Boy, have I missed a lot! It was the last week of school for me, so I had a lot of homework. Hopefully I'll get to post more often now that it's summer.

Alynah~

The academy feels familiar. Sort of. I remember the test and the orientation. I hope they'll have a less chaotic way of learning now that we're here. I tug on my shirt as I look around to see students milling around, greeting their friends or consulting their handbooks to find their classrooms. I look for Elliot, or anyone else I remember, but I don't see them, and conclude that they're already in the classroom. I have a vague idea where to go, but I check my map again.

When I get to the classroom, about two-thirds of the students are here, including Elliot. I walk students are chatting, introducing themselves, and waiting for class to start. I walk over to a girl with dyed-blue hair who seems to just be idling around and introduce myself. "Hi. I'm Alynah. What's your name?"

"Oh. I'm Emma. How are you?"

"Good." I wave my hand dismissively. "What can you, um, what can you do?"

She gets my drift. "I manipulate gravity." Emma demonstrates by suddenly floating above the ground, her hair poufing out like she's in water.

The teacher walks in. She sees floaty Emma and nods thoughtfully before saying, "Could you please refrain from using your gift without permission? That is perfectly in the rules, but let's not stretch the limits until I explain our restrictions on gift usage. I just don't want anyone getting any ideas." She turns her head to give a boy with brown hair and hazel eyes a dirty look. 

Reed~

That summer went by unlike any other I've had. Not like it was supernatural or anything, just that I hardly remember any of it. Before I knew it, the same car ride to the academy in my mom's car wad ahead of me. Heading back to the academy, my mom could not stop worrying.

"Make sure you don't exert yourself too much, ok honey? It's all about having fun!" She heard about the practical exam, of course. Even though it was pretty unprecedented, and she was pretty heated once she found out how I didn't tell her, she was still pretty excited. Since, you know, it was RGAZ and all.

I dismissively reassured her until we got to the parking lot. I stepped out of the car, swinging my bag around my shoulder.

"And you're ok taking the shuttle, honey?"

"Yeah, I mean you wanted to save gas money anyway, didn't you?" My mom gave me a nervous smile. "Anyway, see you."

My mom kept repeating goodbyes until she pulled away. I looked at my watch. Shoot, I was 5 minutes late. On the first day of all days. I rushed to make it to the gates, but it didn't look like I'd be going anywhere fast.

An angry swarm had gathered outside the front gate, security struggling to hold them back. I could barely make out what they were protesting about, they were yelling so loud. As I considered pushing through them, I felt a presence behind me.

I turned around to see a huge, burly looking man with a full beard in a suit and brief case. 

"Just when I thought I'd be on time..." he muttered. He suddenly turned to notice me, my uniform standing out from the crowd. "Oh, a tardy student? A kindred spirit! I'm sorry I can't be much of a role model at the moment, but my name is Mossman, Mr. Mossman! I co-teach Class A with Mr. Redpool."

"Oh, I think I have you for homeroom, actually," I deduced. Mr. Mossman grinned.

"Even better. We can help solve this problem together." I frowned. "This crowd is a bunch of spoil sports. Probably angry about the orientation, or they're just anti-gift."

"Anti-gift?" I said.

"Yes, but these guys are easy to deal with. Watch and learn, pupil." 

Sorry I haven't been posting! 

Izzie~~~

Summer went by in a blur and soon I found myself in front of RGAZ's front gates. I take a deep breath and enter. I pull out my map and follow it to my class. I enter and take a seat and wait for the teacher to come in.  

Reed~

Mr. Mossman stepped forward, sporting an intimidating frown and puffing out his chest. He marched over to the mob and stomped his foot down, so it made a noise. The guy looked like a total beast, but I couldn't tell if he was joking or not. He looked back at me and gave me a wink.

"You are all unlawfully loitering on privately owned property. If you cannot produce academy-verified ID, then it it is my legal responsibility to remove you by any means necessary."

The whole group practically turned around at once after hearing Mr. Mossman's thundering warning. They nervously looked at each other, that is until one of them marched forward.

"So you teach here?" He said, unafraid. The guy wore a denim jacket and jeans, with ratty looking boots on his feet. His jacket was open, so you could see his grimy undershirt. His dark brown hair was slicked back and greasy, and his had a look on his face that made the pain-gift kid look like a saint.

"I do. But evidently, you don't. So I'd like it if you'd leave. Now."

"Oh, big man's gonna use his gift cuz we made him angry, huh?" The man laughed a loud, obnoxious laugh. He turned back to the group, and they all joined in, bellowing directly at Mr. Mossman. The guy turned back and scowled. "This guy is the kind that treats kids like cage fighters, isn't that right?" The man looked at me. Mr. Mossman glanced to see my response. I shrugged. I opened my mouth to respond, but someone beat me to it.

"Leave him alone!"

We turned to see small, trembling girl in the same style uniform I'm wearing. She nervously looks at me and Mr. Mossman, seeming like she's about to cry.

