Nicoleta woke up to an alarm she failed to notice the night prior, she slept so late. She barely got any sleep at all. Being transferred during midnight did that to a person, and also being overly excited about the next day.
Though it wasn't unusual, being transferred at night, most times she would hear her fellow sector 8 residents walking quickly, with their suitcase rolling behind them, in the dead of the night.
But something being common didn't make it right, Couldn't they transfer the kids in the morning? In the afternoon, why specifically in the middle of the night? It was ridiculous, but Nicoleta couldn't quite complain when the transfer was sector 2.
She groggily pushed herself up from the bed, and did her morning routine as usual. Afterwards, Nicoleta put on her new uniform, which wasn't a dull gray colour, but a bright cyan colour with a line of yellow that ended by her wrists, and ankles.
There was a zipper where her sternum was, and an engraving in the suit which was an abbreviated form of Westinsenson son, with the S overlapping with the W. Then on the other side it read, Sector 2" the suit was flexible unlike the one for sector 8, it had deep pockets that could probably carry whole buildings, and a compartment inside which emitted cold fresh air into the suit.
Nicoleta believed she was in paradise. The smart watch on her wrist beeped, blinked green, and revealed her day's schedule.
Canteen- was on the holographic green screen, below it was the time to start and end, 06:30-07:00. Then after some time it displayed a map to the canteen. It wasn't very far from her room.
Nicoleta tied her hair and headed out. At her door she found a box with her name on it, inside was the uniform to her new school. She quickly stuffed it into her backpack, and rushed out to the elevator.
She found another person in the elevator, a girl with black hair, sharp cheek bones, and the brightest dirt brown eyes, Nicoleta never knew that brown eyes could sparkle like that.
The girl had her lips pursed as if the sight of Nicoleta was displeasing to her, still Nicoleta said "hi" and received no response.
Despite the halls being mostly empty on the fifth floor, the first floor was basically flooded with bodies, moving around like an ocean.
She bumped into everyone on her way to the canteen pushing people aside to make way, elbowing, and being elbowed. The chattering was also so loud, she could barely even hear herself think. Voices echoed from left to right and back.
The way to the canteen might have not seemed long on the map but in such a crowd, it would basically be impossible for her to even make it and eat.
She pushed, and was pushed until she turned a corner which was reasonably crowded, enough for her to get space for herself, enough space for her to look at the map to check if she was headed in the right direction.
The map beeped and the line from the canteen reappeared on the screen. Nicoleta looked up and found the canteen doors wide open, with numerous children walking inside.
She followed after the many kids and lined up with the rest of them after grabbing a tray.
The canteen was buzzing with conversation. The air smelled of various foods, and every table was crowded, friends eating perhaps strangers eating together as well, but Nicoleta was never one to eat with people she didn't know, she wasn't a person who liked crowds.
Sector 8 was ideal in that aspect only.
She was served a good portion of vegetables, eggs and bread, and then a side of whatever juice she chose. Milk was what Nicoleta went with.
She pushed through the crowd and settled on the uppercase of the Canteen, where she ate alone for the first time.
Victoria caked into her mind instinctively, on mornings like this Victoria would be seated across from her, gloomily talking to her about the awful weather, or how her lessons went.
Nicoleta began to miss that as she watched others talking to their friends, and laughing with them.
She wondered if there was a way to call her like how she was able to speak to her father.
"I will have to ask about that" she told herself as she longingly looked at everyone else eating with someone.
Breakfast was tasty and bitter all at once, she expected gym to at least take her mind off of the sudden loneliness, so Nicoleta didn't waste too much time leaving the moment she finished her meal.
The gym was just as crowded as the halls and finding her way was harder than when she entered the canteen. She passed by two girls walking inside and was swept away by another girl interlocking their elbows together.
She beamed up at Nicoleta, "hello" she said as she led Nicoleta towards a door marked with a stick figure in a skirt.
"You look lost. Are you new?" Nicoleta nodded, "who are you?" Nicoleta asked as they walked inside the room.
Nicoleta looked around the place and realised that it was the dressing room, "I'm May. What's your Name?"
"Nicoleta" Nicoleta searched for a locker with her initials or name on it, when she found it she immediately made her way to it, the girl followed behind her.
"Oh, our lockers are next to each other" she squeaked, Nicoleta scrunched her face at the noise, the halls might have been loud but the girl's high pitched way of speaking was annoying.
