It was finals day at Sun Coast High and the hallways were abuzz with many students. The smart students and the students who cared about their grades were taking their last few minutes to look through their study guides, the rest of the student body either did not care or had already secured that A and were talking to their friends.
Aqua was on her way to her computer programming class when she saw Elizabeth and Serina heading to ceramics class together. "Hey guys," said Aqua greeting her friends. They exchanged hugs as Elizabeth asked Aqua if she was nervous. "Well, I'm not really nervous for any of my classes except for Science because I have a ninety-two percent in that class and I want an A. What about you guys?" "Nope," said Elizabeth and Serina at the same time which made them laugh.
The minute bell rang and the three friends said their goodbyes as they headed off to class. Aqua walked into her computer class and logged into her computer as the last of the boys trailed in. In this class she was the only girl all the rest were boys, most girls would have loved this, but to Aqua it was a challenge especially when it came to partner projects.
As Aqua's computer signed in, her teacher instructed them on what to do for their final. Her teacher told them what website to log in to and how long the test would take. Before starting the test, she asked if anyone had any questions, seeing that no one did, she told them to begin. Aqua was down to the last three questions when one of the boys came back from the drinking fountain that was right outside their classroom door. There was something about the drinking fountain that got her attention, it was like it was calling her and she had to answer. Just as Aqua was about to go get a drink the whole drinking fountain began to rattle and shake, making an awful noise. Then, out of nowhere, it exploded! Hundreds of gallons of water went everywhere, flooding the floor and spraying the walls.
Students and teachers all stopped what they were doing to see the commotion that was happening in the halls. Once they all went to see the water geyser, they were sprayed from head to toe with water. Aqua's Computer Programming teacher raced to the janitor's closet, fighting the blast of the water all the way, to turn off the water that powered the fountain. She turned the water main off to the fountain and the huge geyser stopped flowing.
Seeing that all the excitement was done all the students and teachers headed back to class to resume their finals. With the water turned off the school's janitors came in with a bunch of towels, followed by other teachers and staff members who were currently not busy, to help clean up the remaining water. As Aqua headed back to her classroom with the rest of her fellow students, she asked her teacher a question. "Has anything like this ever happened before?" "No, not even close. It is very odd what happened, but it could have just been a burst of water pressure," replied her teacher. "Ya I guess so," Aqua said and headed back to her seat to finish up her last few questions on her final. She knew by the tone of her teacher's voice that what she had said was not true, but Aqua was not one to question authority.
At 8:50 the bell rang to change classes, Aqua walked down the hallways fighting against the flow of traffic to get to her next class, which was Science, with Mr. Days. When Aqua first started his class, she did not like Science, but now she did and looked forward to this class every day. She had experienced things in Mr. Days class that other people would envy, like halfway through the year she had to do a big project on Mars with a few other students. Her group and a few others were one of the selected few who did such an exceptional job on their project that they were invited to go down to a college to present in front of NASA professors.
When Aqua entered the classroom, she said hi to her friend Elizabeth and asked her if she had heard what went on with the water fountain. "Yes I did, don't you think it's strange," Elisabeth replied. "Very odd, but my Computer Programming teacher said it could have just been a sudden increase in water pressure," Aqua said as she headed to her seat and sat down. "Maybe," Elisabeth said just as the class began to quiet down.
Just like Aqua's other class, Mr. Days instructed the class on what to do for the final then passed out the test. The test was pretty easy for Aqua due to Mr. Days preparing her properly for it, so Aqua finished with twenty minutes to spare. Since pulling out things from her backpack was prohibited, Aqua looked around the room. Her blue eyes landed on the glass beakers next to the sink, they were filled with water from the very last experiment they had just done only a few days ago.
Just like the water at the drinking fountain, it seemed like it was calling to her or even humming. Then the water in the beakers began to rise like a large column, at first it was very small, but it slowly began to grow. Within a matter of a few minutes, the column of water almost reached the ceiling, by now everyone in the class was staring at this impossible feat that stretched to the ceiling. Aqua had not noticed she had been holding her breath until she could hardly breathe, so she let out the air she had been holding and just like that the water fell to the floor with a huge splash soaking everything on the counter and spilling on the floor as well.
Aqua helped Mr. Days clean up the spilled water as the rest of his class finished up their test. No one said a word about what happened with the water beakers for fear of sounding crazy because it was impossible what they had just witnessed, and no one would believe them even if they did tell.
