THE ROCK IN MY STOMACH

9 FEBRUARY, TUESDAY, ARCHERY

I left the classroom with Keanu and River. Keanu looked pleased about his "insider access" of the upcoming play.

"It had caused quite a stir earlier today." He told me. It was the first thing he heard about this week that was not about Vday.

Since our entire level had been reading Romeo and Juliet (and not just Mr Devon's classes), it seemed that the other classes got interested to see it played out in a highschool setting. It was either that, or they wanted to see the three hottest guys in our level in the locker scene. And there was the rumour that a teacher or maybe even the principal might be starring. And of course our poster was brilliant.

"What poster?" I asked.

Keanu showed it to me. It had been "forwarded many times" according to this text app.

It was the photo that Marcus had taken earlier today. The one where I looked like I needed to be slapped. Someone (Krystal) had applied a filter so it was in black and white, stuck a crown sticker on Henry and a tiara sticker on me, flooded the space around us with pink and red heart stickers. And added text in large bold pink font, "Horneo and Bulliet" and then in smaller print at the bottom, "Will they kiss or kill each other?"

And then whoever forwarded Keanu the poster also added, "Tat gurl damn hot. Wat class she in?"

Keanu realized I saw the message, he switched off his phone and pocketed it, "Sorry, don't mind Horio. He's harmless. I didn't answer him either."

River laughed, "He's so clueless, he didn't even recognize Sam."

I'm not sure if River was qualified to laugh at other people's cluelessness.

"I guess without your blue hair, you're just like any other pretty girl." River continued...cluelessly, if I might add.

Uh, yeah... I felt the heat flame my face. I reacted with mild panic, "I'm not pretty! I'm... urmm...terrifying."

As if to press my point, my hair sizzled upwards.

"You're not scary at all." River said, point blank.

I really flared then.

Luckily we had Keanu with us, "Hahaha...guys, I don't think that's the point."

We reached the hall and headed to put our things down on the side.

"Hey Keanu! River!" It was Horio. He stopped short when he saw me.

Just then Priya called out from across the hall, "Sam! Come here for a sec!"

So I went over to see what's up. Priya was with Captain. They looked seriously at the clipboard in Captain's hand, then then at me.

"You missed training last week." Captain said, "Were you sick?"

Right. Last week, the episode with our former history teacher, where Principal Laura showed up and Dad got called in to take me home.

"No." I answered honestly.

"This is your last warning then. If you miss another session without a certified medical excuse or prior permission, you would be expelled from the Archery Club." The Captain told me sternly, "It's the rules. I can't make exceptions even for you, Sam."

"Yeah, I understand." I truly did. It was my bad.

Priya was quick to sooth it over from here

"Yeah okay, as long as you know, right Captain?"

When Captain nodded, Priya put her arm around me and spun me around, walking me away she lowered her voice and told me, "Sam , you can't miss another session, okay? The coaches listed you as one of the beginners with a lot of potential. Don't tell the others, but I heard Coach Roberts say she was thinking of recommending you for an early promotion to the Advance Group as early as next term. That's a big deal. Don't blow it okay?"

But I won't even be around next term. I nodded without a word. I didn't quite dare to tell Priya that I was leaving. I hadn't even told Jasmine yet. For some reason keeping this from them made me feel bad, but Henry had warned me not to tell anyone - and he had a point.

But since when did I ever listen to Henry?

"I might be transfering schools next term." I whispered to Priya. She trusted me, I should be upfront with her.

"What? Why?" Priya asked.

"It was arranged by my family. You can't tell anyone." I told her.

"Where are you transfering to?" Priya asked me.

"The Lorent Girl's Academy." I answered.

Priya frowned and let go of me. Suddenly cold, she stepped away, "I'll keep your secret. But I had never thought you'd be the type to switch teams like that."

Wait, what?

And then Priya turned and left.

Oh s***.

"What happened?" Keanu asked. They had just returned from the changing room when I wandered back to them, somewhat feeling stunned.

"I'm not sure." I said.

