Thank you so much to Olive tree cheese for the support! LY!
Mrs Scott decided the best way to follow on from tedious rivers, was with something even duller: soil. The final bell made Emmy jump as it woke her up from her afternoon map. "Oh," Mrs Scott called the class while they packed away. "I need to give you back your tests from yesterday. So sit back down." Mrs Scott zigzagged around the class to return test papers, each with a declaration of their mark. "Max, F! Your parents are being called, and you are redoing it tomorrow lunchtime." Max shrugged indifferently as Mrs Scott moved on. "Piper, a solid B! Good enough but room for improvement."
Piper looked disbelieving at her. "But I revised really hard for this! Why did I not get an A?"
Mrs Scott placed her hand on her hip. "Excuse me? You did not get an A, because you did not get a mark corresponding to an A. Understand?" Piper lowered her head, and petulantly sulked.
"Lucy, A+! Well done!" Mrs Scott smiled at her before moving on to Emmy.
"Emmy, one mark off an A!" she said with a larger smile. "A tremendous improvement, you could soon be my star pupil!"
Emmy smiled sweetly back, but when she caught Piper's eye it turned into a gloating smirk. Piper narrowed her eyes and gritted her jaw.
"You can all go now," Mrs Scott said.
Instantly Alexa and Shelley were beside Emmy. They walked into the corridor towards the dorms. "I thought you said you were going to fail?" Alexa said as she poked Emmy in the ribs.
Emmy tried to act humble, "I don't know. I guess it all just came flooding back to me."
"You are so lucky," Shelley laughed.
"I might be," Emmy grinned.
"Wait up!" Piper yelled after them.
"Sorry," Shelley apologised.
"Whatever," Piper snapped.
"Are you okay?" Emmy said, sounding concerned. "Or, is something wrong?"
"You may have done better than me in that test," Piper replied, trying to be nonchalant. "But that just means you know more about rivers than me, not that you're actually smarter. And anyway, there are other more important things that I beat you at. Like popularity or looks."
Piper was barely palatable at the best of times, never mind when she had a reason to be irritated. Emmy scanned the hallway for someone else to strike a conversation with. She saw Diana talking to a boy with his head in his locker. When he closed it, Emmy groaned.
"Caine!" Piper squealed. She rushed to his side and kissed him on the cheek.
"Hey babe," Caine said with a big smile, that was 100% fake to Emmy's trained eye. "How's my girl doing today?"
Piper pouted her lip at him. "Terrible. I didn't get an A in Geography, even though I deserved it!" Piper held out her hands and Caine clasped them as he gave her a sympathetic look.
"Ah, you poor thing," Caine answered.
It was the right answer as Piper grinned slightly. "I know."
"How about you and I go for a walk and I'll try and cheer up?"
Piper giggled, "That would be great."
"Hold on," Diana interrupted. "We're going to the Library to study for History."
"Sorry Diana," Caine said, while placing an arm around Piper. "My wonderful girlfriend needs me."
"You're amazing," Piper cooed. She placed her hand on Caine's face and brought it down to hers. Emmy looked at every part of the hallway other than where her brother was kissing Piper.
She noticed Diana looking equally disgusted. "Do you want me to come with you to the Library?" Emmy asked.
"That would be great," Diana said. The two of them made their way to the Library. "Do Caine and Piper together bother you?" Diana asked Emmy.
"Yeah," Emmy said. "But only because he's just using her to prove a point. If he actually cared about her and liked her, I wouldn't mind half as much."
"How do you know he's using her?"
"Trust me," Emmy sighed. "I know my brother and can always decipher his motives."
Caine had ordered Diana not to tell Emmy the truth about his relationship. Now Diana didn't even have to find a way to undermine that rule.
"Are you bothered by them?" Emmy asked.
Diana was a little surprised by the question. "Only Piper, because she is insufferable. But I don't care that Caine has a girlfriend, whatever his reasons are."
There was a quiet section in the Library for Diana and Emmy to work at. They mainly talked, though Emmy asked Diana the odd question. "When did Hitler become Chancellor of Germany?" Emmy asked.
"Easy, January 30th, 1933."
"How do you know all this?" Emmy demanded.
"Because I am not only unbelievably beautiful, but I also have brains. It's a rare gift." Diana finished off her self-praise with a wink at Emmy.
"I have it too," Emmy pointed out.
"Oh really? What did you get in that test you were freaking out about?" Diana challenged her.
Emmy held up her index finger, "One mark off an A, from Mrs Scott."
"That is impressive," Diana conceded. "But how did you do that without revising? Were you lying, or did you use some dishonest methods?"
Emmy conspicuously darted her eyes to either side. "Perhaps the latter," she whispered.
Diana emitted a loud laugh. "Emmy! You bad girl, how did you do it?"
"I'm not telling you," Emmy said defensively.
"Why not?" Diana asked.
"I'm not telling you," Emmy repeated. She suddenly seemed tense and stood up from her chair. "Look, I've got to go now."
Emmy turned to walk away but Diana reached for her arm to get her to talk. "What-?" Diana said before she quickly dropped Emmy's wrist.
