Different

Emma

I stared as the tiny pebble I had tried to raise, rose into the air. The trouble was so did hundreds of other pebbles in the courtyard in town. I blushed as I saw dozens of people starting at me, so maybe this wasn't the right place to practice. I started when I heard a voice behind me.
"How are you doing that?" I quickly looked for the voice, turning to see a boy maybe a couple years older than me staring at the floating stones. I blushed even more fiercly seeing the awestruck look in his browns eyes as he looked at all the floating stones to me
"Umm I - I -I don't know" I said, silently cursing my cheeks as they got impossibly warmer.
"That's so awesome, you must be pretty powerful" he exclaimed
"T- thanks" I mumbled, still looking down with my cheeks permenatly red it seemed.
"How old are you?" he persisted
"I'm sixteen" I said still quietly enough he took a step closer to hear better
"Sixteen?" he said in a shocked voice
I just nodded my head, not trusting my voice to not stutter.
"Wow I'm twenty and I don't think I could raise that many stones" he said looking behind me
I scrunched my brow, I'd raised alot of stones but not that much, unless....
I turned around and almost groaned out loud. It had happened again. Sometimes my power was to strong, it felt like it was trying to beat it's way out of me. Whenever I was bending and felt an amount of emotion my powers got a little out of control. That was what had happened, while I was talking more and more pebbles had risen without me realising it and now... Almost every stone in the courtyard was floating at eye level and everybody was staring at me. I imedietly dropped the stones not thinking and saw people wince as the multitude of stones hit them on the way down.
"I am so sorry" I gasped, I looked away to survey the damage I had done, and saw eveyone staring at me silently. I started to walk away quickly, everyone started talking as I walked, I could feel their eyes still on me as the looked for bruises and cuts. I could feel my eyes starting to fill with tears as I heard their judging words. I started to run, and I kept running until their words were no longer reaching my ears and the building were few and far between.
***
I could still feel the angry tears running down my face as I slowed down to a walk, but at least I'm alone. Why do I have to mess the simplest things up? Why can't I just be like all the other kids my age? I glared at a boulder, and watched as it rose into the air. Which made me even angrier, so the only logical choice was to throw it as hard and far as I could. I felt my anger sizzle away when it hit a tree and it fell. I hurried over to assess the damage. Bending down to look at the base, I was relieved to see it wasn't completely snapped off, but it was sagging, half off it disconnected from its base. I gently moved the bouder away, to put my hands on the base. Putting all the emotion I was feeling to good use I envisioned the tree mending itself under my warm fingers. When I wasn't so brimming with embarrassment, frustration, or sadness, I pulled my hands away. My eyes still closed and lent my forehead against the tree and breathed in the fresh air. I knew I should have stayed at home to practice, but no, I just had to go to the market place to practice on the little pebbles since all I had around my house was dirt and rocks. Sighing I opened my eyes and they nearly popped out of their sockets, the tree trunk had gotten thicker, alot thicker. I slowly raised my eyes up, and up and up until I reached the top of the tree. With a disgruntled ugh I let myself fall back so that I was lying on the ground. I guess I know what happens when I let my emotions go.

My parents were surprised one day when I was six to come out of the house and see me playing in a patch of flowers that weren't there before. Very few nature benders had the ability to grow and heal plants, and those who did,didn't know until they were in their forties. That's when my parents started to worry about my bending.

When my wallowing was over I got up, dusted myself off and started heading back to my house. I saw it coming up in the distance and the dread started in my stomach when I realized I would have to tell my parents what had happened and imagined their reactions.
I walked through the door to see nobody in the living room, I wandered into the kitchen to see my mom cooking and my dad washing the dishes, my little brother zooming around the room holding up his favourite toy plane. Everyone looked up at my entrance. My mom smiled at me before going back to cooking but my dad used this as an excuse to take a break from washing the dishes.
"Hey honey" he said
"Hey daddy" my response was quiet as usual
"How was town?" he asked casually, trying to stall his washing duty
I had too think about my response
"It was interesting" I replied finally
"Intresting" he reapeated in a questioning voice, eyebrow quirked
"Yep" I said as I hurried toward my room and didn't breath till my door was safely shut.