Elemental Spy

I was in class listening to my teacher drone on and on about some war in the 1900s when suddenly, the phone rang.

The teacher walked to it and picked it up “Hello”, She said, there was a pause “Oh, of course, I’ll tell her now…Ok, goodbye.”

The teacher looked at me and said, "Aquamarine, pack up your stuff and go to Councilor Waters’s office.”

Confused, I got up and walked to the office. While I was walking, I contemplated what I might have done, did I do anything I might get in trouble for recently, I don’t think so. I reached the office, pulled open the door, and walked in.

Councilor Waters looked up expectingly from his desk, “Ah, Aquamarine, come in.”

I sat down in the chair he indicated with his hand, “Hello Councilor.” I said.

“Do you know why you’re here Aquamarine?” Said the head of the water council, Councilor Waters, also coincidentally my best friend's dad, which puts me up to a high standard in his eyes.

“No sir.” I said trying not to quiver, I might know him but that doesn’t make me any less scared of him.

“My daughter says you are a very excellent water elemental almost at the top five. Which made me consider you for a particularly important job.”

“What job sir?” I said.

“I need you to agree to keep this conversation secret before I tell you anything.” He said worrying me even more.

What could this possibly be about? I needed to find out, my curiosity was getting to me.

“I agree.”

“I have heard there are some whispers of a war between us, and the fire elemental’s and you are one of the darker color complexions of the waters.”

“What does my complexion have to do with a war?” I said confused.

“I want you to go to fire school…”

“Fire school? I can’t I’m a water elemental, they don’t allow waters there especially since we’re enemies!” I interrupted.

“You didn’t let me finish. I need you to pretend to be a fire elemental. Become friends with the strongest fire students and find out all the information you can. With your complexion it won’t be as hard to trust you as the other waters, you’ll blend in easily.” He said.

“What am I supposed to tell them, my name is one of the most water elemental names you can have, it’ll be obvious!? And where am I supposed to tell them I’m from, I can’t say that I live near a beach, that’s like a serious red flag!?” I said shocked that he would ask me such a thing.

“You will have a code name and will have a fake background made for you. If you agree to this, you will
get the information you need and leave in a week.”

I didn’t know what to say, what was I going to do? I had a sudden thought.

“So, I’ll be a Spy?”

“Initially, yes.”

“Will I be able to tell my family and Merena and all the others I’m leaving?” I asked.

“No, they will be told you got a full ride scholarship to a brand-new advanced water school. If you tell them anything there will be problems, that is if you agree to my terms. So yes or no to the mission?” He said raising his brow at me.

“That’s it, that’s all the information you’re going to give me?”

“That’s all the information I can provide without your full agreement to doing the mission.”

“Can I have time to think about it?” I said.

“I’ll give you 3 days, after that we will consider someone else for the mission.”

I left his office and went back to class contemplating a decision. When I sat in my seat Merena tapped me on my shoulder and silently asked what happened. I gave her a look and whispered that I would tell her later, she nodded. I went through all my classes and finally school was over. As soon as I walked out the doors my friend Willow’s brother ran up to me.

“Hey Aqua, how’s your day been?” He said with a flirtatious smile.

“Hi Alon.” I said sighing.

“So, I was thinking, do you wanna go on a date with me?”

“Oh my gosh for the millionth time, NO!” I said exasperatedly.

Alon has made asking me out a habit since the 6th grade.

“Leave her alone!” I heard a feminine voice say.

I turned around and saw Willow walking towards us.

“Sorry about my brother, he can be a pain.”

“Hey, you’re making me lose my game.” Alon said.

“Game, what game, you have none!?” Willow teased.

Alon scoffed, I just tried to hide my smile.

“Come on we’re going.” Willow said dragging her brother away.

“Just think about it! If you change your mind, call me!” Alon yelled across the parking lot, already halfway to his car.

I waved goodbye to my red-haired, freckled friends.

I started walking to my own car when I heard footsteps behind me.

I turned around and saw Merena, with her almost white hair she looked as if she had a halo from the sun's reflection, it matched perfectly with her ice blue eyes.

“What was that about?” She said.

“Oh, just the usual, him asking me out, me saying no, you know the drill.”

She laughed, “When is he going to give up, you’ve said no like a biggilion times.”

“I think he hopes one day I’ll start miraculously liking him and finally say yes.” I joked.

“Yeah, that’s never going to happen, he’ll be waiting a long time.”

I laughed.

“Oh, you said you would tell me about earlier.” Merena said.

