Young Writers Society

The warm sun engulfed the school grounds in a bright yellow glow. Beams of light shined down through gaps in the branches of the tree above me, making the ground I sat on dappled with spots of yellow. They danced, swirling around each other on the grass like fireflies as the wind slipped through the trees, causing the leaves to tremble like it made them nervous.

Goosebumps rose on my bare arms as I pulled my hair into a half-up, half-down style to keep it from blowing into my face. With how warm it was in California, I wondered if I should consider cutting it. I'd always had long hair... but maybe it was time to try something new.

The water in the pond I sat beside rippled to the west, like it was trying to follow the wind as it swept by, curious to know where it was going in such a hurry. But then it would lap lazily upon the shore and ebb back into itself, disappointed that it wasn't able to catch up. Maybe it's strange that I would find myself giving the water and trees personalities, but sometimes I did.

Maybe it had something to do with my powers. Sometimes they seemed to have a mind of their own. Or maybe it just became a fun game I came up with to pass the time on all those days I would sit alone by the river near my house. There was a certain beauty to it, I thought. Seeing water as something more than just two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. It's what allows everything else to live. Allows the world to breath.

"Hey."

I looked up, startled out of my thoughts to see Stetson coming up behind me. "Oh. Hey, Stetson." I gave him a small smile and nervously tucked a piece of hair behind me ear.

"What'cha doing?" he asked as he sat down next to me, crossing his legs criss-cross applesauce.

"Just... thinking." I closed my eyes as another gust of wind blew through my hair.

"About what?" he asked.

"It's silly..." I admitted, tilting my head at him.

Stetson narrowed his eyes at me. "I highly doubt that."

"Sometimes when I'm outside, I like to think about how nature is alive. And what personalties different things have."

"Personalities? What do you mean?" he asked, intrigued.

"Like... look at the pond. I think the water looks curious about the wind, wanting to follow it, but it can't, because it can't leave the pond. So it becomes disappointed, because whereas the wind can go anywhere it wants, the water has to stay put, never seeing past the grounds of the school." When I looked up at him, he was giving me a wry smile. "What?"

"Yeah, that's pretty silly," Stetson said with a nod. I pursed my lips and gave him a light shove. "But... I think it's cute that you think of it that way."

I felt myself start to blush. "Well, it's not like I go around talking to trees or anything. I don't actually think plants and things have personalities. But it's fun to think about, you know? Sometimes they look like they do. It's like cloud gazing. Picking out shapes and thinking clouds look like certain things when they're really just puffy clouds of condensed water vapor thousands of feet above us in the sky."

"You're kind of nerdy, aren't you?" he asked, still smiling at me. I started to wonder why he was smiling. Did he just like to smile? Or was he smiling at me?

I sighed and rested my head on the palm of my hand. "You probably think I'm out of my mind."

"No, I get it. I do. I'm just trying to figure you out, Hailey Adakai."

"I'm a pretty open book, Stetson Cassidy." I paused. "At least, with people I trust enough to open up to."

"Somehow I have a feeling that not very many people fall into the category," he said.

I just shrugged shyly, starting to feel myself getting pushed out of my comfort zone. "Maybe," I replied.

He sighed and leaned back on his hands. "Well... I am a pretty open book. Ask me anything. Anything at all."

I leaned down on an elbow and looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. "What is your power?"

He seemed to stiffen a little, but then he let a playful smile spread across his face. "Guess."

"Well... I know you're not a telekinetic," I admitted. "And I thought maybe you were a psychic when you knew what ice cream I wanted. But then you went and gave the obvious answer of reading the board..." I sighed and let my shoulders drops. "I don't know. Can you manipulate sound waves? I mean, you're always listening to music."

"Maybe..."

There was something about his tone, about the expression on his face that made him seem hesitant. I sat up, a realization hitting me. "You don't know what your power is, do you?"

"Not exactly." He sat up with a sigh and ran a hand through his blonde hair, which shined like gold in the sunlight. "I'm going to Oceanside Academy for the Gifted and I don't even know why I'm here. Totally lame, right?"

I found myself being fascinated by that. "How can you not know what your power is?"

He pressed one eyebrow low while he raised the other, almost like the equivalent of him peaking an eye out from hiding it in a pillow. "I don't really know," he admitted. "I didn't know people with abilities even existed until I got here. I bet you could imagine my surprise when the headmaster disappeared during orientation."

I couldn't help but laugh at him. I try to stifle it by bringing my hands to my mouth, but just picturing what that must have been like was enough to keep me giggling.

"And now she's laughing at me," he said to himself.

"No... no, I..." I tried really hard to stop, but failed horribly.

"No, I get it," he put his hands up in an over-exaggerative gesture. "You probably think I'm a joke, right?"

Finally, I managed to control myself and spoke before thinking. "No, I think you're cute." I felt myself blush again and I stumbled over my words to try and cover what I said. "I- I mean, I think it's cute that you don't know."

His smile widened. "Yeah?"

"Yeah... It kind of reminds me of a little lost puppy dog."

He let his head fall back with a groan. "That's just wonderful."

I sat up a little straighter, and when he held his head back up, he turned to look at me. "There's nothing wrong with that," I told him. "I like little puppy dogs."

He gave me a charming, lop-sided smile that made butterflies dance in my stomach. "Thanks," he said. We locked eyes for moment, and I found myself getting lost in the rich blue of his irises. Then my mind checked back in and I realized he was looking at me too. Panicking, I looked away, suddenly feeling too open. Looking deep into someones eyes is like seeing into their souls, and I wasn't ready to let anyone see mine. Not yet.

Still panicking, I stood up quickly, running a hand through my hair. "I need to go." I started to walk away, but I realized that, by doing that, I was only pushing him away again. I'd already done it twice. Would this be my third strike?

So instead of walking away without another word, I turned back to him. I gave him a sweet smile and, as genuinely as I could, I said, "You'll figure out what your power is, Stetson. And in the mean time, I won't tell anyone that you don't know. I promise."

Trixianna Argyle

Trixie bit into her egg, lettuce and Mayo sandwich again, grimacing as the slimy Mayo hit the back of her throat making her gag and surprise her new friend, Kaito.
"Hey! Are you okay?!" He exclaimed in a bit of a panic.
Trixie nodded. "All good. I just forgot the taste of Mayo makes me sick." More like forgot I don't have any memories to help me know what I like and don't like. she sighed. "I'm going to see if I can get a new sandwich without Mayo. Actually, stuff it. I'll just eat the salad and take the bread roll outside."
She wrapped the sandwich back up and placed it to the side. Distantly she heard a twittering slowly growing louder as her bluebird friend, Wren, came flying fast towards her, knowing that the bread roll was for him. He made a rough landing next to the roll and started singing his thanks. Trixianna nodded at him to eat as she ate some salad, smiling as the taste of caramelised balsamic vinegar on tomato and olives hit her tongue.
"Eat up Wren, and I'll help you with your landings later, m'kay?" Wren twittered his thanks and continued to peck away at the roll.
Hearing a gasp, Trixie looked up at Kaito who's jaw had dropped at her communication with the bird.
"You understand him?!" He cried.
Trixie his her face behind her wall of strawberry curls and mumbled her reply. "No. But I guess if he's happy or not by his songs."
Kaito stopped looking so surprised and smiled. "Yes. He's said he's very please to have help. He's still only a baby. The whole way over here he kept saying FOOD over and over again. Now. I want to know about you. What's Australia like?"
Trixie froze. She had no clue how to reply. She had no memory. She COULD NOT answer. So she stood up with her tray, put Wren on her shoulder and walked away. She put her scraps in the bin and her tray on the pile before running outside to find a place to hide.
"I can't do this Wren. I have no memories from before two years ago. My first memory is of a baby dead in my arms as I sob and have no clue why. I wish I could remember."

