Both Andrews and I slept through our alarms, arriving late for first period. I had spent a good portion of my morning trying, unsuccessfully, to earn Mimpi's attention, and because of it, we had left home around the same time the first bell rang. I hoped Anna didn't find out about the lateness and then caught sleeping in class bit. She was already on edge. I feared she'd soon discover what we had been up to. The local News was blowing my cover.

       That morning, Andrews and I stood behind Anna, sat on the living room couch, as she watched the latest episode that held the potential to ruin my life. The anchor man was describing the man the police had found, along with a picture of Andrews and I holding the bedsheet containing the limp body. The picture was blurry and dark, our faces completely covered by our hoods, but the odds of Anna recognizing our clothing were very high. Despite the sweater I stole from Andrews my long blond braid was very visible, as was my white skirt. It was the same outfit and hair style I had worn when she found us in the hall. I feared she'd recognize Andrews, most. His dark green sweater and blue stripped boxers were noticeable, and I was certain she was more than capable of recognizing her son's shape and worn-out clothes. Making a quick exit, we avoided her interrogation, briefly catching sight of the headline, Hero or Villain?

      "In their defence, no one knows that Kundanskie's people attack first. No one knows the idiots plan to get rid of me and then proceed to kill the unworthy, which to them is probably the whole damn world."

      "Huh?"

      "Never mind," I chuckled at his puzzled face. "We need to be more careful. No more accidental camera mishaps. Ready to have the entire school talk about you all day, without actually knowing they're talking about you... Robin?"

      "Robin?" he asked, eyebrows raised, excitedly getting into the truck. Yep, that one word may have been a mistake.

      It seemed Robin was taking his helper role very seriously. He had decided that even our school breaks would be dedicated to training. I had barely finished eating my lunch before he was dragging me towards the gym. I didn't know what he had planned, but my gut told I wouldn't enjoy it.

      Nearing the gym entrance, we crossed paths with the baseball team. I paid them little attention, but Andrews stopped dead in his tracks upon meeting the captain's eyes.

      "Toby knows," he said, voice high with panic, watching the other boy's deep frown.

     "Toby does not know," I said. "He only suspects. He will know if you continue to act like that, though."

      Briefly taking his attention away from Toby, he narrowed his eyes at me.

      "I can play it cool," he said offended, and then proceeded to prove that he really couldn't. "Looking good, Ackerman!"

      Groaning, I rubbed my eyes tiredly, dragging my hands down the rest of my face. Toby, who's frown only deepened, stepped away from his teammates, now approaching myself and the idiot who clearly could not play it cool.

      "Can't talk!" I called, pushing Andrews ahead of me. "Sorry. Andrews had the chicken surprise and he's not doing well."

      Not daring to look back, I pushed Andrews through the gym doors, far from the team headed for the field. Safely out of Toby's sight, hidden inside the gymnasium, I hit Andrews behind the head.

      "Who taught you that playing cool was hitting on the person you're trying to avoid?"

      Andrews made a startled noise. "I was not hitting on him!"

      "Could have fooled me." I laughed loudly when he groaned and hid his face in his hands upon realizing his mistake. I didn't laugh long. A familiar voice called my name.

      Oh no.

      "I was afraid you wouldn't show up. I'm glad to see you've finally taken an interest in school sports," Brewer smiled widely, whistle between his shinny white teeth.

      "I really have not," I said, turning to glare at Andrews who shot me a nervous laugh.

      "You're just trying it out. No commitment. You may actually enjoy it and it'll be good for you," he said quickly, voice hush, only for my ears.

      Shaking my head, I looked past Brewer, discovering what it is they expected of me. I was looking at the girls wrestling team. Spread out across the gym, a pair on each black mat, they were all in the midst of their own practice matches, wearing incredibly tight suits.

      "There is no way, you will ever convince me to wear that."

       "There's no need for that now," Brewer said, handing me a red helmet. "Just try it out and we'll talk about uniforms later... Matilda doesn't have a partner."

      Before I knew it, before I could protest, the helmet was forced on my head, and I was pushed onto an empty mat. Looking up to greet my opponent, my eyes met chest. Matilda was somehow almost a foot taller than my 5'9 figure and a good fifty pounds heavier. Frizzy black hair escaping her helmet, and in blue skin-tight suit fitting her perfectly, she was intimidating.

