GRR! I had my sister edit the WHOLE story and now I have to repost it. Here are Chapters 1-3:
[SIZE=14pt]Chapter One[/SIZE]
Olive slipped in mysteriously, as if nothing had happened, though a lot had happened. She coolly sat down at her desk, which was far from the others. Her mom had sent her to this academy of the gifted, thinking she would feel closer to her surroundings, including the people. But really, she couldn't feel any farther away.
It had all started last week when she was at the beach. It was a hot day and Olive was having a blast swimming in the water. It was pretty steady, but she wanted some waves to swim against. She only thought about it for about 2 seconds when a giant wave came on. Though Olive convinced herself it was only a coincidence she was still suspicious. When she saw somebody surfing, she grasped her chance. She concentrated on a huge wave for the surfer, just big enough that he could surf it. For some odd reason, she could just tell what kind of waves he could surf. That's when it happened. The wave Olive had been thinking about had come right when he got to the location it would form. It looked exactly like the one she had imagined. Scared, Olive swam to shore and demanded her mother tell her what happened.
Her father, Odus, had been gifted by a fairie of the water. She, Olive Oceana Otelia, had the gift of controlling the ocean. Knowing this day would come, her mother, Obioma Ofra Otelia, had her sent to St. Xaviers, a school for the gifted. Unhappily, Olive obeyed her mom's orders and went. It was now her first day, and she knew nobody. She missed her old friends, family, and most of all, the ocean next to her house. She always went there and that was her place that she could go and all her stress would disappear as she would breathe in that salty smelling ocean air. Covering her face, she allowed a tear to dribble down her face and splash onto the desk, and for a moment, Olive could see a wave of the ocean in her head. She begged for it to stay, but it was just a small bit of her happy memories at that beach. Drifting away in her memories, she barely heard the bell ring, as class had just begun. A man with a face that had tentacles walked in. Several girls screamed in shock.
“My name is Davy Jones. But you may call me Mr. Jones.” He said in his hoarse voice. “Normally, I would send you to a certain room, based on your… gift. Today, however, I want you to stand up when I call your name and share what you can do. Tonya Brookfield.” A brown haired girl with freckles stood up. “I can jump to unusual heights.” Then she sat down. Olive bit her lip, closed her eyes tightly, and hoped with all her might that the main office had made a mistake and didn’t put her name on the list.
She listened to everybody, but what really made her eyes open was when she heard somebody stand up and say “I can fly.”
Olive had always wanted to know what it felt like to fly. It was a red-haired girl, who was beginning to rise in the air. She was obviously unaware of it until Mr. Jones said
“Thank you, Skye.” That was when Skye realized that and came back to the ground. “Maybe, like mom said, I will make a friend here…” Olive thought. For the next bunch of kids she heard some strange powers. The boy next to her, apparently named Rock, had told the class that he can talk to hummingbirds.
“Olive Otelia.” She heard a familiar hoarse voice say. Nervous, Olive stood up and said quickly,
“I can control water.” As soon as she said that, a ripple of whispers crossed the room. Olive couldn’t hear what they were saying, so she didn’t know what to make of it. If it was good, bad, creepy or common. She sat down, and listened to the other students. When the bell rang, everybody rushed to the doors, except for Olive and Skye. Olive was planning on approaching Skye, but instead, it was vice-versa. Skye smiled nervously and said “I think your gift is cool. I never even knew anybody could have that gift.”
“Thanks,” replied Olive “Your gift is cool too. Flying is great, at least, so I think.”
“It’s OK, but once you get used to it, it’s just like riding a new bike. It’s fun for a while, but then you only use it when you need it. I found out I could fly about 2 months ago. When did you find out? You know, about your gift.”
Olive looked her in the eye and said, “1 week ago. How old are you?”
“Ouch. Shockers finding out that you’re gifted, huh? I’m 12. You?”
“I’m 12 too.” Olive ignored the first question. “Erm, what do we do now?” Olive and Skye had begun walking together.
“Follow me.” Skye said, taking her hand and pulling her through the crowded corridor.
