“Alright, everyone, it seems like we’ve finished everything we needed to do today. Keira and Timmy, I expect an essay tomorrow explaining why you haven’t finished your homework and the consequences of not finishing it.”

The teacher looked at me sternly but quickly turned to the rest of the class to give them a warm smile. “It may be a bit early, but I’m leaving for a few minutes to get some printouts. Everyone’s free to go home for the day. No need for you to wait.”

The class cheered and quickly made their way outside, the teacher following them out to get the printouts.

I waved at Juliet as she walked out of the classroom with the rest and started packing my stuff. Juliet had a few meetings immediately after school, so she had no time to wait for me or play games today. Oh well. I was already happy that she could find the time yesterday.

“Timmy! What are you doing?”

I looked up to see Timmy reaching for the whiteboard with a pen in his hand.

“Just giving the teacher what she deserves,” he answered with the biggest grin and started writing ‘I hate my teacher. I want a different one’ as big as possible. He quickly put the pen back and pretended to be packing his bag as the teacher returned to the classroom.

“Oh, my- Who wrote that?!” The teacher went to the front of the room and put down her printouts, grabbing the eraser and quickly wiping the text away. The small group that was still in class stayed quiet.

The teacher turned around with a sigh and looked in my direction. “Keira, are you just begging for detention?”

“Wait- No, it wasn’t me!” Why do they always think it’s me? I turned to Timmy and glared at him for not speaking up. “Timmy’s the one that wants detention.”

Timmy glared back at me and started walking up to me. “You traitor!”

“That’s enough!” The teacher shook her head. It was clear she was disappointed by the way her brows were furrowed. “Just go home. I’m busy as it is. I’ll be thinking of the consequences tomorrow.”

I shot Timmy a smug look and quickly left the classroom. That’s what you get.

As I left the building, I saw Adam standing at the school fence. I couldn’t see that well because of the sun, but the way he was standing made him look a little upset. It made me feel a little uneasy to see him like this.

“What’re you standing here for?”

Adam turned to me with a startled expression, though only briefly, as he soon showed off his bright smile again. “No reason!”

It turns out his house was in the same direction as mine. Either that, or he used it as an excuse to follow me. Either way, his following me felt weird, so we started walking together at some point until we parted ways.

“My house is in that direction,” Adam said and stopped at a crossroad, pointing in his house's direction with his finger.

“Well, I’m going this way. See ya.”

I continued walking back home, trying to think of a way to quickly get my essay done so I could play some games when my thoughts got interrupted by a familiar voice (and familiar line).

“You traitor!”

I stopped and turned to look back at Timmy, who was quickly walking up to me. He had furrowed his brows and had his hands clenched into fists. All he needed was steam escaping his nostrils, and he was the perfect example of an angry dragon out of a comic.

“I was about to get in trouble because of you.” I groaned and rested my hands on my sides, grinning back at him. “Your dumb butt shouldn’t have written anything stupid on the whiteboard.”

Timmy gritted his teeth and fastened his pace. He looked like he was preparing to hit me, so I took my hands out of my side and readied to defend myself.

“What’s going on?”

I looked to my side, eyes widening in surprise to see Adam glaring at Timmy. “What? Why are you-”

“Nothing is going on!” Timmy turned back to Adam with his hands at his sides. “Just... Run along.”

Adam let out a sigh and walked towards me. “Come,” was all I heard before he took my hand and dragged me along.

“Hey, I’m not done with her!” Timmy continued shouting at us, but Adam ignored him. At some point, I stopped hearing him. I guess he’d given up.

I looked up at him in confusion. “Adam, why-”

“I’m just getting you home,” he said as he kept walking. He hadn’t looked at me since he appeared out of thin air.

“Adam, listen-” I tugged at his arm, and he finally glanced down at me.

What...?

“Tsk-”

I grabbed his arm and dragged him around the corner.

“Why are you looking at me like that?!” I yelled, grabbing him by the collar and shoving him into the wall. Adam looked at me with confusion in his eyes.

“I... No, I-”

Realizing that he found himself on thin ice, Adam frowned in thought and closed his mouth, hesitating a moment before he decided to talk again. “I just… thought you needed help-”

“I could’ve handled him by myself!”

With a growl, I let go of his collar and stepped back, quickly turning my head away and running my hand through my hair. “I was fine,” I grumbled through gritted teeth.

“I- I’m sor-”

“You piss me off so much. You know that!” I yelled and turned back towards him, opening my mouth to continue, but the words got caught in my throat.