"What she said. If this is what you guys do for fun, you're better off going back to whatever gutter you crawled out of," I added. The greasy guy scoffed.

"See, you guys? They have 'em brainwashed already," He retorted. "C'mon, we have better things to do then waste time on academy scum." The man pushed past us, and the crowd shuffled behind him, murmuring to themselves. I cursed under my breath. When the mob was pushed out of sight by security, Mr. Mossman broke the silence with his thunderous laugh.

"Thanks, Miss student! If you hadn't stepped in, we wouldn've been in a sticky situation with those guys," The girl stared at the ground meekly.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks, really," I added awkwardly. She wiped her cheeks and looked up at me. I turned to flash a forced smile at her, but got caught off guard by her big, hazel puppy-dog eyes. I realized I was staring, and turned back to the gate.

"I just know how awful that kind of crowd is. Sorry I didn't say something sooner." Her voice was smooth and sweet, not like Mia's or anybody from my old middle school, but almost cute, like a bird. She sounded really sincere and intelligent, too, kind of like my mother. I glanced back and saw her blushing with embarassment. 

"My name is Mr. Barry Mossman, Class A instructor," Mr. Mossman interjected. His interruption made me realize how creepy I was being, and I forced myself to stop. The girl looked up.

"I'm Wren. I'm a first-year, in class A," she said, quickly and clearly. I realized I hadn't introduced myself to either of them.

"I'm Reed. I'm uh- in Class A too." Mr. Mossman grinned."

"Oh, this is perfect. Allow me, Reed and Wren, to be your official escort to Class A," He announced. "And don't worry about being late, as you can see, I'm no better. Although, Giorgio might be a little pissy... Ah, nevermind. Come along!" Mr. Mossman marched us through the gates in into the school, spouting random facts about the building on the way. I considered talking to Wren, but I looked over at her, and could tell that she wasn't in the mood to talk to someone she just met.

I felt so out of place, like I was in someone else's shoes. Have I always acted like this? Have I ever? It was the same feeling as when I saw my name on the big screen, only- so much different. Was it because I was alone with a girl? No, of course it wasn't. Mr. Mossman was right there. Was it just first-day jitters? But I was never jittery, I knew that. Why was I even thinking about this?

Before I knew it, I looked up to see the classroom door, a room full of students, a teacher already inside, presumably Mr. Redpool, and Mr. Mossman beckoning us inside.

Reed~

"Mr. Mossman, I trust you haven't facilitated any irresponsible behaviour among these students?"

"Actually, Mr. Redpool, you'll be suprised to find out that these two students, Mr. Reed and Ms. Wren, have helped me defend the school from a dangerous mob of hooligans!"

Oh my god. Mr. Redpool was just as huge as Mr. Mossman. He was kind of more intimidating too, but maybe that was just first impressions. Mr. Redpool glanced at us, hesitated, and finally smiled.

"Well, students, I hope that you've learned a valuable lesson in- whatever you were doing... Anyway, my name is Mr. Giorgio Redpool, Hyper Room Instructor."

"Hyper Room?" I replied.

"Yes," added Mr. Mossman. "It's the special training facility reserved for the highest level of power training, which is pretty much comprised of Class A."

"You see, students," Mr. Redpool continued, "All practical testing and training in Class A is completed under my supervision. Mr. Mossman handles situational training."

"What's that suposed to mean?" I look to see a red haired boy giving Mr. Redpool a confused look.

"It means that you get to do all the fun stuff with me," Mr. Mossman answered, grinning. "Rescue operations, real environments, simulated emergencies." The class began radiating an interested murmur at the prospect of getting to do actual hero work.

"Mr Mossman, please," Mr. Redpool responded. "Class, Mr. Mossman won't come into play until later, so for now, I will be your supervisor." Mr. Mossman nodded and gave Mr. Redpool an overly serious salute. "I'm sure everyone's here already, if you two were the last ones." Mr. Redpool hesitated, looking at his clipboard. He finally spoke.

"Well, it's time to test your abilities, students. Your first visit to the Hyper Room awaits."

Mr. Redpool lead the class out into the hallway, leaving Mr. Mossman to wave a hankerchief (which was actually a tissue) as a goodbye. The murmuring continued, as the class wondered what we'd be doing in the Hyper Room.

"Hey, what happened out there?" Bryan had caught up to me. I didn't even notice that Wren had disappeared from my side.

"Uh, some protestors were blocking the entrance, I think," I explained.

"What? Is it even possible for them to get in here?"

"Well, there had to be at least somebody out there clever enough to breach RGAZ security," I said.

"Geez, I thought they were just being paranoid," Bryan muttered. I looked ahead. I had a really bad feeling about those people. Sure, Mr. Mossman dealt with them easily enough, but if that happened on the first day of school, how many of those people were out there?

I sighed. Worrying didn't do any good. If bad people were out there, then heroes would have to stop them. The same kind of heroes that we were all going to be.