________________CHAPTER ONE_________________
It was her or me. Me or my best friend. I had no choice. I lifted my gun and aimed it at her chest; not hesitating to push down on the trigger so the shot rang out. She stumbled back on impact, bright red dripping from where the shot had landed; she looked up at me, her eyes widened in shock and surprise.
And then the buzzer rang.
I slung my gun over one shoulder and grinned at Jessaya, “No hard feelings?” I yelled through the arena our instructors had set up. Jess grinned back at me, thumbs up. I made my way through the soft ground of the ‘woods’ over to her; the instructors had set the arena up so we were in a mock forest environment. Tree’s towering over us, bugs chattering noisily, it sure felt like we were in a forest. They’d done a bang up job on this one.
“How many time’s did you get shot?” I asked, taking in the mass of color on her clothes. Looks like the yellow team got in a few good shots on her.
She shook her head, “I’d be dead ten times over if they used real ammunition.”
I frowned, “Didn’t you try using your major?” I asked, lifting up the hem of her shirt to see the impact of a shot from the green team, “God that’s got to hurt.” I winced at the bruise already forming on her back.
She bit her lip, “You’re telling me. But, yeah, I tried. Water just isn’t the most helpful thing in these kind of situations.”
“You’re kidding me, I would’ve done anything for a drink of water, we were out there for more than five hours and whatever the instructors did, it’s bloody hot in here.” I groaned, fanning my shirt.
“In a real fight, I’ll probably just drown them or something.” Jess said casually.
I smiled, “True. Let’s just hope it never really comes to that.”
“You got hit a few times.” Jess noted, counting the number of paint splats on my clothes, “Six. That’s pretty good considering.”
I grinned, “I must’ve blown back a hundred shots at the people firing.”
Jess groaned, “I would do anything to have air as my major.”
“Jess, Gabby!” I heard a voice shout and I turned around to see a group of our friends walking over to us. James, Rachel, Adam, Kylie and Paige. Well, with excuse of Paige they were our friends, Paige was more of a frienemy, I never knew quite where I stood with her. A few other guys and girls walked over as well and some of our other friends are out on missions so they didn’t have to take the training course today. It’s hard to believe all but three minutes ago we were shooting, trying to ‘kill’ each other and now we were all laughing and chatting away happily.
“What’s up?” I called back.
James lifted up his shirt and showed me a massive red welt on his stomach right next to his belly button, “Thanks for this one!” He said sarcastically, yet still good heartedly, walking over to stand next to me.
I grinned back at him and took in his appearance. He was covered in paint splats and looked like he was in a lot of pain. I looked at the others who in turn, looked beat and tried. Eleven hours of running around in intense heat was a good enough reason to look beat and tired though. I’m sure I look the same.
“A shower sounds like the best idea right about now.” Kylie moaned, lifting her blonde hair back and fanning herself. I smiled sympathetically and the others all nodded in agreement. When I first met Kylie, she seemed like a bit of a princess, and maybe she is, but when you put her out in the field, she always tried her hardest and best. She was a top student and never gives up. She’s actually pretty amazing.
“What are you lot doing standing around talking?” Snapped one of our instructors, Perry, a muscled guy with tattoos covering his left shoulder.
We all mumbled apologies and followed him into the briefing area, cool air from the Air Conditioning hitting us like a wave. I breathed out a sigh of relief and sat on one of the benches, starting to dismantle my gun.
“Did I ask you to do that?” Barked Olivia, another instructor, who even though was quite small, gave off the clear message that she shouldn’t be messed with. She always wore a scowl on her face, which I thought was to bad, other wise she might've quite pretty.
“Sorry Miss.” I said, laying my riffle down next to me and looking her in the eye. If there’s one thing instructors hate the most is fear, especially fear of them.
She frowned, “Don’t apologize, just fix it.” She grumbled, facing the rest of my training group. There was only about fifteen of us here today, the rest of my year group would come back and train another day.