The way he stood there, the shock in his eyes. His hands were trembling, and tears were brimming in the corner of his eyes. I felt a pang of guilt in my chest and closed my mouth. It seems like I exploded. Again.

I took a deep breath before I opened my mouth again.

“Leave me alone, okay? Stay away from me.”

I turned away from him and continued making my way home.

The next day, I bumped into Adam again on my way to school. I immediately felt shame wash over me, but he just smiled and waved at me as if nothing had happened. I considered walking next to him but decided it’d be best for me to avoid him for now and turned the other way to take a different route to school.

When I arrived at school, I learned that Timmy got detention for his behavior for the rest of the week. He shot an angry look in my direction and mouthed threats to me throughout the week, though once Juliet shot him a cold glare back, he shrunk back in his chair and grumbled to himself instead.

Adam, however, kept trying to catch my attention by either approaching me during small breaks, waving at me during class, or waiting at the intersection where we usually bump into each other while heading to school.

Thankfully it didn’t take long before it was Saturday, and I felt relieved that I didn’t need to worry about avoiding Adam for a couple of days.

I went for my regular jog in the village’s park when I saw Timmy again. He was messing around with friends from a different school on a grass field. Not wanting to deal with them, I strayed off the main path and followed a forest trail.

The forest trail took you to a smaller grass field beside a small lake. Though a perfect picnic spot, the entrance had been blocked off by overgrown grass and unkept trees, so only a few people knew of this spot, only residents who visited this field while it was still taken care of a decade ago.

Deciding to take a small break, I sat on the grass and closed my eyes, enjoying the nature around me. It was another sunny day. It’s a shame Juliet was busy today.

However, my peace was quickly disturbed by something stabbing my leg. I think I was sitting on something. I moved to the side and looked down at the spot I was sitting on. A glowing red stone was on the ground, attached to a thin chain. Was this the necklace that Adam was looking for the other day? If so, he was looking in the wrong spot. Seeing how panicky he was the day I met him, I decided to give it to him whenever I first saw him and put the necklace in my pocket.

“Look who we have here.” I flinched at the sound of Timmy’s voice and hastily stood up. I could still feel the tension in my body from my jog.

Next to Timmy were two boys. One was a more petite boy, his gaze avoiding mine. He came along despite not wanting to. The other was taller and wearing glasses, his yellow eyes sparkling with amusement. They reminded me of a cat I used to have, their eyes sparkling as they played with their prey.

Scoffing, I crossed my arms and gave him my widest grin. This may be alright! It’s been a while since I’ve punched something. “Enjoyed detention, Timmy?” I snickered, earning a well-heard growl from him. Good, that was enough to piss him off.

“Yeah, I’m going to pay you back for that.” He ran up to me with his fists balled up. Oh, so he wants to get beaten up that badly?

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I widened my stance and held up my arms just in time to dodge the fist Timmy threw at me.

“Heh.” He’s as slow as always. As I move my upper body to punch him, I feel a kick in the back of my leg, bringing me onto my knees.

What..?

I glanced behind me and saw a pair of yellow eyes before Timmy took this opportunity to step closer and hold me by the hair.

“Ow, let go, you butthead!” When did that tall guy get behind me? I didn’t notice him at all.

I tried to stand back up, but Timmy yanked my head backward.

“I’ll let go of you after you’ve apologized!”

“Guys, I- I don’t feel comfortable doing this to a girl.” The timid boy stepped forward, fidgeting with his sleeves.

“Shut up, Mark! She deserves this.”

“No, I don’t! You’re just stupid for doing dumb things!” I swung my arms to try and hit Timmy, but he was too out of reach.

The tall guy tapped my leg with the tip of his shoe. “She’s quite feisty, isn’t she?”

Timmy grimaced and looked back at his friend. “Ehm, feisty? I guess so.”

Noticing him being distracted, I swept my leg against Timmy’s to tackle him, then moved my legs to try and get up quickly. Before I could stabilize myself, the other guy placed his hand on the back of my head and pushed my face into the ground.

“Ack! You stupid-”

I held back my tears as he raised my head before forcing it into the ground again.

What’s this guy’s deal? He’s crazy strong. I would’ve easily beaten Timmy if this stupid guy didn’t sneak up on me.

“Just say sorry, and we’ll leave.” I heard Timmy say.

“I- I’m sorry that… that you have no brain.” I earned a kick in my side for my remark. I flinched and bit back a wince.

“Hey, I r- really don’t think we should do this.”

“Shouldn’t do what?”

The boy in glasses lifted my upper body by my head and let out a slight snicker. I opened my eyes, which I didn’t realize I had closed, and saw Adam at the entrance of the open grass field. My vision was still blurry, but I’m sure I saw something glowing from him.

