01
Nothing's Over
--
One
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Every year for one week during the summer, the Academy would hold a showcase for the school to recruit new students. And every year for that one week, you were stuck working the booth for Class C while organizing a small demonstration with the other students. The younger kids loved hanging around your booth as some of your friends showed off some small tricks.
You smiled as a little girl’s eyes went wide when someone made a flower appear in his palm. He tucked it into her ear and smiled as she ran off.
“Hey, find someone your own age to flirt with,” you said to him, smiling as you shuffled papers around on the desk.
“Whatever. You should see me come Valentine’s Day. I’m loaded, I swear.” You rolled your eyes before dismissing him with a wave.
“Want me to save you a seat for the Class A showcase?” You blinked at him in confusion for a second.
“Oh, is it already the end of the week? Today’s the last day I have to sit here and suffer through all the Admin’s quips about my hair?” Since summer vacation wasn’t over yet, your hair was its natural color, half brown that faded into a light blonde on the other side of your head. It was a side effect of abusing your powers from your childhood.
“Yes, and I can finally stop listening to you complain.” He turned and waved to you. “I’ll save you a seat!”
“Make sure you-know-who can’t find me wherever you sit!”
“What? Can’t say his name?”
“Speak, and he will come!” You waved until your friend was out of sight. You sighed, slumping back into your seat behind the table.
The end of the week meant that Class A would be showing off their powers in the stadium, something they hardly ever got to do. They were essentially, the most powerful in the Academy with the most destructive powers.
“Excuse me, miss...” The little girl with the flower in her hair was back now, her eyes shining in curiosity.
“Yes?”
“You were here all day, but I haven’t seen your power yet.” The two of you blinked at each other before you smiled and beckoned for her to come up closer to the table. You pulled out a white sheet of paper and a black marker before writing the words ‘teddy bear’ on it.
“This is my power,” you said. You held the paper between your hands and closed your eyes for a second. You crumpled the paper and opened up your hands, revealing a teddy bear. Her eyes widened again as she squealed in delight.
“I can transform words into real objects. Cool, huh? There’s one more thing I can do too... But you can’t tell anyone, okay?” you whispered to her. She nodded solemnly, standing on her tip toes to see better.
You laid the bear down and tapped it twice with two fingers on the head. It quivered for a second before sitting up and shaking its head.
“It’s moving!” The bear stood up and stretched its arms before waving to the little girl.
“Unfortunately... I can’t keep him like this for too long. It takes away too much of my energy.” You tapped him twice, and he fell back over onto the table, lifeless. The little girl frowned for a moment before smiling again.
“Your powers are really cool!”
“Thank you. I just wish I were a little bit stronger.” You held up the bear before pressing your hands together again. It turned back into a piece of paper with ‘teddy bear’ still written on it.
“Honey, come on. They’re about to start the show.” The girl’s parents ran by and grabbed her hand before dragging her away. You stared at the wrinkled piece of paper before balling it up again and heading for the stadium.
--
The crowd was chattering excitedly whenever you sat down with a group of friends.
“I hear they’re letting Sunggyu participate this year,” one of your friends said to you, straining to look over the crowd.
“Sunggyu? The guy that randomly blows up parts of the school? Oh god...” You buried your face into your hands. Sunggyu’s nickname at the school was ‘time bomb’. No one ever knew when he would accidentally blow something up or freeze a class.
“Yeah. I hear that there are lots of people on standby, just in case something happens.” You sighed and sat back in your seat, staring out at the empty stadium.
“I heard they get to destroy something too. Class A is so lucky...” You and your friends talked for a bit until you heard rumbles through the stadium. The seats started to shake with each rumble you heard.
The crowd fell silent, looking around for the source. You peered out at the center of the stadium.
“Must be Hoya,” you said to yourself. Suddenly, there was a earsplitting crack as the center of the stadium split open in jagged cracks. The crowd shielded their eyes as dust blew up. You coughed a few times, squinting your eyes.
The wind blew away all of the dust, revealing the entirety of Class A standing on jagged pillars made from the stadium’s stone floor. Hoya stood in the middle, hand out with a smirk on his face as the crowd cheered.
