When the Cold Cries[ON HOLD]

02~isolation

isolation: the act of causing a person or thing to remain alone or apart from others
usually used by the manipulative Power Diverger

    "Honestly, I don't know how much stupider the Officials can get," Abby declared as soon as she spotted me and Will at my locker the next day at school, shoving a newspaper in our faces. My first thought was that Abby had been abducted and replaced with a clone, because Abigail Angelica Bennet, the tech-savvy girl who couldn't live without her phone and laptop, was touching a simple paper newspaper. But when I looked at the headlines I realized, one; why she was holding it, and two; that we--or at least I--had underestimated the severity of our "art".

    A picture of the graffitied wall of the Powers building was plastered all over the front page, the headline blaring "Artificers rebel for Cryols?". I scanned through the first few paragraphs, the words "disrespect", "interrogation", and "rebellion" catching my eye. Will raised his eyebrows in surprise and amusement.

    "Like, why does it have to be Artificers?," Abby complained. "Do they think nowadays we can't do anything without our Powers?" She sighed, exasperated, and I couldn't help but grin.

    "Abby, you sound like you want them to find out it was you," I remarked.

Will laughed. "Of course she does; she can't stand anyone getting credit for her work," he smirked. Abby shoved him against the locker, the loud slam causing a few passing students to look our way.

"No, I just don't want them thinking that people who haven't gotten their Powers yet are incapable of doing anything except follow rules," she retorted while Will glared at her, rubbing his arm where he'd hit the locker.

"Sounds like you want to start a rebellion," I say cheekily. "Are you going to be our Mockingjay?"

"Oh my god, shut up," Abby groaned as Will and I burst out laughing.

The bell rang just then, signalling that we had seven more minutes to get to class. I grabbed one of my folders from my locker and said goodbye to Abby before heading to chemistry class with Will.

"Do you think Abby actually wants to, like, rebel?" I questioned him as we slid into our seats. There were still 5 minutes before the bell, and everyone in the classroom was already chattering loudly to their friends.

"Nah," he said confidently. "I mean, yeah, she is more radical than us, but come on. She's not actually going to do anything serious."

There was a moment of silence between us as I mulled over his words. But as I turned to respond, I saw that he was already conversing with one of his other girl friends. A spark of jealousy flickered in my stomach--not because another girl was talking to him(after all, Abby talked to him constantly)--but because he had another friend to talk to. Abby and Will were basically the only people I was really comfortable around, besides my family, of course.

I wasn't a loner, and I didn't consider myself as one. There were plenty of people that I knew; I just wouldn't regard them as my actual friends. I could say hi to them in the hallways, and maybe engage in small talk with them, but that was it. I guess it was because, like Abby said, I was a spoilsport. But really, who can blame me for wanting to do well in school and not getting arrested?

The bell rang before I had a chance to talk to Will again, and our teacher was too strict to let kids talk during class. So I got out my notebook and pencil and began diligently taking notes on the presentation projected at the front of the room. And that was that.

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It wasn't until the final bell rang that I was able to talk to Abby and Will again. Something had been bugging me since that morning, and since I wasn't able to talk to Will about it before Chemistry, the thought had been on my mind the entire day.