After many weeks of waiting and training, the big day finally arrived. It was tryout day for the women’s soccer team The Warriors. But The Warriors aren't just any other team. They are the best ranked women's soccer team in the league. They have won the WildLands championships the past three years in a row.

  William drove Sarah up to the stadium. Even though it was early in the morning, there was already a long line of women wanting to try out for the team. William looked over at Sarah, who was clenching her gym bag. “Are you nervous?” He asked.

  “Oh no, I’m just about to compete against hundreds of other women for a chance to live my dream and py for the best soccer team in the WildLands. No pressure.”

  William gently rubbed Sarah’s back. “Sarah, please take a deep breath and calm down. You have been training your ass off for weeks for this. You have come this far, you can go farther. I believe in you.”

  Sarah took a deep breath and smiled. “That was a pretty sappy speech, you know that?”

  William just shrugged his shoulders. “Hey, I never said that motivational speaking was one of my strengths.”

  Sarah kissed William on the cheek. “Well thanks. It’s the thought that counts.” Sarah then got out of the car. “I’ll call you when the tryouts are over. Good news or not.”

  “You’ve got this!” William called out as Sarah took her pce in line. As the line moved, Sarah could see more and more women leaving the stadium. A few were excited and happy, but the majority were crying their eyes out.

  When Sarah reached the front of the line, there was a table with a female zebra sitting at it. She had a clipboard and a stack of name tag stickers with her. “Next!” She called out. Sarah approached the table.

  “Name?” The zebra asked.

  “Sarah FoxTail.” Sarah replied.

  The zebra wrote down Sarah’s name on a name tag and gave it to her. After putting it on her shirt, the zebra gave Sarah the clipboard. “Please fill out all of the information boxes.” The zebra said.

  The questions were typical. Name, address, phone number, pce of work, etc. Once Sarah was done she handed the clipboard back to the zebra. The zebra then directed Sarah to the tryout field, which was adjacent to the stadium.

  The tryout field only had a certain number of recruits on it at a given time. The other women all had to wait their turns by the side of the field. Sarah set her gym bag on a bench and started doing some stretches when she was approached by a jackal with long bck hair.

  “Quite the turnout for the team tryouts.” The jackal said.

  “Yeah, but I’m not worried. I’ve been preparing for this ever since I was a child.” Sarah said while still stretching.

  The jackal smirked and extended her hand. “The names Lisa. Lisa DarkCw.”

  Sarah shook Lisa’s hand. “Sarah FoxTail.”

  Lisa strengthened her grip on Sarah’s hand. “Listen, I don’t care how long you have been training. There are only a few spots avaible on this team, and one of them is mine. Understand?” Lisa then let go of Sarah’s hand and walked away.

  “Fucking bitch.” Sarah said under her breath as she rubbed her hand. Eventually Sarah and a bunch of other women were called onto the field for tryouts. Unfortunately, Lisa was part of the group. As Sarah and the others made their way onto the field, they ran past the previous group who were all in tears. “This must be tougher than I thought.” Sarah thought to herself.

  Sarah and the others all lined up in front of the coach of The Warriors, a female deer with short blonde hair. “Listen up dies! I will NOT repeat myself. My name is Coach Hooves. I have been the coach of The Warriors for the st ten years. Over the past three years, we have won the WildLands championship. I say WE because there is no I in the word team. If any of you is a primadonna looking for fame and fortune, get off of this field right now!”

  None of the women left the field. “Alright, we will begin with some practice drills. Let’s start with some goaltending.” Coach Hooves approached Sarah and read her name tag. “FoxTail, you’re up first.”

  Sarah made her way to the front of the soccer goal. “Okay Sarah, you can do this.” She thought to herself. As Sarah was getting ready to block the ball from getting into the goal, Coach Hooves chose Lisa DarkCw to be the one to try and score the goal.

  Lisa looked at Sarah with a sinister smile. Sarah took a deep breath and readied herself. Lisa ran up and kicked the soccer ball as hard as she could. For Sarah, time stood still. It was like she could see the ball moving in slow motion as it flew through the air towards her. Sarah could see that the ball was about to go over her head, so she jumped up and grabbed it.

  The next thing Sarah knew she was on the ground, holding the ball tightly to her chest. Coach Hooves blew her whistle. “Good hustle FoxTail. DarkCw, it’s your turn to be a goalkeeper. FoxTail will try to get by you.”

  As Sarah and Lisa went to trade pces, Lisa bumped Sarah with her shoulder and whispered to her “You got lucky.” Sarah shook it off and readied herself to kick the ball. Lisa took a defensive stance and stared down Sarah. Sarah faked that she was going to kick the ball to the left, but then she kicked it to the right. Lisa however was ready for this, and adjusted her body at the st second to catch the ball.