“Here we are!” Skye said with sarcastic glee, opening the door to a plain bedroom with 6 beds. “We get to pick the bedroom we stay in. Don’t worry boys have the right corridor and we have the left.” She reassured Olive, seeing her worried face. “You can sleep next to me if you like. Girls are about to come running in here wanting one of the beds here. So we gotta pick first.” Skye informed her, putting her bag on a bed.
“Why is this bedroom so popular?” Olive asked her, putting her bag on a bed by the window, next to Skye’s.
“Look outside.” Both girls looked outside and saw an amazing, beautiful view of the mountains, a pond, trees, and hiking routes outside.
“That is so ama-” Olive began. About 12 girls came stampeding in, claiming beds. It lasted about 3 minutes before disappointed looking girls, yet still pretty cheerful, filed out. For a moment, there was a peaceful silence, and then the clamor spread through the room. Olive, staying silent, unpacked her clothes from her bag into the dresser next to her bed.
When she was done, she rummaged through the rest of her stuff, which was toiletries, books, pencils and a notebook, her diary, and a picture of Olive with her mom in front of the ocean on the beach. Only Olive knew that hidden in that frame was a picture of a boy she liked before she moved near the ocean. His name was Dustin Tines, with light brown hair and green eyes. She knew he liked her, but they didn’t want to admit it. She put the photo on the dresser and lay on her bed, resting from the journey from her house, to here. Closing her eyes, she thought about how she would spend much time here. It seemed like one minute to her but when she heard the dinner bell, she knew it had been 1 hour. Skye walked over and shook Olive’s shoulder
“Wake up! It’s time for dinner.”
“I wasn’t sleeping.” Olive said “I was just resting.” She got off the bed and followed Skye to the dining hall.
When the two girls walked in the dining hall, they saw 3 long tables lined up in the dining hall. Olive walked in awkwardly, though Skye walked in comfortably as though she had done this all her life. They sat at two empty seats at the end of the table. Sitting across them, was Rock from Olive’s class. He was silent, as if almost shy, but he didn’t seem like the shy kind of guy to Olive.
“Hey.” Rock murmured, who was suddenly very interested in his mashed potatoes. Seeing that Olive was just staring at the food lied out in front of them, Skye said,
“Help yourself. You are allowed to eat it you know.” Olive gave an embarrassed smile and filled her plate with steak, mashed potatoes, salad, and a piece of a loaf of bread. She also filled her glass with water. Olive began to dig in her mashed potatoes when she noticed Skye staring at her water.
“Ok, unless that water is poisoned or dangerous in anyway, I don’t wanna know why you are staring at my glass.” Olive grinned.
“I…wanna see you use your gift…” Skye gave a nervous smile.
“Erm… I guess I could try.” Olive stared at the water in her glass and concentrated on a ripple going through it out of nowhere. Nothing happened.
“I can’t.” she sighed and went back to cutting through her steak. A disappointed looking Skye played around with her rice and finally said, “I’m not that hungry. I’ll see you in the bedroom.” And she walked out of the kitchen, up the stairs and to the bedroom. Olive shrugged and finished off her steak.
Skye, on her bed, was wondering why Olive couldn’t use her gift. “Maybe she is a faker! And she wanted to come here because she thought it would be exciting to see all these people using their gifts! It’s official. I am going to question her. Tonight.”
Chapter 2
Olivia walked up to her bedroom, feeling warm and comfortable with her belly full of Chef X’s special banana cream pie. These nice feelings slipped away when she walked in her room and saw the way Skye was looking at her. “Um something wrong Skye?” she asked, sitting on her bed, confused.
“I just have a few questions for you, Olive. If that is your real name!”
“Umm yeah, it is.” Olive said. This will be interesting. Olive thought.
“I want to know why you couldn’t control the water in your glass.” Skye gave a suspicious look, which scared Olive a bit.
“I just couldn’t. Is it against the law not being able to use your gift all the time?” Olive’s eyebrows furrowed; she was beginning to get irritated.
“Well, no but you won’t be ready for what’s in the real world if you can’t use it 24/7!” Skye scoffed. “Amateur.”
