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MACS Part 1

Stella glanced out the window as the St. Francis bus pulled up to First Baptist School in Rosemount, where the MACS teams were having their volleyball tournament.

We're here. She texted Emma and followed the rest of her team off of the bus. The soccer players had their game right away, so Stella followed them to the soccer field.

Emma's response came a few minutes later. Yayyyy! Midterm time, wish me luck.

Stella glanced at the soccer field. The game hadn't started yet. Good luck! She texted Emma and turned to face the game.

Emma sat in the computer lab staring at the screen of her laptop. She had left Speech class early to get an early start on the History midterm she had to take for PSEO, and now she was almost done, but she was stuck in the computer lab. She grabbed her phone and texted Stella.

I'm trapped in class; please help me. As Emma put down the phone, she began to remember what had happened at the last two tournaments. She needed to stay near the other members of the group, just in case.

She looked at her computer. "Should I submit it?" she asked Amy, one of the other girls in PSEO.

"Yeah, go for it."

"I'm too scared." Emma groaned, tapping her fingers on the wooden table as she stared at the computer.

"I got it." Betty, Emma's friend, and the volleyball stat person, said. She took the computer and pressed the submit button. Emma grabbed the laptop back and scanned the test. Two wrong. Not bad, but Emma was too focused on getting out of class to see Stella. She looked around the room, hoping for any excuse to leave class and slip out to the soccer field.

The teacher stepped into the room. "So, I have to leave to go take tickets at the soccer field. Could you turn off all the computers before you go?" She gave them all instructions on how to shut down the computers, and Ellan, one of the other girls in the PSEO class, began to work on shutting down all the computers. Emma glanced at her phone. No response. She quickly packed up her laptop and swung her backpack onto her back.

"I'll be back," she told the other four PSEO students and walked out of the computer lab.

Emma shoved her bag into her locker and was about to return to class but changed her mind. She ran over to the door leading outside but hesitated. She would get in trouble if one of the teachers saw her leaving. She peered through the door, trying to see the soccer score, but it was far away. She sighed and turned away, heading into the gym. Two girls were sitting on the bleachers. One of them, a short girl with blond curly hair, jumped up.

"I'm so hungry!" she exclaimed. "They aren't letting us eat for two hours."

Emma smiled at the strange statement. "I have an apple if you want it."

"Yes, please!"

"Come with me." Emma led the girl to her locker and handed her the apple. "Here."

"Thank you so much!" the girl beamed, gently holding the apple. Emma walked with the girl back into the gym.

"I'm technically skipping class right now," Emma admitted. "Maybe I should get back." She left the gym and was about to return to class when some of the girls from the St. Francis team walked into the building.

Emma spotted Annika, Ada, and Moriah, some girls she had met at an earlier tournament among the group and walked over to them. "Hey!"

"Hey," Moriah greeted her.

"Do you know if there is another bathroom we can use?" Ada asked.

Another girl answered. "Maybe the upstairs one is open."