“Students.” She said formally, turning her heel, “I must say, you did an … alright job. A bit shabby here and there but nothing that can’t be worked on. If you’re name is on the board it mean’s you come back and do it again.”
I scanned the board to check if my name was on there.
“But miss,” Rachel said, sounding confused, “Everyone’s name is on there?”
Olivia smirked, “I said you did an alright job. Alright isn’t good enough. I need perfect. Now, you’ll all come back here and repeat the exercise next week at the same time. Clear?” She asked, giving everyone a hard look.
The class nodded, obviously frustrated with this outcome but not daring to moan and Olivia looked satisfied.
“Now, off you go. Don’t let me catch you mucking around.” She said sternly, waving her hand at us.
I stumbled to stand up right, my muscles lacking in energy since the adrenaline had stopped pumping. I felt steady hands grab my arm and help me support myself. I looked up and smiled at my savior. Jason, my boyfriend of three months. Then I remembered and my grin slid off my face and was quickly replaced by a glare.
“I don’t think I recall seeing you at all in the arena.” I hissed, scowling at him.
He bit his lip and looked away embarrassed. Good. He should be. While we were all sweating and working our guts out, he was hiding away probably having a grand old time. In fact, I couldn’t see and single splatter of paint on him.
“Gabby …” He trailed off, not knowing what to say.
“Save it Jason.” I snapped. Hey, I was tired and I think I earned the right to be grumpy at him, “Your team needed you – I needed you – and you didn’t even think twice about it.”
He grabbed my arm and I tried to pull it away. Damn him, why was he so strong? I mustered up as much energy and I could and a gust of air slammed against his body, sending him flying. I shot him one last disapproving look before joining Jess to walk over the rooms and take a shower.
Kylie was right, a shower really does sound like the best thing right now.
<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>
I’ve lived on campus for a long time now. Since I was five. I’ve trained a whole eleven years to learn control over my major. It’s been a tough road, the work is hard but it’s always rewarding and when I leave here, I’ll have the best education I ever could’ve gotten. I’ll be able to speak several different languages and have kick-ass defense skills; I can beat up guys twice my size. But like I said, the work is hard. It doesn’t just happen over night; it’s taken eleven years to get up to my standard.
I mentioned before I’m learning to control my ‘major’. What I mean by that is my element. Everyone in the school has the ability to control an element – that’s why we’re here in the first place – some even control more than one, but you usually get your second major when you’re a bit older. My major is air; I’ve worked to control it for a long time. To use it as a weapon against … criminals I suppose. We don’t learn all these amazing skills for nothing. We go out and … save the world, rid it of bad people and bad things. My friends all nicknamed the school, ‘Super-hero Academy.’ As apposed to Saint Hadwin’s Academy. I mean, we can’t fly and stuff and we don’t have gadgets or anything but we’re super-heroes’ in the means of a different light. We live in the shadows of everyone’s lives. No one has any knowledge of us or that we dedicate our whole lives to protecting them at the risk of our own.
Wait! I have to perfect way to explain us! We’re like spy kids, but a lot cooler and without the lame ass gadgets. Okay, so we’re kind of like spy kids, not really.
The academy is near impossible to find. It’s not on the map, you can’t fly over it without special clearance from the government and even if somehow you do wind up on the road to the Academy, when you reach the gates you’ll be met by tough guards armed with heavy machinery – not to mention their own powerful majors.
Campus is divided into two main areas, the upper and lower school. The senior’s of the school live in the main building and share a room with another student. Inside the room is pretty basic but still neat; we can decorate it however we want with the allowance we get from the school each week – a pretty generous allowance I might add. We have a double bed and a large bathroom and a wardrobe each. It’s kind of like a studio apartment. Very spacious and modern.
The lower school is for all the juniors, it’s a bit different over there. Like, they share a room with another five students and each wing has it’s own bathroom instead of each individual room.
