The Stolen Jewel of Hecate

Chapter 11

I was facing the press with a look of nervousness on my face. Questions were coming from left and right. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. One question at a time." I said trying to calm the reporters down. "What is your power?" One asked. This was more like it. "I have the power of fire," I stated, trying to be professional. " What name have you decided to go by for your time being as a hero of this fine town?" Another reporter asked. I never thought about it. I guess a name is better than being called 'that girl'. I look behind me and look at the three boys that I will be learning to like in the future. Hightide gave me a smile while Dolostone and Cyclone gave me a thumbs up. I smiled back at them, then an idea came to me. "Sparks," I say with confidence. I answered all the other questions like about how I became a hero and all that jazz, and I went to go de-transform when I ran into Ellie. "Um- Sparks. I just wanted to say sorry for earlier and I wanted to tell you I am your biggest fan. I don't care about what Emma says. Do you think I could have a picture?" She asks. I give her a silent nod and she gets her phone out. Ellie clicks the camera app and she takes a few photos. I try to smile, but I was never really photogenic. I never knew how to act with a camera. "Thank you so much Sparks. I can't wait to show Sam.....Sam... Oh no, Sam! I completely ditched her, what if she got hurt?" Ellie says panicked. I stiffened. "I-I-I'll go check on her for you. That's my job after all. What does she look like?" I asked, trying to hide my cover. Ellie showed me a picture of us when we went to the fair one year. I smiled at the memory. " Thank you. I will make sure your friend is OK." Ellie nodded and I was on my to 'find me', I guess. I found an empty classroom and de-transformed. I took a seat to have a breather before going to my soccer practice. "Kid, that was very kind of you to do. Even I didn't realize its harmlessness. You gave that creature justice even when everyone doubted you at first." Hephaestus praised. I smiled at him. "Well, I have to get to soccer practice. Will you be fine to stay in my locker while I have practice? It will only be an hour." I say. Hephaestus nods and he gets in my bag. I was walking down the road to the arena when I saw Ellie running full speed. "Sam! You will not believe what happened. Also, I'm so sorry I left you. I was scared and I ran, I didn't think about you. I asked Sparks to see if you were alright." She said, winded from her run. I giggled at her thinking I checked on myself. "I'm fine Ellie, relax. Also yes, she did. Sparks is really nice." I said with a smile on my face. " I told you she was great. She even took a picture with me." Ellie said excitedly, pulling out her phone. I looked at the picture we took together moments to go and I smiled. She is so happy to meet me for a second time. "As much as I would love to keep this going, I have a soccer practice to go to. I'll see you later Ellie." I say waving to her. Ellie bid her goodbyes and waved back. I made it to the arena and started getting changed. "Did you hear what's happening today?" Alex said. She's gossiping among the other defenders. "What?" The others said in unison. " We are practicing with the boy's team today." Alex squealed. I rolled my eyes, typical. "I also heard they have a new goalie. Jason apparently quit." Alex said with a frown on her face. Jason was the original goalie of their team just like me, which made me sad because he was actually pretty good. "That's a shame," Brittany said sadly. She was an outside left Defender. I finish putting on my uniform, and put my hair up, ready to start. I checked up on Hephaestus one last time and he told me not to worry about him. He said he had worse conditions. I hesitantly left the locker room and went to the field with my gloves in hand. I wave to my team members and go up to my soccer best friend, Kimber. She is the only true friend I have on this team. She is a mid-field with dark blue eyes and bright blonde hair. I'm not saying everyone else on the team is a jerk, but Kimber is the only person I hang out with, and the same goes for her. We joined the same year, and we were scared to make friends with the more experienced players so we stuck together. After a year or two, I became everyone's friend, but we just don't hang out. "Hey, Kimber. Did you hear what everyone was gossiping about?" I asked. She nodded. "Of course I had. It is awful. The boys are such show-offs until we completely cream them and then they make excuses for why they didn't win. I especially can't stand Aaron. He is a giant flirt, it's disgusting." She says in an annoyed tone. I giggle. We kept talking for a few more minutes until both our coaches came to the field, instructing us to start practice. Everyone starts running their laps except for me. Goalies have a different warm-up because we obviously don't run as much as the other players. I start to stretch when I hear my coach come over. "Sam, I want you to meet the new goalie of the boys' team." My coach said. I look up to see the famous jerk himself. Logan. There are way too many coincidences between us to make sense. I give him a nod and go back to stretching. I sit down on the ground to stretch my legs and Logan joins me on the ground. We stretch in awkward silence. I feel his glare on me and I don't know how to feel. "Why are you staring at me?" I asked him annoyedly. Logan rolled his eyes. "What are you talking about? Don't flatter yourself." He said with a growl. I give a frustrated sigh. " You do it all the time. Don't act like I don't catch you almost every single time. If you think I'm planning to hurt someone and that's why you're watching me, you're wasting your time." I state angrily. Logan looked shocked about what I said. His eyes wide and mouth agape and everything. That must be what he was thinking. What else would he stare at me for? "It's not my fault that I have to watch to make sure you won't hurt anyone else. No one else has caught on to your ways, except me and Emma. I want to protect everyone's feelings from you." He counters back. I was shocked. Sure I was offended, but he was nice. He wanted to protect everyone else and make sure no one gets hurt. That brought a small smile to my face. Logan stared at me confused why I was smiling after he insulted me. Maybe Steven was right about him being a nice guy. "Let me ask you something. Have you seen me being rude to someone?" I asked with a raised brow. He shook his head. " Have you asked anyone else, besides Emma about me, and got a response along the lines of 'she's a horrible person'?" I asked with confidence. Logan, again, shook his head with a confused face. He was wondering where I was going, it didn't take a genius to know that was what he was thinking. "Do you have any sort of proof that shows I was a jerk to Emma the first day we met?" I asked. As expected, Logan shook his head. This brought a grin to my face. " Logan, I would check your facts before you start hating someone for no reason." That's all I said before standing up and walking to join the team for our first drill. I joined Kimber and told her what happened. And how we got to that point in time. "Hold up, let me get this straight. Homeboy saw Emma's fake tears and thought you were a jerk and kept staring at you. Was an angel to everyone he met but you. When you confront him he wants to not hurt anyone but hurts you anyway completely going back on what he said, and you completely crushed his pride because he had no proof?" I nodded. That's basically what has happened. " Yeah. that's what happened." Kimber raised her one brow and gave me an evil smirk. "I have a theory. The boy thinks you're pretty. His mind is conflicted because he thinks you're a jerk, but you're really pretty, and then just now you debunked his theory on you being a jerk and now his mind is trying to have a full crush on you." Kimber says with a smirk. I facepalm. "Kim, could your theory be any more weird?" I say with a tired sigh. Kimber laughed at my reaction. "Sam, trust me. You say he doesn't think that now but in the future, you guys will be together and he is going to tell you he thought you were pretty when you first met." She says with confidence. I roll my eyes. "Whatever you think. I will not get together with a guy like that. He makes judgments too early, and we are polar opposites. We will only get together in your dreams. " I say with a laugh. Kim shakes her head. "Sam, you need to get back out there. You haven't been with anyone since Evan, and you broke up with him for no reason." Kimber stated sadly. No, we are not going down that road now. "We weren't a good match is all. Now focus." I stated firmly. We turned our attention back to our coach, and we finished practice off nicely. We beat the boys seven to three, and we were going back to the lockers. As I was walking back, once again Logan was staring at me. Could he really think I'm pretty?