“Amateur?”
“Yes, meaning, somebody who can’t use their gift because they are fakers!”
“I am not a faker!” Olive roared.
“Prove it!” Skye was yelling at this point. “Make the water in that jug over there,” She pointed to the jug of water in their room, “swirl in the air around my head and then I will believe you!”
“Fine I will!!” Olive watched the water, her eyes squinting with pressure and strain. She tried hard to visualize the water rising up and swirling around Skye’s head, but nothing would happen. Olive stopped trying, feeling very discouraged.
“Well?” Skye looked victorious.
“Err,” Olive said, feeling uncomfortable. “I… have to go to the bathroom.” Olive hurried out, and made sure Skye wasn’t following her. She looked behind her as she entered the bathroom and came face to face with Skye. “How did you-?” Olive stuttered, pointing at the door.
“Unlike you, I can use my gift. If you even have a gift!” Skye accused. That last statement made Olive very angry. She had been forced to go to this school away from home, just because she had a gift, and if anything, she would at least like people to recognize she had a gift.
“Ok for your information, the only reason I am at this dang school is because of my gift and if you don’t believe me, then… then…” Olive yelled.
“Then… what?” Skye had a slightly angry face on. “Your gonna-?”
BANG! The sink that had been left on because one girl had gotten scared and ran out had water that was water falling out, and hitting Skye. She sputtered the water out of her open mouth as Olive watched in shock.
“Don’t believe I have a gift now?” Olive teased.
“I believe you! I’m sorry! Just make it STOP!!” Skye pleaded. Olive felt the anger slip away, and just as fast, the water ceased to flow.
Olive smiled and said, “If you are going to still be friends with me, let’s go to the bedroom.” And walked out of the bathroom, with a shivering Skye following her.
“We might even get to out bedroom before Angie sees us.” Skye looked dead serious.
“Angie…?” Olive looked back at Skye, confused. “Is that another gifted child that we should watch out for?”
“Nah.” Skye said. “Keep going.” Skye gave a little push. “Angie is the patroller at night. If we are out of bed this late, we get detention and depending on how much trouble we are in, that is how long we stay here. I think we can dodge her. Usually she is on the boys’ wing by no-”
“Well, well, well. Look what we have here. The new girl and the wet one. Out of bed. That will cost you to stay here until lunchtime on Saturday.” Both girls turned around to see a young lady, about 19, with black hair and a smug look. “Surprised? I take a new schedule considering most of you kids know my old one, so you can sneak out and in without being cost.” Angie smirked for a moment, but when she looked at Skye, she gave a confused frown. “What happened to you? Put the wrong end on the toilet again?”
“No! What happened was-” Skye hesitated. She looked at Olive and saw her worried look. Although this was Olive’s first day, Olive was well aware of the punishment of attacking one of the students.
“What happened?” Angie followed Skye’s gaze to Olive.
“I… err, was taking a bath. I lost track of time and Olive came in to tell me. I didn’t get time to dry myself.” Skye quickly said, remembering that there was a bathtub in the bathroom they were in. It was through a door by the sinks.
“Aww, poor munchkin. You’re lucky I don’t make you stay ‘till Sunday for that. Though I might change my mind soon… Go on! Git!” Angie pushed both girls with an angry expression. “Dang kids. Think they can do anything. Ha!” Angie muttered, walking towards the main hall.
“Thanks for not telling.” Olive said, relieved.
“Thanks for not killing me with that water.” Skye smiled.
“To tell you the truth, I was lucky that time.” Olive gave an embarrassed smile. “I was kinda out of control. Although I know I have a gift, doesn’t necessarily mean that I know how to use it.”
“No problem.” Skye said. “Now let’s get to our room before Angie comes back and we have to stay all weekend.”
“I’m with you there. Let’s go!” Olive grinned, and they hurried off to their room.