In the middle of the two buildings is the main building, on the bottom floor is a reception sort of thing and the rest of the floors are all staff offices and mission briefing rooms, all that stuff. Down the path from the main building is the mess hall where we all meet up for dinner and then the building a little further down is called the education block, where we take lessons. Our lesson’s run from 8:00am till 2:00pm with a forty-minute break at 12:00pm, the classes range from all sorts of things, Self-defense, weapons, math, history, French and all that. Our school days are Monday till Saturday, except on Saturday we only run till 12:00pm and it’s all training for missions.
The whole Academy is like a little village. Well, quite a large one actually. They lawns are all neatly manicured and look proud and attractive, the school’s crest is engraved in the pavement and it basically looks like a very clean, expensive place people from a posh town would live.
There are training buildings and arenas all over the place, the track field and main athletics building are in the centre and we train in the surrounding places.
If someone gets out of line, they’ll know about it. The Academy … well, they’re very strict on behavior. If you’re late to class, you get punishment, usually something physical like, cleaning out bathrooms or running laps of the track field. If you mouth off to a teacher, you get punished, if you’re not trying hard enough or whining about something you get punished. It’s tough, but I’ve dealt with it for a long time now.
That’s basically everything you need to know about the Academy. Everyone here is above average when it comes to school and we could beat anyone’s ass if they tried to hurt us. We’re lethal, dangerous and most importantly, we belong the Academy. We’re their property.
<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>
Exhausted, I trudged up the stairs with Jess to our room. We live on the Eighth floor and the damn elevator is broken again, some troublesome fire major probably heated up the mechanics in it again. I groaned outwardly and Jess huffed in agreement, not bothering to open her mouth to speak. We’re fit kids, we can run longer than 15 kilometers without stopping, but after the eleven hours of non-stop training …
I opened the door to our room and slumped on my bed. Jess, even after being physically exerted to the point of fatigue still kept up with her OCD ways. She took off her dirty training clothes and put them down the washing chute. I rolled my eyes and she grinned back slightly, walking into the bathroom and starting up the shower.
I let myself relax into the bed, feeling the comforting softness of my blanket. I held my teddy bear, Ricky, close to my chest. Ricky is the only thing I have that I can remember my parents by. Apparently, my mum made him for me. In his back is a little pocket and a note from my parents that simply says they loved me. Ricky has this smell and even after eleven years, it’s still there. It smells like home.
I closed my eyes, not wanting to ruin the moment by thinking about my parents. I can’t really remember them that well. I don’t even have a photo or anything and sometimes I feel like I’m missing out on growing up without them. It’s to late now though …
Ugh, Monday tomorrow and I wasted my only day off this week on a stupid training course. One that I’d have to repeat next week as well. I sat up and pulled my laptop off my desk to check my class schedule for tomorrow:
Combat Training
A.R
French
History
Specialized Major
Math
Chemistry
Computer Hacking
I shut my laptop’s lid down and shook my head to myself. A.R has to be the worst subject; you never know quite what you’ll be doing. I heard the shower shut off and a few minutes later, Jess walked out fully dressed in her daily uniform. Everyone has the same dress code – boys and girls – a dark blue polo shirt, with white piping and the Academy’s logo on the breast. We wore whatever black bottoms and shoes we could find – that were suitable of course. I grabbed a towel and headed off to the shower.
The sharp jets of water hit my back, instantly relieving the tight knots in my muscles. I smiled to myself and rubbed shampoo into my long dark hair. I’m an average height for my age, maybe a tad on the short side. I have very long, straight, layered hair, colored brown with a tinge of urban and gold. I love the color so much; you could never achieve this out of a bottle. All natural baby. Tanned skin completed my dark features along with my brown eyes.
After a while, I flicked off the shower and slipped into my uniform and some black shorts and converses, taking a bit of time to apply some eyeliner and mascara. A slight spray of perfume and a layer of lip-gloss later and I almost felt like a normal girl. Not that I really know what normal means.
When I finally walked back into the room and saw Jess sprawled out on her bed doing her homework, pen in mouth and frowning at a problem on her page. We get two hours homework every night and four hours on a Sunday, well, usually anyway. I glanced at my watch and raked my fingers through my wet hair.
