5/1/16

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or anything else I may mention.

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Chapter 10: Flight or Fight

As promised, when we woke up this morning we had received our new class schedules. It's official: we're now Level C's. The news should make me happy, but it doesn't. All it does is fill me with an overwhelming desire to continue climbing the ranks, to become better than everyone in my class.

Better than everyone in the world.

I keep quiet about these feelings, though, to avoid chasing my friends away. Instead I quietly go over them as we go from class to class. It's a bit of a struggle, playing catch-up with the older students, but I relish the challenge and so do Jade and Roy. When we break for lunch, the only thing our little group can focus on is how cool it is to be learning with the older kids. This excitement only grows when Selinda tells us that powers class for the C's usually focuses on training individual powers. Therefore, we get to go to the gym and work on our powers as we see fit.

When the time comes around, I feel so excited that I don't think anything can ever change that. Not even the fact that Angela got promoted with us. I skip into the gym, arms linked with Jade and pink sparks tingling around my wrists. Part of me knows I need to calm down before the hexes grow out of control and hurt someone, but it's one thing to know you need to calm down and another to actually calm down. The teacher gives us our instructions (which can pretty much be summed up as, "don't kill anybody") and sends us on our way to our stations.

Immediately, the obstacle course catches my eye. I've been on it with one of the simplest settings before, back when Headmistress had Baran help me with my powers, but now I can put it on whatever setting I want. There isn't a limit this time! Suddenly, I know exactly how I'm going to spend the next two hours.

Unfortunately, this plan has a bit of a roadblock to it.

And by a bit of a roadblock, I mean a really stupid, really ugly, mean, jerk-faced no good whiny pathetic loser roadblock.

Angela.

"Excuse me, but this is my obstacle course," she says. Her voice is laced with fake sweetness, but I can sense the ugliness and anger behind her tone.

I try to react as nicely as possible. After all, maybe this time she won't be so difficult and we can avoid a confrontation.

"Sorry Angie, but I was here first," I say sweetly yet smugly. She hates being called Angie.

Okay, so maybe I just ruined my chances of avoiding a fight with the nickname, but I'll be darned if it wasn't worth it. The way her face twists in rage is absolutely priceless. Her eyebrows push down on her yellow eyes, and her lips curl back like a cat about to hiss. In fact, despite the fact that she doesn't have fire powers, I'd even say there's steam coming out of her ears! I can't help myself. I start laughing at how ridiculous she looks.

"What stupid?" she snaps, seething with rage.

"Y-your face," I cackle.

"What's wrong with how I look? I am a warrior of Thanagar!"

"Really? I didn't know that. That's really cool! But... you don't look like Hawkman and Hawkgirl."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just... your wings are so small. I mean, I get that they can change size and everything, but I've never seen the other Thanagarians do that. And if you're a warrior of Thanagar, why aren't you training there?"

For whatever reason, this strikes a nerve with Angela. She immediately stamps her foot on the ground and screams, "Well yeah, but where are your parents? Huh! I bet they kicked you out! You're nothing but a freak, and you look stupid! I bet your parents don't even love you!"

Tears form in my eyes. "Shut up Angela! Just shut up!"

"Aw, are you gonna cry now? That's so pathetic! You're nothing but a whiney little wimp! No wonder your parents don't care. If you even have parents."

Before I can even think, a pink hex flies out of my hand and hits Angela on the shoulder. I jump forwards and push her to the ground, punching her face.

"Shut up!" I scream.

Her wings expand, and she uses them to toss herself off the ground. I flail around in the air for a brief second before falling to the ground with a sickening thud. Angela swoops down and grabs me, dangling me by the arm. Using the arm she's holding me by, I shoot a hex and hit her in the face. Startled, she drops me. I continue shooting hexes at her as Roy and Jade run up to catch me. They're not quite fast enough, but Selinda is.

Wait, Selinda? How did she get here?

"Go get her Mal!" she grins, setting me down.

