Our whole group glowered at the two intruders.
"What do you want Lash?" Layla asked in annoyed tone of voice.
"I just want talk to light girl here. I haven't even found out here name. What is it, by the way?" he said to Beccah.
I stood up, the effort making me head reel for a moment. I looked him in the eye the best I could being a foot and a half shorter than him.
"May I talk to you outside?" I said.
I walked out side and he followed, which surprised me.
"Well?" he said after I had stared him down sufficiently for several minutes.
"You seem to like my sister Beccah."
"Oh, that's her name."
"Yes, if you are attracted to her I see no reason why you can't be her friend, but you will need to change some aspects of your behavior before you can be approved as good enough to be her friend"
"You have to approve of me before you will let me be your sisters friend?"
I gave him a deadpan stare before I answered. the wind stared to rise and swirl around us as I spoke.
"I love my sister very much. I will not let you or anyone else hurt her. Your treatment of others has so far shown me that you will not treat my sister with respect and kindness. If you don't want to find out just how powerful I am I suggest you either stop bothering her or start behaving in a more gentlemanly like manner."
I turned and walked back to the cafeteria.
When I sat down at the table again the others looked at me expecting some kind explanation of what had happened outside. Since I didn't supply the answer voluntarily Zach asked,"Why did you want to talk to Lash?"
"Who?" I asked.
"The guy you just took outside," Magenta said in a "duh" kind of voice.
"Oh, I needed to explain to him I wasn't a person he should mess with."
"And just how did you do that?" Layla wanted to know.
I just smiled and took another sip of my ginger ale.
The rest of the day passed with very little trouble. Layla made sure I knew how to get to all my classes and would come running up between classes to check on me.
As we walked out of the school to go home I looked at the dreaded bus.
"Is there any way to get home without the bus?" I asked.
"Yeah, but you have to get special permission from Principle Powers." said Ethan.
"Where can I find this Principle of Powers?" I said.
"In her office."
"Show me the way."
Ethan lead me back into the school and started down a confusing path of twist and turns before we ended up in front of a large white door.
"Here you are!" he said cheerfully," I've got to run or I'll miss my bus. See you later."
I knocked on the door and waited for an answer... There was none. I knocked again, but still no answer.
I heard voices down the hall and trouged toward them to see if they knew where Principle Powers was. Luckily one of them did. It is always good if one knows where ones self is.
Principle Powers and Warren and Speed and Lash were all standing outside a door waiting for Principle Powers to open it.
"I can't believe that you tried to burn Mr. Wilks again. He is a shape shifter and he does like to tease you by imitating you , but that does not give you the right to try and blast him," she was saying to Warren.
He didn't seem to be listening very well though. I walked up and asked," Hi, I'm looking for Principle Powers. I have-"
"Not you too," she said angrily,"What's your name?"
"Correta Pride, but I don't know what-"
"I don't want to hear excuses," Principle Powers said,"Come in. Don't try and fight because all powers are stopped in this room. I will come and get you four in one hour."
She stalked out of the room before I could say anything else.
"Why are you in here?" Lash wanted to know.
"I don't know. What is this room?"
"It's detention, duh"
"Detention! I can't be in detention! I haven't done anything bad," I exclaimed.
" What did you come in here for?" Warren asked.
" I wanted to get permission to not take the bus home."
"Why?" he wanted to know.
"Remember me throwing up in the bushes this morning. That was because I rode on the bus. I don't handle roller coasters and the like well."
"Yeah... I can see that."
We sat in silence for a little while.
"So, what do you do in detention?" I asked.
"You just sit here, you dork," Speed supplied.
"You don't have to do anything else for punishment? You don't have to do some chore or write a paper on how you were wrong?" I said in disbelief.
"No, you just sit and stay out of trouble," said Warren laughing at my naivety.
"That isn't even a real punishment," I said.
"Tell me about it," said Warren," I just get a chance to read more."
"What are you reading?"
"Right know I'm reading Much Ado About Nothing."
"OHHHH! I love that one. That is probably my favorite of Shakespeare's plays."
"Yeah, it's pretty interesting so far."
"You guys are such dorks. Who reads Shakespeare in their spare time?" Speed said.
"No Latin, no Greek, and no Shakespeare," I said in a dry British accent.
"What?" said Lash and Speed as Warren cracked up laughing.
