Chapter 2

"So after the science on identifying the aura gene was shared, each country has started to incorporate a test to identify active aura genes in their population. This is used to identify Auras, hopefully before their aura manifests. Of course that causes problems of its own as humans treat us differently, hence why you are here. But that will be discussed in your ethics class next year. Now-"

Brrriiiiiinnnng

"Alright, dismissed." Dr Tate waved her classes away.

"Lunch time!" Tyson grinned. "Come on Maxie, Katerina."

Max chuckled as Tyson zipped out of the room. "He hasn't changed over the summer holidays." He glanced down at Kat. "We should follow him, he could seriously get himself into trouble."

Kat giggled. "Sure, call me Kat by the way."

Max nodded. "Kat then." Kat followed Max out of the room and down the hall where everyone was heading to lunch.

"Kat!"

Kat spun around, barely reacting in time to catch Mariah's body as she flung herself into her friend. "Jeez Mariah."

Mariah beamed. "Sorry, I'm just excitable."

"Mariah, stop attacking her already." A cool voice laughed and Marium followed the pinkette through the crowd.

"Hey Marium." Kat smiled.

"Hey Kat, Maxie." Marium smiled, moving to Max's side as he planted a kiss on her temple. Kat blushed at the display of affection.

"Umm, do you all know each other or something in this school?" Kat tried to joke.

Max, Marium and Mariah looked at each other and laughed.

"It is a pretty small school Kat." Mariah giggled. "Only about 450 kids and when you have those 450 spread throughout grades 1 to 14, you pretty much know everyone in your grade."

Kat smiled softly, happy that they laughed. "Sorry, I've just always gone to big city schools."

"It is a change in pace for sure." Max nodded. "Come on we should go to the dining hall before Tyse and Hils go at it after not seeing each other for months."

Marium laughed. "Good call."

As they entered the dining hall, they could hear Tyson babbling along with another student about the awesome food they had.

"Oh my god, look at the hamburgers! That's like a 1/3 pound of beef right there!" Tyson exclaimed.

"No, look at this ice cream sundae set up!" The kid grinned. "My sweet tooth is going crazy right now."

"Tyson….." Max said patiently. "Chill out and leave some food for the rest of us, huh?"

Tyson grinned. "Yea, yea Maxie. Sure. OI!" He shouted, slapping the kid's hand away. "I shottied that chicken wing!"

"No you didn't!" The student growled, starting a tug-of-war with Tyson over the wing.

"Seriously?" Marium scoffed.

Mariah sighed. "Boys….what are you going to do?"

"Hey, we're not all that bad Riah." A voice chuckled behind her. Mariah and the others turned around to Ray. Behind him was Kai and red head with sharp ice blue eyes.

"No, thankfully you aren't" Mariah smiled as she leaned up and pressed her lips to his quickly.

"Ewwww, get a room you two." The red head snickered as Ray smirked and Kai rolled his eyes.

"Zip it Tala." Mariah growled. "What would Jules say if she heard you?" Tala Valkov paled and everyone laughed.

"Oh shut up." Tala frowned.

"Whipped." Kai smirked.

"You be quiet." Tala pointed a finger at his best friend. Kai rolled his eyes and walked away towards an empty table.

"Tala shut up and introduce yourself to our new friend." Ray rolled his eyes. "Tala, this is Katerina Ivanov. She's new, and she's a junior."

"H-Hey." Kat bit her lip, unsure what to think of the red-head.

"Hey Gorgeous." Tala grinned, flipping a switch. "Tala Valkov, at your service." He took her hand and kissed the back of it, causing Kat to blush scarlet and lose the ability to speak.

Max rolled his eyes and took Tala's ear in his hand and dragged him away from Kat, shouting over his shoulder at Tyson. "Come on Tyse! Lets head to the table now!"

"Coming!" Tyson grinned, balancing food on his three plates.

