Chronicles of the Elemental Guardians

Chapter 3: Mike

About an hour after Lottie left, I hear a knock on the door. "Coming!" I call as I walk out of my room to the apartment door. I open it to reveal Lottie's mother. "Hey, what can I do for you?" I ask. She wrings her hands. "Have you seen Charlotte?" she asks. "She hasn't come home and it is already dark out." I frown. "She came by about an hour ago or so but I haven't seen her since," I respond, my nervousness growing. "Oh dear," Charlotte's mom says. I turn around and start to walk back into the apartment. "Don't worry, Miss Everhart, I'll go find her," I say as I come back with a flashlight. I step out and head towards the elevator. "Thank you Mike," she calls after me. I step into the elevator and press the button for the ground floor. As the elevator descends, my nervousness increases. 'Where are you Lottie?' I think to myself. The elevator opens and I jog through the lobby and out into the cool night air. I flick on the flashlight and start to scan the forest around our apartment building. I spot a trail heading into it. "Better start somewhere," I say to myself as I start down the trail. Soon I can no longer see the street. "Lottie!" I call as I walk through the forest. "Charlotte? Hello??" The only thing I hear are birds and bats flying overhead. Eventually I reach a large tree. I point the flashlight up into the branches and let out a sigh of relief. Lottie is curled up in the branches, fast asleep. "Lottie!" I call up. She didn't move. She just stayed curled up, peacefully sleeping. "Lottie!!" I call louder. She mutters something but stays curled up. "Charlotte Everhart!!! Wake up!!!" I shout at the top of my lungs. She wakes up and tries to get up quickly, not realizing she's still in the tree and she slips and falls out of the tree and lands with a loud thud! "Ah!" she yells when she lands. I run over and help her up. "Are you ok?" I ask, concern plain in my voice. "Yeah, I'm fine. I think," she says, breathing heavily. I sigh in relief. Then I remember my anger. "Damnit Lottie, don't ever do that again. You scared me so bad," I say, fuming. "Sorry, I didn't mean to. I just fell asleep. It's so peaceful out here." she says, her breathing starting to slow down. I try to stay angry but I just can't. I wrap my arms around her. "Don't do that again," I repeat. She hesitates before wrapping her arms around me. "I'm sorry Mike. I really didn't mean to," she says quietly. I stand up. "Come on, your mom is worried," I say. She stays sitting down. "I don't want to." she says, crossing her arms. I put my hands on my hips and look down at her. "You don't really have a choice," I say. She turns away from me. "I said, I don't want to!" she says loudly. I sigh and walk over. I crouch down and scoop Lottie up in my arms. I hook her backpack with my foot and toss it up to my hands then start to walk back down the trail towards the road. "Hey!" she yells, struggling to try to get out. "Put me down!" I laugh a little. "Not a chance," I say as we reach the edge of the forest and turn down the road. "Mike! Put me down!" she whines. "Please!" I shake my head. "Not if you are just gonna run off again," I say. "We have to get home. You care to tell me what you were doing in the middle of the forest?" She looks at me. "Oh- um.... not much. Just..... chilling." she says. I raise an eyebrow. "How did you end up falling asleep in a tree?" I ask skeptically. "I was.... tired... and I was just thinking of......" she trails off. "Thinking of what?" I press. She looks down, fidgeting with her hands. "I ran into Professor Alistor and he told me some things about.... the school that.... that he wants us to go to," she says. My eyes narrow unintentionally. "Did he now?" I ask in a carefully controlled voice. "Yeah he did...." she says quietly. "Are you going to share?" I ask, not looking at her. "He didn't tell me much. Just that its a school for people who are different from others. He said it's for 'Special People'," she tells me. "I really want to go. But I can't do it without you." I stare off into the darkness as we round the corner and approach the apartment building. "I don't know," I finally say. "I want to go with you but... I would be leaving behind so much." She rolls her eyes. "Yeah you'll be missed, so what?" she says, kinda harshly. I look down at her. "I get that you want a fresh start. I understand that. But I have to consider both sides." I sigh. "I don't know, Lottie. I want to go with you, I really do. And I know my mom wants me to, even if she won't say it." I push through the doors of the apartment building and head towards the elevator. She looks up at me. "Mike, I'm not trying to be pushy but I really do think you should come. Maybe you'll have fun. Maybe