Nicoleta opened her locker and found leggings and a tank top inside, alongside a sports bra.
She changed. Outside May was still in the locker room, perhaps waiting to change? But She was already sporting training attire.
Nicoleta didn't want to sound self absorbed, but her curiosity went ahead of her, "are you waiting for me?" The girl nodded, and interlocked their elbows one more time before leading them out of the locker room.
May lead them through the crowd all the way to the deck outside. The ocean was more clearer from there, low but clear. The deck was more like a football field with a track on the other side than anything, kids fast and slow ran about the area some trained with others on the field, some sparring, and some doing absolutely nothing.
A loud calming sound filtered the air and Nicoleta looked up with May, she gasped at the sight of big redish orange ish birds soaring through the sky, they all neared each other and connected their snots together.
Nicoleta's jaw was on the ground as she watched them, so many questions ran through her mind, yet her mouth wouldn't move for her to sound them out.
Eventually she was able to look away from the sight and ask, "What are those?" May laughed. "Phoenixes. That's Jackson and his friends."
Nicoleta furrowed her brows. "What do you mean?"
"They are people who can morph into an animal, that particular one is called a phoenix." Nicoleta nodded, amazed at the sight. One of the Phoenixes let out a gust of fire, and Nicoleta's fascination grew even more.
Despite May's explanation, she was still surprised to see one of them morph back into a human light skinned boy, he jumped into a pair of jeans hung out for him, and when he received a shirt his eyes scanned the place until he saw Nicoleta.
He grinned, and winked at her. Nicoleta gave a strange look, before running towards May who had gone towards the tracks.
A boy sped over the track, once, twice, and stopped on the third run, "Oh Hey May what's up?- who's this?" The boy had messy brown hair, his eyes were the same colour but a few shades light like his skin which was almost glistening with sweat. There was a scar above his lip which looked like it hurt when he spoke, though he showed no signs of pain.
"This is Nicoleta- she's new" he beamed at her and extended a hand out for a handshake, Nicoleta shook his hand, "nice to meet you. I'm Xavier" Nicoleta nodded, unsure of what to say.
May pulled her onto the track, "you run right?"
"Yeah" Xavier sped off ahead of them and May ran forward with Nicoleta in tow.
Xavier stopped running once again, a frown on his face as he looked at May, "no challenge today?" She shook her head, "I'd rather remain mobile for the rest of the day" he groaned and slowed to a brisk run like the two.
"So when were you transferred?" Nicoleta wondered if it would be considered rude to run past the two of them and let them talk. She answered him anyway. "Last night" his eyes widened, "oh that recent?" Nicoleta sped up slightly, "yeah."
They continued running but gladly May stole the conversation. All the things they spoke about were either an inside joke. Or something Nicoleta was yet to know about sector 2.
She sped forward more and more until their conversation was a small whisper behind her, then Xavier sped up as well, and slowed down however this time with a sandwich in one hand. It was almost finished.
Nicoleta raised her brows, a question at the tip of her tongue, then the watch beeped, and a bell rang. May ran up to her and pulled the two of them inside.
"Bye Xavier" she said as they went inside. Xavier winked at Nicoleta, she laughed.
The two of them changed into their school uniforms in the locker room after rinsing themselves off from all the sweating. When Nicoleta stepped out she noticed that they wore the same uniform, which meant she had to tolerate more of her throughout the day.
May squeaked in joy when she noticed as well, and she interlocked their elbows, and bounced them all the way to the school building.
Upon arrival May went to her locker, Nicoleta searched for her own. Like in the locker rooms their lockers were right next to each other.
Nicoleta wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad about it. "Same school, lockers next to each other, what's next, are you my long lost sister?!" She removed her books from her locker, and closed it with a wide smile on her face.
"What's your first class?" Nicoleta checked her watch to see. English. The watch read.
"English" Nicoleta removed her own books from the locker and looked through them, books, pens, pencils, and other schooling essentials. She took them all and stuffed them inside her bag.
When she closed her locker, May, who was happy not so long ago, had a frown on her face. "What is it?" May shrugged, "what are your other classes?" Nicoleta checked again.
"English. Maths, science, geography and history" her frown deepened the more Nicoleta spoke, and then smiled once more when she finished the list.
"What?" She shook her head, "we have History together!" With that she hugged Nicoleta and walked away disappearing with the crowd.
