{2} To Lose Is To Also Win
***
After the announcement Dr. Saltzman had given, you would think that everyone would be on high alert. Their secret could be potentially spilled to the outside world. That was definitely something to worry about. People must be worried out of their minds, trying to help track down Landon Kirby to keep him from saying anything about them. That had to be what people were doing, right? Well, let Vienna tell you exactly how the school was handling this whole horrible situation.
Nothing happened. Nobody freaked out. Everyone just went along as if nothing had even happened. Dr. Saltzman, Rafael, and Hope were the ones who were focusing on the situation. Everyone else had gone about their daily lives, worrying about their tests and grades. You would think that the assembly the other day didn't even happen. Maybe it was the fact that the was a school full of supernatural kids so they thought that they could handle everything that was thrown at them. They saw no need to worry.
Something that they did worry about though... Was the game that was taking place later that day. No one was more excited about the game than Lizzie. Lizzie had basically dragged Vienna from her room so the girl could give her opinion on how she should style the 'ugly' jersey that she would be wearing. Josie had ended up in the same predicament as well. Once the outfit situation was solved, Lizzie let Vienna go so the girl could start getting ready.
The silence and peace didn't last long. As soon as Vienna had gotten ready and walked out of her room with her stuff, Lizzie rushed the girl out of the dorm hallway with Josie. The three girls walked together down the stairs and toward the dining hall. Lizzie had her yellow jersey on that she tucked into her shorts and had her hair tied up in a ponytail with a blue bandana tied like a headband. She also had a line of blue face paint on both of her cheeks.
A huge grin was plastered on her face as she carried her books in one hand, "Let's hit the dining hall and carb load," Lizzie walked to the bottom of the stairs with her sister and cousin behind her. She looked forward as she said this next line, like she was trying to break the fourth wall, "It's game day."
The only response she got from Vienna was, "Yes, yes. We know, Lizzie. It's not like you've been telling us this since you woke up." Lizzie was so excited about the game that she didn't even shoot a glare of disapproval at the blonde. Vienna would even bet that she chose to ignore her purposely. Lizzie just kept on smiling.
One person who didn't look too happy today spoke up and said, "I'm not hungry," It was Josie who had said this. As soon as those words came out of her mouth, Lizzie and Vienna stopped walking. The sudden stop of movement made Josie freeze in her tracks as well. Seeing the pointed looks they were giving her, she asked, "What?"
It was about time that the two had confronted her about it. Vienna narrowed her eyes at the brunette, "Suspicious," Josie raised an eyebrow at her. Ignoring the confused stare, Vienna moved her gaze to Lizzie who seemed to be on the same track that she was, "I bet Lizzie can answer why."
"I can, Vi," The once huge and present smile that was on Lizzie's face dropped. She was staring at her twin with full seriousness and slight annoyance, "Well, uh, funny thing actually, Josette."
"Oh, she pulled out the full first name," Vienna commented, quickly looking away.
The girl had just missed Josie giving her another look. One that showed she was clearly confused still and that she wanted her cousin to stop joking around so they could finally get to the point. The three girls went back to walking, but they walked at a slower pace this time. Lizzie continued with her explanation, "This morning as I was desperately trying to make this trash bag of a jersey look cute. I suddenly had the urge to purge. So I fled to the bowl, and lo and behold, I heaved up a gallon of black goo."
And Vienna had ended up being subjected to the explanation when Lizzie had woken her up this morning. It was one of the first things she spoke to the girl about, besides the game obviously. Vienna looked back to Josie, "And every witch knows that is a sign of the use of black magic. But the thing about that is-"
The sentence was finished by Lizzie, "I haven't been dabbling in any illicit black magic recently," Take note of how she used the word 'recently'. It wasn't a shock that the witches in school used black magic even when they weren't supposed to. They were just able to hide it decently well. Though, that didn't mean that none of the teachers knew. They definitely knew. They just weren't able to find out who a lot of the time. "I can only imagine it was a twin sympathy hurl. And here you are, denying the day's most important meal. So fess up. What did you do?"
A sudden voice spoke up from their right, "Maybe you're pregnant, Lizzie," Upon hearing the familiar voice, Vienna felt instant dread. She slowly turned to see Penelope Park. The girl was standing right beside the doorway that they walked through, almost like she was waiting for them. Penelope gave Lizzie a once-over, "Oh, or maybe it's just how that jersey fits."
This comment made Lizzie look down at her outfit with a dejected expression. It was obvious to anyone that Penelope's words had gotten to her when she covered her stomach with the books in her hand. Josie stared at the dark-haired girl with a look of annoyance, "Go away, evil one."
