{{Chapter 8}}

Moments after Boscha ended the call, Amity sighed and placed her phone back in her pocket. Now that she was left alone in confusion and silence, her true emotions finally started to show. 

Aside from her reputation being destroyed by the freshman, the fact that she recalled the main reason why she joined the Dance track started to get into her. It was something she tried to ignore and cover but she somehow couldn't get rid of the thought. 

With no one around the room, the elite took the chance to let a few tears out. Voices and complaints were still being heard outside the dressing room which overlapped Amity's sobs from being heard outside the room. 

The poor took one last look at her reflection on the mirror across her. A weakened smile was formed seconds later, fighting the deep yet confusing feeling on her chest. 

"Geez, get it together, Amity! Mom and Dad will kill me if they see me like this." She muttered to herself, slapping her cheeks a few times to regain her focus. 

But after the conversation she had with the team's captain, one thing was still dragging her down. She recalled it once again, repeating Boscha's words in her mind several times. 

"That Freshman, she has potential. Take care of her." 

You wouldn't normally hear those words or complement from the first standing elite in the track. Improving their pride and superiority towards others are their priority. But knowing Boscha for years, Amity knew she wasn't kidding when she said that. 

And yet the elite was still confused. She couldn't help but feel anger towards both Boscha and Luz. The captain left Amity with an important role in the club and the freshman had the pride and confidence to just break her reputation on her first day. 

The elite grunted and wiped her tears away. "You are a Blight, you don't show any weakness to anyone. Crying and feeling weakened will not do anything." 

She then stood up straight and glanced at the wall clock attached to the wall beside her. "It's almost time, I should be out there, fixing this." 

"Just like Boscha taught me, be superior and never show weakness. This is all that's freshman's fault. What does Boscha see in her?" She continued. 

But before she could try to answer her own question, her eyes quickly widened when she heard someone knock at the door. 

With that, the elite immediately wiped her tears away fixed herself with the use of the mirror. The knocking continued for a while, each one gets louder and louder every second. 

"Hold on!' Amity shouted back while walking towards the locked door, slowly opening it afterward. "Yeah, what do you want-" 

She was cut off as soon as she recognized the teen in front of her. With one gaze in her brown eyes, the elite's anger was quick to rise again. 

"Oh, it's you." 

"Amity!" The freshman greeted with a nervous smile. "You okay? What happened back there?" 

The elite crossed her arms, arching an eyebrow at the brown-haired teen. "It's none of your business, freshman. Now get out." 

Before Amity could take a step forward, Luz suddenly grabbed her wrist, pulling her back to make her face her. 

The two teens faced each other as the tension from the beginning returned. This time, Luz had the upper hand while Amity was stunned by the quick event. 

"You left your team back there without addressing the situation properly,  now that I'm a part of this team I suggest-" 

The freshman was interrupted. "Get out of the way, Noceda," Amity growled back after pushing the teen away to make way for herself. 

Luz raised both her hands and watched the elite walk away. She chuckled and placed her hands behind her head. 

"You superior, jerk. Just how could you call yourself an elite?" 

Luz sighed and followed Amity into the crowd. As the two-toned teen firstly approached Skara amongst the group, Skara's attention was diverted to her, followed by the rest of the members after they follow the assistance's gaze. 

She gritted her teeth, reaching out her hand which made Amity stop walking to maintain a distance away from the two. 

"My phone, mittens." 

Amity exchanged the same angered look. "Never call me that, you're just an apprentice for a more superior elite." She replied before dropping the phone in her hand. 

"And yet, I'm still more powerful than you," Skara smirked, turning around to face the other members. "What did Boscha tell you back there? You just walked out without fixing the current situation, heck, we even got the freshman to check up on you." 

Amity crossed her arms to her chest. "It's settled, that freshman is on the team and I'm the captain while Boscha's still recovering." 

At that exact moment, everybody started to panic and yell over the elite's announcement. Most of them were not in agreement while others continued to accept the fact that they might lose on the qualifying week of the tournament.

Amity stood her ground as the noise around her started to get louder. With the freshman behind her, she took the chance to move a bit closer to the elite to take a quick look at her reaction. 

"How in the world could she stay so calm? Can't she see the chaos in front of- Hey, what's this?" Luz paused as soon as she took a quick look at the newly assigned captain. 

Her eyes widened when she realized that the teen's eyes were all weary, it was clear enough for Luz to realize it. 

The freshman then looked back to the crowd. Willow and Augustus weren't a part of it but they still understand the pressure Amity's been growing through. 

Before this could get out of hand, Luz quickly stepped in front of Amity and stomped her foot onto the ground, causing a loud noise that gathered everyone's attention.

"Everyone, shut up!" 

Everybody in the room stopped talking and turned to the freshman. Some of them gave her angered and disgusted reactions for the confidence she has for a freshman. While others actually followed her to hear what she has to say. 

But for Amity, she only looked away, ashamed. She couldn't believe nor accept that a freshman actually did her job for her which was keeping your team calm and under control. And yet, she knew this was the best way to solve this. 

Amity knew she was now slowly turning into an easy target to the rest of her crewmates. With Luz taking her role, she couldn't do anything other than hear Luz out. 

