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MACS Part 4

Emma opened her eyes and found herself in the locker room with a bag in her hand. Oh, right, she was getting ready for their game. Emma quickly changed out of her uniform and into her volleyball shorts and jersey. Her team was playing Owatonna for their final match of the tournament and their coach's last game. Emma decided that she would put everything she had into this game, no matter what happened.

Emma's team lost the game horribly in three sets, and they headed up to the locker room. As they were changing, the coach walked into the room.

"I really wish you girls had shown what you can do today." the coach remarked, her voice catching. She began to cry. "You girls are going to do amazing next year."

All of the girls started to cry and hug each other and the coach.

"I'm so sorry," Emma apologized to the coach and hugged her. All of the other girls joined in, all hugging each other. After each girl had embraced the coach and the seniors, Amy walked over and locked the door.

"I'm sorry, Coach, you can't leave," she cried. "We're trapping you here, so you can't leave."

Some girls laughed through the tears, and Emma grabbed her bag and left before she could break down completely.

As soon as Emma left the room, she saw Lilly and hugged her tightly. "That was our coach's last game," Emma said and then began to sob. Lilly hugged her again. "I need to put my bag away."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Lilly asked. Emma shrugged.

"I'm fine." She began to walk, and Lilly quickly followed her.

"I'm coming with you." Emma smiled and waited for her friend to catch up.

Emma put her bag in her locker and walked around, holding onto Lilly the entire time. She looked around, hoping to see Stella, but the other girl was nowhere to be seen. She returned to the hallway and sat down, and Lilly sat beside her. Diana was arranging her locker and bags in front of them. Emma laid her head on Lilly's shoulder, clutched her hand tightly, and cried.

"It's been a long week," she said.

You don't know the worst of it. Lilly thought. Lilly put her arm around Emma and held her while she cried.

Lilly stayed with Emma until the game was about to begin. Emma tried to find Stella, but Stella was always too busy or distracted when she did. Before the game, Emma wished the St. Francis girls luck, hoping they would win. As Emma walked away from the St. Francis team, she saw Sunny eating pizza on the bleachers. Emma took a picture with Sunny, and then Sunny returned to her seat and picked up the pizza. As she sat down, one of the volleyballs flew through the air and hit the hand holding the piece of pizza. The pizza exploded all over Sunny's face and hair.

"Oh no!" Emma cried and quickly ran to get paper towels to help Sunny clean off her face.

"Thanks," Sunny said, and Emma laughed.

"Yeah, of course."

The Fourth volleyball team won the championship, and Emma felt the pain of the St. Francis team, recalling how her team had felt after losing the championship the year before. But the girls had played well. Stella had done amazing, as usual. Emma watched as the awards were given out. Stella, Katie, and Becca received awards, and Emma knew they deserved them. Emma congratulated each of the girls as she left. Emma rubbed her leg; it hurt a lot more than usual. She also had a bit of a headache and felt like she was forgetting a large part of the day. But it was probably nothing. It had been a long week, after all. She hugged Lilly before leaving the tournament and hoped the St. Francis girls liked the message she had left on their board downstairs.

Stella waved to the other girls as she got on the bus to return to the school. She saw Sunny, Becca, and Lilly also getting on their own buses and smiled. Now that she remembered what had happened, she felt her entire life had changed.

After the game was finished, Anastasia sat in the locker room, staring at her hands. She could have sworn that earlier in the day, she had found herself standing in a group of frozen people with a girl from Fourth for a few seconds, but then everything had gone back to normal so quickly. Probably just a dream, Anastasia decided, but she couldn't completely shake off the strange feeling.

Stella called Emma that night. "Emma, you know the dream you had?"

"Yes," Emma said. "It was real, wasn't it?"

"Yes," Stella said. "But I remember everything now, and so does Lilly."

Emma sighed in relief. "As long as I'm not the only one."

"Exactly," Stella said. "Don't worry; we're always here for you."

Emma lay in her bed that night. She was beginning to remember things, but she was completely confused. She had dreams of people with animal parts and a tall boy manipulating the earth, and a half-dog girl that looked a lot like Stella. Emma shook her head. Everything was so confusing. She was about to forget everything but remembered what the seer had told her a while ago. She had a past that she didn't remember. How? Emma had memories of a normal childhood, at least until the tournament. But maybe there were more powers in play than she realized.

A bit over a year later...

Emma watched Lilly pass the ball to Jojo, who put up a three. Fourth was playing Chisago in their final tournament game.

Emma looked at Stella, who was sitting next to her. "We've come so far." she said.

Stella nodded in agreement.

"I'll never forget you." Emma said.

Stella smiled. "I'll never forget you either."

Emma smiled at Stella. "No matter what happens, I'm glad I have you as a friend."

A few hours later, Emma and Lilly stood by the door. "Well, that's it," Lilly said. "We're done. MACS is over for us forever."

"I can't believe it," Emma said. "It feels like just yesterday that we were playing against each other in 9th grade." Lilly nodded.

Stella walked up to the two of them. "It was an honor to play against you. I wish it wasn't over."

The other girls nodded their agreement, and they stood there together until the buses pulled up to the door.