Hiding under my blanket and using my phone torch as a source of light I slowly flip to the start of the Interpretation of Dreams. My eyes slowly scan the page but not even reading at the speed of a snail helps my preoccupied brain focus on the lines of ink. It seems that my brain doesn't want to stop thinking about all the events that somehow only happened a few short hours ago. The catastrophe of a date with Toby, being saved from said catastrophe by Seth, and then being taken on the sweetest date ever and gave me a perfect kiss to remember. Only it seems that perhaps that perfect kiss might destroy all that we have built. We have just gotten into a somewhat good place and now it has most likely all gone to ash. But what if it doesn't? What if this doesn't destroy our relationship but instead ignites it? Maybe our relationship will burn into a new one, one that will morph into something more than just a friendship.

I shake my head. "Get a grip, Vega. This is just the exhaustion speaking. You need to focus on this research," I whisper to myself and try to shift my focus onto the page in front of me. 

My eyes scan over the sentence. And again. And again. And again. Over and over until eventually I realize that I will not be learning anything tonight. So, I close the book and set it back on my bedside table before turning over and drifting off to sleep. 

* * * *

The school is a graveyard with only a handful of souls wandering around, mostly the smoker kids getting their morning puffs before the crowds of students and teachers ascend upon the building and them. Blocking the streaming light with my hand I peer around for Seth knowing that he usually frequents the school in these early hours.  When I don't spot him outside I head into the hallways where low and behold I find him leaning against a random locker that isn't his. 

"Seth!" I call out to him, my voice bouncing off the walls around me. 

Shocked by my sudden appearance, he jumps away from the locker and looks over at me. His eyes are wide and he almost resembles a scared dog as he without so much as uttering a single word to me turns around and hurries down the hallway and out of view. 

Anger and frustration fill me, and I must muffle a scream with my hands. "Seriously," I hiss through clenched teeth. "You have to be kidding me, not even one word. You can't even say a single word to me! You bloody bastard." I toss my bag toward the nearest locker creating the loudest bang ever. 

A scream of fright comes up from behind me, and I let out a similar one as I spin around to face the person who quietly snuck up behind me. Much to my relief, it's Nicci who based on her appearance seems to have come from the swimming pool. 

"When did you get here?" I ask her while my hand rests over my chest where my heart is thundering away at the speed of light. 

"About an hour ago. I wanted to get a swim in before school started. I saw you come inside so I followed you. I was gonna say hi but then I saw you were in the middle of a small rant over there and then you..." Her voice trails off as she points to my bag and its contents that are scattered across the floor. 

"Dammit." I rush to the bag and quickly notice that somehow the force of my throw broke the zipper. 

"Do you want some help?" Nicci sweetly asks me, and as I'm about to take her up on the offer I  notice out of the corner of my eye broken bits of ice surrounding the part of the zipper that broke off. "Vega, do you want some help?" she asks again with a sliver of worry in her voice, obviously concerned at the blank look on my face. 

Without looking at her and while shaking my head I quickly gather my books and shove them back into the opened bag. Once the mess is clear I gather the piece of the zipper and sweep the still-firm bits of ice under the lockers trying to play them off as bits of dust. 

"Who were you talking to before I came in?" she asks as together we start walking down the hallway to nowhere in particular. 

I shake my head. "No one important." A blatant lie but one that needed to be told. There is no way I can tell Nicci about what happened between Seth and me last night. She'll tell Kim and if Kim knows then Jade is bound to find out, and I will never hear the end of it. A string of 'I told you so' will follow me for the rest of the year and possibly even further than that. 

"It didn't sound like no one important." She speeds up her pace so that she is now standing in front of me. Crossing her arms over his chest and with a pleading look in her eyes she says, "Come on, Vega. I'm your friend you can tell me anything." 

"It's nothing, Nicci," I say without skipping a beat. She sighs and shakes her head, and I know that she won't bring it up again... for now anyway. "I think I should get to my locker. I need to pick up some books." 

"Yeah,  I need to get to mine as well." A small smile tugs at her lips, but even I can see how forced it is. I hurt her by not telling her my truth, but I can't risk anything. "I'll meet up with you later?"

"Yeah, see you later." 

A curt wave and another fake smile later she turns on her heels and heads down the hallway, her flops squeaking from her still wet feet. 

Ignoring my subconscious trying to convince me to rush over to her and confide my secrets I start my journey to my locker. After unloading my books and carefully packing in the next ones I did my best to fix my zipper, but after many failed attempts I decided to carry my bag in a way that the opening was closer to my front than to my back. 

