Star

Choir Fest Part 6

After the smaller performances were over, Emma went to stand on the stage. Nevaeh stepped up beside her.

"I love your dress." Emma complimented Nevaeh.

"Thanks." Nevaeh responded, and then they faced forwards.

When the performance was over, Emma quickly found Lilly. "I don't want to leave," she said. "I won't see you for two months!"

Lilly nodded. "I know. I don't like it either. But I'll send you pictures, I promise."

Emma sighed and hugged her tightly. "I'll miss you always."

Emma quickly went to the bathroom. Olga, Mirela, and Sunny were there again. Emma quickly changed her shoes and then picked up her phone. She had a text from Stella.

"Guys, Stella texted me!"

"Stella?" All three of the girls immediately leapt to their feet and ran over.

"Here," Emma said and took a picture to send to Stella. Stella responded soon, and Emma laughed.

"She wants to be here."

"I want her here too!" Mirela exclaimed. Olga nodded in agreement and came up behind Emma to see the text. Emma took a picture with Olga.

We want you to. She texted. She hugged each of the girls.

"I should probably go; I don't want to get left behind."

"Bye, Emma!" Sunny called.

"Bye, love y'all!" Emma called as she left.

Emma ran over to Lilly to say goodbye, and then as she pulled away to find her school, she realized they had all left. She quickly called Diana and heard Diana yelling for the bus to stop. Diana tried to give Emma instructions to get to the bus, but Emma couldn't find it, so they had to send the band teacher to find her. As Emma finally sat on the bus, she texted Stella about the choir festival.

Later that night, Emma was texting Lilly.

I had so much fun today! She texted.

Same, but my feet hurt a lot tho. Lilly replied.

Yeah, my ankles are dead. But it was all worth it to spend a day with you. Emma replied and set her phone to the side to prepare for bed. After a few more texts, Emma put her phone away and went to bed. As she lay in her bed, fingering the friendship bracelets on her wrist, one for Lilly and one for Stella, she thought about everything that had happened. The seer had said that once it was all over, she would wipe their memories about what happened, but Emma knew that as long as she had her writings, she would never forget everything. But the seer didn't need to know about Emma's stories.

Lilly manipulated the water in her water bottle and then released her grip on it. She closed her eyes and relaxed on her bed, trying to forget about the shade and everything connected to him.

Sunny brushed out her hair and looked in the mirror. Now that she remembered everything, she realized that the stories Emma had written were real, and she was out of practice with her abilities. She decided that she would begin to practice with them herself.

Stella read the texts Emma had sent her describing the choir festival. She read them closely, wondering if there had been any incidents that Emma hadn't described. Earlier that day, she had a strange feeling that Emma had been in trouble, and since there were three members of Star in one building... Stella didn't know for sure, but something could have happened. She summoned her flames, lighting up her fingers. She knew she would find out soon if there had been another incident because Emma would write a story about it.

"Why did you disobey me! Your job was simple! Just kill the girls!"

"But Father, I can't. Sunny... There is something about her. I just have a feeling that I'm forgetting something."

"You don't forget anything. I'm going to give you one more chance. If you fail again, I'll have to remove you." "It was Sunny! She stopped me."

"Fine. I'll send you to take care of the ones that aren't Sunny. We have another chance in a week. You will have your final chance."

"Meanwhile, the girls are growing far too powerful. I must save my most powerful shades for the big events, but meanwhile, I'll weaken them with my other shades when they're in smaller groups."

One year later...

Emma walked into Fourth's gym and took a deep breath. Today was her final season basketball game against Lilly. Both girls were now seniors. Emma watched as the JV girls played, remembering the first game she had played against Lilly. She had been guarding Jocelyn and then Lilly when Jocelyn was out. Lilly had accidentally chipped Emma's front tooth while fighting for a rebound. Emma shook herself out of the memory and turned around as Lilly ran up to her and hugged her.

"Lilly!" Emma cried aloud and hugged the other girl tightly. Tears began to run down her face. "Our final season game," she breathed. "I can't believe it. This is the last chance I get to play you."

Lilly sighed. "Don't talk like that; you'll make me cry too."

Emma squeezed Lilly's hand. "Don't expect an easy game. You know I've always been better than you."

"We'll see about that! Who chipped your tooth in 9th grade?"

Emma laughed. "Who scored 6 of the 20 points in the game where we beat you?" She raised her eyebrows at Lilly, who rolled her eyes.

"A one-time event. It won't happen again, especially today."

"We'll see about that." Emma laughed.

Emma faced Lilly at the tipoff. "I've beaten you every time we've done this," Emma pointed out. "I hope you've been practicing."

Lilly's eyes narrowed. "You'll see." The ref tossed the ball into the air, and both girls leapt up, reaching for the basketball.