You manifest
You bring things to be
And your mojo witchcraft
Honey, it's working on me
Bang ~ Armchair Cynics
Troye
I was glad to leave school when the bell finally tolled. I left the sinking sadness that was school, and escaped to the comfort of my home. Although my family could be a pain, they were nowhere near as bad as the students in my school.
All three of my siblings had been understanding about my situation with Tyler. Steele, my older brother, advised me how best to attack him. He didn’t get into too much detail before my sister Sage told me to “straight-up punch him”. That led to my brothers making jokes how I would “gay-up punch him” instead. My younger brother, Tyde, had a different approach to the situation, and told me to start a rumour. We tried to think of a good one but none seemed suffice. Sage’s contribution was to tell everyone he was gay, but that was shot down instantly, considering it wasn’t offensive and he was already out the closet. By the time my parent’s had walked in, a plan was all but lost to me.
My parent’s were hesitant to support my violent endeavour against Tyler. Mum was the first to speak once I explained what happened and my need for revenge. ”Troye, just because he’s a Fire doesn’t mean you have to attack him. It’s in his nature. He might’ve been having a bad day. Besides, it’s not like he left a mark on you.”
I groaned, pulling at my hair in frustration. “You don’t understand! The Fires are complete-” I paused, remembering to censor my language in front of my parents “-jerks to everyone, especially Waters. Two of them covered Hannah in ash today! You know Hannah - she wouldn't provoke them in anyway. It’s just because she’s a Water. Bullying someone can’t be something someones born with. It’s not maybelline.”
My attempt of humour had no effect on my parents.
“Was this Tyler boy involved?” Dad asked.
“No but-” I was cut off by another question.
“Apart from the minimal pain in your cheek, has he ever hurt you or another student?”
I paused to think about that one. “Not that I know of.”
“Well then - you’ve no reason to hurt him. You’re not angry at him Troye. You’re angry at the Harries. And that’s fine. You have a right to be angry at them. They were bullying Hannah. Don’t hurt the innocent just because they’re a Fire.”
They didn’t understand. They’d forgotten what school was like.
Walking back into the hell hole the next day was difficult. I had to keep reminding myself to unclench my fist whenever someone so much as whispered about what happened in the canteen. It was hard to remain calm when I knew how much the prank had affected Hannah. Hannah didn't have to break down in tears to let me know she was broken. It was the second day of the new year and already she was off “ill”. What was sickening was how many people thought the whole scenario was “a right laugh”.
I was lucky to have Alfie and Caspar with me, to stop me incase I really did punch someone. It may not have been credible, but I liked to imagine myself as a badass.
That day I had powergy - the only class Alfie and I had together. The teacher from last year had been fired under peculiar circumstances. No one cared enough to find out the details. Mr Smith hadn’t been a likeable person anyway.
Her replacement was called Mr Lester. The first time I got to see him was in the lesson, when he beamed at us and said “Hello, I’m Mr Lester” as we entered. He could’ve been mistaken as student, if it wasn’t for his slightly more formal attire. His hair was cut in a way that resembled half the boys in the school, and he had a lost look about him. The lack of facial hair didn’t help the image either. Before the lesson began I noticed a few girls and boys were goggling him
The class had congregated in the centre of the room, with the tables pushed against the walls. Mr Lester was leaning against the teacher’s desk, tapping a nonsensical beat against the table. Me and Aflie joined the group, waiting patiently for the lesson to begin.
He stood up straighter and cleared his throat. The low murmer of chatter was diminished. “As you may know, I’m new here, and know none of you. What I do know is powergy. I’ve studied it my whole life - as most of you will have - and know most of it like the back of my hand. This year we shall be learning all kinds of spells - legal spells - the history of elementalists and also…” He stopped speaking, frowning. “Okay, I can’t remember the third thing. Anyway, I’ve read up on your last results, and I have to say, I’m impressed by a few of you.” I smiled secretly, remembering that I got the highest score in the class along with one other person. “However, I want to see your powers for myself. In order to have a better idea of your abilities and who each of you are, I’m going to pair you alphabetically.” The whole glass groaned. Why couldn’t teachers understand that that was the worst option possible? “We’ll focus on defensive spells this week, seeing as society can be dangerous for elementals now. Simple attacks spell will be all that is necessary. Right...”
He picked up a sheet of paper besides him and began calling out names, ticking the names off as he went. Alfie disappeared with a wan smile once his name was called out. I sat down on a desk, a little further away from the group, knowing I had to wait a long time. I began swinging my legs as the nerves started to build. I didn’t know who I’d be with in the class. No one seemed that bad, but I couldn’t really see, because everyone was else was standing. Perhaps, if I was lucky, I’d be with someone nice and we’d make fast friends.
“Troye Mellet and Tyler Oakley.”
I had been too naive to think I’d be with a nice person.
“What?” We both asked in union.
