We meet again. Hopefully this isn't too awful. I've rewritten it three times already. Stupid paranoid brain never being happy with anything..

ANYWHO. Please enjoy. The fluff begins now.

disclaimer - I don't own Skylanders or the characters. IwishIdidbutIdon't

The first day of school. Well, so far everything was going as planned. I woke up early, went to the gym to train for a bit then showered and headed back to the dorm room to get ready for breakfast ( I had a couple of eggs on toast) before lumbering down the corridorr towards my locker before my first class was due to start.
As far as I've noticed, no one has stared and started whispering about me. It's actually quite amazing. Have I missed something? A declaration that Stealth Elf is no longer a freak and that nobody should mock her anymore? FFFT. Whatever it is, I'm kinda glad. It feels great to just walk down the hallway and not be mocked.

For three years I've tolerated their antics. The constant teasing and annoying attempts at prank me. I'm proud to say not once have they caught me offguard.

Ahh, of course. It's the first day. Everyone is probably to occupied with catching up after the break, and of course, the place is filled with nervous first years. Poor bastards are in for shock after shock until they get used to the place. They all look nervous and pathetic...I guess I was the same way on my very first day, but still. I can't picture any of these guys becoming fully fledged Skylanders. They have my pity.

Ok, ok, back to the task at hand. I need to find my locker. New year, new locker. I hope it's near Nex's or Chill's. Hell, even Sprocket being nearby would be a comfort. Don't get me wrong, I love her and all but she can be a little over the top and I tend to get irritated easily. Plus she's not much help when I'm being verbally attacked by the 'popular' crowd.
Ahh, here we go. Looks like their trying new things with the lockers this year. Instead of being all scattered and random, they've grouped the lockers into the elements. I can see Camo there already, fussing around with his locker. Looks like he got the busted one. It's hard not to snicker.

Camo's not so bad. Infact, I rather enjoy his company. He looks up and scowls at me, causing a wave of laughter to rip from my throat and erupt into the air. His glare intensifies.
"Shut up, Stealth." He threatens, his tail swaying irritably behind him. "If you find it so funny, I'd like to see you open the damn thing!"

Oh, it's so on now.

"With pleasure," I find myself purring as I walk over and pound my fist against the metal, before twisting the dial and watching the door swing open innocently. The smugness must have shown on my face, because he just continues to glare before turning to the small locker space and muttering under his breath.

I spot my locker right beside his and a wave of relief washes over me. Atleast I'm next to Camo. Mine is right on the end of the life element locker group. The undead group is next to ours. I wonder if Hex will be on the end like me? Who knows. I start arranging my belongings in the locker before taking out what I'll need for gym. Such a great way to start the term. Knowing Cali, we'll be doing something fun to start the year off. Last year she had us use the trampolines to jump as high as we could to grab small floating disks, each with a number on them indicating how many points we'd get for the jump. Surprisingly Wrecking Ball won that competition with his long tongue grabbing the highest disk, which poor Dino Rang found himself in last place. Guess I'll just have to wait to find out.

I find myself alone in the female change rooms when I arrive. I guess I'm the first, as usual. Ohwell. I don't mind. I take my hair out of the long braid it's usually in and run my fingers through the strands, untangling any knots I may have made while training this morning. I am quite fond of my hair colour, it's unique to the elven race. With no more knots I carefully braid it again and fix my bangs so they don't irritate my eyes during class. Slipping on my gym uniform takes a few seconds but once i have it on I focus on my shoes. The uniform is really quite simple, a black singlet and black shorts. While it lacks imagination it is practical, not so much on hot days out in the sun but we usually train indoors so I don't mind.

My silence is soon shattered as excited chatter reaches my ears. Great. Here comes Cynder and her group. Cynder is the main cause for my torment, she enjoys seeing me suffer. I try not to listen to them as they walk in, but it's rather hard when they talk as loud as Sonic Boom screams, and as usually they're talking about boys. Boys boys boys. Oh the humanity! They're gossiping about the guys they can't wait to see again, about the possible 'crushes' some of the boys have and about who's broken up and who's now dating. UGH, I don't understand how they can find it intertesting.

Yes, sure, I've had my fair share of crushes I guess but I don't know how they can openly talk about it with each other. It's embarassing. Even Hex is more open about that kind of stuff than I am. Chill makes the odd comment here and there, but she usually just turns her nose up at such talk. Now Sprocket has no shame in talking about such things. Often we have had to put up with her babbling about boys, well, when she's not going on about her tools and what she's building.

Atleast those bitches aren't talking about me though. Wonder how long that will last? Knowing them, about two seconds once they notice me here.

Sliding my I.D card down the slot on the side of the locker, I shudder as I feel rediculously hot breath carass my neck.

"Morning Stealth," she purrs, causing me to shudder alittle more. Damn Cynder. Sometimes I wonder if she's really a lesbian in denial. She sure enjoys being up close and personal with me, and a few other girls. Turning to face her, I immediately regret it. Her eyes are twinkling with evil manace. She's up to something for sure.