“Umm, it was nothing important really, just an offer to go to a new advanced water school on a scholarship.” I said, playing with the ends of my brown hair nervously.

“What, that is extremely important, its life changing! You're leaving me?”

“It’s only for a short while, and besides I’m not even sure I’m going.”

“Are you crazy you have to go, it’s a once in a lifetime chance!”

Now I was confused, “First you want me to stay, and then you want me to go, what are you trying to do!” I said my voice getting a little high.

“I’m just trying to let you make the right decision for yourself.”

“I know…” I said, I heard a honking noise and turned to see my mom waiting impatiently for me to get in the car, “I gotta go, see you later, bye!”

“Bye!” She called after me.

On the car ride home, I thought about the offer and about the consequences if I told anyone. I
couldn’t risk it, when I arrived at my house my little brother Storm came running up to me.

“Aqua, you're home!” He suddenly hugged me, throwing me back a little.

“Yes, I’m home, polar bear.” I said hugging him back.

“I have something to show you!”

“Can it wait I have homework to do?” I asked, I hated lying to him, but I needed to think about the mission while the details were still in my head.

“Ok.” He looked sad but soon his expression calmed, and he ran inside.

I went to my room and thought over the events of my day. Should I go, should I not? What are the consequences? If the fire council found me out, would they lock me up, or worse kill me? No, I can’t think like that. I continued to think about the Pros and Cons for about 30 minutes, until Storm barged in the room. It’s not that I don’t love my brother but living with an 8-year-old is quite difficult.

“Hey polar bear.”, Polar bear is my nick name for him because when he was a baby he looked like a tiny version of the tough water animal, “Next time can you knock?” I said reprimanding him.

“Sorry, I was just excited!” He practically screamed.

“Excited about what?”

“Don’t you remember I said I had something to show you.”

“What do you have to show me?” I asked.

“I can finally do that water trick we’ve been working on in class!”

“Really, let’s see it.” I said looking at him expectantly.

He lifted his hands up and spun them to make three average size water balls, then he started to juggle them. When he finished juggling, he threw the water balls in the air, they bursted falling like rain on my bedroom floor.

“That was amazing Storm!” I said gathering up all the water droplets from the floor, absorbing them.

“Yeah, but I’m not as good as you.” He said eyes downcast.

“Polar bear, I’m in 9th grade I’m supposed to be better than even the highest-level 2nd grader.”

“No, I mean when you were my age, you were top of your class.”

“Who told you that?” I said confused.

“The teacher.”

“Storm, it took me months to even get caught up with the rest of the class, you don’t need to worry.” I
said trying to make him feel better.

“So, I should be the top of my class in a month or two?” He said hopefully.

I laughed, “Sure polar bear, if you try your hardest you could probably become better than me when I was your age.”

His grin was so bright it was practically blinding.

Suddenly our mom called from downstairs, “Time for dinner!”

We ran down the stairs, racing against each other as we normally do. I of course let him win, but it was worth the defeat when he did his happy dance. We sat down and served ourselves plates, I looked up into my mom's periwinkle eyes which matched my brothers. Although I got my hair from my mom I got my eyes from my dad, cobalt blue. Storm got his dirty blonde hair, adding to the normal water elemental complexion. I got the darker looks that would be frowned upon even in the fire elementals, though for entirely different reasons. For the waters it be the darkness of my complexion, for fires it would be the lightness. I’m used to the waters teasing me, and I’m glad Storm got the lighter genes, it’ll let him fit in.

Suddenly my mom started talking, “So, anything exciting happen at school today?”

I froze thinking about the mission.

“Actually yeah, I finally did that trick in class today!” Storm interrupted my thoughts with his excited
outburst.

“That’s great Storm, can you show us?” Dad asked.

Storm proceeded to show his trick again to our parents. They started clapping and cheering when he finished.
“We’re so proud of you Storm!” Mom said.

Storm smiled, stuffing more taco into his mouth. We continued with the conversation and talked about our days. After we finished dinner, we ended up watching a movie. When the movie finished, I volunteered to tuck Storm into bed. When we got to his room, he jumped on the bed. I tucked him in, and started to leave, when he called my name.

“What is it polar bear?” I asked.

“Can you tell me the story again?”

“Ok Storm, I’ll tell you.”

He jumped with anticipation.

I began the story of our past, “Once upon a time, there was a boy living on the beach.”

“That’s Great great great great great great great great great great Grandpa, right?” Storm interrupted.

