I finally came out of my room a while ago and told only Dakota about the - mess. He said he understood and reported it to the Council, who quietly sent custodians to replace everything I had destroyed. I still feel bad about sending people to clean up my mess. I always feel bad when people do things for me. As opposed to making me feel loved and worth the work, it makes me feel weak, incapable, like a damsel in distress. I offered to help clean up, but the custodians argued that this is their job and they are fine doing it without my help. Probably code for "we don't need you screwing anything else up", which is fair enough, considering I managed to destroy my room without physically touching anything.

      Gabe approaches me as I thank Dakota for his help and walk away. His eye and cheek have swollen into a deep shade of purplish-yellow. I do my best to suppress my guilt.

      "Hey," Gabe says. "I just wanted to let you know that I shouldn't have said what I did yesterday. It was insensitive and I should have known better."

      "As much as I want to hate you," I reply. "I admire your maturity. I think apologizing is probably one of the hardest things to do for some people. So thank you. I'm sorry for what I said, too. And I'm sorry that I gave you-"

      I gesture to his eye. "That. It's just that you don't understand-"

      "Believe me, I do. My parents, they were, um, they died too. My mother from cancer, because we couldn't afford the cure, and my father was executed for holding the arm of a law enforcement officer who was flogging a twelve-year-old child. So I do understand what it's like to lose both my parents."

      "I'm so sorry," I don't know what else to say. He said all that so casually; it's like he's said it a thousand times.

      "Ah, well, it's in the past," He shrugs.

      "Right," I say.

      I know that it's never in the past. It's always with you. Death is like a shadow: you can choose to ignore it, but it's always there, hiding at the back of your mind.

      "Oh, and one more thing," He says as I start to walk away. "I've been assigned as your training instructor."

      I stop and turn to look at him. "My what?"

      "Training instructor," He smiles. "You are stuck with me for three hours a day in a hot, sweaty gym for two weeks."

      "But last time we fought, I beat you," I remind him. His smile fades.

      "Well, you have a lot to learn, and training isn't just combat. It's survival and learning the rules and how our system works. You have to learn a lot more than how to throw a punch. But you seem to have already mastered that."

      I laugh a little, trying to fill in what would have been extremely awkward silence.

      "And the Council thinks that I can teach you how to use your gift for some reason," He adds. He looks down at his wrist as if he were checking a watch, but he wasn't wearing one. "Well how convenient! Training starts in two minutes!"

      "But you're not even wearing a watch," I remind him.

      "Do you want to do extra push-ups?" Gabe crosses his arms. I stick my tongue out. "Didn't think so. Come with me."

      Gabe opens the door to the training room after the buzz and clunk of the iris sensor unlocking it, and I am hit with a nauseating wave of the stench of sweat.

      "Okay," Gabe says entering the gym, completely unfazed by the smell. "Sparring mats are all filled up. Let's start you out with weights."

      Gabe picks up a weight that looks like at least seventy pounds on either side of a bar.

      "Okay," I say. "What do you want me to-"

      Out of nowhere, he swings his arms forward and releases the weight, sending it flying at me. I hold my hand out in front of myself and the weight stops in mid-air.

      "That's incredible," Gabe says, staring at the floating weight in disbelief. "Does it take effort?"

      I ease the weight down to the ground. "Not with things like the weight. When I was younger, even moving things little things took effort. But after all the training my parents gave me, I can move trucks with some effort. But they also taught me to destroy things, too. I broke one of the big stained-glass windows in my house when I was angry once. Oh God, were my parents mad."

      "I guess you don't need me to help strengthen your gift, do you?"

      I chuckle. "I guess not. But I could use a little more combat training."

      "Well, one of the mats are free now. We can go over there," Gabe suggests. 

      I nod and follow him. Just as we get onto the mat, he whirls around and throws a punch toward my face. I grab his fist and judo-flip him onto the mat, pressing my forearm to his throat.

      "Nice reflexes," He says. "Get off, please."

      I stand up and offer him a hand. Just as he reaches up to grab it, I pull it away, and say, "I think training's done for today."

      Then I walk out of the training room, closing the heavy door behind me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

      I talk to Apollo at dinner. 

      "Why aren't you with Glenna?" I ask.

      "I don't have to sit with her all of the time just because she's my girlfriend," He says defensively. "And Glenna and I broke up."

      "Oh," I could sense that he wasn't entirely into her from the first time I saw her. She isn't even his type. "Was there a fight?"

      "No, actually. It was peaceful. We were talking in my room, and-"

      "Hold up," I cut him off. "Are you sure you were talking?"

      "Shut up," He pushes my shoulder as I laugh. "We were just talking and I sort of stopped in mid-sentence and told her I didn't feel the way I felt about her when we first started dating. And she told me I seemed distant lately. She told me she thought it was because of anxiety. Like tracking you was making me stressed. She thought she could comfort me through it. And we just politely agreed to just be friends. It was probably one of the smoothest breakups in history. No crying, or fighting. Just a mutual agreement. We grew apart. Nothing more to it."

      "I'm proud of you. Not just for the fact that you didn't cheat, or yell. You just told her how you feel. It takes a big person to do that. And honesty is what someone values in any relationship, whether it's a friendship or more than that."

      "Thanks, Cass," He pulls me into a hug. "We're watching a movie tonight. You missed the movie last night. It was super good. No one lives on earth. They all live in spaceships and different galaxies and stuff, and half of the movie is just things blowing up."

      "I see why you like it," I tease him. He has always loved the explosions in the movies we had back in 372.

      "Funny. We're watching the last movie of the series tonight. Most people hated the one we watched last night-"

      "But you liked it because, despite the probably awful storyline, things still blew up," I guess.

      He looks at me like he's about to defend himself, but then says, "Yeah, you're right."

      I laugh. 

      "Hey Cass," I hear a voice from behind me. It's Dakota. "I was wondering if you wanted to go to the movie tonight. Like, with me."

      He looks so nervous. I hate it when people are nervous around me. So I smile, and he loosens up a bit. "I would love to go to the movie with you."

      "Awesome," He says with a smile. "See you later."

      And he walks away. Beside me, Apollo makes kissing noises. 

      "About that whole maturity thing," I say, quite disappointed. "I think I was wrong."

      Apollo laughs. "Go get ready. And have fun. You need it."

      I run to my room. Apollo's right. I do need fun. I haven't had fun in - well, a long time. And I really like Dakota. I haven't liked a boy in - you get it. I need this. I deserve this.

Hey guys! I hope you're all enjoying the story so far. I'm sorry I haven't posted a chapter in so long, but I hope it's good. I also hope you guys paid attention because I'm doing a contest. I want you to guess the movie they are going to watch and say the name of it in the comment section. The first to post the name of the movie wins! The prize isn't very good, but here it is: If you win, I'll make sure to check out your profile and follow you. I'll give you votes and positive feedback on your stories and give you a shout-out in the next chapter. 

I hope you participate in the contest. Love ya!

-Athenasgirl12