      "I don't know how to do this," I complained.

       The words barely had time to escape my mouth. Matilda had grabbed my arm and flipped me onto my back. Rolling me onto my stomach, she threw her body over mine and pinned my arms to my back and my face to the mat. Inhaling sharply, I didn't even try to escape her hold. The girl had arms of steel.

       Cheeks squished into the ground, I shot Andrews a look of immense displeasure. "Still think I'm going to enjoy this?"

       Andrews didn't respond. He smiled nervously before removing his gaze from my own, apprehensively returning it to the notebook in his lap.

      "Brewer!" I called, looking at the slightly disappointed man. "You going to teach me how to do this or not?"

        Smiling brightly, he approached me, clipboard at the ready.

      By the end of lunch period, I managed to pin down every girl on the team. I wasn't nearly as proud as Brewer, I felt like a ginormous cheater. It's not as though the other girls were being injected with Eudora's strength. Steroids were a big no for these types of competitions and what I was taking was a lot stronger.

       Declining Brewer's offer to join the team, I reluctantly accepted to attend future practices. We suffered through the rest of our afternoon classes, which Andrews spent embarrassingly trying to avoid Toby Ackerman.

      I tried for days to earn Mimpi's attention. She never bothered to call me back. Eventually she showed up, on her own, and I assumed it was only because she had something to tell me.

      "Nice to finally see you," I greeted sarcastically.

      "Your endless calling very annoying."

     I shot her my best glare.

     "What you want?" she sighed.

     "One of them found me!" I began outrageously. "He attacked me in the Andrews' home. I can't have them coming to my house. I've barely been sleeping these past few days, going back and forth from my mother's house to the Andrews', afraid that they'd attack my family."

     "You want both places guarded?" she assumed.

     "You can do that?"

     "If it what you want, yes."

     "Yes, that's what I want," I said immediately. "That'd be great, as long as they're not seen. I know you don't want them to fight yet, and that's ok. If they could watch the premises and contact me if there's any trouble... I just want my family safe."

      "I will send people tonight."

      "Thank you."

     "Is that it?" she asked impassively.

     "Well, the Sphere kind of screwed Andrews over. I thought that was worth mentioning as well."

      "You talking about the injection?"

      "You know about that?"

      "I only know one was given to the boy; I don't know reason for it."

      She paused as though waiting for an explanation. I didn't give her one, I knew she wouldn't like it. I really regretted mentioning the injection in the first place.

      "He wanted to help," she guessed, eyes narrowing.

      "No," I said. "He refused to leave. But in his defence, he barely knew what was going on. They came in the middle of the night, and he was tired and confused. He wasn't in his usual state of mind."

      "Do you really believe that?"

      "Yes." I lied.

      Sighing, Mimpi shook her head. "Pointless to argue with you. You want to train or not?"

      "I'd say no, but Andrews would kill me if he found out."

      "See you outside," she disappeared. Always straight to the point.

      I was right to assume that Andrews would find out. Not long after Mimpi left, Andrews burst through my door with excitement.

     "Was that Mimpi?"

     "Yes," I sighed. "Go get your notebook. We're expected in the woods."

     "Where is she?"

     "I don't know," I answered, searching the surroundings of the area we used last time. The Sphere was nowhere in sight. I had expected her to complain of your tardiness.

      "Why didn't she follow us like last time?"

     "I don't know," I repeated, gradually growing more suspicious.

      Something felt off and I was certain I heard something or someone on my left. Dropping my box, I covered Andrews' mouth with my hand. I ignored the crazed look on his face, instead focusing on the unnatural silence that had taken over the forest. Not a single bird chirp was heard, as though every living thing in our proximity had fled.

       Again, I heard the noise on my left. This time I knew it was human made. How I knew the sound was that of a sword being withdrawn, a blade, quickly hurdling our way? I have no clue, but I threw Andrews to the ground and jumped backwards just in time. The blade struck the tree behind me, my hair fluttering at its proximity. Had I acted seconds too late, the throw would have been catastrophic.

