So sorry that it's been ages since I updated, but I finally found the time, energy and motivation. Thanks go to The Doctor, Guest, 11nusaybah11, and FAYZian-intheglade for reviewing, and cmbmint and Stewie909 for following/favouriting. You are all brilliant. This chapter is extra long. I didn't mean for it to be, I just wanted to get to a certain point in the story. Enjoy!

Erin' POV

Erin was sitting on her bed, staring at her hands. It had been weeks since she had discovered the true extent of her powers. Not only could she freeze liquids and vice versa, she could shoot ice from her hands as well as creating ice. Her powers had not changed the way most people treated her, as few people in the school knew what was going on at Room 17 at night. But it had made a significant improvement in her life, she had friends now. She no longer ate alone, or tried to build up the courage in class to start conversations with other girls, in the hope they'd invite her to sit with them (which never worked). Instead there was always a place for at the group's table.

She first thought that it would be awful having to spend everyday with some of the biggest bullies in the school, but she was wrong. She had become friends with Brianna and Taylor who were lovely and made her feel welcomed. Although Brianna was only eleven and it was really apparent how immature she was. Plus, to Erin, Taylor had severe verbal diarrhoea. She was well meaning, but it felt like she could NEVER shut up, whether it was about boys or gossip. Erin liked her, but only in small doses. Which made it rather awkward when the light bulb had went on in Diana's head and she had "suggested" (more like demanded!) that Erin move in with Taylor. Erin had tried to spare Taylor's feelings by telling her she was too pig-headed to do anything that would please Diana. A half-truth.

Erin clicked her fingers and stared with pride at the blue flames that danced in her hands. It looked beautiful, but Erin knew that it could do damage. The only time it had done so was when she had accidently hurt Diana. With another click of her fingers the flames were extinguished. She had work to do, and she was doing some serious procrastination. As she grabbed her books from her bag there was a knock on the door. Erin walked over to open it, and did not like who was standing in front of her. "Umm… hello, Drake. Can I help you?" Erin didn't even try to hide how much she scared him. Usually she just tried to stay off his radar, as she had seen plenty of times what he could do to people for the most minor of mistakes. Beating someone up just because they said hello to him.

"Yes, you can," Drake grunted. He threw the books that he was carrying into Erin's arms. "I've got Physics homework. Do it." "Why?" Erin asked involuntary. Drake narrowed his eyes, immediately making Erin regret questioning him. "Because Mr Grahams says if I don't get at least half the questions right I'm in after school detention. He's one of the few teachers who's stupid enough to do something like that. I couldn't be bothered with that crap, and although Diana and Caine act like they're better and smarter than me, neither have clue how to do this. But apparently you're kinda smart, so you'll do it, won't you?" He looked at her with such hatred she could barely speak. "Yeah, sure, I'll do it for you. No problem." Drake gave her his signature shark grin. "Good. Bring it to my room when you've finished." He turned and walked out of the room. Only then did Erin dare to breathe. She set the books down on her desk; her own homework would have to wait.

The Physics was quite simple, and not really any problem to Erin, so she was done in no time. She made her way to Drake's room, wishing that there was some sort of postal service within the school, which would mean she wouldn't have to face Drake again. She turned the last corner and stood outside Drake's room. She was just about to bring her knuckle to the door when a pretty stupid thought entered her brain: how should she knock. Too vigorously would probably annoy Drake; too lightly and he may not even hear it and she would have to knock again. She thought she had figured it out, but instantly after knocking regarded it as too quiet. Her worries subsided as someone moved to open the door. It was Caine, throwing her off track completely. She momentarily forgot he was Drake's roommate.