“Yes, and one day he was walking on the shore and found four average size stones all different colors one was blue, one was green, one was a yellowish purple, and the last, red. He went home and found that they gave him the powers of the elements, he told his friends about them the next day. He ended up giving the green one to his girlfriend, and the yellowish purple one to his guy friend. As the boy was walking down the beach he dropped the red stone, a girl not too far away found it. The girl now having control of fire used it for ill reasons.”

“Oh no!” Storm cried.

“Yes, and the boy and his friends found out and tried to take her stone away, but it was too late even if they got the stone, it wouldn’t stop her, for she had absorbed the rocks power becoming the first fire elemental. The boy and his friends later found out they had absorbed their stones power too.”

“That’s how the world got powers, it spread right?” Storm asked.

“No, powers are genetic you can only get them from your parents, we’re the direct bloodline of the first Water Elemental. Elementals have just been around for so long that there are few with no powers.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that. Well can you keep telling the story please.” He begged.

I continued, “With their powers they tried to stop her but failed. The air elemental suggested becoming the fires friend, the water and earth elementals disagreed. Air did it anyway succeeding, though he lost two friends in the process. After that, the fire and air elementals were united, but they were enemies with water and earth elementals. The stones were passed on to the children of the first elementals boosting their power.”

“Great Grandpa plus 9’s stone is in your necklace, right?”

“Yes, it’s right here.” I said, showing him my necklace.

“Woah, does it really give you more power?”

“Yes, and it can never go in any other kind of elemental's hands, or we’ll be in trouble.”

“Why?” Storm asked.

“Because if it does water elementals powers will be weakened until we get the stone back from whoever took it, putting us in danger.”

“When did mom give you the necklace?”

“When I turned thirteen, it’s a tradition to give the eldest child the necklace at that age. It supposed to be a big step into adulthood.” I answered.

“So, you’re supposed to protect it?”

“Yes, I protect it from our enemies.”

Just then I realized that if I agreed to the mission, I would have to give the necklace to someone else. If I
didn’t, they would see I was not only a water elemental, but I am the descendent of the first ever water. They could steal my necklace, giving them the opportunity to demolish the water elemental race. Storm waved a hand in front of my face interrupting my thoughts.

“Sis, you there? What’s wrong? You ok?”

“Oh, sorry I phased out.”

“It’s ok, anyway is the necklace the reason you're so powerful now?” Storm asked.

“Actually, the power boost from the stone requires more concentration and control, if you can’t control it, it can overwhelm you.”

“Woah! You ever worried you won’t be able to control it at times?”

“Sometimes it’s a struggle but I deal with it. Storm, you know you can’t tell anyone outside the
family about us having the stone, ok.” I told him.

“Ok.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

“Anyway, if you want more information, you should probably ask mom, she’s had it for much longer.”

He perked up and started to run downstairs yelling, “Mom! Mom! Can you tell me about the water stone?”

“Not so loud!” I called after him.

“Sorry,” he yelled, then went back to calling my mom.

I rolled my eyes and went back to my original thoughts before Storm barged in. Seriously though, what am I going to do about the necklace If I go on the mission? I sat on my bed and fell asleep thinking of the mission.

***

I woke up to my little brother jumping on my bed yelling my name.

“Storm what are you doing?” I asked.

“Mom told me to wake you up!”

“Where’s Dad, and why didn’t he do it?”

“He’s at work, he had to go in early.” Storm answered.

“Again?”

My dad works at the run of the mill, no literally, his job is to make sure the mill is running. They use water to break the rocks down into the right shape, it’s a hard job. He almost always has to go in early or work late, we barely ever see him, last night we were just lucky.

“Yup.”

“What time is it?”

“I Dunno, maybe 6:30.” He answered with a shrug.

“WHAT! I’m going to be late! When did mom tell you to wake me up?”

“Like thirty minutes ago.”

“You waited that long to wake me up?!”

“Why are you angry I gave you time to sleep?” He said with a saddened look.

“I don’t think you understand, I have to get ready for school, I can’t have extra time!”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I said sighing, “Just don’t do it again.”

“I’ll make it up to you, I’ll make your lunch!”

I panicked, last time I let him make my lunch he made me a gummy worm sandwich with peanut butter and jellybeans.

“No, I’ll do it myself but thank you for the thought.” I said holding out my hands in a stop gesture.

“Ok.” He said disappointed, though that soon changed when he smelled the waffles my mom
was making downstairs, and with a smile he ran to the kitchen.