      Promptly, I summoned the suit, drew my own blade, and protectively placed myself in front of Andrews. I faced the direction in which came the weapon that had nearly decapitated Andrews and me.

      Purple hood over his black hair, Xander walked my way, the Sphere with Mimpi's artificial head, calmly resting in his now weaponless hands.

      "Are you crazy?" I bellowed, face red with anger. "I don't care how convinced you were that I would do what I just did. There was a chance I wouldn't, and you did it anyways. That is a chance you shouldn't be taking. A chance you have no right to take! If you want to risk your own lives, go ahead, but you have NO right to risk mine or that of the ones I care about."

      "Always ungrateful," Mimpi remarked as Xander put her down.

      "Ungrateful?" Andrews and I demanded.

      I tried to tell Andrews to stay out of it, knowing his interactions with Mimpi were usually worse than my own, but his voice rose above my own. He rarely got angry like he was then.

      "If anyone is being ungrateful, it's you. Not Clara. She never asked for this. I understand that she's probably been rude and grumpy, but you need to remember that you forced all of this on her. She is not a person who likes to be pushed around. Despite the complaints and procrastination, she has ended up doing everything you wanted, and done quite a good job at it... But still you act as though you're the one who needs to be thanked?"

      "The boy can leave," Mimpi told me, cheeks burning. "He's not needed this time."

      "I don't know how many times I'm going to have to tell you, but Andrews is not going anywhere."

      "Until you realize you're wrong, I will continue to deem this problem worth mentioning!"

     "You're changing the subject because you can't see the errors in your own ways. You keep bringing up this little problem so you can ignore the bigger problem."

      "Little problem?" she demanded. "This your only problem. Everything else won't matter in the end. He the only potential fault in our plans. Before the boy was in the picture, I had no doubt you'd defeat Kundanskie... Now I not so sure."

      Jaw tightened and teeth firmly clenched together, I said nothing. I was too angry to speak. I already believed the chances that could I beat Kundanskie were unlikely. I was quite accustomed to having little faith in myself, but to have someone admit their lack of faith in your abilities was an entirely different kind of hurt an anger. She was the only one from the start who had tried to convince me I could do this.

      "I don't know why you think so little of me, but I'm not going to get in her way. I don't see how my helping can do anything but...help," Andrews huffed, clearly affronted.

      "You are going to kill her before she can kill Kundanskie!" Mimpi hissed.

      "Why are we arguing about this again?" Andrews asked.

       "Because you didn't leave when I told you too!" I explained for Mimpi, suddenly annoyed with Andrews as well.

      "I had just woken up—"

      "Lies," Mimpi hissed.

      "You weren't even there—"

      "I didn't have to be there, to know that you two been oblivious to your feelings many times before!"

      I groaned into my hands. "Stop treating us like kindergarteners. We do not need your input on our feelings, and quite frankly it is none of your business."

      "Feelings?" Andrews asked, utterly confused.

      "Not kindergarteners?" Mimpi retorted sarcastically. "He not even know definition of feelings."

      "Do too—"

      "And you don't know the definition of a joke!" I interjected.

      "Don't treat me like fool!" she accused. "I a very old woman—"

      Suddenly cursing loudly, in a language I didn't understand, Xander stepped between us, hands in his hair in frustration.

      "I did not come here to babysit three children!" Xander interrupted our argument.

      "We are not children," we simultaneously complained.

      Xander threw his arms ups in exasperation, looking past the arguing children as though considering making an exit. Even if just annoyance, it was odd to see him feel... to see him actually display his feelings on his dark face. I couldn't help but laugh, and the face he made when I did so, only made me laugh harder. Eventually Andrews joined in, laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.

      "Stop laughing," Xander ordered. "Fight me now or I'm leaving."

      "No warmup?"

      "Definitely not," he said. "I've heard of the boy's idea of warming up."

      "Stop calling me boy."

      "You've only heard of the yoga, though. He's had some pretty creative ideas these past few days. Yesterday he thought tying me to a tree and throwing things at me was a good idea."

       Face only slightly quivering into a frown, Xander ignored Andrews' questionable training methods. "You really want a warmup?"

       "Well, I'm thinking it's better for my sake if we fight when you're slightly less irritated."