"Hello, Erin. What's wrong?" Caine sounded confused himself. "Oh, I did Drake's homework for him and I was just going to give it to him." "Let the wimp in," Erin heard Drake yell. Caine opened the door further, allowing Erin to enter. Erin looked around and saw Drake lying on his bed, and Diana was there too. She was sitting on a chair and her face had instantly turned to a scowl as Erin had walked in. "You better have got most of it right," Drake warned Erin. "Yeah I did, it's not too hard. I could even teach you the stuff so you can do it yourself in the future, if you want?" Diana let out a laugh, "Teach Drake to do Physics? It would be easier to teach a monkey brain surgery!" Erin decided to not miss her opportunity to put Diana in her place. "You're one to talk, as I heard you couldn't do it either." The smile fell from Diana's face as she tried to think of a response. When she failed she looked at Caine. "Why is she in here? I thought she was just giving Drake his stupid book." Erin rolled her eyes. "Don't worry I'm leaving." She turned around and had her hand on the door handle when Caine told her to wait. "Remember, 'The Club' is on in Room 17 at midnight tonight." Erin sighed, "I'm sorry but why do we have to have it so late as opposed to when it used to be?" Erin looked towards Diana with accusing eyes, as did Caine. Diana gave the pair an indignant look and turned away. It was her fault they had almost got caught.

Last week Diana had a class project and was doing it with a boy called Jack. She had told him to meet her at her room at half past seven, forgetting the 'The Club' was on. When Jack arrived and she wasn't there he asked someone if they knew where Diana was, and they said they'd seen Diana go off in the direction of the main school building. So Jack went looking in the school for her. Just seconds before Brianna had started demonstrating her powers Jack had knocked on they door. He had some questions but Caine told him that they were just hanging out. Obviously he hadn't believed this but he was warned not to breathe a word of what he'd seen. Ever since Caine had been paranoid about getting caught so the meetings now had to run at midnight after everyone had gone to bed.

Erin left Caine and Drake's room. She finally got to do her homework and when she finished the clock read 9.30. She set her alarm for a quarter to midnight and decided to have a nap. She needed her sleep and these late meetings were not going to be good for. She tossed and turned for an hour before falling asleep, and when she woke up she felt no better than if she'd just stayed awake. She got dressed and crept out of the room. Diana had probably remained with Caine and Drake for the whole evening so Erin was on her own, though it wasn't as if she would chat if there were someone with her, for fear of being caught. There wouldn't be any adults monitoring the halls, as the only adults who lived on the school grounds were the principal, her husband and the caretaker. If a student thought they heard someone out of bed at night, they were meant to check it out and if they did see anyone they were obligated to tell night nurse, who would tell Principal Johnson in the morning. It was highly unlikely that someone would tell on her, but they would want an explanation.

Erin managed to make her way to the school building, as did everyone else. She took a place in the circle beside Taylor and Brianna, who were deep in conversation. "Hey," she said. "Look over there in the corner," Taylor instructed her. She did so and saw that Jack was sitting in the corner, with a laptop. It was a common site to see him with a laptop, that's where he got his nickname from, Computer Jack. That and the fact he was extremely intelligent. He was about 12 yet had skipped two grades and so was in the same grade as Erin. "What's he doing here?" Erin asked. Taylor shook her head, "No idea." "Do you think he has some sort of power?" Brianna thought aloud. "I don't think so," Erin answered. "If he did, he would be in the circle with everyone else, not on his own in the corner. Plus, why would he have a laptop?"

None of the girls could answer this and Taylor decided to change the conversation by talking about what a particular girl was wearing earlier, but Erin kept her mind and eyes on Jack. "You guys," she interrupted Taylor as she thought she had figured it out. "You know after every meeting Caine makes sure that everyone's left the school building by nine, right?" "Yeah," Taylor agreed, appearing to not understand what Erin's point could be. "Well, isn't that because the caretaker turns on the alarm at nine?" Both Taylor and Brianna nodded. "Wait," Brianna stopped Erin from continuing. "It's after nine, so why hasn't the alarm gone off?" Erin indicated to Jack. "Him. He's controlling the alarm, that's why he's here."

"OMG!" Taylor let out. "But I can't really say I'm surprised. He is super smart." "I know," Erin confirmed. "Did you see what he did in ICT the other day?" "What did he do?" Brianna begged to know. "Oh my word! Did I not tell you?" Taylor talked about every single thing that happened to her everyday, so it was quite surprising that he had omitted to tell Brianna what Jack did. "You know John Richards? He was giving Jack some serious abuse during ICT and then his computer went mental! Instead of the normal screen you see, everything turned into code and computer language. John didn't have a clue what was going on and neither did the teacher." "Did Jack get into trouble?" Taylor looked unsure and glanced over at Erin for the answer. "No, the teacher told whoever was doing it to stop and he did. She couldn't prove it was Jack because he never admitted it to anyone, but it's obvious he did it. I mean, who else could have done it?"