---------------------------

End of the day, Trixianna is trudging her way to her room, Wren twittering away in her ear. When she finally opened the door she put her things on the bed closest to the window and fell back on it unceremoniously, falling asleep rather quickly. Her dreams took on the form of a wide open sky. No ground in sight. She was swooping and soaring and then suddenly falling into nothingness and waking up to a door slamming shut.
"Hey roomie. The name is Arena. What's your name?" Trixie looked up at the girl who woke her up and blushed.
"I-I'm Trixianna." Her accent becoming more pronounced as she got more and more embarrassed.
She's gorgeous. She thought, her face getting even more red. She admired the gorgeous caramel locks on Arena's head. Trixianna longed to have hair like that. Not full curls like she already had, just nice soft waves.
"Is it dinner time yet?" She asked in a soft voice.
Arena shook her head. "Not yet. If you want to stay here, I can bring some back for you."
"It's okay. I need to apologise to someone anyway. Thank you for the offer though." Just as she finished, a soft twitter came from the pillow. Wren had woken up.

Dimitri

Show a hot girl to her room where there were likely to be other hot girls who he would now have an excuse to talk to on account of introducing the aforementioned hot girl number one? Oh yeah. Dimi was practically in heaven but he tried to sound nonchalant about it. He even managed a casual roll of his shoulders and for once his traitor muscles didn't give him away by skipping or pirouetting down the hallway.

"Why not?"

Why not indeed.

"If Madam will follow me, we are now passing through the room of exercise which was thus named in the year 1972 after it was decided that x-men must be thin and healthy to fit into their matching khaki uniforms." Dimitri gestured to either side of the room where there were various mats and pieces of equipment.

"What about on weekends?" Lilah asked. "I missed the briefing."

"You can wear your own clothes then."

Lilah bit down gently on her lower lip and Dimitri hurriedly added: "But of course, you look good in anything so you could keep the uniform on."

That got a laugh out of the pretty blond.

"Now as we exit to the yard of the court, you will notice that this is where we x-men gather to-"

Dimitri stopped as Lilah put an urgent hand on his shoulder but he couldn't see anything wrong. "Hey, if you want to hug or something-"

"What? No, I-" Looking a bit flustered - or maybe put out? Dimi wasn't good at judging girls' emotions which was probably why he got slapped so much - Lilah lowered her hand and Dimi turned to stride toward the building which housed the girl's dorms. And he would have walked right into one of the picnic benches if Lilah's hand hadn't gripped his shoulder again. Okay so that was kind of weird.

Lilah dropped her hand for the second time and Dimi grinned at her. "What are you, my personal bodyguard?"

"Not even close but you do get in trouble a lot."

Dimitri couldn't argue with that so he shrugged and led the rest of the way across the courtyard to the girl's dorm. As they were reaching the door, a Japanese-looking boy got up from one of the picnic benches.

"Hey, if you see a girl with green eyes and kind of gingerish hair in there, can you let me know? I think I upset her a bit."

"That's normally my job," Dimi joked. "But there's got to be like hundreds of girls in there so why don't you come in with us and look for yourself?"

"I thought we weren't supposed to enter the girl's side?" the boy said.

Dimitri opened the door and gestured for Lilah to go ahead of them. "We're fine until 7:00. Are you coming or not?"

The boy gave a confident nod. "Yeah, I'm in. My name's Kaito."

"You're like Chinese, right?" Dimitri asked, just to be annoying and because he wasn't one hundred percent sure the kid was Japanese. "I'm Dimi and this is Lilah."

Nyx Blackwell

The desert is a beautiful place. You can see into the distance for miles. The dry, red plain is dotted with dry bushes, cacti, and sometimes jackrabbits. But only if you can spot them. In the distance, you can see mesas, steep slopes that would eventually form a point — but suddenly, abruptly cut off, like a giant took his axe and sliced right through the middle. It’s picture perfect, all of it. It doesn’t really matter where you go, the deserts of Arizona are picturesque, beautiful.

I turn around with a slight sigh to my house — white, modern. It stands out from the rest of the land, a spot of white on a plain of black. Or, rather, a spot of white on a plain of red and brown. The whole thing is glass and metal. Huge transparent walls roofed in sloping white. There’s a blue-tinted pool in the back, where I am, tiled in white as well. The whole complex is fenced in by a white fence, all smooth metal poles elegantly offering their whiteness to the desert floor. And I hate it.

Mostly because of how it ruins the natural beauty of the place. But also because of my family. I hate them, they hate me. They’re normal, I’m… not. They fit in, and I just don’t. So when I finish my online classes for the day, I just go for long walks in the desert. And then I come back to my house, where my dad’s on the phone, and my mom is lounging in her room, waiting for me to pass so that she can snarl some curse or beg me again to cleanse myself of my “Devil’s Gift,” as she likes to call it, and reach once more for God. I’m an Atheist.

I’m glad though, that even though my family hates me, they let me drive out to the community theatre and either audition for a play or practice. But they don’t come. God forbid coming to see your daughter perform.

And when I’m not acting, I’m drawing, or writing something, or watching a movie and making myself cry for practice.

Then I got the letter. Or rather, my mom did. The Oceanside Academy, a small, private boarding school that invited me of all people to attend. Needless to say, I was sent off without so much as a goodbye.

I found out I was a few days late. Postal service doesn’t really reach us well on our isolated little — big house. So when I reached the school, days late, with a new bookbag I had to buy myself, I was surprised to see everyone already knew what to do and where to go. I was all alone, and didn’t. So I marched myself up to the front office and slammed my bookbag on the front desk. The lady tapping away on her computer looked up, startled. And then sighed when she saw me.

“Name?” she asked dryly.

“Nixie Blackwell, Nyx for short,” I replied with a smirk. She missed it, checking her list with her head down. I narrowed my eyes slightly. Here five minutes and people already aren’t paying attention? Is this what real school is like? No one pays attention to anyone except the popular kids? I frowned. With my competitive and dramatic nature, I wouldn’t be able to stand that.

The woman stood up and handed me a small stack of papers, along with an envelope with my name on it. “This is all you’ll need to get started. Your roommate is Lilah Banes. Questions?”

I nodded. “One, actually.” I was tempted to say something about her attention span, but held my tongue. “Will I be able to get up early and run in the morning?”

“Yes. Run laps around the school, if you want to.” And then she just waved me off, like I was just some problem that she solved and never wanted to see again. I opened the door calmly and strode out, making sure to slam it behind me. I stuck my tongue out at her from behind the wall.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

I spun around at the sudden voice. An African-American boy, about my age stood there, hands in his pockets. I raised my eyebrow at him, and said, “And… why not?”

He chuckled and looked down. When he looked up again, there was still a trace of humor in his eyes.

“Because that woman,” he said, nodding towards the office, “can see through walls. If I’m right, she should come storming out right about —“

The woman came out, red-faced. She stormed over to me and poked her finger at my chest. “You. I’m letting you off this time because you’re new here. If I catch you being disrespectful towards me or any other teachers again, you’re in BIG trouble.”

“Uh… Yes ma’am?” I said, a bit thrown off. What? Was that why we were required to come here? Everyone here has powers? Because-

She threw one last distrustful look at me before stomping off, back to her office, where a year of work awaited her. Once she was gone, I snickered. Remembered she could see me. The boy beside me still looked amused. He gestured for us to walk a little farther down the hall.

