Page 8 of Fire Dancing For Icey Dragons (Obscure Academy #15)

ZARA

I'm surprisingly nervous as I approach the campfire, which is definitely more of a bonfire considering how tall it is. I suppose that makes sense when there's at least one dragon involved in the set-up.

"Why are we invited again?" Yuri asks me as we approach.

I shrug. "Blaze said we should come."

"Blaze as in the guy you flirted with a bit when he came to teach us fire dancing?"

"I wasn't flirting," I mutter.

"Yeah, you were. And I haven't seen you do that since you became the captain. Why do you think I'm coming with you tonight?" She bumps her shoulder against mine.

"Maybe because you don't want me to get murdered by the fire dancing team or something like that," I respond.

"You do have the look of a sacrifice about you," Yuri jokes. "Hopefully they won't throw me onto the fire after you."

"Ha ha."

"I'm serious, I'm not fireproof," Yuri responds.

There are several people around the fire, reassuring me that this is some kind of friendly group hangout situation rather than just me, Yuri, and Blaze. Maybe I should have checked better about what to expect.

He notices us coming and gets to his feet, heading in our direction. "You came."

"I did," I respond. "This is Yuri, you might remember her from the fire dancing lesson you gave us."

"I think we met," Yuri says. "I should go introduce myself to your friends."

Blaze raises an eyebrow. "She's just going to leave us alone?"

"She seems to think I'm flirting with you," I respond.

"Aren't you?"

I consider denying it, but that would defeat the point of coming here. "A little bit."

"Then let's ignore my friends and find a good spot," he says.

"Good, because I don't want anyone to see what I've got." I pull a crinkly bag of marshmallows out of my bag.

Blaze chuckles. "The cheerleader who eats toasted marshmallows."

"Oh, not just marshmallows." I hand the packet to him and pull out a packet of chocolate digestives. "S'mores."

"Are they s'mores if the chocolate is already attached to the biscuit?" He guides me over to where a blanket is sitting a little further away from the closest one. That seems normal, and there are a few clusters of people around the fire, with Yuri having attached herself to a group of five who seem to be passing around a bottle of some kind.

"It's less messy with the chocolate like this," I tell him.

"Ah, but mess is part of the fun."

I take a seat on the blanket and stretch out my legs, enjoying the warmth of the fire. Blaze sits down beside me, the firelight illuminating his face. He puts the marshmallows down between us and picks up a couple of sticks, peeling off the bark so we can use them to toast the marshmallows.

"I have to admit, I don't think I expected you to do anything as messy as this," Blaze says as he shoves one of the marshmallows onto a stick.

I shrug. "I do know how to have fun." I hold my marshmallow out into the flames.

"You're going to set it on fire, aren't you?" he asks.

"Of course. I'm a dragon." As if planned, my marshmallow bursts into flames. I hold it for a moment and then pull it back from the fire, watching as the outside of it chars and blackens. "And it creates the perfect gooeyness of marshmallow inside. Would you hold it for a moment?" I hand it over when he nods.

I undo the top of the digestive packet and pull out two of the biscuits, balancing them on his knee before taking two more for myself. I take back my marshmallow and place it at the centre of the biscuit. I squish it down with the other digestive and pull the stick out. My mouth waters at the sight of the chocolate melting and the hot gooey mess within.

I take a bite and let out a small moan of enjoyment. It's been so long since I've had something this good, especially because it breaks from my strict competition diet. But it's worth it.

Blaze looks at me with an amused smile on his face. "Good?"

"You know it. This is the best part of being at a campfire. When I was small, my parents used to have them all the time in the back garden. Dad would always want to make s'mores with me, while Mum would want to make baked bananas."

"I don't think I've ever had one."

"Oh, it's a banana with chocolate inside it. You wrap it up in foil and throw it into the fire. It's really tasty." Maybe I should have brought some bananas with me to do, but I thought that might be too much.

"It sounds it."

"Though my favourite is cake in an orange. You make the mix, put it in a hollowed-out orange," I say.

"I hope it's chocolate cake."

"Oh, yes. Absolutely." I take another bite of my s'more. It's cooled down a little bit, but it's still a sticky mess.