"Did you get in trouble for not showing up last week?" River asked sympathetically.

"Just because you're the top rookie, doesn't mean s*** if you skip training." Horio informed me.

"I'm sure Sam wouldn't skip training on purpose!" River defended me.

"You better get changed, Sam. Training would start soon." Keanu said kindly.

Right. I quickly got my clothes and got changed. I had a bad feeling, like I accidentally ate a rock and couldn't digest it.

Why was Priya so mad?

I returned to the hall in time to help everyone set up. We greeted the coaches and Mr Yarde and then we started the usual warm ups.

Coach Roberts then set up the beginners group to groups to practice in turns. Three shots per turn. But she called me and another boy named Ralph in one team, just the two of us.

The two of us would share one board. Three shots per turn.

Ralph was nearly a full head shorter than I was.

"I'll go first." He said.

I shrugged.

Ralph hit everything in the red middle ring. All three arrows.

At my turn, I only got one arrow on the red, and two on the outer blue ring - one of them was nearly out too. Just right on the line.

Ralph smirked, "My turn."

Again, all on the red ring. One of them was nearly landing the yellow bullseye. Nearly.

Coach Roberts stood next to me and said, "Practice makes perfect. If you miss a practice, your miss the chance to make perfect."

Why was everyone making a missed practice such a big deal? I swallowed my ire and made sure not to flare.

Then I took up my bow and got into position before letting the arrows fly.

Red: This one is for what the Captain said.

Red: This one is for Priya's cold shoulder.

Yellow: Bullseye! This one is for Coach Roberts rubbing it in.

By the third shot I was flaring.

Coach Roberts clapped, "You're getting it, Samantha."

Ralph's mouth pressed down, "My turn."

He got two in the red. One in the yellow bullseye.

Oh yeah? I narrowed my eyes at him, "My turn."

All three in the bullseye.

Ralph clenched his fist hold on his bow, but all he said was, "My turn."

Two in the bullseye. One in the red - it was very close though.

"Ralph, close isn't good enough. You need to make it dead centre. Check your posture. It was off." Coach Roberts said.

"My turn." I told Ralph.

Ralph wasn't very friendly, but I wasn't in the friendliest of moods anyway.

Two in the bullseye, one in the red - almost on the blue outer ring.

"Samantha, you've got a natural posture, but you're not looking at the target. The target is the bullseye. You're aiming for the gold, nothing else on the board counts." Coach Roberts said.

"You're right, these two are impressive." Coach Emerson commented from next to her. I had been so focused on beating Ralph I hadn't notice him join her.

"And they are the kind who thrive on competition." Coach Roberts told him.

"Yeah, let's bump them up to the advanced group next term then." Coach Emerson said, "They should be using further targets."

"My turn." Ralph said and took to the board.

All on the bullseye. He turned to smirk at me.

"That's all gold." Coach Emerson, "They could be on the competitive team."

"Not yet." Coach Roberts said, "It's too soon."

"Right." Coach Emerson said, "You know best. Send them over to me when they're ready."

"I'm ready to compete!" Ralph interuppted the coaches, "Put me on the competitive team!"

"It's too soon." Coach Roberts repeated.

"Why don't you take the time to grow a few inches first, Shortstuff?" Coach Emerson said.

"It's not about the height. I am every bit as good as her, if not better." Ralph said pointing at me.

"Okay Shortstuff, so you're as good as a girl. But if you want to be on the team, you need to do better than that." Coach Emerson said.

"Fine. Test me." Ralph said.

"What about you, Blue? Do you want to try for the team?" Coach Emerson asked.

Eh, me? I was Blue?

I was leaving next term though. Coach Emerson took my hesitation as a sign of reluctance, "Do you or do you not want to be in the team?"

Of course I wanted to be in the team. But I couldn't.

"I don't think I can." I said.

And then Coach Emerson took my reluctance to as a sign of low confidence, "If I can just take some of his excess confidence and give it to you..."

"Just get to the test already!" Ralph said.