"Already gone," Penelope said. She stepped toward the three girls, staring directly into Josie's eyes, "Hot tip: next time you burn your ex's hair off," The girl messed with her hair, clearly trying to show off how good it looked on her, "Make sure she can't rock a lob."
A smirk appeared on Penelope's face as Josie avoided her gaze. That was the moment that Vienna had enough. This was honestly tiring and it was so aggravating to see Penelope act like she was better than anyone else. Vienna let out a sigh as she commented, "I guess that proves it then," Vienna looked away like she was in thought. Her sudden comment made Penelope turn her gaze over to her. Looking straight into her eyes, Vienna said without even breaking eye contact, "You really are delusional if you think that haircut looks good on you. Or maybe you're just lying to yourself," Vienna shrugged, "Who truly knows?"
Not sparing a single moment to see the girl's reaction, Vienna grabbed the wrists of her cousins and started dragging them off. They all needed time away from with witch bitch. Lizzie tucked some of her hair behind her ear as Josie sighed, the two of them sharing a look. The girls are stopped in their tracks when they are met with MG who has a big grin on his face, "Big game today..."
Ah, MG. He had no idea the kind of mess he got himself into. This was proven when Lizzie immediately said, "Bounce, MG," Her voice had an obvious bite that made his smile fall. Vienna didn't say anything and neither did Josie. The two girls watched as Lizzie basically assaulted him with her words, "If you hurry, you can catch up with the Blair Bitch and tongue-chum her again," It was true. MG somehow managed to end up kissing Penelope Park and Josie had caught him doing it. Lizzie and Vienna were very upset when they found this out. Lizzie had more of an outspoken distaste for his actions while Vienna kept her mouth shut. MG remained perfectly still when a robotic smile appeared on his face. The boy simply turned and walked away. After the boy had left, Lizzie looked at Josie, "Did she who shall not be named just fat-shame me?"
It was like Lizzie had chosen to completely forget the existence of MG as she referred back to Penelope's words. Vienna raised an eyebrow at her and decided to give her a piece of advice, "I think it's better for you mentally to not listen to the opinion of the people who don't like you." The people who don't like you obviously aren't going to have the highest opinion of you so why even listen to their words? It's clear that they're only going to say things to hurt you.
There was a pause as Lizzie thought about the words Vienna had said to her. Just a second later, the blonde nodded, "You're right," A small grin returned to her face. "I shouldn't care what she who shall not be named thinks about me when she clearly has it out for me."
Oh, how things were going to go downhill after this... The group of girls continued their walk when they were cut off once again. This time, they were cut off by Dr. Saltzman. He was wearing a backpack which gave Vienna some indication of how this conversation was going to play out. The look on his face and his words didn't help his case either, "Hey, girls, listen."
Vienna nodded to herself, "And here we go." Everything was only going to go terribly from here. Really, he couldn't have picked a better day to be busy?
The other two girls also had an idea of where this conversation was going to go. Josie was the first one to speak up, stopping him from saying anything else, "Don't do it," Dr. Saltzman had no idea what to say. His mouth opened and closed like a fish as he tried to think of something. Josie didn't give him much of a chance to think of anything, "Don't say whatever it is you're about to say because you have Dad face, and wherever Dad face goes," A pointed look was shot Lizzie, "Daughter disappointment always follows."
Looking from one daughter to the other, Dr. Saltzman broke the news to them, "I'm sorry; I can't make the game today."
"Oh, he went there." Vienna pursed her lips as she just sat back and watched the scene. She was almost always present when these moments happened. Probably because she mostly only hung out with Lizzie and Josie. That didn't make these things happening any less awkward for her. All she really did was what she did now. Watch and say nothing.
"But, Dad, you're the coach." Josie reminded him.
"And I'm QB1 this year," Lizzie spoke with a disappointed tone.
"I hate it as much as you do, but I have to find Landon Kirby." And there it was. Landon Kirby was all that Dr. Saltzman had been thinking about lately. Very few people in the school cared about the fact that Rafael's best friend, basically his brother, took an artifact from the school and wasn't able to be compelled. They just minded their own business. Dr. Saltzman, Rafael, and Hope were all very worried about it still, despite everyone else not giving the slightest care in the world.
Like always, Josie had a suggestion, "Okay, so, let's cancel," The brunette breathily laughed, "I mean, it's a joke anyways. We can't use our powers, so we suck."
And there was no one who agreed more than Vienna, "Yeah," Vienna spoke up, finally contributing to the conversation. "We make a fool of ourselves when we know that we could beat them easily if we wanted to. It's frustrating." One, they had powers so it made it easier for them. Two, they were actually pretty good at the sport without powers as well. Dr. Saltzman wanted them to be brutally obliterated every game so they weren't suspicious, but Vienna thought it was suspicious that they 'sucked' so bad.