"My brother used to try and bake bread on a fire," Blaze says. "But he was never patient enough so it almost always ended up too crispy on the outside but still raw."

I laugh. "Why didn't he just use his own breath to cook it?"

"That's why it was always charred on the outside but raw inside," Blaze responds. "Do you still have fires with your family?"

"Once a year," I respond, a hint of pain starting to grow within me.

"Christmas? Or your birthday?"

I swallow hard. "The anniversary of Mum's death." Tears prick at the corners of my eyes.

"Oh, Zara, I'm so sorry."

I sniff and wipe away the threat of tears. "No need to be sorry. You didn't even know she was dead."

"I can still be sorry."

"It was hard at first," I say. "But I think that's one of the reasons that I'm so determined to win the cheer competition. It makes me feel close to her to be able to compete, especially as the captain."

"And that's why you're going to," he says softly.

"I hope so." I look into the fire and sigh. "I'm sorry, this got very serious very fast."

"S'mores have a tendency of doing that," Blaze says. "You think that it's all going to be fun and sweetness, but really, it's just a gateway to talking about your feelings."

I laugh. "Or apparently, it is for me, you're not the one who is spilling their guts."

"I don't really have anything like that to spill about," Blaze responds, picking another marshmallow out of the packet and holding it out to me.

I take it from him, my fingers brushing against his as I do. Tingles travel through me and I realise that I don't mind him seeing a more vulnerable side to me than most people do.

He sticks his marshmallow into the fire. "My parents are both fine, though my dad can be hard on me. He's tough on everyone."

"Like trying to get you to join a team here at the academy?"

"Mmm. He doesn't particularly like that I want to be an artist."

"Oh? What kind?" I ask.

"I'm still figuring that out," Blaze admits. "I love drawing, but I've recently started working on some sculpting and I'm really enjoying that. I know I'm probably going to have to get a different job when I leave the academy and be more realistic."

"That doesn't mean that you should give up on your dream, though," I point out. "You can work on being an artist at the same time as working another job," I say, not seeing any issues with that, especially if it's what he wants from his life.

"True. What do you want to do after you graduate?"

"Coach cheerleading."

He raises an eyebrow. "I don't know if you're being serious or not."

"I am. I love it. Not just because my mum was a cheerleader, it's just that I've never been happier than when I'm doing it. I'm not naive enough to think that there's much of a career for me competing professionally, but coaching? I can do that for the rest of my life. I'm hoping to work with kids. Seeing their faces light up when they get their first trophy, that kind of thing."

"So everyone's opinions of you are completely wrong," he says. "You've really got a soft heart."

I shrug. "I don't know about that. I can be hard on the team, but it's just because I want what's best for them. And it's not like most of them haven't already come from a competitive cheer background, they know what to expect."

"Do you pick them based on that?"

"Oh no, definitely not. But very few people even think about trying out if they don't have a good reason for it."

"That makes sense," Blaze responds. "We have some people try out for the Fire Tumblers who are just wanting to have some fun, but most of the people who stick around used to do some kind of gymnastics or dance."

"Except you?"

"Yeah, I'm the outlier. But I stuck with it." He finishes the rest of his s'more.

"I'm glad. You're really good at it."

"Thanks, I'm glad you think so."

We lapse into silence, cooking another couple of s'mores and enjoying the crackle of the fire. It's warm and inviting, and makes me want to lean my head against Blaze's shoulder and just watch the flames dance, even if there's no way we're anywhere near that stage of whatever it is between us.

I sigh and wrap my arms around my legs. My neck cracks even as I get myself into position.

"Was that you?" Blaze asks.

"Yeah, it's been a while since I shifted, my body has been protesting lately."

"Want to change that?" he asks, a twinkle in his eyes.

"We can't shift here," I respond.

"No, but I know somewhere we can." He gets up and holds out his hand. I consider for a moment, realising that I want to go with him, and not just because I want to shift.

"Okay, but I need to check with Yuri though." I can't just abandon her, especially not to run off with a guy, though I don't imagine that she's going to have much of a problem with it, especially when she's already thinking of me as flirting with Blaze.

"Sure." He smiles and I realise that he's not trying to trick me or do anything like that. Especially if I tell her that I need to stretch my wings.