Chapter 43 Inner Fears
THE FIFTH ELEMENT 🌊🔥🌪️⛰️☯️
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~ Cassie's POV ~
I stood there and watched Jake outrageously as he said those words.
'Everything about her is my business'
I couldn't believe my ears. Did he just admit in front of everyone that he cared about me?
I don't get him.. I don't get him one bit.
Firstly he tells me to stay away from him, that he's bad news and now he's suddenly so interested?
I just don't get his mixed signals. Boys are confusing. He is confusing.
“ALL ELEMENTAL STUDENTS TO THE CENTER. NOW. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. TIME FOR YOUR TRAINING HAS COMMENCED.” the instructor announced loudly which got everyone's attention.
I silently went back to where Madeline and the rest were sitting.
"So... what was all that?" Stacy asked me once I sat down.
"Huh?" I said out of surprise, still recovering from the butterflies I was feeling inside.
"We just watched You have series of convos with the top 2 hot guys in the academy.... You have to explain." David said.
"Oh. It was nothing serious. Really, Just small talk." I said to them.
"Small talk? That didn't look like small talk to anyone." Madeline said with furrowed eyebrows.
I looked over to her.
"Why are you so interested in what we talked about?" I asked to her.
"I don't care about what you talked about, but I do care that you were talking to two guys we warned you was dangerous." Madeline folded her arms.
"Yeah you did. But I've come to notice that they might not be as bad as you thought. And besides, they're my friends now. And so are you." I said her.
“Look Cassie, I get that we had a little adventure with the monster hunt we had together with them but it doesn't mean they're good people to be around with." Madeline said.
I didn't say anything else. I just sat down and focused on what the instructor was saying instead.
"Okay but... what's more exciting here is Cassie now practically has Damon And Jake swooning over her!" Stacy shrieked on top of her voice making me flinch a little.
Ouch. My ears. Why does Stacy have to talk so loudly.
"So Cassieee..." Stacy said drawing my name and then wiggled her eyebrows.
I gave her a small fake smile.
"Which of the boys do you like most?" Stacy asked, positioning herself well to hear the gossip from me.
"Um... Neither." I lied with a straight face.
I saw Madeleine roll her eyes at me from the corner of my eyes.
"Please elaborate, Neither as in.... You haven't made a choice yet? Or?" Stacy said and blinked a few times.
I took a deep breath, trying to think of something.
Stacy, David, Madeleine, and Monique had their eyes on me. Waiting for an answer.
“I don't have feelings for either of them. We're just friends." I told the biggest lie with gritted teeth.
Everyone of them, except Madeline literally gasped.
"Shut. up. Are you being serious? They're practically throwing themselves at you and you say you don't like LIKE them? Is your head working fine?" Stacy asked looking worried and I chuckled.
"Well. Not everyone falls for the bad boys, Stacy. Leave Cassie alone." Madeleine said.
"I can't!! Cassie If you don't want Damon, can I have him? Jake is too hotheaded for me." Stacy said and Madeleine rolled her eyes dramatically.
"This is getting boring. I'm going closer to the podium, need to hear everything the instructor is saying clearly without distractions. David come be my sparing partner please." Madeline said and dragged David with her.
I sighed and moved closer as well with Stacy and Monique.
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SAGE'S POV
I saw my brother chatting with Cassie again at the training center.
Why does he keep getting close to her?
Is he doing mother's bidding or is this just him being himself?
I observed them talk for a while before deciding to focus on something else.
It's gross watching my brother flirt with a girl.
I sat down on the ground at one corner. Away from everyone else. Even my fellow water Elementals. They were too judgemental of me.
I was observing everything and everyone with a straight face.
This was tiring....I wanted some actual action of any sort.
“ALL ELEMENTAL STUDENTS TO THE CENTER. NOW. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. TIME FOR YOUR TRAINING HAS COMMENCED.”
Thank goodness. I was starting to get depressed.
Everyone started forming clean lines, each Elemental sectioned as usual.
I slowly went over to my clan and joined the line.
"In today's work, what we'll be doing would be really simple. You'll be learning about the defensive part of your magic. Pretty simple am I right?" The Instructor asked and everyone murmured.
"But I thought fire magic was more about offense than defense." Cara said loudly from her line.
"True. But that doesn't mean it doesn't have a defensive side too. Infact all magic has a defensive side and an offensive side as well. But some are more lethal than others." The Instructor explained.
He was about saying something else but the door of the center opened loudly which transferred the attention of everyone to that direction.
My mother and the other elementals barged in the training center.
They walked in elegantly and swiftly and paused when they got up to the podium with the instructor.
"Never mind us Instructor Rykes. We just came to observe the students today in their lessons." Mrs Stone said to the instructor.
My mother just stood there scanning us, the students, her eyes landed on me and I looked away from her.
I peeked at her again and saw she continued scanning everyone else.
Was she looking for someone?
I notice her eyes pause at Damon for a second and then continued scanning until her gaze was finally stationed on someone.
I traced her gaze back to Cassie.
Ofcourse. She was looking for Cassie.
Did she find out something more interesting about Cassie and her powers?
Or she decided to keep an eye on her herself.
I kept my cool and focused back on what the instructor was saying.
"Okay guys, let's do a little sparing and pairing. Pair yourselves up with anyone who doesn't have the same element as you. Please do that quickly and quietly. Thank you." The Instructor said loudly which earned more murmuring from students.
"Wanna pair?" I heard Cara say to me amidst the loud noise and chattering.
"Huh... are you talking to me?" I asked her to be sure.
"Are you blind or deaf? If not then I'm sure you know it's you I'm talking to." She replied.
I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Fine. Let's pair. I've always wanted a rematch after that last trick you pulled on our last fight." I say coldly to her.
She scrunched up her eyes at me.
"Today's lesson isn't about fighting you know. Does everything have to be about violence with you?" She asked me.
"Who cares about what today's lesson is. I mean, you never liked following rules so why start now." I said and smirked.
"Yeah. You're right. I love breaking the rules but...are you really sure you want us to do that? Now?" Cara asked and motioned towards my Mom with her head.
Shit. I completely forgot my mother was here.
"Right." I muttered.
"So I suggest we both respect ourselves. Atleast until the 'trouble' is gone." She referring to the Elementals.
"Fine. I guess today's your lucky day." I said to her and she scoffed.
"More like yours. You know I don't want to embarrass you in front of your mother." She said to me.
"You're delusional to think you'll be victorious in our next fight. I won't be holding back like last time." I said to her and she smirked.
"What? Will you finally start using your magic again? Last time I checked you were scared of it." She said to me with a stupid smirked on her face.
She knew very well how much I hated being teased about not using my powers.
She knew it hurt me when I couldn't even use the one thing that made me who I was all because of fear of going overboard and exposing my true inner fears.
She knew I was afraid of something that was associated with my powers. She didn't know exactly what it was but still. She knew I was afraid.
"You know what? I don't think I want to pair with you anymore. Go find someone else." I said to her and walked away but not without bumping her with my shoulders.
I moved to another corner and just stood there, watching everyone else pair up with someone.
I closed my eyes and let out a heavy breath.
I pictured myself, with my conjured whip hung up on my shoulder, ready to face and conquer my fears, if I dared.
I suddenly felt someone tap my shoulder which made me open up my eyes again.
"Hey Sage...um I was wondering if you wanted to pair up with me?" Cassie asked me sounding unsure.
I looked at her weirdly and blinked a few times contemplating whether to tell her to scram or stay.
Why does she keep talking to me after I've been so horrible to her?
~🌊☯️