Calista’s second day was only slightly better, but still anxiety-inducing and intimidating. Like the first day, classes passed by in a surreal blur, and she could feel every pair of eyes on her, judging her.

  She was able to avoid the impending soreness that morning, thanks to a painkilling lotion she was sure to include in her belongings. But she had to jump right back into the torture, enduring another bout of embarrassment when she collapsed from exhaustion during Combat class. The coaches were absolutely merciless.

  At breakfast and lunch, Calista chose to eat somewhere else on campus. It provided her with some solace, away from the judgment of her new peers. After school, she skipped dinner and went straight to the spa for a massage and a deep cleansing bath. Thankfully, the spa was hardly used, so she could be alone.

  She never thought she’d like being alone. She hadn’t realized what a comfort it was. She wondered what it would’ve been like if she’d gone to NYWS instead. Would she have fit in better?

  Her third day had started with three practicum classes in a row; Combat, then two periods of Teamwork. For the present day’s lesson, they played a game called Freeze Race. Her team ran through an obstacle course and their opposing team chased them, freezing them in place when they touched them.

  Calista was frozen within 20 seconds of the game and eliminated before her teammates could free her— not that they bothered. She went to a corner after her loss, embarrassed once again.

  Once the day was over, Calista confined herself to her dorm room, now relieved that she didn’t have roommates at all. If she had to choose one, she’d choose Belinda. So far, she was the only one that treated her like a person instead of a joke.

  She spent the rest of the night taking Belinda’s advice and watching coverage of the previous Versus Games in the last twelve years. She now had an idea of who was who and which ones were the most dangerous.

  Reilly ‘Clocker’ Campbell was one of the Student Coaches she remembered. He was the best student in the academy, even though technically, Harrison had surpassed him in the previous Games. The controversy caused Harrison’s first-ranking position to be revoked and reallocated to Reilly. He earned his call sign in his first Versus when he used the giant clock in the Clock Tower game to take out many opponents at once.

  Reilly was a full-blooded Voraxian, but he’d lived on Earth his whole life, raised in England until his family moved to the US when he was eighteen. He was in his last year before graduation, and even though he was already 27 in human terms, he tended to make little comments about Harrison, who was eight years younger. Calista thought it was a bit immature of him. She expected that sort of behavior from a Socializer, not a professional fighter that was supposedly taught self-control and teamwork skills.

  A shame. Reilly was very handsome. His marble-white skin didn’t make him look pale at all; in fact, it seemed to enhance his beauty. Voraxians were always good-looking. Oh, well. He was much older than Calista, and it was rumored that he had a girlfriend, anyway.

  Disaris ‘One-Punch’ Okione was a Voraxmartian— shorter than the average Voraxian, but still possessing unparalleled strength. He’d knocked out his first quarter-final opponent with one punch after only five minutes into the match. He was usually cool-tempered, but he flared up if one pressed the right buttons. It was well-advised not to antagonize him.

  Delaine ‘Minx’ Evistroma reminded Calista a lot of the average Socializer in terms of appearance. She was a beautiful Martian with clear gray skin, perfectly wavy blond hair, and large, sparkly black eyes. She was notoriously flirty towards her male opponents, successfully distracting many of them enough to catch them off-guard with her attacks. She was Belinda’s SC, and while she did seem nice, it was clear the power of her third rank got to her head at times.

  Calista couldn’t believe she had the figure she had without any Thinners or weight-loss therapy creams. All Delaine did was work out and eat well. Maybe it was a Martian gene that helped? If only she had that naturally perfect figure; her mother wouldn’t have nagged her as much.

  Li Mei ‘Knifehand’ Hoss was a fighter that sort of frightened Calista. She was a Seeyastearthian descended from Japan— a combination of two species that had no special abilities. She was more human than Seeyastian; if it weren’t for her eyes, Calista wouldn’t have been able to tell.

