Later that day, when I went to go get dinner with Farrah, she hardly talked to me at all. Usually, she had something to talk about, but it was all silence. The corner of her lip curled down. After we finished eating, she walked back to the Fyron Dormitory, and I went to the train station to get to the practice field. We usually hugged before we parted, but we didn't that time. She kept her stride and just said. "Okay, bye."

"Is something wrong? I feel like you've been pretty distant today?" I said.

She froze and sighed before turning around." My friend told me that you shoved a kid in the hallway today. I really wish you didn't behave like that."

I rolled my eyes." Hold on, your friend is missing the whole story. The kid I shoved had just tripped a Glacien in the middle of the hallway. I was sticking up for the kid who got bullied. Not only that, I didn't even get in trouble. It wasn't a big deal at all."

"Still, you've got yourself involved in a bad situation, and hearing about that just stressed me out."

"Okay, well, I'm sorry. We can talk about this later if you want, but I need to get to practice."

"We don't have to bring it up later. I guess I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"You're not going to study with me later?"

"Not tonight. Sorry."

Farrah walked away, and I watched her leave for a moment. Surprised by the whole conversation. Taking a deep breath, I trudged to the train station.

On my way, I saw Orson wandering around. "Hey, Rollie, how's it going, man? I was wondering if maybe I could go to the Fyron practice and try and get some lessons in? I mean, I know I'm not on the team, but I thought maybe I could at least watch or practice my own ability." Orson shrugged

"Sorry, dude, but not now!" I snapped at him.

"Okay, man! You don't have to be so mean about it." Orson scoffed and marched away.

I immediately regretted how I responded to him, but I was in an awful mood. He was just asking politely, but I could apologize later when I was feeling a little more balanced.

It was nice going to practice and taking my mind off the weird start to the day. We didn't have a match that weekend, but the Voltruns played against the Venomaus, and that was a must-see event on campus. Most games and competitions had that feeling, but I kept hearing conversations in the hallway about how great of a player Houston was.

That Saturday, I attended the match between the Voltruns and the Venomaus, expecting a good game. There were mutterings around campus that, of course, with Houston Smith's ability, the Voltruns had a lot of players returning to the team, and they were the favorite to go for the school championship, but the Venomaus weren't good the year before. However, this year, the Venomaus had a lot of returning players and some new faces on the team, they called the previous year a development year and a rebuild, so people were expecting them to take a step forward.

I was supposed to go to the match with Farrah, but when I went to her room that Saturday morning, her roommate told me she wasn't feeling well and wasn't planning to attend the match.

"Farrah said if she doesn't get better by tomorrow, she's going to go to the medical hall," her friend Jasmine told me.

"All right, could you let her know that I was here, though?" I said.

"Sure thing." Jasmine wasted no time closing the door in my face.

I went to the match by myself, but that didn't bother me at all. I kept thinking about Farrah and hoping that she was feeling okay. After we had that little scuffle, we still hung out the following days, but she was quiet to me the whole time. I figured if she wanted to talk about something, she would. I even asked her if anything was wrong, but she just shook her head.

Outside the stadium, violet banners and maize banners adorned the cavern walls. The air was filled with excitement, the roasted cinnamon almond scent was at the front of the stadium. Alumni and current students all had smiles on their faces and talked about their predictions for the match. A lot of purple and yellow cloaks all around on the beautiful sunny day, hardly any clouds in the sky before descending into the cavern to go to the game. Walking into the audience, I had to really search for a spot since I arrived a little late. The front areas were already jam-packed. Going up to the very top of the bleachers, I found some open space. Not wanting to block out anyone's view with my mohawk, I made sure I was at the highest point I could be, no one was behind me. Usually, I liked to sit as close as possible, but being that far away actually had a bit of an advantage. I felt like I could see everything. Even though they all looked like ants, the formations and strategies were simpler to follow with the eyes instead of a head turn.

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I could tell the large and bulky maize-cloaked player on the field zipping past everyone was Houston Smith. Flying through the air, he had no shake or jitters to his dragon bike. His flight was like a hot knife cutting through warm butter. Even with his large stature and frame, he had a graceful command of his ride, making his dodges and spins look easy and routine, but I knew it took a lot of work and practice. Other people's dragon bikes sputtered sometimes, they couldn't go that fast, and a lot of them couldn't spin, loop, or barrel roll even if they tried.

