Jake couldn't help grinning as one of his teammates grabbed him in a headlock and gave him a rough noogie.
"I guess three weeks off the field didn't do you too bad," Trent teased, releasing him. Jake shoved him away, still grinning.
"Two weeks lost in the bush was probably what did it," he replied, grabbing a towel from one of the benches and drying himself off. It had been raining lightly during the game and Jake was looking forward to a hot shower. He was supposed to be going back to his dad's, because his mother was working tonight, and he doubted Gary had gotten his act together and paid the gas bill - which meant no hot water.
He could hear the other boys bantering among themselves as he stepped out of the shower. There had been all the regular people at the game watching, so the two new girls who had been standing to the side of the stands had stood out. The fact that one of them was a Goth and the other was more hair than human also drew attention to them.
"She looked like that witch lady," one of Jake's teammates commented, "Except... Hot? But in a weird way. She's probably into some messed-up stuff,"
"The little one was cuter,"
"Dude - she's, like, twelve."
"If she was old enough, obviously,"
Jake shook his head, grinning to himself. He'd barely noticed the two - in fact, he had thought for a brief moment that Felix had come to the game for some strange reason. Closer inspection had told him it was a girl.
As he was leaving the change rooms ten minutes later, Jake's phone buzzed in his pocket. Fishing it out, he looked down at the screen to see a message from Felix.
Don't forget we're meeting at the shelter.
Jake rolled his eyes, tucking the phone into his pocket. He looked up and stopped dead, staring at the girl in front of him - if he hadn't looked up, he would have run into her.
"Jake Riles, right?" she asked. She had long black hair and looked pale, probably from all the black she was wearing. Jake thought she looked like some relation to Felix - she had the same set in her jaw and her eyes were almost the same colour and shape.
Not that he'd ever really looked into Felix's eyes, of course. He just noticed things like that.
Jake hitched his bag higher on his shoulder. "Yeah. You were at the game, right?"
"Saw you play," she replied, "Are you, like, local footy legend or something?"
Jake smirked. "Kind of,"
"Gotta be easy to be that good if mum and dad support you in it,"
"They split up," Jake replied without thinking, "Dad's a bit of a loser and Mum works overtime at a fish and chip shop just to pay the bills. Wait," he hesitated, realising what he'd just said, "Why am I telling you?"
She glanced away, and he swore he could see a faint smirk. She flicked her hair, looking back at him. "I'm Larissa. New to town. People have a habit of telling me things without thinking."
"That's weird,"
"Yeah, but I promise it's not the only weird thing about me," she replied, before winking, "Secret's safe with me, though. Anyway," she grabbed at the strap of her own bag, giving him another little smile, "I should get going. Just wanted to congratulate you on your win."
Jake nodded, looking her up and down again, before smiling, "So, will I see you at the next game?"
"Possibly. I'm here for a limited time only," she continued smirking, "But if we last until Monday, I'll be at school."
"Cool," Jake grinned at her, "I'll keep an eye out."
She turned to leave, glancing back at him over her shoulder without breaking her stride. About ten metres down the footpath, the smaller girl that had also been at the game hurried out from an adjoining pathway and followed Larissa, glancing back at Jake.
He shook his head as he watched the two leave.
Weird. Cool, but weird.
"Hey!"
The girl was twice as fast as him, so Andy knew he had no chance of catching her, but he could at least hope to get close enough to give a clear description to the police.
But boy she ran fast.
Andy sighed, finally stopping, and bent over to catch his breath. Tall, blonde, tan and sporty would have to do.
It was the third time the restaurant had been broken into in as many days, and Nai-Nai had given Andy the task of catching the thief. He didn't look forward to having to go back and tell her he'd failed - again.
Things seemed to be getting worse for Andy. Sure, he had learned quickly how to control his powers and Felix had openly admitted that out of all of them, he had the strongest affinity for magic - besides Felix of course - but Andy's family had quickly grown tired of his story about getting transported to another reality and how he kept running off all the time. He was supposed to be working extra hours at the restaurant and he didn't want to let his Nai-Nai down, but he wanted to go out on more adventures and practise magic with the other boys.
