Walking the peaceful, almost tranquil corridors, Anthony exchanges hellos with other students despite the awkward looks stemming from his out of place, bulked up winter clothes. "What are you wearing?" A girl he knows, passing him in the corridor asking through a puzzled laugh.
Not stopping to chat, Anthony replies, "It's cold." Shaking her head, she continues on her way.
"Wearing all of this, looking like an idiot and it doesn't even help!" Anthony thinks to himself as he enters his classroom. Making his way over to his seat, Anthony rubs his hands together vigorously through his gloves until a sudden dull pain in his chest stops him momentarily, it vanishing just as quickly as it appeared so he shrugs it off and slides into his chair.
Inside the training area, exclusive to top students, Alex practices her aim restlessly against moving targets running against the bare walls of the room, the protective shell pushed to the side and stacked against itself.
Spikes resembling long pieces of rebar shoot out of nowhere, the last of which sinking into the very edge of one of the targets stopping it from moving instantly.
"You've improved your fire power but in exchange you're burning through your strands at an unsustainable rate. You'd get maximum of five or six of those shots before you're running on empty. That's without normal attacks intermediately." Principal Cage, approaching from behind interrupting her practice.
"I know, Sir. Miss Walsh suggested this, she says it'll help with my Spikes power when using them how I usually would along with helping train my strands as a whole." Alex replies, wiping her forehead as she turns to speak to him.
"Seeing how hard you're pushing yourself I'm glad I thought of you for this first. Jacob is wanting to get back in there but with Jack having already lost to him twice, Freya unwilling to duel anyone but her friends right now and Henry out of commission we think a spar is the best decision." Principal Cage explains to the now taken aback Alex.
"You want me to spar with Jacob?" She asks, already having accepted in her head but stopping herself from showing her excitement, "What do I get out of it?"
Cage smiles, as if glad she asked, "You win we'll bump you up a few spots for an official match with him." If she wasn't excited enough already the promise of a following official duel did the trick until Cage follows up, "There's a caveat you need to consider if you're to accept though, Alex. Valentina needs an opponent for her next duel, lose and we schedule a duel between the two of you. It's only fair."
Alex takes a moment to consider thinking to herself, "I've never faced Jacob but I have a chance against him with my Spikes, its a good match up for me.. I'd need to duel Valentina anyway even if I didn't now, if I want to defend my spot or ever challenge to go up if she jumps me like she did Brian that is. There's no sense in saying no."
"When do you want this spar to happen?" Alex asks, trying to act as nonchalantly as she possibly can.
"Wednesday next week, we'll have someone visiting. Give Jacob a run for his money." Cage says.
"I'll do my best." Even with the chipper tone of voice she knew the real motivation behind his action, an attempt to kill two birds with one stone. Get Jacob doing something and bump Valentina up the rankings faster. What she failed to realise was the fact she was nothing more than collateral in the grand scheme of things, not seen as meaningful competition in either of the proposed duels.
Standing alongside everyone else in class, Mark spaces out as he slickly manoeuvres his pen in front of him using his telekinesis. Around him, other students practice their powers with little to no enthusiasm, preferring to talk to one another instead.
Out of the corner of his left eye, Mark watches somebody as they struggle keeping an orb like ball of water up with both of their hands.
With external abilities that send strands outside of the body using ones hands as a conduit makes said power stronger and allows for more control but it isn't strictly necessary.
Mark watches as his classmate grapples with the water, confused as to how it's even possible to struggle at such an elementary level, not even factoring in he himself is in the same class regardless of whether its of his own volition or not.
Stood watching him casually and almost beautifully whirling the pen around with intense precision, Mrs Haymath finally speaks up getting a good jump out of Mark, the pen crashing to the desk.
"Your control has somehow improved even more, its really amazing to watch." Mrs Haymath, pausing her routine circling of the classroom to complement him, Mark only awkwardly smiling in return. "You really should be bumped up a few classes, I don't know how they keep saying no if you show them that kind of skill on the test. I might have to go straight to Principal Cage, a jump in classes will help with your college applications."
"Thank you but I don't test too well. I'm also probably not going to college." Mark responds, doing his best to talk her out of trying to drag him up a class yet again.
"That's a real shame." Mrs Haymath says solemnly, a yelp from across the classroom stealing her attention and a siren coming closer to the school catching Marks.
"I told you to be careful with the open flame!" Mrs Haymath shouts, stopping in between the elevated science tables and extinguishing the fire with her Wind Manipulation.
Staring out the window, lasered into the increasingly louder and louder siren noise Mark watches as an ambulance flies by; the siren cutting out not even thirty seconds afterwards.
"Where are you?" Mark messages Anthony, as he aimlessly walks around the rowdy corridors.
Spending his entire break on his phone, Mark swaps back over to his and Anthony messages just to see he had been ignored. "Ok then." Mark mutters to himself, mostly confused at there being no heads up before making his way to his next class.
Exiting yet another Top 10 meeting, Valentina beelines it out followed primarily by Alex and Karl. Watching her scurry towards the door leaving their area, Alex calls out to her.
"Valentina!" Taking a few steps forward without Karl following, "We're going out for lunch if you want to come?"
"I have plans." Valentina responds, coming across more cold than she had intended.
"Okay, some other time?" Alex, her voice not changing from her initial overzealousness. Valentina, observing her for a moment only gives a half hearted nod in response.
Valentina now gone, Alex re-joins Karl who gives her a look that asks the question on his mind for him.
"I don't even know her, so why would I take my own anxiety's out on her? Who do I look like, Freya? And I'm in a good mood, it's nice to be nice." Finishing speaking she latches onto Karl's closest arm, "After lunch we're practicing for the rest of the day."
"Getting ready to duel with Jacob by practicing against me is like getting ready to race a train by practicing against... me. I don't mean a normal train either I mean a bullet train." Karl says, his voice as flat and monotone as it usually is, staring forward as the two walk side by side. "His reflexes are insane, its like he's seeing the future. I'm never duelling him again."
Walking the halls, the mayhem calms as Valentina passes replaced with confused looks and whispers between friends. As if there's a set radius for the subdued chaos it instantly ensues as she steps out of it, noise echoing back through where she had come from. Walking down an empty, barren hallway the noise returns in its entirety, "Do they think now they cant see me, I cant hear them?" Valentina thinks to herself pulling the door open to the connector.
"You nearly beat me here this time." Mark, sitting on the bench hurriedly slipping something into his pocket. "You complained last time so I'm here now. Why are you here this early?"
"My friend didn't show up to buzz me in." Mark says as Valentina sits beside him, "Lucky me. Now tell me this story you were talking about."
Fifteen minutes after the final ring of the bell, Mark stands outside waiting for Anthony. Checking his phone to see if he had read his messages, none of them had been opened not even the ones sent hours ago.
Now half way home, Marks phone begins to ring, pulling it out of his pocket he checks who's calling him, Anthony. "Ignored me all day and now he expects me to go all the way back?" Mark thinks to himself as he turns the noise all the way down and slides it back into his pocket.
Quietly Marks phone starts getting bombarded with messages, Anthony frantically trying to get him to answer the phone.