-Malia’s POV-

I stormed down the halls, people rushing out of my way. Am I being too much of a bitch?

UGH! I kicked the wall in confusion. I’ve never liked being friends with girls. They were all toxic like my step-mother and her little group of neighbourhood wives. I used to overhear the drama and gossip they’d spread. I hated that.

Why did I feel so angry when Zeref was smiling and laughing at Sara? I’m so confused. I have a crush on Zeref but sometimes I feel like he looks at every girl BUT me. These weird feelings weren’t helping!

**

Walking around the building aimlessly, I decided to go outside but when I got there, I saw Sara and Naz talking to two princesses and a noble. Ugh, why are they everywhere?! I turned back around when a small yelp changed my mind. I do enjoy some lovely drama. Sipping on my water, I watched intently.

“If you talk to us again, we will beat you up!” Princess Stephanie snarled and her friend, Princess Pooja, snickered next to her.

“We just came to give you your bracelet back. You dropped it.” Naz rolled her eyes, shoving the bracelet into Stephanie’s palm.

“EW! DONT TOUCH HER YOU FILTHY PEASANT!” the noble, Dora, spat. She was of the were men race so I was really confused as to why she wasn’t respecting Sara. It didn’t make sense. Sara was too nice.

This was boring, I leaned off the wall and yawned, making all heads snap to me. Um… time for me to leave.

A hand roughly grabbed my shoulder but I easily rolled it off and spun around while twisting the girls hand too.

“Dora. And what honour do I have to have your graceful hand touch upon my shoulder?” I said in a sarcastic but polite tone. Sara’s jaw dropped to the ground and Naz raised her eyebrows at me, impressed.

“Ah! Get off!” Dora screamed in pain. Listening to her, I pushed her hand away from me, making her fall back on her butt. She looked up at me, terrified.

“Bitch! I’ll beat you to a pulp!” she gritted her teeth, glaring up at me.

“Dora. Either get up and fight me or stay on the ground where you belong. You’re all bark, no bite. Don’t you feel ashamed, talking to your princess like that? A pathetic excuse for a wolf.” I lowered my voice so that everyone could focus on my words.

She shook in anger before standing up and swinging her arms aimlessly towards me. I put my arm up protecting my face, waiting for her to get closer. Hearing a gasp escape from Naz, I glared up at her.

“YES DORA! GET HER!” Princess Stephanie encouraged and as soon as she did, I turned the table, grabbing a fist full of Dora’s hair and yanking her head back. I lifted up my fist and swung down with a deadly force.

Her head flew backwards onto the floor and with one punch, she was out like a light. Her face all bloody, she laid on the floor. I think I broke her nose. Princess Pooja gasped as I wiped my bloody fist on Dora’s shirt.

“Keep your dog on a leash. Or it will get put down.” I said calmly, stepping towards Stephanie and Pooja. They stumbled backwards, shaking like fragile leaves.

“You’re crazy.” Stephanie whispered under her breath.

“I am.” I agreed, stepping closer to her.

“I’m telling my daddy about this,” pooja tripped backwards and fell on her butt as I towered over her.

“You don’t scare me pooja but I sure hope I scare you… coz I should.” spinning on my heel, I left, not sparing a glance at Sara and Naz.

The bell rang behind me and at the side of my eye, I could see all four girls jump at the deafening noise. I smiled to myself, making my way back into the building. Lunch time was over.

Although I knew that they were royals, I wasn’t scared. In my eyes, a princess without a tiara, isn’t a princess at all.

**

I walked into the classroom and found my seat in the corner back. There was an empty seat next to me because no one had the guts to sit with me. I placed my bag on the chair happily.

I may look like the nice type to Zeref but all my scars have tainted me and painted me into the monster I am now. Of course, I’m not plain evil but that doesn’t mean I’m not rude sometimes. Everyone has their bitchy days.

Laying my head on the table, I felt someone’s presence next to me and the screech of the chair, followed by the drop of my bag next to my feet. Who the hell? I swiftly stood up, whipping my hand around the person’s neck.

“Ah!” the girl’s fragile hand wrapped around my wrist, trying to pry my hand away from her throat. I stared at her pretty face… Sara.

“Why are you sitting here?” I removed my hand from her neck, sitting back down.

“I got into a fight with the princesses… Please don’t make me sit alone.” she whimpered, sadly.

How do I say no to that?! I stared at her and turned my head down on the table, turning away from her.

She took that as a yes and slowly sat down. “Why are you alone?” I said.

“They teased me and called me a dog so I kinda… bared my teeth at them,” she whispered, sounding ashamed of herself.

I scoffed, turning to smirk at her, “Cool.” I complimented. She smiled back at me with a smile of… accomplishment?

Reaching out my fingers to her head, I stroked her ears. They looked cool. Sara’s eyes widened at that and I slowly pulled my hand back.

“Sorry, they look soft…” I smiled.

She pulled her hand up to where I stroked and her face went bright red. “I thought you hated me,” she looked at me in confusion.

“I DISLIKE you. Not hate. It’s complicated.” I sighed.

“Oh,” she looked at a loss of words. “By the way… thanks for what you did back there. You were so cool!” she looked at me in awe.

“Really?” I smiled in content. “Thanks, I guess.” Maybe girls aren’t as bad as I thought.

