Opposites: The Staff of Light [Book One]

22. A Jealous Water Girl

Alice

"It's snowing!" I cried happily as I rushed over to the window. December finally came around—at last, everything had to pay off. It seemed to me that nothing mattered but the frost when I saw the snowflakes raining down. The trees had been capped with snow. The lake had gone frozen—perfect for a winter day. "This is the best day ever!"

"Cool, it's winter," Mitch said. "I can't believe it's snowing AGAIN. I hope everyone would recall yesterday's incident."

The entire room fell into groaning. Yesterday was another good day. I started a blizzard when I got excited. Hey, it wasn't that bad—unless you're mortal. Luckily, I didn't get sent to the office, because if I did, gosh, I don't know what'd happen. The thought even scares me.

As I finished my bath and changed into new clothes, I stopped by the door to see Annabeth, completely not school-ready. She was still staring blankly at the scene of frost in her white linen pajamas, combat boots (who even wears that at bed?) and Dad's black aviator's jacket. She hugged herself, like she hadn't got the nerve to ever step out. "Annabeth, you're not even dressed," I noted. She turned, her eyes showing complete terror. Her face softened to see me. "It's breakfast time. You've got to get yourself ready for school. You'll be late again."

"It's...snowing," her tone was like I've never known snow before. She'd been so frightened to go out ever since winter came around in late November, and until now, she still couldn't dare to go out there without anyone telling her what to do. After weeks of being with a snow-phobic sister, I just had enough knowledge to get used to it. "I can't get a single step out while it's snowing. It's worse than before. I can't get out. How can I get to my PE class with this?"

After the day she'd taken over the blame for Colton, many things have changed (I've been waiting for Colton to ask my sister out but hey, why not?). Teachers assigned every student to a different class. The magic class closed down, replaced by chemistry—not really the preferable subject for ones who aren't willing. But Annabeth and I took it, along with physics. But only those subjects at first of the morning. After them, she'd be going off to PE which was full of combat training and whatnot. After that, she goes over to Professor Frank's disciplinary class. I'd see Colton at the door of Annabeth's last subject for the day at around twelve, waiting for her to come out and walk back to the cabin with her.

"You'll get to PE with this, I assure you," I decided. "Go change. I'll give you like five seconds before I open the curtains to reveal you in front of—"

"Alice!" Annabeth complained.

I managed a little chuckle. "Just kidding, Annabeth. Just go change. I'll figure out a way how to get you to your next class. I'm positive today." She trudged reluctantly towards the dressing stalls and rolled the curtains. I turned back to the doorway. I gave in thoughts. I imagined a tunnel of ice that led to the cafeteria. I closed my eyes and concentrated. When I opened them, I found the exact same tunnel I'd thought of.

A voice behind me remarked, "Wow, you did good, Alice," Tyler complimented. "That's one heck of a job. I like it, but it needs a better touch, though." At first, I thought it had been an insult from him—especially from him—but as he stomped his foot, roots sprouted from the edges of the cave. Anyone blind enough could trip over them.

"Hey, give me a piece of that action!" Mitch cried. He clapped his hands and the floor of the tunnel formed into solid ground, melting the snow, with cracks from where the roots sprouted from. Before even I knew it, a wave of electricity blasted from behind me, dodging my area and into the cave. The sparks made light through the tunnel but only lasted until I saw more changes. It now had twinkles of white glitter on the ceiling, which of course, I thought at first they were glitter until I realized they were mini-stars. A blast of smoke entered next, materializing into fireless lamps and hung on the ceiling in two rows. The sparks dissipated. "Now that's pretty."

"Oh, sweet," Annabeth's voice came. She walked around next to me. "The First Cohort has a tunnel to the canteen. But... it's a bit dark on the end. It's like vignette. Can I add just one little thing?" No one replied, but it didn't matter, because Annabeth already knew what was missing. By just thinking about it, fires lit up inside Raven's shadow lamps. For one thing, the lamps didn't disappear into the light of Annabeth's fire inside them. We've all added our powers into one single thing. "Wait, Colton didn't help at all?"

Colton chuckled in the background. I was too busy to turn to see his face. I was taken by the wonderful contraction. "Don't worry," he said. Something clicked and the flames grew brighter and they stabilized. "That will be one thing I could help with and..." he snapped and a soldier rose from the ground. Mitch nearly stumbled over to his surprise. The soldier was full in uniform. He disappeared in the wind and this time, I had enough time to glare at Colton. He only shrugged. "Hey, now we got a guard with an M13 rifle and better yet, we can't pay him."

Annabeth cleared her throat and began chuckling. "May I ask why the officer-in-charge looked exactly like James Dean?"

Colton broke into a smile. "You spend way too much time with me. Now, can we eat?"

"You ignored my question."

"I can dream, can't I?"

* * *

After school, I walked down the hallway when Rebecca Smythe, the exact same girl who'd Alex electrocute (bless him), paced right next to me. I wasn't really close to her. I tried to ignore her, but those looks were pretty hard to ignore. Her eyes were full of anger and determination, like one blow from her could kill me. I found myself all alone in another lobby and that's exactly where she did her attack. She pinned me against a wall, her forearm against my neck. It hurt to move and I didn't see it coming. "Turn him over," she growled.

"What?" I managed.

"Tyler belongs to me!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Rebecca."

I tried to move, but her strength was slowly draining me down. "I don't like the way he hangs out with you. He was mine, until you come along."

"Rebecca, that's enough," Tyler's voice bellowed from the end of the corridor. Yay, he's saving me, I thought. Rebecca let go and if Tyler hadn't came to me first, I should have tumbled unto the floor. "What is wrong with you? How could you do this?" I've never seen Tyler that angry before. His eyes were clear green and when he glared at Rebecca, it seemed that she only returned a painful look.

"You were mine," Rebecca said sternly. But I was too busy attending to my neck. "You promised to be us."

"That was so long before. I regret I've ever fallen in love with you, Rebecca," he caught a glimpse of a hurt version of me. "I can't believe you would do this. How evil can you possibly be?" Tyler's voice broke on the last word, like another look at me hurt him. "Get out of here, Rebecca, before I say something I'm not supposed to say. Get the hell out of here!"

I glanced over at Rebecca to catch her shocked face. Her brows furrowed together all of a sudden. "This won't be the last of me. We're not over yet." She stormed down the lobby, working out a pace. I've never seen so much jealousy hit a person like that before.

My eyes fixed on Tyler. He'd been looking at me for seconds, observing my bruised neck. I stared back at him, waiting for an explanation. We looked into each other's eyes for a few more seconds of silence. It felt awkward slumped against a wall with a boy holding your hip to help you gain your balance. We didn't talk for seconds. My heart pulsed. "Well?" I asked. "I deserve an explanation, don't I?"

"Rebecca's history, Alice," he simply said. "You need the clinic? Right, how stupid of me? Come on."