even meet a nice girl," she says teasingly. I laugh. "Shut up," I say lightheartedly. I reach out and press the up button and we start to ascend. I sigh. "I'll probably end up accepting," I say slowly. "I'll have to pick a new team captain tomorrow. And we both need to register it with the school." I lean down and set Lottie on her feet. The elevator dings and the doors creak open. We step out and start to walk down the hall. I stop by Lottie's apartment. "Don't hesitate to come over if you need to get away tonight," I say. "I want to come over. I can't be here right now. I need a quiet place." she says as she starts to walk away. I nod. "Can you at least let them know you are ok?" I ask. She continues to keep walking. "You can. I bet you they don't want to see me right now," she says. I wait until she enters my apartment then knock lightly on the door of her apartment. It opens to reveal Lottie's mother. "Did you find her?" she asks nervously. I nod. "She doesn't want to come back tonight," I explain. Lottie's mother looks pained but nods. This isn't the first time Lottie has stayed at my place. "I'll see you tomorrow," I say as I turn and walk away. I open my apartment door and walk inside, closing it behind me. Lottie is sitting at the kitchen table, picking at a plate of food. I walk to my room and start to unfold my couch into a bed. When I'm done, I grab the letter then go back out and start to eat my own dinner. I put the letter on the table but don't say anything. Just then my mom walks in. "Hello Charlotte," she says. She then notices the letter. "Have you made your decision yet?" she asks both of us. Charlotte looks up at Ada. "Hey Ada. I'm going to go. But I'm not sure about Mike," she says. I stare at the letter for a minute. "I've decided," I say finally. "As much as I'm going to miss this place, I've decided to go to this new school." Charlotte looks at me quickly and smiles. "Yay! I couldn't have done it without you." she says excitedly. I nod. "We can tell Professor Alistor tomorrow," I say. Charlotte just nods and goes back to eating. Ada grabs a pen and signs the permission slip then walks to her room. After a while Charlotte finishes her food and gets up to put her dish in the sink. Then without a word she walks down to my room slowly. I watch her as she walks. "Whatcha doing Lottie?" I call out to her. She doesn't answer and continues to walk. She reaches my room and walks inside. I follow her in and see her sitting on the bed. "You ok?" I ask, concerned. She stares at the floor and doesn't answer. "Lottie?" I ask. She looks up and then walks quickly over to me. "Are you ok?" I ask again. "Yeah I'm fine," she says. "Do you have any homework?" I ask as I pull my binder out of my backpack. "Yeah," she says as she goes to sit back down on the couch. "But I don't want to do it." I shrug. "We probably should, even though we are leaving," I say half heartedly. She takes her binder out and throws it at me. "You're smart. Can you do it for me?" she says, smiling. I catch it and set it down. "Ha ha, no," I laugh. "It's your work." She rolls her eyes. "Please! I'll pay you!" she begs. I fake a look of astonishment. "Lottie is trying to pay me to do her homework?" I say in mock astonishment. "Tsk tsk. What would your mother say?" Then I burst out laughing. "Hey!" she yells. "I'm just not as smart as you! I need you to do this!" I swallow my laughter. "How about this?" I ask. "I help you do it instead of just doing it for you?" She rolls her eyes again. "Fiiiinnee, but what if I just act dumb so you just do the whole thing for me?" she says teasingly. I roll my eyes and sit down on the bed, pulling out my homework. A few hours later, we both close our binders and flop down onto the bed. "Finally," I say, stretching. Charlotte smiles and laughs a little. Then her smile disappears. "To be honest I probably did that all wrong." she says. I shrug. "You never know. And it doesn't really matter. We won't be at Ravenmoor for much longer," I say softly. "Yeah I guess so," she says quietly. "I know I said there's nothing for me here but, but I think I'm going to miss this place. I mean I've lived here my whole life and...and...." she trails off. "Yeah, I know. I feel bad for all the girls in love with me," I say with a lot of sarcasm in my voice. Charlotte rolls her eyes. "Oh ha ha," she says sarcastically, "You're so funny." She giggles a little. She quickly stops. "I'm going to miss..." she stops mid-sentence and I look at her. She looks deep in thought. "Miss what?" I prompt. She doesn't answer. "Lottie? Are you gonna enlighten those of us who can't read minds?" I say, half joking. She looks at me. "Oh sorry. I just got lost in thought. I was going to say I'm going to miss Jayden a lot." she says, quieting down