Mr Lester glanced up with a start, but swiftly continued reading from his list. I saw Tyler for the first time that day, who had been hidden within the tall crowd. We glared at one another whilst the rest of the class was paired up. At least he seemed as annoyed about the situation as I did.
When people started to disperse, Tyler sashayed over to Mr Lester’s desk. I heaved myself off the desk and followed him over.
“Mr Lester - hi. I’m Tyler. He’s Troye. We can’t go together.”
“Oh… Why not? You both got the highest marks last term. I’d of thought you’d want to be with someone who was at the same level.”
We glanced at one another. He appeared to be dumbfounded at the thought that of me doing as well as him. I was astounded he’d done as well as me. He also looked annoyed at how thick the teacher was. I agreed with him for the latter. As our eyes gradually pulled away, I spoke up for us. “He’s a Fire, I’m a Water, we’ve never got on. We’re polar opposites. We shouldn’t be going with a power we contradict. That never happens.”
Mr Lester scanned the list, and shook his head slowly. “You’re the only Fire and Water in the class. No matter who you go with, you’ll be the opposite to them. And if opposites don’t work well together, you two won’t work better with anyone else.”
“Not true. I worked well with Dan last year,” Tyler pointed at Dan, who up until now I hadn’t noticed. He was standing behind the desk, a little away from the teacher, starring bewilderedly at Tyler.
“Tyler, you almost burnt my eyebrows off.”
“That was one time. How many times do I have to say it? It was an accident.”
I regarded Tyler incredulously. How had they managed to keep that event hushed up?
Ah, the perks of being a top student.
“It was recommended by your last teacher for Dan to have another assessment made, because of an incident involving a fire. I’ll be doing that today, and after that, Dan shall get to choose whether to risk losing hair again.”
Dan smiled thankfully at Mr Lester, before studying shoes to avoid Tyler’s rage.
“Think of it as good thing. I doubt many Fires and Waters have trained together. It’ll be far more interesting than going with an element you compliment. Besides, you may find you have more in common than you think.”
“Fine,” Tyler snapped. With that, he spun on heel to storm off. I followed Tyler to the back corner, away from everyone else.
“Just so you know, I’m not happy with this arrangement either.” He had his back to me, so I didn’t know if he even heard me. I cleared my throat, trying to speak up a bit. “Do you want to attack first of shall I?”
He didn’t respond. I took a step closer. He wasn’t that annoyed was he? I-
All of a sudden he swiveled around shot a fire bolt at my chest.
Fortunately I was one step ahead of him. I quickly had a waterfall cascading around me to protect myself. The fire bolts dissolved into the water.
Tyler nodded, folding his arms. Was he impressed? I couldn’t tell - his face was blurred by the water. When the water cleared slightly, his expression had washed away, replaced with a cold gaze.
After a moment's pause he began rotating his wrists in a circular shape, the words “boule de feu”. leaving his lips. Slowly a pulsing yellow light was being formed. I’d seen it before on TV - without a barrier, they could travel right through a person’s bone. Obviously he’d decided to ignore the instruction of using simple attack spells. For some reason unbeknown to me. I was revelling in the light. It seemed to be constantly changing. Sometimes it looked circular, other times it looked cubish.
All too soon he fired it at me.
I pushed the water outwards, engulfing the fire ball. Unlike before it didn’t dissolve. Instead, it travelled closer. I uttered “tourbillon” as my brow creased with confusion. A whirlpool pulled the light away from me, dragging away it’s energy. When the flames died away, I found myself panting. The waterfall evaporated within seconds as my adrenaline drifted away. I closed my eyes, attempting to regain control of myself.
Tyler was frowning at me when I finally opened my eyes.“I was lead to believe Waters could only purify and heal.”
I scoffed at him.“Shows how well you pay attention in class.”
“I pay attention to the important stuff. Water powers aren’t important to me - or to anyone in fact- except Waters themselves. I’m not surprised, considering-”
I wasn’t in the mood to hear his Fire-superiority speeches. “Can’t you even open your mind to the possibility that Waters could possibly be as mighty as Fires?”
“Hey! I used to have an open mind! The issue was my brain kept falling out, so I closed it.”
“I guess you didn’t pick it back up when you did.” I murmured, rolling my shoulders back.
“What was that?” He asked, tilting his head to one side.
I ignored him. “I’ll test you now?”
He rolled his eyes and braced himself. “Fine. If you think you're any good.”
I noticed his hands tremble slightly. I quirked my eyebrow. His cocky demeanour was not entirely true. “Scared, Oakley?”
“You wish.”
I smirked, whilst trying to remember the spell Steele had taught me yesterday. I took a deep breath before whispering the incantation I'd learnt At the end I flexed my arms and stepped backwards.
I hadn't been aware of the table behind me, which caused me to fall flat on my face.