Because I know how long Nicci takes to pack her bag I decide that I have enough time to find a water fountain so that I can quench the indescribable thirst I've been feeling since I woke up. As soon as I find one I rush toward it and with a throat that feels about as dry as a desert I lean forward and turn the switch. I feel the water rush through the old pipe that rattles and shakes and as the first stream of it comes out I am overcome with an insane rush of coldness. This sudden feeling forces my body to jerk back and the tip of my finger brushes through the stream. My feet stumble backwards and my back hits the wall behind me. The cold shoots through every nerve and fiber in my body and with my eyes squeezed shut I take multiple deep inhales and release them in shaky exhales. 

"Please stop," I beg as the sharp pain caused by the sudden cold flows through me like a tsunami. Time seems to slow, and all I can do is sit back and wait for the pain to subside. One minute goes by. Two minutes go by. Three minutes go by. And then almost as quickly as it came, the pain disappears. I slowly open my eyes and for a brief moment, my vision is blurry from tears. Shaking my head and rubbing my sweaty hands down my face I heave myself up and walk back to the fountain even more desperate for a lick of water than before. 

I bend over the sink and pull the lever again. The distinct feeling of the water rushing up through the pipe comes back only this time I don't hear the water trickle down. I don't hear anything other than my laboured breaths. 

"What the..." I don't know what causes my voice to trail off first, the shock, curiosity, or fear as out of the corner of my eye I notice that the water that I had poured out earlier is frozen in place.

Moving at a snail's pace I back away from the fountain and its sparkling surprise. I gaze long and hard at the thing in front of me pondering if I should consider it a miracle or a symptom of some strange disease. I push myself to walk back toward the fountain not even realizing that I had taken a few steps backwards. My hand reaches out and I allow my fingertips to gently graze the frozen water. I half expect it to crack but instead, my touch somehow makes the ice grow thicker, swelling bigger and bigger and only when it looks like it's about to break the tap do I remove my fingertips from it, and its fast growth comes to a grinding halt.  

A mixture between a scoff and a gasp escapes my lips as I shake my head. Unable to resist the urge anymore I reach back out again and touch the chunk of ice again. And just like before it starts to grow and grow until it breaks out of the pipe cracking the weaker piece of metal into two pieces.

"What the hell is going on here?" I mumble under my breath.

My private contemplation doesn't even get the chance to begin as I hear the echo of footsteps behind me. That person reaches me within seconds and with a violent pull they spin me around so that I am facing them. The hood hides a small portion of his face, but I still know that it is Seth, and he does not look happy.

"What are you doing you fool?" he hisses through his clenched teeth that he grinds from all the frustration rolling off him in heat waves. 

I can't answer him. The shock that still has a firm grip on my body coupled with all of my uncertainness about the situation won't allow me to. And even if I could speak to him right now and tell him everything as it happened there is no way he would believe me. With my mouth agape and not a sound coming from me I can see his frustration grow. 

"Are you stupid or do you want to be caught?"

"What do you mean?" I snap at him when I eventually find my voice. 

His grip on my arm tightens, and the chill that I felt is now pulsing and my head is beginning to throb like a warning bell sounding off in my mind.  His lips curl into a cruel smirk and he scoffs at my question as if it was the stupidest thing he's ever heard in his life. 

"You can't seriously be this stupid, Vega."

Now my frustration is growing.  "About what!"

He paces back and forth while shaking his head. He stoops and looks back down at me. "Your powers you moron. Didn't your parents teach you how to control them?" 

"What powers!" I yell. 

He pulls me very close and presses his hand firmly over my mouth. I instinctively reach out and began to hit his arms hoping that this will shock him into letting me go, but it doesn't. As my need for him to free me grows so does his willpower to keep me locked in his arms. Suddenly before I even think about it my hand flies upward and I slap him clean across his face. 

He yelps in pain and as he steps away from me his hand reaches up to the point where I hit him. My eyes widen with shock and a small gasp runs out of my parted lips when I see that his cheek is cut and his fingers are dotted with small splotches of blood. I instinctively look down at my hand and quickly notice that one of the nails on the hand that I hit him with is coated in a thin and sharp sheet of ice.

"Seth, I'm... I'm so sorry," I mumble as I fight between the urge to rush over to him and help or stand back in case I accidentally hurt him again.

His smirk shifts from one of cruelty to one of amusement as he wipes the small amount of blood off his fingers onto his dark hoodie. 

"It doesn't matter. I've been hit much worse." All the amusement drops from his face he turns serious once again. "But please, Vega, just be careful with your powers. You are lucky it was just me who saw you."

Before I can ask him any more questions he bends down and picks up the piece of ice that was still firmly intact even though I dropped it onto the ground when he grabbed me. Taking it over to the fountain he holds it over the basin and takes a deep breath. I watch in silent awe as the palms of his hands seem to glow a bright orange and small whispers of smoke float into the air.  into the air. The large chunk of ice dissolves in his hands and its watery remnants drop into the basin running down the sink into the maze of pipes below. Then without so much as uttering another word or sparing me a single glance, he turns around and walks away.