      "Alright," he removed his blade from the old oak and faced me.

      "Definitely not," I backed away. "We are using the fake blades."

       "Later," he sighed. "The real blade is heavier, better for warming up. You just need to copy my movements, no fighting of any sort yet."

      His words sounded sincere and so I did as he asked. Mimicking his every move, I swirled my blade as he did, and moved my body along with his, as though I was looking in a mirror. I would have considered Xander's drill anything but a warmup. By the end of it, I was sweating profusely, muscles achy and legs wobbly.

      When it came to it, it's safe to say the fight didn't last very long, in seconds he had disarmed me. I had expected the duel to go this way. I hadn't expected Xander to retrieve my blade, hand it to me, and instruct me to try again, this time giving me pointers on how to defend myself. I had never expected him to be considerate enough to genuinely try to help. I figured he'd kicked my ass and leave. He did no such thing.

      Despite my growing fatigue, I was starting to hold my own. Xander still barely broke a sweat, but I was at least making for a difficult disarmament. On the last time he hit the blade out of my hand, Mimpi and Andrews began to argue about the techniques I should have used to prevent my last defeat. Scowling their way, Xander decided to call it quits, wishing me good luck with the two idiots. He disappeared into the forest, following Mimpi's habit of exiting quietly. He left me to deal with Mimpi and Andrews' latest argument. I didn't bother interfering this time. Instead, I drowned them out and sat far away whilst I cooled myself down with a water bottle. It was only when I got up and placed the wooden sword back in the box, that they stopped arguing and noticed Xander's departure. They instantly faced each other again, scowling as though blaming the other for his exit.

      "Don't start," I begged.

      Mouth closing, they finally turned away.

      "Good job," Mimpi told me, despite sounding annoyed. "See you tomorrow."

      Both her and the Sphere disappeared.

      "Good riddance," he muttered to himself, before turning my way. "You've got a little something," he circled his face and then the rest of his body. "Everywhere."

      "Shut up," I complained, laughing as I pushed him hard enough to stumble onto his elbows.

      "You smell too," he added with a smirk.

      Shoving a box in his arms, I grabbed my own and walked home.

     "It was so cool," Andrews chatted in the kitchen, attempting to swirl a morning star as Xander had taught me to swirl my blade. "It looked like something out of a movie."

     Flipping our pancakes, I laughed at his child like excitement, soon using my spatula to block his attack.

"Stop." I laughed, failing to complain as he disrupted my cooking to childly fight me with a plastic weapon.

      Wiping the batter off my face, I continued to block his blows, still laughing as I reached to turn the oven off. The kitchen utensil slipped through my fingers when I turned towards the entrance, startled by the sound of breathing pattern that I knew didn't belong to Andrews. I had spent so much time with Andrews that I had learned to recognize the familiarity of his soft intake of breaths and louder exhales of air.

      "You're not working today," Andrews noted nervously, watching his father in the doorway.

      "I finished early," Jim explained, raising an eyebrow at the morning star in his son's hands.

      "Um. We were just..."

      "Working on the movie?" he suggested.

      "Yes!" Andrews agreed much too enthusiastically.

      Looking between father and son, I cringed. There was no way Jim believed this. At least I knew he wouldn't ask questions, but still it was unsettling to know that he probably thought us crazy.

      "Clara, honey," he started. "I don't know if you're trying out a new style, but this," he waved towards my outfit. "Ain't it."

      He left without another word, and I was once again grateful that he had walked in rather than Anna. She'd have flipped upon seeing my outfit. Too tired to remove the suit, I had simply ripped the skirt off and thrown on a pair of grey sweatpants, still wearing the top of the suit and hair still braided and laced with golden flowers.

      "It's a good thing he's as oblivious as you are."

      Andrews protested, threw the plastic weapon my way, and stole the pancake stack from my hands.

      Despite the argument with Mimpi, today had been a good day. The training was starting to get somewhere, and I finally felt as though I was gaining control of my abilities... I was starting to have faith in my abilities, and I was beginning to realize that that was a lot more important than the faith Mimpi, or anyone else for that matter, had. Mimpi could have her doubts. I would just have to prove her wrong.