Andy pulled the back door open, realising he'd accidentally left it ajar when he had chased the thief. If Nai-Nai found out, she'd be furious.
Andy pulled the door closed behind him and dug his phone out as it buzzed with a text message.
His head snapped up as he heard a clattering noise from near the fridge. Very carefully, he moved towards the sound, peering around for any other signs of another person. The lunch shift had ended and it wasn't time for dinner, so there was no reason for anyone else to be in the kitchen.
Andy thought he saw movement to his left, and he spun around too fast, tripping over something and stumbling. He grabbed at the counter to steady himself, and he saw another girl dart from her hiding place, running for the back door.
"Wait! Stop!"
Andy threw out a hand as he started forward, chasing the second girl. As she passed the sink, the tap seemed to rocket from its mounting and water sprayed everywhere, spilling onto the tiles and making then dangerously slippery.
Andy grabbed at the counter to stop himself falling again and watched as the girl slipped, pitching forwards and hitting the ground heavily. Almost as suddenly as it had started, the water stopped, leaving one corner of the kitchen soaking wet.
Andy stared at the girl as she struggled to sit up, her clothes soaked through. Her dark hair stuck to her face, and she brushed it away as she turned to look at Andy.
"How did you do that?" she demanded, trying to pull herself to her feet. Andy stared at her.
"Do what?"
"Make the tap explode," she replied, "How did you do it?"
Andy realised he must have accidentally increased the pressure in the sink pipes, which had caused the tap to explode and shower the girl. He hadn't done it intentionally, but at least she had stopped.
Except now she was advancing on him menacingly. He could either tell her he had a water affinity, or he could lie.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about," he stammered, "The tap just exploded."
She was at least a foot taller than him, with a lean athletic build and long dark hair that seemed to be escaping from a ponytail. Andy had no doubt she could beat him in a fight if the situation came to it. He fervently hoped it wouldn't.
"Taps don't just randomly explode. Tell me or I'll freeze you," she said menacingly. Andy stared at her. Freeze him? What was that supposed to mean?
The girl reached out, holding her hand over the water, and closed her fist slowly. Andy stared at the water as it began to turn to ice.
"You have magic!" He cried, stepping back from her. She scowled at him, and moved her fist. He noticed that as she did so, more of the water, now inch-deep on the floor, turned to solid ice.
He only realised her motive when the ice surrounded his runners, and his feet seemed to freeze in place. Andy looked down at his shoes, at the ice around them, and then back at the girl. She looked faintly familiar, but he couldn't place it.
"I can control water," he blurted out as the ice began to creep up his shoes. She tilted her head to one side, looking at him quizzically. The ice stopped encroaching upon his trainers as she lowered her hand.
"As in the element? All types of water?"
Andy nodded, gesturing, "You can too, can't you?"
"What's your name?" she asked, "Sorelli?"
Andy was confused again. "What? Huh? Oh," he realised she was talking about his surname, "No, I'm Andy Lau,"
"Sis!"
Andy heard the shout from the restaurant area before he could see the other person, but he had an idea that it might be the other girl, the blonde one.
His new friend slowly moved past Andy, heading towards the restaurant. "In here. This guy is a hydro, and he's not related in any way."
"Who cares? I think a couple cops saw me, we need to get out of here."
"But the food-"
Andy tried to turn around as he heard the two girls bickering, then the dark-haired one moved around in front of him.
"We were never here," she told him.
"But- But you keep stealing food!"
"Jess! C'mon!"
Jess rolled her eyes as she turned to Andy, "We were going to pay once we had money. Think of it like a line of credit, or something. Just, don't dob us in, okay?"
As she spoke, she put a hand on his shoulder and looked at him earnestly. Andy gazed back, suddenly feeling slack-jawed, and nodded slowly.
"Sure," he promised, "So long as you pay. When you can. And no more stealing,"
Jess smiled at him as he heard her friend groaning loudly and theatrically from just behind. Jess rolled her eyes, before smiling at Andy again and walking past him. He went to turn around, before realising he was still frozen to the floor.
"Hey!" He called after the pair, "Can you let me go?"
"It's ice," he heard the other girl call out, "It'll melt."
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