Briallen Bevin and the Clocktower Guard

Chapter 7: Explosive Envy

The scent of sweat, leather, and hot grass permeated from the racks on the clapboard walls, and the canvas wheeled-carts that sat crookedly nearby. A variety of sports equipment from goggles to knee pads, and all other forms of padded protection, in every house's colors, were haphazardly strewn about the room. Large cauldrons, some brand-new and some covered in rusted holes, were stacked in one corner, while in another corner there were crates labeled with big, bold red letters that read, 'DANGEROUS - EXPLOSIVE QUODS,' on all sides. In the very center were two long, wooden benches where a group of kids were congregated, dressing themselves for the Withers Quodpot team try-outs.

"Hey, toss me a helmet, would you?" Rex Hampton said in Briallen's direction. He sat on a bench across from Briallen. She recognized him from last year's try-outs and as the boyfriend of Grace Daniels, a seventh year Platt whom Briallen despised. Briallen didn't say a word to him as she grabbed a helmet from the canvas cart behind her and tossed it to Rex. She was too concerned with herself to worry about Rex Hampton. Looking around her, she felt as if she were the youngest student trying out for the Withers Quodpot team that year. Everybody else was bigger and taller than her. Although she had practiced with Benjamin every single day for the past two weeks, she was both anxious and scared out of her mind.

She barely even remembered what she'd learned in her classes so far, she was so focused on succeeding at Quodpot. Her current obsession with the game even managed to drive out her preoccupation with the strange weather and noises and notes that seemed to be following her.

"I tried out last year but that damned Lonigan was playing favorites with Pierce and Rowe - you know he only chose them is because of who their fathers are. One's rich and one's famous - oh, real big surprise they're on the team! And I know for a fact that Kishori only made the team because she's pretty and Lonigan was looking for some side action," complained Rex to two very tall, very husky girls standing in front of him. "It didn't even work. He ended up having to downgrade to Ava Hudson. And did you hear she dumped him over the summer? He can't even keep a fatty as a girlfriend! He's such a loser."

Briallen wanted to curse Rex for talking about Conall and Ava like he did. She also wanted to tell Conall on him, but that was a desire she knew she'd never follow through with because it was something she believed a child would do, and this year she wanted to show everybody she was grown up, and was mature enough to handle problems like an adult.

"There are a bunch of slots and only twelve people are trying out this year so you have a better chance... last year there were only those three slots, no subs, and everyone and their mother tried for the team," replied one of the girls, trying, for some unknown reason, to comfort the arrogant fool.

"I'd better get a spot this year, and not as a substitute either. This is my last year and I need some filler on my Auror application."

Briallen snorted at hearing this, incredulous at the thought of Rex Hampton becoming an Auror. Rex looked back at her in mild annoyance, and then continued to ignore her. Briallen pulled on a pair of the thick brown gloves that every player wore just in case the Quod exploded while they still held it. She could barely move her fingers. The entire summer she had been practicing her catching and throwing without gloves, and now that she had them on, and she had limited mobility, she felt like crying because she knew she would play horribly with them on.

"Bevin, right?" Briallen looked up at the girl talking to her. She was tall and a bit chubby with light-brown skin, large round eyes and a very white smile. "You'd do best with some older gloves, if you aren't used to wearing them."

The girl handed Briallen an older pair of gloves with permanent creases due to age and frequent use. Briallen removed the gloves she was wearing and put on the older ones. She was able to flex her fingers in the old pair of gloves much better than in the new pair, but she still didn't have the same flexibility as she did without gloves. She felt a little better, though, knowing that not all of the people trying-out were out to get her.

"Uh, thanks... "

"Mele... I'm Aolani's little sister..."

"Oh, yeah - sorry! I've seen you in the common room a bunch of times. And you're one of Mindy's friends, right?"

"We get along alright, I suppose. Mostly we just do homework together and stuff. I practice with her sometimes and she suggested I try out because, apparently, I've gotten pretty good. I don't know, though. We'll see how it goes. Mindy says you've been training with Ben B. I've seen you both out on the field a lot these past few days."

