Christopher was fast. His punches and kicks a non-stop barrage I could barely defend. It took me a while to get a hang of it. However, not long to realise he was a bit slower than Rhaeya, and faster than Colin. Interesting. I could use this to my advantage. And I did.

The renewed sense of confidence was visible in my moves. I started to counter his moves with a lot more confidence. The confusion visible in his eyes at the change in my style amused me. There was still hesitation in my form about going on full offensive. It was when Christopher buried his foot in my side that instinct, born from Rhaeya's brutal training, took over.

I twisted with his kick and ignored  the pain passing through me as my hands clamped around his calf and tugged. There was a grunt as he was yanked off balance. A sloppy open punch was aimed at my jaw. I stepped away and let go off his foot as his fist whistled through the air where my head had been. I ducked under his arm. Got up close and personal enough that the top of my head was aimed at the bottom of his chin.

A sharp jerk passed through me as pain vibrated through my skull. Both of us cried out in pain and stumbled away from each other. I recovered quickly, and shook my head to right myself. Christopher was open as he straightened. All it took was a hard kick aimed at his unprotected gut to knock him right onto his unprotected butt.

Christopher fell harshly, the breath rushed out of him. A hand rested on his stomach as he groaned in pain and tapped the ground with his other hand. "Stop, stop. My head is still rattled."

I moved away. A considerable distance away before I dropped my guard. My body was still tensed with vestiges of pain as I relaxed my stance.

There was a soft chuckle from Wafi. "Can't believe my sister took you down, Chris." He yelled from his spot in the bleachers.

"Don't call me that." Christopher managed to snap even from his position. "I've just never fought against a style like that."

"Excuses, excuses." I mocked as well. "Doesn't suit a Waterstone."

Christopher growled and sat up. "Let's go again and see if this suits a Firestone."

I ignored the shift in guy as I heard my invisible surname. Laughed lightly, and cocked my head as he started to rise. "I'm just joking. Anyway, are we going to keep fighting, or will you teach me something?"

Christopher let his glare fade as I came to a stop beside him and held out a hand. He hesitated a bit before he grabbed it. I pulled him to  his feet and smiled at him. "No hard feelings?"

He smiled back hesitantly. "No hard feelings. But I'll be the one taking you down next time."

I laughed and I rolled my eyes before I turned to Wafi. "Alright. Some hard feelings then." Christopher chuckled and followed after me.

As we got closer, I saw that Wafi had a thoughtful look on his face. His eyes scanned my figure as he spoke. "You've advanced more since what I saw a few weeks ago. How?"

I sat down beside him and shrugged. "Ever since Elizabeth's threat, I've sort of asked Rhaeya to take me one-on-one. That's been happening for a while and she recently switched me over to the best student in combat in my class. He's good. But I'm getting better."

"Oh. Need help?"

I shrugged and to glanced at Christopher. "Yeah. Maybe he could teach me his fighting style."

Christopher scoffed. "Dream on. Every element has its own guarded fighting style. From what I've seen, Fire just seems to rely on brawling skills above finesse."

"If it gets the job done..." Wafi trailed off meaningfully. "But that's not what we are here to work on."

Christopher nodded. He rolled some kinks out of his shoulders before he turned to me. "Alright, I don't know how to get a Fire elemental to summon Water but here we go..." Encouraging. "Relax first, clear your mind."

I ignored the stroke of deja vu and closed my eyes. A few deep breaths later— I was calm. My mind free of most thoughts. I had a vague idea of what he would say next but I beat him to the punch.

"Imagine your power, flowing like a stream to surround you. It has to surround you like a sphere... Now imagine it closing in."

This is new. It took a while to isolate the water stream from the fire stream. I could picture them in my head as blue and bright orange, but it was proving to be more difficult to manifest that I thought. Fire kept taking over as I was so used to it. As soon as my hands would start to hear up, I'd have to cut myself off and begin again. It took a few tries, a solid five minutes of silence, and few questions from Wafi and Christopher which I left unanswered.

I could feel my brow furrow as my hands grew colder and the frustration inside me was superceded by a strange peace. It felt like there was something behind the peace, some unknown danger. Like this small ebb of a wave in the ocean belying a tsunami.

I groaned as I felt the world begin to shift. It had been a good idea to keep my eyes shut. If they were open right now, I would've been dizzy.

My knuckles pressed against the ground as my fingers started to curl up. My teeth gritted tight against each other as it became tougher and tougher to maintain the flow of power. For some reason, Fire kept trying to cut me off. Just when I thought I had a hang of it, there would be a spark, and then fire for a mere moment before I pushed it aside. I barely held steady.