  Coach Hooves blew her whistle again. “Good work DarkCw. Okay, who’s next?” Sarah and Lisa eyed each other as they made way for the other pyers. They both knew that it was going to be a long day.

  More practice drills were conducted throughout the day. Coach Hooves behaved more like a drill sergeant than a soccer coach. Many of the women who signed up for tryouts were either kicked out by Coach Hooves for not having what it took to make the team, or they dropped out because they couldn’t take the pressure.

  By the end of the practice drills only a handful of recruits remained, including Sarah and Lisa. Coach Hooves blew her whistle. “Okay dies, gather around. It’s been a long day and out of all the women who came here today to try out you were the ones who showed the most grit, determination, and above all else heart. Congratutions, you are officially members of The Warriors. Now before you start celebrating, just know that this means you’re on the reserve squad. If a member of the starting team can’t py, then you will take their pce. Dismissed.”

  Sarah was on cloud nine. Her dream had finally come true. She rushed over to her gym bag as fast as she could and took out her phone. She immediately called William.

  “William guess what?”

  “What?”

  “I did it! I made the team!”

  “Holy crap! That’s incredible! I’m so proud of you! We have to celebrate. How about dinner tonight at the best restaurant in the capital.”

  “That sounds great! Can my friends Rachel and Becky come too?”

  “Sure! The more the merrier. I’ll make the reservation and then pick you up from the stadium, okay?”

  “Okay. Love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  Sarah hung up her phone and put it back in her gym bag. She was so happy that she had achieved her dream that she began to cry tears of joy. It was at that moment that Lisa approached her.

  “Foxtail, are you crying? What are you, some kind of wimp?”

  Sarah wiped the tears from her eyes. “These are tears of joy. I have them because I am happy that I made the team. There is nothing wrong with showing some emotion.”

  Lisa pointed a finger at Sarah. “Listen, we may be on the same team but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Just py the game and stay out of my way.”

  Lisa then marched away. Sarah could tell that Lisa was going to a thorn in her side, but she wasn’t going to let Lisa stop her from living her dream.

  William picked up Sarah from the stadium and dropped her off at Rachel’s apartment so that she could get ready for the big celebration that night. Sarah told Rachel the good news and Rachel was very proud of her. Rachel was also impressed that William could get all of them a table at the fanciest restaurant in the capital. After taking a much needed shower, Sarah put on the sexy dress that she got when she first arrived in the WildLands. It was a strapless bck dress with a matching purse and a slit up the side that showed a little bit of leg.

  When Sarah was ready she headed down to the front of the build to wait for William. Rachel and Becky were already there, with Rachel wearing a red dress and Becky wearing a pink dress with a single strap over the left shoulder that had a pink rose on it.

  After William pulled up in his car he got out to open the doors for Sarah, Rachel, and Becky. William wore a three piece suit, complete with bck jacket, white shirt, bck tie, bck pants, and cufflinks. William’s breath was taken away as soon as he saw Sarah.

  “Whoa. You look amazing!”

  Sarah couldn’t help but ugh. “Thanks. You look really good too, my sharp dressed man.”

  After everyone had gotten into the car, William began the drive to the restaurant. “So, where are we going?” Becky asked.

  “Only the fanciest restaurant in the capital. The Aura.” William said.

  Becky’s eyes went wide. “Shut up! The Aura! It takes weeks, sometimes months to reserve a table there. How did you get one in a day?”

  “I just so happen to be friends with the head chef, and he owes me a favor.” William said with a smirk.

  The Aura is the fanciest, most exclusive restaurant in the capital. It is a revolving restaurant that is located at the halfway point in the mile high tower in the center of the capital. William pulled up to the tower, and after everyone got out a valet took his car to be parked. The group then entered the tower, with William and Sarah walking hand in hand.

  After taking a series of elevators and escators, the group finally made it up to the Aura. William approached the matradee. “WhiteFang, party of four please.” The matradee found their reservation and led them to their private dining room. William, Sarah, Rachel, and Becky were blown away by the room. It had LED screens all along the walls and ceiling that changed scenes to represent the different ndscapes of the WildLands, from forest and oceans to deserts and snow capped mountains. Then there was the view of the entire capital that could be seen thanks to the restaurant's rotation.

  Sarah sat at the head of the table, while William sat on the left side and Rachel and Becky sat on the right side. The Matradee told them that their waitress would be with them soon.

  Rachel looked around and let out a loud whistle sound. “I heard that this pce was fancy, but this is ridiculous!”

  Sarah looked over at William. “William, are you sure you can afford this?”

