Dani

As Instructor Cole ran down the hall carrying me to the infirmary and Raidon carrying an unconscious Mia beside me, I almost blacked out. Almost. Instead I took deep breaths so that I wouldn't pass out, I felt like I needed to prove to our instructor that I was strong, even though I had just formed a tornado with Mia. The way that I was jumping about since he was running didn't help much either.

Despite my efforts, I couldn't hold up my head up a moment longer. I rested it on Instructor Cole's chest and he flinched, surprised. My cheeks burned, but I couldn't lift my head back up, so I left it where it was. I wasn't really surprised to find that the instructor had very defined muscles, he had probably been training for years.

"Is this the part where you rip off your cloths to heal my wounds?" I asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

"If you wanted me to take my shirt off, you should have just asked." He told me sarcastically, winning a smile from me. Then he looked forward again, very concentrated on getting to the hospital as if he was shocked he had said that. I was too, from what I could tell he never talked with anyone like that, he must have only talked like this when he wasn't training.

It seemed like forever until we got to the infirmary and I was laid down on a cot and a nurse rushed over to check on us. Cole left to go work on instructor stuff or something. She went to Mia first, who had the worst injuries. The nurse felt her pulse. "She'll wake up in an hour or so." she told us and then moved on to me.

She checked my pulse, flashed a light in front I my eyes to make sure I didn't have a concussion, and pressed around to find any broken bones, I didn't have any. "You can head back to your room now." she told me, so I stood up and walked out of the room and was shocked to see that Instructor Cole was waiting outside leaning against the wall beside the door. When he noticed me he stood up straight again.

"Why are you still out here?" I asked him.

"You don't need to know what I do, I'm your instructor." he told me.

"You aren't teaching me anything now though." I retorted. He gave me a funny look and then started walking with me to my room.

"You did well in training today." he told me.

"Yeah, up until I almost blew up the school." I said sarcastically, feeling slightly upset and embarrassed that I hadn't done anything better on my first day.

"Practice makes perfect."

"What if no amount of practice will make me as good as the others?" I asked. I don't know why I felt like I could open up to him, I barely knew him and most of the time he had been pretty mean. I wasn't even sure that he knew my name, the only thing he had called me was Fire! That might have been what made me talk to him though, I wouldn't care if he judged me.

"You have the potential to be a great Elemental, Danica." he told me sincerely. So he did know my name, I thought to myself.

"Thank you Instructor Cole. Oh, and you can call me Dani, everyone does."

"Well, if I'm going to call you Dani, then you can call me Cole. I don't like formalities." he told me. I smiled at him then and walked into my room. It was free time now, but I had intended to spend it with Mia. What was I going to do now?

I laid on my bed and considered taking a nap, but there was a knock on the door. "Who is it?" I asked.

"Conrad." the person told me.

"You can come in." I told him. Conrad then opened the door and sat down beside me out of breath. "What is it?" I asked, still laying down.

"It's Iris!" he told me.

"What about her?" I asked, confused. She was a sweet and adorable girl from what I could tell.

"She's been following me around the entire break! I need a break from her!" he exclaimed. I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. "What is it?" he asked.

"It looks like Jade has a crush on the goth!" I said laughing.

"What?" he yelled in surprise.

"She has a crush on you."

"What am I going to do?" he asked, running a hand through his hair and flopping backwards on my bed so that he was laying down beside me, I resisted the urge to tell him to get his shoes off of my bed.

"You need to let her get over it on her own." I told him. "If you tell her you don't like her it would break her heart!"

"How long is that going to take?"

"I don't know!"

"How can you not know? You're a girl!" he told me.

"Me being a girl has nothing to do with whether or not I can handle girl issues. I hang around you and Raidon too much." I informed him. "Go ask Astrid or Mia about it."

"Fine, I can tell when I'm not wanted." he said, storming off.

"By Deathbreath!" I yelled after him then laughed maniacally.

I didn't want to get up, not one single bit. My watch was beeping, but I ignored it. Then someone burst through my door and went over to me. "I don't want to get up Mia." I told the person as I pulled the blanket up over my head with an iron strong grip.

"We got off on such a good start." the person said wistfully, and it wasn't Mia. He seemed to be talking to himself, but it was directed towards me. Then the person pulled off my covers and was rewarded by no actions on my part. Instead I played dead and waited for him to leave me, even though I was freezing now.

