I gently pulled at the ends of my newly cut ponytail in lieu of being nervous.
"Oh, just relax, Taylor!" Claire said while reaching down to tie her shoes. "Right now is just our sit-down training course. There's not going to be a pop quiz or anything!"
"But you guys know so much more than I do. I'm basically like a third grader who is entering high school," I grumbled the truth. I know everyone starts out this way, but I hated not knowing what to expect or going into something with little to no information on a topic. I might have the power to be at this level, but definitely not the brains.
Claire laughed and reached over to pat my shoulder. "Don't worry, you'll catch on quickly."
I groaned and followed her out of our room. Several others were also heading out for the day and would peek glances as the two of us walked down and out of our building.
"When are they going to stop with the staring?" I mumbled to Claire who shrugged in response.
"They'll stop when something more exciting happens here, which is rare."
I sighed in defeat and continued walking to the buildings around the arena area of Supernatural Abilities. There were several doors all marked with numbers one through five on them.
"I'm only level four so I'm in a different room than you. However, Cole, Vanessa, and Alex are all in five so you're not alone. If you don't want to sit with the couple, Alex would be more than happy to be with you."
I thanked her and said goodbye before heading in. Sure enough, the three mentioned were all sitting together in the third row. In some ways the room reminded me of a college lecture hall. There was a variety of stadium-like seating and a whiteboard, computer, projector, and screen all at the front. With my head ducked low, I made my way over to them and sat down next to Alex.
"Hey!" Alex said while straightening up from where he was practically falling asleep. "Glad you made it here okay."
"That's only because Claire drags me along and shows me everywhere."
Alex laughed. "That won't change even after you get used to this place. You're stuck with her for the long run."
I smiled and soon the whole room hushed down once a woman stepped out to the front and began talking about the importance of and how to be one step ahead of your opponent. While the information was interesting, I couldn't help but not understand some of the diction she used. Unlike most of the people in this room, I was bumped to the top. They had the previous training and knowledge while I was being thrown to the fishes.
We sat there for two hours while the woman demonstrated various techniques and talked how and why each would be important to utilize when fighting to kill someone. When it was finally noon, we were able to stretch our limbs and leave to go get some lunch.
"So how was your first lesson?" Alex asked while we waiting for the swarms of people to leave ahead of us."
"Confusing," I muttered under my breath.
"You'll learn quickly like we all did. It's going to suck the first few days but I know you'll catch on."
When we got to the lunch room and got food, I followed Alex to the same table we sat at yesterday where Vanessa and Cole were already there. Vanessa was clinging onto him as if her life depended on it while he was trying to take a bite of his sandwich.
"Hey, guys!" Cole said when we showed up before he turned to speak directly to me. "How'd you like your first class?"
"It was alright." I sat down across from the couple while Alex went by Cole. Claire must be either still in her class or in line to get food because she wasn't anywhere to be found.
Cole snorted. "Come on, it was boring."
"It's not as boring as it was confusing. I don't understand anything they're saying!"
Cole laughed and sat up straighter, scooting closer to the table which ultimately made Vanessa be pushed away a little. Her eyes practically had flames in them as she stared between us.
"I can always help you. I have no problem going over the stuff you should know. It's great and all that you got placed at such a high level but I understand the lack of information that you have."
I almost laughed at Vanessa's face. Now I wasn't one to try to backlash, but I gave him a smile and nodded my head. "I'd appreciate that."
While Cole was all smiles, Vanessa looked like she was going to explode in fury. Claire, only making things more hilarious, walked up as bright and cheery as she has been every other day. With a grand hello to everyone, she pecked Alex's cheek and sat down next to him, taking a spoonful of her soup into her mouth.
"I have to go," Vanessa said abruptly and pushed away from the table.
"Oh, okay," Cole focused his attention on her now. "See you in training?"
"I don't think so," she muttered and stomped away. Cole looked after her confused but shrugged it off and continued eating.