Briallen sighed and nodded cheerlessly. "I know the game really well, and I'm good at throwing and catching and... and kind of good at moving side to side on my broom, but when it comes to going up and down or doing any sort of fancy maneuvers..."

Rex Hampton smirked at Briallen as he stood up. "If you can't control your broom then there's no way you'll make the team, and that increases my odds. Thanks a bunch, kid." He sarcastically tipped his head to her and walked out of the equipment room with an undeserved swagger.

"I hate him so much. Him and Grace Daniels are made for each other," said Mele venomously. "Hey - let's go get a few laps in before try-outs begin. I'll give you some pointers."

With a nod, Briallen followed Mele out to the pitch. It was the perfect day outside: the sun was shining bright, but not so bright where it would blind, and there was very little breeze, which meant there was no possibility of the wind knocking a broom off course. Also making the day better for Briallen were Marisol and Toby, who sat in the stands along with Ashley, Anthony Boesche, Dax Rieger, and Shane Stanton, who Briallen was sure was only there because Marisol asked him along. They all started hooting and whistling (except for Shane, who waved shyly) as soon as they saw Briallen. Her spirits lifted when she saw them.

Marisol hopped down from the stands, handed Briallen her broom, and said with a laugh, "You might need this, amiga - you forgot it at breakfast this morning! Buena suerte!"

"Thanks," mumbled Briallen, embarrassed that she'd forgotten something so integral to trying out Quodpot. "I definitely need some luck today... look at all these people! They're huge!" Briallen was staring wide-eyed at three incredibly large and intimidating young men standing beside the pitch comparing broomsticks.

"Only because they're all older kids. Looks like you're the only one under fourth year trying out today... but after last year's try-outs, I'm really not surprised. There's still time for you to change your mind and try out for the Quidditch team instead, you know. Luka is a much nicer Captain than Conall."

"Marisol... " said Briallen, warningly, as she mounted her broom. "You know I don't have a snowball's chance in Hell at making the Quidditch team."

"Fine. But you're going to get a lot of ugly bruises playing this game... Hayden will probably find you too disgusting to date afterwards."

Briallen stuck her tongue out at Marisol, and then shakily zoomed over to where Mele was waiting for her. The two girls did a few laps around the pitch, and Mele offered a few of her own tips on how not to plummet uncontrollably to the ground or zoom uncontrollably into the clouds. After a couple of minutes, a whistle sounded and everybody landed to form a line along the fence that wrapped around the pitch. Conall did the same as he had the year before and walked up and down the line of people, looking them over excruciatingly carefully. He stopped briefly in front of Briallen and a boy at the end of the line that she knew to be a fifth year. She wished she could read minds so that she knew what his pause meant for her.

"Everybody in the air! Wannabes against the team!" shouted Conall. Everyone hopped onto their brooms and went straight to the air. They played two whole periods, ending the practice game when halftime would normally begin.

Briallen felt like she played the worst she had ever played. There had been a couple of times when she and Rex Hampton bumped into each other, some times which she knew to be her fault, and others to be his. The Quod had exploded twice in her hands and luckily, since this was only a try-out session, she was not sent to the bench for it. There had been two instances of her nearly crashing into one of the Quidditch posts that were behind the cauldron she was supposed to be throwing the Quod into, and two instances of her falling off her broom, one in which she actually fell into the goal cauldron. The only thing she had managed to do well is miraculously score four points, which was more than anybody else who was trying out had scored. When Conall had them line up against the pitch fence for a final walk through Briallen had a bruised and bloody nose, a mysterious cut on her upper arm, a spasm in her hamstring, and was sweating tremendously.

Conall walked back and forth several times in front of the twelve people who had tried out that day and then went over to his team. They huddled together to make the final decision as to who they would allow on the team. After what seemed like forever to Briallen the huddle broke and Benjamin winked at her. She knew she made it and released a long sigh of relief.

