
"But our parents are already coming to pick us up." Sadness reminded them of the fact. "And we didn't ask for permission beforehand." She continued, knowing well that their parents wouldn't let them do anything of the sort without prior notice.
"But the others are going! And Val is going with them too!" The little emotion pointed to the girls they saw through Riley's eyes.
"And we can't say we're going back home with our parents, right? We could say that they invited us for a get-together and ask to come back a little later." Disgust suggested, though knowing well that it would lead to a big argument. "We can't mess up on our first day."
"Yes, yes, yes. And if everyone is going, we can't miss out. We need to improve our relationships with everyone. Especially with Val. If the team captain thinks we're kids, we'll never gain prestige or respect from anyone. We might even start to be excluded! And if that happens, we'll be sad and Riley will lose interest in hockey, she won't progress properly, and it might even affect her studies and... and..." As Anxiety continued to think of the worst-case scenarios if they refused, Embarrassment, following a commanding look from Joy, picked her up and calmly placed her in the relaxation chair and turned it on. "Uaaah." She started to relax.
Joy was relieved to see the orange emotion relax but was still thoughtful as she watched the emotions waiting for the decision and discussing what to do.
At least until they heard a voice say, "I'm not going." The words made everyone turn.
{X}-[World]-{X}
"Oh, come on, Val." One of the girls complained. "Let's go. Don't make a scene on the first day for the newbie here, okay?" She provoked, using Riley as an excuse.
"Sorry, guys. I can't. My parents are already coming, and they want me to schedule everything in advance, so..." Val knocked on her locker after finishing taking off her gear and getting back into her normal clothes. "I'm not going." She said again. "You're not going to be mad at me for that, are you, Minnesota?" She asked the girl.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"She's just like us... we're basically the same person, best friends, sisters..." Envy murmured upon realizing that Val was in the same boat as Riley.
Joy gave a satisfied smile before turning: "Sadness. Come here, please." She requested, signaling to the console, and the two took control.
{X}-[World]-{X}
"No problem. I can't either. My parents are coming, they want to go out for pizza and celebrate the new school." Riley told Val and the other girls. This elicited some sighs from the other girls.
Val laughed: "Seems like nothing changes. Different parents, but always the same, right?" She joked.
The girls continued to joke and chat, no longer mentioning the group outing that had been suggested earlier. They left a few minutes later, and the sun was beginning to set.
It had been a tough day. Riley had started at the new school at 7:30 AM and was now leaving at 5:30 PM. Three classes, a break, two more classes, and two hours of hockey practice. It was something she would have to get used to from this day forward, but her excitement was so great that it barely mattered or crossed her mind.
She was there, leaving with the Firehawkss from the practice rink and chatting with them about the practice.
Riley had to say goodbye when they reached the entrance of the school, stepping away to find her parents' car until she heard a honk: "Riley." And her mother's shout to get her attention. This made her run quickly to the vehicle. Upon entering, she slammed the door and settled into the back seat of the car. "How was your first day?" her mother asked her, looking back.
{X}-[Mind]-{X}
"The halls were crowded."
"The locker isn't that great."
"We lost the best seat."
"We came in second place on tasks."
"The classes were boring...!"
"The practice was tough." Anger, Disgust, Sadness, Embarrassment, Anxiety, and Ennui said one after the other.
Joy looked at them, listening to the negative responses, yet maintaining a positive and hopeful expression: "But...?" She raised the question. They all exchanged glances, losing their previous expressions, and small smiles of agreement appeared. It was the answer she needed to give the response she wanted to her parents.
Because despite the difficulties and problems, the time spent with the Firehawkss, the time spent with the team and Val.
{X}-[World]-{X}
"Today... was amazing." Riley said with a wide grin.