"Alright fine! You too, Blue." Coach Emerson said, "I'll shoot the first arrow. Shortstuff will shoot his arrow as close to mine as possible. And then Blue can try to do the same."

Coach Roberts went over to coach the other beginners.

The senior team came back from whatever they were doing.

"Coach Emerson's coaching those beginners." They said among themselves and pointed.

"COACH!" Priya shouted, "WE'RE READY!"

Coach Emerson looked up, "Ah, the set up?"

"DONE!" Priya yelled.

"Even the..."

"DONE! IT'S ALL DONE!" Priya said.

"Ah, alright. You all go down and start first, I'll join you in a minute." Coach Emerson instructed.

"We're not allowed to shoot without a coach or teacher present." Captain reminded Coach Emerson.

"Oh, right. Well, I'm just testing these two first." Coach Emerson mumbled, "You can watch if you don't interrupt. Especially Loudmouth over there."

"OKAY!" Priya yelled. She was grinning. The other seniors laughed. I think Priya was the kind of girl who made everyone around her feel happy.

Except maybe Coach Emerson, who groaned, "Alright, let's get this over with. I have a real team to coach."

Like all archery exercises, the test sounded simple enough. Coach Emerson would shoot an arrow and Ralph and I would take turns to try to get our arrows as close to his as possible. Archery was like that, the goal always sounded simple and straightforward, but it would turn out pretty challenging to actually do.

Anyway, Round 1:

Coach Emerson put his arrow dead centre in the bullseye. I said "put" because even though he stood where we had to stand, it felt like a quick movement and an effortless shot and the arrow went exactly where it should. He made the distance between his bow and the target disappear. I highly suspected that he didn't really even look at the target.

Ralph took his shot first, as usual. This guy was not one to say "ladies first". His form was alright but now that I've seen coach in that exact same position just a minute ago, I could see the differences. Coach was far more relaxed and liquid in his movements. Ralph's stance was stiff in comparison, his expression was tight, but he got his arrow on the bullseye, a little too far left, but still on the mark. He smirked at me.

Okay, I had one shot. I was suddenly aware that there was a different kind of pressure when you had only one shot instead of three. And I was suddenly aware of the Senior team watching. And I felt complicated feelings about Priya watching because I think she hated me now.

I lifted my bow and notched my arrow. I shot wide, landing in the blue ring on the outside.

Oh well.

"Blue!" Coach Emerson shouted. I jumped in my skin, "Do I have to change your name to Gold?"

The senior team sniggered.

Round 2:

This time Coach Emerson landed his arrow on the red centre ring.

Ralph got his right in the bullseye.

Mine landed on the blue - but in my defense, it was closer to coach's arrow than Ralph's.

Round 3: Coach landed his arrow in the bottom corner of the board.

Ralph landed in the bullseye.

"Shortstuff, did you not understand the instructions?" Coach Emerson growled out.

I got ready for my shot. Just as I lifted my bow to aim, Coach Emerson shouted at me, "Blue, pay attention. Focus. What's your target?"

I don't know. I was just shooting...

I blinked at the target board, the bullseye with Ralph's arrow in it, and then Coach's arrow on the bottom right. And then quite by instinct, I shot.

It went quickly, slicing through the air with the sound I loved so much and then thuck, it bit into the board so close to where Coach's arrow was that his arrow moved, and then fell on the ground.

"Right, Blue." Coach Emerson said, "That's how you shoot. But you're still a beginner. If you shoot with your arm from that angle, you'll injure yourself in the long run."

That's because the target was much lower than usual... Oh, I get it. My form went off the moment the target moved.

"You need to practice till you can loose your arrow with your heart." Coach Emerson told me.

I bowed, "Thank you for your guidance."

Because I understood that. It was a very Lycan way of teaching, not unlike what was taught during fight drills. I needed to practice my form over and over so that when I needed to actually shoot something, my form would come naturally.

And probably something else, about the heart and the arrow, which was too far away for me to grasp. But I had a good feeling that I'll understand once I got the first part mastered.

That's the meaning of "guidance". Showing me the first step so I can find my way to the second.