"Well, isn't she a pile of joy," Claire said under her breath and Cole shook his head.
"She's been so pissy lately. I don't know what's going on with her."
Alex gave him a look. "So you're not going to do anything about it?"
"Not my fault that she has a bad attitude all the time."
Lunch went more smoothly than when Vanessa was still here mostly because that awkward tension was gone. Without her, Cole is more jubilant. He still wasn't like that guy I saw the night in the hotel room when I broke down, but he was livelier when Vanessa wasn't around.
Finally, our thirty minute lunch came to an end and I found our group making our way to the arena. Claire explained that we needed to change into our various work out gear, the purple clothes I wore yesterday, and meet outside in the open field of grass outside.
While we were changing, I noticed all the colors. Mind was represented by purple. Fire was red, Earth was obviously green, Water was blue, and Air was coded as white. When Claire and I were done, we met the boys back up where a group of people were gathering.
"Okay," a woman dressed in black called using a megaphone. We're doing partner trainings today. Nothing too rough is allowed. Grab someone of a different Ability and begin offensive and defensive maneuvers."
Oh, great. Everyone's picking partners and I'm the lone wolf in the corner who just joined the pack.
"You're with me, Buckley," Cole grabbed my arm and pulled me to an empty spot next to Claire and Alex.
"So what are we doing?" I asked.
"I'm going to try to hit you with something that you'll deflect, then we'll switch roles. Nothing too crazy, right?"
I shook my head as we backed a few feet away from each other. I gave him an 'OK' sign in which he returned with a little ball of fire being thrown my way. I gave him a look and easily took one step out of the way of the blaze.
"Come on, I know you're better than that," I called out to him.
He gave me a wide smile. "Just trying to get you warmed up to this, that's all."
I looked around and saw a fallen tree branch behind me. Using all my focus, it rose and I threw it over my head and directly towards Cole who ultimately burned the thing to nothing.
This time, he didn't waste any time and I found several lines of fire coming straight for me. Not wasting a second of thought on in, I slowed down time and rolled on the ground to avoid getting hit just as they flew over my head. Bringing time back to normal, Cole nodded in approval as I narrowed in on him and sent an unseen force right at him. At the initial touch to him, he realized I was using telekinesis to push him back and he sent another blaze towards me.
After a few more minutes going back and forth, the instructor wanted us closer for a more hands-on approach to it all.
"You actually fight?" I asked, bewildered that they taught this. "Like with your hands? Punching?"
Cole laughed and cracked his knuckles. "Yeah, you just expel your power into it so it's stronger."
I shook my head. "I've never fought anyone before."
"Well, this is a week of firsts for you then. Punch me."
My eyes widened. "What? No!"
Cole gave me a look. "Punch me, wimp. I'll give you pointers."
I sighed in defeat and looked down at my hand. In no way was I strong enough to hurt someone with my fist, let alone by kicking too. "Where?" I asked and he pointed to his cheek. "No!"
"We have healers everywhere around here if you do some damage! Come on, I've been hit dozens of times. One more won't kill me."
I shook my head, "I'm not going to hit you in your face."
Cole shrugged. "Fine, I'll get Alex to come punch me. God knows how much he probably wants to after all the stuff I've put him through these years...."
He was taunting me just like he did the day I left home. Groaning, I formed a fist and he shook his head. "No," He stepped forward and grabbed my wrist to bring my thumb to a new position. "There. Hold it like that and punch."
Biting my lip as he held out his cheek to me, I did the same fist arrangement he showed me and brought my arm back before bringing it forward to connect it with his jaw. In the moment my eyes opened, I noticed his rubbing at his face with an impressed look.
"Not bad, Buckley," he complimented. "Needs work, but not too shabby."
He showed me a variety of other fighting techniques and I never realized just how handsy fighting was. His hand would sometimes find my waist or I'd accidentally be touching his chest. It was like dancing, in a way, if that was dangerous and painful.