“So. New girl. I’m Chris, you?”

I grinned. “Nixie. But call me Nyx. So, I’m assuming this school is for people with, ah, powers? What’s yours?”

He blushed a bit and looked down. “Er… I can change into other people…?”

My eyes widened. “That’s so cool,” I gushed. “You can change into anyone you want? What about animals?”

Smiling a bit now, he looked up. “Yes, anyone. Girls, Guys… anyone. But not animals. Only people. What about you?”

“It’s not that cool. I can just manipulate air. Wind. Whatever,” I stated, throwing my arms up. Secretly, I love my power, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. But I was in the process of making my first friend here, and I didn’t want to ruin it with my boasting.

“That’s actually awesome,” he said. “You can make things fly around, right? Make yourself fly around? Win every fight… ever by just throwing people to the other side of the room?”

I nodded while he spoke. I could do all of those things, but making myself float took a lot of energy. I’m just glad that I’ve known about my powers for forever, and I’ve had time to practice. I couldn’t even lift myself after two years of practicing every day after school. Now, I can only float for a few minutes before I pass out. It happened once. My mom wasn’t pleased.

I could’ve said all that, but instead I just laughed, and replied jokingly, “Course. Beware the power of Nyx.” and then I realized that it sounded completely lame. I covered it up with a smirk, and a, “So, Chris, do you know the way to the dorms, or will I have to find them myself?”

Chris

It was my third day at Oceanside and I was visiting the front office for the third time. I waited next to the door, being sure not to stand in front of it so I wasn't blocking anyone from entering or leaving the office. After five minutes or so a tetchy voice called from within:

"Alright Christopher, you can come through."

I opened the door and stepped into the small office. It wasn't much to look at - a green carpet and plain walls without any paintings or wall charts. Maybe they made it harder for her to see through the walls.

"There's no need to sit down - I'll make this quick. The headmistress still feels it would be inappropriate for you to share a room with another boy."

"But that's discrimination," I objected. My tone was flat and calm but it rose at the end in a combination of anger and frustration. "Boys who are gay could be rooming with another gay guy and you're not stopping them."

"They can't get each other pregnant," she said flatly and reached for some paperwork which she then proceeded to bury her head in. I sighed and left the office feeling disgruntled. I went to the library thinking I could find some kind of quote about human rights and I asked the librarian if she knew a good book. Of course, that was a bad idea because she came back with a volume on Nelson Mandela and racism and I had to smile and say thank you and then go through the shelves on my own.

I did find what I was looking for and picked out a quote about gender rights and memorised it, but when I got back to the office, there was a girl just exiting and she had the most amazing hair. I knew right away that I needed to spend enough time in her company to copy that platinum hair with its blue tips. It looked so ethereal, like the foam on the top of the sea; or a winter sky; or a blue tit's wing feathers splayed and ready for flight.

That was Nyx. Our first introductions only confirmed how cool she seemed - wind manipulation powers and a kind of blunt goofiness I was immediately jealous of.

“Course. Beware the power of Nyx," she declared with a smirk. “So, Chris, do you know the way to the dorms, or will I have to find them myself?”

"It wouldn't take you long, but I can show you," I replied with a slight laugh. I led her out of the front office and headed toward the recreation building and the two dorms. I hadn't actually been across to the girl's side yet, mostly because I didn't know if that would get me in trouble or at least not help with my request for a room-mate.

"What do they teach us here anyway?" Nyx asked. "Please tell me there's no 'how to use your powers responsively bullshit'."

I laughed before I could stop myself and then looked around, hoping nobody else had heard. Nyx was a little bit outrageous. "Well classes don't start until Monday," I told her. "So you've got a day to settle in. The girl's dorm is over there." I nodded to the building, still standing firmly on the far side of the courtyard. "Do you have your room number?"

"Somewhere in this ridiculous stack of papers." She waved them in front of my face. "Well come on, you're not expecting me to carry these and open the doors are you?"

"Oh- I guess not. Er... do you mind if I come with you as someone... else?" I looked down at my feet, half wanting and half not wanting to see her reaction to that.

"You mean do I want to see your powers in action? Duh, of course, do I need to turn around, or-"

I shook my head but turned away from her myself so I could concentrate. I thought of a girl from my old school back home: red, coppery hair and big blue eyes; so many freckles across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose that it looked like some kid had flicked a paintbrush over her. I could feel the transformation happening as I pictured her in my head - felt the strange sensation of my chest expanding and other parts shrinking and changing. I try not to think about it too much and I'm always relieved when it's over.

"I can't hold it long. Like, an hour or so," I said shyly in the girl's soft, fluttery voice. I'd chosen this girl because she was about my height and weight but even so the boy jeans hung a bit loosely on my hips and I probably looked like I was wearing my boyfriend's t-shirt and jacket.

Stetson Cassidy

Hailey left in a hurry, jogging across the lawn with her head down. I was left to sit alone in the grass. Sighing with exhaustion and slight disappointment, I stretched out my legs and then stood to my feet. I brought my hand up to wipe my brow, and noticed that Hailey's number was still written across my arm. My eyes skimmed over the faded ink, before my hands slid down to my pockets.

I surveyed the scene of kids spread out over the expanse of the lawn, throwing things around and talking loudly. There were a few of them sitting alone, reading books or eating breakfast. In the distance, I caught a glimpse of the path leading away from the lawn, and the sign which said, "Beach" in plain black letters. If I listened closely enough, I could hear the lapping of the waves.

Heading in that direction, I found myself getting excited. I'd always liked beaches. There were girls in bathing suits and guys throwing around frisbees or playing volleyball, and the sun beating down on the sand. Sometimes there were trucks parked between the beach and where it ended, selling Slushies or snow cones. I recollected a shell of a memory; the time when my parents found the money and time to take me to the beach. I couldn't recall which beach it was, but I remember going in my cargo shorts and carrying around my nerf ball, and being so happy I jumped around in the sand for five minutes while my mother fished the sunscreen from her bag.

Boys of Summer by Don Henley was playing on my iPod when my feet reached the sand. I took in the expanse of the beach and crashing bright blue, foamy waves. My breath nearly left me. It was different than whatever beach I'd been taken to that one time as a little kid; the water here wasn't brown, and the sand wasn't coarse like dry dirt. I could feel my heart beating with boyish excitement.

All I wanted to do was jump right in the ocean and swim around, like I'd taught James to do, and like my father taught me in the early months of my sixth summer--before I could no longer meet his eye. I took a step towards the water.

Suddenly, my feet were running on their own, and my body was pulled forward, the air rushing around me like a vortex. What the hell? The beach blurred past, too quickly, and I could feel my breath shooting from my lungs. I thought I screamed, or yelled, or something. And then, as soon as it started, everything slowed down rapidly. My legs were coated in sand from the knee down, and my feet were stumbling over the ground, knees nearly locking as if I had just been introduced to gravity.

Still moving fast, my eyes shot open, and there was a girl in front of me, in a sunset-orange bikini, with caramel hair falling in a waterfall over her shoulders. Her big blue eyes widened. I tried to put the brakes on. My hands flew out in front of me, like she was a wall that would stop me. But I guess my hands went in all the wrong places as my body stumbled into hers. Her face went a bright pink, and she put her hands on my chest, shoving me away from her.

"Jerk," she squeaked.

My heart was still pumping wildly, and my mouth fell agape slightly, eyes wide. My head was spinning. My chest rose and fell. I blushed, too, something I rarely did. "Sorry," I coughed out, rubbing the back of my neck, my feet still testing the ground as they walked backwards. But the girl, looking as if she was about to cry, ran away from me. She disappeared as soon as she had appeared.