“Who’s this? The new guy at school you mentioned, Timmy?”

“Seems like you’re lucky, Keira.” Timmy glanced over to his taller friend. “Let’s go, Flynn.”

“You two…” I saw Adam step closer, his tone threatening low.

Flynn ignored Timmy and roughly tugged at my hair. I let out a small cry at the aching in my head, pressing my eyes shut and biting my lip to silence my winces as he moved me by my hair. “What? You don’t mind. Do you, new dude?” he asked tauntingly.

Timmy looked at Flynn with his eyebrows raised in surprise. “Flynn, stop messing around. I don’t want to get in trouble.” Flynn only snickered at this and started poking my back with his foot. “But look at his expression. It’s priceless.”

“Enough.”

Adam sprinted toward us and jumped at Flynn, who let go of my hair in surprise, effectively knocking him to the floor. “Who do you think you are, using a person like your plaything??” There was a growl in his voice as he spoke. He grabbed Flynn by the face and knocked the back of his head to the ground.

I got up on my knees and wiped the dirt off of my face. “A- Adam, I’m fine.” I managed to choke out and turned their way.

Dark, fierce eyes met my own when he glanced at me, his teeth gritted in anger and his fist hovering above Flynn, ready to hit him. Seeing the carefree and cheerful Adam with this look in his eyes made me flinch. Where did he get all this anger?

“Alright, now you’ve done it!” Timmy ran to Adam and pulled him off his friend, holding him back as Flynn got back up.

“Hah! I love this dude’s energy.” He snickered as he dusted himself off. “Let’s play with him a little.”

“I’ll beat you two up.” Adam continued to growl, kicking and wiggling in Timmy’s grip.

Mark clearly wasn’t comfortable with this and kept looking back and forth to check whether anyone was coming this way. “Timmy, F- Flynn, I don’t like this. Let’s not make a bigger fuss out of this.”

Flynn cracked his knuckles and balled his hands into fists, getting ready to punch Adam, but I rushed back up and kicked Flynn in the side.

“Get lost, you bamboo!” Flynn quickly recovered, however, and turned back towards me with a wide grin.

His hand snapped towards my face, grabbing me by the jaw and licking his lips. “You just haven’t had enough, have you?”

I cringed, and just as I was about to tell him to back off, I noticed a blue glow coming from behind Flynn. It was only brief, but definitely there.

“Don’t touch her, creep!”

Before my brain processed it, Flynn was back on the ground, and Adam was standing in front of me instead, his brows furrowed in anger and his chest lifting at every heavy breath. He looked exhausted. I couldn’t help but look at him in confusion, trying to understand what happened in that split second I wasn’t paying attention.

“Adam, what did you-”

Adam let out a frustrated huff and grabbed my hand before dragging me away from the lake. He didn’t want to answer that question, or at least not now. Walking past, I saw Timmy on the ground as well. I realized the only one standing, aside from Adam and me, was Mark, who was shivering in fear as he watched us leave.

“Do you always get yourself in trouble?” Adam asked in a growl.

I scoffed and looked at the ground at his question, taking a moment before answering. “I don’t. They just… ask for it.”

“Well, stop that.”

“… None of your business.”

Adam let go of my hand with a sigh when we reached the crossing where we usually bump into each other. “Will you be fine now?” Again, he hadn’t looked me in the eyes all the way here.

I scoffed at him as I massaged my aching head. “I was perfectly fine earlier.”

“You weren’t.”

“I was!”

He turned around to me with worry in his eyes. “You were on the ground, almost crying! How is that fine?”

I shrunk down slightly and averted his gaze. He was not supposed to see that.

“Just accept that you needed-”

“I don’t need anything!” I snapped. “And I don’t need your pity! I can do this on my own. Like I always have.”

Adam stayed quiet for a moment. His eyebrows frowned as if deep in thought. “I can’t ignore someone being in trouble.”

“Ugh..” I threw my hands up in the air. “You’re so annoying!”

“What? What have I done?”

“You didn’t thank me even though I helped you!”

At this, Adam raised an eyebrow. Don’t tell me he doesn’t know what I’m talking about.

“I helped you through my lunch break, and all you did was complain, and then you took my place next to Juliet in class!”

Adam took a moment to process that, then frowned his eyebrows and took a deep breath. “Wait, you’re angry about that?”

“Yes, I am!” I felt my frustration come back up again. “The fact that you expect me to spend my time to fix your mistake and then be angry at me for saying that I need to go!”