"Well," said Conall as he stood in front of all of them. "We had a lot of good people try out this year. I recognize some of you from last year and I've seen some improvement, but... this try-out still wasn't anywhere near as good as I'd hoped, or expected." He shook his head as if he were ashamed of everybody that had tried-out. "We have five open spaces this year, one which is for a substitute, and all of the decisions were difficult to make so I have just this to say: some of you are incredible lucky that you proved yourself to other members of this team before today because they fought for you."

Conall looked directly at Briallen, who blushed a deep scarlet.

"Enough of the yammering, Big Lonny, tell us who made it!" shouted a voice from the stands. Briallen was fairly sure that it was Dax who had shouted at him, since he was the only one brave enough to shout such a command at Conall or call him 'Big Lonny.' Conall glared at Briallen's friends in the stands.

"The following are the newest members of the Withers Quodpot team!" shouted Conall. "Mele Kanaka! Wendy Polans! Jaser Masri! Rex Hampton! Briallen Bevin!"

Screams of excitement filled the stands behind Briallen as everybody either went to greet friends or left the pitch with their heads down. Benjamin waved to Briallen as Conall took him aside, and the two began conversing in a very businesslike manner.

"You made it! You made it! You made it!" screamed Marisol as she hopped over the pitch fence and embraced Briallen in a tight hug. "I knew you would!"

"Barely," said Dax, patting Briallen heartily on the shoulder. "You heard what Lonigan said. Some of the people on the team had to fight to get you on. That means your going to have to train harder, longer and more than anyone else on the team just so you can prove yourself. Even if you're a sub."

"Dax..." said Ashley in the same sort of tone a mother would use on her child.

"What? I'm just being honest here. You all heard Big Lonny too."

"Briallen, ignore him. You really were good out there, tossing around the Quod and everything. You've got a great arm - it doesn't matter if you're a substitute and not that good on a broomstick."

"That's what I was hoping," said Briallen with a nervous laugh, though she was slightly offended that everyone seemed to be automatically assuming she was the one chosen for the substitute spot. "I really thought I blew it when I fell in the cauldron."

"So did I," said Benjamin who had just joined the group of second years along the pitch fence. "Conall just lectured me, Briallen. He said that I'm going to have to give you extra practices so that you're good enough to play, especially since you and Rex will be sharing a spot on the team. Had that been a real game, you would have been on the bench just five minutes in - you cannot let the Quod explode while you're holding it, Briallen."

Briallen sighed and looked at the ground, ashamed that she had disappointed Benjamin, who had put so much time and effort into helping her. "I know Benjamin. But I won't let you down, I swear - I'll work extra hard to get really good. When's our first game?"

"Three weeks from now and it's against Platt. There's no promising that you'll play though - it's up to Conall whether or not to have you or Rex play, but you still need to practice; that's where you'll prove yourself to him. We have team practices Monday and Wednesday at dawn, and Tuesday and Thursday at sunset, with weekend practices at one on Saturday and Sunday the week before a game. We can have our extra practices on Friday and Saturday nights, after dinner, okay?"

"Alright," said Briallen, nodding with false enthusiasm. She had expected to have less free time if she made the team but actually hearing from Benjamin exactly how much she'd have to practice made her queasy. She would have to really dedicate a lot of effort to improve her skills, especially if she wanted to play and not sit on the bench the entire season.

O * O * O * O

Toby jumped up from his seat in the bleachers and did a silly victory dance when Marisol scored another point. Briallen and Toby, and the rest of their friends, were watching Marisol's try-out for Chaser on the Wenlock Quidditch team that Saturday. They had all promised Dax they would be at the pitch to support him during his Quodpot try-out for Almerick the following day as well. Briallen watched Marisol, resentful of how well her friend could fly. Marisol did several loops in the air to avoid a Bludger and the crowd clapped wildly.

She knew shouldn't be jealous as she watched Marisol steal the Quaffle from one of the Chasers she was playing against. She then performed a complicated pass to another Chaser who then scored yet another point. Marisol had grown up flying brooms, which naturally made her better, but Briallen still wondered why she couldn't catch on, especially with all the effort she put into learning to fly.