  In terms of abilities, she was as good as any other of both her species, and she was smaller than the average female fighter, but she made up for it with skill and discipline. Her famous ‘knifehand’ moves had won her many matches and earned her the call sign. She was the oldest of the Student Coaches and the harshest, despite being fourth in line.

  These four were the scariest, but if Calista could somehow impress them, she could really up her chances of becoming a successful fighter and not just a no-name.

  But how could she thrive if everything that made her feel confident had been taken away? Her looks and her social skills were the best she had. She felt insecure all the time around her mother and the SociaLights, but it was still better than here.

  “Incoming call from ‘Kate’,” AIDA announced.

  “Answer.”

  Katelyn’s hologram appeared next to her. “Hey, Cali. You busy?”

  “Nah. I can talk for a few.”

  “Only your third day and you’re already so busy. Pretty tough, aren’t they?”

  “I’d say so.”

  Katelyn cocked her head. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s stellar. Everything I ever wanted.” Calista put on her happiest smile.

  Katelyn smirked back. “Those fake smiles may work with our cache-head fans, but not with me.”

  “I’m fine, Kate. It’s just… you know, it’s a new place. New life. It’s all happening so fast. I just need to adapt.”

  “But it’s hard for you.” Katelyn’s smirk faded to a look of concern. “I get it. You’ve been preparing for that New York school for years. Now you’re somewhere where all your training got deleted. You wanted this for so long, but since you thought you’d never get it, you couldn’t be ready enough for it. Everyone there is different from what you expected.”

  “It’s like you’re hacking into my personal code,” Calista muttered, turning away.

  Katelyn laughed. “Hey, I know you. And it’s obvious. I’m guessing the other fighters aren’t that friendly?”

  “I made one friend. Her name’s Belinda. She’s really nice. But even her… I can tell she’s probably wondering why I’m even here. I know I probably act too much like Mom and her friends. I don’t know if they really know I’m a Socializer, but they can probably tell. The way I talk, the way I… act. I can’t even do thirty push-ups!”

  “Oh, come on, Cali. I’m sure there’s a lot of other students that aren’t that great at fighting. You have a gift. You just need to get back in the habit. It’s only been three days. After the months of training, you should be fine. And even if you don’t get on the team, you’ll still be there.”

  “But I need to get on the team,” Calista insisted.

  “I know, but you’ve got three more Versus Games in your career. It won’t end this year,” Katelyn reassured.

  “I have to get on the team this year, Kate. How am I going to prove them wrong if I don’t?”

  “Fighters are like that. They try to discourage other people and they think that’ll increase their own-”

  “Not just them.”

  Katelyn paused, then sighed. “You’ve been looking at the Hub, haven’t you?”

  Tears pushed against Calista’s eyelids. Before she started studying the Student Coaches, she had taken a glimpse at the SociaLights channel. The girls had dyed their hair different colors and showed off how their first day at NYWS went. They did the whole runway contest Calista had been preparing for all these years. She couldn’t help cringing at their attempts at fashion— the only one that looked decent was Elizabeth.

  In the three days classes had been in session, the girls had made sure to tear down Calista’s name and spread the news that she entered Fistborn. The comments from the other students were beyond cruel. They were even taking bets on how fast she’d fail out of the academy.

  Jennifer always hid their fans’ comments from Calista, probably to try and protect her somehow. She always reminded her, though, that once she was independent, she had to take note of all the comments she got, good and bad, for ‘feedback’. If most fans didn’t like her hairstyle, she needed to change it. If most fans didn’t like her fashion choices, she needed to modify it. If most fans thought she didn’t know enough languages, she needed to take some more courses.

  Seeing the kind of ‘feedback’ she was getting now… it hurt and frightened her. A lot of people joked about her dying. Some threatened to go to the school and kill her, others talked about paying a fighter to do so. There were a lot of threats against her family, which worried her. She wasn’t there to protect them with the little fighting knowledge she had. She knew that if anything, SECURE was protecting them, and Katelyn could rig up an extra-deadly security system… but the thought haunted her.