Nicoleta swung her backpack over her shoulder, and wondered if they were friends or very close strangers.
The map helped her to her first class, when she arrived the teacher prompted her to introduce herself to the class.
"Hello. I'm Nicoleta Ariti" the room stayed as silent as it was when she arrived. Nicoleta awkwardly made her way to the back, and sat down next to a girl who was smiling too much not to be mocking her.
"I'm Charlotte" she whispered, "umm.. nice to meet you?" the girl shuffled through her backpack, as the teacher began his lesson.
"Mr. Morgan doesn't care if you are new." She removed a piece of paper from her back and slid it on Nicoleta's desk, "those are my notes, just to help you with the lessons you missed"
"Thank you" Charlotte shrugged, "no problem" class was a little more understandable because of Charlotte's notes.
Nicoleta thanked her one more time after class. She went to her next class early and took the back seat. Another student sat next to her.
When she glanced at the stranger she realised she wasn't a stranger, it was Charlotte, "hey" she said, Nicoleta smiled, "do you have notes for this class too?"
She had notes for all Nicoleta's classes, and different conversations for each one.
One of them being about a boy at the front row.
"He is way too smart for his own good" half of what she said however was about how he was intelligent, and it sounded like the two rivaled each other.
"He got an A plus, well I got an A plus but guess who everyone worshipped" Nicoleta cocked her brow at the boy seated in the front row.
"Why's that?" Charlotte shrugged. "He's pretty with glasses, I'm… me" she groaned, writing down in her notebook aggressively, as she glowered at the boy up front. "Do you know how frustrating it is to work hard only to find out he got the same grade"
"Have you ever done better than him?" Nicoleta asked. She looked at the board that was a minute ago covered in writings, all of which were now gone. She forgot to take notes.
But not Charlotte who remained focused despite her ranting on and on about every rival. "Many times. His fans always make excuses for him. I'm hoping to become class president this year" she made a choking gesture with her hands, "that way everyone will at least look at me for a change"
The conversation changed in science class, Charlotte seemed to have a rival in all of her classes, Nicoleta wasn't sure how a person could accomplish that, but she did, and she didn't stop to talk about anything else but them.
"I'm much better than her," Charlotte made a face at the girl up front, writing something on the board.
"What's the problem then?" asked Nicoleta, foolishly, "she's obnoxious"
The only class they didn't have together was history, and Nicoleta was sad about the fact, and even more sadder when she realised that May would be waiting for her.
Charlotte tapped her shoulder in the hallways, and whispered, "see at lunch" then left.
It was planned then, Nicoleta thought. History hadn't started yet, so she made her way to the back as she did with all her classes, and unsurprisingly May was already there waiting.
"hey" May chimed as Nicoleta sat next to her, she leaned in and asked Nicoleta about her day.
"Umm great actually- I met this girl Charlotte who gave me notes for all my classes" May half glared, half stared at Nicoleta confused, "who's Charlotte?"
"A friend" it felt somewhat strange to say it, perhaps it reminded her too much of Victoria, or maybe because they just met, Nicoleta wasn't sure, but they weren't friends yet, they knew of each other, otherwise they were strangers. Right?
"A friend huh? Was she pretty?" May rapped out, as the teacher finally entered the classroom. "Yeah- very" Charlotte's most noticeable feature was her ears, they were big but well fitting for her face, it seemed to bring everything together.
Nicoleta hadn't been in sector 2 for long yet she already felt the urge to draw everyone, especially Charlotte, and May too. May was pretty too. With her high cheek bones, thick nose, and muscular figure.
May scowled at Nicoleta's words, "are you sure?" Nicoleta nodded, "she's pretty- why do you care anyway?" May shrugged, her expression indifferent. "Did she bother you at all?"
Nicoleta took out a pen and paper readying herself to be independent a little by taking her own notes.
"Did she…. Have a lot of friends?" No, quite the contrary, it seemed she had a lot of enemies, all of which didn't know were her enemies.
"um not really" May seemed satisfied with that answer, she nodded proudly and took out her book, and papers.
"Class today we have a new student among us" Nicoleta didn't stand up, she looked around the room, the teacher looked at her. "Ms. Ariti introduce yourself to the class"
She dreadfully stood up on her feet and did as the teacher instructed. When Nicoleta sat down she could feel her heart beat so loud in her ears that May's words were drowned out for a moment.
"Is she nice?" Is what she heard, and Nicoleta wanting to focus on the lesson, simply nodded, May continued.