An announcer briefly introduced him and his power before Hoya swung his arms out and pushed out, sending another thunderous quake through the stadium. The ground leveled out, allowing the rest of Class A to hurry off the field for Hoya’s exhibition.
“Well... at least he can’t complain about having headaches for a while now.” Hoya could send out seismic waves with his mind. Essentially, he could make earthquakes that were off the Richter Scale with his head, and when it built up too much from lack of use, he got headaches.
“Is that a tank?!” you heard someone in the crowd exclaim. You glanced off to the side to see not one, but three tanks making their way into the stadium.
“Huh. The higher ups are pulling all the stops on the show this year,” you said bitterly. The crowd ooh’d and awe’d at the ease in which Hoya destroyed those tanks. He played around with them a bit before cracking the ground open and letting them crash into a fissure.
One by one, Class A showed off their powers. You watched someone go back in time and bring back a saber tooth tiger. Someone else threw up an illusionary barrier so strong, the entire crowd was going on a mind trip.
You closed your eyes and shook your head to keep from getting too dizzy until the illusion was lifted. There were only three members left of Class A now, and they were standing in the stadium around a mangled helicopter.
The one standing in the middle waved his hands, and the helicopter started to bend. The sound of screeching metal made the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. Soon enough, the helicopter was whole again.
The blond jabbed his hand at the helicopter, and a bolt of blue lightning flew towards it. The crowd gasped as the helicopter’s blades started to whirl dangerously, unsteadily taking off into the air.
“Uh, is someone driving that thing?” you asked as you sat back farther into your seat in surprise. The helicopter started to spin and lean towards the crowd.
“Oh my god, it’s coming this way!” The crowd screamed as it rocketed towards the seats until it just stopped in the air. There was no noise. The blades weren’t moving. It was just frozen in midair.
You looked down at the stadium floor to see Sunggyu with his hands out, a look of great concentration on his face. The announcer was happily introducing him before the first boy rolled his eyes and held his hands out, pulling the helicopter back a safe space away from the crowd.
Sunggyu glanced over to one of the techs in charge of the show. When he got a thumbs up, he twisted his hand around. The helicopter started to move again at normal speed until he waved his hand again.
The crowd screamed even louder when the helicopter blew up in midair, completely engulfed in flames. Bit and pieces of metal flew towards the crowd but stopped right at the edge of the seats before flying back.
“Crap! My glasses!” you yelled as they flew off of your face. You made a grab for them, but they were gone too fast. “God, I swear I hate you, Junhyung!” you yelled again.
The metal from the helicopter melded together to form a bouquet of metal roses that landed in front of Junhyung. He picked one up and sent it flying towards you in the crowd. So he did spot you after all.
You sighed as it landed on your lap, unsurprised by how heavy it was. People cast curious glances at you while you tried to meet Junhyung’s eyes on the field. You didn’t even have to be able to see to know that there was a smirk on his face.
“And once again! That was Yong Junhyung, Lee Sungjong, and Kim Sunggyu of Class A! Thank you so much for attending this year’s Class A showcase!”
--
You were a little bit less than pleased while you waited at the school gates for Junhyung. People waved to you as they were leaving, and you waved back without thinking. The murderous expression on your face made most people avoid you.
A familiar blurry figure sauntered into your view with a familiar chuckle. You walked up to it and punched it hard in the arm.
“Ow, what was that for? Didn’t like the rose? I thought it was pretty,” you heard Junhyung say. If you could see clearly, he’d probably still be smirking.
“You ! Those were my glasses! You think they don’t cost money?” You punched him again, completely frustrated.
“You look better without them anyway. I can always make you a new pair, relax already.”
“What about the lenses? Last I checked, you were a metal bender, not a glass bender.”
“Oh yeah... The lenses,” he said slowly. You let out another frustrated yell before hitting him again, this time in the chest.
“Ah, okay, jeeze. I’m sorry. Did you at least enjoy the show?” You sighed as he grabbed your shoulders and started to push you through the gates slowly, glancing out around you every now and then to make sure you wouldn’t trip over anything.
