I brush away my confusion as the next girl approaches me. She is quite short, her eyes at the same level as my shoulder, and her chestnut-brown hair is twisted into a single braid that is draped over her shoulder. Her blue eyes twinkle as she smiles up at me.

"Welcome to the Diversions, Cammile!" she says cheerfully. She sounds excited, but not as hyper as Essie. "My name is Mellifluous Dagne, but everyone here calls me Mellie."

When she notices the face I make at the sound of her name, she sighs. "My parents were very...creative," she says, and I sense a tinge of sadness in her tone. "But apparently they didn't have enough inspiration when it came to my brother."

As she says this, someone behind her shouts, "Its not my fault!" Seconds later, a boy pushes her aside and she glares at him. He appears to have eyes and hair similar to Mellie's, as well as height. This must be her brother.

"I'm not blaming you!" Mellie says, though I can tell from her facial expression that she does indeed blame him.

The boy sighs dramatically. "Oh, sweet Mellie, how you exhaust me," he says, holding his hand to his forehead in a mock faint.

"Who are you?" I say, forcing them apart before they can start arguing more. I've always been an only child, so I'm not used to sibling rivalries.

The boy turns to me as if noticing my existence for the first time. He blinks once, twice, then immediately grins. "My deepest apologies for you having to witness that little episode. Dear Mellie can be troublesome occasionally."

"I'm not trouble-" Mellie starts, but the boy shushes her, cutting her off.

"My name is Mick," he says, turning to me. Seeing he and Mellie standing side-by-side makes me realize how similar they look. Their eyes have the same round shape, and the exact same tint of blue in their eyes. Not to mention they both are extremely short for what I assume their ages are.

"Are you twins?" I ask.

Mellie nods. "Sometimes I wish he was older because maybe my parents just got more creative when I was born - "

"Mellie!" Mick suddenly shouts, startling both of us. "You need to let that drop. You're annoying Miss Frank here."

I almost thank Mick for his interference, but I don't want to embarrass Mellie anymore than she has been already. I can understand why she's upset, but she must have been complaining about it for at least eighteen years, and after only hearing it for four minutes has already annoyed me.

I notice Mick whispering something inaudible into Mellie's ear, and, nodding, she turns to me and says with a smile, "It was nice to meet you, Cammile! I'm looking forward to working with you!"

Mick winks at me, then, holding onto his sister's arm, leads her away. I watch them return to training, then wonder how many are left to meet. There's supposed to be seven, I think to myself. I start counting them up. Charlie, Clyde, Essie, Bella, Raven, Mellie, and I. That's seven.

I'm about to go find Charlie when someone from behind me whispers, "Boo." I jump, then spin around to see Hael leaning against a wall, his arms crossed, a smirk on his face. "Are you ever not going to be surprised?" he asks, pushing himself off the wall to stand beside me.

I glare at him, not answering.

He eyes me, then asks, "So what do you think of the girls?"

"They're fine," I reply, "though I don't see how either Essie or Mellie can focus enough to train."

He laughs. "You'll just have to watch them then." He puts his hands on my cheeks and turns to my head to where Essie is practicing jumps and flips. When he drops his hands, my face tingles at the warmth he leaves behind, but I ignore it.

Bella stands just a few feet from Essie, as it seems she always does, but Essie isn't laughing or even smiling. Her face has taken on a focused expression as she jumps up and down. Every time she hits the trampoline beneath her, she gracefully springs back up, performing one and sometimes even two perfect flips in midair.

After completing about twenty, she brings her jumping to a halt and steps off the trampoline into Bella's arms, her giddy smile restored on her round face.

Beside me, Hael says, "Impressive, huh?"

I had almost forgotten he was there. I nod silently.

He leans toward me so his face is inches from my ear and whispers, "Maybe you're not the best anymore."

I turn my head so quickly my neck hurts. "Excuse me? You haven't even seen me train yet," I say, a harsh tone in my voice. "I was just admiring her skill. I never said I'm not as good."

Instead of backing away, or acting shocked at my retort, he laughs. "We'll see, my dear. We'll see." With that he turns around and walks away.

I suddenly notice my teeth are clenched and I relax. How could he say something like that? Of course I'm still the best.

My thoughts waver when I turn around. Charlie is making her way across an obstacle course along the right wall. The training room is large and the course spans almost 100 feet long. It isn't a very advanced course - a combination of rings, foam blocks and a climbing wall - but the speed and agility Charlie uses as she climbs - no, flies - across it makes my brain want to shut down.

