"Two, three, four, and five! Hit, hit, hit!" T shouted with enthusiasm.

Felicia tried her best to keep up. She knew the counts but couldn't remember the steps. Was it right arm first? Step forward or backward? Why was it so hard to hold onto imaginary pom-poms?

She grunted with frustration.

"Don't worry!" T said empathetically. "You'll get it! You just have to remember it's right, left, then you shake the pom-poms down."

Felicia placed her hands on her knees, out of breath. They had been doing this for almost an hour, and she felt like her body was dying. "I-I don't think I'm cut out for this, T."

"Well, if they really want you for a base, the good news is you'll do more throwing and catching than dancing."

Felicia shook her head. "How on earth am I supposed to catch someone if I can't even tell my left from my right? And please don't say I have to do a flip."

T tucked in her lips, unsure of what to say. "Let's take a break. Maybe reading my notes again will help."

Both girls sat down in the shade of the tree. Felicia picked up the notebook and began reading:

Step out R, R arm up in V — 1
Step out L, L arm up in V — 2
Jump together, close arms to chest and bend knees — 3
Jump out to X and shake poms down — 4–6
"L" arm position: R up, L out to side — 7
Switch arms to opposite "L" — 8

The notes looked like a foreign language to Felicia. She had taken some ballroom classes at a young age and quickly dropped out. She was sad that she couldn't dance like her grandmother or mom, or even her brothers. But the amount of falling and frustration had been enough. Shrek, not being a dancer either, had her try horseback riding instead, which she loved, but that was overshadowed by Fergus's riding abilities. It wasn't until she received her first potions class that everything clicked.

"Potions," Felicia said out loud. "That's it! It's a formula."

"Yeah! Wait, what?" T asked.

"Perform the moves in the correct order to power up the spell."

"The spell? I'm sorry, you lost me."

"T, can you count for me?"

"Uh, sure! Five, six, seven, eight."

As T counted, Felicia did the routine flawlessly, step by step. While she might not have been as sharp, peppy, or graceful as T, she hit every arm, jump, and pom shake.

She ended the routine out of breath, but with a huge smile. She turned to face T, who stared in awe, her jaw on the floor.

T exclaimed, "That was amazing! How did you do that?!"

Felicia blushed. "When I was reading your notebook, it reminded me a lot of a spellbook. Sometimes with magical amplifiers, like wands and staffs, you have to make specific movements for the enchantment to work."

"Oh! Well, that makes sense. I guess a shield spell would move differently than an attack."

"Precisely! So I just tried to think that each movement was power to the poms, and, well... I did it!"

"You did it!" T grabbed Felicia's hands and began jumping up and down excitedly, celebrating her accomplishment.

"Auditions are this weekend on Friday. And if we pass those, we'll probably do callbacks Saturday. Then it's team announcements and a dinner on Sunday!" T squealed, grabbing her book from the ground. "Do you want to do it again? Any more questions?"

"I'm good, but thank you," Felicia said, wiping sweat from her forehead. "Where did you learn to dance?"

"Oh, no one really taught me. I was just kind of born with it, I suppose. My father told me my grandmother was quite the showgirl back in the day."

This was Felicia's in. She could ask about her family, maybe even get a last name. "My grandmother's a pretty good dancer too. I was really sad when I had to leave ballroom classes. Too much damage to myself and the ballroom."

Both girls laughed as they made their way toward the dining hall for dinner. The sun had begun to set, and after their practice, they were both desperate for water and a big meal.

"You mentioned your father. What's he like?" Felicia asked.

"Oh, you know dads. Strong, protective, a bit over his head sometimes."

"Ha! I know the feeling."

"We used to be really close—me and my dad. I never really knew my mom, and my grandmother passed before I was born, so it's just us. As I got older, though, I felt like I became less of a daughter and more of a roommate." Her face became sullen. "He means well. I know he does. But most of our days became plotting my success and how we would 'rise to power.'" T paused, as if she'd said something she wasn't supposed to.

"I'm so sorry to hear that, T."

Whatever thoughts T had, she shook them away. "'Tis alright. I mean, he cared enough to send me here. We got fortunate with transportation and price. And as far as my 'success,' I'm going to do my very best in my classes and make him proud! I'll get a good job and get us out of that dump." She placed her hands on her hips heroically.

"I have no doubt you will! I mean, once we become seniors, you'll be cheer captain and who knows what else!"

T laughed. "Yes! I could even be queen of Far Far Away!" she smiled at Felicia.