on the last part. I grin at her. "Ooh someone has a crush," I tease, trying to lighten the mood. She rolls her eyes. "Oh shut up!" she says, starting to blush. I laugh again. "Jayden and Lottie, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G," I start to sing. "Hey! Stop that!" she yells. Then she sits up and starts to playfully hit me. I laugh and fall backwards onto the bed. She stops hitting me and lays down next to me. I look over at the clock on my desk. "We should probably get some sleep," I say reluctantly. "We need to pack tomorrow then go talk to Professor Alistor." She frowns. "But I don't want to go to sleep. It's not fun to sleep," she says. I sigh. "It is a part of life," I reply tiredly. I grab a blanket and toss it towards the couch bed. Then I swing my legs up onto the bed. She gets up and goes and sits on the couch bed. Then she grabs her backpack and grabs her book out of it and starts to read. As I lay on the bed, I glance over. "How long are you planning to stay up instead of sleeping?" I ask. She looks up and grins. "Probably all night," she replies. I sigh. "Don't let my mom catch you," I warn. "She will force feed you Benadryl so you fall asleep." She giggles and then goes back to reading. "Don't forget we have a big day tomorrow," I mutter as I close my eyes. "We don't want to lose this chance." She nods but doesn't respond. I lay there for a while, listening to the noises outside. Charlotte starts humming a peaceful melody quietly. Without opening my eyes, I ask "Where did you learn that? I never took you for the musical type." She looks up. "My mom used to hum it when I was a kid. I just like the tune," she answers, then she continues to hum. "Hmm," I say quietly. After a while Charlotte starts to quiet down. I crack open an eye and see her starting to nod off. I smile to myself then close my eyes and fall asleep. Several hours later, I wake up slowly. Light is filtering through the curtains. I roll over and check the time. It is 6:30 in the morning. I groan and close my eyes. I open my eyes and look over at Charlotte. She is laying down without a blanket on, peacefully sleeping. I smile slightly. I quietly get out of bed and grab a blanket. I carefully cover Lottie then tiptoe out of my room into the kitchen. My mom is still asleep so I sit on the couch and pull out my phone. I have a few messages and I start to scroll through them. One of them is from Jasper, asking about practice today. I start to type out a response. 'Hey Jasper. Yes there is practice today. Can you make sure everyone is there? I have an announcement to make today.' I hit send and then set my phone aside, thinking. Little do I know, the temperature in the whole apartment is dropping steadily. I start to tap my feet unconsciously and, unknown to me, they are tapping absurdly fast. A couple of moments later Lottie slowly walks out of my room with a blanket wrapped around her. "H-hey Mike. W-why is it so cold in h-here?" she asks, her teeth chattering. I continue to stare into space, thinking hard. "Mike?" she asks, "A-are you ok?" I look up suddenly. "Oh hey," I say. "What's up?" She looks confused. "W-why is it so cold in h-here?" she asks again. I look at her. "What do you mean?" I ask, confused. "It's not cold." She tilts her head but then just comes and sits down next to me without another word. I look at her. "Are you ok?" I ask. "I don't know why you are cold." She looks at me and then the floor. "We should pack. The list says we don't need to pack clothing. The list says we need toiletries, any entertainment items, personal items, and we also need to bring the letter as well," I say. Just then my mom comes in, rubbing her arms. "Why on earth is it so cold?" she asks, a little annoyed. Lottie looks at me like, see? I look at my mom. "What do you mean? It isn't cold," I say again. She points to the thermostat, which reads 30 degrees. "Really? Not cold," she says skeptically. I shrug. "I'm not cold," I say as I turn to walk to my room. I start to pack various items into a duffel bag. I pause for a moment as I pick up my fencing sword. I made it at the town blacksmith when I first joined the fencing team. The owner was an old friend of my dad's so he let me use his forge. I slide it into the sheathe and put it in the bag. I grab my computer, phone charger, computer charger and stuff them into the bag. Then I grab my backpack and walk back out into the living room. Ada looks at Charlotte. "Hey Charlotte. How did you sleep?" she asks. Charlotte smiles and takes off her blanket, for it is now warming up quickly. "I slept great. Thanks for asking," Lottie responds. I come out and drop my bags by the couch. "Are you going to go to your place to pack?" I ask Lottie. She frowns. "Yeah, sadly," she says. I nod. "I'll be here when you are done," I say. "Then we can leave." She nods and walks into my room and walks back out carrying her backpack and leaves without another word. I look after her with a concerned look. I turn to my mother. "I hope she is ok," I say. My mom puts a hand on my shoulder. "She's a tough girl," she says. "She'll be ok." About 30 minutes later Charlotte walks back in quickly and slams the door shut. I look up from my breakfast. "Everything ok?" I ask. She looks at me with a tear stained face. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." she says as she walks to the couch to sit down. "Hey." I stand up and walk over to sit next to her. "What happened?" I ask softly. She stares at the floor. "Nothing, nothing. I'm fine," she says. I give her a dubious look. "Lottie, I know you better than that. Something happened," I say. She continues looking at the floor. "Nothing happened. I'm fine," she says in a harsh tone. That hit me like a punch to the gut. I stare at her, wounded. "Just trying to help," I mutter as I stand up and walk back to the counter to keep eating. She continues to stare at the floor but her hands start to slowly ball up into fists. I continue to eat my breakfast. A few minutes later, I put my plate in the sink and stand up. "You ready to go?" I ask. She doesn't answer. "Hello? Lottie?" I ask, looking over at her. "You ready?" She mutters something under her breath that I can't understand. I walk over and wave a hand in front of her face. "Lottie?" I ask again. She mutters something else that again, I can't understand. I reach over and grab her arm. "Come on, let's go," I say, trying to pull her towards the door. As soon as I touch her I let go, for her arm is burning hot. I let out a hiss of pain. The burning sensation quickly fades and my hand returns to normal. I look at Lottie with concern. "Lottie?" I ask again, concern plain in my voice. She continues to stare at the floor, looking as if she's in another world. I reach out and hesitantly touch her arm. This time there is a small hissing noise but no heat or pain. "Come on Lottie," I say as I gently pull her up and towards the door. She gets up and follows me without a word. I grab both our backpacks and our duffle bags and head out the door, still pulling Lottie along. "Bye Mom," I call as I close the door. She mutters some more things that I am unable to hear. "Lottie are you ok?" I ask, my concern reaching a higher level. She doesn't look at me. "I'm fine," she says in a harsh but quiet voice. I look at her sideways. "Why are you so angry?" I ask. She looks at me. "I'm not angry," she says harsher and louder. "Yeah?" I say. "Well you sure seem like it. You keep biting my head off whenever I ask you something." She shakes her head and stares back at the ground. "I'm sorry. I'm not angry with you," she says softly. "It's just my parents. I'm sick and tired of hearing them fight." I look away. "Oh," I say quietly. We reach the elevator and I press the button and then step back to wait. "I'm sorry your parents are still fighting," I say eventually. She looks at me. "Don't be sorry, please. It's not your fault," she says. The elevator doors open and I walk quickly in. "Why won't you let me be sorry for your... family stuff?" I ask, a little angry. She walks in after me. "Because it's my family stuff. Not yours. If anything it's my fault. My parents only started to argue after I was born. They were the best couple before I was born," she says, sounding a little irritated too. "Well, am I not allowed to feel bad for my friend?" I ask, my irritation rising. I press the button harder than necessary and the doors close. She shakes her head. "No you aren't. I don't want you to feel bad for what's happening in my life," she says. I clench my fists. "I am allowed to feel bad for you. I'm allowed to say I'm sorry for what you're going through. There is nothing wrong with that," I say tersely. She crosses her arms and turns away. "Fine, you can feel bad for me but just please don't tell me you're sorry for everything," she says quietly. I grit my teeth and all of the sudden, the light in the elevator shatters, leaving us in almost total darkness. "What the-" I say as I look around. Charlotte turns around quickly. "What the heck just happened?" she asks. I shrug. "I guess the lightbulb blew out," I say. Charlotte inches closer to me. "Mike...." she says quietly, "I don't like the dark." I put an arm around her shoulders. "It's ok," I say. "We are almost to the bottom." She doesn't say anything but she leans in closer to me. Soon the elevator stops and the doors open. I step back and scoop up the backpacks and the duffle bags and walk out. Charlotte follows quickly after me. As we pass the front desk, I pause. "The light in the elevator