Fire

Chapter 2

            “You okay?” Natalie is right in my face as I crack open my eyes the next morning.

            “Jeez, Natalie.” I yawn, which promptly gets her out of my face. She hates halitosis, and I assume I must have it because when I swallow, I feel like gagging. “Personal space. Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

            “You always wake up at the crack of dawn.” She says simply, thrusting items into a green drawstring bag. “And we’re almost late for an assembly. They announced it ten minutes ago.”

            “Which means we are late!” I thrust back the covers and leap out of bed. “Crap!”

            I race into the girls’ dorm bathroom and take a two minute shower. I throw on a silky, lavender shirt and jeggings and grab my own orange drawstring bag. I slide on my black Converse All Stars and race out of our dorm, Natalie trailing behind.

            It seems that we aren’t the only ones running late, because a lot of the sophomore girls are coming out of their rooms, yawning. Half of them are in their pajamas.

            I look for my friend, but can’t see her. “Have you seen Amelie?” I ask Natalie as we fight our way down the hall.

Elbows and bodies slam into me as the hallway gets even more crowded. I am pushed away from Natalie and end up bumping into Phoebe Braxton.

            Phoebe is sort of a joke at my school. She has multiple piercings on her ear, one on her eyebrow, her tongue, her lip, apparently her bellybutton, and her nose. She can see multiple outcomes for the future, which is under the Air category. People call her Freaky Phoebe because she looks really scary. In the two days I’ve been here I’ve tried to say hi nice to her seven times, but her face scares me away with each attempt.

            “Sorry,” I mumble, lowering my gaze to my shoes. Avoid eye contact at all costs.

            I can practically hear her grinning as she says, “No prob, McKenna.”

            I feel bad for her because, except for her roommate, no one really is friends with her. Everyone pretty much just steers clear from her. She’s clingy, and tries way too hard to get me to be her friend.

            Natalie grabs my arm and says, “C’mon, they’re about to start.”

            She drags me down the stairs and we race to the auditorium, pushing past a large pack of Water-descent juniors.

            We burst into the auditorium at top speed, ignoring the stares of the eleven hundred other high schoolers as we climb a set of bleachers. We sit down next to Celestia, a Fire controller. She and I get along well enough, though she can be a bit proud sometimes.

            “Has it started yet?” I ask her.