"Why are you all against Amity being the team captain? Can't you just give her a chance to prove herself?" 

Skara laughed. "Oh right, you're new."She started while walking up to the short brown-haired girl. "Listen, new kid, Amity over here already failed that role multiple times." 

Amelia stepped beside her. " Whenever Boscha leaves her in charge, the whole club will just be in chaos." 

"Plus, she doesn't even know the first thing when it comes to leadership. All she knows is to follow others higher than her and act as a superior idiot like she is now." Kat added into the conversation. 

Luz remained speechless, unable to think of a response to back Amity up. Despite the rough start the two had, Luz was somehow trying to protect Amity by standing up for her. And even with her act, the elite never joins in to defend herself. 

At this point, the freshman figured that Amity was already accepting defeat. But with Boscha's approval now being announced, she gathered all her courage to speak up once again. 

"I- I know I'm new in this club. Your captain accepted my admission which means I'm in the club to fill in the missing members. Now that I'm on the team, can we all just fix this in a calm and not-so-screaming way?" Luz nervously yelled out, stuttering a few times. 

Skara and her gang shared looks before returning their attention back to Luz. Skara was the first one to move by turning around to face the exit. 

"Your confidence will only make you another visible target, Luz." She started, walking pass the freshman. 

She stopped midway and grabbed her gym bag near the exit doors. "Know your place, you and Amity should remember that." 

"And oh yeah, I quit.

Skara lastly muttered before walking out of the room. Amity looked back up with her eyes widened from what she just heard. Luz on the other hand tried to chase after Skara but  Amelia and Kat suddenly covered their way. 

"Out of the way, freshman, she's not coming back, neither do we.

With that, Skara's friends followed and walked away. The rest of the club members sighed and accepted it, all of them took their stuff and made their way out. 

Amity was not liking this, not one bit. She then ran to the group and tried to stop them from leaving, her devastated voice was overlapping all of the chatter being heard but sadly, everyone ignored her. 

"N-no please, don't leave!" She begged Mattholomule and his friends. "Think about the competition, think about our school's reputation!" 

"It will be better if we don't show up in the qualifying matches, Amity. We'll just make a fool of ourselves that WILL ruin Hexside's reputation. I'm sorry." The teen replied before following the others. 

Amity never gave up, instead, she ran to her former crewmates walking towards the exit which made her lost in the crowd. 

Luz lost sight of the poor elite. But when she was about to chase after her to pull her back, someone held her arm and stopped her from taking any step, 

"Don't Luz." Willow sighed. "At this point, Amity will just give up and leave the group." 

Luz's eyes widened, pulling her hand away from her friend. "W-what do you mean? Can't you see she's desperate to keep the club together? We have to help her!" 

Gus held her back. "It's no point now, Luz. They left. They're not coming back." 

Luz grunted. "Well, we can't just give up like this! Please don't go with them, the first thing that happened when I got admitted is this! And- and-" Luz panicked, Willow chuckled and stopped her. 

"Oh, Luz, don't worry! We're not going anywhere." she calmed her down with a warm smile.

"Yeah, we're staying! Screw them, they're just a bunch of scared losers." Augustus cheered. 

An irresistible smile formed on the freshman's face. "Aw, guys!" She squealed as she pulled her two friends into a tight hug. "You two are the best!" 

Willow patted her back. "Dancing is our passion, we wouldn't just leave like that!" She started with a giggle. 

"And plus, we have you on our team now! I swear we'll beat Glandus Highschool's butt again this year!"

"Okay, too tight." Both chuckled when Luz's grip tightened in their little group hug. 

"Oh sorry." Luz pulled away from the hug. "But what can we do, we're just a team of 4!" 

Gus tilted his head, showing a sign of slight confusion. "Uhm, 4?" 

"Yeah, Amity's included right?" 

The dark-haired teen sighed. "I think she already left us, I can't see her anywhere." 

Luz's smile faded/ "W-what? But she wanted this club to be intact! Well, now she's just gonna leave us like this? I should have known." She folded her arms. 

"At least we have each other right, a team of 3 isn't that bad!" Gus tried to cheer up his friend. 

"Yeah, it's not so bad,"  Luz replied with a weakened smile. The fact that Amity actually left the club somehow disturbed her. 

"I know she has the same amount of passion as me, but why leave? Is she that weak to even admit she couldn't take Boscha's role?" Luz asked herself, making all of the noise around her become disoriented. 

The freshman's friends shared a worried look. They looked back and saw the last of the club's former members were walking out of the club. 

But as soon as the crowd left, both of them gasped when they saw a teen standing alone in the middle. 

Willow tugged Luz's shirt, still looking at the lone teen. "Luz, Luz, you have to check this." 

"Not now, Willow. I'm trying to figure out why Amity left. And also, what could a team of 3 do for this team?!" 

"Uhm... make that 4," Willow muttered, pointing a finger towards the teen's direction. 

The freshman snapped out of her thoughts and followed the direction. And there, her eyes immediately widened when she saw the girl standing alone. 

"S-she... Didn't leave us?"

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