"But that's nothing to what he did last year," Taylor added. "What did he do?" Erin asked, annoyed with herself for indulging in the side of her that liked gossiping. "Last May we had these exams that we were told were a pretty big deal. Everyone revised, apart from Diana of course, because she's Diana Ladris and she doesn't have to worry about exams like the rest of us peasants. We all knew that she wasn't bothering to work, but she came out with near perfect scores." "How'd she do that?" Brianna asked in awe. "That's what we all thought. People even asked her and then she'd say some rubbish about how everyone was jealous as she was the 'prettiest and the smartest in the year.' Ugh." Taylor groaned, showing how much she despised Diana, something that Erin liked about her.

"Then some asked Caine how she did it, because we thought that if she was actually revising secretly then he'd know. But he said something about the only thing she revised were the mark schemes. We asked him what he meant, because the marks schemes were only on the teachers' documents and so a pupil couldn't get at them. Then he said that if a guy was good with computers he could get them no bother at all. So naturally the whole grade asked Jack if what Caine was saying was true, and boy, did he squirm!" Erin's mouth was a wide 'O' shape. She was shocked, not at Diana, but at Jack. "Why would Jack do that?" Taylor looked at her as if the answer was simple. "Jack is clearly into Diana. And she definitely knows it. She uses him for school projects as he'll do all the work and she'll get an A. She's a… she's a… Brianna cover your ears so I can describe Diana!" Brianna looked insulted. "Hey, I'm almost twelve and I know plenty of bad words. Sometimes I even say them." Taylor and Erin shared a look and tried to suppress their laughter. It vanished completely as Caine, Diana and Drake entered.

Everyone sat up and looked instinctively at Caine. "Sorry we're late," he apologised, whilst giving a dirty look to Drake. "You may have noticed Computer Jack in the corner," he gestured over to Jack. "We now have an IT guy. Mainly for two reasons: one is to ensure the alarm system is disabled and the other is because I've decided that we need some sort of database, where we keep a record of who has what power and at what level. So Diana will take everyone's readings again and Computer Jack will record them." He nodded to Diana, who got up from her chair and worked her way around the group, holding their hand. She came to Erin and of course she had a sarcastic remark. "Great," she sighed, "I have to touch your hand. I'm probably going to get Ebola now!" Erin rolled her eyes, "Ebola cannot be spread by contact, but by the exchange of body fluids. Anyone with half a brain cell knows that." Erin smiled up at the scowling Diana and listened to the sweet noise of almost everyone in the room laughing at Diana. "That's enough Erin," Caine said, sounding annoyed. "I can stand up for myself thank you very much Caine," Diana snapped at him. "I'm just being a friend," Caine protested. "Whatever you're doing, stop it." Diana warned and returned to her task.

After this the meeting continued on as normal. They listened to Caine for a bit and then practised. It was during this that Caine and Diana stated arguing. They were standing with Jack, still in the corner. They were trying to whisper but their body language showed their real feelings. "You think that you can do whatever you want but you can't!" Diana shouted as she walked away and towards the door. "You can't just leave!" Caine yelled after. "Watch me," she taunted him. Caine had that look on which all those in the room instantly recognised. The 'I'm about to throw some chairs about' looked caused them all to back against the wall and try to stand out of harms way. Although Erin did not achieve this. Caine lifted a chair up with his power and chucked it, not bothered where it landed as he kept his eyes on Diana. Erin had been looking down at the ground when she felt the leg of the chair smack square in head.

"Awwww!" she cried out as she collapsed to the floor. Her head throbbed, and she could feel blood was coming from somewhere. Everyone crowded around her, trying to see if she was all right. "Is she OK?" Caine asked from a distance, not sounding very concerned or sorry. "She's got a bad cut to on her forehead," Taylor responded. "Take her to the nurse," Caine ordered. Taylor helped Erin to her feet, she was shaky but that was due to the shock. Taylor supported her as they made their way out of the room. "I'm sorry," Caine said as they passed him. Erin could sense that he wasn't really bothered about her. She was just collateral damage from his little tantrum.

