His cheeks turn bright red like an overripe tomato and his hands begin to glow. Many would have backed down and tried to placate Blyke with soothing phrases to deescalate the tension. Instead I stared him down, my cerulean eyes focused on his golden ones.

"Blyke?"

Coming around the corner, Isen had just spotted us. Noticing Blyke's glowing eyes and hands, he joined us in less than a millisecond. Placing his hand on Blyke's arm, he tried to diffuse the tension.

"Blyke, did you forget your watch at home? You're late for chemistry."

"I don't give a fork about chemistry. Do you know who this is?"

His pointed finger, glowing red, came within an inch of my eye. If I blinked, I knew my eyelash would come into contact with its tip. Still, I did not flinch. Isen must have felt uncomfortable because he cleared his throat a few times. Then softly, Isen asked, "It's the new girl, right? I believe I was told that a new girl would be starting at Wellston today. Her name is Eleanor, or Elizabeth, or something."

"Eloise, and she's also the girl who took Joker's side on Friday."

"Ahh!"

Since Isen had been unable to distract Blyke, Isen turned to address me.

"So how do you know the Joker?"

I could tell from the change in his voice that he was already studying me like a possible new subject for his newspaper. After all, Isen was Head of Press, and it would be remiss of him to turn down such a juicy interview opportunity.

Sick of the macho attitude that Blyke was exhibiting, I ducked underneath his outstretched arm, spun around him and ended up on the other side of Isen. All of this had occurred so fast that both Blyke and Isen were caught off guard.

"Isen, right? John and I are childhood friends."

Looking down at my watch I see that I am now fifteen minutes late for my class. This is not how I envisioned my first day. I hope I do not get detention. Urgh!

"I'd love to talk more but right now I have to get to my world history class. How about we meet up after school in the press office?"

Readjusting my school bag on my shoulder and without waiting for their reply, I gave a slight nod towards the boys before I began to walk down the hall. In the reflection of the windowpanes on my right, I saw the boys' reaction to my departure.

Isen had finally been able to put an arm around Blyke's shoulders and calm him down. Blyke's eyes had faded back into their natural golden yellow hue and his hands were down by his side. Isen whispered something to Blyke that I did not catch and then they turned and walked away.

Finally, I found classroom 4-B and I opened the door. In the front of the classroom, Ms. Woodbeam stood glaring at me.

"Eloise, thank your for gracing us with your presence. Detention!"

The rest of the class snickered, then fell totally silent when Ms. Woodbeam faced them.

"Take your seat! Not another peep from you for the rest of class."

I moved my way between the rows of desk, until I reached the last row. There a small, chipped desk stood, which I slowly slid into. That was the wrong move as I felt no fewer than a dozen splinters of wood enter the fragile soft skin of my thighs.

"Ouch!" I muffled my ouch within my elbow, but still my closest classmates turned around and gave me glares. I activated my ability and imagined the seat was the soft, smooth bark of a willow tree, and I smoothed out the rough, ragged edges.

O bother! A military strict teacher is one thing, a classroom filled with mini-soldiers ingrained with the same behaviors is another. This was going to be a long class, and an even longer year.

I took out my notebook and pencil and began to quickly write down everything from the whiteboard. When I had caught up, I was able to pay more attention to the lecture and slowly, with my non-dominant left hand, I began to pick out the splinters one by one.

By the time I had extracted the last splinter from my buttocks, the bell rang. Lunch time!

I made my way towards the lunchroom and spotted John in line. Sliding in behind him, I poked him on the shoulder.

"So, how was your morning?"

"Don't ask. I turned in the Mockingbird essay to Ms. Wrighter. Now my grade is in her hands."

I patted him gently on the shoulder.

"Yeah. I also had a tough morning. I got detention for being late to Ms. Woodbeam's class."

"Yikes, Eloise. On your first day. You might get the reputation of being a bad girl."

I rolled my eyes at his attempt at making a joke.

"You'll never guess who I met in the hall before I was late to world history."

"Okay, I'll play. Who did you meet?"

"Blyke and Isen. They wanted to know how we knew each other. I said we were childhood friends and that if they wanted to know more, we could talk after school in the press room. Do you want to come with me?"

I looked at him with big puppy dog eyes. He had no choice now but to join me.

"Fine, I'll come," he said with a shrug.

We got our food from the lunch ladies and sat down to eat outside on some picnic benches. When we finished and were about to split up for class, I made sure to remind John of the meeting again.

"So, I'll see you in the press room after my detention then?"

"Yeah, I guess so."