blew out," I tell the manager. He nods. "I'll fix it," he says. We continue to walk and exit the building. When we exit the building I hear someone yelling. I turn to see Jayden running towards us. "Charlotte!" he yells. Charlotte looks over and smiles and waves. He reaches us and grabs Charlotte's hand and pulls her into a hug. "Am I interrupting something?" I ask, grinning broadly. He looks at me and then sets Charlotte down, but continues to hold her hand. "Oh hey Mike," Jayden says, smiling. Charlotte turns to Jayden. "How are you?" she asks him. Jayden looks down at Charlotte. "I'm fine. How are you darlin'?" she asks her. Charlotte doesn't answer but she just looks down and blushes. I start to laugh. I can't stop. Tears of laughter roll down my face. "Hey!" Lottie cries. She frees her hand from Jayden's and swats at me. Faster than humanly possible, I duck under her hand and move to stand behind her. "What is happening?" I say to myself quietly. I look at Lottie. "We should get going," I say as I start to walk quickly. Lottie looks at Jayden apologetically and hurries after me. The last of Jayden I see is his shocked face staring at me. We round the corner and I stop. I drop the bags and lean against a building. Charlottes comes quickly after me. "Hey, What's wrong?" she asks. "And how did you do that? One second you're in front of me and the next you're behind me." I shake my head but don't say anything for a minute. "I don't know," I say eventually. "I just... did. I didn't think about it or consciously do it. I just... did it." I hold out my hands and look at them. They are trembling slightly. "What is wrong with me?" I ask aloud. She looks at my hands and puts her hands on top of mine. "Nothing is wrong with you. We will figure this out," she reassures me. "Everything will be ok." I look at her gratefully. "Let's get to school. Maybe Professor Alistor can help. Maybe it has something to do with the new school." She smiles and then she picks up her bags. "Come on, let's go," she says as she starts to walk away. I grab my bags and start to jog down the street. Well, I mean I meant to jog. Everything around me blurs and suddenly I am at the end of the street. "What the-?" I say, staring at my hands. They look normal but there is nothing normal about how I basically teleported down the street. I look back and see Lottie running down the street after me. A few seconds later, she reaches me. "How- did- you- do that?" she pants. I look at my hands again. "I have no idea," I say. "Maybe some sort of speed manipulation? I really don't know." She looks at me confused. "So you're saying you have superpowers now?" she asks. I shrug. "Not a clue," I say again. I pick up my bags again and start to walk around the corner towards the school. Charlotte follows quickly behind me. We reach the school gate and I pause. "I'll see you at lunch?" I ask. She nods and smiles. "Yeah, I'll see you later," she says and then she walks off without another word. I walk to my first class but I'm not thinking about it. I'm thinking about what happened on the street. As I sit down, I notice my hands are visibly vibrating. I grab one with the other but that just makes it worse. Just then the teacher walks in. I look up as she starts to talk. My first classes pass in a blur. Next thing I know, I'm sitting at a table in the cafeteria, waiting for Lottie. After a little bit she enters accompanied by Jayden, who's holding her hand tightly. I wave at her but she completely ignores me and continues talking to Jayden. I watch them as her and Jayden walk to an empty table and sit down. I watch them for a moment but they don't look my way. I stand up and walk over. "Hey," I say as I approach. Charlotte looks up at me. "Hey Mike," she says and then she looks back at Jayden and continues to talk with him. "Am I interrupting something?" I ask, a little annoyed. They ignore me and continue talking to each other. "Hello?" I ask, my irritation rising. "Is anyone going to explain to me what is going on?" Charlotte looks up at me. "What do you mean?" she asks, tilting her head to the side. I stare at her for a moment. Then my irritation flares. "You have been ignoring me since you walked in," I say harshly. "You two just keep talking like I'm not here." Jayden looks up at me. "Chill, we were just having a nice conversation," he tells me. "Fine," I say. "I'll see you later." I turn and walk back to my table. I sit down and start to eat again. When I look up, Lottie and Jayden are sitting closer than they were earlier. I don't know why but this irks me. I stand up and dump my plate in the trash then walk out of the cafeteria. I stop outside and sit on a bench, staring off into space. I hear the bell ring so I stand up and walk to the History building. I walk