  Was this why Jennifer was so hard on her? She would see these kinds of things every single day. There were times when she was harsher than usual and demanded a perfect pose, smile, and shape with no flaws whatsoever. Was it because of the fans saying those things? Did she think that by making her perfect enough, the threats would stop?

  “I feel like this was a huge mistake,” Calista confessed. “It’s ruining your lives. I’m starting to get why Mom was so mad.”

  “It’s not ruining anyone’s lives,” Katelyn countered. “Your life is only ruined if you let them. And if you’re worried about our safety, we’re fine. No one’s tried to attack us or anything, and Mom reinforced all our security systems. I can’t even hack into it anymore. On the Hub, they’re all talk because no one can see them. Don’t take them seriously.”

  “I don’t know if I can do this. And I’m looking at everything here… it’s all so difficult. I don’t… belong here.”

  “You don’t belong there because other people told you? Because you’re telling yourself? It’s always going to be up to you, Cali. Your life isn’t about other people’s opinions anymore; it’s about yours. If they can’t see the person you really are, then they don’t matter. You’re going there to learn how to be a fighter, not become popular.”

  “I know. I know that, I keep telling myself that. But…”

  A pause stretched between the two sisters. Calista looked at the list of Student Coaches. Whether they admitted it or not, popularity did play into fighters’ lives. It wasn’t just their skills. If they got more of a reaction from Versus fans, they would have a better career. These SCs were all popular, with students dreaming to be in their Guilds… all except Harrison.

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  Katelyn seemed to have the same thought. “Look, Fistborn is just like NYWS, except that they look at fighting skills and not fashion or looks,” she said. “You still have to develop your fighting, so do that. Focus on studying. But do what you usually do— be confident. Don’t care about any of them. When they realize they’re not bothering you, they’re not going to be laughing anymore. It won’t be as fun if they don’t get a reaction from you.”

  “But I can’t fake confidence that well-”

  “Girl, you’ve basically been an actress the past few years. What do you think people like Mom do? They pretend! Every minute of every day. Just fake it.”

  “It’s different here. They don’t…”

  “Trust me, it’s not,” Katelyn insisted. “You feel more confident when people look at you, right?”

  “Yeah, and when they like me… or they don’t like me, but want to be me.”

  Katelyn shuddered. “Spoken like Mom.”

  Calista shrugged. “It’ll be a while until I speak like me… I don’t know how to be me.” The sudden realization hit her like a virus. She’d spent so long worrying about being the ‘her’ that her mother wanted that she’d forgotten what it was like to just be her. From what she remembered, she was a confident person who focused on her goals. It would be a while until she could bring that version of herself back, though.

  “Well, for now, use that. Every fighter has a unique signature. You make yours. If they think it’s weird, then be weird. When they see how confident you are about it, they’ll want it and think it’s… ‘uber-unique’, as you would say. Basic human psychology. Heck, if literal criminals make themselves likeable to Socializers because they have something unique, then anyone can do it.”

  “You think? I really don’t act like any of them. I feel like I should be… I don’t know. Not this,” Calista said.

  “Well, don’t try to be like them. You’re not them. You’re you. If you try to force another personality, they’ll see it and you’ll end up looking ridiculous. Don’t try to be what you’re not.”

  Maybe she was right. Calista needed attention— good attention. She was already conditioned to take that as a sort of fuel for her self-image. If everyone else admired her, even envied her, she could use that as motivation. All she had to do was project confidence and make everyone feel inferior, even if they tried to mock her, just as Jennifer always told her.

  “It’s getting late. You should get to sleep,” Katelyn said. “You start at six in the morning, right?”

  Calista blew out her cheeks. “Don’t remind me. I don’t have bags under my eyes, do I?”

  “Cali.”