This person was too stubborn for their own good though, they pulled me by the feet and I landed in a heap at the foot of my bed tangled up in my covers. "What was that for?" I asked annoyed.

"Is that any way to talk to your instructor Ms. Bodway?" the voice asked. My eyes sprang open and I looked up. I really hoped that this wouldn't make my training harder.

"I'm sorry." I told him. "Why did you come to get me?" I asked innocently.

"Don't play that card. You know that you have to go to lunch now since you missed it, and I have the job of bringing any stragglers." It almost sounded like Cole was resentful, it made me wonder what they had done to him. Had they taken him from his family too? I couldn't ask him though because I barely knew him and I didn't want to get on his bad side. I could just feel that pain after the hundreds of push-ups he would make me do. "Now get up."

"I didn't know!" I defended.

"Dani, I can hear your watch beeping as we speak." he told me. I blushed, very noticeably might I add, curse my red hair!

I did as he commanded and bowed to him when I had regained my balance on my feet. I pulled my hair up in a low ponytail to the side and then walked out the door. He put his hand on the small of my back to make sure I didn't get away, but a shock of sorts went through my body. I ignored it though, thinking that it was the shock of not knowing he was going to do that.

When we got to the dining room Mia was starting to eat and Cole sat down to eat also. Cole had a colored tray in front of him too, it was an icy blue color, like his eyes, I eyed it suspiciously. "Are you an elemental?" I asked Cole. Mia looked at me like 'Do you have a death wish?'

Cole gave me a similar look, "Don't ask questions." he told me.

"Are you an Elemental?" I pressed.

"If you must know, yes. I wasn't considered 'important enough for the mission' since I'm 'practically water'." he told me bitterly. Mia looked at him with an apologetic face, but Cole ignored her. That must be why he was so bitter, and, well, icy to everyone.

"What's your element?" I asked curiously, though it was probably more to get on his nerves than anything else. I liked watching him squirm, I could tell I was pushing just the right buttons. And I was enjoying it to tell you the truth.

"I'm an ice elemental." he said after taking a breath. I could tell he was trying not to strangle me since it would hurt the mission. Mia was looking back and forth at the two of us like we were a very interesting and intense tennis match.

He opened his tray and I saw only popsicles, it was every kids dream. "You get to eat popsicles!" I exclaimed. His mouth went up in the corners a bit, but he managed to keep from laughing. Mia gave me a funny look and I knew that we would be talking about this later.

"Yes. What are you going to eat?" he asked. He voice was calmer now, almost lighthearted. I could tell that he had gotten over being annoyed by my asking questions.

"Let's see…" I said as I took the lid off of my tray dramatically slow. "Hot wings!"

I couldn't help but remember what Mia and I had talked about earlier, how we were starting to crave different foods. I guess the cook heard me and sent me some. Whoever helped me I thank. Mia and I both laughed at our inside joke.

"I'll trade you." I told him. We had done this at my school about every lunch before I came here. If you didn't like what you got, you traded it.

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" he asked me, unsure of what would happen.

"I don't see what harm it could do." I shrugged. Raidon had tried my food this morning, nothing bad happened to him except that he just couldn't handle the heat. I think I'll be fine. So we traded trays and Mia watched with wide eyes as if she expected Cole to catch on fire as soon as he touched my food.

I grabbed an unlicked popsicle and put my tongue to it, but it was impossibly cold. I yelped and dropped it on the platter. At the same time Cole had grabbed a wing and dropped it once it reached his tongue.

"What is it?" Mia asked worriedly.

"That was too hot/cold!" Cole and I exclaimed together. Then a guard came in and gave a scrutinizing look.

"You can't eat other people's food." he told us simply.

"Why not?" I asked defiantly, putting my hands on my hips.

"Because, when you discovered your elements your taste buds changed. Anything remotely cold will be extremely cold to you Dani and anything remotely warm would be hot to Cole. That's why you have your certain diets." he explained, and then he walked out before I could ask him anything else.

I turned around to finish my food that I had originally gotten and then looked at the others in the room. Mia and Cole were both looking at me weirdly. "What?" I asked them innocently.

Then Mia said, "You really do have a death wish."