As I was getting ready, I heard Mom and Storm talking downstairs, suddenly Mom called me downstairs.

“Aquamarine, hurry up or you’ll miss your bus!”

“Coming Mom”

I ran downstairs and grabbed an apple.

“You’re not going to eat the waffles I made for you?” Mom said, giving me a funny look.

“No, I’m going to be late.”

“Ok then, can you pick Storm up after school?”

“Sure, bye, love you Mom, love you, Storm.” I said opening the door.

“Love you to.” They said in unison.

I walked out the door and closed it and started walking down the block. When I got to the stop, I saw Merena wave her arms wildly when she spotted me.

“Soooo, what’s your decision?” she said when I reached her.

“About what?” I said confused.

“The Advanced Water school, have you already forgotten?”

Right, the cover up.

“Oh, I don’t know yet.”

“From what my dad told me about it when I asked him, I would be outa here in a flash. Like seriously how could you say no to having all those cool things at a school?” She said.

“Wait, what exactly did he tell you?”

“Oh, loads of stuff, like they have any kind of sports team you can imagine, an indoor pool, a huge lake…”, The bus came up to the stop and we hopped on, “…and they have smart boards, ooo, and they let you where whatever you want, unlike our drab uniforms…”, she had a lot to say about the school, by the time we got to school she was still going, “…they practically have anything a Water Elemental could ever need or want. So even though I want you to stay I know you can’t pass up this opportunity. It’ll give you so many outlets on your college résumé, and I know how much you want to go to Florida State Water Elemental College.”

That is true, I do really, really want to go to FSWEC. It’s been my dream since I heard one of the most powerful Water Elementals went there.

“I guess.” I said.

“What do you mean you guess, this is a big opportunity, you’re practically get everything you ever wanted.”
I wasn’t really getting anything I wanted, but she doesn't know that. I wasn’t even getting to go to “the amazing Advanced Water school” as she said, I was doing something completely dangerous. If she really knew what I was doing she would say it was cool, at first, then she would try to convince me not to do the mission. I just don’t know what to do, I wish I could confide in Merena and Willow, or even Alon or Storm, yes, I'm that desperate. But I know I can't, the councilor said so, even if Merena is his daughter. I don’t know why he didn’t tell her, maybe he wants to keep her safe, or at least out of politics. As we walked to class Willow and Alon caught up to us. Willow started talking to Merena by the class door.

“Hey miss us?” Alon said.

“Never.” I said sarcastically.

“Rude!” he said, pretending to be offended.

“You know I'm only playing.” I told him with a smile on my face.

“Why can't you see it, we have so much chemistry!”

“You wish, the only chemistry we have is friendship!” I said laughing.

His eyes went downcast, “Oh right.”

“You know I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Yes, you did.”

“I’m sorry I don’t mean to hurt your feelings; I’m just looking for my fated.”

“I know.” He said.

After elementals got their power, they learned the powers in them intertwined with someone else’s, when they do it means they're our fated or soulmates in some terms. All I’ve ever wanted was to meet my fated and fall in love, but it’s rare at my age, you usually don’t meet your fated till you’re 18. Even so I won’t give up hope. Fated are normally between the same kind of elemental, but they can be with our allies such as Water and Earth elementals, Air and Fire elementals. Earth and Air, and Water and Air are rarely fated, but it can happen. The only fated that’s never happened before is Fire and Water, their personalities are too different, they’ve always been at war with each other. I hope to be paired with a Water, though I wouldn’t mind an Earth. I don’t know what being fated feels like but from what it’s said to feel like is a tug to your fated constantly and a tingle every time you touch. It’s said the best moment with your fated is your first kiss, it’s supposed to give you the ability to communicate in your mind with them from any distance. You also get healing powers, though they only work on your fated. I want to feel that way with someone, it’s all I dream about. I won’t go on a date with anyone until I meet my fated, I want my first kiss to be with him, I just hope he’s doing the same thing. Shaken out of my thoughts, I started to pay attention to Alon.

“I don’t know why I try, you’re never gonna say yes.” He said his eyes on his lap.

“It’s not that I don’t like you, I do,” Alon looked up with a hopeful look on his face, I hated having to crush it, “but I’m looking for the one, I’m not taking any chances, I’m sorry.”

I know I can date before I meet my fated, most people do, but I don’t want to be in a relationship when I meet my soulmate and feel guilty for rejecting whoever I don’t choose to stay with.

“You said that already.” Alon said breaking me out of my daze.

“I know, and it doesn’t make me feel any better.”