As the last technique, Cole faked me out and brought me down onto the ground with a grunt escaping my throat. He gave me a sorry smile but as many times as he was able to bring me down today, apologizes were out the door a long time ago. He offered a hand which I gladly took and got back to my feet.
"That was fun," He said while still rubbing at his face from earlier. That might have been the only good, strong mark I put on him today while others were mostly accidents. "We can do some more of this in a few days."
My eyes furrowed. "Why not tomorrow?"
"We have arena exercises tomorrow. We'll be fighting one another."
I groaned because, sure enough, I was being thrown into something just like I have been the entire time I've been here. My body was still slightly sore from my placement test and I knew my beat-down from Cole today would only make myself worse.
"Do I have to go?"
Cole laughed, "I didn't drive miles to get you and then fight a Catcher in order for you to drop out on your first day."
"This is technically my third day," I sarcastically pointed out and he rolled his eyes.
"First day of actual training," he clarified as we walked towards the locker rooms. "You'll get used to it and become better. You already picked something up just by having your placement test. You'll be one of us in no time."
I said goodbye to him and disappeared to go change. Once I was done, I noticed Alex, Claire, and Cole all talking outside of the arena. When Cole, who looked very disinterested in what the couple was flirting about, saw me, he perked up and motioned me over.
"We're going to go swimming down by the lake, wanna come?" He asked.
"Lake?"
Claire nodded excitedly. "It's kind of hidden among the trees and in the outskirts of SA. Not many people know about it so it's fun to go and get away from everyone once in a while."
"Plus, it's hotter than Cole right now," Alex interjected. "And I don't mean that in a 'you're attractive' kind of way."
Cole gave him a look. "Gee, way to boost my confidence, man."
His friend smiled, "That's my job."
On the way to the lake, we stopped by the dormitory to change into our various swimming clothes before heading out again. The walk there didn't take too long and 'lake' is quite the exaggeration. A deep, large pond is more accurate and it was nestled right in the middle of a large amount of trees. Despite my observations, Alex jumped right in with a yell. When he came up, he was full of smiles.
Claire shook her head at his fun and stripped out of her cover up before turning to us. "I'm not even going to get in myself because I know he's just going to do it," she said right as a line of water wrapped around her waist and pulled her in with a splash. Inside the water, Alex was laughing hysterically as he came back up, gasping for air.
"I hate you!" She squealed and threw water at him playfully.
Alex raised an eyebrow at her and suddenly, a huge bubble of water came out of the pond and above Claire's head. "You really want to play that game with me?"
His girlfriend gave him a nervous smile and went over to the Water-user with her best puppy eyes. He laughed at her and pulled her under where I could see a patch of air underneath the water.
"They can't stay under too long," Cole said as he looked down at them as well. "While he's able to move the water out of the way, he's no Air user and can't keep it circulated. Alex is able to breath underwater but Claire can't so they'll eventually have to come up."
"It's weird how connected all the abilities are," I commented. "You need Water and Air together. Then Fire and Earth to make lava. You need the Mind with a lot too. There are tons of examples of them all working with one another, you never realize it until you're actually putting them to use."
"Good job, Blondie," He complimented. "A lot of people don't realize that right away."
"You know, you could try calling me Taylor because it's my name and all," I joked.
He waved his hand like it was a preposterous suggestion. "That's no fun, Brain."
I raised an eyebrow, "Brain?"
"Well, you're a Mind so it makes sense."
I laughed and watched as Claire and Alex came up for a breath of air just as Cole predicted. "That one wasn't any good."
"Trust me, I have awhile to come up with some really good ones," Cole warned as the couple went back down for their own privacy.
"I expect all of them written down and in alphabetical order by the time I leave here."
A grin rose onto his face. "Consider it done."
___________
Enjoy as always! This time we got up to around #220. SO close to the 100s! We'll get there eventually, but I still appreciate every single one of your comments, votes, and reads on each of my stories :)