Like clockwork, the teacher came in exactly 3 minutes late. “Sorry students but I just got a message from the principal. The whole school needs to select a girl and a boy to represent them in the tournament against other schools urgently. He gave me a list of names who need to go outside to the field for auditions.” A rush of whispers rolled through the classroom and I could hear the huge gasp next to me.

“Josh, Prince Samuel, Daniel” the three boys stood up proudly, “Malia, Princess Saraphina and Princess Becky.” she finished her list and looked up at us. I stood up slower than the others and made my way out of the room with my hands in my pockets; Sara walking next to me.

“Are you nervous?” she looked at me, fear evident on her face.

“No, you?” I asked and she nodded, her eyes watering.

“You’ll be fine, just stay behind me.” I rubbed her back, helping calm her down. Why am I being nice to her? Didn’t dislike her? Am I bipolar? My eyes widened at the thought.

I followed the crowd and quickly found Zeref and Jace. The crowd was filled with older children and I even saw Mike. We were the youngest. Sara stood next to me, her arm hooked around mine. Zeref shot me a confused look and I shrugged.

“Guys, I dont think I’m meant to be here. I’m on mana pool level 1!” Jace stressed.

“I don’t want to fight,” Sara complained in a hushed crying tone.

“Shut up,” Zeref and I said at the same time.

“You’ll be fine.” Zeref spoke again.

Suddenly, a big bang echoed through the field and Mr Xanxus appeared, his back hunched, like always.

“Students here are the strongest in the school,” I scanned my surroundings to see at least 50 girls and 50 boys. “You will fight on this field, the last person standing will represent the school.” he continued, nodding his head at us.

“Why am I here?!?!?!?” Jace cried out to me, twisting his face into an ugly whiny face. I laughed.

“Stop asking questions, the girls are first.” Sara said, stretching her arms and rolling her shoulders back.

**

The field emptied and all the girls stood in a circle. The referee stood in the middle of our big circle. “The rules are as follows, it’s every man for themselves. You 50 will fight at the sound of this bell; you can knock people out or push them out of this circle we’re standing in right now. This will cause them to be disqualified. I don’t want any deaths. Everyone get to your positions!”

I scanned my eyes through each person. They were all noticeably bigger than me seeing as they were older. I could wipe out the girls here but that would mean I had to leave Sara alone and I said I’d protect her. Sara stood opposite me, far far away. God, why would she stand there?!

The whistle blew in slow motion and I quickly activated my least deadly skill. I shrouded my fists in fire but was attacked by 3 girls at the same time. There was no coordination in this fight. They were raw attacks.

I quickly stepped back a few steps, separating myself from the crowd of girls. Rushing my eyes everywhere, I spotted Sara running from two girls who were enjoying watching her cry.

Running through the crowd, I bashed people out of my way and head butted one of the girls like a bull, throwing her off of her feet making her hit her head unconscious. Sara quickly stood behind me as I threw a straight punch at the other girl in the stomach, burning off her shirt and maneuvering around her, using her as a shield from the first girl.

She used her useless earth magic to create ivy everywhere. Like long snakes, they tried biting me but it was easy to burn them into ashes.

All the guys cheered in the crowd as I rolled my eyes. Spiral kicking the second girl, I left them unconscious.

By the time I was done, another 2 attacked from behind, trying to get Sara. Swiftly, I picked up Sara by the back of her shirt and spun her behind me like a mother cat picks up her kittens.

The girls both purposely collided into me, knocking the air out of me. One of them held me down with her knee pressing down on my chest, preventing me from breathing. The other activated her flash light mana, processing a large ball of light. My mana flickered on and off as I was continuously hit on the face. Damn these baboons!

Sara cried out, “STOP!” leaping towards the girl next to me while transforming into her wolf form mid air, pushing one of them off of me and biting into her neck.

“AHHHHHHHH!” the scream echoed through the whole school and Sara quickly jumped off of her with a guilty look on her face.

I quickly pulled myself up, dodging the light beam flying at me. Her friend laid on the ground, her neck bloody from where Sara bit into her. I kicked her head to the side, making space for me to shroud myself in fire.

I took in a breath before sharply exhaling. The girl’s fist was inches away from my face but it didn’t reach me because my fire repelled her off, burning her. There were only 6 people standing and 2 of them were in a tight fight so the third and fourth girl attacked Sara. Dodging the body, Sara’s wolf smacked her to the side with her big paw.

Sara’s wolf was the size of a horse since she was a princess and it was amusing to watch. Her wolf was jet black just like her hair and she had crazy thick fur matted in blood. Her ivory teeth appeared between her jaws, as she opened her mouth to gnash the fourth girl’s leg between her loud animalistic growls.

I stepped in between the occupied last two girls. They both glared at me before trying to punch me, both aiming for a different angle. I waited till they got close enough to punch both of their noses in, annihilating them.

I looked up at Zeref who was watching me intently with a proud gaze and Jace who was cheering me on. I didn’t want to attend the tournaments. I just came to protect Sara. I walked off the field causing people to whisper. I looked back, seeing Sara win with her paw on top of the bloody girl, staring at me.

“Malia, what happened?” Principal Xanxus asked.

“I don’t want to compete in the tournaments.” I shrugged, walking past him and into the building. Should I skip class?