I reached breaking point and gasped as my eyes flew open. My body relaxed. A soft throb began behind my eyes as I felt my skin cool.

I turned my head to look at Wafi, his eyes were still wide as he stared at me. I frowned. "What?" I breathed out. "Did I even do anything?"

"I don't know if you noticed this..." Christopher spoke up, making me turn to face him. His blue eyes had a confused look in them even if he looked calculative. "But it's gotten humid in here."

That's when I became more aware of my body. Despite the gym being well-ventilated and always cool, the air around us was heavy, thick with water vapor.

"I... I did this?" I spoke slowly. "No way... I didn't even know what's supposed to happen."

Christopher nodded slowly. "Alright, uh... a water aura is more about preparation than defence or offence. It's supposed to draw any water in the surrounds around you, or maybe even your body, to your proximity so you can be prepared to react at a moment's notice."

"That could... explain the humidity." I groaned and buried my face in my hands. "This is stupid. Maybe it's just something we're all imagining."

"I don't know, Fiera." Wafi squeezed my shoulder in an effort to comfort me. "It's hard to imagine drops of water hovering in front of your face."

"But don't we have the potential to control every element? Only one element outgrows the others. So it could be possible that it's just that small amount..."

"Fiera, look at me." Christopher spoke up. I hesitated a bit before I listened. His eyes were clear, no hidden emotion. "Now, listen to me. What you can do is nothing short of a genetic miracle. Now you keep doubting and second guessing yourself, and I don't know why. You have a gift. What I just saw was the skill you have hidden inside you which if you don't work on, will die. It may be too late for Wafi to try his hand at this, but you can still do it. You are the literally, the first of your kind."

His eyes searched my face as I contemplated what he'd told me. He was right, of course. I was just trying to find ways to get out of this. I could, I still could. Wafi would never force me do something I didn't want to; and if Wafi says no, Christopher can't do anything. But I was more terrified of being found out. Too many people here already considered me an outcast after the fiasco at the Initiation Dance. After that confrontation with Elizabeth in the hallways, people had been quick to connect the dots. This would brand me a freak.

I turned to look at Wafi, sincerity in his eyes. I could see that what Christopher said echoed his sentiments too. The power inside me was... it was new. It was budding and a whole well of untapped potential. My own possible powers scared me.

But they also excited me.

I nodded slowly, my stomach roiled as I did. I was ready to accept this. I wanted to do this. All I would have to do is stay quiet. I've been doing that for a while now. A freak, probably. A good kind of freak.

I've been called worse.

Christopher and Wafi immediately noticed the change in my posture, small smiles lit their face as I nodded to myself. I can do this. It's no biggie. It's just another element, that's all.

We spent the rest of the hour on my aura. By the end of our session, I felt absolutely drained, my head pounded, and my stomach roasted for food. Wafi had somewhere to be. We couldn't make a pitstop at the grocery store because he only had time for to drop me off. I kept quiet as he told me that, to not feel neglected and left out.

I didn't mind being alone. I rather enjoyed my time. However I didn't like to return to an empty home everyday. I wanted to call Eric and Flo, and apologise to them once again about my hectic schedule. But I failed to gather up the courage. The rest of the evening was spent in silence, with the day's assignments and food for myself before I knocked off early. I needed the sleep.

Right as I was about to give up on all the knots in my hair early next morning, my phone rang with a familiar tune. Flo's face lit up the screen, a grin aimed up at me. I accepted the call as I decided to give the unruly nest one last try.

"Hey, Flo. What's up?" I greeted cheerily.

"Fi, we got a problem." She began, not so cheerily. "Eric can't drive us to school today."

I frowned, that's not a big problem. "Uh, okay?"

"What do you mean 'okay'?" Flo snapped. "We have no way to get to school!"

"You could hitch a ride with one of your neighbours. Is there a bus or something?"

She scoffed. "Yeah, right. A bus."

I was quiet for a few moments as I recollected that no buses ran here. Everyone was too rich for that, they had their own cars or chauffeurs. "Oh, right." I acknowledged softly. "So... we walk?"

"Maybe you can!" She hissed. "You live closer than I do!"

"Your mom can drop us."

"She can't drive."

"Your brother, then."

"He won't drive... me."

I groaned, rubbing my face as I let the hairbrush drop. "Well, I can walk, but I don't know how you'll get there."

"But you know how to drive!" She screeched frustatedly. "You can pick me up!"

"First of all, you live in the opposite direction. Second, I can drive* but what would I drive? I don't have a car, remember?"