"Is she… does she- what are her powers?"
"I don't know," Nicoleta said as she wrote down what the teacher had written on the board. "A friend? Huh and you don't know her powers?" She scoffed under her breath, Nicoleta didn't know it was even possible.
"Some friends you are" Nicoleta's lips thinned, she glanced at May. "Well I don't know your powers" she remarked, May looked choked a little, she placed her own pen down, and stared at Nicoleta.
"What?" Nicoleta asked, "it's true"
May didn't say anything, but the more Nicoleta stared the more her eyes played tricks on her. May began to become somewhat see through, every second that passed she became more and more transparent, before Nicoleta knew it, May was no longer visible.
She must have gasped, because the entire classroom looked at her, including the teacher, "Ms. Gonzales now is not the time to use your abilities. Pay attention" May reappeared with a small cocky smile on her face.
She looked at the teacher, "sorry" she said before turning to Nicoleta, "now you know" May could be invisible. Did this mean they were friends? No. But to May it surely did.
Lunch time arrived quicker than expected. Nicoleta and May interlocked their elbows on their way to the cafeteria, which was surprisingly not as crowded as Nicoleta expected. Perhaps some of the kids ate outside school grounds. She and May got served their food.
She spotted Charlotte seated near the windows, and led May over to her table.
"What? Is that her?" Nicoleta smiled, and nodded, "yeah"
They both sat down across from Charlotte. Charlotte beamed at the sight of Nicoleta, "oh hey- is this your friend?" Nicoleta couldn't respond before Charlotte introduced herself to May, "I'm Charlotte, I feel like I know you" May pursed her lips, she responded. Her voice sounded as if she didn't want to respond. "I don't know you" was her half hearted response.
Charlotte agreed, "Yeah, I'm sure we'll be good friends" May didn't respond, she ate her food instead, Nicoleta did the same and so all three ate in silence for a moment.
Then May couldn't stay silent any longer, she placed her fork down and glared at Charlotte.
"Why are you so smiley?" Charlotte shrugged, "what do you want from Nicoleta anyway?" Charlotte shrugged again, Nicoleta looked between the two.
"What do you want with her?" Asked Charlotte, May scoffed, and pushed her food away slightly before leaning back as she crossed her arms.
"Don't you have other people to bother?" May said, Charlotte looked at Nicoleta, who was trying to avoid the conversation by stuffing her face.
"Am I bothering you Nicoleta?" Nicoleta looked at May then at Charlotte, her cheeks filled with so much food she looked like a squirrel. "Mmmno" Nicoleta tried to say. She picked up her glass of water and drank it so as to not choke.
"Nicoleta is too nice to tell you anyway" said May, Charlotte smacked her lips, "what's your problem?" May smirked, "you. Are. My. Problem."
What were they fighting about? Nicoleta? themselves? Nicoleta couldn't quite understand.
"and why am I a problem?" May shrugged, "why do you think" Nicoleta swallowed her food and coughed.
What was happening?
Before she could even defuse the situation her watch beeped, a reminder of her training with Mr. De-Luca.
She stood up, "guys I'm gonna go, I have power and martial arts- " they didn't even acknowledge the person they were fighting about as Nicoleta left.
The training hall was farther than she thought, and with the exceptionally crowded corridors it was almost impossible to make it to class at all.
She arrived late, but not too late that she would be singled out from the rest of the kids that followed closely behind. Nicoleta walked past many kids in doboks, all having different kinds of colours as belts tied around their waist.
Her eyes landed on a brown girl with long braided hair that fell to right above her thighs, she too wore a gi with a white belt tied around her waist.
Someone new to the class. The girl rushed towards Nicoleta and took her hand. "You are all late" she told both Nicoleta and some of the others behind her. The girl rushed them all into the dressing rooms.
"What martial art are you learning?" The girl asked, "Taekwondo," Nicoleta and three others said in unison, some of the others said karate, and two said Kung Fu.
The girl removed the same attire she wore for them all paired with white belts. "There's a difference," she explained as she saw Nicoleta's confused expression.
"The dobok is Korean, gi is the Japanese word for the uniform, they are similar- " She gave Nicoleta her uniform. "mine is?"
"Dobok" Nicoleta nodded. She went into one of the changing rooms, and wore the uniform, they were loose and big on her, the pants would have fallen if she hadn't held it up with her hands.
