Thomas is such an ass!  I can’t believe he led me on like that!  Why did I ask him to kiss me?  That was so stupid!

I layed, crying on my bed, and the door to my room suddenly slid open again.  Why is he back?

“Go away.”

“We have fighting classes.”

“Oh, right.”

“Jamie, I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to make you upset.”

“You led me on!  You kissed me and admitted to having feelings for me and then refused to kiss me and told me it can never happen!”

“Jamie, I never said I didn’t want to kiss you.”  This gets my attention, “There’s definitely something going on between us that is more than just feelings.  I think we should tell Michael what is going on before we do more.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea.  I’m sorry for throwing you out earlier.”

“It’s ok, you were upset.  We should get going to classes.”

“Good idea.”

Thomas leads me through the increasingly confusing hallways until he stops at a normal door.  So they do have normal doors, I didn't think that was possible.

“Ok, the trainers can be very intense.  They will push you very hard and will only accept perfection.  There are many different trainers, so it’s different almost every day.  Don’t worry about names, though.  They have name tags.”

“Thanks.”

When we walked into the training room, it was practically empty, except for an old man in the center of the room.

“Ah, shit,” Thomas mumbled under his breath.  Is something wrong?  This guy just looks like a sweet old man.

“Thomas, losing some muscle, I see.  You better work on that.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Jamie, you practically look like a stick.  No muscle on those bones whatsoever.”

I see why Thomas was worried.  This is going to be the worst class of my life.

~~~

Everything hurts.  The first thing we did was spar, but the trainer realized Thomas wasn’t using his full strength.  I had to take three punches to the gut for that.  After that it was a bunch of weight lifting and punching dummies.  I was so tired I could lay down and sleep forever right now.

Thankfully our next class is with a different trainer.  

“I don’t know a lot about what happens in these classes since I don’t have powers.  I think you are taught how to control your power and how to focus the energy of your powers on other things.”

The door to the training room burst open and in walked a trainer along with…Michael?

“Hello Michael,” Thomas says, confused.

I don’t say anything, just wait in anticipation.  Are we in trouble?  Thomas did say what we did was against the rules.

“Hello Thomas, Jamie.  I need to talk to you guys about something.  It is very important to both of your futures and both your powers.”

I speak up this time, “Both our powers?  But Thomas doesn’t have powers?”

“That’s where you are wrong.  It is very rare, but Thomas is your amplifier.  His soul gives off an energy that attracts your soul, along with your power.  This energy does not work on anyone but you, that’s why he was made your guard.  When you are together, your flames will be amplified and can also give you more control over them until you learn.  You might have felt it already.  If Jamie’s power has been on the fritz his flames will not harm you Thomas.  You might also feel pulled to each other, even attracted.  It is not uncommon for amplifiers and their partners to be physically attracted to each other.”

I look at Thomas and he looks at me.  We both let out a relieved sigh and stared at each other for a bit.  We both burst out laughing.

“We were both so confused as to what was happening,” Thomas says in between laughs.

“I can’t believe we thought we were going to get in trouble!  I guess that explains what happened yesterday night.”

“Yeah.  If we were - you know, attracted to each other - would it be alright if,” Thomas grabs my hand.

Michael sighs, “Already?” We look at each other and nod, “I can’t stop anything at this point.  After hearing this, you guys deserve the rest of the night off to talk some things out.”

“Thank you, Michael, for explaining.”

“Of course.  Have a good night, you two.”

Thomas and I decide it is best to head back to my room to talk about the situation.  We sit on my bed across from each other, just like before.

“This is crazy, huh?”  I really need to know what is going through his head.

“I guess.  It really does explain a lot, though.”  Suddenly he leans in and kisses me.  It’s just like last night, warm and soft.

I pull away before my powers go haywire. “Sorry, I’m worried about my powers.  Can’t risk burning the building down.”

“Building?”

“Yeah, The School.”

“Did nobody tell you where The School is?”

I realized that, no, nobody told me where we are.  “No.”

“The School is a ship.  We are currently flying in the sky.”

“What!  I didn’t know that!”

“Yeah, this way, no one will be able to find us.  It’s safer for us this way.”

Wow, this is definitely a conversation for a different time, “Do you want to try to help me control my powers?  I can’t call them on my own yet, but Ican with you.  I tried after you left earlier.”

“Sure.  I think we need to make a deep connection with each other, that’s why touching our foreheads works.”

“Ok.  Let’s try that.”

He moved his forehead closer to mine and I felt the connection.  It was like a warmth flooding my body.  We connected both of our hands together and closed our eyes.  When I opened my eyes both of our arms were covered in my flames.  I tried to pull back from his forehead to see if the connection would remain.  It wasn’t as strong but my flames still danced up and down our arms.

Our eyes met and we laughed.  He pulled me in for a quick kiss and disconnected our arms.  I watched as the flames dissipated.  Instead of feeling that instant emptiness, the warmth remained.

“That was perfect.”