okay, so two things! 1, i dedicaed this chapter to brookejade, because she gave me the inspiration for teagan! 2, this chapterrr is really long!! I also want to give a shout out to nevershoutalex and eyeofthebeholder because they both helped to answer some of my questions!! so i would like to thank them, and thank all of you who are reading this! as always, please vote, comment, and maybe even fan?
♥♥♥ paige ♥♥♥
My roommates were sitting on a couch, watching TV. They were on opposite ends, which pretty much summed up how they looked. One was a brunette with a high ponytail, a flawless tanned face, and baby blue eyes. The other had stringy black hair, brown eyes that were impossibly dark, and a pale face. They both were wearing the school uniform, but in different colors. Christa had explained this to me during orientation. Students wore different outfits based on the different groups of power they were in, and the patch on their right breast pocket represented how powerful they were. Christa told me that the better your powers, the more popular you probably will end up. Having good power's at this school was like having good connections in Hollywood. Everybody wanted a piece of you, to be able to brag that they were friends with you. I hadn't gotten my uniform yet, it was in my dresser in my dorm room. But Christa had explained to me what the colors & symbols meant. The brunette had a black and silver skirt on, with a black polo. It meant that her power involved stealth. Her insignia was a silver sun, which meant on a scale of one to ten, she was at about level 6. The black haired girl had a blue and gray plaid skirt on, with a white polo, which meant her powers had something to do with nature, like mine. There was a blue insignia of a lightning bolt on her right breast pocket, which meant her powers were a level 7, which made her slightly more powerful than the brunette. They both smiled, which surprised me, after what Christa said. I looked over to her, and even she looked shocked. The dean was smiling back at them though, and she said, "Girls, meet your new roommate, Marissa. Marissa, this is Teagan, and Gemma" she said as she pointed to the brunette, then the girl with black hair. They kept up their smiles, although I now realized it didn't reach their eyes. They shook hands with me, and the dean said, "I'll leave you girls to get friendly. All your items are in your room Marissa, the second door in."
The dean and Christa left, the door slamming shut behind them. Teagan's eyes narrowed as she looked at me. Gemma sighed, gave teagan a dirty look, and slammed the door for her bed area shut. Teagan said in a sickly sweet, strongly southern voice, "so what's your power Marissa?" her voice wrapped around my name as though she were hiding disgust, and I replied calmly, "I can fly, and control nature." she laughed as she said, "I know that no scum like you would be that powerful, it would make you a level eight." I walked into my room, and she followed, her arms crossed. I opened my dresser and looked at my uniforms. There were two sets of uniforms. One was the same colors as Gemma's had. The other set was the same colors as the sky, with blue, the greyish-white of clouds, and the bright yellow of the sun. They both had a blue star, surrounded by other smaller stars. I smiled at Teagan and said, "You're right. I'm not a level eight. I'm a level ten" she gasped, shrieking, "CRAP," and ran out of the room. I shut the door behind her, and smiled to myself.
I changed into the sky uniform, and sat on the bed and looked at my new room. It had all my trinkets from my old room, and my posters were rolled up on top of the desk. All the furniture was made of dark wood, which was in sharp contrast to the bland white walls that surrounded me. There was a large rectangular window that the desk chair faced, which lead out to the courtyard. When I looked out the window, I saw Teagan talking to somebody, energetically waving her arms. They were sitting on a bench under a tree in a grassier part, maybe five feet away from a beautiful fountain. There were stone pathways leading from each building to the fountain,which then formed one large path, that switched to concrete and led to the rest of the campus, which was just as green and beautiful. A knock on the door stopped me while I was zoning out, and I opened it. Gemma stood in front of me, weakly smiling.
"Hi, um, I was just wondering, what are your powers," she said meekly.
I smiled and said, "You didn't hear Teagan screaming? I thought the entire dorm did!"
"Yeah, I was wondering what that was about...."
"I can fly, and control nature"
Gemma smiled, glancing down almost automatically to see what my insignia was. She did a double take when she saw it, but she kept smiling, but it now reached her eyes as she said, "Congrats! It's pretty hard to get level ten right off the bat!" she walked out of the room, and I sighed as I collapsed on my bed and fell asleep, still in my uniform.