What the hell just happened? My chest was still thumping. I couldn't slow myself down. I felt awful about scaring the girl away, but at the same time, excitement rose up inside of me. Maybe I did have a power.

People were staring at me, talking and giggling amongst one another, and I felt heat rise to my cheeks. But the excitement was still there, and I had a sudden urge to try it out again, and see if it worked. But not here; I didn't want to embarrass myself. So I headed to the boys dorm, stepping tentatively, but not able to help testing the limits as I jogged up the stairs to my room. When I arrived, I entered. Aaron, who I hadn't seen since last night, was laying on his bed. An arm was laid across his eyes. He grunted as if in greeting.

"Hey," I said. "How's the hangover treating you?"

"It's wearing off a little," he said. He wrestled with the pillow until he was able to sit on the bed. Aaron threw a glance in my direction. "Looks like you had a good night." I didn't know what he was talking about, and he must have sensed my confusion. He pointed a finger with a smirk. "You got a phone number on your arm."

"Oh yeah," I said, clearing my throat, not confirming nor denying his suspicions. "I'm gonna take a shower," I mumbled, feeling the grit of the sand on my shins.

"Alright, buddy," he told me, giving me clap on the back as I walked by.

When I emerged from the shower ten minutes later, I wrapped a towel around my waist and rubbed another towel vigorously over my hair. Not minding enough to fix it, I walked out into the bedroom. Aaron had left. I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened on the beach; the way my body was pulled forward and my feet flew over the ground. How fast I was. I couldn't get it out of my head. I felt like I was high.

The high wore off after several minutes, as I was rifling through my drawers for something to wear. I realized how Hailey must've felt after her powers had doused me in water. I remembered how the girl at the beach had pushed me away and called me a jerk. She'd looked at me like I was some pervert.

I decided I had to go apologize to her. It wasn't right not to.

I pulled a maroon T-shirt over my head, and zipped the front of my jeans. After tossing my towel onto the floor, I left the room and set off across campus.

I strolled across the lawn yet again, and saw the looming building of the girls dorm about fifty yards down the pathway. It looked giant and overwhelming. Identical to the boys dorm, and yet much more intimidating. My hands went to my pockets. I'd left my earbuds back at the dorm on purpose; I didn't want anyone to think I was using them as a crutch or a distraction. I realized I had no clue where the girl's dorm room was, nor the girl's name. Humiliation and anxiety settled over me.

I saw a group of three--two of which were boys--making their way to the girls dorm ahead of me. One of the boys looked familiar. With relief, I decided I'd ask them for help. I jogged up to them. The Asian boy turned his head to look at me, and soon after, the others followed.

"I remember you," the boy with sideburns intoned, pointing at me.

With sudden recognition, my eyes lit up. "Oh," I said, snapping, "Dimitri, right?"

"Yep," Dimitri replied. The girl by his side was watching Dimitri's and my exchange, seeming fairly uninterested. Dimi took the opportunity to introduce his friends to me. "This is Lilah, and this is, uh, Keeto?" He threw a sidelong glance at the Japanese guy.

"Kaito," the boy corrected, nodding.

"Stetson," I said. And then, clearing my throat, "So I was just wondering, have you guys seen a girl with, uh, brown hair and big, blue--"

"Join the club," Kaito cut in.

"Jesus! Everyone around here is looking for girls," Dimitri said, throwing his hands up.

"It's just him and me," Kaito said to Dimitri. Then he looked at me with a smirk. "Hey, who knows? Maybe the girls we're looking for will be roommates."

We entered the building as a crowd of four, drawing a few suspicious glances. The blond girl--Lilah, Dimitri said her name was--looked slightly uncomfortable in being the only girl among three, awkwardly dissimilar guys. She bit at her nails as we passed through the common room. Girls sat in isolated clusters, talking amongst their friends. As we made our way past, a group of brunettes lounging on an ottoman were giving me furtive glances and giggling to one another. I gave them a smile. Kaito yanked me along.

I was wondering if Hailey lived somewhere in here as I nearly ran straight into a couple of girls standing at the entrance of the corridor. One had a striking blue-silver pixie cut--the kind of hair you couldn't look away from. The other was a red-head with a bunch of freckles sprinkled on her nose. The red-head was wearing boy jeans and an oversized jacket. It was Pixie Cut who I nearly knocked over, and a gust of wind flew through the open window and into my face.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed, taking a step backwards.

"Watch it there, pretty boy," Pixie Cut warned, crossing her arms. Red Head backed away, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"Sorry," I said, smiling sheepishly at the both of them. "I wasn't paying attention."

"He gets distracted easily," Kaito piped up, grabbing my arm yet again and rolling his eyes. He was referring to the girls in the common room, and I shook off his grip. We continued walking, and caught up to Dimi and Lilah.

"What's your girl's name?" Kaito was asking me. His demeanor was starting to bug me. He kept tugging on my arm or nudging me with his elbow, and wouldn't shut his mouth.

"She's not my girl," I told him, "and I don't know her name."

He let out a little laugh. "Why you wanna see her, then?"

I felt my face get hot, and I rubbed the back of my neck, looking down at my feet. "I fucked up, and I think I upset her."

"Ah," Kaito says. "Shucks. Looks like we're in the same situation. You sure we're not talking about the same girl?"

Just then, we were stopped in the hallway by an older woman. She had sharp features and brown hair that was chopped off in an asymmetrical slant. "Hello, boys," the woman greeted, not so kindly. I had no idea where Dimi and Lilah had disappeared to. "Where are you headed?" She asked thinly.

"Um, uh--" I started.

"Could I ask you for a girl's room number?" Kaito posed bravely. The woman stared him down from underneath her narrowed eyelids, as if contemplating. I held my breath.

"Which girl?" the woman asked slowly, glancing down at the clipboard she'd been carrying. I guess a lot of people had been getting lost in the dorms over the past two days.

"Trixianna," Kaito recited, as if he'd been repeating the name over in his head for the last hour.

"Trixianna Argyle?" the woman asked. And then, as if the question was rhetorical, "Room 27. Doors open. And don't get any ideas, you hear me, gentlemen?"

Kaito, who was chortling under his breath, muttered an "alright, alright", and I mumbled a "yes ma'am". We walked on past her, and I briefly had thoughts of just abandoning my mission to apologize to the beach girl. I still didn't know what I would say, and I doubted she would offer me any forgiveness. Not to mention the fact that I still didn't know where she was. But I decided to stick it out with Kaito until we got to Room 27.

I skipped stairs, and Kaito jogged beside me, whistling. We arrived on the correct floor, and glanced on either side at the door numbers until we arrived at 27. I knocked seven times, and Kaito wedged himself in front of me as the door opened. I looked over his shoulder. A girl with a head of strawberry-blonde curls threw open the door. Her face paled slightly when she saw Kaito.

And then, to my surprise, right there behind her was a girl with the biggest blue eyes and long, wavy, caramel hair.

Arena

Finally I was home from the jog earlier at the beach. Trixianna was laying in the bed doing something on the phone.

"Hey." I said.

She smiled and nodded, I guess whatever it was seemed to be important.

A vibe went through my whole body and I instantly began to pull out my artist paint and other supplies I needed.

"What are you doing?" Trixianna asked.

I finished setting up my project and then came the painting. I felt like this was my future I was about to portray.

The colors were flying right through me and it was free flowing, I felt one with my paint.

I was done.

Once I actually looked at the picture it was of me, again, at the beach. There were a couple of people in the background and I seemed pretty happy. Was that a guy I saw? Ugh, I hated when I couldn't determine the whole painting.