“It was pretty cool. I can’t believe you guys let Sunggyu do the show though.” Junhyung directed your steps with gentle hands, pushing and pulling your shoulder subtly.
“Yeah, I can’t believe it either. He didn’t mess up either. You should’ve seen him during rehearsal. He was a nervous wreck. The helicopter wasn’t nearly that mangled when we started out with it.” You laughed. You’d never met Sunggyu before. Though you used to be in Class A yourself, you were kicked out before Sunggyu joined the school.
“Your hair looks nice. I like it better this way than when you dye it brown.” He turned you down a street. Junhyung was probably the only person you trusted with your life. You two practically grew up together.
“You know I can’t keep it this way.”
“You should, just to stick it to the Academy. It’s their fault that it looks like that anyway.” You laughed as Junhyung started to massage your shoulders.
“Stop that, it tickles.” You squirmed out of his grip and turned to squint at him.
“You know, the only difference between your normal eye size and squinting is that there are more wrinkles around them when you squint.”
“You !” He jumped out of the way as you reached out to punch him again.
“It’s not my fault you have small eyes! Hurry up and get home before they become useless in the dark!” You were going to kill him as soon as you could see.
--
The second to last day of summer came sooner than you would’ve hoped. You stared sadly at the school uniform on the ironing board before looking back up at the drama you were watching.
“Honey,” your mom called, “do you need help with dying your hair today?” Like Junhyung, your mom was a little bit miffed that you had to dye your hair for school when it was their fault.
“No, Junhyung is supposed to come over and help me today.” You pushed your spare pair of glasses up your face as your mom came in and hugged you.
“Your final year as a high school student... Where does the time go?” She sighed and pinched your cheeks.
“If you need any help, feel free to call me! I don’t want hair dye all over the walls again because you two got into another fight.”
--
Junhyung showed up at your door with a smile on his face. You heard your mom invite him in before pointing him in your direction.
You finally finished ironing out all the creases and hung up your uniform so it wouldn’t wrinkle again. Maybe next time you wouldn’t leave it in the dryer all summer. Maybe.
“Hello, beautiful,” Junhyung said as he knocked on the doorframe of your room. He glanced at your uniform on the hanger.
“Wait, you were ironing? Damn, why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve brought my uniform for you to iron.” You rolled your eyes and pushed past him toward the bathroom.
“Do I look like your wife or something? Come on. Let’s just get this over with.” You hated the smell of hair dye.
“No, you do look like my future wife, though.” Junhyung dodged the brush you threw at him. He brought his hand up and pulled your glasses off of your face before he even stepped into the bathroom.
You felt around the cabinet under the sink for the wrap so none of the dye would get on your clothes. You heard Junhyung put your glasses down on the counter before tutting.
“These are so ugly...”
“Well, whose fault is it that I have to use my ugly glasses?” You sat down on the toilet in front of the mirror and pulled your hair out from under the wrap.
“You have contacts, don’t you? I think jabbing yourself in the eye twice a day is a fair trade off for showing off your pretty face.” You tied up a portion of your hair as Junhyung opened up the box of dye. He mixed the dye, and you made a face as the smell hit you.
“God. Don’t they make good smelling dye or something?” Junhyung laughed at you before he started to apply the dye. You sat there, trying to get used to the smell as he tugged gently at your hair.
After about ten minutes, he was satisfied with the application on the bottom half of your hair and untied the top part. As he got closer to finishing, you squinted into the mirror.
“Junhyung? Why does that dye look so dark?”
“It’s a new formula,” he said a little bit too quickly. You leaned forward towards the mirror, making Junhyung protest.
“Junhyung. This is black hair dye.”
“Yeah. It’s black.”
“I wanted brown!”
“I know you did, but you look better in black. It shows off your pale complexion better.”
“Junhyung! You couldn’t have at least talked to me about it before doing something like this?!”
“You didn’t say anything when I was holding the box.”
“Because I thought you got brown!”
