𝑺𝑷𝑬𝑳𝑳𝑩𝑶𝑼𝑵𝑫 | 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡

𝐶𝐻𝐴𝑃𝑇𝐸𝑅 𝐼𝐼𝐼

Lorelei closed her eyes, her hands resting at her sides to sense the energies around her. Her fingers tingled from the wind caressing through them. The energy of the wind felt joyous and free, full of possibility. A smile grew on her face as her energy merged with the wind. She stood at the ready and resumed her training, her kicks swifter and as a result stronger.

'Thank you,' Lorelei said, a genuine hint of gratitude lingering in her voice. 'For what you taught, but also for allowing me into your group for today.' She moved closer to Bree, mimicking what she'd seen other girls do when they chatted together. 'I didn't want to say this earlier. . . but I have a hard time making friends and you seem so nice.'

Bree looked at her with a pout, as she remembered all the times she tried to make friends but was shut out. Or the times people had pretended to be her friends, just to poke fun of her behind her back and embarrass her later on.

'Well,' she began and smiled so bright, it made her shine in the light of the TLCs. 'You've made at least one friend today.' Feeling the excited bubble of having made another friend, she went on to pull Lorelei in an embrace, which the latter couldn't appreciate.

Being hugged for the first time felt weird to Lorelei. She wasn't used to having anyone so close to her in anything other than a fight. There was something simultaneously warming and off putting about it. She wondered what a hug of her father would've felt like. Would it have been nice to be hugged by her father? She wasn't quite sure. Nor would she ever know.

Hatred burnt in her heart again as she let go of Bree and smiled as happily and sillily as she could. 'I couldn't have asked for a better friend,' she said.

'Lorelei,' Chase's voice boomed through the training area. 'There you are. I've been worried about you not showing up today. What are you doing here?'

Bree and Lorelei exchanged a quick glance, as the latter made herself a bit smaller. She shyly brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, to appear as helpless as she could. The less of a threat she seemed to be, the less attention he would pay her. 'I thought it would be a good idea to mix the training a bit. See if I can learn something from Bree and I did,' she explained.

'Next time you decide to skip my class, you should come talk to me first,' he said, though his anger had lessened. He rubbed his forehead in irritation and pinched the bridge of his nose. 'I could still squeeze in a short solo class just so you're up to speed.'

Lorelei swallowed, but nodded nonetheless, trying to seem as thankful as she could. A one-on-one lesson with Chase was the last thing she wanted to happen. With Bree she could make excuses that they didn't possess the same abilities and she didn't think Adam would notice her ability wasn't the same as Chase's.

However, this was Chase's field of expertise. Hidden within a group of others, she wasn't noticeable, but now she would be all there was to focus on. She shakily walked after him and quickly turned her head to Bree. She realized how she wasn't hiding her nervousness and Bree had surely noticed. She hid her face, pretending it was flushed with nerves.

He led them into a private training booth and took his tablet. 'We worked on the laser bo's today,' he said and typed down a couple of things. 'Since you remember only two abilities, you can take classes from Bree and Adam that aren't focused on abilities when I focus on an ability you don't possess.'

Lorelei quietly nodded, rather surprised that he was more lenient than she'd expected him to be. 'Sorry, I'll talk to you first next time,' she apologized, though she almost gagged from the fact she had to apologize to him, remembering what he'd done to her.

'It's okay,' he said and flashed her a soft smile. 'Now, onto the lesson. Let's start simple with a few targets that will fly around you that you'll have to hit.' He pushed a few buttons on his tablet, which changed the room in an instant. Round targets were flying around Lorelei as annoying moths attracted to a flame.

Lorelei rubbed her hands together and created an electric staff into her hands. Its electric energy flowed through Lorelei's veins as she swung and bore it against the targets. She had to twist and turn and jump and duck. Saying it was a simple exercise was a big understatement to say the least.

Chase allowed her a break as he documented her progress. 'You're doing well,' he said. He drank some water, though as he tried to put down his glass, he spilled water all over his tablet. It glitched, transforming the room in seconds. The targets flew everywhere, the walls, ceiling and floor moving uncontrollably.

Chase fell forwards and bumped into Lorelei, as the two crashed into the wall. They heaved to try and breathe in the air that was knocked out of them. Lorelei shielded them from the targets with her staff, swinging so aggressively that she broke them.

'We have to get to the tablet and break it,' Chase said as he manipulated the targets away from them. His eyes shot all over the room to see the tablet on the other side of the room. 'Of course.'

'I'll get rid of the targets, you find your way to the tablet,' Lorelei grunted as she broke another target.

She jumped onto a moving platform of the floor with Chase following suit. His hands rested on her waist to keep them both more well-balanced. Heat flushed her cheeks in both anger and fluster. Her staff flung against the targets as she felt Chase's grip on her tighten. His warm breath tingled on her neck, his finger slowly sinking into her soft skin.

She got distracted by his touch and didn't see an oncoming target heading her way. Chase created a force field around them before the target harshly crashed into it and startled Lorelei.

'Don't worry, I got you,' he reassured her.

Lorelei nodded and composed herself again. She let go off her staff with one hand, continuing to swing it with the other, as she lowered her other hand towards the ground. She manipulated their panel to move forwards, to where the tablet was.

When they were close enough, Chase used his magnetic app to pull the tablet towards him. With another strong swing, Lorelei split the tablet into two with her electric staff. The panel on which they stood came to a halt as the whole room seemed to have suddenly died.

Chase glanced around the room, to the mess he'd made and his precious tablet shattered on the ground. He cleared his throat and let go of Lorelei, as he stepped away from her. 'I'm really sorry, Lorelei,' he apologized and scratched the back of his neck.

'Accidents happen,' Lorelei replied a little out of breath by the whole ordeal.

'After what just happened, I want to promote you to expert level. You've shown me that you're willing to fix accidents that you didn't cause and even took a bit of leadership to plan a strategy. I'll talk to Mr Davenport about it,' he said, the lingering of guilt stringing along in his words. 'Thank you, Lorelei.'

'It's no big deal, Chase,' Lorelei said and looked up when another bell rang to indicate it was time for lunch.

'You should go eat and rest up the remainder of the afternoon,' he told her as he knelt down to retrieve the two broken pieces of tablet. Lorelei left the room content that she didn't have to attend class for the afternoon. She had no idea about the boy that stared her way until she'd left out of sight. . .

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