Breaking the Ice

Chapter 1

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Okay. The tenth school. Ten is a lucky number, right? I seriously doubt it. After all I've been through, even seven isn't lucky.

Just the name of this place sends my hopes plummeting. Joan's Trainer School for the Special Needs. Wonderful. I take a deep breath and tighten my clench on the strap of my dark blue backpack. A white snowflake has been embroidered on it just for me. The bell rings, and it's time for a new start.

My name is Ellie Thompson. I'm your typical fourteen year old girl. Tall, white hair with little curls and a long gold strip down the side. Yeah. Pretty normal. On the outside.

I've been held back for so long, kicked out of so many schools for "Purposeful Vandalism," that I haven't even gotten a partner Pokemon yet, but I know I'll get there soon. I just do.

"Hello there! You must be Ellie!" An old woman greets me at the door. She smiles sweetly at my mom, and I flinch at the hostile glare in her amber eyes as she turns to me.

"Yes. This is Ellie." My mom replies casually. I cross my arms and stare pleadingly at my mother. She sends me the "Play Nice" look. I sigh.

"And her, uh, disability?" The old lady asks. Sure, call it disability, but it's an excellent source of self-defense.

"Uh, sudden bursts of outrage." My mom says. I can see she's struggling to find the right word for it. Really, she's never seen my "Vandalism Acts" in action. The only thing she sees is ice, and lots of it.

"Wonderful. We have plenty of those." The lady groans. She says goodbye to my mom and leads me inside. The hallways look pretty normal, most likely a disguise to fool visitors. Well, it's not fooling me! The lady leads me to a room with a large sign reading; ELEMENTS at the top.

"Here we are, sugarplum. I'm Joan by the way." She says, sounding tired as if she's done this before. She shoves me inside.

Something soggy flies past my head. I duck, as more shoot past. Children laughter is bouncing off the iron walls of this chamber. Or dungeon, you could put it. A short little man in a black tux huddles in the center if the room. He's obviously the target if this madness.

"Children! Stop this at once! Ow ow ow!" The little man screeches. Suddenly, something slimy falls in my hand. With a gag, I realize its a spit ball. My veins turn cold automatically as I turn my gaze away from the disgusting was of junk. The ball freezes and I toss it back to the crazed children.

One of them turns towards me, and angrily spits his straw in my direction. I can see what Joan means that she has anger raged children. I duck just in time to miss a spit ball doubled in size. That's never a good thing.

Attempting to be calm, I pull over a chair and wipe the spit off of it, and I sit, and wait. 5 minutes... 10 minutes... 15 minutes...

Finally, I can't take it anymore.

"Enough!" I roar. Spreading my arms out. The kids stop shooting to stare at me. Oops, too late, I realize. Another careless act of vandalism. Ice has spread over the entire room. Snow drifts in little flurries to the floor. I have just created the world's most contained snow storm.

"Snow." One kid says. He looks to be like 9, so why am I here? Arceus knows. The little man in the tux looks bewildered. Although I pretty much just saved his reputation, he still picked up a spit covered phone.

"Joan, uh, we have a problem." he says. "No, the kids didn't escape again." The angry 9 year old snickers. I have a feeling that he had something to do with that.

A moment later, Joan and some of her minions bust into the Elements Room. She gasps, and the little man points at me. Talk about unfairness. I will never help another human being in my life.

Before I know it, I'm loaded in a car, being taken home. I can take care of myself. Of course though, they think I'm just another one of those angry 9 year olds.

As we drive, my thought wander back to my only dream; Becoming a Pokémon Master. How was I ever going to accomplish that with all this crazy background?

I place my head on the car window. It frosted at my touch. Why is my life so messed up?

The car speeds to halt in front of my house, and my head hits the seat in front of me, and I'm showered with fresh snow.

"Really? The school, now the car?" Joan screams at me. Before I can retort, my mom is knocking anxiously at the car window.

"Mrs. Langesley? Is everything okay?" She sees me in the back seat, covered in snow and her eyes widen with surprise. Joan swings the car door open and Mom steps back to avoid it. Angrily, Joan snaps my door open and pushes me out.

"This brat," Joan spits, "Doesn't belong at our school." She gets back in her car and speeds away, and her car screeched as she turns a sharp corner. Mom looks at me, with mixed emotions in her eyes.

"Ellie." She says calmly. "Do you ever want to get out there? Have your own Pokemon? Have a life?" She sighs and turns away.

"I guess not. I never thought my daughter would be a failure." She walks inside with her head down. My heart was torn in two. My mother just called me a failure. I was just kicked out of school. Now I'm standing alone in a deserted driveway? No. My life has to mean something more than this. Suddenly I get an idea. A real genius one. One that'll prove to my mom that I'm not a failure, that I can do this. I can live. When do I start? Tonight, and it's already sundown.