"Primprim~"

Primo drew a slow breath at the sound of that sweet, familiar voice. He already knew exactly what was coming.

A second later, a cute girl with pigtails and pink hair clips leaned over his desk. Beside her stood a boy wearing a blue headband. The two of them — and the few classmates who had gathered nearby — instinctively glanced around Primo’s desk first, checking for something, before breaking into smiles.

It’s not snack time yet, thought Primo, who was growing quite accustomed to this duo’s routine.

By now, he was fairly convinced they only came around because of his snacks. For whatever reason, they loved everything Ashley packed for him. And since Ashley had started adding extra portions for his so-called "friends," these two had been putting on weight at a noticeable pace.

"Is your mommy coming today, Primprim?" the girl asked, her voice sweet, her smile bright. "If she is, I want to introduce her to my mommy!"

Primo waited, then wrote back, [Why?]

"So they can become friends, and then she can come to our house!" she declared. "And if our families are friends, our parents will agree we can get married — and then your mommy can be my mommy number two! She’ll make me my very own lunchbox!"

The boy beside her beamed. "I’ll ask my dad to be friends with your dad too! That way I can come to your house and sleep over! I want to sleep there!"

Why would you want to sleep at my house?

That was the question Primo nearly wrote down, but he let it go. He was used to letting them talk. He stayed in his seat and cast a quiet glance around the room at the rest of his classmates, who were all already deep in their own conversations.

Every student in the class had one of two colors written on top of their PE uniforms — red or blue.

Two teams. Something to do with today’s sports festival, apparently.

So this is what a school festival is like...

Primo pressed his lips together. The school was louder and more chaotic than usual — no classes, everyone buzzing with energy, especially the older students. It was a bit much for his taste.

The only people who seemed completely unaffected by the atmosphere were these two, who were exactly as they always were.

He still wasn’t sure whether they kept coming around out of some vague sense of pity, or simply because of the food. At this point, he was leaning heavily toward the latter — they had stopped even trying to hide it.

As the girl and boy chattered on, a sharp laugh rang out across the room.

"Haha! You three!"

Primo, the girl, and the boy all looked up at once.

Sammy — Raka’s son — was making his way toward them, flanked by two of his newer friends from the same class. He stopped beside Primo’s desk, a smug little smirk on his face.

"You’re on the blue team today..." Sammy raised his small thumb up, then slowly turned it down. "...and you’re going down."

The trio blinked at him. Sammy and his friends laughed, clearly expecting some kind of reaction. Instead, the girl simply pointed at herself.

"I’m not on the blue team," she said. "I don’t like blue."

Sammy frowned and looked her over. She was not wearing red or blue. She was wearing pink.

"Then why are you standing with them?" he demanded, arms crossed. "You’re on our team."

The girl blinked. "I’m not on red either! I said I’m pink!"

Now it wasn’t just Sammy’s group staring at her. Even Primo and the other boy turned to look.

"Chanty," the boy said quietly, leaning toward her. "There is no pink team."

Chanty — short for Chantal — frowned deeply. Her pink cheeks puffed out as she looked from the boy to Primo.

"But I told the teacher I didn’t like blue or red, and she said I could wear my favorite color!" she announced. "If there’s no pink team, then I’ll make one!"

She spun toward the rest of the class and called out, "Who wants to join Team Pink?!"

The chatter died instantly. Everyone turned to look at her.

"I don’t like blue or red, so I’m starting a new team!" she declared proudly. "Who’s with me?!"

A brief silence followed, and then Sammy snorted.

"Chantal, you can’t just do that. Who’s even going to join you?" he asked.

The moment the words left his mouth, a hand shot up across the room.

"Me! I love pink!" a girl shouted.

Sammy scoffed. "Hey, you can’t just —"

"Me too! I don’t like blue or red — or pink, actually, I love purple — but I’ll join!"

Primo’s brow furrowed as he watched her cross the room toward Chantal.

If she doesn’t like blue, red, or pink... why is she joining the pink team?

It was a question that flickered through a few other minds as well, though no one arrived at a satisfying answer.

"Me! Pick me!"

"Hey — you’re already on the red team!" Sammy protested.

He was ignored. One after another, more students peeled away from the red and blue sides — mostly girls, already decked out in pink bags, pink clips, and pink everything — and drifted toward Chantal.

Satisfied, Chantal turned back to face Primo, the boy, and Sammy’s group. Her mouth stretched into a wide, gap-toothed grin.

"You two can fight all you want," she said, jabbing a finger first at Primo’s side and then at Sammy’s, "but pink is the best!"

Pleased with herself, she spun on her heel and trotted to the front of the class. "Team Pink, come up here! I’m going to talk to the teacher about our team!"

Everyone watched as members of both the blue and red teams migrated toward her, leaving the rest of the class, and especially Sammy, utterly flabbergasted.

*

*

*

Later that day...

Ashley and Lucian stood on the sidelines, watching the sports event for Primo’s grade, both wearing the same furrowed expression.

In the days leading up to the festival, parents had been given a detailed schedule of all the events their children would be participating in, including the structure of each game and how many teams each class would have. Parents could also notify the school of any activities their child was unable to participate in for health or other reasons.

"So..." Ashley narrowed her eyes at the court, where three distinct teams were warming up. "Didn’t they know their class was only supposed to have two groups? Where did the third one come from?"

Lucian shrugged. "No idea."

They were far from the only confused ones. Every parent in the stands seemed to be asking the same question.

But more than that, Lucian turned to Ashley with quiet curiosity.

"What I’m more curious about," he said, waiting until he had her full attention, "is why they’re here."

He tilted his head toward the group behind them.

Ashley glanced over her shoulder — her guards, the four recruits, and Nolan, all standing in a loose cluster.

"Hehe." She grinned at him. "Cheerleaders."