Two boys spar in the room, slamming into each other like wrecking balls. One nails the other with a right hook which sends him stumbling. Sweeping one leg out from underneath him means that the slightly shorter blonde boy is the winner.

"Damn. I'm pretty sure this is a safety hazard. Do I have to sign release papers?" I say casually turning to Connor. I'm standing in the middle of their makeshift gym thingy.

It's probably about 2 in the morning and I'm clutching a massive cup of coffee. I may or may not of snuck out of my window.

To be perfectly honest though my parents really should have seen this coming when they put my bedroom window right beside a tree.

Not my fault if they gave me the tools to accomplish my goals. Despite the surge of adrenaline from sneaking out for the first time I'm still yawning and I'm in no mood whatsoever to do what appears to be a workout.

"Well we've had a few broken arms and dislocated shoulders but nothing that we can't handle."

"You're kidding right?" I glare at him and he laughs. Probably because I'm about as intimidating as a baby chihuahua. "Connor." He walks into the room.

"Connor! You are kidding?" "Come on Ari." Sighing I abandon my coffee and follow him. "Ari?" "I know. I hate it. You need a better nickname." "What's wrong with Ari?" I say, affronted. My brothers call me Ari all the time.

"Too little girly. You need something cooler." I refrain from mentioning that compared to absolutely everyone in the room, I am a little girl. Emphasis on the little. "Ok. Let's start." Jon and Luke walk over, Luke elbowing Jon in triumph.

"What are we doing?" I feel slightly uncomfortable in a tank top which has my mark on full display to everyone. I'm so used to hiding it that having it out like this is screwing with my brain. Plus it's literally skin tight.

"Running laps." Luke smirks at me and I'm suddenly wishing for my coffee back just do I have something to do other than blush. "Seriously you brought me here just to run laps!"

"Yes." Luke shrugs, completely unabashed. The expression on his face is so condescending that I just want to kick him or punch him or really any kind of physical contact.

I close my eyes tightly trying to resist punching him in his stupid face. His stupid hot face that looks like it's been carved by angels with flashing green eyes and high cheekbones and…..

Ok I need to stop.

We hate Luke. That little obnoxious voice in the back of my head pipes up with its opinion, No we think he's hot. Ever had a mental argument with yourself?

Seriously not fun and you never win. The second my eyes open, I see they've already started running.

It's a slow jog so I keep up easily. I'm not exactly in bad shape but I'm not in as good as shape as they are. Slowly Luke starts to increase his pace and the others follow suit.

"Don't worry if you can't keep up Sweetheart." He shouts sarcastically back at me and something fires in my blood. I extend my legs and push past him until I'm just a step ahead.

He starts moving faster and then were matching each other stride for stride. I can feel our elbows rubbing together, can hear his breathing almost directly in my ear. I don't even realize how fast we're going. All I know I'd I want to beat him so bad.

I'm slowly pulling ahead, even though I'm short, my legs are long for my frame. Also I'm fast. I'm sprinting now, and finally I notice something.

The room is blurring, I can't pick out actual features of the room at all. I slide to a stop, confusion etched on my face.

"Well we've found what you're good at." Connors amused voice slides through the air. "How fast was I…?" Connor shrugs. "About 60 k/hr. Faster than any of us have been able to go."

60. 60 kilometers an hour. I was going a speed of a car.

"That's impossible." I choke out. Connor smirks, "not with the mark."

…..

"This is so not a good idea." I mutter. I'm standing awkwardly on one of the blue mats, watching Luke standing across from me. Connor and Jon are already fighting across from us.

"Ok let's see what you know." Shifting from foot to foot I stare at him. Honestly right now I'm expecting him to grab a punching bag and make me punch it.

What I don't expect is him to start moving towards me himself. "Wait…." Obviously he doesn't wait. It's Luke so I don't know what I expected. He throws a punch and I duck, every instinct I have goes into overdrive.

Adrenaline is pumping through my veins. My fist connects with his jaw, harder than probably both he and I expected. In return I feel a stinging pain on my side which briefly knocks the wind out of me. I stumble sideways, without time to right myself another fist hits my cheek.

That one doesn't hurt so much but I bet the kick that hit his shoulder did. It might have hurt me more but still. He pushes me backwards and I stumble, sliding to the ground.

He wins but I still feel anger burning through me like in the race. "What the hell was that?" I demand.

"Fighting. You should try it sometime."

"No warning. No practise. Nothing. You knew I hadn't done any of this before." He shrugs, completely unconcerned. He's not even looking at me.

"That was a dick move." I snap. He finally turns to me and his green eyes are no longer peaceful but snap with anger.

"You think that's a dick move. Out there absolutely savant hates our guts and will literally shoot us on sight or hand us over to people who will. Out there, someone attacks when you're unprepared, it's not a dick move, it's reality. That is our reality. And I'm sorry but if you can't handle it than you should probably walk out that door right now, go home because you are useless to us."

He's mere inches away from me and his eyes are stone cold.

"Maybe you'll even do your family a favor and get yourself shot."

"Jerk." I snarl. I can't deny it though. His words have settled in and are destroying any confidence I gained.

Useless. Isn't that what I am to my family? A fake savant girl who's mother hates her and whose father ignores her.

"Pathetic." He answers with a cruel smirk written across his face.

"I hate you."

"Right back at you." Thera so much anger and guilt and sadness and fear all combining in my mind that I can't even handle it right now.

I back away, searching for something to use. He watches in a cold amusement which shatters very quickly when I pick up a dumbbell and throw it at his head. He ducks of course but his face when he straightens out is murderous.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He yells and I ignore him and walk past. Towards the door and my coffee.

"Good thing it didn't hit you. I don't think you can deal with the loss of a few more brain cells."

And with that I exit the room.

…..

Luke's POV

"What the hell is wrong with you?" My anger shoots to the surface, mirroring the look in her eyes.

She wants to kill me as much as I want to kill her. She shoulders past me and I stare at the hole in the wall behind, where a fricken dumbbell hit.

"Good thing it didn't hit you. I don't think you can deal with the loss of a few more brain cells." She snaps and walks out if the room. I pretend not to notice, her hair wafting behind her. Or the way she walks, balanced on her toe. Exactly the way she used to. Their eyes are even almost the exact same shade of brown.

There's a long silence where Jon and Connor are staring at me open-mouthed. I reach off to grab the dumbbell. It's 100 pounds.

Holy crap, she thew 100 pounds at my head. With ease. A slight sense of guilt fills me, I shouldn't have called her useless. If she lift like this, can run like that and fight like that without being trained than who knows what she could be capable of later.

And just because my family.. . Well it doesn't mean hers will. It's still silent until Connor pipes up.

"I ship it." Jon turns to him, completely incredulous.

"Shut up Connor." I say casually. It's just a reflex now. I set the dumbbell down and move to walk out the door.

"Say sorry." Jon says calmly.

"Tell her you love her." Connor cheers but instantly falls quiet at my glare. I walk out of the door and I'm instantly greeted by a scowling girl who looks like she would like nothing better than to rip my head off.

This is going to be fun.

Authors Note

So a little bit of insight into what Luke's thinking. He's being a bit of a Jerk right now but in a few chapters that's all going to change once we find out why. And Connor is totally my favourite right now! Anyway any guess about who I modeled Aria after? A lot of her character comes from another book series… I'd love to see if anyone can guess!