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Chapter 63: Rose

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Luna greets me by nuzzling into my face when I walk out of the tent. I glance at the boys' tent and see that it's about to crumple to the ground.

I smirk. The girl's tent, the one I made, is standing tall and perfect. And Rowan has been training earthbending with Teacher longer than me.

I walk into the house before rubbing Luna's tummy and scratching behind Stewart's ears. Teacher is already up, sipping coffee and reading a book. I rummage through the pantry.

"Do we have tuna?" I call from behind me.

Teacher raises an eyebrow. "Why do you need tuna?"

"I found this kitten out in the woods. I decided to keep him."

"Rose, you can't just go picking up every stray you see. We've talked about this."

I lower my gaze. When I was a kid, I would beg Teacher to keep a pet in the house, but he has always refused. It wasn't long before I gave up, realizing that that's something I couldn't talk him into.

"It won't bother you. We're most likely leaving this evening or tomorrow," I murmur.

"You don't have the means to care for it. Aren't you guys defeating the FireLord? It's better off a stray," he replies coolly.

I become extremely angry at this for some reason. "That's not true! Nothing is better off that way! Believe me, I know!"

"What's going on?" Nathan yawns, stepping into the kitchen with sleepy eyes. Evan follows him shortly after, his long, messy black hair sticking up in peculiar places.

"Found it!" I say, holding the can of tuna in triumph. I quickly rush out of the house to give it to Stewart.

I spend the rest of the day impatiently waiting for Xander to finish my arm. Liesel and I play with the animals for a while. She seems to be recovering quickly now, ever since the incident. Whatever she had against me before seems to be gone.

Gwen and Rowan have seemed to make some kind of friendship as well, while Nathan seems to stick with his brother half the time. It's odd how close they've become, considering Evan was trying to kill us about a year ago.

When late after noon slowly passes by, Xander says it's ready to be connected to the nerves. I sit into the chair, ready for one of the worst feelings on Earth.

"This might feel a little weird for a few days. The design is much different since I had to start from scratch and improvise. But there is some cool updates I added," Xander explains nervously.

I smile. "As long as I have an arm I'm happy."

I take a deep breath, clenching my eyes closed as I prepare myself.

"One, two, three!"

I hold in a yell, but lie there for about an hour in agony. It usually doesn't take that long, but it's a completely new machine. The design isn't even the even the same. But the pain does eventually go away.

I lift my hand up a bit too forcefully, smacking myself in the face with the back of my hand. Evan snickers.

"It's lighter," I mumble, embarrassed.

"How do you feel?" Gwen asks cheerfully.

"Fine," I reply, still marveling on how different my arm feels.

The night is filled with packing and planning our next move for tomorrow. Gwen neatly folds her clothes into her pack, while I absentmindedly shove mine in crumpled little balls.

"It doesn't take that long to fold them you know," Gwen mumbles.

"Wake me up when I care," I reply sarcastically, walking into my bedroom. I open the window so Stewart can sleep beside me while Luna will have to deal with sleeping with her head in the window.

I wake up once from a nightmare, but for the most part, I sleep like a rock. Nathan wakes me up extremely early in the morning. He shakes my shoulder. I groan, barely awake.

"Rose, wake up," he whispers.

"I don't care if we're out of soap I'm not buying peanuts!" I slur sleepily, pulling the covers up to my head.

More shaking. I finally open my eyes, fully awake now. I see him trying to keep in a laugh.

"What?" I groan.

"You talk in your sleep."

I never ask what I say in my sleep, but I'm not sure if I'd want to know anyway. Who knows what Nathan has found out because if it?

I get dressed into the clothes I wore yesterday. They're still clean and only slightly rumpled from spending the night on the floor.

I hear Gwen in the guest room she shares with Liesel. I stop by the door when I hear my name. "I don't see what Nathan finds in Rose! She's sarcastic, quick tempered, cocky!"

She opens the door. Her eyes widen as she sees me standing there. I stare right back at her.

I smirk. "Are you jealous?"

The guilt that used to be on her face suddenly turns to rage. "O- of course not! Why are you always--"

I begin to walk away. I honestly don't care what she thinks about me. It's not like I ever liked her in the first place. Gwen steps in front of me.

I roll my eyes. "If I throw a stick, will you leave?"

Probably not the best thing to say when she's already flustered and angry, but I just can't help myself.