During the match, some Venomaus kid tried to perform a loop to dodge an electric bolt coming at him as he entered the Voltrun zone. As soon as his dragon bike reached the top of the loop, he hung upside down like a bat in the cave and fell off his dragon bike.

Everyone in the crowd gasped, myself included.

"No need to panic, everyone, the arcane magic performed by the referees over the stadium prevents any students from falling down," Mickey said through the loudspeakers.

As the student plummeted towards the grass, he stopped in mid-air before reaching the ground and gently landing on the field. The Venomaus kid waved his hand, and the audience cheered and applauded. His dragon bike was flown down to him, and he got back on and rejoined the rest of the team, but it was only for a brief moment since he had to get sent to the bench. That was another rule that my grandpa and Farrah explained to me after my match last week. If someone tries to do a maneuver on the dragon bike and they fall, they will be saved by the arcane magic, but you will have to go to the bench and not play for 30 minutes, but your team can put in a substitute.

The referees were quick to deliver the dragon bike to the kid because the flow of the match was hardly interrupted. Apparently, it was a frequent occurrence, at least one time every other game. But the battle stopped once Houston flew into the Venomaus zone, snatched the idol, and shot back to the Voltrun zone. I couldn't believe how fast Houston flew back with the stolen trophy. It was like he shifted into warp speed to get back to the Voltrun zone. A whistle was blown, and the referee flew to the center of the field and faced the audience.

"A speeding penalty has been called on Houston Smith on the Voltruns. The trophy will stand only once, but this will result in a 5-minute penalty on Houston Smith."

The crowd had a mixed reaction of boos and cheers.

Something about it rubbed me the wrong way.

Did other people feel this disgusted when I received the speeding penalty?

But the more I thought about it, the more it seemed to be purposeful. Houston knew the rules of the game way better than I did. He's well aware of how fast he should be going.

The Venomaus were able to capitalize and steal back the trophy, and I applauded along with the rest of the Venomaus in the audience. A few people in mustard cloaks stood in front of me, and they gave me a side glance as I clapped and cheered.

Houston went back into the game, and it wasn't tied for very long after his reentrance. He took a trophy with ease and brought it back. The audience celebrated, and then Houston stole another trophy and returned it. The score was 5-1, and right before they assembled another play to invade the Venomaus zone, Houston hurled an electric bolt directly at someone's face in the midst of a bolt exchange storm. The crowd gasped, and the boos filled the stadium until the seats rumbled.

The referee flew to the center of the field and faced the crowd. "Targeted electric bolt to the head. Penalty for violent conduct. Houston Smith will be benched for five minutes. This is a severe infraction. One more, and he's expelled from the game."

Many people in the crowd clapped and cheered. I was hoping the Venomaus could change the tide of the match, but the time flew by, and the Venomaus kept getting hit by electric bolts. Their formations and play designs seemed interesting, and their players didn't seem to be too bad, but the Voltruns were just that good.

When Houston Smith came back into the game, they proceeded to run a brand new play, and they successfully snatched the last trophy that the Venomaus had.

The Voltruns had won six to zero.

I'm on to you, Houston. I'm on to you.

The shot to the face seemed deliberate, whereas mine was an accident.

Unbelievable.

Later I went to Farrah's room, and her roommate Jasmine opened the door. "Hey Rollie, she's still not feeling well."

"Okay, could you just let her know that I stopped by then?" I said.

"Yeah, of course."

Walking back to my room, I felt defeated. Even though Farrah wasn't feeling well, I wanted to see her just to check in and offer some help, but there was no way Jasmine was going to let me inside their room. Even though I didn't ask, I could just tell.

I tried again on Sunday, but Jasmine again told me that Farrah wasn't feeling well. "She's going to go to the medical hall. I'm going to go with her later."

"All right, can you at least give her this letter?" I said, holding out a folded-up piece of paper.

"Sure thing."

I had a feeling she still wasn't feeling well, so I didn't say much. I felt the fewer words, the better.

Farrah,

I've been thinking about you a lot. I hope you're doing okay. Let me know if you need anything.

Love, Rollie

It felt a little corny to me to write the letter, but It was true. I had been thinking about her a lot, and I desperately wanted to see her.