  William smiled and gently held Sarah’s hand. “Don’t worry about it. Besides owing me a favor, the head chef also promised me a discount.” William then raised his gss of water. “A toast, to the newest member of The Warriors, Sarah FoxTail!”

  “To Sarah!” Rachel and Becky cheered as they all clinked their gsses. At that moment the waitress came in with their menus. She was a squirrel who acted pretty shy. Sarah took one look at her face, and her jaw practically dropped to the floor.

  “Holy shit! Naomi?!”

  Naomi adjusted her gsses. “Sarah, is that you?”

  Sarah got up from her seat at the table and rushed over to Naomi, embracing her in a huge hug. “Naomi, what are you doing here? Is Casey here with you?”

  William was curious, so he got up and walked over. “Sarah, do you know this woman?”

  Sarah felt really embarrassed. “Sorry about that. Everyone, this is my friend Naomi from the human world. Naomi, these are my friends Rachel and Becky. And this is my boyfriend William.”

  William smiled and shook Naomi’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  Naomi nervously returned the handshake. “It’s nice to meet you, too”

  Rachel and Becky also walked over and introduced themselves. “So Naomi, how long have you been in the WildLands?” Sarah asked.

  “Well, it all started the day we went camping. I headed back to the campsite when you said that you needed some time alone. But when night time came and you still hadn’t come back, Casey and I became really worried about you. I decided to go out and look for you while Casey called the ranger station for help. I searched until I found this cave with a sweet smelling flower in it. I sniffed it, and the next thing I knew I was in this strange forest and I was a squirrel.”

  Rachel then spoke up. “Let me guess, an agent from the central processing office found you, took you into the capital, made you wait a long ass time to be processed, and then gave you a new st name and job working here as a waitress?”

  Naomi was shocked at how accurate Rachel was. “How did you know all of that?”

  “The same thing happened to me and Sarah. So, what new st name were you given to help fit in with society?” Rachel asked.

  Naomi made a nervous cough. “Um, my st name is now…Fluff.”

  Becky squeed with excitement. “OMG! That name is so cute! And it matches your tail perfectly!”

  Naomi didn’t know what to think. “Um, thanks?”

  Sarah just giggled. “Don’t mind Becky, that’s just her personality. You get used to it. So why don’t you join us? We have so much to catch up on.”

  “I would love to, but I have other tables to wait on. Maybe this weekend when I have some off time?”

  Sarah smiled. “That sounds great.” Sarah, William, Rachel, and Becky all returned to their seats. Naomi told them she would be right back to take down their orders. Sarah picked up her menu and looked it over. “You seem to know this pce the best, William. What do you recommend?”

  “Well since this is a big celebration, I recommend the chef’s special. It’s a pnt based brisket made with rare spices and served with a perfectly aged red wine.”

  “Sounds excellent. I’ll take it.” Sarah said as she set down her menu.

  “I’ll have the same.” Rachel said.

  Becky set down her menu. “So will I.”

  Naomi came back into the room. “Are all of you ready to order?”

  “Yes, we will have four chef’s specials please.” William said.

  “Great choice.” Naomi collected all of their menus. “I’ll be back soon with your wine.” Naomi soon returned with their wine. She uncorked it and poured some into each of their gsses. WIlliam sniffed his wine and then took a sip and swirled it around his mouth.

  “Hmm. Dry, with hints of oak, cherry, and a nice buttery aftertaste.”

  Sarah was impressed. “I didn’t know you were an expert on wines.”

  William simply smiled. “Oh no, my dad is the true expert. Everything I know I learned from him.”

  Sarah was about to drink her wine when she stopped. “Ugh, there’s some cork in my wine.”

  “No, no, no, that’s a good thing.” William said. “A bit of cork in your wine is a sign of good luck.”

  ‘Impressive.” Sarah said as she reached over and held William’s hand.

  Rachel rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Get a room you two.” She said under her breath. Becky couldn’t help but watch. She thought the whole thing was adorable.

  The food arrived and Sarah took a bite. She honestly could not tell the difference between real brisket and the pnt based alternative that she was being served. Once everyone was finished they had chocote mousse for dessert. Before they left Sarah wanted to give Naomi a tip, but Naomi said a tip wasn’t necessary because she received full pay at her job in the WildLands.

  After driving Sarah, Rachel, and Becky back to Rachel’s apartment William opened the car doors for them again. After getting out of the car Sarah embraced William and kissed him passionately. “Thanks for the night out, stud.” She then turned and brushed his face with her tail.

  When Sarah got back to her room she colpsed on the bed and reflected on her day. She had achieved her dream of making it onto a major league soccer team, She had made an enemy in Lisa DarkCw, and she had been reunited with her friend Naomi. A lot had definitely happened today, and she wouldn’t change it for the world.