Project Swan -- kotlc

N i n e

        "How did you get so popular?" Olivia asked Sophie as they made their way to their lockers. People came up to Sophie, saying hi, shaking her hand, complimenting her. Though the same people who greeted Sophie seemed completely oblivious to the black-eyed elf who stood right next to her.

        Sophie shrugged and swung her locker open. "You should put your stuff away. I'll see you later."

        Olivia frowned but agreed, slowly making her way to Tessa and her locker.

        "I saw you talking with Keefe yesterday," she stated with a giggle.

        "No," Olivia stopped and threw her books into her locker. "No."

        Tessa smirked and hooped her arm around Olivia's. "It's not every day Olivia Phantom has a crush—or two," she added. "Fitz." She enjoyed Olivia's embarrassment. Lived for it. "Let alone get them to like her back."

        "I don't like Fitz or Keefe and they don't like me back!" she shouted a bit louder than she intended. Her face was scarlet red and she hid behind her hair. She groaned and stalked off to her class. She tugged at a pair of gloves Grady bought her after seeing the aftermath of her Elementalism incident.

        That was how her week went. Sophie ignoring her, Tessa making fun of her, Olivia tugging on her gloves every opportunity she got because they never felt right.

        "What happened, Phantom? Manifest as a pyrokinetic?" Stina barked and laughed, forcing her minions to laugh with her.

        Another day of PE, another day of seeing Stina's face. She mentally groaned. "At least I would have an ability!" she snapped back and shoved past prodigies to get to the gymnasium. She avoided everyone she knew, which eventually led her to work on levitation with the Level Sixes. Levitation wasn't something she was good at, and some of the older prodigies tried helping her, but no amount of help would be able to fix what a mess she was at the ability.

        "It's okay. We've had more practice than you and this seems to be your first time. You'll master it," a girl promised as she helped Olivia steady herself back onto the ground. "I promise." She smiled and fled to her next class.

        Hydrokinetics seemed to be the only good thing from her day. "Oh I am so happy to see you!" Isabell cheered and jumped up and down, her hair fixed into a messy bun. "We finally get to work on your ability. I can tell you're a master at it." She held Olivia's hand and helped her create a mini turtle from water. After an hour of creating meaningless things, Isabell helped Olivia put her hair up and request her to take all the unnecessary water from the air and create it into something important to her.

        It seemed easy, but then she factored in the fact she didn't know how much water was necessary for humans or elves to keep living, and creating something meaningful to her seemed to be a lot of work and bring back a lot of memories. "How much water does a person need to survive?" she asked with an awkward chuckle.

        "Do what feels right." Isabell smiled and watched from her seat.

        Olivia gave another chuckle and summons water from the air into the palm of her hands, then the bits of sweat that she still had from gym, some more unnecessary water. In a matter of minutes she had four handfuls of water and she didn't know what to do. What was meaningful? she asked herself as she slumped into a seat, still having a careful concentration on the water. She was in the process of deciding between drawing and Baguette when her mind forced the water into something else.

        Her mind had decided so quickly and so subconsciously that she blinked and she didn't know what she had done.

        "A . . . dragon?" Isabell asked, moving closer and taking the water from Olivia but keeping its form. Olivia took a long enough glance that she would at least remember every little detail down to where each scale was. But that was it. And good timing, too, because Isabell gasped and dropped the water onto the floor quicker than the time it took for Olivia to collect the water. She collapsed and hugged herself tightly. One hundred realities seemed to be crashing on the mentor and Olivia didn't know what to do.