CHAPTER 2

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Sitting in this history class was extremely boring. The teacher and his monotone voice made me want to fall asleep constantly, so to stay awake I began to text my best friend. 

Yo Percy

Yeah?

I’m bored what you up to?

Not much lol

Finally got to leave the Capital tho!

Maybe I’ll find you and snatch you :)

REALLY?!?!?

Yessss and aren't you supposed to be in class?

I am in class

This teacher sucks

Pay attention idiot or I won’t come find you

Rude

Uh huh now pay attention before I find you and 

Only talk in a monotone voice like ur teacher

UGHH FINEE

Cya Sunshine kid

Bye bye emo boi

I snickered, he always wants me to pay attention, but that’s not what I was laughing about. I’m happy that he’s out of the Capital for the first time ever. Every time I’ve wanted to meet up, he’s said he isn’t able to leave the Capital and it’s so annoying. Maybe he snuck out past his parents or something.

I put my phone away and distracted myself with thinking about all the memories I’d made with Percy. The countless long nights of us just talking and laughing on the phone, the stupid pictures I’d taken of him on facetime when he saw Mooshi. He loves that kitten and he hasn’t met her. She’s a little demon. We know pretty much everything about each other. He knows about my childhood and all my anxieties. He’s made me more confident about my art. He’s the kindest person I know, that’s probably why I have a fat crush on him.

The teacher continued to drone on about how ‘The elementians were the greatest people in history’ and other crap like that. I don’t get why people look up to them so much; they're people just like us. They’ve probably made mistakes like the rest of us. I zoned out for the rest of class thinking about all the things I could show Percy around our little town.

____

“Boo!” Lola shoved at me from behind, nearly knocking my textbook out of my arms. 

“Jesus Lola!” I said regaining my balance as she skipped to the front of me. “So how were your first few classes?” I asked, opening my locker as we’d just arrived at them. 

“They were ok, kinda boring, but at least I listened.” She said jumping up and smacking me lightly on the head. 

“Ow and yeah yeah, you're starting to sound like Kali.” I said shivering, someone was watching me. I turned around to find Alkali towering over me. “H-hey Kali.” I smiled sweetly hoping to not be punched in the face. 

She sighed and moved to get into her locker. She hated being talked about no matter what, good or bad. She also hated being compared to a mom as she had to grow up acting as one. I of course, being the good person I am, used this against her relentlessly.

“Ok, well I’m hungry,” I said, closing my locker door, “Let’s go to lunch and see who these Elementians really are.” I smiled as Alkali and Lola shut their lockers up. Alkali now had two free hands that I was keeping an eye on in case she decided that I needed to be strangled. She is very strong and that scares me.

“Yup!” Lola said, bouncing on her toes as she started walking down the hallway towards the cafeteria. “So what do you guys think they are like?”

“Probably snobby.” I sighed, crossing my arms behind my head as we walked through the hallway. “That or everyone is right and they are the perfect people.” I said as I pushed open the door to the cafeteria. My jaw practically hit the floor when I saw who was standing on a stage with heavy security around him. What is Percy doing up there, I thought he was just some normal kid that lived in the Capital.

He made eye contact with me, I saw him do a double take before he smiled really widely and jumped off the stage running towards me through the protesting security guards. The idiot practically jumped into my arms, which nearly knocked me to the ground.

“Fang?” He said excitedly, “I didn’t know you would be here!” His fluffy white and blonde hair was flying in every direction like the wind was constantly blowing through his hair, his sun kissed skin was practically glowing under all the lights they had set up in the cafeteria. Through the camera I never really noticed how different his eyes were, the one being ice blue and the other a striking gray. He was so adorable, his fluffy little fox tail was wagging back and forth like a dog does when it's happy. I see he even wore his newest favorite outfit which was a long sleeved white shirt with a tan knitted sweater vest over the top, along with the tan jeans and belt I told him to get even though he said they looked stupid. They looked really good on him. 

“Yeah,” I said as he let me go, secretly I didn’t want him to but people were now staring at me. “This is where I go to school, I guess.” 

Percy seemed to read my mind, “Let’s go back behind the stage, Camille’s there and that way people won’t stare so much.” He winked at me, he definitely knew. 

“Sounds good, you mind if Lola and Alkali come?” I asked, gesturing towards them with my hand. 

“That’s fine with me.” Percy smiled as the security guards finally caught up to him.

“Sir, please do not run off without at least one of us.” The guard said, trying to catch his breath from running across the huge cafeteria. 

“Sorry,” Percy smiled, grabbing my wrist and pulling me towards the back of the stage. I motioned for Alkali and Lola to follow us and lucky Lola saw me as Alkali was zoned out. 

Having people to clear a path for you was kinda nice, but at the same time horrific, so many people stared and were talking under their breath. It made me very uncomfortable to be the center of attention. Percy again, seemed to read what I was thinking and sped up quite a bit. 

We made it to the back and there were even more security guards guarding every possible entry point. Geez, these guys took it seriously. I was still trying to process the fact that one, Percy was here, and two, he’s one of the Elementians. A girl with short, bright reddish pink hair was sitting in a chair eating one of our school lunches. She was wearing a golden band around her forehead with what looked like a sun in the center. Her other half was some kind of cat as she had the brown and red ears and tail to go with it. She had golden cat like eyes and dark olive toned skin, her dress was also quite beautiful and grand. She looked as if she were straight out of the Victorian age with the long flowy yellow and gold dress. She wiped away invisible crumbs of food off her chest as she stood to greet us.