Tyler was observing me whilst sniggering, the water evaporating before even hitting his fire shield. “I didn't know I had that kind of effect on people.”
Wincing in pain, I eventually plucked up the courage to stand up. “I messed up the spell, that’s all.”
“Everyone’s entitled to be an idiot some of the time, but you’re just abusing that privilege.”
“You know what Tyler?” I paused. Where was I going with this. The most random thing popped in my head. “You’re an onion.”
“Why? Because I have layers?” He offered.
How did he know I was going to say that?
“No, just being near you makes people cry.”
His mouth went into the shape of an O. Quickly he clamped down his mouth. “Honey, do my comments really hurt you that badly? Can’t you cope with hearing how ridiculous your powers are? Do you cry yourself to sleep at night wishing you could be a Fire?”
It was lucky Tyler was as confident as he was, because he wasn't aware I was saying the incantation again as he spoke. He only realised what was going on when a tidal wave surged towards him. He rushed to put his barrier up, but not before half the wave had crashed against him. When the wave dissolved into the carpet, I was left with a drenched Tyler Oakley. His hair had flopped over his eyes, and his glasses had fogged up. He glowered at me.
“You son of a-”
“Excuse me you two! You know you’re only meant to be using simple attack spells? Not tidal waves! What if-”
I didn't bother listening to Mr Lester's lecture. I pushed my hands outwards, feeling a new kind of energy rush to my fingertips. My fingers cracked at they stretched outwards. Tyler copied my movements. The buzz of power ran through me as a new spell came into my mind.
The fire and water sprung from our hands at the same moment. We were in sync - without meaning to. The spells raced towards each other. We stayed in our stance. I was already forming a protection spell around me.
I needn't have bothered.
The fire and water clashed into one another. A burst of brilliant light exploded right before our eyes. I shielded myself, blinded by the view. My ears were muffled for a few seconds. I was only capable of hearing my own unsteady heartbeat.
I got my hearing back when Tyler said “oh my god”. Others in the room gasped. When I lowered my hands, I was astonished by the sight.
In between us was a ball of light - half blue, half yellow. It rotated slowly, as if it had all the time in the world. You would see the flames flick outwards, and droplets of water spray outwards.
I had never seen anything like it. No news footage contained spells that seemed so strangely beautiful. We’d never been taught that Fires and Waters could combine their spells to create whatever we had just made. I didn't think it was possible - yet it was.
I doubted anyone else in the room had seen it either. Everyone was amazed. Like when most things happen these days, the crowd around us got out their phones and took photos.
Taking photos didn't interest me. What interested me was what Tyler was thinking. I glanced over at him to find he was already staring at me. I lost the ability to look away as our eyes locked. My mind was racing with incoherent thoughts that were unfathomable. With our eyes we communicated the unsolvable musings. None of this made sense. How had we managed it? What did it all mean?
Then the unthinkable happen - genuine smiles formed on both our lips.
Somehow, we’d managed to do something that had Mr Lester standing with his mouth wide open. We might not have known how, but being in that position made me feel pretty great.
Alfie whistled at us. I stopped staring at Tyler in order to glare at my friend, who was happily chuckling besides Dan.
With the eye contact between Tyler and I lost, the ball crashed to the floor. It broke into fragments, that seeped into the flooring.
The bell rang.
Everyone turned to Mr Lester. He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. “Urm, Tyler and... Troye, can you stay behind for a minute? The rest of you can go.”
Within seconds the class had vanished out the door. I wandered towards the teacher, who was sat at his desk already, scribbling down notes. Once he’d finished, he let out a shaky laugh.
“In all my studies, I have never witnessed anything quite like that. Whenever Fires and Waters fight, the spells usually crash against each other and disappear completely. It’s rare for something like that to happen. I was convinced I’d never be lucky enough to see it. You two must be very passionate about one another.”
“What?” We gave each other an equally alarmed gape. It was then that we realised how close we were. Instantly we were jumping away from each other.
“We’re not passionate about one another.” Tyler said.
“We hate each other,” I insisted.
“Hatred can be passionate. And, this may shock you, but what you two have is not hatred.”
Tyler snapped at him then. “How would you know how we feel? Are you a mind reader or something?”
Instead of growing angry - like most teachers would if a student talked back to them - Mr Lester smiled. “I don’t have to be. It’s written all over your faces.”
For some unknown reason, I didn't doubt him.
A/N
So that happened.
The words that Troye and Tyler said when casting their spells were in French because I am very original oh wow
I'm sorry for any mistakes and the lame storyline this time - I've been revising most week and haven’t had much time to write, but I wanted to write so I did.
I don’t know, its a weird situation where you write rubbish but publish anyway.
It’ll get better
If you’re willing to sticking with this, god bless
(idk why I said that, I'm not even religious)
Okay, amazeballs, ily, au revoir mes petit pois
Emma x
~~~~