"Let go Max! I promise I won't flirt anymore!" Tala pleaded as he stumbled after the blond, his ear still in Max's grasp.

Kat blinked, still in shock. Mariah took pity on her and wrapped an arm around her, leading her to the table. "Come on Kat, don't worry about Tal. He's just a big flirt, but he really likes Julia, so you don't have to worry."

Kat nodded dumbly. She had never been hit on by anyone, she really didn't know how to handle it. "O-Ok." She finally managed to spit out at Mariah sat her down next to Kai at the opposite end of the table from Tala.

Kai raised an eyebrow at the girl sitting next to him, her eyes unseeing. He glanced up at Mariah as she sat on the girl's other side.

Mariah smirked. "Tala flirted with her and I don't think she knows how to handle it."

Kai nodded and went back to his lunch, glancing at Kat every few seconds from the corner of his eye.

"Hey everyone." Julia smiled as she bounded over, Hilary following. "Hey Kat." She furrowed her eyebrows, looking at the girl.

"Kat are you ok?" Hilary asked, touching the brunette's shoulder.

Mariah giggled. "Tala hit on her and she's freaking out, still."

"Tala! You did what!" Julia growled, shaking her fist in his direction. Tala paled and tried to crawl under the table, but she grabbed him by the collar as everyone but Kai and Kat laughed.

As Julia scolded him for scaring their new friend and flirting with another girl, Kai bumped his hand against Kat's thigh. Kat shook her head, coming out of her mind and looking over at Kai. Kai didn't look at her and she was about to look away when his whispered voice floated over to her. "Take it as a compliment that Tal flirted with you. He hasn't flirted with anyone since he started to get serious about Jules." Kat bit her lip as she looked away. Take it as a compliment? A compliment of what? She was average, nothing special. Sure she had an active aura gene, everyone in the school did, but her aura hadn't manifested yet and that was odd, unheard of. So other then being a freak, she wasn't sure why anyone would compliment her.


Lunch ended too soon in Kat's opinion and soon she was following Mariah and Max to Aura Control.

"Welcome class. I'm Brooklyn Kingston, but call me Mr Kingston. This is Aura Control for juniors. Now," He started as he walked back and forth in front of the class, brushing his orange hair out of his dark green eyes. "you all know what your elemental aura is and some of you might have as much as 10 years experience with your aura, some maybe only a year or two. This class is here to help you either learn basic control over your aura, expand on what you have already been taught or maybe both."

After his talk, Brooklyn split the class into smaller groups to practice some small control maneuvers. Brooklyn walked down the aisle and smiled as he got to Kat and Mariah and Max who had started practicing. "Hey Kitty."

Kat smiled a bit. "Hey Brook."

"Ty told me he was going to send you here this year, how are you holding up so far?" Brooklyn asked.

Max and Mariah raised their eyebrows at their professor and Kat talking and decided to listen in as the two talked.

"Ok, made a few friends." Kat smiled shyly as she looked over at Mariah and Max who looked like they weren't paying any attention to them but Kat knew they were hanging on every word.

Brooklyn chuckled, noticing the same thing, but not mentioning it. "Well, looks like you picked a good group. Has anything changed since I last saw you? Does it look like your aura will come to the surface?"

Kat bit her lip, shaking her head as she looked down. "No. No change which is why I don't know why Ty sent me here."

Brooklyn smiled sadly. "Maybe he wanted to give you a chance to finally feel at home and make some real friends. And he knows your safer here then in the human schools. Probably gives him peace of mind, knowing you're here within arms reach of his closest friends. Have you seen Mattie and Chief yet?"

Kat shook her head. "I have them next, and I've already met Emily and Mystel, but they've never met me before. I only know them through the pics Ty showed me and I don't think they know who I am from my name."

Brooklyn nodded and went to the back of the classroom, pulling something out of a drawer. He came back and placed it in her hands.

Kat rolled the orb around in her hands, watching as the liquid silver inside moved around as well. "What's in here?"