The joke was short-lived as Felicia's face dropped. T's eyes went wide, realizing what she had said.

"No! No, I'm sorry! I didn't mean—I would never—I'm so sorry."

People had tried taking over Far Far Away in the past, and the thought of anything like that—to tear her family apart—was not a joke to her. But she should know T. T would never mean anything by it. And it wasn't like Felicia was going to be queen one day. Her family had declined that to focus on family, not ruling. Felicia became embarrassed with herself.

She scoffed at herself and smiled. "You're good. I'm sorry," she said sheepishly. "I should've taken the joke. I can be too serious sometimes."

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be making jokes."

"It's okay. Really," Felicia reassured.

Both girls smiled, trying to diffuse the awkwardness between them.

They reached the dining hall, where, to no surprise, Fergus, Farkle, and Maris were already scarfing down food. Maris noticed them approaching and waved them over.

"Maris and my brothers are here," Felicia said, pointing. "Let's get some food."

"A-actually, I think I'm going to turn in," T said, her head down.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I just... I should probably start this homework. I have a lot to do."

"We were actually all going to do homework together tonight, if you want to join us instead."

T looked at the table, then back at Felicia. "Thanks, but I should go. I need to write to my dad."

Felicia nodded, understanding but confused. "Okay! Sure. Whatever you need. See you tomorrow?"

T nodded slightly before turning and leaving the dining hall.

Felicia watched her go, then grabbed her plate of food and a big stein of water before sitting down.

"Where's T?" Fergus asked with a mouthful of food.

"I don't think she's feeling well. She went to her room."

"Sorry to hear that," Maris said. "But anyway, did you find out anything?"

Farkle leaned in. "Find out anything about what?"

"About T," Maris answered. "It seems like she's had a hard life, and we want to help, right? But we can't do that if she doesn't tell us who she is or where she's from."

"I don't even know what dorm room she's in, so I can't go talk to her," Felicia said. "We did talk a little after practice. She said it's just her and her dad. They used to be close, but now he's more concerned with her success than anything else."

"Probably wants her to become rich and famous. Like, marry a prince or someone in royalty," Maris added. "A lot of non-royal girls do that here."

Fergus spoke with a full mouth. "Don't you mean 'peasant'?"

The table groaned. "Fergus!" Maris shouted. "That is such an old-school offensive term!"

He threw his hands up. "Sorry! How was I supposed to know?"

"Do you live under a rock?"

"A tree, actually," he shot back with a snarky smile. Maris rolled her eyes and took a bite of her dessert.

"So," Farkle continued, "she's got a rough, lonely, non-royal life. What exactly could we do if we knew where she was from?"

Felicia shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know anymore. Most of the kingdoms I know live in prosperity. If they're struggling, we'd have to make it known to their rulers. Maybe we could send them money?"

Fergus choked and hit his chest. "Speaking of money, Mom and Dad are going to be really mad about what I already spent on the horse damages."

"Horse damages?" Farkle asked. "Okay, what did I miss?"

The group laughed as they explained the horse incident and the failed file heist.

"You mean I did all of that for nothing?!" Fergus complained.

"We gave it our best shot, okay?" Felicia shot back.

"Yeah, well, don't expect me to pull off something like that twice. I can't lose my spot on the team."

"You haven't even had tryouts yet."

"Yeah, but we've still been practicing and hanging out together already! I'm basically on the team! S-shut up!" He slouched with his arms crossed.

"Should I be finding out who's on the chess team and making friends?" Farkle asked, worry in his voice.

"Don't worry about it," Felicia said consolingly. "Fergus is just extremely extroverted. And annoying."

Fergus stuck his tongue out at his sister, and she returned the gesture.

After dinner, the group retired to Felicia's room to complete their homework, as her room had been voted the cleanest. Once finished, Felicia prepared for bed, thinking about the day ahead and her new classes.

As she tucked herself in, she recalled the last few days at the Academy when a sudden thought struck her. T had admitted to staring at her at the cheer booth, but someone had also been watching her from the dorms.

"But T's not royalty. Her room wouldn't be up here," she thought.

After a few moments, Felicia got out of bed, slipped on a robe and slippers, and headed into the hall.

She passed her neighbor's door, then another, until she reached Maris's room at the end. Which door had the eyes? Definitely not her neighbors'. Thinking back on the day, and with minimal confidence, she knocked on the second door.

"Coming!" a small female voice called.

The door opened to reveal a small girl with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Vanity?!"