Hey! First of all thanks to FAYZian-inthegalde, bluedayssilvernights, It'sJustAKindOfMagic, Nobody has no body and The Doctor for reviewing, LY! I'm so sorry that it's been over a month since I updated but I have been super busy at weekends with homework and going places. I hope the chapter is worth the wait. The plan of action for this story is that I will update once or twice more in the Christmas holidays and then finish the story in February or March. Most likely there will be no updates in January as I have these wonderful exams called Mocks which I really should be revising for now. Bye!
Erin's POV
Erin made her way to the meeting in Room 17. She had spent the past few days being threatened by Diana to not to show up. This had made her almost tell Caine that she couldn't make it, but he when sensed what Erin was going to say he had told her "she would have some nerve not showing up." Erin decide that since Diana would make her life a misery anyway there would be no point in making Caine an enemy.
Erin had taken a few wrong turns on her way to the room and was late. When she opened the door she looked over at Diana, whose rash hadn't completely gone. A few boys had laughed at Diana when they first saw her with the rash, but Caine quickly put the message across that making fun of Diana was not a smart move. As Erin walked into the room Diana gave her a death stare. Erin also saw that the chairs in the room were in a circle and all but two were taken. One was between a girl called Dekka, a girl in Erin's grade but she had never heard her speak other than when asked to by a teacher, and Drake. The other seat was also beside Dekka, and Taylor who was another girl in Erin's grade. Except Taylor was far nicer and really bubbly, she was talking away to another girl. It was an easy decision for Erin.
She made her way over beside Taylor and as she sat down it felt as if she was sitting on someone. She jumped and saw that everyone was laughing at her, especially Diana. "What on Earth?" she asked them. She looked back at the empty seat, but then out of nowhere a boy with a wide grin on his face appeared. "Erin," Diana called out, "when you're finished giving Bug a lap dance, can we get started?" Erin could feel her face turning red and wished that she was anywhere but in that room. She turned her frustration on Bug. "Why couldn't you have been visible or have called out when as I was about to sit down?" Bug smiled at her, "I don't mind if you want to sit on my knee." He even winked at her. Erin gave him a dirty look in return. She wasn't as good at it as Diana was, but it got the desired effect as the smile on Bug's face quickly disappeared.
Erin stomped over beside Dekka and Drake, neither looked inviting. "Hey," she said to Dekka, who replied "hey" and turned away, obviously not wanting any conversation. Drake on the other hand wanted to talk. "Listen wimp," he snarled at her, "give me one reason why I shouldn't hurt you." Erin stared at him with disbelief and an open mouth. "Um…well…" she stammered, but Caine clearing his throat was enough to make everyone, including Drake, quiet.
"Evening everyone," Caine began, "good to see that you are all here, eventually." He glanced over at Erin, which made her sink further into her seat. "We have a new member, so go on Erin, introduce yourself." Erin straightened herself up and cleared her throat. "Hi guys. I'm Erin and I'm in the 9th Grade. I can turn any liquid solid and back again, and I've been told that I'm a three bar." She looked back at Caine to show that she was finished. "Any questions for Erin?" Caine asked the rest of them.
"How did you discover you could do that?" The ginger girl asked. "Well, one day someone unscrewed the sink tap," she paused to throw a dirty look over at Diana, "and I held up my hands to stop the water hitting me and it froze, that's basically it." Taylor made a noise almost like a squeal and everyone looked at her. "I just remembered, aren't you and Diana roommates?" Erin and Diana exchanged a look, with was not one of happiness. "Sadly, yes." "Oooh, so do you two share like all of your secrets?" Erin couldn't help but laugh, "If I told her any secrets the whole school would probably know them within 24 hours." Diana sniggered, "I have better things to care about than who you like or whatever."
Taylor almost jumped out of her seat, "Who do you like? Does Diana know?" Erin had to figure out if she was being serious or not; she was. "I don't like anyone," Erin protested, "and if I did Diana would be the last to know." Erin saw that Diana was about to answer back but Caine stopped her. "OK, so we've established that Erin is on the long list of people who Diana can't stand. Next order of business is to start training. Anyone want to ask anything?"
Erin raised her hand, it was stupid but she didn't have the confidence yet to speak out. "Yes Erin," Caine said in a voice with patience. "Why are we training." Diana groaned, "We've been told this before. We've all heard Caine's little speech on being prepared as a team, haven't we?" "Yes Diana," Caine answered, "but Erin wasn't there as YOU hadn't discovered her powers by then." Diana shot Caine a look, which he ignored as his attention was on Erin. "We are training in order to be ready for whatever comes. You never know what might happen if there are more like us, we may even need to fight and defend ourselves."
That last part did not sit well with Erin. "But I can't fight." Caine looked at her puzzled and then shook his head with a knowing look. "Of course you can't fight, you haven't been trained yet. But you will be ready to fight." Erin realised that what she was about to say would most likely sound ridiculous to students of a school like Coates, but she had to make her point. "You see the thing is, I'm a pacifist. " Caine raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You're a, you're a what?" His patience was obviously almost gone, but Erin knew that she couldn't just shut up now. "I'm a pacifist," she repeated, "I believe war and violence are wrong." The whole room was in stunned silence as they realised what this meant. Actually, the whole room except Drake was silent.
"What! No violence?" He looked disgusted at Erin, as if she had just said that she didn't believe in showering more than once a year. "No guns or knives? What is wrong with you." Erin shrugged, "I suppose that I don't think it solves anything or helps." Bug, who at that point was invisible, piped up. "So, say if Drake was going to kill you wouldn't fight back?" A smile crossed Drake's face, which completely freaked Erin out, but she still knew how to answer Bug. "If that were true, do you think I would be able to do any sort of damage to Drake? No, it would be futile and no better than simply running for my life."
The murmurs from the group suggested they thought she was right, except Caine. "But you could use your powers to fight home," Caine offered. "I don't think I could because it would be very awkward to get some sort of drink and then freeze it and then have to throw it at him." Surprisingly, Caine nodded in agreement, "True, which is why we have to see what else you can do. You'll be amazed at what you could possibly do. Taylor for example, when we started could barely bounce half a metre. Now she could bounce hundreds of metres." Taylor beamed with pride at this, which others like Diana and Drake sniggered at.
Caine looked at his watch showing how he was growing tired of all this. "Can we please get back to business and start training. Erin looked and saw that the others got out of their seats. Caine, Diana and Drake stood at the side of the room looking at the rest of them in the room. Taylor started vanishing and re-appearing in different places, the ginger girl started doing things in super speed, and Dekka was doing something that looked like she was lifting the chairs up and down in the air. Erin realised that this was not the case as she rose into the air. Erin felt as if there was no gravity, and she flailed and flapped her arms as she rose in the air. "Oh my word!" she cried out. She didn't stop until her butt hit the floor and realised that she was back on the ground. The group all crowded around her, laughing at her, again.
Erin gratefully accepted Dekka's hand up. "Sorry," Dekka said with a face that did not suggest she was sorry. "You got to be careful when I do my whole cancelling gravity thing." "It's OK, no harm done, apart from a sore butt and damaged pride," Erin joked, which made even Dekka crack a smile. "Erin, how about you do some practising, like you were supposed to?" Caine suggested, with a smirk on his face. "OK," Erin said as she took the bottle of water and cup that she had brought out of her pocket. "No," Caine stopped her and took the water from her. "Let's see if you can do without this."