I woke up the next morning to the sound of Gemma knocking loudly on my door, yelling loudly, "GET UP OR YOU'LL MISS THE FIRST DAY!" while teagan said in the background, her accent in soft contrast to her harsh tone as I heard her whisper in my ear, "wake up biotch"
I jolted up, hitting my head on something hard, although the air above me was clear. I looked to my left when I heard Teagan swearing, and saw her holding the side of her head and giving me a dirty look, saying, "WHY THE FRICK DID YOU DO THAT?!"
"WHY THE HECK WERE YOU IN MY ROOM!" I yelled, gemma suddenly going quiet as I yelled.
Teagan, still glaring daggers at me for hitting her head, rolled her eyes and left my room. I changed into my other uniform, the one that had the same colors as Gemma, brushed my hair, and headed into the bathroom, brushed my teeth and hair, and put my hair in a messy bun. I went back into my room, and grabbed my backpack, putting the papers that the receptionist gave me in there too, but taking out the map and keeping it in my hand. I found the dining hall, and walked in. almost immediately, I could feel everybody's eyes on me, watching me, seeing what I was going to do, and where I was going to go. I went to the back of the room and got a muffin, and searched the room for Christa or Millie. As I looked, I didn't notice Braden wave to me, or just after that, a group of girls walking up to me. The next thing I knew, a ridiculously tall redhead, who kind of looked like the girl from Paramore, in an oceanic colored skirt and shirt walked up with four girls walking behind her. She had a silver lightning bolt on her pocket, just like gemma had. Based on what Christa told me about the colors, her powers had something to do with animals. She smiled at me, and said, "Hi, I'm Jessica. Do you want to sit with us today? We could show you around, too, if you'd like."
"Yes please. My roommates didn't offer to show me around, and I could barely find this building after I got ready!"
she smiled at me, all of her friends staring at me sympathetically "Yeah, I heard who you got roomed with. It's okay, they're like that with everybody. Just don't get Gemma mad! She controls storms, and if you aren't careful, you'll get a lightning bolt in the middle of your face."
"oh... um.... okay then," I said, wondering why people didn't like Gemma all that much. She was nice to me, although a bit anti social. Jessica smiled at me a bit more, then said, "Come on, we'll show you to our table."
I followed her to a table in the corner, and just as I sat down, Christa walked in. I waved, and she grimaced as she saw where I was sitting. Jessica and them seemed nice, and so did Christa, so I don't understand why people this damned school acted so weird! Jessica saw where I was looking, and said just barely above a whisper, "You know her?"
I nodded, and Jessica said, "Good luck. She's really nice, but she hates me and my friends for some reason. She hung out with us all the time, but one day she looked my best friend, Callie, in the eyes once, and she had, like, a personality change. She never talked to us anymore, gave us dirty looks, and any time a new kid, like you, came in, she would be as nice as possible, to try and get them to avoid us."
I nodded, and the bell rang. Everybody got up, and Jessica said, "Where's your schedule? We need to see who your counselor is, because in the Morning you have to meet with your counselor in a specific line, and they take you and your group to the first class, which they teach and you always have together, and then tell you the school's events for today. Then you go to the elevator, which has the key card thing disabled so that you can access the top three floors of the basement."
I showed her my schedule and she grimaced as she said, "ooh! You got Mr. Jacobson! He's, like, the meanest counselor in the school! His line is right over there, under the big sign, with the 10 on it."
Then, something dawned on her, and looked at my insignia. "NO WAY!! I-" the bell rang, and ten adults came outside from the building in front of us, standing in front of the different groups of students. She scampered back to her line, which had a stern looking old lady at the head of it. The man at the front of my line was tall, and probably in his mid-to-late twenties. He had short brown hair, and his brown eyes shone harshly is the sunlight as he said, "You must be the new student, Marissa. I'm your head counselor, Mr. Jacobson. There was something wrong with the schedule you got yesterday, so this is your new one."