"You do have something!" Flo continued desperately. "I saw something covered with a tarp in your garage once."

I subconsciously glanced towards Mich's room as I considered it. Mich liked bikes. He had a cruiser and a sports bike, both of which he'd taught me to ride. He usually took them out whenever he came home for an early morning or late night drive so he wouldn't disturb me. They were his actual kids before I had come along... 'come along'.

Right.

More like, 'left alone'.

I shook my head slowly. "No. No. Nope. Not happening. Hitch a ride with someone. I'm not taking Mich's cruiser to school and drawing more attention to myself."

"Then use the sports bike! It's not as loud!"

"Flo, no."

"Fi, yes."

"Flo, please no."

Flo groaned. "Come on, Fi! Because of you I've been staying low and I don't know a lot of people here well enough to hitch a ride with them!"

I rubbed my face as I imagined all the scenarios this might go wrong in. "Okay. Okay. Alright. But you owe me big time after this." She squealed loudly. Her voice made my eardrums ache. "Hold on, hold on." I tried to cut her excitement short. "I'll have to ask Mich."

"Oh, he'll say yes." Flo chirped happily. "I'll have to dress up for a bike ride."

Oh, please say no.

"He said yes." I mumbled when I called her back after texting Mich. I glared at the 'Sure. Be safe.' text and couldn't see any other way out of this.

"I told you." Flo laughed. "Come on. You have to pick me up. If you delay anymore, we'll both be late."

The keys to the bike were already in my hand. "Just about to leave. Should I carry an extra helmet or do you have one?"

"I have it. See you."

"Yeah, yeah." I hung up as I pushed the garage door open and locked it behind me. My boots sounded loud in the empty, dark space as I walked to the table where the remote was kept. I blindly tapped the button. The garage door rattled loudly in the closed space as it lifted and let in a gust of fresh air. It illuminated the garage with the sunlight that filtered through the trees.

I walked over to the sports bike, and tugged the tarp off. It shone even in the dull light, the red paint reflected my distorted face. My apprehension was being replaced by an excitement. It had been a while since I'd ridden it. I wheeled it out of the garage. It woke up with a smooth purr. The garage door rattled to a close behind me as I tugged the helmet on, pulled the visor down and sped off.

Any traffic I encountered was in the opposite direction, towards school. My jacket protected me from the morning chill, a gift from Mich for learning how to successfully ride. I was at Flo's in no time. I could feel eyes on me as I tugged the helmet off and dialled her number.

My eyes were firmly fixed on it's shiny chassis as the phone rang. But I cut the call as I heard the door open. Flo's outfit made me groan and I started shaking my head as she approached.

"Couldn't you have worn something else?" I gestured to her outfit, and made her stop in place. "Now we look like a couple and I'm the butch one!"

Flo frowned and glanced down at her outfit. A black tank, topped by a cropped leather jacket and a studded boots. She had dark red lipstick splashed on with golden hoops. Her hair down. It floated in the gentle breeze. "What do you mean?" She pouted. "I want to look good when I get off the bike. Like you do."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm just wearing a jacket, Flo. It's so I don't feel cold when I ride."

"Whatever." Flo rolled her eyes and put her helmet on. "Even you wore boots."

"Because my sneakers will get destroyed if I use them to ride! Their sole wil-" I paused, to get my irritation under control. "Never mind. Get on. We don't have long."

"Sorry." I heard her mumble from under her helmet. "I know how much you hate drawing attention to yourself. I'll make it up to you."

"Oh, yeah?" I turned my head forward as I pulled my helmet on. "Fight Elizabeth for me."

I felt her shake with laughter. Her voice drowned out by our helmets as I revived the motor, turned and drove off again. Flo had her arms around my waist. She yelped softly on the first speedbreaker and pressing herself closer. I was used to it. My driving was a little more rash than Mich liked but I enjoyed it, to a limit.

We made it with fifteen minutes remaining to the bell. The peak hour for arrivals, the time when the parking lot was the most crowded.

I heard Flo say something, but I couldn't distinctly make out the words as the people parted before us. And eyes followed us. My heart pounded in my chest as I carefully parked it amidst the other sports bikes and switched the engine off.

This time I heard Flo.

I heard her laugh as I tugged my helmet off. A smile on my lips as well as I shook my hair out.

"You look hot." She whispered to me.

I laughed again, and leaned forward to let her off the bike first. I placed the stand and easily got off as well.

She giggled as we stood side by side. A wide gleeful smile on her face that reflected mine.

For the first time since I'd come here, I'd felt like myself.