Pointing at Josie and Vienna, Dr. Saltzman agreed, "Exactly. Which is a normal school for troubled rich kids thing to do. This annual event lets the locals see you for what they think you are. And keeps them from asking too many questions."
"But they mock us," Lizzie stated. Mock wasn't really the word that Vienna would use. The kids from the local high school tried to make their lives miserable every time they saw them or were around them. It was like they had nothing better to do than to spend their time giving them absolute hell for no reason at all.
It didn't seem like Dr. Saltzman was too empathetic about the situation, "Because they're insecure small-town kids with small minds. So just let it be," This made Vienna give him a slight glare. He had no idea what kind of stuff they have to endure when it came to the Mystic Falls High kids. Vienna would like to see him go through it before he said that they needed to just let it go. "Looks, girls, with Landon running around, knowing all of our secrets, we have to protect our profile now more than ever. Can I count on you guys to do that?" Solemnly, the twins nodded. Dr. Saltzman turned his gaze to Vienna who only stared at him. Finally, she decided to nod as well, knowing that he wasn't going to let up until she agreed. "All right, I love you both. We'll be back as soon as we can."
With those final words, Dr. Saltzman left them. It was at this moment that his final words finally sunk in, "Wait," Lizzie started. "Who's 'we'?"
The only response she got from Vienna was, "I don't think you want to ask."
It was very obvious to Vienna who the 'we' he was talking about was. Josie turned her gaze away from her sister, already knowing how this was going to play out. As the girls finally walked away with no interruption, Lizzie fumed, "Dad loves Hope more than us."
An eyebrow was raised at her by Vienna, "That is not the case, Lizzie."
"Vi's right," Josie agreed. "You're being melodramatic, okay? He's missing one game."
This didn't do anything to help Lizzie's worries. The girl continued to insist, "First a game and then our weddings," Okay... Now she was really being dramatic. After a moment, Lizzie looked like realization had hit her, "This game is an opportunity. We can show him how seriously we are taking this by making sure our secret stays protected out there on the field," Josie and Lizzie smiled at this realization. Vienna decided to push her own protests about sucking badly on purpose. They looked too happy for her to complain. "Today, we will lose even more epically than we normally do."
"Win by losing," Josie nodded at Lizzie, "That's the spirit."
Lizzie nodded to herself, "There's someone we need to recruit to our Island of Misfit Toys," Vienna gave the girl a curious look. That was whenever she saw the smirk that appeared on the girl's face, "Tall, hot, and handsome."
The grin on Josie's face fell, "Rafael?"
"I am totally thinking tight end." Lizzie didn't seem to notice the look on Josie's face.
There was one question on Vienna's mind, "Would he even want to play?" He was worried about Landon so Vienna didn't think that he would be up for playing a game. He also seemed more like the antisocial type. It would be surprising to her to see him actually wanting to join their team to play today.
As if the day couldn't get even worse for Lizzie, someone had to come along and ruin it even more, "I just saw him," Vienna could take one guess about who had said that and she knew she would be right. Slowly looking over, with Lizzie and Josie doing the same, she saw Penelope Park. The girl was sitting in a chair with her legs crossed and a book in her lap. Vienna sighed and stared at Penelope with an exasperated expression as Penelope tried to annoy Lizzie, "Yeah, sorry, Raf's not gonna be at the game," Penelope jabbed her thumb in the direction of where their dad had walked off to, "He hopped the Hope train out of town," And that would make things worse. "Just like your dad." Now she was just being cruel.
Hearing that made Lizzie and Josie share a look before walking off. Vienna glared at Penelope who only smiled smugly, waving at her. While rolling her eyes at the witch, Vienna walked off in the direction of the girls. She already knew how this was going to do down with Lizzie.
***
It didn't take long for the game to arrive. Since there was a spot left open, Vienna was dragged into playing the game as well. Lizzie had been hoping that the spot would be filled by Rafael as an excuse to hang out with him. That obviously didn't go as planned for her. Cheerleaders ran by on the sidelines while both teams were standing in the middle of the field. The two coaches were there, Mr. Willaims filling in for Dr. Saltzman, along with a ref standing between them.
Each side had four players. On their side, there was Kaleb, Lizzie, Josie, and Vienna. On the other side, there was Dana, one of Lizzie's mortal enemies, a guy named Kyle, who had tried to hit on Vienna before the game started until he realized she went to the Salvatore school, one other boy, and another girl. The other girl was standing in front of Vienna and seemed to be staring at her with a look that clearly said, 'I am so much better than you and I can't wait to show it.'
Almost like he couldn't see the animosity between the two teams, Mr. Williams said, "All right, guys. Let's have a good, clean, entirely uneventful game." That last part felt like it was directly aimed at their team. Vienna scoffed to herself at his words. He clearly had forgotten what teams he was dealing with.