He handed it to me, and I read it as I followed him and the other students to a big room. It looked like a normal schedule, until you saw the names, just like everything in this school. I had my classes go in this order:
Homeroom-Mr. Jacobson rm. 23
Advanced Power Control-Mr. Jacobson rm. 23
Gym-Ms. Beecher Gym 1
Flight lessons- Ms. Crudelis
Lunch
Radioactivity & Elements-Dr. Clammalum Laboratory
Study Hall- Library
History-Ms. Green rm. 45
I went to find an empty seat, but Mr. Jacobson called my name and said, " Come here"
I complied, and he said, "Class this is Marissa. She just started here today. Would you care to introduce yourself?"
I nodded and said, "I'm Marissa, I just turned 13, I really like soccer, but I've never stayed somewhere long enough to join a team, and I love writing, too."
Mr. Jacobson said, "Any questions," and immediately half the hands went up. I picked a girl who looked kind of familiar, and she asked, "So what are your powers?" almost all of the hands went down, and I answered her, "I can fly, and control nature."
She smiled and said, "Cool. We'll probably have the same flight lessons class!"
I picked a boy who was cute, with shaggy brown hair and shining gray eyes, and he said, "What grade are you in?"
"Eighth grade."
He nodded, and Mr. Jacobson sent me to my seat. I sat down, and when I looked to my left, I realized Braden was hunched down next to me, looking half asleep as Mr. Jacobson talked about something. He saw me just then, and smiled brightly, looking completely awake now. He whispered, just barely loud enough to reach my ears, "Can I see your schedule?"
I nodded and smiled, handing it to him. He looked at it, his smile getting brighter until he reached the bottom part of the schedule. Then, it dropped faster than a cheesy joke. He handed it back to me, saying quietly, "Be careful in flight lessons. Ms. Crudelis is crazy, she'll try to make you fall when you're flying the highest. She claims it's endurance training, but don't get too high up unless she's far, far away. I had to make an entire redwood grow to full size to save somebody, but the school barely acknowledged it. They said they probably freaked out, and forgot to fly for a second. But I saw what Ms. Crudelis did. She grabbed their leg, and forced them down. She had this look in her eyes, she seemed half crazy. I haven-"
"Would you care to share what you were speaking about, Mr. Terrena? And Ms. Andekas, I expected better from you on your first day! Now, would you like to tell me what I was telling the class?"
I nodded, and said, "You were just taking role, sir, you weren't telling us anything. If you were, it obviously wasn't important enough for everybody to be paying attention, because I know we weren't the only ones saying something."
I smiled serenely at him as the class stared at me in shock.
"This is your warning Ms. Andekas. If you talk back to me once more, you will be sent to the office. And we both know you don't want that right?"
I kept my smile up, but I think it faltered before I said, "yes, sir."
He nodded, and the rest of class passed uneventfully, mostly with him having us meditate. It was extremely tedious. I mostly stared at the stitching in my converse as he droned on about keeping our emotions in control, and explaining what to think of during meditation.
The bell rang, preventing me from sleeping, and Braden walked up to me and said, still smiling, "Come on, we have a fun class next!"
I smiled and nodded, wondering how his personality had changed so much as we walked to an elevator, and went down to the third floor. I gasped when we walked in. There was an obstacle course in one corner, an entire area for workout equipment, even a gymnastics area! There was an oval running track in the back, by two large doors that said Boy's LR and Girls LR. Braden laughed a bit at my astonished face, and said, "Ms. Beecher has your locker number, and all of your PE clothes are in the locker. The school takes them out on the weekend and washed them. Just go up and ask the teacher, and she'll have somebody show you where the locker is."
He pointed out the teacher, and then went into the boy's locker room. I walked over, and she smiled at me.
"Hello. Are you my new student," I nodded and she said, "perfect! Millie, would you please show our newest student her locker? It's number 458."
Millie agreed, and we walked over to the locker room. She grinned and said, "I still can't believe you're here! And we barely got to talk during orientation! OMG! You have to tell me all about how they found you! And who you're rooming with, cause some people have pets in their room, so I can tell you stuff about them." she got an evil grin at the last part, and opened the door to the locker room. Everybody was quiet as they looked at me. One girl, who had been putting her shirt on when we came in, said loudly, "Why did it get so quiet?" and forced her shirt over her head completely. She looked up, and got quiet too. Millie said loudly, "I know, she's a level ten! It's no reason to treat her like a freaking leper!" everybody turned away, cheeks burning, and began talking and changing again. Millie smiled contentedly, and continued on, saying excitedly as we went, "The school is, like, filled to the brim right now, because a bunch of people from one of the other academies are here for a few months while they renovate their school! Apparently, this kid got a really bad combo for his powers, flying and super strength, and his glasses flew off while he was in midair! He ended up destroying, like, four buildings!" She waved her hands enthusiastically as she said this, and trying not to laugh at the excited look on her face I said, "Wow! That's a bunch!"