“Well, whatever, it’s fine!”

“But it’s not it’s…” The bell interrupted our conversation causing me to rush through the class door, “We’ll talk about this later!”

He walked to his own class, when I stumbled into mine nearly knocking over my science teacher.

“Sorry Miss!” I said flustered.

“It’s fine Aqua just get here earlier next time!” She said in a stern voice, but I knew that she was amused because she had a smile on her face that she was trying to suppress.

I walked to my desk next to Merena's and sat down, she gave me a worried look and whispered that I have to tell her later. Soon the morning announcements came on and we did the pledge of
allegiance. As soon as we were done, we sat down, the teacher put on a movie about World War II, my history and science teachers must have conspired with their lesson plans, this is remarkably similar to what I learned yesterday in history class. The movie basically was about how the war was all the Fires fault, I heard multiple agreements. I know we have a feud with the Fires and even I have a few prejudices against them, but I don’t see the reason to blame the Fires for the war. Sure, the Fires attacked first, but we retaliated with more force than we should have, causing multiple deaths ten times more than what the Fires had caused. Sometimes I sympathize with them, not every terrible thing is their fault, but no one else agrees with me. When I didn’t nod my head along with the rest of the class Merena glared at me, causing me to nod my head along sheepishly. I didn’t want people to think I was in league with the Fires, I just had a different view of the world than others. The teacher continued with the lesson, talking about the certain things the Fires did. When class was over, we went to ELA, and when we got to the room writing was on the board.

The teacher gestured to the board and read it, “The Spy of the Century, that’s what we’ll be learning about today. Everyone knows the story of Mira Clearwater one of the greatest female spy’s of the
century, correct? Well, for those who don’t I’ll give you a brief summary. Mira Clearwater made a great
discovery on the Fires weakness, which was surprisingly water. As we all know if a Fire is exposed to
water for too long they’re powers are weakened, and if they are exposed long enough, they can die.”

I don’t know why we hadn’t thought of it before, us waters have a similar weakness, we have the exact
same symptoms if exposed to fire or heat for lengthy periods of time. Some have a higher tolerance than
others, but it’s quite rare, it’s probably why most Fires aren’t expert swimmers like us waters. It’s also strange that we were talking about spies in the Fire Elemental territory when I had just got an offer to go on a mission. I had an aching suspicion that the Councilor had put the teacher up to this, but I can’t know for sure.
I tuned back into the lecture the teacher was giving, “Through a lot of hard work Mira found this information through Fires that naïvely trusted her. She is now known as one of the greatest heroes in history, I would like everyone to write a ten-paragraph essay on Mira Clearwater with any information they can find online.”
The entire class groaned, I got out a piece of paper and started writing. I found a lot of interesting information online, I mentally planned to go to the library later to find more about Mira. When the class was over, we went to lunch, we sat down at our usual table finding Willow and Alon were already sitting there.

“Sup y’all.” Alon said, averting his gaze for my direction.

“Hey!” Merena replied.

Merena and I got up to go in the lunch line, Willow and Alon pack lunches from home, with them being Earth Elementals, their super committed to being vegetarians. I don’t know why anyone
would deprive themselves of meat, but hey, who am I to judge. I looked at the options, they had a wide variety of foods, they have chicken nuggets to nachos. The food in the cafeteria is ok, but it’s not the best, and I get it the school board can’t spend all their money on tasty food options, they have more important tasks. I chose spaghetti, and added some fruit, and then I grabbed chocolate milk. We walked back to the table and sat back down.

When we got there the twins were having an argument, “No, they won’t!” Willow yelled.

Alon spotted me and tried to bring me into the argument, “Aqua! Please tell Willow that I’m right!”

“Umm, I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” I said hesitantly, I don’t like getting into the twin's arguments, they always get a little too carried away.

“Alon thinks that the Earth council will let him do advance earth molding! I keep telling him that they’ll never allow it, but he won’t listen!” Willow explained.

“Well, I think he should ask them, it can’t hurt to try, but I doubt they’ll say yes.”

“See, she agrees with me!” Willow and Alon said in unison.

“What! No, she agreed with me!” Alon said.

“All she said was that you should try to ask the council, not that they would agree!”

They continued with their arguing until lunch was over.

We walked to class, the teacher from yesterday came up to me, “I hope we don’t have any more trouble with the Councilor, Aquamarine, you hear me?”

“Yes ma’am.” I said.

“Thank you.”