"She just called you guy's idiots," Warren said through his laughter. I thought the guy was going to split a gut he was laughing so hard.
"The American school system doesn't have kids learn a lot of Greek, Latin, or Shakespeare. Things the rest of the world consider vital to a classical education," I explained.
"Whatever," said Lash.
"Did you have that kind of education?" Warren asked.
"Yeah," I said, "My mom home schooled my four sisters and I while my dad worked for the government and we had to move around a lot. We were lucky to get to see a lot of the place that we learned about like the Louvre, castles, cathedrals, and a whole lot of museums."
"That's pretty cool," Warren said.
"How did you get interested and Shakespeare and all that stuff?" I asked.
"My mom is from China and lived in England when she was a little girl, and she moved hear when she went to college. She wanted me to have a good education so she read to me a lot of the classics when I was a kid. I eventually just started to read those kind of books for myself."
"So I guess that both of us were taught by our parents to love learning and reading," I said.
"I just finished reading Sophocles play Antigone. I didn't fully comprehend it until my dad explained to me some of the aspects of Greek culture then. Like the idea of huberous and the Greek gods," I said.
"I want to read after this some of C.S. Lewis' work's. I heard that he was a brilliant philosopher"
"He was," I said with conviction," I would start with his autobiography Ode to Joy. Then if you are interested in his philosophy stuff read Mere Christianity. I read it and I took me a month to read because it was so deep. I would read a section and then have to put it down for a day so I could think about what I had just read."
"Didn't he also write some fantasy books?" Warren asked.
"Yeah, The Chronicles of Narnia are some of the best fiction out there. Second of course to Lord of the Rings by Tolkien."
The conversation continued until Principle Powers come in.
"Ms. Pride I am very sorry. I explained the situation to your parents and they know you didn't get in trouble," she said.
"Oh, it's okay. I realize you were under a lot of stress at that moment," I replied.
"Thank you for being so gracious about it all."
"The reason I came up to you is I wanted to know how I could get permission to not take the bus home. I can fly," I said as we walked out of detention.
"To do that you need someone to show you how to get from here to your home. When you prove that you are able to get back and forth with out any trouble you pass the flying test and then your good to go. That proses takes about a week."
"A week!" I yelled," I can't wait that long. I need to get home without the bus today."
"I'm afraid that just isn't possible," she said apologetically.
"I'll do anything, please don't make me get on that bus. It's the most terrifying thing I have ever experienced and I'm growing up with four sisters who all have super powers. Please!"
Principal powers looked ruffled. I guess the first day of a school like this was a really big hassle." There is nothing I can do right now. I'm sorry," She turned on her heel and started walking away.
"Wait. To pass your flight test you need to have practice with a school trainer right?"Warren's voice echoed down the hall. Principal Powers turned around.
" Yes that is true Mr.Peace, but there is no trained professional here and I'm late for a meeting with the board of Global Education." She looked at him as if expecting an argument. He gave her one.
"I've spent a considerable amount of time with Will and he's constantly flying and so I know how it works and stuff. So you could make me a one of the schools flying representatives and so it would be inside the school's rules. Plus I'm sure Coreta knows what she's doing."
"I could do that Mr. Peace, but that would leave the question of how you would get home or help her. The trainer flies along with the student and that power is not in your domain."
Warren stood thinking with his brows knitted tightly together. Suddenly his face slackened and he smiled."I know!" he exclaimed with more energy then I had seen in him all day. "Can you carry me?"
"I don't know," I said unsure,"hold still and don't squirm."
I concentrated and started the create a wind to blow him up. He lifted off the ground, but didn't go very far up. I stopped and thought for a minute. "Here get on my back in piggy-back style and don't let go." I said.
He put his arms around me and held on tight. I lifted up and was able to maneuver without to many problems. I turned around to face Principle Powers. "I can hold him like this for a while and I can still fly pretty well."
She looked at me for a moment, making sure that my flight didn't waver at all. "Alright Ms. Pride, but don't you drop him."
"Yes ma'am," I said.
I flew out of the school and toward the bus stop. I told Ron that I was flying home and he wished me luck and told me to be careful.
"Which way?" I asked Warren.
"That way," he said pointing.
I took off and soared happy to not have to go on the bus and be part of the wind for just a moment.