She nodded, her head looking like it was about to roll off, and I grinned. Then, she cracked a smile and said, "Omigosh I am so dumb! I forgot to even tell you the original thing I was going to! I was going to say that the school is filled to the brim right now, so I'm right by like, the only free lockers! So we're gonna be right by each other! Isn't that great?"
"Yeah! How big is this locker room, by the way? I feel like we've passed, like, four huge rows of lockers already!"
she nodded and said, "Everybody here does PE from fifth to twelfth but there are specific periods for each grade. Fifth and sixth are together, seventh and eighth, and so on. Also, a lot of the students come back after college for extra training, so they get lockers too. Unfortunately, our lockers are on the very other side.... they should be in the middle, like at normal schools, but they sort of do the numbers like a spiral, first the numbers on the outer wall, then they go from the outside in. It was sooo confusing when I first started in this class!"
I nodded and said, "I'm already confused!"
She smiled and said encouragingly, "don't worry, once you're here for a while, you'll get it. I thought I would never understand it, but I figured it out."
We walked up to two lockers, and I read the numbers on them. 458, and 459. Millie said, "These are our lockers! You don't need a code, because apparently the uniforms are really expensive, and they want to protect them, just in case security is ever breached. They somehow get all of our thumbprints, and all you have to do is put it against the black circle, on the right hand side."
I set my thumb down on it, and I felt a tickling on my thumb, then the locker clicked, and came out about an inch, sitting ajar as I stared at it.
"okay, this is awesome!"
"I know right? I thought the teacher was joking when she said the thumbprint thing, but everybody went to their locker and tried it out, and it worked!" I pulled out my PE clothes as she babbled on, slightly gasping at the same time as her when I saw the two outfits. One was obviously made for flying, but I didn't understand why there were two slits in the back. It's not like I had wings or anything. It was a charcoal gray, and on the sides, fanning out from my knee in a triangle, was lightning yellow. It looked like it was made for me. I folded it back up, and noticed a note taped to the back. It said in a neat, orderly print, " This uniform was made to completely fit you, and it allows full movement, no matter what predicament you are in while flying. The fabric is unique, and has been made to reform itself when ripped. People with healing gift's who have perfected the art of sending their powers to other have enchanted this suit, so that no matter what, you will be safe.
Sincerely,
Dean Cordura
Millie finished around the same time as me, and said in awe, "You must be a really powerful ten! That's the only way they would care that much about whether or not somebody is in the infirmary. You must be really important. Plus, most uniforms for powers that require some sort of special fabric and stuff generally just have the fabric that fixes itself, without any sort of healing in it...." I smiled, much happier as I pulled out the second uniform. It had the same charcoal gray, but instead of yellow as the other color, it had the same color as my darker uniform, the one for the earth-y powers, and not flight. Otherwise, it was just regular gym clothes, with the baggy shorts and loose t-shirt. On the back though, it said in bold black letters- Natural Powers.
Millie saw the confused look on my face and said, "That's so that the teacher knows what team to put you on, which sport, and where to play."
I nodded and changed into the baggier outfit, and said, "Ready to go"
She smiled and said, follow me, you're lucky yo started today. We just finished up with, like, the worst sport ever!"
I laughed and followed her out of the locker room and into the insanely huge gym. People were sitting down in rows, laughing and talking, as students spoke to Ms. Beecher, and slowly poured out of the locker rooms. Braden waved from across the room, and we walked over, Millie's eyes widening as we walked over. I smiled at him and said, "Hey"
he replied, his smile brightening, and he said, "Hey," then he looked at Millie for a second and said, "Hi, I'm Braden."