“Jess, It’s three o’clock on a Sunday and you’re doing homework.” I sighed in exasperation, sitting down next to her.
She didn’t even look up at me, “I have to get this done. We’ll do something in a bit okay?” She trailed off, writing down an answer on her worksheet, “Anyway, while we’re waiting why don’t you do some of your homework?” She asked doubtfully.
I laughed, “I only do homework at the last minute remember?” I teased. I know how much it annoys her if I don’t play by the rules, it’s kind of cute, “I’m going to see Kylie alright?”
She gave me a stern look and rolled her eyes, “You’ll regret this Gabby.” She muttered
I laughed again, saying goodbye and locking the door on the way out. There’s no way I was spending what little time of luxury I had, doing homework. No way. I walked down the corridor until I reached Kylie’s door. She shares a room with our friend Rachel. Rachel is one of the nicest people I know, and the prettiest. Well, actually maybe Kylie is the prettiest girl I know but Rachel is definitely up there. I think what makes her even more beautiful is that she has no idea of her effect on people. She’s so down to earth and cares about other people a hell of a lot more than herself.
I knocked on their door while opening it; the two of them were sprawled out in the room looking clean yet very tired. Rachel was actually asleep. Kylie glanced up at me and gave me a grin.
“How’s it going?” She whispered so Rachel wouldn’t wake up.
I gave Kylie a mischievous grin, “Let’s get out of here.”
“Thank you!” Kylie said in relief, letting out a breath of air, “I’m so bored.”
The two of us walked to the stairs giggling at the latest Academy gossip. Whenever you needed gossip, you went straight to the main source – Kylie.
“What?” I gasped not believing my ears.
“I know,” Kylie nodded earnestly, tucking her blonde hair behind her ears and her blue eyes shining, “I couldn’t believe it either but it’s true. Bible.”
I rolled my eyes, “Bible doesn’t mean much coming from you Kylie, you don’t believe in god.”
Kylie shrugged and opened her mouth to reply before being cut off by the low sound of the school’s bell.
“Good afternoon, will all staff and students please report to the main hall for an emergency assembly.” Mrs. Irvin’s voice rang out through the P.A. Mrs. Irvin was an elderly lady who ran the schools reception and must deal with a lot of shit. She was also like a mother to all of us kids who never had one.
I frowned and turned to Kylie, whose eyes were filled with questions. We only rarely ever had ‘emergency assembly’s’
“I better go wake up Rach.” Kylie muttered to me. I nodded, watching her retreat back up the stairs and continued walking down by myself.
The crowds in the main hall were remarkable. Sometimes I forget how many of us there are. I watched as two junior girls who must have been earth users, standing together and growing flowers in their hands. They looked so entranced and I couldn’t help but smile at their innocence. I wish I still had some of that.
Everyone took their seats and I found James and Adam standing with a few of their guy friends so I joined them and took a seat. They smile at me and mummer hello’s as the amount of empty seats lessoned.
“Hey Gabby.” Adam grinned, “We were just talking about you.”
I raised my eyebrows; this can’t be good, “Really? And what were you saying about me?” I asked dryly.
“Just some rumors we heard …” Adam said casually, trailing off. If Kylie was the gossip queen, Adam was the gossip king.
I rolled my eyes, “Out with it.”
Adam pursed his lips as though trying to decide whether he should tell me or not before letting a massive sigh, “Fine. You’ve drawn it out of me.” He said dramatically, raking his fingers through his caramel colored hair, “I heard that you and Jason are fighting.” He said finally.
I screwed up my nose, “That’s not a secret –“ I started to say but Adam cut me of.
“Ah ah ah, shh.” He said, putting a finger to my mouth, “Then there’s the reason why you are fighting.” Adam removed the finger and smiled knowingly.
“Ah, now what would the reason be?” I asked, mocking seriousness.
“That you’re pregnant.”
What. The. Hell? Adam looked at me curiously, assessing my reaction before waiting to continue.