At the end of the try-outs, the Captain of Wenlock's Quidditch team announced who would be filling the open positions that they had for Beater and Chaser. When Briallen heard Marisol's name she, like the rest of her friends, stood and cheered for Marisol. Everybody scrambled out of the stands and ran into the pitch so that they could all congratulate Marisol. Briallen gave her friend a big hug.

"Way to go! You were the only choice for Chaser! The others sucked compared to you!" said Briallen happily, hiding her jealousy. "I have to go now, though - I'm supposed to be meeting Hayden at Charlotte's for lunch. Don't party too hard, alright?"

"Of course not," said Marisol, laughing. "And don't you stay out too late with that boy!"

Briallen waved goodbye to everybody before heading to the circular drive where several carriages were parked for students who wished to go to The Village. Briallen stepped inside of the carriage at the front of the line and it began to move immediately. She kept her eyes on the pitch for as long as she could, watching the people still flying around over it, before it disappeared out of her line of sight. The carriage made it to the train station in The Village - the usual drop off point for anyone going to the small town - in record time, which wasn't enough time for Briallen completely bottle up her feelings of envy about Marisol.

Briallen hoped that the walk to Charlotte's, which took her along the lake, in the beautiful weather, would make her feel better, but she still could not shake the feeling of jealousy she had for her best friend. She walked up the steps to the back deck of Charlotte's and spotted Hayden right away. She gave him a smile.

Hayden stood up as soon as he saw Briallen, straightened out his clothes, and kissed her on the cheek before helping her into her chair. Briallen said nothing as the waitress came by and Hayden ordered their usual. He then began to talk about how well BBN (Bring Bergamot News) was doing and how there very well might be a school newspaper by winter break, which was something he was very excited about. Briallen nodded and smiled when she was supposed to, but was not really listening.

"Are you feeling okay?" asked Hayden, concerned, as he reached over the table and took her hand in his. "If this is about the welcoming feast, please say something. I swear I didn't ask your friends to bring it up."

"That's not it, Hayden. I really don't care about that," said Briallen as she pulled her hand away from his and ran it through her bangs. Hayden looked hurt by what she said but Briallen failed to notice. "It's my flying... why am I so bad, no matter how hard I try or practice?"

"Briallen, you made the Quodpot team. That obviously means your good..."

"No, it doesn't, Hayden. Benjamin had to practically beg Conall to let me on the team. I barely made it, and I'm sharing the spot with Rex which means I'll be warming the bench at least half the time. I'm going to have to work my butt off just to stay on the team too because Conall told me he has no problem replacing me at any time. And then... and then Marisol goes to try out for Quidditch this morning, and she was amazing! There was no doubt she'd make the team! I wish I was that good. It's not fair."

"Well, life isn't fair, and I know you know that," Briallen looked up to see Hayden actually glaring at her, which caught her off guard as he had never looked at her with anything other than affection. She suddenly felt as if she wanted to just cry. Her lower lip started to tremble and her eyes grew watery. Hayden's look softened. "Don't cry, Briallen," he whispered as he moved his chair closer to hers. "I didn't mean to be so harsh, really. It's just that, to me, you are so perfect and it makes me angry that you don't see that."

"If I did see myself that way, I'd be just like Grace Daniels, wouldn't I? And I'm not crying because I thought you were mean, but because what you said is true. Life isn't fair and I hate it. And I hate that I'm jealous of my best friend. It's not right."

Hayden rubbed her back soothingly. "I know something that will help you relax: meditation. I'll show you later this afternoon how to do it, okay?"

Briallen wiped her eyes and nodded just as the waitress appeared with their food. "You doing okay, sweetie?" asked the waitress as she looked kindly at Briallen, and then suspiciously at Hayden.

"I'm good, thanks," explained Briallen. "I'm just having a bad day."

In the distance, Bergamot's clock-tower struck noon.