"It's called Liquid Aura." Brooklyn said. "Dr Tate actually invented it. It reacts to active aura genes. For instance, I know you posses an active gene because the silver is liquid, not solid." Brooklyn said, pointing to the liquid rolling around in the orb as Kat moved it around. "Now, for experienced aura users…" He gestured for Kat to hand him the orb and she did. "when we channel our power into the orb, the silver liquid will form a shape that represents the element your aura takes the form of. For instance, I'm a Crystal Aura. So….." He trailed off as his eyes closed. The silver liquid seemed to pulse for a moment before forming a pink jagged rock. "This is the liquids' interpretation of crystal." Brooklyn explained as he opened his eyes again. "Fire will make it glow red and look like a flame. Wind will cause it to spiral around in a circle. Lightning will create lightning bolts that will zip back and forth. Water will create waves within the orb. Earth will make the silver brown and create a mountain. Metal will solidify the silver liquid. Ice will make the silver form a snowflake. Wood will make the silver form a tree. And Plant will make the the silver green and vine-like. The 10 elements each have their own unique affect on Liquid Aura, so it makes it easy to identify what element your aura manifests as once you learn how to channel it into the orb. Some of the elements, including Fire, Crystal and Lightning will appear in different colors when manifested, based on personality and your ability level. For instance, I have two students right now who are Fire Auras and one has blue flames while the other has pure red flames. My crystal also manifests as black while I have a student who's crystal is pink." He pointed at Mariah as she smiled. Brooklyn nodded, giving Kat the orb back. "Just remember, it will come. Don't rush it, trust it."

"Thanks Brook." Kat smiled and Brooklyn walked away to help another student.

"So Brook?" Mariah asked as she rolled her chair into Kat's leaning close to her.

Kat bit her lip. "Umm yea. He's one of my brother's best friends. They went here together a few years ago."

Mariah nodded. "Cool and Ty? That's your brother?"

Kat smiled softly. "Yea, my older brother by 5 years."

"What was that talk about your aura not manifesting?" Mariah asked, cocking her head to the side.

Kat looked down at the orb in her lap. "Just that. It hasn't manifested yet, although Ty insisted that I come here now."

"Why would your brother insist, not your parents?" Max asked, curious.

"Yea…" Kat lowered her eyes, a hitch in her voice that the two immediately caught onto. "We lost our parents two years ago, right after Ty graduated from here."

"Oh my god Kat." Mariah teared up, grabbing the girl tightly into her arms. "I'm so sorry sweetie. We didn't mean to bring up painful memories."

"I-Its ok, y-you didn't know." Kat hiccuped through her response. "I'm sorry, please excuse me." Kat basically bolted out of the classroom and into the girl's bathroom. She locked herself into a stall and cried. She thought she had moved past crying hysterically at the mention of her parents, but apparently not. Ever since her mother and father died in a freak and tragic car accident with a drunk driver, Kat had felt empty inside. Her brother did as much as he could to help her past it, but he was a very active member in the Aura Community. And when allegations were brought forward about their parents being murdered because they had two aura children, he had his hands full.

Kat remembered growing up outcasted her entire life both in and out of school. Since her brother's active aura gene had manifested his abilities at five, very young for one to have active powers, her parents had tested her when she was only days old. So for her entire life she knew she was one of only 150,000 people in the world with an active aura gene, only 1/50,000 of the population. Her fellow students thought she was a freak and seemed to be waiting for her to explode when her aura manifested itself. She never had any friends and her brother couldn't do much as he was in Aura Academy. But even though her aura never manifested, no one would go near her, until now. She was finally in a place where everyone was the same, or at least mostly. Not all were Fire Auras or Plant Auras, but they were all Auras and knew about the fear the rest of the human race had of them. And fear made the other humans dangerous, unpredictable.

"Are you ok in there?"

Kat's head snapped up. She knew that voice. "J-Julia?"