"Umm.. I'm" the girl's voice gladly sounded, "do you need help?" Nicoleta immediately said yes, and the girl came inside the changing room to help her, she let Nicoleta hold the pants, then she tied the belt around her waist.
"You have to learn how to do this on your own by the way- " The girl said as she finished tying it for her, she dusted her shoulders off and patted them.
"You look really good. Kannika by the way- I mean my name is Kannika- "
"Nicoleta" Kannika led them out of the dressing room, into the training hall where the rest of the class were already lined up, Nicoleta stood next to Kannika in the line.
"How is he going to teach us all?" Someone asked from behind the two of them, Kannika looked back for a moment, "it's his power. Mr. De-Luca knows every martial art, there are some others like him actually- " she couldn't finish her sentence before Evan walked into the room.
He didn't wear a gi like Kannika's instead he wore a dobok, however instead of a plain old white dobok void of colour, Evan's dobok had red lines around the V neck, and some lines both red and black on each side of his arms.
He had a black belt. Unavoidably so, as he was a master.
"Good morning" unlike earlier that day, his voice sounded much more stern now, more authoritative, he sounded like a master, a man who knew what he was doing.
Everyone greeted him back.
"It would have been lovely to avoid doing so much, but not everyone is suitable for one art" he smiled, "as always, those practising Taekwondo on this side" he gestured for them to step to the right, which would be their left.
Nicoleta moved quickly away to the left with another group of kids, about a dozen. "Those who are practising Kung Fu on this side" his left, their right.
He let the Karate learners stay in the middle.
"New students please come up and introduce yourselves to the class" Nicoleta dreaded having to do it, but she did anyway, and unlike school the audience was very welcoming. Saying, "welcome to the class." And a girl patted her shoulder and whispered, "you're gonna have a lot of fun here" followed by many other welcoming words.
She was delighted even more with the class after that.
Afterward Evan moved toward the first group he divided. "Laurens, you are your group's representativ," Evan said to the boy that stood in front of them along with some others. Laurens was tall with blonde hair and almost the same coloured eyes, he had a red belt around his waist close to hip. He stepped forward ahead of the group, and bowed ninety degrees low, hands held straight on each side of his legs.
"You already know the basic lessons of your first class." He nodded, Evan smiled proudly, "good." He stepped back a little, put his feet together, his hands by his sides straightly, and bowed, Laurens bowed in the same way going much lower than Evan.
"This is called Kyung Nye. It is a gesture of respect to the art and masters, or people of higher rank than you are" the group listened quietly, with awe stricken expressions, and hands that weren't sure what to do with themselves.
"follow after what I do" Evan stood normally, then brought his feet together, the class copied him in a haste. He placed his arms and hands flatly by his side, and along with the class bowed.
Everyone made an effort to bow lower than he did, and so Nicoleta did the same.
"Alright. That will be done at the beginning and end of every class. Now warm-ups" he made a gesture to Laurens before leaving to the next group, and as he left, though he couldn't see, Laurens bowed anyway.
"Alright, warm-ups, everyone do what I do" he stepped a little farther away from the group. Laurens placed his hands on his hips, with his feet slightly apart, and began circulating his head, with slow precise motions.
The class copied him. They trunk twisted, hip twisted, attempted to stretch their legs, failed, circled even their knees, and stretched some more.
Nicoleta didn't find it too difficult when it was just somewhat slow advanced versions of leg exercises she already did, however it proved itself to be difficult as they moved on to front snap kicks, or as Laurens traditionally called AHP ChAGI.
Nicoleta could and couldn't do it along with some of her other mates. And whilst the people up front did tremendously well, she and some of the kids at the back were definitely beginners.
According to Laurens they did 'well' but Nicoleta was seeking the more trusted approval of Mr. De-Luca.
She looked at him teaching the others, choosing a representative for all of them, showing them how to bow like he did for them, and the correct fighting stance in the middle group. She wondered when he would come to them, or if it was even a good thing if he came to them, because he only seemed to intervene when something was wrong.
As the class went on however he took over, and commended all the ones he had put in charge for a moment. Laurens was beyond proud of himself, smiling from ear to ear as they practiced.
They moved on from doing the half front kick to the full. It was much harder than it looked, and everyone else who knew how to do it made it look easy.
The girl next to Nicoleta wiped sweat from her forehead. "This is really exhilarating" said the girl, Nicoleta agreed with her in all different ways.