I'm assuming the power wanted me to know my first date would be at the beach with some guy I never saw in my life.

~-~-~

I was about to leave to go get Trix and I some food from the cafeteria when there was a knock on the door, she hurriedly answered it and I got my coat on because I was feeling a little cold.

"Uh. Hi." I heard her say.

I turned, and there he was. The guy from the beach that practically groped my body.

She let them both in.

"Why'd you let him in?" I whispered in her ear.

"Oh, I didn't know you didn't want me too." she whispered back.

I smiled, It was kind of a joke.

"I'm Kaito." the guy said, he shook my hand and I smiled. Well that was a gentleman move.

"And I'm sorry... about earlier. I didn't meant to." the other guy chimed in.

Kaito seemed nice and well the other one looked like he had a lot of secrets.

"I'm Arena. Nice to meet you two."

"Stetson." he finally told me his name.

He gazed at me and I couldn't help but blush, this time it wasn't of anger, just embarrassment.

"So, uh, I'm about to go to the cafeteria, wanna come?" I asked. It was an open invitation but I was really talking to Stetson.

"No, I think I will stay here." Trixianna answered.

"I'll go with you if you want." Stetson said.

Good. I didn't like rejection, it was even more embarrassing then being groped. I smiled to myself.

We walked out of the dorm and I took glances over to his face. He had a beautiful one at that.

"So I am assuming you have a power as well?" I asked.

He shook his head yes.

"Mine is precognitive artistry. I learned about it 2 years ago." I admitted.

"What's that exactly?" he asked.

We walked in slow steps and I enjoyed this time to talk to someone.

"Well, I basically just have premonitions in my mind that flow through art. I create what it is I'm thinking through painting." I watched him as he had begun to tell me about his power of super speed.

It must have been amazing to get to do stuff like that and run so quick, I loved listening to him speak, it was quite interesting.

"I never got to fully explain myself. I really didn't mean to touch all over you earlier, I was running too fast and didn't have time to stop."

I let him go on about his apology.

Truth is, I honestly didn't care anymore at this point.

I liked how interesting he was.

Nyx Blackwell


Chris’s power was just so damn cool. He could change into anyone. I ran my hand through my blue-streaked hair and took a deep breath. I was finally somewhere I could be accepted. And if I wasn’t, well, that just wasn’t going to happen.

He (she?) turned back around. I gasped again. He was now a pretty girl with freckles and bright copper-red hair that fell down to her back in little waves. She/he opened his/her mouth and said softly, “I can’t hold it long. Like, and hour or so.”

I shook my head. “Even though, that’s amazing. The only downside I see is you can’t copy clothes.” I paused. “Wait, you can’t copy clothes, right?”

She/he laughed softly. “No. That would be nice though.”

There was a slightly awkward silence. I broke it, of course. “Er… So, what exactly… What pronouns do I use?”

“Uh, he and him is fine. I guess. I don’t really think about it that much.”

I nodded. “So, now that that’s cleared up, let’s get going, I guess?”

He nodded. And then some tall, blonde guy crashed into me. I gasped and instinctively threw my hands up. The boy went wheeling backwards, propelled by some unseen force. Aka me. I’m a ninja.

“Woah!” he exclaimed, looking a bit surprised. I crossed my arms and glared.

“Watch it there, pretty-boy.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t paying any attention,” he said, rubbing the back of his head and smiling embarrassedly.

An Asian kid beside the blonde glanced over and said, “He gets distracted easily.” He rolled his eyes and grabbed Blondie’s arm, and they walked off.

“No shit,” I muttered. “Well, let’s get going. I really need to find my dorm and drop all this stuff off. Going to wait for me to open this door again?”

Chris looked at me. His eyes now held an eternally surprised look. Poor girl. I wonder what she actually looked like when she was surprised or scared. “Uh, yeah. Here.” He opened the door, and I walked through. He followed.

We eventually came upon a woman with a clipboard and dark brown hair. She was scribbling away, frowning occasionally and looking up to think. I cleared my throat, and she looked up. I gave a little wave. “I’m looking for my room. And roommate, I suppose.”

I could just imagine the thoughts going through her head. “That’s not your roommate?” being the most primary one. However, she settled with, “What’s your name?”

I gave a cheeky grin. “Nyx Blackwell.” The eye-roll was palpable.

“Nixie Blackwell?” She asked, looking a bit annoyed.

“Call me Nyx, mark it down or whatever. But yeah, that’s my full name.” Chris beside me seemed to be growing impatient. I sped it up. “So, where am I? Not me currently, but, y’know, where do I go? What room?”

The middle-aged woman looked happy to get rid of me. “Nyx, your room number is 26. Roommate… Lilah Banes. Go... unpack.” and with that, she shooed me away.

I grinned at her one last time before grabbing Chris’s arm again and running off.

Chris spoke up once we started going. “Did you have to be so…” he trailed off.

“Irritating to the room lady? I guess not.” I shrugged. “I’m just a dramatic and flamboyant person in general, I guess. I act a lot. The people I’m usually around are a lot like me.”

Chris looked up, smirking. The look seemed a bit out of place on the girl’s face. “And you’re saying I’m not?”

Shit. Backpedal or play it off? “Well, I don’t know you well enough yet. Why don’t we see?” I smirked right back at him. “Oh, look! Room 26! Can you open the door for me?” Chris nodded and turned the knob. The door glided smoothly open.

“Huh. It’s not locked. And there’s no one in here either,” Chris said, peeking in. I ran in and set my things down. The pile of papers were slammed particularly ferociously onto my desk.

“Mine is precognitive artistry.” The voice flowed into my room. I perked up, interested. Were there people in the room next to me I could meet? Maybe my roommate was hanging out in there since I hadn’t arrived yet.

“What’s that exactly?” That was the boy who nearly slammed into me outside the dorm hallway.

“Listen,” I whispered. “Other people!”

Chris rolled his eyes. “Yeah, it’s not deserted here.” I glared.

“That’s not what I meant.”

"Well, I basically just have premonitions in my mind that flow through art. I create what it is I'm thinking through painting.” This was the other one, the girl. But the voices were starting to fade away. I shrugged.

“Oh well. Want to see if there’s anyone in the room over?”

“Why not?”

And so, we walked over to the next room. I knocked on the door. It opened to a petite strawberry-blonde girl, hair curling at her shoulders. Also in the room was the Asian boy from earlier. I smiled cheerfully.

“Hi! I’m Nyx, and I make things fly around. Wait, that came out wrong.” I cleared my throat and tried again. “I control the element of air. Or wind.” This is awkward. “Er, is Lilah Banes in here?”

Behind me, I could sense Chris’s facepalm.

-Cora-

I pick at my necklace anxiously as I wait for the headmistress to come back with a map of the school. A tiny snake slithers into my lap, and I swallow anxiously, clenching my gloved fists.

It's not there. It's not real. Calm down.

Slowly, my heart rate returns to normal, and I make a point of not looking at the nonexistent snake. All around me, I see people waving at me, beckoning for me to come with them.

Dead people.

Please, god, let this school teach me how to get rid of my powers. I can't take twenty more years of this.

My parents smile terrifyingly at me, their throats slit and dripping blood. Eva swings back and forth on a small swing, her neck twisted at an odd angle, blood dripping from her nose and mouth. The taxi driver I killed circles me, his jacket on fire.

Where is the headmistress? I clench my eyes shut and press my hands over my ears, trying to will away their whispers and empty, cold gazes.