Taking a deep breath, I turn away, looking for something to do. Mick and Mellie are now taking turns on the trampoline, Clyde is lifting weights in the farthest corner, and Bella and Essie are practicing arm strength on the rings.

My eyes scan the room, searching for Hael, and finally I spot him. He is somersaulting across a mat on the left wall, and I am about to walk over when I notice someone else is training with him. I recognize the dark, flowing hair of Raven, standing at the end of is mat.

I bite my lip, trying to stop the light wave of jealousy that rolls over me. Stop it, Cammile. Remember how Hael insulted you a minute ago? Plus, Raven is asexual. I shake my head, clearing the thoughts. I decide to train with Charlie on the obstacle course.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hael leaned against the left wall of the training room, his brown hair falling on his brow. Though Raven had asked him to critique her back-handspring, his eyes were trained elsewhere. He watched carefully as Cammile Frank, the arrogant new girl, tumbled through the obstacle course. Charlie stood at the end of the mat, her eyes following Cammile's every movement.

When Cammile had arrived the night before, Hael had noticed the way she talked condescendingly to everyone around her. She carried an air of almost royalty, as if she thought she was leagues ahead of them all.

Though Hael had seen her score - 599 - he knew that she would receive a rude awakening as soon as she fought one the Diversions in a duel. She could probably beat Mellie, Bella, and maybe Hael himself, but he knew she didn't even stand a chance if she was pitted against Charlie. Clyde would beat her easily, as would Raven and possibly Mick.

Hael smiled as Cammile reached the end of the obstacle course, flipping through the air to land in a crouch on the mat. As Charlie approached her, she quickly stood up, pushing a few stray strands of her dark brown hair out of her face. Charlie said something that Hael couldn't hear, and he noticed Cammile's honey brown eyes flash.

Hael didn't consider the girl beautiful, though she wasn't completely helpless. Her dark eyes were rimmed with black lashes that curled up slightly and her cheekbones jutted out prominently, giving her face a somewhat oval shape. She was of medium height and he noted the way she shifted uncomfortably as Charlie towered over her. They were talking about something, possibly Cammile's performance, and Cammile didn't seem to be happy with whatever Charlie was instructing her on.

"Are you even watching me, Hael?" Raven's voice came from beside him. He quickly tore his gaze from the new girl to look down. Raven appeared to have just completed a flip, for her ebony hair was a mess around her face. She quickly pulled it up into a tight ponytail, securing it with a hair band.

"Sorry, I was just - "

"Watching the new girl?" Raven interrupted him, a smirk on her heart-shaped face. "She is quite interesting." She turned her head, as if to look at Cammile in interest, but her face displayed little emotion. As always.

Hael nodded slowly. "Too arrogant, though," he said, not wanting to sound too intrigued.

In fact, Cammile was very interesting to him, though he would never admit that to Raven. The new girl had appeared so tough the night she arrived, yet when Hael spooked her as she descended the stars that morning, she was just as surprised as anyone else would have been. Of course, she has immediately lashed out at him, but not before he had seen her initial reaction - one that wasn't so tough. Hael knew that if he had tried to do the same thing to Charlie, she would have seen him first and had him pinned to the floor before he could opened his mouth. He'd learned that the hard way.

Turning back to Raven once more, he noticed her glaring at him. His face immediately heated and she grinned smugly.

"Just can't keep her eyes off her, can you?" she teased.

Hael tried to find at least of hint of jealousy in her voice, but failed. Ignoring her comment, he shook his head, then pointed at the mat. "Try again. I'll watch."

"Are you sure?" Raven taunted, then, still smirking, walked to the end of the mat. Just as she began to crouch down, preparing for her flip, Charlie suddenly clapped her hands loudly, calling the attention of the Diversions to her.

Scowling so deeply that Hael would have laughed if he hadn't known better, Raven slowly stood up and moved to stand at Hael's side. His body tensed as her arm brushed his. He almost wanted to grab her hand, but he knew it would be most likely result in a concussion on his part. Or a slit throat.

"I have an announcement to make," Charlie said loudly. Smirking slightly, she turned to Cammile, who stood at her side, her arms crossed over her chest.

What did she do now? Hael wondered. No one else got into trouble that soon into joining up. She hadn't even signed the contract yet.

"Miss Frank here has volunteered to fight her first duel today," Charlie said. There was a taunting tone in her voice that almost made Hael worry for Cammile. "And as it is tradition for a Diversion to choose there opponent, Cammile has displayed great audacity in choose me as her opponent."