She stared restlessly at Mr. De-Luca, the undeniable feeling of wrapping him up in a bubble tugging at her, Nicoleta ignored it as best she could, but couldn't still take her eyes off of him, not even when he moved on to the next group.
"How can he do that?" Nicoleta asked, no one in particular, her group all sighed, and all made to answer her. Laurens was louder, "That's his power, he knows every martial art" Nicoleta already knew that.
She brought her fisted hand down to her hip right below the belt when Laurens did. "But how" she didn't speak of his mastery of the arts, but rather how eloquently he made them look.
There was an aura about him, a personality of a person that knew themselves completely outside and inside, and perhaps more. His movements as she observed before were meaningful even if it was just a step back to where he once stood.
That combined with the tug to protect him made her focus on the class more and more horrible. Exactly what was she protecting him from, she wasn't sure.
He seemed more than capable of keeping himself safe, as for her, she had a long way to go before thinking about protecting anyone at all.
"I don't know- he's just Mr. De-Luca, fine master at every art" a girl with shimmering blonde hair spoke up, "I knew someone like him. In sector 3, he also knew every martial art without practice- he was a fascinating sight to say the least" Nicoleta grew more and more curious about him, and was destroyed when class ended right as the group began to even speak of him.
Some of them stayed and spoke amongst themselves, but Nicoleta changed into her uniform, and said goodbye before rushing to the class she hadn't signed up for yet.
Though as she left, she noticed that they didn't do any power training at all.
She would have ran back to ask when they would, but Nicoleta didn't want to be late to sign up. So she let the map lead her to Mr. And Mrs. Arnold's training hall, which was gladly not full yet when she arrived.
Nicoleta rushed inside making brief eye contact with the kids that were already inside, she looked around for Mr. And Mrs. Arnold and couldn't find anyone older than eighteen.
An old stern voice made her look up at the upper station of the training hall. "Are you here to sign up?" It was an old lady who already had a full set of white hair, and wrinkles all over her face.
Nicoleta expected Mr. And Mrs. Arnold to be older, but not quite as much as she was seeing. Perhaps the picture she saw yesternight was an older one. because the woman on the tablet and the woman on the balcony were years apart. "Yes" the woman gestured her up, "come up. Quickly "
Nicoleta rushed up the stairs, and began following Mrs. Arnold as she walked far too quickly for her age towards a deep blue door marked with gravings of big birds on it.
She cracked open the door, and gestured Nicoleta to a sofa in the far corner of the room, where three other kids sat, two boys, one pale as porcelain white, and one quite the opposite.
Nicoleta sat down in the lurid room and avoided making eye contact with any of the two. Ahead of them was a desk with two chairs on each side, two people sat on the facing end with a computer in front of them, a man with the same gray hairs as Mrs. Arnold which Nicoleta assumed was Mr. Arnold sat on the other end where the computer was. Two other kids sat facing him and the much younger man who was typing rapidly on the computer.
Mrs. Arnold stood beside her husband, and stared at Nicoleta and the boys grimly.
After some time, the other two left, and Mrs. Arnold gestured for Nicoleta to come up. She did, and sat down across from Mr. Arnold, and an unknown man.
"Good morning," Nicoleta greeted. Mr. Arnold grunted as a response, "young lady" he said, placing his hand on his thigh and holding his elbow upright.
"What's your name?" The much younger man asked, "Nicoleta" he typed it down, and glanced at Nicoleta, "full name please"
"Nicoleta Ariti" he typed it down, Nicoleta let out a heavy breath. "Age"
"Fifteen today"
He asked the other necessary factors, after everything was finalised Nicoleta was given a paper sheet, "shred it on your way out" said the younger man.
She glanced at the other two before leaving. Nicoleta shredded the paper as she was told, and joined the rest of the class downward.
"What if I don't make it" Nicoleta couldn't help overhearing a conversation two girls were having. "You signed up for a third just in case right?" Everyone had an accent, but those accents were once Nicoleta recognised, ones she heard constantly after her father remarried.
The two must have been from Boston. "Yeah but I want to be in this program" it seemed to get thicker the more they spoke.
"Don't get your hopes up" Nicoleta grew curious, they were talking about Mr. And Mrs. Arnold's program.
"Are there trials?" Nicoleta asked, they both looked at her, "um… sort of, it's like a selection, we will have an experimental class today, but tomorrow some kids will be exempted from the class if they don't perform well" Nicoleta nodded.