“Hello!” She smiled and then looked to Percy, “Who’ve you brought back with you Percy?” 

“This is Fang!” Percy said happily, gesturing towards me, “And these are his friends Alkali and Lola.”
“Is this the same Fang you always talk about?” She snickered as Percy blushed. 

“Yup! Oh, and guys this is Camille.” Percy gestured towards Camille as she did a small curtsey. It confused me at first why she was acting so formal and then it hit me. This was who many thought of as the Queen of our world. She’s been around since the beginning of time, though you can’t tell that she’s a day over 21. If I had to guess she still acted as if she were in the 1800s with how she dresses and the perfect etiquette and posture I’d seen from her. 

We all stood there very awkwardly in silence for a few seconds before Percy cleared his throat loudly. 

“Well, it’s almost time for us to go up and talk.” He sighed, looking into my eyes, “Why don’t you guys go get your food real quick and sit wherever. I’ll tell the security guys that you have all access to everything.” He smiled, “I’ll go get food with you, I have no idea what’s good here.” He laughed and started walking towards the side of the stage.

“Alrighty then, nice to meet you Camille, Percy talked about you alot over call.” I smiled and turned to follow Percy to the lunch line which was surprisingly empty. Alkali and Lola followed us to the line. Ugh they were having tacos, I hate school food with a passion. 

“So, what should I get?” Percy asked me.

“I mean if you like cheap tacos go for the tacos, or plastic looking and tasting pizza go for that. Honestly if I were you I’d wait till you leave to eat.” I said making a ‘ew that's gross’ face.

“You should probably eat Fang,” Percy said, poking at my ribs, “Gotta get some meat on them bones.” 

“Haha, I’ll get food poisoning if I eat that.” I said grabbing a grape juice from the cooler. I punched in my number on the little keypad as the lunch lady stared in awe at Percy. Geez, just because he’s a major doesn’t make him that good. He handed the lady three dollars and when she tried to give it back he just protested. I grabbed a straw for myself and a packet of silverware and pulled Percy out of the lunch room so the lady would stop tryna give him his money back. 

“Thanks,” He sighed, walking back towards the back of the stage. 

“No problem my friend.” I elbowed him in his side and dropped the packet of silverware on his tray as I noticed he had forgotten to grab one. 

“Oh thanks again!” We both laughed as we sat at the table backstage. I took the straw out of its wrapper and did my favorite thing to do in school. I stabbed the top of the juice in such a way that it sounded like a loud bang. Percy practically jumped out of his seat at the noise. I started hysterically laughing. 

“It’s not that funny!” He nearly shoved me off my chair as I continued to die laughing. Alkali smacked me on the back of the head as she walked past me to sit down.

“You should stop doing that Fang, you’re gonna give someone a heart attack.” Alkali looked at me sternly as she pulled out two chairs, one for her and one for Lola. They both sat down and began eating the disgusting looking tacos. 

“You should probably not eat that.” I muttered under my breath, mocking her. 

“I can hear you Fang, you mutter really loud.” Alkali glared, flicking a piece of cheese from her taco at me. 

“Hmph.” I grabbed my juice and began drinking it. It tasted like heaven, compared to everything else at this school, their grape juice was the best thing in the world. I looked over at the other side of the room and noticed three small storage-like containers. “What are those for?” I asked Percy who was mid-bite of his taco. 

He quickly chewed and swallowed the rest of his bite, “Those are our testing bins, pretty much we’re gonna test every person to see if they can create their elements out of thin air.” 

“Makes sense,” I said, taking another drink of my juice. “What’s in em?” 

“Well the fire one is full of water, the nature one is just a steel box, and the water one is completely dry with no moisture inside.” Percy said, pointing at each box as he spoke. “If you can create your element in the opposing environment then you are one of us.” He said, taking another bite of taco.

“Makes sense.” I said, finishing off my juice sadly. “I wonder who they are?” 

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Camille jumped in, I didn’t even notice she’d walked up behind us, she’s really quiet. “Also, Percy, please try and finish up quickly. We need to start in less than five minutes.” 

“Alrighty!” Percy smiled, shoving the rest of his taco into his mouth. “You guys should go take a seat outside so you can get the full experience,” Percy smiled, standing up, “Of course, when you’re done that is.” 

“I’m done,” Alkali looked over at Lola who was just finishing her salad.

“Me too!” Lola smiled standing up quickly. 

“Let’s go watch Percy be an idiot on stage,” I smiled as I elbowed him in his side.

“Yeah, yeah.” Percy grumbled walking away towards the entrance to the stage. 

“You’re so mean Fang,” Lola said grumpily as she caught up to me walking towards the seats in front of the stage. 

“He’s used to it, don't worry.” I smiled and patted her head. She stuck her tongue out at me like a five year old would. Sometimes I wondered if she was still a little kid, even though she’s older than me. I sat down in the front row as the rest of the kids didn’t know they were about to start so we got the prime seats. As Percy and Camille walked onto the stage everyone in the cafeteria got up from their lunch tables and came to sit as close as possible to the stage. 

I still found it really dumb that people looked up to them so much. I never really got why celebrities, people that you don’t really even know, are looked up to. I mean, I look up to Percy but that’s because he’s my best friend and I know him in and out. I don’t know, maybe I’m just an emotionless husk who doesn’t get it.