The Wanderers Beginning: The Wanderers, Reborn, & Unforgiven (75 page)

             
After I finished eating I decided to go find Gabe and talk to him about the extra training sessions Aidan wanted me to take. Then I was going to try and find Riley. She wasn’t at dinner and I wanted to apologize to her for the other day.

             
I didn’t know which room Gabe was in and students were not allowed to roam freely in the teachers’ dorms, so I asked the woman at the front office if she could see if Gabe was in his room. She told me she would buzz him and see if he was available. I had a seat in one of the chairs and waited. She told me he wasn’t in his room, but I could check the gym, he was usually there training. I thanked her and bundled up as I made my way outside.

             
The receptionist turned out to be right. Gabe was in the gym training someone. I couldn’t see who it was that he was training. When Gabe saw me, he stopped what he was doing and came over to talk to me. “Miss Ella, how is everything? Are you okay?”

             
“Hey Gabe, yeah, I’m fine. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” I said, gesturing to the kid on the other side of the gym.

             
“You’re not interrupting. I always have time for you.” He turned back to the boy and shouted, “Roman, do a few laps until I’m done here.”

             
“Wait, Roman as in Roman Ashby?” I asked.

             
“Yes. He asked if he could get a few extra training sessions and after what I heard happened in class I believe he could use them.”

             
I snickered to myself. “What exactly did you hear?” I wanted to know if he knew the truth or just another made up story.

             
“Mr. Miller had told me that a new student had gotten the upper hand on him which surprised me because Roman is one of the top contenders in that class.”

             
“Did he tell you who that student was?” I asked as Roman ran up to us.

             
“Come here to watch me or challenge me to a match?” Roman said cockily.

             
“If I remember correctly, a match with you isn’t that much of a challenge,” I said, making his smile turn into a scowl. Gabe catching on, started to laugh, then quickly covered it up with a cough. 

             
“Roman, five laps outside,” Gabe said. Roman glared at me one more time before he took off. Gabe turned back to me. “So, what can I do for you?” He gestured to the bleachers for us to have a seat.

             
“Mr. Callahan had approached me and suggested I talk to you about taking some extra training sessions,” I told him.

             
“Ah, yes. I have talked to him and Mr. Miller and they both agree you have the potential. You just need some discipline. I’m willing to work with you, but I’m going to let you know that I will not take it easy on you. I will be as tough on you as I would be on any of my students and you must commit one hundred percent.”

             
“I think I can manage,” I said, hoping he was kidding about the part where he said he would be tough on me. Gabe told me he would let me rest for the week and that we could start our sessions on Monday. I thanked him and left the gym in search of Riley. It was getting late so I was hoping I could catch her in her room. I tried there first, but her roommate said she was at the library. So that’s where I headed next.

I found her sitting at one of the computer tables in the far left corner. I walked over and had a seat in the empty chair next to her. “Hey Riley I –” She put up her finger for me to wait and started mumbling something about how she was almost finished finding something. I closed my mouth and waited patiently. When she was done, she turned to me with her hands folded neatly in her lap.

              “Riley, I want to apologize about the other day. I’m so sorry about what happened, I –”

             
“No need. He said yes,” she said, stopping my apology.

             
“He said yes?” I smiled, excited. Riley nodded, sporting a super grin of her own. “How? When?”              

             
“Well, after you and Roman’s little, whatever you want to call it, I didn’t know what to say so I just left. Justin came and found me later and told me he’d love to and he even said he wouldn’t mind if it was just the two of us,” she said giddy.

             
“Oh my god, Riley, that’s awesome. I’m so happy for you! So, you gonna go solo?”

             
“Oh no, no, no. I still need you guys there.”

             
“Okay, no problem. We’ll be there,” I assured her and she relaxed. “I’m just glad you’re not mad at me.”

             
She looked at me funny. “Why would I be mad at you?”

             
“Well, I kind of left you to the wolves, no pun intended,” I said and she giggled. “And then I hadn’t seen you so I thought you were avoiding me.”

             
“No, I’ve been very busy. What about you? You weren’t in powers class today, how come?” I think she might be the only one who hadn’t heard the rumors.

             
“Well, I kind of developed a new power during history class.”

             
“Ella that’s great!” she cheered, causing us to get shushed by the Liberian. She looked back to my sour face and lowered her voice. “Ella, why aren’t you excited about it?”

             
“Because I kind of freaked out when it happened. I already have people staring at me because of my blue streak and after freaking out in class I’m now on the top of the list for weirdest person here. I came here hoping to blend in and get lost in the background, but the first month is not even over yet and already I’ve become the side attraction at the circus.”

             
“Oh, Ella, I’m sorry you feel that way. Here I am all excited about Justin when you’re truly hurting and having issues. I’m such a bad friend,” she paused and looked at me shyly. “We are friends, right?”  she asked, making sure she was using the correct term. “I mean, I like you and I’d like to be your friend. You were one of the first people to actually talk to me and the only one who has been nice to me…” she rambled on and on.

