Oddities

Chapter 8

As lunch ended, I waited for Rena to pack up before speaking, "Rena. you need to be more careful." 
"I'm always careful" she picked up her bag, turning to me, "I just hate these uniforms." 
"Still. You know what just happened, what's stopping them, or him, from doing something worse next time?" 
"Since when were you rule police?" 
"I'm not rule police! I'm just looking out for you Rena because I'd rather not have one of my friends die. Just follow the rules." 
She groans, "Why are we letting them push us around?!" 
"Because they can kill us! they have the power to kill us without any authority knowing!" 
"El, it's fine, if we just sit here and do nothing, nothing will change!"
"So you'd rather be dead? when you're dead, you can't change anything!" 
"You're overreacting. It wasn't that bad. Sure, a few bruises here and there, but it's fine." 
"It is not fine. Are you not worried about what could have happened if that henchman didn't stop him? it seemed like whatever his staff can do, it's not good." 
"Stop overreacting. I need to get to class now. I'll talk to you later, El" Without waiting for my answer, she stormed off. I sighed, slowly following after her, since we have the same class. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the day dragged on, and as I made my way to the Arena, I bumped into Vee again. Literally this time.
"Watch it-" He growled, his mood completely different from earlier in the day. 
"Someone's angry" I muttered and kept walking. 
Vee rolled his eyes, "someone's not watching where they're going" 
I raised an eyebrow, "you're acting weird.." 
"No, I'm not." He crossed his arms and turned to me, "you should be in the Arena before you get put in for being late." 
"Well, maybe I don't want to go." 
He glares at me, "go. before it gets messy." 
"Whatever." I continued walking, glancing slightly over my shoulder to look at Vee, and to my surprise, he was gone.
I was pretty terrified as I made it to the Arena. How do you know when you've been picked? Do they pick in advance or as people are entering? I sat down in my seat, my leg bouncing nervously. I could tell I wasn't the only nervous one, a lot of other students around me were fidgeting, biting their nails, or had their legs bouncing as well. 

"If someone dies this round, I'm going to be pissed," Pandora said, sitting down next to me, Viv following behind them.
"I agree..." I glanced around, frowning, "where's Rena?" 
"Not sure." 
"She was just behind me... I walked in with her!" Pandora said.
"She better not be breaking any rules." 
I stood up, glancing around, but before I could spot her, Mr. Nightmares stepped back out of the curtain he had exited from just yesterday. 
"I hope you're all excited for your next day of Arena time!" He sat down, motioning for the gates to be opened.
As they did, I spotted another sophomore, I think his name was Jared. and then I saw... 

Rena. 

Rena was the other fighter. 

And she was standing there like she meant to be there. 

"Oh, who cares about introductions! Just fight now!"  

With that, Rena lunged at Jared, who dodged out of the way. 
"Get back here!" Rena yelled, shooting a fire blast at Jared, who acted like he was going to get hit, but then created a barrier, which sent the fire back towards Rena. 
She quickly attempted to dodge, but it caught her off guard, so it hit her, she groaned and fell to the ground. However, she quickly recovered and shot another fireblast at him, which hit him with ease. 
He stumbled back, groaning in pain, as he was down on the ground, Rena hit him with another fireball. After that, she just kept hitting him.
Over 
And Over
with more and more fireballs. 
After almost 5 minutes of non-stop hitting him, she tried to send another fireball, but a barrier was suddenly put up, and the crowd gasped. 

How was he alive? 

Jared slowly stood up, which he could barely do, but he still managed to put a barrier dome around Rena, meaning if she were to shoot any fireballs, they'd bounce off the walls and hit her. She stopped shooting, glaring daggers at Jared, who just smirked. 
Jared's victory didn't last very long as the barrier started blinking in and out of existence, his hands shaking and his eyes rolling back in his head. As soon as the barrier disappeared, he crumbled to the ground. 
Rena stared at Jared, waiting for him to get up again so that she was prepared, but he didn't. 
"And the winner is Rena!" Mr. Nightmare said, and some guards walked out onto the field, lifting Jared up. 
It only took a few minutes for it to register 
he's dead. 
he's not just passed out.