  “What? Just asking.”

  “No, you don’t. You have that lotion of yours, anyway. Try to stay healthy, okay? That’s a fighter’s best bonus. And don’t worry about us. Trust me when I say we’re safe. They’re just crazed fans. Eventually, they’ll find someone else’s drama to live off of and they’ll forget about us.”

  Calista nodded. “Okay. Love you, Kate.”

  “Love you, too.” Her hologram disappeared. Calista decided to turn away from her mini study session and get out of bed. It was getting late, but the conversation had given her some inspiration.

  “AIDA, are we allowed to customize our uniforms?”

  “Uniform alteration is permitted under two conditions: that the student complies with their species’ corresponding Appropriate Attire Guidelines according to Fistborn Bylaws and that the uniform retains the academy colors— with the exception of Guild colors— and representational crests, badges, or patches. Color alteration is not permitted.”

  It seemed that Calista had some more homework to do.

  ===

  The AIDA wake-up alarm couldn’t stop Calista from groaning herself awake, despite how soothing it was supposed to be. It would be a long while until her body wouldn’t mind such an ungodly hour. As she sat up, stretching and smoothing her hair, she found herself staring at a Pet hovering over her.

  She screamed and fell out of her capsule, crab-walking away as the Pet followed her. It beeped and two small, blue eyes appeared on a black screen on its face. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you,” it said in a young girl’s voice.

  Calista screamed again, backing away faster. “Relax! Don’t scream so much,” the Pet said.

  The human girl pointed at the flying sphere with a shaky finger. “Y-you talk.”

  “Yeah?” It sounded confused. “You’ve never seen a talking Pet before?”

  “No!”

  “Seriously? Not even on the Versus News? All fighters have one. You should’ve seen us last Versus. I know we’re a bit new, but we were all over the Hub last time-”

  “Okay, okay, stop talking for a sec.” Calista stood. “What are you supposed to be?”

  “Your Pet.”

  “I have a Pet.” She detached her current Pet sphere from her belt and let it hover beside her, its small wings buzzing like a hummingbird’s. “This one.”

  “I’m your Versus Pet,” it explained. “I have all the same functions as a regular Pet, but the special part is that I record and study your fighting patterns. I’ll track every aspect of your style; the way you move, your rhythm, your patterns, favorite weapons, everything. If you get on the team, you get to use me as a weapon. And I’ll keep developing the longer you stay in the competition. I’ll be even better if you get past the preliminaries.”

  “Whoa, okay… slow down.” Calista approached the Pet carefully. It was blue and red with the academy logo on the back. “A Pet with a personality.”

  “Yeah, well, we were basically a gift from Mars. They built us with real artificial intelligence. You humans are so afraid of a takeover that you built… those.” It looked at Calista’s pink Pet, which still hovered silently in place. “At least you made AIDAs. That’s close enough, I guess.”

  “So… you’re my Pet now?”

  “Yup! Everyone in the Versus school has one, and all of you newbies are receiving one today,” it said. “You can name me if you want, or customize me. You can just send your other Pet back home.”

  Calista glanced between the two. “O… kay. Um… AIDA, send my Pet back to my house. I’m keeping my Versus Pet.”

  “Object: Calista Medley’s Pet marked for delivery.”

  “I’ll just attach to your belt. During classes, you’ll want me in rest mode so I can properly study your movements,” it continued.

  “Okay…” She calmed her racing heart, still weirded out by this… new Pet. Versus people got all the good stuff, didn’t they? Socializers never had talking Pets.

  “Are you gonna pick out a name for me?” the Pet asked. “I’ve got a generator if you don’t know-”

  “Ooh!” the human girl exclaimed. “Can I name you Lindsay?”

  “Lindsay?”

  “Lindsay Leigh! She’s Miss Milky Way 2348! She was my mom’s role model. She has one of the biggest Socializer networks in the Hub! She’s amazing. Her style, her talent…”

  She trailed off. The Pet’s eyes stared at her blankly. “Lindsay it is,” it finally said.