             
“Riley!” She stopped. Technically, as far as I was concerned, Riley was a friend. Even though we only just met, I knew she was for real. She was someone who was honest and would be a true friend when you needed her. Not to mention the weird sensation I got to protect her. “Yes, we’re friends. And don’t worry about it. I always have issues, and I rather talk about you and Justin than my crazy day.” I forced a smile and she went into how she has no idea what she’s doing, or knows what to wear, or even what movie we should watch. I told her all she would have to worry about was showing up and the girls and I would take care of the rest. I was happy to know my mouth didn’t ruin Riley’s chance with Justin, but in my defense, Roman started it.

             
I hung with Riley in the library for a while and she caught me up on what I missed in class. They did breathing techniques like he mentioned on the first day. Oh, how I was disappointed I missed that. Riley noted my sarcasm and lectured me on how the importance of proper breathing is an essential part of having control over your powers. She sounded like she was quoting the teacher verbatim. She even demonstrated the techniques and made me practice them with her, which I did to make her happy.

             
When I got back to my room Mackenzie was asleep in her bed, thankfully. I changed into my pajamas and climbed into bed. I still didn’t know how I managed to stay calm with everything that happened. It seemed like each day was something new and it felt like I was being tested on how well I could handle what they threw at me. If they kept this up this might be one test I fail. I didn’t know how much more I could take. I didn’t even know how I hadn’t totally lost it already.

I woke up the next morning with a slight fear of what was going to happen. To my surprise today was the first normal day since I got here – with the exception of lunch and dinner. Once again, Roman was staring at me and this time Mackenzie caught him. She elbowed him in the ribs and stormed off. I was not looking forward to going back to our room later.

             
At the end of the day I spent a few hours in the library catching up on my work then retreated to my room for the night. When I got there Mackenzie was still awake. She gave me the silent treatment along with a few of her well-practiced scowls. Not a perfect day, but better and that was good enough for me. There was always tomorrow.

             
By Friday morning, I was happy it was almost the weekend. That happiness faded when I found Mackenzie standing at the end of my bed wearing her famous,
‘I’m pissed off look’
. “Seriously Mackenzie, this whole watching me sleep thing is kind of creeping me out,” I said, letting her know I could take on whatever she was about to throw at me.

             
“Please, I have to sleep with one eye open just to make sure you don’t try anything funny,” she spat. “I just want you to know, I know what you’re up to, and it’s not going to work.”

             
“That’s funny,” I said, scratching my head. “I don’t remember scheduling an evil plan against you? Care to fill me in?”

             
“Don’t get smart. You know what I’m talking about,” she said, crossing her arms tightly over her little but there chest.

             
“Clearly I don’t. So why don’t you just tell me what I did so we can get on with our day.”

             
“Roman,” she huffed.

             
“Roman,” I scrunched my brow. “What about Roman?”

             
“Keep your freak infested paws off of him,” she threatened with her hands on her hips.

             
I started to bust up laughing. “I’m so not interested in Roman. You have nothing to worry about,” I said, getting up out of bed. I headed to the bathroom and locked the door behind me before she had a chance to say anything else.

             
The second I walked into my history class, everyone stopped talking. They all stared and whispered as I made my way to the back of class and sunk down in my seat. They continued to whisper and look over their shoulders at me until Mr. Grant called the class to order. “Alright class, the door is closed. That means quiet,” Mr. Grant said.

             
“Yeah, we wouldn’t want Ella to freak out again,” Mackenzie said, getting a few chuckles from our classmates.

             
“That’s enough,” Mr. Grant yelled, silencing the class. The little bit of happy mood I had left was now completely gone. I was no longer looking forward to the weekend.

             
To make things more interesting, I forgot I had to sit next to Roman in my next class and we still hadn’t talked about the spell we were supposed to come up with. It was a good thing Ms. Kraft had given us a few extra days, although, the way things were going that might not be enough.

             
After everyone settled into their seats, Ms. Kraft told us we could use today to finish our spells which were due at the end of class. That left Roman and I the rest of class to actually come up with something. With Roman though, you never knew which side of him would show up and I had a feeling getting this project done would not be easy.

             
While everyone else got together to work on their spells Roman turned to me and asked, “So why’d you wig out the other day in History?”

             
“You know what, I’d rather not talk about it and frankly, it’s none of your business,” I said, opening my book and pretending to look something up.

             
“I guess you want to figure out this whole spell thing on your own than, because unless you tell me, I’m inclined to just sit here and stare at the ceiling,” he said, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back in his chair.

             
“Why do you even care?” I asked, feeling myself getting worked up and annoyed.

             
“Just curious,” he said, still staring at the ceiling.

             
“Didn’t you ever hear the expression curiosity killed the cat?”

             
He looked down and smiled at me. “I’ll take my chances.”

             
“You’re really going to just sit there if I don’t tell you what happened?”

             
“Yep,” was all he said.

             
“Fine,” I replied, not wanting to fail this project because I got stuck with an asshole partner. “I got a new power and it was a little overwhelming.”

             
“A little overwhelming? You screamed and passed out hitting your head on a desk,” he gestured to the now Smurf’s band aid that replaced the white gauze. The Smurfs band aid was all Dixon’s doing, despite my protest.