He stuck out his hand and she gave him a thousand-watt smile, saying with happiness in her voice, "I'm Millie"
They both smiled and he turned to me and said, "So what does your other uniform look like?"
I thought of a way to describe it, but as I opened my mouth, Millie began speaking.
"OMG! It's soooooo cool!It was all lightning-y and awesome, but it had holes in the back! It was really weird, but I think I know why. Do you know Christa all that well?"
He nodded, because he couldn't get anything else out before she said, "Can you ask her if she knows how much access she has to her powers yet?"
By her I assumed she meant me, and what did she mean, access to my powers? Don't you just use them, and that's that?
Braden, looking thoughtful, said, "mmhmmm..... I think I know what you're thinking. It would make sense, but don't you think the school would make that adjustment once she gained full access?"
Millie nodded, and I stared at them both, completely lost as I saw a smarter version of Millie talking to a ridiculously cute guy like it was nothing. Am I the only one that seemed to be missing something here?
They continued on throughout the period until Millie got sent to a different team for PE. Then, I realized something. Braden's hint he gave me about his powers was asking me if I believed in magic. But what the heck did our powers have to do with magic? I mean, I sort of got it, but not really. I turned to ask him, and saw him staring off into space, looking absently at the padded walls that kind of reminded me of a crazy person's cell. I cleared my throat, and he didn't look over so I said, "Braden?"
"mmhmmm"
"What did your hint mean, during my orientation?"
He laughed and said, "I forgot to explain that, didn't I?"
I nodded, and he said, "Well, I can actually just copy powers of other people around me. Only to a certain extent though. I have to actually be trained in those powers to get to as high a level in them as the user generally is, so I focus on one power each month. I refused to take flight lessons though..."
I nodded, understanding what he meant as we began to play dodge ball. The period passed quickly, and I went back to the locker room, my jaw still dropping a bit when the thumbprint thing worked. I put on the flight suit, and when I put it on, the holes immediately closed. I couldn't even see the seams from where it was. It fit my body perfectly, but wasn't uncomfortable, like a wetsuit. It felt almost like a second skin. Millie had just come up to the lockers, and gasped when she saw me, immediately babbling again.
"omigosh it looks so amazing on you! You look like a real hero now, I love it!
I smiled brightly and Millie began changing. Just then I realized something. I had to pee, and this was a one piece suit. I asked Millie about it, slightly embarrassed, and she said, "well you know how it adjusted when you out it on so that the holes weren't in the back anymore? That's because, don't ask me how it does this, but it has sensors in it, and so do the bathrooms, so that once you're on the other side of a door with this thing, a hole will open up in you're... um.... areas...."
I nodded, smiling at her discomfort and headed to the bathroom. It worked, and I was amazed that the school at had managed to think of everything as I washed my hands and walked out of the locker room. I looked at the map to find where the lessons were, and wondered how this was going to work. The lessons were in the middle of campus, where anybody who drove by could see us. I figured that the school, like always, had some amazing way to fix the problem. I walked to the lines that Jessica had shown me earlier, and saw a woman, who I assumed to be Mrs. Crudelis, standing up with a clipboard, with about five people in suits like mine, but with different colors, all standing around, talking to each other. I stared at ms. Crudelis a bit more. She had nervous black eyes, constantly darting around as she scanned the skies, the ground, anything her hungry eyes could find. Her hair was a dark brown, not quite black, but very close. She was as pale as ivory, but she didn't have the right sort of glow that some people with her skin tone had. Hers looked like she had been stuck deep underground, and was thirsting for sunlight. She looked half mad, and the fact I could see her mumbling under her breath didn't help the matter. I understood why Braden refused these classes. She looked like she lost her sanity a long time ago. Suddenly, I felt a chill in the back of my neck, and felt like I was being watched. I snapped out of my zoning out, and looked over. Ms. Crudelis was staring at me with wild eyes. I locked eyes with her, and the longer I looked, the deeper I felt myself getting pulled into a black pool of despair. I felt like I was flailing, and suddenly I was pulled out of it by a tapping on my shoulder. I turned, and saw Anna, and the girl who asked me about my powers. They were both smiling. Anna began and said, "Hi Marissa. Do you remember me from orientation?"
