"Watch out!”

My eyes flitted across the quad, taking in the scene before me. Kira, who was just seconds ago talking about her upcoming date with Gabbie as we walked to class, pushed me slightly to the side and intercepted the fire ball that was headed straight to my face. Steam blew as her water met with fire and for a second the world was awfully still as I thought about how that thing was centimeters away from incinerating my eyebrows. “Are you okay?” Kira asked, her tone light considering that she had just derailed a fiery attack.

“Yeah, thanks” I looked around, trying to pinpoint the source of the attack and my eyes with a smirking Hyuna of course.

“Let’s go to class, we don’t to be late” Kira grabbed my arm and led me towards the main building, keeping an eye on our surrounding at the same time. I thought I was ready for the magic trials last night. My practice with Chanyeol gave me a boost of well needed confidence and my powers seemed to be steadily growing and improving, but all that certainly vanished into thin air as soon as I stepped out of the house minutes ago. To say the academy was in disarray would be a gross understatement. Seniors were at each other throats, taking advantage at the somewhat unsupervised battles to act crazy, bend the rules and in /Hyuna’s case/ settle old scores. The other students were hurrying along to get to their classes, trying their best not to get caught in the eye of the hurricane.

“This is insane.” I muttered, shock and disbelief coursing through my veins.

“This is nothing” Kira smirked, her blue hair hanging in loose curls down behind her back “This is just the first day. Things are about to get way more exciting!.”

“Exciting?!” my eyes were about to bulge out of my skull “it’s not even an hour into trials yet the quad looks like a dystopian battle field. I don’t think I will make it.”

“Of course you will make it. Magic trials were never about random attacks and acting on grudges like our dear Hyuna out there. Magic trials are about strategy and battle techniques. They’re about alliances”

“Alliances?! Is that even allowed” Kira put her arm around my shoulder, her smirk never leaving her lips as she steered us towards the back of the classroom where Rose saved us seats.

“Oh my dear Lilith, everything is fair in love and war” Classes went by fairly quickly. Attacks were not allowed inside the main buildings so everyone had no other choice but to pay attention and wait it out. When lunch time rolled around, everyone was practically itching for some actions. The cafeteria was buzzing with the energy of pumped up mystics. Students huddled in pairs or groups and it seemed that Kira was right about the alliances. Everywhere I looked people were flocking togethe, seeking the security and assurance that came with large groups. There was after all safety in numbers.

“Over here” Rose said, titling her head towards a full table. As we approched I spotted Chanyeol, Suho, Baekhyun and Gabbie huddled together, whispering amongst themselves.

Chanyeol spotted us first and a playful smirk appeared on his face that took my breath away.

“Took you guys long enough?” He said as we took our places around the table “Did you get ambushed or something?”

“Or something.” Kira replied as she gave me a sideway glance. It seemed that Hyuna was taking full advantage of the trials as she used every chance she got to attack me. I chanced a look around the cafeteria, it, being one of the places was not restricted, and not noticed a couple of tables toppled over. A huge rock flew over the head of a girl who ducked just in time to avoid getting her head bashed in and fired what seemed to be sizzling black smoke towards the boy.

“Are you okay sure we’re safe here?” I gulped at the sight of a tornado toppling over soe chairs?

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little action?” Suho laughed lightheartedly, winking at a girl who walked by our table and gave him a flirty wave.

“Yeah I’d rather not get drenched or burned to a crisp.” I countered and everyone at the table simply laughed.

“So, how are we going to go about this?” Rose asked, an excited gleam in her deep brown eyes.

“I say we stick together whenever we can and play it safe” Baekhyun suggested “It’s only the first day after all”

“That sounds boring” Chanyeol waved his hand around.

“Agreed” Kira nodded “I say screw defense. Let’s have some fun”

“Wait” I looked around the table “Have you guys already worked out an alliance?”

“Well yeah” Gabbie smiled softly “Of course we did”

“We always stick together” Suho confirmed

“Oh” Was all I could mutter

“No need to freak out Lil, you’re one of us now” Kira nudged me playfully on the shoulder and the tension that was building up slowly dissipated.

“We sould probably get out of here” Chanyeol said as a half broken table came crashing down inches away from where we were sitting.

“Yeah you’re probably right” Baekhyun chimed in and we all stood up to leave the cafeteria.

As I looked around one last time, my eyes landed on none other than Hyuna. But this time, she wasn’t sending me withering glares or evil smirks, in fact she was too busy having a heated conversation in the far corne