“They’re saying you want to keep it but he doesn’t.” He said matter of factly.
“I didn’t know I was pregnant.” I frowned after a few moments of silence and Adam and James – who had just joined the conversation – started cracking up laughing. I didn’t think much of it, rumors flew around all the time at the Academy and everyone would know it’s not true.
“I told you it wasn’t true Adam.” James snorted, giving me a smile and confirming my thoughts.
“Yeah guys, I don’t know what Jason’s told you but I’m still very much a virgi –“
“Teachers, students,” Mr. Odem’s solemn voice said through the microphone, ringing throughout the main hall. Mr. Odem is the Academy’s Headmaster, and he was just about born to do the job. He is by far one of the best teachers at the school. He’s fair yet strict and has a fantastic sense of humor, although, he is getting on a bit, about sixty-two now I think.
“It is with great regret I call you all here today.” He said sadly, his voice almost catching, “It’s hard to know where to start. As you know, the Academy does the best it can to protect our students. But going out on missions is a great risk and with risk comes danger. A danger one of our students faced today … and It’s heartbreaking to say this … we lost her.
I froze. I had friends out on missions, what if …
“Lissa Luthco, a dear friend to many went missing today …” Mr. Odem went on to explain how but I wasn’t listening.
Lissa Luthco. It couldn’t be. My great friend Lissa. The same Lissa who had shared all of her classes with me since I was five years old. The same Lissa who lived less than three doors away.
The very same Lissa Luthco.
<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>
We were all in shock as we walked back to our rooms. No one was hurt on missions. Certainly no one goes missing! Well, rarely. There hadn’t been a death on a mission for more than fifty years. We knew there was a danger to missions, but no one died. Ever. So Lissa couldn't possibly ...
There was no trace of the constant happy chatter in the academy anymore. Everyone wore a solemn face. Even those who didn’t know Lissa were crying. But I think it was more out of shock. Like I said before, this doesn't ever happen. Ever. Never ever. This was the core of my beliefs being challenged here!
I was so lost in thought I didn’t hear my name being called.
“Gabby!”
I turned around and saw Elaine walking over to me. She was I suppose kind of like our mum and to her, we were like her kids. She organized everything we did, pre-approved missions for us, gave out advice – and also punishments. She was pretty young, about twenty-eight, with short blonde hair and green cat-like eyes and long black eyelashes. In fact, the year I started she was on her last year at the Academy, then, because she got along with everyone so well, she was offered a position as a trainer. But to be a trainer you have to have a ruthless streak in you, which she didn’t really have. So they moved her to the main building.
“Hi Elaine.” I smiled sadly.
Elaine pulled me into a hug, which I soon fell into. I really needed this right now. When we pulled away I saw her eyes shining with tears. She saw me looking a hastily wiped them, “Sorry, I know I have to be strong for all you kids but …” She sniffed.
“It’s okay.” I said quietly, “What’s up?”
She shook her head, “I feel so awful asking you this. So awful. I wish I didn’t have to.”
I frowned, what was so awful she didn’t want to tell me?
“Gabby, you know Lissa was on a mission. But you were the first pick student to actually go on it. Now they want you to …”
“They want me to go on the mission?” I asked skeptically.
I waited for Elaine to say no, of course not. How could they put me on the same mission that another student disappeared from? Surely they wouldn’t …
Elaine’s nod confirmed my worst fears. I had to do this. I might die and I can’t refuse it. Because we are the Academy’s property.
_________________READ THIS NOTE .... (PLEASE)__________________
Hey, JustBeFearless here :)
*** IMPORTANT, THIS STORY MIGHT BE TERMINATED (lol, just wanted to use the word terminated) In other words, depending on how 'noticed' this story gets you may not see it again so please comment, vote and shizz if you like it <3 ***
Sorry about the boring explanation part. Bleh, I even hated writing it! I promise, you will never have to read another one of those in this book ever! Well, maybe once more in the mission briefing (next chapter = up soon, already wrote it)
(For official purposes)
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