"Yea? Are you ok?" Julia asked again. Kat opened the door and stepped out of the stall, only to lean against the wall. "Kat, are you ok?"

Kat smiled tightly. "I'm ok, Max just accidentally brought up my parents and I kinda lost them two years ago." She trailed off at the end, tears coming to her eyes.

"I'm so sorry Kat." Julia smiled sadly in return. "My brother and I lost our parents very young. Luckily we were born into a circus and our circus family raised us."

"I'm sorry Julia, seems like you've been where I am now." Kat sighed, but then a detail caught her attention. "Where is your brother now?"

"He's two years older then me and he graduated last spring along with Lee." Julia said. "I miss him. Only family I got left now."

"Sorry, again." Kat apologized.

"Don't worry about it. Nothing you can do." Julia smiled reassuringly. "Now, come on, I'm sure your professor is worried as is poor Maxie. He probably feels terrible."

Kat smiled a bit more brightly now that one person knew a little more about her. "Yea, you're right." She said as they walked out of the bathroom. "I'm ok now, thanks Julia."

Julia smiled and then waved, walking the other way. Kat spun around, only to be met with a chest as someone came around the same corner she was going around. Kat squealed and almost fell over backwards but something wrapped around her waist and held her up as her upper body bent backwards over the support.

"You make a habit of crashing into people?" A voice asked and Kat opened her eyes to see Kai looking down at her. Kat blushed as she realized he had his arm wrapped around her and was pulling her up to his chest, allowing her to get her feet back underneath herself.

"U-Um no?" Kat squeaked, embarrassed. Kai raised an eyebrow and let her go as she placed her feet underneath her. But the look disappeared as his eyes zeroed in on something.

"Where you crying?" Kai asked, trailing a dried tear stain down her cheek with his fingertip. The touch sent electric shivers down her spine and it took everything Kat had to stay upright and on her feet.

"Y-Yea. But I'm ok now." Kat was able to get out.

"No one hurt you did they?" Kai asked and if Kat wasn't mistaken, she heard some sort of protective edge in his voice.

"No! No!" Kat said quickly, waving her hands. "Nothing like that, Mariah and Max just accidentally brought up some bad memories is all. They didn't mean it. Don't worry about it."

Kai's eyes softened the tiniest bit. "Alright. I won't." He stepped away from her and in that moment, Kat felt something, but she couldn't pinpoint what it was. She didn't have time to dwell on it too bad though as the bell then rung and Kai nodded as he went to his next class.

"There you are Kat!" Mariah huffed as she ran up to her, Kat's bag in hand. "I'm still so sorry Kat. I-"

Kat held a hand up to stop her babbling, she was on an emotional roller-coaster right now and she just wanted it to stop. "Don't worry Mariah. I don't blame you. I just needed a moment is all." She smiled, reassuring the other girl.

Mariah smiled back, handing her, her backpack. "Alright. I can understand that. I'll see you after this next class?"

Kat nodded and Mariah ran off to her next class. She weaved her way through the crowd and found her next classroom, seeing Marium, Hilary and Tyson already sitting in the back, a spot open next to Marium and behind Tyson. She made her way back and sat down, saying hi to her friends as a small women with pink hair walked into the room, with matching pink eyes.

"Alright class, we are learning french in this class, anyone who thinks this is not the language they want to take, take your leave now and sign up for another language." The women smiled. "No takers? Good. I'm Mathilda Alster, just call me Mademoiselle A." She smiled at Kat and Kat nodded back before getting lost in thought as Mathilda continued to speak in french, teaching the class some basic greetings and ways to address people.

How could Kai have that effect on her? And why was he so much more expressive back in the hallway with her?


Statistics with Dr Kenny Saien, Hilary and Mariah flew by as Kat thought about her past again. School ended quickly and Kat followed the girls to the dormitory. Due to scheduling problems, the students hadn't been able to arrive early to settle into the dormitories before classes started and so everyone's stuff was waiting for them in their assigned rooms.