“Wait, no- I wasn’t angry at you!”

“Well, don’t act stupid to me then.”

“I’m not stupid!”

“That’s not what I-”

Before I could finish my sentence, a device exploded at my feet.

“Gah!” I closed my eyes and stepped back in surprise. Was that a freaking bomb?

I expected an explosion to follow, so I covered my face with my hands. To my surprise, though, nothing notable happened. I opened my eyes again when Adam called out my name. A transparent force field surrounded us, which looked like it came straight out of a science fiction movie. Not too far away stood two men in a black, foreign-looking uniform.

As I was still trying to understand what was happening, Adam stepped before me.

“Get back.”

“Wait, what’s going on?”

He glanced back at me with doubt, like he was considering whether to answer that question. But then he lowered his gaze down to my jeans and scoffed. Following his eyes, I saw my pocket glowing a bright red. It was the necklace I’d found in the park, but I don’t remember it glowing this brightly before. The light was burning through the fabric of my jeans.

“You didn’t tell me you’d found it?” Adam’s concern was quickly replaced by anger.

“I was going to!”

Before Adam could respond, one of the two men launched himself forward.

Adam turned back to face his opponent and approached the man, too, then sidestepped as the man lifted his arm and threw a punch right into his face. The man stumbled for a moment before falling forwards to the ground. Adam seemed to know what he was doing, so I decided not to get in his way and stepped back. I’d have to ask questions later.

The other guy took out a glowing brown bracelet and got into a fighting stance.

Adam glanced down at the guy on the ground to check whether he was still moving, then turned his attention to the one in front of him. As he turned, I could see his earring also starting to glow a bright blue.

I felt a sudden burst of wind as Adam seemingly disappeared from me, reappearing in front of the opponent and lifting his arm to throw another punch. They were too far from me to properly see what they were doing, but I could feel the intensity from this distance.

I could only watch what was unfolding in front of me. This must be a dream, right? A crazy fantasy. Having a force field surround us, being attacked by two grown men, only to have a teenage boy beat them up. That only happened in dreams. And what’s with the glowing?

An arm wrapped around my neck from behind, and I felt the tip of something sharp poking my side, forcing me out of my faze. The supposedly knocked-out guy had gotten up and held a knife against me.

Adam had just knocked out the guy he was fighting against when he turned back to me and realized what was happening.

“Give us your Bound, and we’ll leave you alone.” Adam, I don’t know what he’s talking about, but you might as well give it to him. I don’t want to get stabbed.

Adam clenched his hands into fists and carefully started walking toward us. “You people only make matters worse for everyone!”

The man behind me tightened his grip on me, the tip of his knife poking through my clothes and touching my bare skin.

“Ah!” I closed my eyes shut, and my body started trembling. No, this felt too real to be a dream.

“You too, kid. Don’t think you can hide that Elemental in your pocket.”

Elemental? Did he mean that necklace I picked up?

“Hand it over.”

I reached down with a shaky hand into my pocket and forced myself to open my eyes. Adam was standing not too far away from us. He looked disappointed in me, with his eyebrows formed into a deep frown and his teeth gritted against each other.

I did hold him back, after all. He seemed to be doing well on his own, yet I had to get myself caught. Not just now, with Timmy and that guy Flynn as well. He’s right; I’m helpless. I can’t do anything on my own.

If only I could do more. If only I were stronger..!

Upon touching the necklace, I felt a wave of frustration surge over me and gripped the jewel tightly. I felt my hand burning up, but I couldn’t let go. No, I didn’t want to let go. The warmth from my hand quickly spread throughout my whole body. My clothes felt light as feathers, and the knife as dull as a wooden stick.

‘Allow me to lend you my strength.”

“What do you think you’re doing?!” The man’s shouting pulled me back to my senses.

Taking my hand out of my pocket, I grabbed the arm in front of my neck and threw him over my shoulder with all my might. The man gasped for air and instantly passed out when he hit the ground.

However, as quickly as I felt the warmth, it disappeared again. I then realized that the ground had cracked open beneath the man. Did I do that?

“What just…”

I looked up to see the force field crumbling away. Adam had crushed the device underneath his feet.

“Are you okay?”

“What… happened?”

Adam bit the inside of his lip as he looked at me in thought. “I shouldn’t have involved you.”

“Adam, tell me what ha-”

I stumbled to the side. “Ah…” and next I knew, Adam’s arms were holding me up. My body felt weak. Exhausted. My legs must’ve given out. I remember looking up and seeing Adam talk to me, but his words sounded too far away.

I didn’t have the strength to stay awake.