into Professor Alistor's class and sit down next to Charlotte. The bell rings and Professor Alistor walks into the classroom. He studies me for a moment then turns to the board and writes 'Elemental Powers' across the board. "Now we've already established the four main elements. He writes the 4 elements on the board. "But there are other elemental powers too," he continues. He writes 'ice, lightning, life, death, darkness, light, magic, time' on the board. He points to the words. "Each element had special characteristics," he lectures. "For example, ice users would emit a chill from their bodies that could cool an entire room. They would also be immune to cold temperatures. Lightning users would be very hyper and could move extremely fast. Other users would have different characteristics based on their elements." He proceeds to write out all the characteristics. "Please put these in your notes," he instructs. I pull out my notebook distractedly and start to write. I'm thinking about what he said, how each user had different characteristics. I'm starting to form a murky idea, but it seems absurd so I don't dwell on it. As I write, I get the feeling that I am being watched. I glance up and see Alistor examining me silently. I flick my eyes back down and continue to write. After class ended, we headed to our next class. I just sat in my chair, looking like I was listening to the teacher. When the bell rings, I shoot out of the classroom. There was only one place I wanted to be right. I stopped in the locker room, quickly changed then jogged to the fencing stadium. Charlotte was already there, reading in the bleachers. She only had a book club every other day so sometimes she would watch the whole practice. When I enter the ring, the whole team does the standard show of respect to me. I perform the return show of respect then clap my hands together. "Partner up," I instruct. "Then go through the basic moves." I watch as they team pairs up and starts to practice. After a while, I stop them. "Alright, you can start going through more advanced techniques," I tell them. They start to fight again and I go around correcting mistakes and helping them when needed. After about 5 minutes, I call for everyone to stop. They circle up around me. "Guys, I have an announcement to make," I say, looking around the circle. "This is my last day as captain of the Ravenmoor fencing team. I am leaving today after practice." They all stare at me for a moment before bursting into conversation. I hold up my hands. "I don't want to leave, but I need to. You will do fine without me." One of the guys steps forward. "Who will be team captain then?" he asks. I pull off my captain badge. "The next team captain will be Jayden Smith," I say. Jayden looks shocked but he steps forward and lets me pin the badge to his shirt. I then take his spot in the circle and perform the respect gesture. Everyone follows my lead. Then we all start clapping. When we stop, we all look at Jayden. "What first, Captain?" I ask. He shakes himself then hesitates. "Pair up for sparring," he orders. I pair up with Jayden as everyone else pairs up as well. I draw my sword then pull my mask down. "You ready?" I ask, crouching down into ready position. He nods and pulls his own mask down. At his command, we start to spar. Jayden is slightly better than Jasper so he gives me a bit more of a challenge. Soon, we end with Jayden on his back, my sword pointed towards his throat. I step back and offer my hand to him. He grabs it and I pull him up. I look up at Charlotte. She is staring at me and Jayden, wide-eyed. "What?" I ask. She steps off the bleachers and starts walking toward us. "That was so cool!" she says once she reaches us. "It wasn't anything special," I say. She looks up at me. "Yeah I know, but it was still cool," she says. Then Jayden quickly grabs her hand and smiles at her. I look at him. "It's your job to end practice," I remind him. He nods and lets go of Lottie's hand. We walk to the center of the ring and he claps his hands. Everyone circles up and waits. "Well done everyone," Jayden says. "You can all go home now." Everyone bows to him then leaves except me. I stay standing in the ring, looking around the stadium. I then walk to the locker room to change and grab my stuff. When I come back, Jayden and Lottie are locked in a passionate kiss. "Am I interrupting something?" I ask, smiling broadly. They break apart and Lottie blushes super red. Even Jayden blushes hard too. I laugh. "Do you want to tell me something?" I ask, wiping back tears of laughter. Charlotte blushes even redder. "Stop laughing Mike!" she yells at me. I start to laugh even harder. I just can't stop laughing. "Oh- my- god," I gasp. "I can't- breathe." I take a deep breath to try and compose