I wasn’t going to tell her that I wasn’t there because I was in trouble, that I was there for something much more important. I went to my seat and sat down; the teacher continued teaching us about the war again. I tuned her out, I had enough of wars and blaming it on the fires. I continued to think about the mission, how much of an effect would it have on my life? Would I act like fires out of habit? I shuddered; I needed a break from thinking for now. I started to doodle, then my doodles turned into intricate drawings. I drew my friends looking at their faces as I drew them, when I was done, I showed them the drawings, discreetly of course. I continued till class was over, I started walking with an excited jolt in my step, my next class was my favorite, it was the one I truly excelled at, water element training! I practically ran into the door forgetting to open it, I’m only slightly clumsy, ok, majorly clumsy.

“Hey Coach!” I said to my element teacher when I walked in.

“Hello Aqua!” He said back.

“So, what are we doing today?”

“I’m thinking of teaching the class to control the waves direction.”

“But that’s 12th grade level skills!” I said aghast.

“Welp, you gotta try the hard stuff to see were you’re at rather than let your powers lay to waste doing the mediocre stuff.”

“I guess.”

I would be able to handle the change in pace since I was much more advanced than my classmates, but I didn’t want anyone to struggle. Merena is in this class with me, and she's struggling to just do things on our skill level. Speaking of the devil, Merena came in and walked up to me.

“Hey!” she said.

“Ok, no time for ethics, the teacher is going to make us do some hard-core stuff today!”

“Why are you so worried, you ace everything the teacher gives us?”

“I’m not worried about me, I'm worried about you!” I said, grabbing her arm to pull her closer, with an angry expression on her face she pulled her arm back to her side.

Confused, I gave her a bewildered look, she gave me an annoyed growl. I was shocked, she's never done that before.

“Oh, since you're so great at your powers you think I can't keep up, is that it?”

“The thing is, not to sound rude, but I know you can't keep up, you’ve been having a tough time just doing the basic level 9 stuff. I'm just concerned about you; I can tutor you if you want so you can at least catch up.” I offered.

“Seriously? You don’t just sound rude, you sound conceited.” she said, while I was completely baffled.

I heard a random person nearby yell, “Oop, there's a cat fight going on over here!”, everyone started crowding around us whispering. Even coach came to watch, or break it up, I wasn’t sure, I was to occupied by Merena's rant.

“I can't believe you would say that to me, you know what scratch that, I can believe it! You’ve been acting so stuck up since you found out you were on the top five water elemental list. Also, for your information, I know I've been struggling, and that’s hard enough without being in your shadow! You also
have this amazing opportunity I would only dream of having and you’re just throwing it all away!”

“Ooo, sick splash!” another person said.

“Oh, shut it!” I yelled back at them.

“Yeah, this is none of your business!” Merena yelled, glaring at the person.

Before things could escalate between Merena and I, Coach butted in, “Ladies, this is not the time for arguments, this is class time, I will see both of you in detention this afternoon!” he said.

Normally Coach is a pretty cool guy, but if you ripple the waters you'll see some major waves, it's kind of scary.
Both of our heads were turned down, “Yes Sir.” We said.

Coach started to show the class how to move the waves, when he finished Merena and I both went our opposite directions, practicing our skills. I looked over at Merena in the corner of my eye, she actually wasn’t bad at controlling waves, she must have been practicing. Was I really as bad as she said? I was, no, I can’t be, she must be mistaken. I made a push and pull motion with my hands making the waves move
with them. This is a little too easy, I looked down at my necklace, what if Storm is right, what if the only reason I’m so powerful is because of the stone. No, I shouldn’t doubt myself, I'm powerful because of my blood line not because of some dumb necklace. Shocked at what I said, I looked up to the sky and apologized to my ancestor, they must be so ashamed of my actions. Coach was walking through the student commenting on their skills, when he reached me, he said, “Great job Aqua, but I know you can do better.”

Better?! I’m doing five times better than all the class; I probably have more power than all of them combined! Oh, Merena’s right I am vain, I should probably apologize to her. I walked towards Merena, when I got there, she turned away and “accidentally” splashed me with a huge wave, I guess I'll have to try again later. I continued to practice earning a nod from Coach, the bell rang signaling the end of class, the students bustled out the door. I tried to talk to Merena again, but before I could she ran into the crowd being engulfed by the students walking to class. I walked to my least favorite class, math, time for algebra. You know what I hate about this class the most, the know-it-alls that answer all the questions. I especially don’t like it, when I have the answers, but the teacher calls on them instead, that’s really annoying, but hey whatcha gonna do. I have math class with Willow, she's a math whiz, she and I study together when a test is coming up. When I walked in Willow was already in her seat, along with being super smart, Willow is also punctual, she's never late.

