Well, hi again. A massive massive thankyou to everyone that reviewed. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to upload. I hope you guys can forgive me. Things will start to get more interesting after this chapter. I promise~

Anyways, I hope you enjoy

The next few days saw me reverting back to the way I had been when I had first started here. I became quiet and reserved, I spoke only when required and I kept everything to myself. It's not like I wanted to be this way, hell, I hated being this way after my friends had worked so hard to bring me out of my shell, but I couldn't get Cynder's words out of my head.

I felt useless.

Chill, Hex and Cynder had all recieved two weeks worth of detentions which involved showing up at Cali's office every afternoon (including weekends) to be assigned a task for a few hours. Mostly detention tasks were some form of cleaning or maintenance, sometimes you would be required to assist in the kitchen or perhaps you would be asked to tutor a student in something you excelled at.

I had only ever had one detention. It wasn't that I was a perfect student, it's just that I've only ever been caught out once.

The incident in question occured during my first year here. The classes were all manditory and my class just happened to be sitting in our 'History of Skylands' class. Our teacher, an elderly turtle like creature, had just stepped out of the room to fetch our next assignments. Being a turtle of course meant that he would be gone for quite a while.

For a few minutes the class sat in silence. I focused on learning the names of the islands where important battles had been fought. When the chatter started up I ignored it in favour of continuing my study. Failing be damned.

I could hear Flame and Trigg chuckling away to themselves as they pestered the rest of the class with projectiles. Cynder was chatting away about this and that to anyone who would listen. Spyro and Grill were discussing the finer points of their favourite foods. I remember it clearly because the conversation soon took a turn for the worst when Spyro mentioned his love of fish.
I dn't think the purple dragon will EVER underestimate his friend the gillman ever again.

As usual, no one was willing to talk to me, which was fine with me because I really wanted to learn this material by heart. If I did it now, I could spend more time training in solitude.

Ten minutes passed, the noise level steadily grew louder, but it was nothing to be concerned about. I certainly wasn't worried, that is until I heard hushed whispers coming from the corner of the room behind me.

I watched at Gill stood up and walked to the front of the room. He snatched up a piece of chalk and began to scribble checky, stupid things on the board, including the odd 'sketch' of a classmate.

Trigg had now started to show off, taking requests. He was flinging his golden coins at any target suggested to him. Cynder, being the bully she was (still is) had apparently been waiting for this. Her hushed whispers reached my ears and I turned to glare at the three of them. Flame looked away, a devilish smirk playing at his features. I sighed and turned back to my work, but unknown to them, I was on high alert for an attack.

I heard the manic laugh before twisting around and shooting my hand out into the air before me, closing my fingers around the golden annoyance. Trigg was lost for words. His usual grin was replaced with a look of blank confusing. Flame, as far as I could tell, was staring at me in shock. I imagine that under his blindfold his eyes were bugging out.
Cynder simply stared at me with her eyes drawn to slits. She reminded me of a snake that day. A rough 'whatever' left her lips and she turned back to a conversation with Sonic Boom.

I narrowed my eyes at the trembling gremlin, tightening my fist containing his coin. I must have looked terrifying because the gasp Whirlwind let out was a cross between a cry and the gasp you do when you're oxygen deprived lungs finally refill with the precious gas.

In the blink of an eye, I had thrown the coin back at the annoyance and within the second, I had flung one of my thorn darts directly at him. The dart buried into the plaster wall millimeters above his head.

"Next time, I won't miss," I hissed at him, turning back to the front of the classroom, only, instead of finding Gill doodling away on the board, I met the cold stare of our teacher. He had seen the whole thing.

Gill, Trigg and I all copped a week's worth of detention. It was mostly cleaning and repairs so it was nothing major. But from that day onwards, I have always been careful not to get caught.

After being cornered by Hex and Chill, Cynder had somewhat backed off. She still glared and whispered behind my back, but she had yet to say anything to my face which I was thankful for. My days became blurs as I lived through them with as little communication as possible. I spent every spare moment I had in the training hall, taking out my frustrations on the training dummies.

Cali attempted asking me what was wrong, but she soon got the hint that I wasn't interesting in sharing my problems. Hex knew better than anyone just how stubborn I was. She asked me once if I wanted to talk about it, not bringing it up again after I rejected the idea. She was always by my side though, except when I trained.

Chill kept her distance mostly, not in a cold way but in a more respectful manor I appreciated. She would step closer when Cynder was near, and back off again when the coast was clear.

Sprocket insisted that I share what was troubling me. She had missed the actual event, but no doubt had been informed as to what had happened after she left. During lunches and breaks, she would ask me if I was alright. Afternoons she would stick to me like glue more than likely afraid I would do something stupid. In the evening and at night, she would constantly poke her head into my room to check on me. She had checked on me five times already tonight. One more time and I would fling a dart at her face. Oh great, I can hear her footsteps coming closer. Where did I put those darts?

My hand stopped above the sharp little death bringers as Chills voice broke the icy silence our dorm had fallen into.
"Sprocket, it's called space. She just wants to be left alone for a while. Just leave her be."

"But!" Sprocket began to argue. "What if-"

"She won't do anything stupid," Hex's calm voice entered the fray. "Give her alittle more credit."

"WELL FINE! I was just trying to be a good friend!"

I heard her storming off but I just couldn't bring myself to care. I knew I was being selfish and pathetic.

"Stealth, I'm coming in, " Hex called from just outside the door. My hand was still hovering over the darts. 'You fling just one of those darts at me and see just how far you get."

...How does she do that?

Thanks for sticking with me guys. I know I'm horrid at uploading in a timely manor. Hopefully this chapter was worth the wait.

Now things will start to pick up
Let the fun begin~

~Xandy