When they walked into the lobby, staff was there to direct the students to their rooms, with lists in their hands.

"Mariah Wong."

"Marium Flores."

"Julia Fernandez."

"Hilary Tatibane."

"Katerina Ivanov."

"Mariah, Marium and Hilary, you three are in a tripled room." One of the staff said.

"Julia and Katerina, you will room together across the hall." Another said.

The girls nodded and followed a guide to their rooms.

"Woah…" Mariah's jaw dropped as she opened their door.

"Holy shit." Marium cursed out her happiness.

"This is incredible…." Julia gaped as she opened her and Kat's door.

Kat and Julia's double room was wide and deep with room to spare. On opposite walls were queen sized beds with their own desks and chest of drawers. Each bed even had their own couch at the end of it. On the far wall was a fireplace with a huge flatscreen above it and on either side were a pair of double doors that lead to a balcony.

The triple was set up a little differently, having to maneuver around three beds, but it was slightly bigger to accommodate the extra person. On the two opposite walls was the same set up, but where the fireplace was in the double, another bed was set up with it's own desk, couch and chest of drawers. Instead, the fireplace was in the middle of the room with three separate walls facing each bed, with it's own tv and the bottom open to all sides. In both rooms, a small kitchenette was on the same wall as the door to the hall. There was a full sized fridge, sink, oven and stovetop and an ample amount of storage room.

In one word, the rooms were luxurious. And no one was expecting that.

"This is ours?" Kat asked rhetorically. She walked into the room and found her bags in the middle of the room along with Julia's.

"Hey look, we have our our bathroom and walk in closet!" Julia exclaimed, opening a door on her side of the room. "Holy shit its big." Kat jogged over to see the pristine bathroom with granite counter-tops and tiled floors. There were double sinks, a vanity and a separate door for the shower and toilette. There was also a sliding door that lead to a really nice sized walk-in closet, with plenty of space for their clothes.

"This is like a luxury condo, not a dormitory." Kat whispered, but Julia was easily within range and she nodded dumbly in response.

"I'M GOING TO DIE IN LUXURY!" The could hear Mariah scream as they heard her run across the room and then a mumbled 'oof' as she probably landed on her bed.

Kat and Julia laughed as they walked into the hall and to their friend's door to see that Mariah was indeed buried under a mound of pillows, Hilary and Marium shaking their heads in disbelief.

"Who the hell is screaming like a banshee?"

Kat took a step back to see Tala and Kai now standing behind them.

"Hey boys, it's Riah." Julia laughed. "She's very pleased with the revamped dorms. Seems like we got a mighty big upgrade this summer."

"I'll say, someone had to have donated a huge bundle of money to the school for us to get all of this." Tala nodded as Julia started walking back to her room to unpack. Kat bit her lip as she felt Kai's curious gaze on her as she followed her new roommate back to their room.

As the girls started unpacking their things a silence overcame the room as Tala relaxed on Julia's couch and Kai leaned against the fireplace. Kat squirmed in her skin at the silence. It might be comfortable for those three, but the silence was stifling for her.

"So Julia told me that you two have been friends since you were kids." Kat bit her lip, trying to start up a conversation.

Kai rolled him eyes. "Unfortunately."

"Hey! I'm the best thing that ever happened to you Sourpuss!" Tala retorted, pointing a finger at him. "Without me, you would just be grunting at the rest of the world."

Kai rolled his eyes again and then closed then. "Hn."

Tala sighed and flipped him off as Kat smiled a bit and Julia snorted. Kai saw Kat's small smile and a half smile wormed its way to his lips.


So this is the second re-written chapter. As you can see already, I've changed characters around, the group has shrunk down in size and the academy acceptance rules were changed. Also I've made Kat more timid and vulnerable, as much as I can write it anyway. Hope you all like it!