*On the assembly ground*
"I welcome you to once another bright day in NorthShire. As you all know, we'll be having a friendly battle with WestShire Academy this afternoon. It'll be a home game and I expect every student of this school to be on their best behavior. We won't want the news that our students lack manners to spread round the four Academys, I'm I understood?!" The principal addressed the crowd of students who were lined up according to their category of gift and class of strength.
"Are you ready for the competition?" Mrs Beck, the principal, asked Stella immediately after the assembly.
"Yes ma'am."
"Would you like to practice one more time?" Mrs Beck asked. She was even more scared than the contestant herself.
"I would like to go rest a bit before practicing, the competition is still later" Stella replied while waiting for the conversation to be over immediately. She had an appointment to catch up to.
"Alright you may go..."
++++
"This is not the girl." Stella breathed a sigh of relief. She was not supposed to feel happy but she was and she did not feel a bit guilty. If it was up to her, the girl should never return.
"Are you sure?" The other girl who called her out asked. She was looking for a gossip to discuss with her friends and Stella's negative reply lowered her anticipation.
"Yeah I'm sure."
"Okay then." The girl said before she put her phone back into her pocket and left.
Stella sighed again after shaking her head and walked to her dormitory. The girl they were talking about was Katrina, Jason's mate. Thankfully, she was not the one.
"I've been waiting for you ice queen, where have you been?" Tiffany complained when Stella walked in. Three other girls of whom were Stella's roommates were present as well. They were four in a room.
"I was with Mrs Beck, or didn't you see her drag me when the assembly was over?"
"When did you start lying Stell?"
"What'd you mean?" Stella asked confused as to why Tiffany would use such a term on her.
"I saw Mrs Beck on my way here and she said you had an appointment so you guys didn't practice." Tiffany said and the creases on Stella's forehead finally relaxed. She looked around and when she saw her roommates were pretending to be busy while in fact they were listening on them. "I'll tell you later." She said using her eyes to signal that other people were around.
"Don't think I'll forget." Tiffany warned. "Anyway, that's not why I'm here. Come I have something to show you!" Tiffany chirped and proceeded to drag Stella out of the room.
"Where are we going Fanny?" Stella whined but she still willingly followed her.
"You'll see."
"Supriseeeeeeeee!" The five friends said in unison including Tiffany who brought Stella.
"What's all these?" Stella asked not so surprised. She didn't look like someone who was astonished and with all the party poppers floating to the ground she even had the guts to ask 'what's all these'.
"Do you have to be a party pooper?" Harold flailed his hand as he complained.
"This is a party? For who? Me? Why?" Stella kept rambling questions nonchalantly as she walked to the table where food and snacks where kept.
"You only care about food you dummy?" Ezekiel sighed as he went to scoop some pasta for himself.
"This is your 'before party'. You need to have a winning mind to win the competition later, so we decided to put this small party together for you, do you like it?" Tiffany elaborated.
"Awwwwwwwn, thank you guys!, I'm grateful" Stella squealed and gave Tiffany a tight hug.
"Don't hug Tiffany, hug Jason. He came up with the idea." Jack removed Tiffany from Stella's embrace immediately. He was jealous.
Stella glanced at Jason who was looking at her coolly with his hands in his pockets while leaning on a desk.
"Hey, thank you" she walked to him and gave him a light punch on the shoulders.
"You can thank me later, 8pm, blue flames class." Jason bent down and whispered. Stella could only bite her lips, she couldn't refuse. She wanted it as well. It was illegal, but she wanted it. Badly.
"What are you two doing over there? Come here we need to eat fast, the competition starts in two hours." Ezekiel announced.
"Coming" Stella yelled and after giving Jason one last look, she went to join the others.
++++
"I would like to welcome you guys to the friendly match between the ice gifts of NorthShire and WestShire." The host said and the hall erupted in claps. The Ice gifts are one of the most rare and sought out gifts. The two most important gifts according to werewolves are fire and ice. A show with shooting icicles — the students and few of the parents in arrival couldn't hold their excitement.
"Let me introduce the contestants. From NorthShire, Final year student of the Moon ice class, Daughter of alpha Wilson of the Freedom pack, 8 times champion of the Fourshires annual gift competition, princess Stella Danish."
"Go Stella,"
"You can do it!"
"Easy peasy Stella, so them how it's done!"
Ezekiel and the rest of the gang screamed on top of their lungs from the crowd when Stella walked in. They knew Stella has got this but at the same time, they had doubts. She was up against the infamous Kelly from the dark shadows pack.
According to rumors, she hardly loses and even if she does, it will be after giving her opponent a battle they will never forget. Whereas Stella has lost a dozen. In Stella's case, she loses when practicing with her fellow students, but she never loses a competition. What will happen when these two forces meet?.
"From WestShire, final year student of the Silver Ice class, 5 time champion of the Fourshires annual gift competition, she is no other than the daughter of the beta of dark shadows pack, miss Kelly Saint." Few students who came with her from WestShire and some parents cheered her on as she walked in. It was not as loud as when Stella came in, but it is understandable, afterall it was a NorthShire's home game.
The hall was made in form of a stadium, not as large as a stadium though. It was made that way so that everyone could get a clear glimpse of the match happening in the middle of the hall.
"Before the match begins, I would like to remind everyone, most especially the contestants, that this is a friendly match. The moment anyone gets hurt, the match will be cancelled. With all this said, the match starts now."