"Morning Cynder," I reply with as little emotion as I can muster, afterall, she deserves nothing more.

"How was your vacation? Good? I hope it was?"
"Why? Planning to make thise year hell for me?"

She looked shocked. She's a fantastic actress when she wants to be though so it left me unphased as I glared at her. "My vacation was fine. Nothing out of the normal."

"Oh, well good I guess. Did you meet anyone special?"

"Not that I'm aware of," i stutter, backing up against the locker. I need to get away from her. She's planning something. This was just plain creepy.

"No? That's a shame," she sang, turning back to her group of friends with a wicked grin. "Well, see you in class then." And with that she was gone. I don't think I've ever felt so threatened in my entire life!

I can hear her chuckling s she leaves with her friends, the word 'perfect' leaving her lips and hanging in the air. Fan-fucking-tastic.

"Alright class! I want you to gather over here! Today we're going to play dodgeball. Now, dodgeball is a great way to test and train one's agility and flexability. I guess it's kind of like a battle. You have two opposing sides dodging projectiles thrown at each other. Now I'll split you into two teams of MY chosing and I don't want to hear any complaints about it. Got it?" Cali boomed out over the mass of restless students. I can't help but admire her. Nobody argues or messes with her, afterall, she is a legend around here.

"YES MA'AM!" We shout back at her, the excited chatter dying down as Cali starts pulling some coloured cloths from her bag.

"The teams will be as follows!" She bellowed out, walking between the students and handing out the cloths.
"Team One - Lightning Rod, Whirlwind, Jet Vac, Bash, Flashwing, Sunburn,
Shroomboom, Spyro, Trigger Happy, Cynder, Chop Chop and Gill Grunt versus Team Two- Stealth Elf, Flameslinger, Sonic Boom, Warnado, Prism Break, Terrafin, Eruptor, Camo, Drobot, Sprocket, Hex and Zap. You all know the rules. You get hit by a ball, you're out! If you catch a ball the one that threw it is out and you can bring back one of your 'fallen' team mates. Last team standing wins, so protect your team mates and work together! Let's get to it!"

I eye her carefully. I trust Cali but she is devious and is propbably plotting something. Her smirk merely confirms it as she watches team one tie their light blue clothes around their wrists, ankles horns or tails. Anywhere they could really. A sudden pressure on my arm draws my attention to the red blindfold directly infront of me.
"No time for daydreaming Stealthy," Flameslinger smirks. He knows I HATE people calling me 'Stealthy', and yet he does it anyway. I ignore his arrogant smirk as he drags me over to our team huddle.

The hushed discussion may as well have been in a language I didn't understand. I tuned out and focussed on getting myself mentally prepared. I will not lose today. I hate losing. It is not acceptable.

"Stealthy...Stealth... Stealth Elf? Hello? You awake?" Oh, there's his annoying voice again.

"Huh?" I look up at him and feel my face heat up slightly. What shenanigans is this? He's smiling at me. It's a kind and caring smile. He's never smiled at me like that before. "What?"

"You ok? You spaced out. You feeling alright?"
"I'm fine," I manage before pulling my eyes away from him.

What. The. Actual. Fuck?

I don't understand this at all. Suddenly I'm nervous and shy. It's just FlameSlinger. The jerk I enjoy the occassional laugh with (when he's not being a complete moron).

My heart skipped a beat as he pressed a hand to my forhead.
"Hmm, you're temperature is fine, so what's up?"
"Nothing," I argue, swatting his hand away. "I was just thinking, that's all."
"Well, quit it! Focus on the game... You didn't hear anything we said in the huddle did you?"
"Nope," I smirked at him, recieving a light shove to the arm.
To my surprise he simply laughed, making my stomach tighten and flutter slightly. "You idiot, we voted you team captain. Since you're fast and can jump pretty high, the team will be passing you the ball a lot. I hope you like balls Stealth. Big ones. Big red balls."
"ALRIGHT ALRIGHT," I flush. "I get it. Just shut up. You're so annoying."
"And yet you don't push me away," he teases as we walk onto the court to join our team. They look at us both before looking at the other team. Great. Now there'll be a rumour about Flame and I...so why doesn't that disturb me as much as it should? Stupid feelings and emotions, you're messing me up.

"OH!" Cali shouted out to get the attention of the teams. " I almost forgot. NO magic or special abilities allowed! If i catch anyone breaking this rule, you will be disqualified from the game and you will leave your team with one less player. Understood?"

"Yes," we all droned unanimously. We watched as the mabu brought the whistle to her lips. She waited for the shuffling of the students to stop before blowing into the tin object hard. The shrill shriek pierced through the air, hurting mine and Flame's ears more than anyone else, starting the game.

I actually love playing dodgeball, I don't know about you guys but I find the rush and excitement unbeatable. Though it does tend to get quite painful when you get hit in the face.
See you guys soon
-Xandy