The only person in the nurse's room was Nurse Temple, not surprising seeing that probably everyone else was asleep. "Oh dear, what do we have here?" she asked Taylor as they entered the room. "She's got a cut to her head," Taylor replied. "How did that happen?" Nurse Temple inquired as she examined Erin's head. Erin looked at Taylor, startled. Obviously they couldn't tell the truth, but Erin was a terrible liar. "I, um, fell," she stuttered, "down the stairs." Nurse Temple eyed her suspiciously. "What were you doing out of bed at this time of night?" Erin was stumped and looked over at Taylor again for aid. "We were doing some late night revision in my room for a huge test tomorrow and she fell down the stairs on her way back to her room." Taylor's casual tone made her story sound very believable to Erin, but not to Nurse Temple.

"How did you fall down the stairs?" The question was directed at Erin so she couldn't rely on Taylor for this one. "I'm very clumsy." That was not actually lie for Erin. "Strange that you hit your head as you fell, isn't it? Most people would end up just with bruises all over, and their head being fine, as that's what you would naturally protect." Nurse Temple was apparently not going to the let the matter to lie, so Erin tried to think of the simplest response rather than describe how she fell. "Trust me to be awkward!" she laughed, relieved when Nurse Temple joined in.

"I was just wondering because there's been a lot of late night accidents recently, four in the last month." Erin looked away form Nurse Temple; those "accidents" were really injuries from training. The one last week was Bug had been invisible and sitting in a seat that Dekka was using her powers on. The result was that he fell from four feet and sprained his ankle. "And I can't work out a pattern," Nurse Temple continued. "Except, sometimes I work during the day, and I've seen most of the people with late night injuries together in corridors as such. You two would also be with them." Erin's mouth went dry. "Well, talk about a co-incidence!" Taylor was trying to rescue the situation.

"Yes it is," Nurse Temple agreed. "Yet it's funny that what seems like such a mix bag of people are all friends." "What do you mean?" Erin asked, not aware that the group looked so strange to outsiders. "Oh, you know, there's people in the sixth grade and then others like Caine Soren or that boy Drake." "Don't forget about Diana Ladris, ugh," Taylor said the name as if there there was a bad taste in her mouth. Nurse Temple paused what she was doing. "I know I'm far too nosey, but tell me, is there anything going on with those two? Caine and Diana, I mean." A wide grin of delight broke across Taylor's face; gossip. She sat down for the first time and made herself comfortable.

"Well, no one knows for sure. Like, anyone with eyes can see that Caine wants her. Yet Diana, she pretty much treats him like crap, unless she wants him to do something for her. That's what I've seen. But they're always together, though Drake's there too. OMG! What if… the three of them?" Taylor was almost jumping up and down with excitement at this new theory. "Don't even suggest it, please," Erin begged. Erin looked over at Nurse Temple, who had listened attentively to Taylor. "Why do you care?" Erin asked Nurse Temple, who appeared to struggle for an answer. "I don't. Like I said, I'm nosey."

"You remind me of my mum," Erin said, instantly wishing she hadn't as she felt the pang of homesickness that she had been trying to ignore over the past weeks. Though to Nurse Temple the comment made her quite defensive. "Why?" she asked. "Just if my mum ever saw me talking to any boy she would immediately ask me if I liked him and if, and I quote, 'there was anything going on'." Nurse Temple smiled but there was an air of sadness to it. "I do that with my son too," she sighed. "How old is he?" Taylor inquired; her interest sparked again, this time by a boy. "He is the same age as you two." "And, does he have a girlfriend?" Taylor attempts at acting nonchalant were not a success. Nurse Temple just smiled at her. "I think you two need some sleep. Can't have you falling asleep in the middle of that big test." "What test?" Erin asked, confused. "The big test that we've been studying all night for," Taylor reminded her, nudging her in the ribs to remind her of the lie. "Oh, right. I may have short term amnesia." Erin responded as she walked out of the room as quickly as possible.