The next day, class started, and I figured out I had been assigned to class one, where Elizabeth was, too. "Hey, Shelby, did you come up with your outfit?" She asked, smiling at me. "Yeah. But I'm not comfortable with sharing it just yet." I answered, telling the truth. I really did want to wait until we had training to show everyone. "I saw it. And I think it's good. But it still makes you look like a villain." And that was when Connor came in. "You let him see it but not me?" Elizabeth asked, pouting a bit. "He only saw it because he snuck in while I was working on it." "But shouldn't you have heard him?" "She had her airpods in. That's why she didn't notice me." Connor cut in, taking his seat in the back. I rolled my eyes. "He's correct, but if my airpods hadn't been in, I would've noticed him." Elizabeth just nodded, and the rest of class filed in, leaving an empty seat near the front. I sat down, and Ms. Violet came in, smiling. By the way, the walls were a plain white, the desks seemed to be styled specifically for the students-for example, Elizabeth's had rainbows on it, and mine had skulls-and there was a chalkboard in the front of the class, along with a desk and chair that Ms. Violet now sat in. "Good morning, class." "Good morning, Ms. Violet." The class echoed. "Now, first things first: We have a new student with us this year. Everyone, meet Shelby Lee if you haven't already." I gave a nod to say hi. Some welcomed me, some just cast glances my way, and others stayed focused on the teacher. "Second: We've got training planned today. So, suit up, and head to the gym, students."
*******
Later, everyone else was suited up, and the only thing I had left to do was put on my mask and my shoes. "Shelby, man, that outfits awesome! I can't believe if only took you three hours. Mine took me a whole week!" I tied my mask behind my head. "It'll take me longer than that to come up with my hero name." I slipped on my black, ankle-high boots. "Yeah, I bet! Also, I saw your power demonstration the other day." I stood, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "And?" "I've never seen anything like it! It's so awesome, honestly! All I can do is this." Suddenly, her whole body was on fire, and I nearly screamed. She willed the fire to die out. "Yeah, it's kind of scary." "That's why you said to call you Lighter. Because your basically a walking lighter." I muttered, the pieces finally clicking together. She giggled. "Yup! Now, come on, or we'll be late." We made it to the gym, and the space it had nearly took my breath away. It was so spacious, I bet we could fit about a third of the population inside. "This is just..." I said, but I couldn't find the words. Elizabeth draped her arm over my shoulders-and I tensed up. She noticed, and took her arm away, about to ask what was wrong when Ms. Violet said, "You'll get to chose your sparring partners today, and once you do, you can start." Long story short, Elizabeth and I chose each other to work with. The first thing I did was wrap myself in shadows, making myself invisible to her eyes. She lit one of her hands, and looked around, trying to find me. Slowly, I crept up on her, tripped her, and pinned her to the ground. Then, I willed the shadows to go back. "Boo." I muttered, smirking at my victory. "Not bad, Shelby, it seems like you have some expirence." Ms. Violet told me, smiling. I thought back to the countless hours I'd spent training myself and working on my combat skills and using my power. I gave a small smile. "Yeah, you could say that." I said, and then got up, offering Elizabeth a hand. She took it, and as soon as she was on her feet, I took my hand back. "What was that thing earlier?" "What thing?" "How you tensed up when I draped an arm across your shoulders? What was that about?" I looked anywhere but at her, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. "I just-I don't like physical touch." I told her, bending the truth a bit. I could tell she knew that wasn't entirely true, but she only gave me a look that said, We're talking about this later. Then, she came at me, trying to hit me. I dodged, doing that backward-kickover again, and raised two skeletons, which I then ordered to distract her. They did, and that allowed me to come up behind her-but she broke free from my skeletons, and threw a fireball. I was barely able to dodge it. I landed, and when I did, she tried to tackle me to the ground. We both fell over, and she sat on my stomach, then pined my hands together above my head. "Boo." She mimicked me, and I snorted, looking into her eyes. "Very funny, Lighter." About an hour later, Ms. Violet called for the training session to end, and we all changed back into our clothes, then headed to the dorms. My phone buzzed, and I looked at it, seeing a text from my friend, Levi. I opened it. You said you got an invitation to some sort of university? I smiled. I missed him a lot. Yeah. And I need to tell you something. Actually, I've been meaning to tell you, but never really had the guts to. I hit send. Levi read the message and took a minute to answer. You can tell me anything, Shel. I sat down in my bed. I feel like this will change how you see me. His response was almost immediate, as if he'd read my mind instead of my text. Judgement-free space. And you'll always be my best friend, no matter what. That night, I explained my powers to him, and how the university was for future heroes, and he didn't judge me. He thought it was cool and different. Somehow, we got into talking about how I met Connor, how he seemed to kind of like me but also hate me. Someone's got a boyfriend already! I shook my head, and told him goodnight, then laid in bed, pulling the covers up over my head before falling asleep.