Emmy looked back at Diana. Her eyes were wide with fear and her skin was instantly paler. "What is it?" Emmy asked quietly, afraid of the answer. Was it possible that Diana knew about her ability? But how? Emmy used said ability and it only confused her further.
"What does 'four bar'?" Emmy hissed.
Diana shook her head. "No, not here." She roughly took Emmy's arm and dragged her all the way to her room. As she did, she had the opportunity to confirm what she dreaded. A definite four bar. The only other time she felt this much power from someone was with Caine. But this was insane. It had been over a month since Diana had read Emmy when they met, but to have gone from zero bars to four was unprecedented.
Diana's roommate was out as usual, allowing Diana and Emmy some privacy. Diana directed Emmy to sit down on the bed. "Do you mind telling me what's wrong?"
Diana took a deep breath, before she bluntly asked, "What is it you can do?"
Emmy tried to figure out what was the right answer. When she failed to find it, she tapped into Diana.
"If she's a four bar, her power must have manifested already."
"I can read minds," Emmy finally said.
"Wow," Diana said, genuinely impressed. "That's a new one."
Emmy frowned at her. "What do you mean?"
Diana sought to explain the whole power situation to Emmy.
"So, is being a four bar normal?" Emmy asked at the end of it.
Diana didn't answer immediately, "No, there's only one other four bar I know of."
"Who?"
"Caine," Diana answered.
"Great," Emmy sighed. "Just when I thought I was one up in the sibling rivalry thing." Emmy laughed, but it ended shortly. She leaned in closer to Diana. "Diana," Emmy said with a pleading tone. "Please don't tell Caine about this. If he finds out that I'm the only person who is as powerful as him, he will completely control me, far more than he's already trying to. I literally won't be able to sneeze without him knowing!"
Diana placed a comforting hand on Emmy's shoulder. "Don't worry," Diana said quietly. "I won't even tell him you have a power at all." Diana meant it; she always saw Emmy as an ally, even more so now. Emmy was the right amount of self-servicing and devious to be useful like Diana, but not dangerous like Drake was. She could even be Diana's protégé.
"Thank you Diana," Emmy smiled faintly.
"It's no problem, I guess we are friends."
"Are you sure you're okay with lying to Caine?" Emmy asked.
"I hide more from Caine than I actually tell him."
"That doesn't sound like a good friendship," Emmy said. "Why are you friends then?"
Diana sighed, "I suppose it's useful to have friends in high places. Especially when I like to mess with people so much, a protector is always useful."
Emmy stood up. "Thanks for all of this, but I think I'd rather go and process it on my own."
"Sure," Diana said.
Emmy left Diana's room and headed for outside. The exit of the girls' dormitories led to a vast lawn, with the boys' dormitories on the opposite side. There were clusters of tables and benches at the end closest to the main school building. Emmy walked around the edge of the lawn, passed those running around and playing games. She now knew that she was not the only one with ability. There were others like her, but she was more powerful than all of them, bar one. It would have been arguably better if she were just a two or three bar. Caine would possibly have just accepted that, though not this.
"Heads up!" someone shouted in Emmy's direction.
A football bounced in front of her and into the hedge beside her. A boy ran over to retrieve the ball, stopping abruptly when he saw Emmy.
"I'm so sorry," he said, presumably realising who she was. He was a ninth grader called Frederico. He was tall and athletic, and definitely someone Emmy didn't mind talking to.
"It's fine," Emmy smiled. "It didn't hit me at all."
"Good," Frederico smiled too. "I wouldn't want to get on your bad side."
"Because of who my brother is, right?" Emmy asked with hostility.
"No," Frederico said hesitantly, before seeming to gain some confidence. "I just don't like the idea of a gorgeous girl being mad at me."
Emmy gave him a coy smile. "Are you calling me gorgeous?"
"Maybe," Frederico smirked. "Do you mind?"
Emmy took a step closer to him. "Not at all."
Frederico looked back at his friends, with a small frown. "If Caine finds out I'm talking to her, I'm dead!" he was thinking.
Emmy cleared her throat to get back his attention.
"Are you doing anything this Friday night?" she asked.
"Nothing planned, you?"
Emmy shrugged indifferently, "No. I want to do something, like go to the cinema, but no one's offered to go with me."
Frederico paused before asking, "Do you want me to go with you?"
"Like a date?" Emmy said, raising an eyebrow, as it was always fun to make a boy insecure.
"Yeah, why not?"
Emmy nodded slightly, "That would be great."
"But, won't Caine be annoyed?"
Emmy placed her hand on Frederico's arm, "I won't tell him if you don't."
"Fine then," Frederico grinned.
Emmy planted a light kiss on his cheek. "Pick me up at seven beside the fountain at the front."
Emmy walked back towards the dormitories, glancing slightly back at Frederico. His friends were commending him by slapping him on the back and cheering. Some girls felt pride when they aced a test, others when they excelled at sport. For Emmy, it was when she got confirmation of what she knew: her exceptional looks made her desirable.