She furrowed her brows, "what if I get exempted, I didn't sign up for another program" the girl gave her a strange look. "You have to, you never know with Mr. And Mrs. Arnold, they are really picky- every sector 2 resident knows this" she laughed heartily.
Nicoleta wasn't a sector 2 resident a few hours ago, she wouldn't know. What if she didn't get in? What if all the other programs were full? Then what?
Nicoleta leaned back on the wall, and crossed her arms, waiting.
Class began an hour later. Nicoleta was sorted into a group with the girls she meant earlier, and some other kids, they were told to play strategically.
"You are all at war, group A is fighting defence, Group B is fighting offence, Group C is fighting with Strategy, and Group D is going to fight with Techniques" said Mrs. Arnold.
"All of these factors work together, today's lesson is for selections only after this, you will fall into a normal routine of sparring, and you will rotate all this skills" continued Mr. Arnold.
Nicoleta shifted a little in her new training attire, it was too tight on her. The uniform had a small sheath for a small dagger which had been occupied with one, deep pockets that were filled with foreign objects, and behind her an empty backpack.
On their left was a table with a map, and weapons, all made with harmless material according to Mrs. Arnold.
Group B Nicoleta's group had taken weapons already, but Nicoleta wasn't sure which of all the variants to choose from. She didn't understand why they needed weapons at all when they all had powers.
"You all have five minutes to plan your attacks, when the clock alarms, the simulation will begin and you will have to navigate through with whatever plan you have." Said Mr. Arnold.
Mrs. Arnold continued, "your objective is to get the golden pen, the first of their group to touch it and retrieve it will win for the whole group, if you all retrieve it together you all win."
Nicoleta was pulled toward the table by one of the boys. "Okay any ideas?" James, the pale boy Nicoleta met earlier asked. She looked at all their unsure faces. "We attack first, right?" Said one of the girls Nicoleta spoke too earlier, Jessie was her name.
"well attack first and? We don't know what the others are planning" James asked, he spun his dagger in his hand unconsciously. Another girl, Brandie spoke up.
"Blind fighting, that's how it starts then they give us scenarios- plus attacking first can help if we position ourselves probably" James turned to his brother, Jamie, the less paler version of himself.
"What abilities does everyone have?" he pointed his weapon at a girl next to his brother, "I can be invisible" then his weapon landed on Nicoleta, "you?" Nicoleta raised her brows, she stuttered over her words. "Umm.. F- Fire abilities and Telekinesis Telekinesis" he nodded, "alright you will be of good use to us, you and what's your name?" he gestured to the girl he first asked.
"Akari," said the girl. She was much shorter than the rest of the group. She had to look up at Jamie to see him, and even Nicoleta.
"How about we do pairs, Akari can be invisible so it's best if she is with someone lethal like- Nicoleta right?" Nicoleta nodded, she moved closer to where Akari stood, Jessie raised her hand.
"I have telekinesis, and I can- " She stopped short, and turned to the girl she was speaking to earlier. She looked at her intensely, before anyone could ask what she was doing the girl began to make a face filled with pain.
She stopped, "I can do that" Jamie looked impressed, "what about you?" He asked the girl that was victim to Jessie. She seemed to be still recovering from whatever Jessie did to her, but answered anyway.
"I'm a Phoenix" despite the softness of her voice, behind it Nicoleta detected a growl. It was far too deep to come from the girl only, it must have been backed by something, could it be the Phoenix, was the Phoenix not her?
There was so much she didn't know about everything and it bothered her the more she was introduced to new things to add to her list of things she knew nothing about.
Jamie nodded, he sheathed his dagger, and grabbed a bow and arrow, "me and my brother have the blue flame. And I think you have what was it- ? " All eyes landed on a tall boy, he was fidgeting, and biting his lip constantly.
"I- I uh… I'm- I have speed" so he was a speedster, like Xavier, Nicoleta then glanced at the girl beside him, "I'm a healer" she also grabbed a bow and arrow, "then we should position you where you can help anyone who goes down." Said Jamie, the rest of the group agreed.
When the five minutes on the clock sounded indicating it was over, the group went with their respective person, Nicoleta with Akari, The two brothers together, the healer in the middle, the phoenix and the speedster together, and the other four taking random posts around all of them. They were lookout.
