“Caballero! No flying!”

“I’ll go back!”

Soledad kept a strong grip on Terra’s waist as she descended the final zipline; the second her legs could touch the ground, she collapsed in a trembling heap. Sol picked her up and scooted her to the side just in time for Chika to careen in, and then she took flight to get back to the platform.

Chika dropped to a crouch next to her, ignoring her hip screaming in protest. “Hey, it’s over, it’s over,” she reassured. “You did it. It’s done.”

“I’m not meant to be that high up,” she whimpered.

Soledad skidded to a stop, kicking up dust where she dug her heels into the dirt. “And… time! We finished!”

She looked to Professor Cohen with a grin. Their teacher held her glare for a beat before finally clicking the stopwatch.

A heavy silence fell.

Biting her lip, Soledad rocked on the balls of her feet. “Sooo… How’d we do?”

“You set a record.”

Chika frowned and looked up. “Uh… Sorry, what?” she replied. “There is absolutely no way that was faster than anyone today.”

A few feet away, and with her head in her hands, Adela groaned. “That would be because it wasn’t the record for the best time.”

All three of them winced.

Professor Cohen put her hands on her hips and stared them down. “In all my 43 years of teaching, I have never, not once, seen a team take so long to finish this course. A team with a fish tailed kid, half paralyzed kid, and the delay of a dissociative spell finished faster than you.”

Face flushing, Soledad rubbed the back of her neck. “Surely… Surely, that can’t be true.”

“I sent everyone to their next class. Late.”

It was only then that they realized how silent it had been for the last… while. They looked around to see the field empty aside from them.

Sighing deeply, Professor Cohen rubbed a hand over her face and walked over to them. “Beste.”

She flinched and covered her mouth.

“Lord knows why Dr. Lani decided to make you a team leader,” Cohen continued. “But you’re in the role now, whether you like it or not. You’ve got a whole team depending on you to be the best of them. This performance of yours today was pathetic.”

Chika and Soledad glared.

“I don’t care that you’ve just been appointed, and I don’t care if you were about to wet that pretty little skirt of yours up there. That was unacceptable. If your weaknesses are going to hold your team back this much, you won’t be passing this class.”

Adela stormed over to them. “You can’t let your fear control you like that,” she snapped. “If you do that when we’re in the field, no one’s going to be able to help you. You’ll get yourself killed—or worse, one of us.”

Cohen turned to her. “Well, it looks like she won’t be getting any help from you, either, hm?”

She froze. “I-I don’t know what you—”

“Their time might have been god awful, but don’t think you’re off the hook just because you finished fifteen minutes ahead of them,” she snapped. “You left your teammates in the dust, Kariuki, only worrying about you and your score. Miss Caballero and Gao-Aiza might have been at each other’s throats the entire time—” She shot them a sharp look. “—But they at least didn’t abandon their team.”

Adela lowered her head, fidgeting with her necklace.

Professor Cohen turned to stare everyone down. “You are a mess,” she declared. “God help anyone that needs you to help them, because nothing is getting done with this disaster of a team. You’d better get your asses to work, and I’d better see some improvement next class.”

With that, she turned on her heel and walked back towards the main campus, leaving Team Prevail with their heads hung.

“That… could have gone better,” Soledad mumbled.

“No shit.” Chika got to her feet and glared at her. “We could have been faster if you’d let me take the lead.”

“Guys…,” Terra wearily attempted.

“You are not seriously picking a fight right now,” Soledad said.

“Did you not hear a word she said?” Adela huffed. “The time was abysmal, but it wasn’t the problem.”

Soledad laughed. “Right! The problem was lack of teamwork. How was your time, by the way?”

“I made a mistake. I acknowledge it. I’ll do better next time.”

Terra’s shoulders sagged. “Guys.”

“How many more ‘mistakes’ are there going to be?” Chika countered. “How much more are you going to leave us to do while you run off on your own?”

“I said I’ll do better!” Adela exclaimed.

As the argument continued around her, Terra pulled her glasses off and buried her face in her hands.

Things were not going to be okay.