Legion of 8

Chapter 4: Jax

As Ella walked down the stairs, I wondered what Professor Helen had said to her. I had my hunches of course, but I just prayed it wasn't anything bad.

"How'd it go?" I asked.

"Fine," she said, "I had to tell her about how I got here, but she offered to help train me up and give me some pointers. I think she's trustworthy though. She already knew the deal before I even told her. She was probably just testing me."

"That's Professor Helen for you. She knows most everything, but will still forget to grade papers for an entire week or get surprised when you accidentally sneak up behind her."

Ella laughed and some of the other members of Legion nodded in agreement.

"We usually just go home now and grab some dinner," Harvey looked over at me and snickered, "And hopefully Jax doesn't cook."

"Hey, I make a mean quesadilla," I laughed, "But that's about it."

I had never been much of a good cook. I never learned how to as a kid and didn't plan on learning now, especially when there were six other people living in my apartment who could cook much, much better than I could.

"Lucky for you all, it's mine and Quillion's night to cook," Coda said, "And we make a pretty great duo."

Quillion threw Ella a look as if to say, We most definitely do not.

We all began to walk out of the school and boarded the tram to go home, watching the city pass by. As we rushed by the tall buildings, I let my mind wander and it always came back to the fight.

I had to wonder: did I let her almost win, or was she doing fine without my help? I was leaning towards option one, but then again, I was trying to compete without powers, so that had to account for something. There were very few fights that made me use my powers. Few things in fact. A power like mine can take a serious toll on one's body and mental health. Yet somehow, Ella had only been around for twenty-four hours and she'd made me use it twice in one day.

Eventually, the tram pulling up at our apartment snapped me out of my thoughts as we went home and traveled up the elevator to our little top-floor apartment. The peace up there was nice, plus on clear nights you could sit on the roof and stargaze, but the height became slightly less fun when you had to carry like four bags of groceries up the stairs by yourself because the elevator was broken and your friends were all gone. Not that that's ever happened to me before.

After we made our way upstairs, we all split our separate ways to start the evening. Quillion was supposed to help Coda out with cooking, but he canceled at the last minute because he had a test the next day, so Ella agreed to step in and help instead. I guess it made her feel like she knew how to do something after a day of feeling like a failure. At least that's how I would have felt if I was in her position.

De wanted to go for a run, which I thought was interesting after complaining all afternoon about Enhanced Physicality, but it kept her out of the kitchen and hovering over Coda and Ella, trying to get food before they finished cooking it. Acer had taken over that duty. Harvey had gone off to study, as had Safiya, most likely with Quillon.

Which left me sitting awkwardly at the kitchen table listening to Coda and Ella talk back and forth about their worlds and cooking and how Ella would prefer to have a hoodie tomorrow if possible. At least they were beginning to talk to each other. I was worried Coda might be suspicious forever.

Eventually, everyone came back together for dinner and dispersed again to do homework or go to sleep as the night went on. Eventually, it was just me, Safiya, and Ella sitting out in the living room. I was always the night owl of the group anyway, and I guess Safiya had completed her studying for the day and was winding down. Ella, I suppose, had made the couch in the living room her home.