Nothing Burns Like the Cold (Phan)

Chapter Two

Dan scoffed, giving him a hard glare. "Just mind your own business, Lester." He gave Principal Glickstern a cold look before stalking off, shouldering through the throng of students until he was out of sight.

The principal's lips were set in a hard line, his eyes beady and cool. He finally let out an exasperated sigh, wiping invisible dust from his overcoat jacket. "So be it," he muttered. "Since Howell refuses to have you put into the dangerous ability class, you will be placed into the special ability. They reside in classroom 210 and will teach you how to have a better handle on your powers when you arrive." His eyes looked over Phil once more, a glance of pure ice. "Good day, Philip."

Phil cringed at the use of his full name but bid him a good day as well, sighing. He didn't understand what he did to make Dan hate him so much, but from the looks of it, Dan was like this to everyone. Although, he did seem a bit odd back there. Sort of like a kid defending his favourite stuffed animal. It made Phil's stomach twist uncomfortably, and he couldn't help but wonder if there was a reason other than hate for why Dan didn't want Phil in there.

Recollections of the other students saying how Dan was a special ops agent for the academy went through his mind. Immediately, he shrugged it off. Dan would never let something like that happen.

Right?

The special ability class welcomed Phil with open arms and bright smiles. He was immediately crushed into a group hug that left him gasping for breath and giggling despite his lack of air.

"Welcome, Phil!" They chimed, beginning their own introductions. There was a blonde American named Tyler, a girl with silver hair named Cat, and a girl with blonde and pink hair named Louise. So many people came up and introduced themselves that Phil couldn't even keep track of them.

That was when he saw a guy with curly brown hair, sitting in the corner with a book in his lap. He seemed disinterested in his surroundings, as if everyone was a nuisance. Phil had never had a conversation with PJ considering he was always hanging around with that Dan kid, but he realized he wanted to change that.

When the attention was away from his wandering form (he faintly heard someone mention a festival before pushing it back to the edge of his mind), Phil inched over to where PJ was resting, ignoring the look of pure ice when the boy realized what he was doing. "Can I help you?" It was the first time Phil had ever heard the brunet talk, and he was pleased to find that it was smoother than he imagined it, with a southern tinge that was barely noticeable.

"What are you reading?" Phil chirped. His voice came out more high-pitched than he originally aimed for, trying not to cringe at the tone.

PJ narrowed his eyes at him. Phil imagined he was trying to see through him, look past his skin and bones to see if he was lying underneath the gentle exterior. Thankfully for PJ, Phil was 100% genuine. Once he found no trace of deception, he folded the book over so the cover was visible, reading Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.

"Good book?" It was a tad hard to keep a conversation with someone who refused to talk back, but Phil wasn't deterred in the slightest. If anything, it made him want to force words out of PJ's mouth even more.

PJ pursed his lips, visibly annoyed. Phil could tell that he was trying to keep his cool and he wondered if PJ just hated him because Dan hated him. "Yeah."

"Phil!"

Trying not to pout due to exasperation from being interrupted from his interrogation. He turned to find Louise grinning at him, resembling the Cheshire Cat with the way her smile was literally ear-to-ear. "Yeah?"

She giggled and messed with her hair a bit, the strands of yellow and pink washing over her shoulders like a white chocolate dipped strawberry. "Looks like you've joined the school at exactly the right time!"

He raised an eyebrow. "And why's that?"

"Because the Dahlia Academy festival is coming up in a couple of days!" When Phil showed no sign of excitement, she glared at him, her lips pushing out into a bubble-gum pink pout. "Each ability class is allowed to come up with an attraction for the festival that would be fun for outside guests to visit. Whoever gets the most visitors wins a big trophy and is granted twice the amount of money in allowance for an entire month!"

"Outside visitors?" Phil echoed. His mind immediately went to his family, his mum's smile, his father's cologne, and the way Martyn would ruffle his hair every time he passed. Does that mean...?

Louise nodded, but she looked a bit sad when she did, smiling apologetically at him. "The academy sends invitations out to a certain amount of people each year. Typically, it's past students and teachers who are invited. They always make sure not to send any to parents of the current students."

"Apparently they think it's more likely for students to rebel against the school if they get to see their parents during training," PJ muttered under his breath.

Phil tried not to let the words get to him, pushing the thoughts of his family to the side. Just a few more years, he thought bitterly. He wondered if his mum would still look the same when he saw her or if Martyn will have gotten through Uni with a degree in telecommunications like he was originally going for. "So what are you guys thinking of doing then?" Now that the initial disappointment of his parents not being able to come was dispersing, he was starting to feel a bit more excited about the festival.

Cat popped in then, seeming to appear out of thin air. Phil wondered if that was her ability, or if he was just not paying attention before. "A haunted house!"

PJ scoffed, slamming his book shut to glare daggers into the small group of three. "A haunted house? Are we three years old?"

"I think it sounds fun," Phil interjected. Granted, he was a bit confused as to how that would be a fun attraction, but he wanted to see what the special ability class had in store for it.

"How would we even make that work anyways? In order to have a good attraction, we all need to be able to use our abilities in it. If I have anything to say, water isn't exactly the scariest thing in existence. And neither is being able to shapeshift into a cat." He sneered that comment at Cat, allowing Phil to finally find out what her ability is without having that awkward conversation later.

"I can make water scary," Phil said. "And having different abilities is a good thing in a haunted house. That way we can use different tactics to scare everybody."

Letting out a grunt, PJ stood up. His face was scrunched up as if he smelled something disgusting and his green eyes were cold; the exact way Dan's were when he looked at Phil for the first time. "Well, good luck with that. I'm not having any part of it."

"Wait-!" Louise whined, but he was already out the door before her sentence started, slamming closed on the suddenly quiet classroom. Louise sighed. "I don't understand why Peej does this."

Phil frowned and put his arm around Louise's shoulders. "Don't worry," he said, "I'll get him to join us and we will have the best haunted house in the entirety of Dahlia Academy."

Now if only Phil could figure out how, exactly, to do that.