Chapter 3
“Alright, I got the list right here!” Mr. Jones said in his hoarse voice, holding up some papers, after 10 minutes of searching. “When I call your name, you will come up here and I will tell you what class you are in and what room you are to go to.” Everybody was silent and a bit worried. “Tonya Brookfield.” He said, just like the first day. When Tonya went up there, he said, “You will be in C3, which is ‘Abilities That Involve Height’. Now leave.” Tonya walked out, looking confident. Mr. Jones continued, telling all the kids their rooms and what the class is. Skye was in C3 like Tonya. After Rock left to go to A4, for ‘Animal Involvement.’ Olive wasn’t surprised to hear Mr. Jones’ hoarse voice say her name. “You are in C2; the class is ‘Effect of Nature’. Now go on, don’t be late!”
“’K.” Olive murmured, hurrying to her classroom. She hadn’t thought about the kind of kids she would be dealing with until she was outside of her classroom. “I can deal with whatever is in there. Yeah, I am good enough!” and with that last positive note, Olive walked in the classroom.
It was a normal classroom. Kids sitting in their desks, some had a pile of dirt on a tray in front of them and they were staring at it, not paying her any attention, some had a seed on the floor, and some had some flowers in front of them. The teacher was watching them and paid no attention as Olive sat down in a desk next to a boy with shockingly violet eyes who seemed a bit depressed.
“Hi, I’m Olive. What’s your name?” Olive said. The boy didn’t reply. “Ok then, nice to meet you.” She said quickly. “So what’s your gift?” she said positively. He motioned to her desk. The fly that was on her desk was now the size of an elephant. Olive screamed, and, as if it was instinct, she turned on the sink and made the water spray the fly, just like what happened to Skye, except harder. The boy, wide eyed, turned the fly back to normal. Olive immediately stopped the water and walked to her soaked desk.
“Sweet.” The boy said. “Oh, by the way, Daniel is the name. And you can obviously see what my sucky power is.”
“Oh it’s not sucky. I find it very… protective. Please, don’t shock me like that again…” Olive laughed. “Wait! You talk?”
“Yeah, but I’m kinda shy.” Unless Olive’s eyes were deceiving her, which never happened, Daniel actually turned a shade pink. The teacher walked over to Daniel and Olive.
“Olive Otelia, my name is Mrs. Greenfinch. I know what your power is and I wanted to welcome you to the classroom. Here is a bowl of water.” She put a bowl of water on Olive’s desk. “Please practice your gift, tomorrow we will present what we can do. Now if you will excuse me, that bird over by the window is hungry.” Mrs. Greenfinch walked over to the window with some bird food and opened the window, beginning to make sounds that sounded a bit like a whistle.
“I really hope you can tell what her gift is. If not, you need some serious help, my friend.” Daniel joked.
“Yeah, she can open windows.” Olive said sarcastically. “Well better get started on practicing.” She said, staring at the bowl of water. A grin spread across her face.
“What are you-?” Daniel started. A bit of water had splashed on his face. Olive burst out laughing.
“That’s what you get for the elephant fly!” she said between laughs. Daniel had a look on his face that, in a way, said, “Unfair!”
Meanwhile…
A boy with brown hair stared up at the ceiling. "Why?" He murmured. "Why did she have to go?" His green eyes grew wet with tears. He was Dustin Tines. A girl that he had secretly liked was gone. Olive Otelia was the girl's name. He whispered her name through tears.
Olive had disappeared after her trip to the beach.
"She is gifted." said her father, when Dustin asked him where she was. "She has gone to a school with.... others like her."
"Sir, what is the address?" asked Dustin.
"I can't say. I apologize." replied Olive's father. And that was that.
The next morning, Dustin awoke. He sighed. He was being a wimp. So he told himself as he walked to his closet. There were more fish in the sea, right? Dustin observed his clothes, and chose one that had a dragon on it.
"Hmm...." He looked at himself in the mirror and gasped. His hair.... it was red! He screamed. Dustin's mother, Angela, came running up the stairs.
"WHAT IS IT? ARE YOU OK?!?" she screamed.
"MOM! MY HAIR! IT’S...... RED!" Dustin replied, quite panicked.
She looked at him and her face grew angry.