Thankfully, the headmistress returns soon, a small pile of papers clutched in her hands. I drop my hands from my ears and open my eyes, knowing exactly what she sees. You know you're sane. You just have to control your power. I edge away from her, grabbing the papers from her hands as quickly as I can, with the least amount of contact as possible. Jumping up, I gather my bags and scurry out of the room. As I brush past her to get out the door, I catch a glimpse out of the corner of my eye of her eyes going wide, staring at something nobody except she could see.

Except, well, I could see the giant spider, too.

Guilt washes over me, and as I rush through the door, anxious to put as much distance between us as I can muster, I whisper an apology to the wind.

I'm not brave enough to explain.

As I leave, my (nonexistent) ghosts leave me, and I flip my hair over my shoulder as I try to figure out which way I need to go to find the girls' dormitories. Heaving my duffle over my shoulder- and ignoring the red fog surrounding it- I pick up my bags and resign myself to wandering the campus until I find the building.

The moon rises in the distance, and eerie laughter circles me. I stop in my tracks and press my free hand to my temple, feeling a killer headache building there. Not real. Not real. Not real. With a sigh, I set off again. A twisted version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons starts to play, and I walk faster, dropping my head lower and trying to concentrate on anything but the imaginary music.

As I walk, a girl turns the corner and runs face first into me, and I scream, dropping my bags, terrified of what I might make her see. A look of surprise lingers on her face for a second before she starts screaming. An tall man, holding an axe, walks up to her, making what seem to be threats. The axe bursts into flame, and the girl shrinks back. The headache behind my eyes bursts into a migraine as I try to keep my power under check. When nothing happens, I gather my things as quickly as I can and run away, knowing that nothing but distance will get her hallucinations to stop.

When I finally make it to the girls' dorm, the sunset is long gone, and night has fallen. I push open the door with my shoulder cautiously, ready to run if someone is too close to the door on the other side. Thankfully, no one is, although there are small groups of girls chatting with each other about nothing in particular. I make myself as small as I can, shrinking into the long coat I wear. I get within a few inches of a group of girls, but I pass them so quickly that they only shake their heads and continue talking when I look back.

I climb the stairs to the second floor, wondering what my room assignment is. Aunt Meg told me that she told the school that I can't have a roommate because of my nightmares, but I worry that the walls aren't thick enough to keep the rest of the building's inhabitants safe from me. My powers escape me when I'm asleep, and the dreams are so much worse when my victims are unconscious.

The bags on my shoulders and arms seem to grow heavier by the second, and I bite my lip when I can't find anyone with the room assignments.

Just ask someone, Cora. You can't stand out here all night.

I sink to the floor, leaning my back against the wall. My headache fades slowly as I take deep breaths, calming myself so I won't frighten someone else to death. When my breath calms, I stand up again and decide to look around to see if I could find anybody.

Trudging back downstairs, I avoid the girls in the common room, although a few look up suddenly or cock their heads, as if hearing something that isn't there. None of the girls downstairs seem at all friendly, so I drag my feet back upstairs, avoiding the trickles of blood that rush down the stairs, even though I know they're not real, wondering if the building has an attic and whether or not I can sleep in it.

At a loss, I stand in the corner of the hallway and wonder what I'm supposed to do.

You could go back to the headmistress, my brain whispers to me. Or maybe I hallucinate something whispering it to me. Still, the prospect of walking all the way back to the headmistress's office while carrying my luggage makes me want to burst into tears and refuse to move.

Just then, a door opens, and two girls step out- one with luminous silver and blue hair. I shrink back into the shadows and hide just beyond the corner. They knock on the door of the room next to the one they just came out of, and when it opens, the girl with the silver hair says something I can't catch. Phantom violins screech in my eardrums, and the scent of blood- coppery salt- fills the air and clogs my throat.

I swallow repeatedly. It's not real. It's not real. It's not real. It doesn't stop, but I close my eyes and try my best to think over the orchestra of broken violins in my ears. Just ask them if they know where to get your room assignment, Cora. You can just call to them from here. You won't hurt them. Sneaking another glance at the two girls, I nod to myself, steeling myself for what I have to do.

I take one breath. Then another. Then another. Slowly, I step out from my little dark corner, and, swallowing, call to them. "Do either of you know where I'm supposed to get my room assignment?" The chorus of violins plays faster, louder in my ears, and I frown, scrunching up my eyes. My parents, Eva, and the taxi driver all appear again, speaking at me louder and louder until my eyes fill with tears from the sheer pain of the volume of sound blasting against my eardrums. I try not to look at them, knowing how crazy that makes me look, but it doesn't work and my eyes flick between all four of them.

The redhead says something to me as the tears spill over onto my cheeks, but I can't hear her above the noise blasting into my ears.

The nonexistent noise, of course.

Harris sat on his bed in the dark of his empty dorm room. He hadn't wanted to get up so he was still in pajamas. Dimitri had been up before Harris, god knew where he'd went. Something about Dimi struck Harris as dangerous. Of course he didn't act on this notion, but he couldn't quite shake a feeling of hostility when he was around him.

Harris looked around for his guitar. It wasn't in its usual place, in fact it wasn't in the room at all. Harris paled. He hadn't remembered taking it out of his room. The only time he'd remembered playing it was when he'd first got to his dorm yesterday. Harris groaned, he'd have to go look for it.
-------------------------

Dressed and showered, Harris walked along the campus border, searching for any sign of his guitar. He'd been back tracking as best he could, though the events of last night were fuzzy to him. Almost like a dream. The one feeling that seemed to stick with him was that of loneliness. He'd felt it last night and he couldn't shake it today. He was surrounded by people, yet he'd never felt so alien in his life. Harris wondered if he'd ever feel like he belonged. If he'd ever have someone to share his feelings with. These thoughts weighed on him like a weight as he searched for his prized possession. A couple walked ahead of him, talking to themselves. They looked like they'd been around the campus for a while, maybe he could ask them if they'd seen a guitar anywhere, they approached and in the loudest voice he could muster, Harris spoke.

"Hey. Um. have you seen a guitar around campus? I lost one and-"

He was cut off as the couple walked right past him, unaware he was speaking to him. Harris watched them pass, stunned. Did they not hear them? Did they just not bother to answer him? Harris continued on, leaving the campus and heading towards the markets alongside the beach.

Harris tried to recall where he'd been last night. He remembered staring at the Ocean for a long time, that would mean he'd be on the shore, but where? The sand of the beach stretched as far as the eye could see. He'd look on the beach last. As Harris walked, he noticed a strange pattern. People made a wide berth around him, almost as if they were trying to keep his distance from him. Harris stopped and noticed for the first time that his hands were covered in ice. It stretched up his arm making his skin show with a silver sheen. People stared at it as they passed. Harris willed the ice to disappear, he felt heat rushing to his cheeks. Although they tried to hide it. People were scared of Oceanside students. Harris realized this now, and although he couldn't blame them, it still hurt him to know that people didn't like him because of something out of his control. Once more he felt alone. He was separated from everyone. Even his mother was a world away from him. They might as well not be related. Harris felt tears, unbidden, come to his eyes. He quickly wiped them away and headed towards the beach. Their he scanned the shoreline, searching for any hint of his guitar. His friend. He looked to his left and there it lay. Fortunately no one had touched it. Harris picked it up, shaking the sand from it, and held it close to him, hoping its melancholy tunes could staunch the tears pouring down his cheeks.

Lilah

‘‘Wait, 27?’’ I ask Dimitri. He nods, looking at the numbers on his side of the hall.
‘‘Then we must of passed it!’’ The numbers were way too high, and increasing. I spin around on my heels and stroll the other way. No wonder we managed to lose the other guys.

