Fire & Water & Earth & Air

9: Water

Edward

           My Sunday, aside from being a day to re-energize, was completely uneventful. Well, that is kind of a lie, because Eva and Silas tried squeezing the truth out of me over who Juliette is.

           But still, no life-changing event happened.

           It was boring, really: knowing someone was out there who was just like me, and I was just sitting in my living room, watching Netflix.

           My brother arrived and my parents got mad at him, but no life-changing event. At around seven, I begin to get tired, which is odd because I usually stay up until at least midnight. But I don't fight sleep. Instead, I get ready for bed and lay down.

           I'm plagued with nightmares.

           I'm sitting on a chair that's on fire, my house is on fire, my family is one fire, Juliette looses her powers and the fire in her starts burning her. And the worst part is, I lost my powers as well, so there's no way I can put it out.

            I wake up in a cold sweat, trying to blink the melting faces out of my memory. I roll over on my side and look at the time.  It's late, and I should start getting ready for school. Still, I can't find it in me to actually get out of bed. I lay there for a while, debating on whether or not it would be beneficial to go to school.

           After all, it's not like we're learning anything. I just feel bad for Juliette. The first day at school is always the toughest.

          The thought makes me sit upright suddenly. Today, Juliette will be new to everything. The hallways, the lunch food, the teachers, the classrooms, the bullies, the druggies, the nice kids.... Everything will be unfamiliar and uncharted. She'll need someone to show her around.

           And I just nominated myself.

>>><<<

           When I arrive at the school, the first thing I see is a group of people crowding a car. A very familiar red car. I gasp, already expecting the worst. Because, surely, the new girl can't be surrounded by that many people and still be alive. I walk over to where what I believe to be Juliette's car is but am interrupted by Jonas and Steven. They run up to me, the both of them panting and wheezing, a grave look on their faces. They begin saying inaudible things about the courtyard and Mr. Clayton, the scary science teacher.

           "Right, thanks," I say, before walking around them. Jonas places a hand on my arm to stop me and manages to say, "No, you *wheeze* don't understand. He's *wheeze* dead."

           I turn to him, expecting him to start laughing and saying that it's a joke, that the old man is still alive. Mr. Clayton is one of those people that you think will outlive everyone, despite their age. So I stare at Jonas and Steve, give a glance at the crowd in front of me, then bolt to the courtyard, my friends in tow.

           I arrive at the courtyard at the same time I begin hearing the sirens. Teachers and staff are trying to keep the few students trying to see back. Before I get pushed away, I see something that makes me grateful I was running too late to eat this morning. Lying on the hard cement, is a man they are trying to pass off as Mr. Clayton. The body is burnt to a crisp, so the only way they could have known it was him must have been by a wallet that survived the fire.

           According to the smell, he's been dead for a few days.

           All around me, students are throwing up, gagging, and pushing against the wall of adults holding everyone at bay. A girl yells in horror when she sees the body and I don't blame her for a second. I myself, feel like yelling and puking. I keep everything in, forcing myself to swallow the saliva along with the bile. I turn to Steven and Jonas, who are looking a little greener than they should. I turn back to the body, expecting it to pop back up and yell, "Just kidding. I'm not dead!"

           But it lays there, a motionless piece of carbon. Nothing more than firewood.

           Firewood. Fire. Could she have....

           I shake the absurd  thought. She may be different, but that certainly does not make her any more dangerous than I. Then I remember the crowd. What could make the new kid cool so suddenly? I know high school students are crazy, but applauding murder? Would any of them actually have it in them to find such a thing worthy of encouragement?

           No, of course not.

           Right?

           Again, I take off running without a warning, and, again, Steven and Jonas take off after me. When I get to the parking lot, no one is surrounding Juliette's car anymore and I begin to panic.

           Calm down. you aren't even sure it was her car, right? For all you know, it could have been a car that looks remarkably like hers. That you've never seen around before....

           Start panicking, James.

            I kick my car and begin cursing myself for being slow. I hear Jonas and Steven telling me to calm down and leave the car alone but I ignore them. I turn to the building and walk in and begin walking aimlessly around the halls. When I near the girls bathroom closest to the library, I hear a familiar voice speaking.

           "....they aren't going to close up. I mean, if I were ever the superintendent of a school district and someone found a dead body in one of my schools, everyone in the building would get three days off, a week tops. It's traumatizing, you know?"

           I  storm in, not caring that a girl that is walking out of one of the stalls gives me an ugly look. Steven walks in behind me and declares proudly, "There's a boy in the girls bathroom. You are all free to shriek and run out." The girls by the mirrors just glance at him, turn back around and continue applying their make-up and fixing their hair. A group of girls by the sinks -Juliette included- stop their conversation long enough to roll their eyes. One girl in the stall just starts laughing like they're tickling her.

           Steven looks disappointed and sighs. "Well, that wasn't what I was expecting...."

            I don't even bother laughing, ticked off that Juliette didn't even glance at me. When I don't laugh at his joke, the girls in the room finally -finally-  get that something is wrong. They all turn to me and stare. "Get out," I say in a low, menacing voice, and it's ironic because I feel like I'm acting like Fire.

           I mean Juliette.

           Everyone looks around, wondering if I'm being serious. I repeat my command and they all file out, including Steven. The girl in the stall flushes the toilet and runs out, not bothering to wash her hands.

           Juliette and Ruby are the last ones to leave. I stand in front of Juliette and Ruby says, "You need to get out of the way for her to get out."

          I don't move.

           Behind me, Ruby pushes my back and says, "Move." But I'm still not budging. Juliette tries to walk around me but I grab onto her wrist. She looks up at me, then at Ruby.

           "It's okay, I'll deal with him," she says.

           I glare at her after we wait for Ruby to leave. "Just like you took care of Mr. Clayton?"

           The hand I'm holding lights up in flames and I resist the urge to wince. When steam begins to rise, we both pull back and look at our hands.

           After a while, I glance at her and tell her in a serious voice: "We need to talk."

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