  “Hey, I know you’re judging me. If you’re my Pet, you should be more supportive.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Well… I guess I’ll have breakfast in my dorm today. I want to learn more about you before I try to use you anywhere. Don’t need more people wondering why I don’t know anything.”

  ===

  “Hey, Calista. I didn’t see you at-” Belinda stopped short when she reached her in the hallway. “Calista, your uniform…”

  “Yeah. You like it?”

  Belinda gawked at her, completely blindsided by Calista’s sudden confidence and change in fashion. “O-of course, it’s just… wow. You know how to design.”

  “Why, thank you.” Calista’s smile never left her face as they walked down the hall. All of their classmates’ eyes turned to her.

  After breakfast, Calista had gone straight to class with her new formal uniform, which caught everyone’s eye, even the professors’. But the one that she was really excited to show off was her Practicum uniform, which she was now wearing to her Teamwork period.

  She had taken her cue from the ‘cheerleaders’ human schools had in the pre-Utopian Information Age. She’d blended the exercise bra and workout shirt together to make a long-sleeved, blue-and-white midriff top, with red-rimmed letters spelling out ‘Fistborn’ that intermittently changed to a bald eagle— their school mascot. A pair of blue tights with white lines running down the sides completed the set.

  “But don’t you think it’s a bit… exposing? During combat, you don’t want your midriff open to attack,” Belinda pointed out.

  Calista fingered an invisible fabric over her flat stomach, pinching it so it could become visible. It was a thick, transparent material covering her waist, perfect for absorbing impacts.

  “Wha-” The Mearthian girl shook her head. “You’re unbelievable. How’d you come up with this so quickly?”

  Calista flipped her high ponytail. “It was easy.”

  “Sorry, but the Versus doesn’t have cheerleaders,” a girl called, mockingly smiling at her with her friends. “Unless you’re looking for a boyfriend?”

  “Yeah, I’m looking for your boyfriend.” She flirtatiously waved to the boy holding the girl’s hand. The girl’s smile instantly disappeared while her boyfriend snickered. She smacked his arm and stormed off, leaving him to chase after her.

  “You’re a lot more confident than yesterday,” Belinda observed.

  “I figured, people are gonna make fun of me for being so ‘girly’ no matter what, so I might as well own it.”

  Belinda smiled disbelievingly, but seemed to approve. “Well, good luck. You look great. I’ll see you at lunch.” They split away at the crossing hallway; Belinda to her Theory class and Calista to her Practicum.

  She bathed in the attention she got when she entered her Teamwork classroom. Everyone— including the Alpha Guild girls, who were studying under Reilly Campbell— turned to look at her. Calista even saw Harrison Smith and Lílitha Houdge looking at her. If this impressed them, she knew she’d done a great job.

  Once the coaches entered, everyone scrambled to line up, eyes still glancing over to check out Calista’s new look. Most of the males were especially curious. The coaches walked inside and stood across from them. They saw Calista, but didn’t seem to pay her any mind.

  “Good morning, students,” said Coach Tostama. “Today, we will be playing more complicated team games. This time, we will assign teams. It’ll be a more grueling round than usual, so begin your stretches. And stop looking at Miss Medley.”

  The males still gawking at the human girl quickly looked away and stretched. Calista pretended not to notice, contenting herself with a smirk.

  The rest of the school day went well enough. Calista relished in the attention she got from her new uniforms. With the formal uniform, she’d shortened the red skirt by a half-inch and decorated it with a pattern of small, blue stars. She’d gotten rid of the suit jacket and replaced it with a tight blue vest and a red necktie over a white short-sleeved shirt. Her favorite part of the ensemble were the blue leggings and red midcalf boots.

  She knew that this time, her runway strut was perfect. If only her mother could see it.