“Hey”, she said when she spotted me, she noticed how downcast I looked and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I kinda got into a fight with Merena.”

“What, why?”

“I was acting self-centered, and she called me out on it, in front of the entire class.” I admitted.

“Ooo, that’s ruff.”

“Eeh, I deserved it.”

“Are you going to apologize?” she asked.

“I tried; she's ignoring me!”

“Then force her to listen, corner her!”

“I’ll try.” I said.

Willow opened her mouth about to comment when the bell interrupted her. Our math teacher walked up to the front and started to teach us about multiplying exponents. I wrote notes with vigor, I try to really pay attention in math class because it's something I struggle with, if I don’t pay attention I can fail. No way am I going to take Algebra again, I can barely handle it for just one year, imagine two! As I struggled through class, the release bell dismissed us, once again students squeezed through the doors. When I got through, I searched for Merena, her class is only a few doors down. As I spotted her Willow came up to my side, we walked towards Merena together, cornering her in a small alcove she was standing by. Suddenly Alon came walking towards us, making Merena unable to escape our ambush.

“Hey guys, what’s up!” Alon said oblivious to our glares and desperate looks.

“Not now Alon!” Willow scolded him.

Suddenly sensing the rising tension, Alon walked back a couple steps.

“Guys, what's going on?” He questioned.

“Nothing, I was just leaving.” Merena said, walking in Alon’s direction, he moved to let her through.

“Don’t!” I yelled at him.

“Ok then!” He said his mouth agape from my outburst.

“Merena, please, I'm sorry for acting the way I did, I was an idiot!” I said, Merena’s scowl slightly softened, and I knew I got her, until her face hardened again.

“Not good enough!” Merena said.

“Seriously guys, what's with all the girl drama?!” Alon said interrupting us again.

“Aqua and Merena got into a fight.” Willow said filling him in.

“Obviously, but why?!”

“She called me conceited,” I told him, then I saw Merena’s annoyed expression, “Which I completely
deserved!”

Merena rolled her eyes, “Yeah, you did!”

“Conceited? Aqua’s not conceited!” Alon said, defending me.

“Of course, you'd take her side, you're practically in love with her!” Merena yelled, making both me and Alon blush.

“No, I'm not!” Alon muttered.

“You kinda are.” Willow told him, he blushed even harder.

“Anyway, let's get off that topic...” I said.

“No, you keep leading him on, you're slowly breaking him.” Merena interrupted.

“I lead him on? I tell him no every day he asks me out! I tell him how I'm waiting for my fated, how is that leading him on?!” I said, furious.

“Hold on, stop talking about me like I'm not here, this is my life you're talking about!” Alon interjected, Merena and I ignored him continuing to argue.

“Then you get a chance of a lifetime, and you're thinking of blowing it off! You know how bad I wanted to be at the top of the list with you, but as soon as you got on it you stopped helping me as much as you did before! It's like you're a whole different person now!” Merena ranted.

“I... I didn’t know you felt that way.” I stuttered.

“No, you didn’t, you were too busy being full of yourself!”

With that Merena stormed off, and I turned to the rest of my friends, or maybe my only friends.

“Do I really act that way?” I asked them.

“Umm.” Willow said awkwardly.

“I don’t think so!” Alon said sincerely.

“Oh hush, you're completely blinded by your silly little crush,” Willow said scolding her brother, and then turned to me, “To be honest Aqua, you're are kind of full of yourself at times, but you're not as bad as Merena says you are.”

“Ugh, why didn’t anyone tell me?!” I said.

“I didn’t even notice!” Alon piped up but stopped when Willow glared at him.

“We didn’t want to hurt your feelings.” Willow told me.

“Well, if you had said something, I would have changed my attitude, and I would still be friends with Merena!”

“She’s still your friend you're just in a falling out right now, she just needs a little time to calm the waves” Willow reassured me.

“I'll leave her alone for now then, but do you think you can talk to her for me?” I asked.

“I’ll try my best.”

“Thanks.”

“I can talk to her to if you want!” Alon said jumping into the conversation.

“No, don’t do that! You'll only fuel her anger!” I said in a rush.

“Oh, ok.” He said.

I felt bad that he couldn’t help, but Merena would just become angrier when she saw that Alon was defending me.
“Anyway, we have to get to class.” I said changing the subject.