"yeah"
she smiled and said, "This is my friend Hannah. She said you guys both have Mr. Jacobson? That's tough luck, to get him. But, if I can get just a bit better with my power, I'll be in your homeroom too! Then we can all talk!"
I nodded and said, "Yeah, that sounds cool...."
She nodded, and Ms. Crudelis began speaking.
Her voice was old and changed pitch with every word, yet it still held strength behind it. It held determination, and.... anger?
I told myself I was imagining things, and listened to what she was saying.
"We will be flying solo today, all of you must go retrieve one ring hidden somewhere around the school while I observe. Would anybody like to help the new student, Marissa, instead?"
everybody raised their hands, and she scanned the group of kids and picked out Anna. She smiled brightly at me, and I watched in shock as slowly, everybody in class ran, and suddenly was in midair, arms outstretched, while some had wings bursting out of their back. I was awestruck as I stared after them. Anna walked up, still smiling as she said encouragingly, "Okay, so this is going to be difficult at first, but you'll be flying like a pro in no time!"
I gulped and said shakily, with just a hint of strength trying and failing to mask it, "O.. kay..."
Her smile dropped and she said, "Okay, down to business. Flying was pretty much created so that anybody nearby could laugh at you while you fell on your butt while you tried to learn. This is like trying to ride a bike for the first time, but you aren't allowed to use training wheels. You have to need it with every fiber of your being. You have to think this is your only option. Sometimes it will come easily to people, where they just jump and they're up, but that's rare. So, we're going to see if we can get you into the air for more than thirty seconds for about half the class, and if you succeed in that, all you have to is need it, and voila! You'll learn to fly before the period is done. This period is longer compared to all the other ones, because this is the specialization period. They out all people with the same powers, no matter the grade, in the same class for this one. It takes the teachers longer to get the point across, so we have about an hour and a half this period."
I nodded, suddenly speechless as I realized, this is real. I'm going to be thousands of feet up one day, soaring above everything, trying not to fall, and die.
Anna began again. "we're going somewhere, so follow close behind me, and don't do anything other than what I tell you. Got it?"
"yes."
"good. Let's go."
Anna led me to the dorms, and led me up to the roof. It was huge, and completely empty, spare the air conditioning boxes. There was nothing protecting the sides, and it was a long drop. Suddenly, I was scared for Anna's training tactics. What if she pushed me over? No, Anna wouldn't do that. She wouldn't want to kill me, would she? As I thought this, I looked behind myself. Hannah was stepping into the doorway. She smiled and said, be sure to get off before the end of lunch, kay?"
"What are you talkin-"
the door slammed shut, and I heard a faint click as it locked. Then I realized what she meant. The only way off now was to fly. I stood straight, and thought of the what she had said about flying. I imagined I was falling. I let myself get immersed in my thoughts, and suddenly, my stomach dropped, and almost disappeared. I opened my eyes, and I was five feet above the roof, slowly floating. As I observed my surroundings, I dropped painfully. I somersaulted, and managed to only bruise myself pretty badly. Adrenaline rushed through me, and I ran to the edge of the roof, closing my eyes and not stopping. I was plummeting so fast. I opened my eyes and saw the ground shooting upwards to grab me, and steal my life away. As I thought this, I shut my eyes, and suddenly, I stopped going downwards, and suddenly thrust forwards, laying on my stomach, but nothing was below me. I opened my eyes, and saw myself hovering above a tree, an entire class staring at me, open mouthed. The teacher, who had been growing some sort of plant at the time, had kept her hands up, and a vine sprouted up, slowing growing up the tree and reaching out to me. I put my hand up, hoping to stop it, and it did stop. But the entire vine burst open with flowers. The class below me, who had begun to turn their heads away, gasped in unison. I smiled weakly, and tried to figure out how to move forward. I put my hands out, and angled myself upwards, like the other kids did. When I began actually flying for the first time, and not just levitating, my back began to feel as though it was being stabbed in a million places. It burned, and I felt like somebody was trying to kill me. As I thought this, I felt the fabric move, and felt relief as a huge whooshing sound came about. I looked at my back, and nearly fainted as I saw two huge, silvery-white wings flapping silently from my back, seamlessly fitting into the skin that I could see from my uniform.