I give her a thumbs-up before Angela swoops down again. I shoot her hands as they're about to grab me, and then I shoot her again in the wings. She falls to the ground, leaning forwards to push me over in the process. She lands on top of me and wraps her sweaty hands around my neck. Her thumb presses against my throat, and my lungs feel like they're full of cotton. I try to breathe, but I can't. Ringing fills my ears, and my vision starts to blur. In a desperate plea for my life, I knee her in the stomach and roll over, pinning her down. Angela's screams fill the air as she lets go of my neck.

She pushes me off of her, leaving me lying on the ground and gasping for air. Slowly, I start to breathe again, but my lungs ache and I can barely move. Someone puts their arm around me and helps me sit up as I lean against them. A small group forms around me, quietly asking if I'm okay. I give them a shaky thumbs-up, but the world seems blurry and distorted, and I feel dizzy.

"Hey, it's alright. We've got you," someone says. I nod my head in response, but then my head starts to hurt too much so I stop.

My world stops shaking, and I start to see clearly again. My lungs burn as I take a deep breath, but it feels good so I take another. Selinda and Baran, the ones holding me up, slowly help me to my feet. Jade and Roy stand in front of me, worry written on their faces.

"What are you guys doing here? You're not C's," I rasp.

"Our D class -I swear, they better promote us to E's soon- got out early so we thought we'd come watch you three practice. Good thing we did, too- it seems like most of the class was rooting for Angela. Not that you absolutely needed our support. You did great! She took a pretty bad beating!"

"Nah," Baran says, waving his hand dismissively. "Angela isn't hurt THAT bad. She's just being a wuss. There's no way the weight of a twiggy eight year old is enough to crush her wings. She's been pinned by worse. But still, that wasn't bad kid."

"Thanks," I say. My eyes wander to where the rest of the class has gathered around Angela, babying her and bowing to her every need. "You really think her wings will be okay? I mean, I hate her guts and all, but I don't want to keep her from flying."

Jade laughs. "Of course she'll be fine! Haven't you seen her spar before?"

I shake my head, but wish I didn't. The dizziness returns, and I have to force myself not to vomit.

"Well anyways, she does this every time."

"Yeah, whenever she gets tired of fighting she always screams and plays the damsel in distress card. Trust me on this. Her wings probably aren't even sore."

"Good," I say as I step away from Baran and Selinda. "It's like I said, I really didn't want to be the reason that-"

My sentence is cut short by the entrance of the Headmistress. Judging from how fast everyone shuts up, I'd say we're in trouble- and lots of it.

"What happened here?" she snaps. "Your teacher turns his back on you for five seconds, and suddenly you think it's okay to start World War III? Well I have news for you! It isn't!"

There's an awkward silence before she yells, "Classes are cancelled for the rest of the day. And until you can learn to behave like civilized individuals, they will stay cancelled! And then none of you will ever graduate! Everyone back to your rooms. Now!"

One chorus of frightened yes ma'am's later, we all hurriedly shuffle out of the room, grabbing whatever stuff we took with us on the way out. My head starts hurting again, but I ignore it. I also ignore Angela's smug smile. I'm not sure who won that fight, but the one thing I do know for sure is that this is most definitely not the way I planned to spend my first day as a Level C.

…..

Hi again! Just so you know, the goal is to get the next chapter up by May 8, 2016. If you're reading this and there isn't another chapter up yet and it's May 9th or later, go bother me until I get off my butt and update. Got it? Good.

Anyways, thank you CursedRedRose for following and favoriting, misfitmasterpiece for following, and Otto-Antiporda for following and favoriting.

Reviews!

SecretCodeLyokan: Yeah, I can definitely relate to that. This is actually the last chapter I have pre-written, so I'll have to actually write the next one before the next time I update. Here's to hoping I don't get writer's block :/

CursedRedRose: Aw, thanks! Writing younger versions of characters is actually a lot easier than I thought it would be when I first started doing backstory fics.

Quote of the day!

"The Smiths lived in Nebraska- on purpose. They also had two kids- not on purpose." –Studio C (The Smiths)

Titans go!

Spectrobes Princess