‘‘Sorry about that! I must’ve spaced out there for a second.’’ Dimitri apologizes. When we find the door. My roommate must have just left, as the door was left wide open and the lights were still on.

‘‘And I thought I was spacey.’’ I slide my backpack off of my shoulders and lay it down on the unclaimed bed. At least, I think it’s claimed- all of my roommates stuff was technically on the desk, but the desk was right next to ‘her’ bed.

Dimitri pulls out ‘my’ chair from the other desk and has a seat. ‘‘So did you really only pack one bag?’’ he asks.

‘‘Yeah, well I didn’t know I was gonna need to bring school clothes while at I was at the circus, and everything always gets dirty, so we find a laundromat once a week and make whatever we have last until our next trip.’’

‘‘Circus?’’ His eyes get wide, and a dumb smile spreads across his face. ‘‘I wouldn’t have… wow! You got family in the show or something?’’

I start to explain how my mom was cool with it, but suddenly an exclamation of ‘‘What the hell?’’ takes place of my train of thought. My entire body tenses up, and I start to feel my heart pound in my chest. Oh God, what’s about to happen?

I’m already dashing out the door when a cry of pain erupts from the hallway. There’s a girl crouching down between me and the neighboring room. Her fingers weave through strands of her hair as her palms clamp tightly over her ears. Her back’s to me, but I can see her shaking as she rocks back and forth.

The blonde-and-blue hair girl and her friend are standing on the other side of her, eyes wide in shock. ‘‘All she did was ask where to find her room…’’ Redhead sputtered.

My body lurches forward before anyone else has time to react. I instinctively reach out to her, and try to make sure she’s okay. I’m already kneeling down on the ground with a hand on the strange girl’s shoulder before she starts shrieking. ‘‘No! Get off, no, no!’’ she wails as she flinches away from me. I try to apologize- I didn’t mean to upset her even more, but an itchy sensation starts to creep up my legs.
I sit back so I can fully see my long legs. Ants are crawling up them. Huge, black ants with massive pincers. Holy shit! My heart practically stops. I fling my arms out to swat them off of me, but instead they manage to cling to my fingers and hands and crawl up my arms. A gasp of terror escapes me. ‘‘Oh, God, get them off, get them off!’’ I start to panic and wipe down my arms and legs frantically.

Instead of going away, they seem to multiply. ‘‘Get them off of me!’’ I shriek. ‘‘Please! Get them off!’’ And then I feel it. They bite into me. The first one sends pain shooting down my leg and practically causes my bones to throb, but then it’s accompanied by another, and another. And the ants won’t go away! I must be screaming but I don’t even care. I give up trying to get them off of my body and curl up on the floor. My arms are twitching violently from so much pain, but I try to cover my face and keep them from crawling over that. Where the hell did they come from?

‘‘Make it stop!’’



I have no idea if the whole ordeal lasted seconds or minutes. I can’t even tell if I had been dragged or pushed, but like waking up from a horrid dream, I slowly realize that I’m at least a good six doors away from my room.

‘‘Lilah, Lilah!’’ Someone’s gripping my shoulders and shaking me. ‘‘There’s nothing there, you’re fine. You’re safe!’’

My nerves, a little trigger-happy to begin with, are completely shot. My muscles spasm violently. I latch onto one of the wrists holding me just to keep myself steady. ‘‘They were all over me!’’ I gasp. The tears start all over again, and my face flushes red. The ants are completely gone- as if they never even existed.

‘‘There was nothing there.’’

I rub my eyes with my free hand and try to register who the heck’s even talking to me. Slowly realize that there are actually a couple someone's. Dimitri’s the one holding me together- I think he was talking to me first. Standing above us is the girl with the crazy hair. I look past them and back down the hall. The girl I touched is still there. She’s propped herself against the wall and pulled her knees into her chest. The other people from before look like they’re trying to talk to her, but they’re all keeping a good distance away.

‘‘But the ants, they were everywhere. I couldn’t even get them off of me.’’ I whisper, more to myself than my companions. How could they simply be gone? And the pain? My shaking body seems to remember what they felt like, but it’s now more like bundle of nervous jolts caused by a bad memory.

‘‘Come on, let's get you up,’’ the girl says. ‘‘We can take care of this before you need to deal with that RA. Trust me, she’s no fun.’’ She and Dimitri help pull me to my feet. ‘‘So you’re Lilah, huh?’’

I nod mutely.

'‘Been looking for ya, though I never thought we’d run into each other quite like that. I’m your roommate, Nyx’’

Trixianna Argyle

As the group split up and Arena went and got us food with Stetson, Trixianna was left with Kaito and boy oh boy was it awkward. She walked back over to her bed but before she could reach it the door flew open and a blonde with blue streaks stood there with a strange girl behind her which is palm hitting her face as she introduced herself. Looks like I'm not the only one. Trixianna thought.

Just before she could speak, Kaito cut her to the chase.
"Hey Nyx. I'm Kaito and this is Trixie. No we don't know where she is sorry. Perhaps try the cafeteria?"

"It's the first place that I would look if I was searching for someone." Trixianna whispered, "There or the library. However I haven't been to the library yet so I can't say where it is. I am sorry."

Nyx shook her head. "It's all good. Well, I better go check the cafeteria then! See ya kiddos!" And with that, she bounded off.

The girl shook her head. "Sorry about that. I'm Chris by the way. I better catch up to her. Bye." And she left too, leaving Trixie alone with Kaito.

Trixie continued to her bed and laid down on her back. She had let Wren out a few minutes before the big halabalu and now he was tweeting and pecking at the window to be let back in. She reached up at the window and sent a small burst of air to lift it once her finger tips were only ten centimetres away. Once the wren had crawled through, she allowed for the window to fall back into place. Wren immediately hopped over to his little spot under her hair in the crook of her neck and snuggled up to Trixie.

"Kaito, why are you still here? I'm not exactly all that interesting." She spoke softly, her voice trembling at the thought of him finding out the truth.

"I want to apologise for earlier. I don't know what I did but I know it was my fault. I didn't mean to upset you. I just wanted to get to know you. Please forgive me." Kaito gave Trixie his best puppy dog face, making her laugh.

She sobered up and sat up to look at him. "I'll forgive you. But I'm not about to speak about my past. I don't trust you enough to say anything. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I'm going to search for the library. You wanna come?" Kaito raised an eyebrow as he spoke, turning slightly.

"Sure. Let me write a quick message for Arena."

Hey Reen. I'm off on a hunt for the library with Kaito. If I'm not back soon, send Wren one way and head the other, one of you will find me. Trixx.

"Wren. Stay here please. You're help find me if I'm not back soon after Arena. Okay?" He twittered his reply softly. "Okay. Good. Kaito, let's go."

She jumped off the bed and slid her shoes on before racing out the door, which Chris had left open. "You close the door on the way out!" She called over her shoulder at a bewildered Kaito.

"Sure!" He replied just before the door shut and he was after her.

Briony Carter
I leaned against the wall, holding the cloth covered tank between the wall and myself as I reached for my key from the back pocket. I struggled to get it out without losing my grip on the tank and pushed it into the lock. As the door swung open I tucked the key into my front pocket now for better access and re-positioned my hands under the tank and walked in. I sighed in relief as I set it down and uncovered it.

So far everyone was none the wiser as I snuck this in, I had gotten a few strange glances from people but that was pretty much it. I bent down to look Ambrose, his eyes were wide and a bit frightened, he wasn't harmed though. I reached down to pet his scales for a moment before I started to set up the rest of his tank. Besides looking a little paler then usual, he was still his same old self, orange with a big tail and spots.