After Science Aqua went to lunch, it passed quickly for her as did her next class English. Her final class was Geometry with Ms. Rubin, which she excelled in, so she was not nervous for her final exam.
As usual, Aqua was done with her test first, so she sat quietly waiting for the rest of the class to finish. Since everyone was done with their tests a few minutes early all the students went and grabbed their backpacks from the front of the class and started tons of conversations all at once. Aqua pulled out her water bottle from her backpack and took a drink before setting it on her desk. At 2:20 the bell rang and everyone fought their way through the small door. Aqua started to grab her water bottle when it moved away from her. Aqua tried to pick it up again, but it just moved even farther away from her hand. She tried for a third time and the bottle fell to the floor.
Aqua quickly picked up her water bottle and raced home, there is no way this is happening, Aqua thought to herself as she fumbled with the key and unlocked the door. She headed straight to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water, not even bothering to put ice in it.
As Aqua headed upstairs to her bedroom, she walked past the guest room to see Maudie lying in bed asleep, the poor woman had worn herself out from cleaning. Perfect time to conduct my experiment, Aqua thought to herself as she entered her room and locked the door behind her. Aqua set the glass of water on her nightstand as Firestar jumped on her bed and meowed a greeting.
"Oh hi Firestar," said Aqua as she stroked his orange fur, "sorry I can't pet you right now, I have to try something out." Aqua backed up from her nightstand until she was a few feet away. Then Aqua closed her eyes and focused all her thoughts on the water in the glass. After a few minutes she opened her eyes to see that the water had done nothing, "Maybe I should try something else," Aqua thought out loud.
Aqua remembered that people who controlled objects usually used some sort of hand gestures, like Spider-man who shoots webs and Skye who creates earthquakes. Not knowing how it would work, she tried tons of different techniques and combinations, but none of them seemed right. Finally giving up, Aqua flopped on her bed defeated. Firestar looked at her with both concerned and confused eyes, "I know. I know, I'm crazy for thinking this would work."
Thinking that she had lost her mind, Aqua went to pick up the glass of water and take a drink, but just like her water bottle at school, it moved away from her hand. "No way," said Aqua as she backed up from her glass and did the same motion of grabbing the glass of water and this time it worked!
The water in the glass was rising in a large column just like it had earlier in Science class.
Aqua smiled. "I can't believe I'm controlling water! Are you seeing this Firestar?" Aqua said looking over at her cat who meowed as if saying yes. Only that short second of not concentrating on the water caused Aqua to lose focus and the column of water fell to the floor with a small splash. "Aww man." After cleaning up the spilled water with the hand towel from her bathroom, Aqua decided she had to tell someone what she had just done, there was no way she could contain herself if she did not tell someone this second.
Meanwhile, her father Stota was eating dinner with a client in Washington D.C. when his phone rang. He took his phone out of his bag and told his client he would just be a moment. "Hello?" Said Stota into his phone while his client looked irritated. "Hey dad, sorry to bother you but I have to tell you something very important," Aqua said on the other side of the phone. "Now is not a really good time honey."
"Please it will only take a second," Aqua pleaded.
"Aqua I'm with a client, whatever it is it can wait."
"I found this blue tear-shaped necklace and-"
"Aqua I have to go," Stota said more urgently.
"But I have water-"
"Goodbye Aqua," said Stota cutting her off and hanging up. Stota put his phone back into his business bag and turned his attention back to his client. "I'm sorry, it was my daughter. Now where were we, ah yes do we have a deal?" Stota said reaching out his hand to shake his client's hand. "Yes we do," replied the client before shaking his hand and leaving.
Stota sat at the table for a minute until what Aqua had said about a blue tear-shaped necklace kicked in. Oh no, it cannot be the same necklace I threw away from her when she was a baby. Panic and fear went through his mind, he fumbled with his phone he had to get home before Aqua found out anything. He checked the airlines and they were all booked for days, there was no use in driving all the way across the country because it would take way longer than a few days. Having no way to get home he had to finish his trip and hope Aqua did not find out anything that would put him in a bad position.
Back at home Aqua finished what she was saying before Stota had hung up on her. "-powers." Aqua placed her phone back into her pocket. "He never has time for me anymore," Aqua said as she sat on her bed while stroking Firestar. "I just wish I could talk to someone about my powers." While Aqua looked at the stars on the ceiling of her room, she did not notice Firestar glow a slight color of blue.