  This would no doubt confirm any suspicions of her being a Socializer, if there were any. Katelyn was right. If Calista showed she wasn’t bothered by the judgment, they’d probably get bored and look for a different new student to pick on. Ironically, the attention she got helped her focus better in class. Since she wasn’t worrying about how she looked to the other students, or what they were thinking of her, she could fully concentrate on improving.

  At lunch, she strutted right up to the shrinking ‘new student’ table and sat down, not giving a bug whether they wanted her there or not. Lots of the other newbies had found groups of students they felt comfortable with, peeling off to join their tables, but there was a cluster of newbies that made their own group.

  To her surprise, someone soon sat next to her, saying, “Hi.” Calista was a bit startled, leaning away instinctively. The Seeyastian woman’s loud pink skin made it a bit more startling, coupled with her matching pink, long dreadlocks. She looked a few years older than Calista. The most striking detail was her eyes— rhombus-shaped pupils surrounded by purple irises.

  “Hi,” Calista said back, trying to maintain her confident front. She noticed the glowing green patches on her sleeves and the green badge on her lapel. Wasn’t that for Favorites?

  If Calista remembered correctly, the green patches belonged to the Eta Guild— seventh in line, led by Elisa ‘Double-Dutch’ Fiosda. Calista recognized the Paeseoan over at the Student Coach table, her cream-colored hair tied up in a messy bun. She had charmed the masses last Versus by surviving a Chaos Round without fighting anyone, just using her skills in Double-Dutch rope jumping to get through.

  If this girl was Elisa’s Favorite, why the glitch was she talking to Calista, then?

  “I’m Camelithia Courier,” the woman continued, sporting a British cockney accent. “You can call me Cam if that’s a mouthful. Do you mind if I sit here?”

  “N-no, not at all.”

  “Yes, sorry if I was a bit startling. I just couldn’t help noticing your uniform. It’s quite hyped. Did you design it yourself?”

  “Yeah, the AIDA told me I could customize,” Calista said.

  “Right… no one here’s done that before, at least not in the years I’ve been here. It looks great. I should try it.”

  Calista snuck a glance towards the green table, seeing lots of the students there looking towards her and Camelithia. Some were smiling, laughing behind their hands. What made their fellow Guild member want to come over and sit with her? Did they have a falling-out?

  Belinda had said that offending a Favorite student was a social death sentence… or even a literal death sentence. Why would all those students be openly mocking a Favorite?

  “So, you’re one of the newbies, aren’t you?” Camelithia continued, eating her lunch, which was a bowl of what looked like slimy purple slugs. Calista looked away, resisting the urge to gag. That would be pretty rude.

  “Is it that obvious?”

  “Well, no one here has ever dressed like you, and you’re sitting at the newbie table.” Camelithia smiled at the other students, who were also looking at the two, probably admiring the woman’s patches. “How are you all? Camelithia ‘Dropkick’ Courier. Welcome to Fistborn.”

  Some of the students smiled shyly and waved, too flustered to say anything. “Dropkick?” one of them said, gasping. “You were in the 2342 Versus Games, right? You slammed that huge Dnilian into the ground!”

  “A Dnilian?” Calista said. “That’s amazing.” Dnilians were shapeshifters, making them very powerful contenders. To think a Seeyastian beat a Dnilian in such a smashing style was incredible.

  “Oh, it’s nothing,” Cam said with a humble shrug. “All of us are capable of great things. On the team, you impress people one way or another, even if you only last a few rounds. The important thing is that you own it through and through.” She looked at Calista. “You all don’t mind me joining you newbies for dinner later tonight, do you? Oh, and you should give me some tips on uniform design. I’d like a custom outfit myself, but I’m afraid my fashion eye is something I need to work on.”

  “Sure, I’d love to,” Calista said with a genuine smile. It seemed that Katelyn was right. Project enough confidence, and everyone would covet the same thing, no matter how strange.