"Like we do every year," Kyle looked directly at Kaleb, "When we beat your asses down."
The Mystic Falls High team was very amused by his words while the Salvatore School team looked like they were trying to hold themselves back. Mr. Williams called him out, "Not exactly the spirit, Kyle," Like that warning was going to do anything. It just sounded like a helpful suggestion. Kyle laughed a little, saying a small, 'Oh.' "All right, call in the air."
The ref flipped a coin to see who would end up going first. With all of the animosity and stuck up-ness that Dana could muster, she aggressively stated, "Tails never fails."
Her tone of voice resulted in Vienna giving her a, 'Are you serious?' look. What were they? In kindergarten? The group looked down at the coin that had finally landed. Vienna tried to keep herself from sighing out loud. Mr. Williams turned his gaze to Dana, "Guess not. Your ball," Kyle and Dana high-fived at this. "Shake hands and let's do this."
This was probably one of the most dreaded parts of the game, along with the torment they faced by purposely losing. The teams did as Mr. Williams said, filing into two lines as they shook hands. Vienna tried to at least pretend to be nice... That is until the other girl that was on the Mystic Falls team decided to start something. The girl grabbed Vienna's hand and pulled her closer, looking her in the eyes, "You are going down..," The girl smirked, "And it's going to hurt."
With almost a bored expression, Vienna spoke nonchalantly, "I'd love to see you try."
If only she could knock this girl on her ass. The girl walked away to her team. As she watched the girl leave, Vienna noticed a guy on the other team harshly bump shoulders with Kaleb. That was all it took to set Kaleb off. Kaleb looked ready to go after the boy until Josie placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him, "Kaleb. Come on. Suck it up," Vienna joined them as they all walked to their side of the field. "We have to go through this every year, okay?"
This didn't seem to help Kaleb at all, "I was being recruited by D1 schools before I got here, all right? I don't lose."
Once again, Josie placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him, "Hey," She spoke sternly, letting him know to not try anything. "You do today, okay?"
With a deep breath, Vienna placed her hands on her hips as she stared over at the rival team, "My usual advice would be to just ignore them..." She huffed annoyedly, "But they make it so damn hard."
The look that Josie gave her warned her to not try anything either. The brunette walked off to their side of the field and Vienna followed begrudgingly, shooting one last glare at the other team. They worked on strategies to lose until it was finally time to play. Everyone went out onto the field to get in their places as they waited for the game to officially start. As soon as the ref blew the whistle, Kaleb was already running forward.
The vampire made a gesture to Lizzie to stop her in her tracks. He kicked the ball and it ended up flying all the way into the hands of a guy from the other team. Vienna watched as the guy passed the ball to Dana. MG fell over purposely which made Dana let out a, "Yes!" as she thought that she was the one who made him fall. MG gave a thumbs-up to a disgruntled Lizzie. To make their situation worse, it seemed like the guys on the other team were specifically targeting Kaleb. Vienna knew this when she saw Kyle come up from behind Kaleb and push him down to the ground roughly.
If it was Vienna in that situation, she probably would have lost it already. Somehow, Kaleb was able to keep his cool, only glancing back at the boy. Just like last time, everyone got into their places as they waited for the ref to signal the start of the new round. The ref blew his whistle soon after they were ready and Dana was able to score for her team once more. Not long after they scored, Vienna had seen Dana and Lizzie together. Vienna knew how bad that situation was going to be so she immediately gestured over to them while looking at Josie.
The two girls quickly made their way to the blonde. "That went well," Josie picked some grass out of her hair, "All things considered."
"'All things considered,' my ass," Vienna grumbled. She tried to dust off some of the dirt that had stained her skin and clothes. The whole time during the game, she had been specifically targeted by the girl from earlier. She had let herself be pushed down so many times that she knew it was going to bruise later.
As soon as Vienna got a good look at Lizzie, she knew that the girl was going to lose it soon. "One word," Lizzie started as they made their way back to their side of the field. "One word and I could burn her perky little boobs to ash."
"Hey," Josie quickly told her. She shook her head at the blonde, "But we're not gonna do that today. Today of all days, right?" Lizzie stared at her for a moment before shaking her head in frustration. Vienna could feel her annoyance... Or maybe it was her own annoyance that she was feeling.
~~~
Hey, guys! Completely forgot to mention this early, but Vienna actually speaks with a British accent. I forgot to add that in the first chapter so I thought I would quickly write it here real quick. Also, I was planning on updating this book sooner, but I've been playing Persona 5 nonstop because I became addicted to it 🙃, so... Sorry about not updating sooner? I hope you guys liked this chapter!
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