To The Sun And Beyond

18. NO POWERS? NO PROBLEM.

"WHERE'S KANANI?" I ASKED KAYLA
When astronomy was about to start.

Kayla leaned back in her chair, and looked around the room, at the students.

"I don't know," She replied, giving me a shrug. "Probably late."

"No one's seen her all day," Mason replied from the desk to my right.

"She'll be here," Kayla assured. "I mean, it's just one day!"

"MAKE THAT TWO DAYS," KAYLA
Mumbled as we entered astronomy the next day, to an empty desk where Kanani would be.

"She'll be here." Kayla said to herself as she made her way to her desk.

But the list just went up.

Three days.

Four days.

Five days.

"Where is she?" Kayla asked, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Kanani has been gone all week. By now, her excuse would be that she caught a crazy disease!" Mason added, his mouth shaped in an annoyed frown.

"Has Vivian given you back your necklace yet?" Kayla asked when we sat down.

"Ugh, no," I groaned. "What bugs me is, I need it to train!"

"Well, maybe now I can show you how to train without any supernatural abilities." Mason added, leaning back in his chair.

"Grreaaat," I said sarcastically, twirling my finger in the air, and rolling my eyes. "Alright, I'll do it."

"Don't worry, it'll be fun," Mason smiled.

I stuck out my bottum lip, and pouted like a child. "But I'm not going to enjoy it," I mumbled.

"THAT'S IT! KEEP GOING!" MASON
Screamed as I hopelessly tried to beat a punching bag. It wasn't getting anywhere, and I wasn't really punching, just flinging my fists around. This is not fun.

"Mason," I panted. "I can't... do this." Suddenly, my legs began to give out and exhaustion gave way, and I fell on my butt with a thud.

Mason sat down on the grass next to me, staring at me as I struggled to catch my breath. He held a strand of my hair, and examined it closely.

"Pleeeaasse tell me that was at least decent." I said in between breaths, and looked over at him.

Mason let go of my hair, and watched it fall from his grasp, and his eyes flickered to mine.

"Do you really want to know?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"If it's that bad, then... no. Just tell me what I can do to improve." I told him.

"Alright," Mason said, getting up. "If you can keep up." He stretched his hands out to help me up, and I took them, hoisting myself off of the ground.

"So, first, you were punching with your fist. You want to punch with your knuckles. Like this." Mason made a stance in front of the punching bag, and curled his hands into fists. He took a deep breath through his mouth, and punched the bag in a spilt second. The punching bag wiggled a bit, and swung back from the impact.

Mason turned to face me, and I applauded as he bowed and smiled. But his smile fell as quick as it appeared when he looked over my shoulder.

I turned around to see Luke give a punching bag an uppercut, while his necklace glowed. The impact caused it to catch fire, bust off it's hinges, and fly fifty yards down the field.

Mason sighed in defeat, and I turned back around.

"That's nothing," I scoffed. "You can do that any day."

Mason shook his head. "No, I can't."

"Yeah, you can. Come on, fight me." I said, gently punching Mason' s chest as he glared at me.

"Come, on," I bagan to jump around him, flinging my fists in the air. "Come on! I dare you."

Mason smiled at me, and shook his head. "I wouldn't."

"Are you... Chicken?" I asked, stopping in front of him, and placing my hands on my hips, glaring at him.

"I'm not chicken," Mason defended. "I just don't want to break you."

"I'm the best wrestler and we both know it!" I yelled, and crossed my arms around my chest.

"Oh really? You want to bet?" Mason asked, raising his eyebrows, and smiling at me.

"Oh yeah," I nodded.

"Okay... watch out!"

And the next thing I knew, Mason had swung me over his shoulder, and was galloping around the punching bags, while I pounded his back with my fists, screaming.

"Mason! Let me go before Fin sees!" I screamed in between giggles.

"Masoooooon!" I screamed when he continued galloping, giant bursts of laughter escaping his mouth.

We both crashed onto the grass, each of us landing on our backs.

When the laughter had settled, I curled up my fist and punched Mason in the arm with all of my might.

But I guess my might wasn't strong enough, because he didn't even flinch. He just stared at me, a smirk appearing on the side of his mouth.

"That's how you punch." He said, and I smiled.

"HEEY GUYYSS!" Kayla yelled from the other side of the field. "It's time to come inside!"

Mason and I got up quickly, and sprinted down the field. As he passed me, he looked over his shoulder at me and smiled.

I smiled back, and felt my heart beat faster.

But it wasn't from the running.