myself. "Mike! Stop laughing!" she yells. Suddenly a gust of wind hits me in the side and I fall over. "Woah," I yell as I topple. I hit the ground with a loud crack. I grab my shoulder. "Ow!" Charlotte runs to my side. "Are you okay?" she asks. I groan softly as I try to move my shoulder. "Not really," I respond. "I can't really move my shoulder." I sit up and wince. "Owww..." I groan, rubbing my shoulder. "Do you need me to do anything?" she asks. I shake my head. "Just help me up?" I ask. She offers me a hand and I take it with my good arm and she pulls me up. "Thanks," I say as I hold my shoulder. "I'm so sorry Mike. I didn't mean to yell at you like that," she tells me. I smile at her. "It's ok," I say. "In your defense, I was teasing you." She rolls her eyes. "Are you sure you'll be ok?" she asks me. I look at my shoulder. "I hope so," I say. Then I check the time. "We should go see Professor Alistor. He's probably waiting." She nods and turns toward Jayden. "I'll see you later, maybe," she says, without looking at him. He leans down and kisses her on the head. "Yeah, see you guys later," he says as he walks away. I scoop up my bags and we start to walk out of the stadium. Charlotte follows slowly behind me. ¨Hey are you ok?¨ I ask. She looks down. "Yeah, I'm fine," she says quietly. "What are you thinking about?" I ask, turning to look at her. She mutters something that I am unable to hear. "What?" I ask. "I don't want to leave Jayden," she says very quietly. I look away. "Oh..." I say as we exit the stadium. After a few minutes, I say "Well, I think you are going to have to choose between Jayden and a fresh start." She doesn't answer and just continues to look down. I stop and walk over to her. "Hey," I say as I put an arm around her. "It will be ok. Everything will be fine."She looks at me and nods sadly but doesn't say anything. I step back and start to walk again. "Let's get to Professor Alistor's office," I say. "Yeah, ok," she mumbles and starts to follow me again. We enter the building and head up the stairs. When we reach Alistor's office, I knock on the door and we wait for a minute. Soon we hear him. "Come in," he calls. I look at Lottie. "You ready?" I ask quietly. She nods again and then opens the door. We walk in and sit down in front of his desk. He puts aside a folder and studies us for a long moment. "Have you made your decisions?" Alistor asks. I look over a Lottie before answering. "Yes sir, we have," I say. He waits for me to continue. "We have both decided to accept the invitation to this new school," I continue, looking away from Lottie. Charlotte stays silent. Alistor looks pleased. "Very good," he says standing up. He then holds out a hand. "May I have your permission slips?" he asks. I reach into my backpack and pull out the permission slip and hand it to him. Charlotte does the same. He examines the slips then tucks them into a pocket. "We shall leave at once," he says as he walks around the desk. I look up at him. "What do you mean 'at once?' Aren't we gonna go home first?" I ask. Professor Alistor walks to a wall and presses a button. A hidden door slides open, revealing a long metal hallway. "On the contrary, Mr Tanaka, we will be leaving immediately," he says, standing next to the hallway. Charlotte's eyes widen. "B-but what about our parents? Can't we get to say bye..one last time... for now at least," she asks. Alistor shakes his head. "You will be able to contact them later," he says. "Now please go through the tunnel." I look over at Lottie. "Come on," I say softly. "Let's go." She crosses her arms. "B-but I don't want to leave yet! I want to go home before leaving!" she says, her voice rising. I lean over towards her. "We both know that would just make you feel worse," I whisper. She rolls her eyes and picks up her bags. "I hate when you're right," she says harshly. I pick up my bags with my non injured hand and we walk towards the tunnel. "Ladies first," I say to Lottie. She rolls her eyes again but then walks into the tunnel slowly. I follow close behind her. Alistor walks in after me and the door closes behind him. Lights come on in the tunnel as the door closes. After a little walk, Lottie stops. "There is another door," she informs me. Alistor presses another button and it opens. We walk through, into what appears to be a type of jet interior. Except it is super advanced and fancy. The walls are pale gray metal with blue light strips going across it. The chairs are individual recliners. There are windows, but all I can see is darkness. "What the heck?" I say as I walk farther into the vehicle. Alistor waves towards a few chairs around a table. "Sit down," he says. "I will join you shortly." He walks through another door and disappears.

(6453 words, wow long chapter)