"Dustin, stop this nonsense!" Dustin turned back to the mirror. His hair was normal. Brown, and messed up.
"But mom-!" he started.
"Dustin, don't lie to me! You scared my half to death!" she said angrily. She stomped down the hallway outside of Dustin’s door.
"But, I could have sworn...." He trailed off.
Back to St. Xaviers…
Olive practiced and practiced, but she couldn’t make more than a small wave happen in the water. Many times she had to take a break and clear her mind with the thought of the ocean by her house.
“It’s OK,” Daniel tried reassuring her, “It takes a little time to make amazing things happen. Like…like this!”
Before Daniel did anything, Olive quickly said, “Umm, I don’t think a demonstration is necessary.”
After 5 minutes of pure thoughts concentrated only on the ocean, she decided to calmly try again. She stared at the water, concentrating only on a large wave of water forming, but not one droplet of water goes out of the bowl. She closed her eyes for a moment, concentrating on what it would look like and when she opened her eyes, it happened.
The exact wave she had been concentrating on happened. It slowly backed up, rising up and crashed down on the small layer of water still in the bowl. It was exactly like a wave at the beach, and not a drop of water was out of place. Olive smiled and tried it again. It worked. The wave was exactly the same as before.
“Finally!” Olive exclaimed, after doing it a third time. “I can do it!”
“Sweetness.” Daniel grinned.
After class, Olive waited for Skye to come out from C2, because the teacher was holding them up a little late. When Skye finally came out, Olive smiled at her.
“How was your class?” Skye asked, walking with Olive to the Cafeteria for lunch. “Mine was OK but the teacher talks WAY too much. And, you wanna know what his gift is? His sweat, it’s animal attraction!!” she stuck out her tongue and rolled her eyes. “He thinks it’s cool.”
“Woooow.” Olive said plainly. “Mine was actually, pretty good. I made a new friend, his name is Daniel-”
“Wait!” Skye interrupted. “Is he the freak with the purple eyes?”
“Yes… what of it?” Olive asked with a suspicious look on her face.
“You got along with Depressed Daniel?! Did he talk to you?” Skye seemed very excited.
“Yeah he is really nice… he’s just shy, that’s why he doesn’t talk much. Also, he doesn’t really like his gift.” Olive explained.
“What is it?” Skye asked.
“Uh…” Olive wondered. “I’m not sure he wants me to tell.”
“Oh. Come on, I don’t want everybody to hog the baloney sandwiches.” Skye pulled her to the cafeteria. When they were in line she asked, “So, what did you do in class? We just got lectured and lectured about how we should use our gifts are so special.”
“We just practiced our gifts. Tomorrow we will present it.” Olive snatched the last ham sandwich and put it on her tray.
“Erm, is it me, or is that guy, Rock watching us?” Skye looked suspiciously behind them out of the corner of her eye.
“Really?” Olive turned around but Skye turned her back halfway. “What?!”
“Look out of the corners of your eyes or he will see!” Skye warned.
“So-rry!” Olive said. Out of the corner of her eyes, she looked at Rock and sure enough, he was staring at them, watching their every move. Well, more like, Olive’s every move.
“Oh my god! I think he likes you!” Skye was star-struck. “Second day here and you already have an admirer!
“No way! We barely know each other. All I know about him is his name and gift.” Olive was refusing to think that somebody liked her. “I just came here because my mom told me. Not for anything else.”
“Well then, this is a bonus!” Skye laughed, sitting down next to her. Olive rolled her eyes and bite into her ham sandwich. Chef X walked outside the cafeteria and came over to Olive and Skye.
“Olive, may I speak to you?” Chef X asked. She had an anxious face, and apparently what Chef X wanted to tell Olive was urgent.
“Sure, go ahead.” Olive said.
“Erm, can we speak in private?” Chef X seemed to get even more anxious by the second.
“Ok. Just me?” Olive asked, getting up. Chef X looked at Skye.
“You can tell her later. Now I need to speak to you and you alone.” Chef X pulled Olive into the kitchen. Passed the ovens, passed the freezer, passed the refrigerator and into a door. It was Chef X’s dorm.