We started walking to the Art room, my second favorite class. When we got there the teacher greeted us with a smile, she had messy bright blue dyed hair, it was put in a bun with paint brushes stuck into it to hold it up.

“Hello Aquamarine, Alon, how are you today?” Ms. Mandy said.

She insisted that we call her by her first name, she’s a very chill teacher, she’s also super nice.

“I’m great!” Alon said with excitement.

“And you Aqua?” She asked me.

“I’m fine.” I said trying to convince her that I was telling the truth, she didn’t buy it.

“How are you really?”

Ms. Mandy had this look to her that made you want to tell her everything.

“Umm, I’m fine really!” I said, tears forming in my eyes, I normally wasn’t an emotional person.

Ms. Mandy’s face softened when she saw a tear roll down my face.

“Would you like to talk about it later, maybe after class?” She said.

“Umm, yes please!” I said, more tears rolling down my face.

She ushered us inside the room escorting us to our seats, students stared at us, some had shocked faces when they saw my tears. Ms. Mandy went to the front of the class and called everyone’s attention.

“Ok, class, please pay attention, we will be doing still art today. I want you to find a picture on your phones and draw it, you may also paint it if you like, you may start.”

Students started to get up to collect supplies, the teacher walked around and looked over their work. I went online and searched for still art; I found a picture of a girl standing on the sand with her hands up controlling the wave behind her, it served as her background. I got up to get some acrylic paper and went back to my seat starting to sketch her. When I was done with the sketch, I got up to get some paints and put them on a pallet, I chose many variations of blue and some skin tone colors for the sand and girl, and finally a cream color and some white for her blond hair. I pulled up the picture on my phone to start painting, I started with the waves in the background, I put a base layer of teal on the waves, then I started to shade and add contrast. When I was done with that, I went to paint the girl, I started with her skin and mixed the perfect color, she had a tan skin tone, then I went on to the eyes, sky blue. When I got to her hair, I paused looking at her blonde locks in jealousy, I’ve always wanted blonde hair, it would have helped with the teasing when I was younger, it’s stopped now that people have gotten bored with it. I was always ashamed of the way I looked, but Merena, being my best friend, defended me, telling the bullies off, that’s originally why we became friends. Ten years ago, there were some kids getting in my face calling me names telling me that I didn’t belong with the waters, when determined little Merena came up and punched them, and then sprayed them with water. Those particular kids stopped bullying me but the rest of the students in school didn’t. When my parents found out they were livid, they went to Councilor Waters office and told him about the teasing. The Councilor suggested I make a friend to keep the bullies at bay for a while, Merena volunteered, I was so happy when I saw it was her, after that we became fast friends. I grew sad thinking about our fight earlier, she was my best friend, I didn’t want to lose her friendship. Shaking it off, I went back to the painting, before I could finish the bell rang, I put my painting on the drying rack and went up to Ms. Mandy’s desk.

She looked up at me when she saw my shadow darken the light on her desk, “Are you ready to talk about it yet?” she asked.

I blew out a breath and said confidently, “Yes.”

“Ok, what’s wrong?”

“Merena and I got into a fight today, I’m kind of scared that she won’t want to be my friend anymore.”

“This is only a kink in her armer, she’ll get over it soon, there’s no need to worry about losing her friendship.” She said trying to reassure me.

“The thing is, I think this has been stewing inside of her for a long time, I’m afraid it’s too big of a kink, I think it may be a large hole in her armer instead.”

“We’ll you should talk over your feelings with her, let her see how desperate you are to keep her friendship, tell her how sorry you are. You should also let her talk about her own emotions, let her express her reasons for feeling the way she does.”

“I guess you’re right.” I said contemplating if I should use her advice.

“Choose what you want to do with this advice, but I suggest you choose wisely.”

“Thank you!” I said walking towards the door.

“You're welcome, come back anytime!” Ms. Mandy said as I went out the door.

I walked down the hall and spotted Merena talking to Alon.

“Merena!” I yelled, she turned her head towards me, when she saw me, she bolted, Alon was confused, he turned and looked at me and then dawning sparked in his eyes.

“Merena please, just meet me at the tree house at 7:00 so we can talk, that’s all I ask!” I begged her.

“Ugh, fine!” she said and then walked off.

“Great job!” Alon said grabbing my wrist so he could high five my hand.

I sighed, “Save your congratulations, I’m haven’t seceded yet.”

Now all I had to do was figure out what to say.