Too Late To Save Time

Innocence

Lucas

"Morning." Fallon mumbled, rubbing her eyes. I glanced over at her in confusion. She yawned hugely and rolled over on her bed. I got up and shook her shoulder lightly. She turned slightly to look at me with one eye. A smile crept across her lips, and a slight blush brushed her cheeks. "Yes?" Fallon inquired.

"Why'd you say morning if your not going to embrace it?" I asked, smirking. Fallon narrowed her eyes and her smile vanished.

"Jeez you try to be polite!" She exclaimed, burying her face in her pillow. I wanted to give her a high five

Across the face.

With a chair.

That's how angry I got.

Fallon shifted, and probably noticed my irritated expression. "Hey, come on I was just kidding around." She said softly. I rolled my eyes.

"Can you at least try not to act all bipolar?!?!" I exclaimed. Fallon looked away.

"It's not my fault." She said quietly. I realized I had just said the worst thing in the world.

"You... you're" I started. Fallon scowled.

"It's not like I'm some sort of monster you know!" She yelled. I didn't know how to respond. "I thought I could trust you with that." Her voice quieted. "I've never told anyone, only my....I guess fake mom and my brother knew. Not even my da-fake dad."

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to seem like I was alienating you." I said. Fallon turned away from me.

"It's fine, I get it. It's a lot to handle." She mumbled.

"Fallon come on, you can look at me you know." I said, pulling on her arm. She turned and wrapped me in a hug, pressing her forehead to the crook of my neck.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'm so sorry."

***

Fog

"Hey Fallon!" Miranda called. I turned and smiled at her, knowing that I should be feeling guilty about telling Lucas about my disorder just so I could break him, but failing to do so.

"So is Operation Twelve Deaths in action?" She said as we made our way to gym class.

"Affirmative." I assured seriously. We had a moment of silence before bursting into a fit of laughter, barely getting through the gym doors.

"Girls." Mr. Daunts warned with a smile. We bit our lips to stop the giggles and somehow made it to the opposite wall, where everyone else was sitting.

"Sorry that gym was canceled yesterday but Mr. Daunts had to get here." Mrs. James apologized.

"Anyhow, let's explain this to you while Mrs. James here hands you out your color coded gym clothes." Mr. Daunts said, starting to pace in the front of the gym.

"Gold for time, deep blue for storm, white for electricity, red for fire, green for earth, yellow for light, black for shadow, light blue for soul, silver for multi-talents, and orange for all-talents. Although, there are no all-talents in this group of kids, because it's rare here." Mrs. James said, passing us solid t-shirts or tank tops and shorts.

"Each day a few of you will be brought down to the arenas so we can see your battle skills, this is important because of the war. You need to be able to defend yourself if the need does arise." Mr. Daunts said seriously, still pacing.

"You think Mt. Daunting has a pacing problem?" Miranda asked from next to me. I didn't let my eyes off him but shrugged.

"There will be rules for each week for the arena kids, and those who don't go to the arena will be practicing in the gym. Restrain from hurting others, yourself, and destroying the gym. And we have fun surprises for the weekends. You'll be very busy. Gym is your longest period due to more physical training necessary because of the rebelllion." Mrs. James explained, "We still have two hours left for gym. Go get into your clothes and pick out lockers. Each one has the combination taped to it. No partners. Break!" The class scattered.