I turned around then walking as someone who looked exactly like me walked in, but instead of grey eyes they had green eyes. I smiled at they set down the bags and then a third version of myself, again almost a carbon copy but with sky blue this time came in with my other suitcase. It was a bit much in my opinion, but I didn't pack light really. Even if I tried I tended to pack a little more then I needed just in case.

"That everything?" they nodded at me, I was sure the other two of me confused some people. Maybe they though I was a triplet at this point, but it didn't really matter. "Time to be whole again girls." I stepped towards them and took there hands, we started to meld together in away, getting closer and closer until we formed one person, me.

I looked around my room, pretty empty for the moment. I was a bit late I knew, but I didn't care. I knew when the final day was, and as long as I got here before then I was fine. I probably should've come earlier, but I had decided to stay as long as I could, putting this off as much as I could.

This school both excited and scared me, already I had seen others like me. I saw a boy with ice covered arms, and heard some others talking about there powers. I couldn't wait to meet people, but at the same time I wondered if I would feel entirely welcomed. I shook my head and opened the window for some fresh air. A cool sea breeze came in and I closed my eyes for the moment and just stood there, calming my nerves.

Whatever happens happens. It wasn't the end of the world. I just had to keep telling myself that. I then turned around and walked out of the dorm, closing the door behind me. I might as well get a good look around campus.

Kaito

"Uh..."

Nothing in his life would ever be normal again. Yes, he'd come to that conclusion when he started to understand animals, but as they left Trixie's room, their attention was caught by the drama unfolding in the hall. It looked like two separate counselling sessions were happening, or something. Some girl - who looked very afraid - was being either comforted or harassed by some people around her. He honestly couldn't tell, because from what it looked like, they had good intentions, but she wanted them to stay away.

It had never really occurred to him that there were people at this school still understanding their powers - and that some people had very dangerous powers. But seeing all of the chaos wrought by whatever presumably super-power caused accident happened was... an eye-opening moment. Teenagers (what with them being hormonal, impressionable, unpredictable, etc) and super-powers were a dangerous combination, and mistakes were bound to happen. Stuff like this - whatever this was - wouldn't be uncommon. I guess I'll just have to get used to this. Normality was something of the past.

It seemed like Trixie knew as little as Kaito did as to what was going on, because they both just looked at the at each other, at the panicked teenagers, then back at each other. Not desiring to intervene, and perhaps just cause more trouble, Kaito pursed his lips and shrugged.

"Weird things happen at Oceanside." A small grin grew on his face as those words left his mouth. Hey! That sounded cool, like some sort of slogan, or like something you would hear right before a T.V. show intro. Heck, he should write that down.

Trixie gave him a strange look, as if she didn't expect that to be his response. "Yeeeah... apparently they do."

In an effort to ease he nerves, since she seemed a bit off-put by the sobbing girl in the hall and the one whom he overheard talking about fire-ants, he continued. "Like, I mean, I'm sure stuff like this happens all the time. The school probably knows how to handle stuff like this, right? I mean, I would hope they would if they have a school full of super kids." He turned away from the teens in the hall and gestured for Trixie to follow. "C'mon. Let's go find that library or something." He kind of regretted suggesting a visit to the library now, though. Of all the things he had to think of in the moment, all he could come up with was the library? Geez.

Trixie nodded, looking back a few times before fully committing to following Kaito. Since Kaito was leading the way, he decided to just re-trace his steps, and found his way to the stairwell.

They were a comfortable distance away from the hall, so Kaito decided to spark up the conversation again (as soon as possible, actually).

"So! Since you're not comfortable sharing stuff about yourself - which is cool, by the way! like, it's totally ok - I could tell you some stuff about myself!" He smiled, trying to lighten the mood, and hopefully make her feel less awkward.

Trixie's face was serious for a moment as she considered what he said, "Sure," she responded, with a grin. "That's fine with me."

Kaito smiled more confidently. He really wasn't sure where that conversation would've gone if she'd said no... "Great! Well! If you haven't figured out already, my power is that I can understand and talk to animals!"

Trixie thought he could understand animals! That explained him translating for Wren earlier.

"Usually I leave the talk part out when I tell people though,: Kaito continued to explain. "Mostly because then questions come up like: Oh, really? How do you do that? Do you just speak English and they understand? Or do you make animal noises? But I guess, in hindsight though, I'm probably a bit hypocritical about not wanting to have to explain how my powers work, 'cause I wonder how other people's work too."

A wry grin grew on Trixie's face. "Well. How does it work then?"

Kaito gave a frustrated pout for a second. He should've expected her to say that. "HAH. Very funny. But uh... well, I..." He could lie, but that always ended up getting him in trouble. "I guess when I do it, it sounds like I'm making very accurate animal sound impressions. That's what my mom told me." He shrugged (oh how quickly his confidence deflated). "But I dunno, it just feels normal to me? Like, it's like knowing another language kind of, but I just... know it. I never learned it."

They'd gotten to the bottom floor, and Kaito held the door open, letting Trixie go out before him.

"It's weird though. It's almost as if animals KNOW I can talk to them. Like, I'm not an animal person, but sometimes I feel like freakin' Snow White. Animals are just attracted to me like magnets a lot of the time. Of all things, it's animals. Why couldn't it be girls or something?' He laughed, hoping it was as funny to her as it was him.

(and i have to cut this short cause i gtg um yEP)

Chris

This place just kept getting weirder and weirder. I didn't know what to make of the strange girl rocking back and forth in the middle of the hallway and I certainly didn't know what to do. Should I touch her shoulder and try to bring her out of it? Or was that weird, putting your hand on a stranger's shoulder when they were clearly distressed?

Fortunately one of the (other) girls stepped in but from there things just got weirder and weirder. She started to scream - the girl on the floor - and then they were both panicking and the blonde haired girl was rubbing at her legs and arms furiously and crying for someone to get them off. I took an automatic step in her direction but some dark haired guy got there first and he seemed to actually know what he was doing. Bravo for him I guess.

Nyx headed over to the fair haired girl as well so I turned back to the crazy girl with the dark hair and big, blue eyes which were staring off into the distance.

"Hey- uh... what number was your room? You were asking for it earlier," I said lamely, not sure where else to start. Two other girls had come out of their room from down the hall and I assumed they were twins since they had the same long, red hair and... well pretty much everything. The only immediate difference was that the nearer girl had these really cool, penetrating grey eyes while her sister's were a more ordinary pale blue.

"Don't just leave her there. Let's get her up-" The grey eyed twin reached out to touch the other girl and without even thinking I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back. I let her go with a quick blush.

"Stay away from me!" the girl on the ground screamed.

"Sorry," I mumbled. "It's just - that - and the girl over there kind of went nuts after touching her. I guess its her power."

The twin shrugged. "Well she's making a lot of noise. Has anyone gone to get a teacher?"

She said it in the kind of tone that suggested I should be the one to do it and I sighed in resignation. "Fine. I'll find someone."

The lady giving out room numbers couldn't have gone too far and it might be time for me to make an exit after that anyway - all this 'excitement' was making it hard for me to keep my focus on being a girl and I did not need my power adding to the chaos.

"Wait-"

I hesitated and turned back. The dark haired girl was looking at me. "Please- don't. I-I'm okay now. It's fine. I don't need a teacher." All of this came out mumbled and she was looking down at the floor now. "It's 25. My room."

"That's my room," both the red haired twins said together.

"Well hers anyway," the blue eyes twin corrected herself. "I'm a copy."

"Oh, right. I guess you can take it from here then..." I suggested. This day just couldn't get any weirder.