Element

✭ Chapter 11

Yvette. I whip around.

"Ramaya. No. Please," Kaelie says calmly. I'm shaking with anger, sauce dripping down my face.

"Please, excuse me," I say quietly, but full of rage, and leave. I go to the bathroom in the dining room and wash off my face. For the second time today, I cry.

I'm so mad. At a lot of things. Yvette, Rhodes, me. I put my elbows on the sink and my face in my hands. A sob comes. Another. Suddenly, I think of three things. One- why did Rhodes so suddenly get angry when the kid insulted me? The thought comes to me that maybe he does have feelings for me. I've finally given in to the fact I do for him. The second thing- I feel so bad for the girl Alanna. Somehow she got sucked in to that terrible group and can't escape. I sigh at the thought.

It's like quicksand. Once you get in, you're stuck. And lastly- the boy from the water table. His eyes looked just like Brooke's. Could that be Brooke's brother?

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I make my way slowly to my dorm ten minutes later. Kaelie and Brooke are standing by my door, talking in hushed words. I pick a piece of food from my hair and say quietly, "hi." They both turn, and immediately grab me in a hug.

I tense up at first, then relax into the kindness of my friends. They tell me to get a good nights sleep, that's all, then turn and leave. I stare blankly after them for a moment, then go into my room. I realize I'm exhausted. Sleep comes easily.

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The next morning, I wake up before my alarm. I turn it off, not caring to hear the overly-cheerful morning announcements. I take a deep breath, and get out of bed.

I walk over to the balcony and open the door. A fresh burst of air meets my face, and I somehow smile. The sun came up only a little bit ago, and there's still pink clouds in the sky. I linger there for a moment, then go back in and get ready to face the world another day.

I take forever to get ready, then finally go to the dining room. I find Brooke, Kaelie, and Alanna getting food together. I walk over.

"Good morning guys," I say.

"Hi Ram. How are you?" Kaelie asks softly.

"Alright," I say, and smile a bit.

"Great. They're serving your favorite breakfast. Waffles!" Brooke says.

"Yay!" I say, warming up a bit, and stack a bunch on my plate. I drench them with syrup as well. We all walk over to the air table farthest to the back, and when we sit down Brooke says "have a good day," and goes to her table.

"So, Alanna, what's your schedule?"Kaelie asks.

"Well, I have Basic Skills first, then history, then writing, then flying-"

"Wait. You have flying fourth class?!" I interrupt, nearly choking on my waffle. "Uhh.. Yeah," she says. How did I not notice her in my class the past two days? I guess she's pretty quiet.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"Well, uh...I thought it might not have been good to mention that yesterday."

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry," I guess that was good. We eat in silence for a bit longer. Then, Yvette walks by. She doesn't say anything, but practically shoots me in the head with her glare. All three of us look away. I hear her stomp away, and we turn back around.

Suddenly, we all laugh. I'm not sure why, but it feels great. I forget about everything bothering me for a minute. When we finally stop, breakfast is nearly over.

"See you in flying!" Alanna says, and we all leave. As I walk to first class with Kaelie, the laughing feeling wears off, and my drooping expression returns.

"Hey." Kaelie grabs my shoulders and looks at me. "You can do this. Yvette is really a nobody. She hasn't done anything even slightly noticeable besides being a huge brat." She smiles brightly. "And I think you just need to forget about Rhodes for a minute. Please. I hate to see you down like this."

"But I can't. I'll be sitting with him all-" "No. For now, forget about him." And Ms. Hersmer lets us in the classroom before I can say anything else.

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I dread fourth class. At least having Alanna in it makes it better. But when I walk out to the field and and Rhodes is out sitting on the bench already, I smile. I let Ms. Benting know I'm here, then go to the bench.

"Hi. I hoped you'd come," Rhodes says.

I smile."Well, I got noticed by the devil by skipping class, so I thought I'd show up." He cracks a smile. I laugh lightly. A warm feeling rushes through me. His hand is so close, I could reach out and grab it. But I resist the urge. Gotta keep it casual.

"So, the devil, huh? Does he/she have a name?"

"Um. Yeah. Yvette."

His face goes through a few emotions before he replies steadily,

"Oh. Yeah. Her."

I hesitate before replying.

"Is there um.. Something between you two, er, uh, nevermind."

"Yeah, it's nothing. I don't like her either," he says with a sigh. We sit for a minute or two in uncomfortable silence. Then, class begins, and we watch as the tests finish up.

Ms. Benting finishes writing something down in her notebook, then asks everybody to sit down. They sit, and she calls the names for the beginners. I suspected the people who are called.

Then she calls the Intermediates. Alanna is among them, and she sighs walking to her group, probably wanting to be in the Advanced group.

Finally, the Advanced people are called, and my name is second to last. I start to get up to walk over, but Ms. Benting lets me stay on the bench. I do get a lot of stares when I don't get up, but don't mind much.

She announces that everyone has one, only one, week to improve, and then there will be a second testing for those who may want to have a chance to move up. Then she gives people the rest of the class to mingle with our new groups, and when the attention shifts from Ms. Benting, I get up to go to the advanced group. Rhodes stays put.

"Come on! Let's go," I say.

"But, I wasn't called." I freeze in my tracks. Rhodes wasn't called for any group. So many scenarios run through my head of why he doesn't have a group.

"Um, let's go ask about that," I say, and grab his wrist. We walk over, me starting to have a tiny heart attack, to Ms. Benting.

"You talk," I whisper to him.

"Wha-? Ok fine," he says. "Um, hi, Ms. B. I, uh, wasn't assigned a group. Was there a mistake er something..?" She turns.

"Rhodes, I have to consider some things before placing you in a group. We've discussed the danger you created yesterday, and, well, like I said. I need to take a few things into account."

"Ok. Thanks," says Rhodes, and he looks at me with mixed emotion. We go back to the bench.

"You know, you can go. To the advanced group, I mean," he says quietly.

"Why would I do that?" I say. He looks into my eyes. "Because, well, I guess I don't know. You're a really kind person, Ramaya. Thank you." My heart skips a beat.

"Thank you," I echo after him. The bell rings, and we leave the field.

HI! Sorry we haven't published in a while! We've been super busy with dance. This chapter was writen by Megan and the next chapter will be written by me(Wien) Thank you so so much the 300 reads! You are all awesome! This chapter was written by Megan.

-Megan and Wien