The simulation began, it was an untouched battlefield with grass. And fake air, there were boulders around the place, but the golden pen glittered in the fake sunlight. Nicoleta knew that if she saw it then the other group must have seen it too.
She stayed close to Akari, but for the most part she didn't know what she was doing, only following Akari hoping she at least knew something of what they were supposed to do.
The brothers went forward first, and armed themselves with their blue flame, it was so mesmerising to watch that Nicoleta forgot that they were attacking.
She nudged Akari forward, and she began moving through the field hiding behind boulders despite being invisible.
When she reached the golden pen with Nicoleta, she reached out for the pen only for an unknown force to pull her forward, causing her to fall on her face.
Nicoleta let her flame come out and threw it forward at the invisible force, Akari was able to get up, Nicoleta helped her recover, as the boys rushed forward attacking whatever it was that attacked them.
Nicoleta looked around them in search of more surprises. On the other side she saw her other teammates fighting with a different group.
Akari tapped her shoulder and tugged her forward. "Come on" she got the pen.
Nicoleta couldn't see her so she kept a firm grasp on her wrist as they ran and also kept her flame at bay ready to fight anyone that attacked them.
A shadow fell upon them and before Nicoleta could even use her flame she had been trapped in darkness.
"What's going- on" Nicoleta groaned as she tried to free herself. The only way to free herself was to let her fire come out fully and if she did that her clothes would burn off, it wasn't an option, just a thought.
She wished there was some kind of technology that would allow them to make clothes that didn't burn when her flame wrapped around her.
She tried tirelessly to free herself, and even attempted to use her telekinesis however nothing worked, her only chance would be embarrassing, even more so if they didn't win after she'd done it.
"No no no no" Akari's panicked voice sounded. Slowly the darkness began to fade away and when it disappeared entirely, the brothers were no longer on the field. Nicoleta stupidly looked up and found them standing by the railing.
They must have been 'killed' in the heat of the battle. Nicoleta looked away from them and behind her instead. She watched as a boy with dark hair ran off with the golden pen.
She lifted her hand and attempted to stop him with her telekinesis, yet failed, then she threw a gust of flame toward him as she began walking closer and closer.
When the shadow fell on her once again she directed her flame upwards. It stopped it temporarily, and she continued to chase after the boy with the pen.
Then a flash passed by her and she had been set back where her team started.
She restrained the flame, confused. What had just happened? Who did that? And how did she get there?
It was too late to think about anything else, because the other team had won. The buzzer rang out, and Mr. Arnold announced that Group C had won the simulation.
The loss was beyond dreadful to Nicoleta, she left class before anyone else. And stayed in her shower for too long thinking about how she could do better.
The halls weren't as crowded at six o clock, but the canteens were. Nicoleta found it much more difficult to find a place to even stand and get her food.
She moved forward when the line did but didn't have any hope that she would be eating any time soon.
She met May on her way, and she helped her get her food quicker, their only problem now was finding her place to sit.
May led them to the stairs, and as they ascended, a familiar face met them on the way up.
"Oh Hey Nicoleta" it was Charlotte. Nicoleta glanced at May, then back at Charlotte.
"Would you like to join us?" Nicoleta asked, dreadful of it, Charlotte agreed. They found an empty table by where Nicoleta sat earlier that day, for breakfast.
The two girls didn't say anything to each other, instead they spoke to Nicoleta as if the other didn't even exist.
After they were all done eating was when it all began. "So how was your day?" May asked.
"How was your day?" Charlotte repeated. May glared at her, she wasn't trying to hide her hatred anymore.
"My day was good." Nicoleta answered both of them, and hoped that they would catch what she was trying to do and follow along.
"My day was great" said May, "my day was awesome" said Charlotte.
Nicoleta rolled her eyes, "guys- " May didn't hear her, instead she told Nicoleta all about her day, and as she did so she gave Charlotte the stink eye.
Nicoleta shared with the both of them how her classes went. She avoided telling them about how she felt about Mr. De-Luca, because even she was confused about it.
And she had a strong feeling they would somehow turn it into a topic of argument.
Charlotte attempted to be friendly as well and share her day with the both of them but May stopped her, "I know you had nothing to do all day, i- we don't want to hear you talk about your boring day."
They began bickering again, and Nicoleta knew that it was just about time to leave.
She slipped away from them unnoticed again. Went to her room and fell flat on her bed, exhausted, full, and confused. Yet happy for the next day.
Because she would do all that over again.