“Come on, just give it a chance! You’ve never had black hair before. I think it would look nice. Trust me.” You let your forehead fall against the mirror.
“Why do you do this to me? Why are you my best friend? I knew I should’ve let my mom do it.”
“Don’t be such a drama queen.” He smacked you before dragging you back onto the toilet.
--
Your parents loved Junhyung. While you were showering and muttering curses under your breath to wash out the excess dye, he was in the living room playing chess with your dad. Your dad is an earth bender, so he had a special chess set made so he could move the pieces without touching them. Junhyung brought over his metal pieces, and they had fun pretending to direct an army over a game of chess.
When you finally got out of the shower, you wrapped a towel around yourself and wiped off your glasses before putting them on. You opened the door slightly so the steam could escape before wiping off your mirror.
You huffed as your ran your fingers through your hair, frowning as some of the dye rubbed off.
You didn’t want to admit it, but Junhyung was right. You did look pretty good with black hair.
--
The first day of school came like a bolt of lightning. Literally. You walked through the gates to see a bolt of lightning shoot down from the sky and into Sungjong’s hand.
“Show off- AH!” One of his friends shoved at him, only to be shocked by some static electricity. You rolled your eyes. You and Sungjong were friends back from when you were still in Class A. You two didn’t talk as often now, but he still waved and said hi to you whenever you two passed by each other.
“Hi, Sungjong,” you said as you passed him, waving. He stared at you for a minute like he didn’t know you until realization hit his features.
“Oh! Oh my god! You look so different this year! Did you dye your hair a different color?” He abandoned his friends to chase after you, ignoring their indignant yells.
“Yeah. Since it’s my last year at the high school, Junhyung decided to meddle in my life. He broke all of my glasses too, so I had to wear my contacts.”
“Oh, I forgot you were getting old,” Sungjong said sadly. You made the motion to punch him but decided against it. He smirked and punched you lightly instead.
“Well, you look good. I’ll see you later!” he called as he ran back to his friends.
His friends gave him strange looks as he came back. “Sungjong, what the hell? I’ve never seen you chase after a girl like that before.”
Sungjong shrugged. “I just wanted to compliment her looks. Her appearance may have changed, but she’s still the same as ever.”
“Who is it?” one of his friends asked. He told them about you and how you used to be in Class A before you were demoted. “And don’t think I’ll let you hit on her, Woohyun. Not that I would have to do anything. Junhyung would probably take care of you.”
“Oh! That’s the chick that Junhyung always flirts with? The one that looks like she’s going to kill him all the time?”
“Yeah, that sounds about right.”
--
The first day of school was just like any regular day of school. Most of the kids at the Academy had been going to school together for a majority of their lives, so it was mostly meet and greet for the ones that had to go far away for home. There were dorms to accommodate for students that lived far away.
Teachers passed out their syllabi, making their classes groan collectively at the workload. You were already getting a headache from all the reading material listed.
The school day went by with note taking and promises of quizzes the following week. You sighed as you put your stuff away. You noticed that the yellow badge on your chest was crooked so you took it off to adjust it.
You heard the teacher call your name as soon as you finished.
“Can you stay behind for a little bit and sweep the classroom? Junhyung was supposed to do it, but he disappeared before I could stop him.” Junhyung again. You scowled as you thought of four different ways to kill him.
“I guess. He owes me for this, that stupid...” You mumbled some more things as you started to push tables towards the edge of the room.
“Oh, power training starts next week. Have you decided what you’re going to do during the class?” Power training was for Class A and B. Class A spent the most time in the class, while for Class B, it was just another class.
Class C was excused from power training, so you usually just spent the time studying or playing around with your powers with your friends.
“I don’t know,” you said, grabbing the broom from the corner. “I’m probably going to do what I do every year. Play around and study.”
“Oh... I see. So you haven’t heard?” You turned around to glance at your teacher before looking down at the broom.
“Heard what? I’m not a favorite anymore, remember?” When you were younger, you were the Commander’s favorite until he found you to be useless.
“No, nothing. It’ll be announced at the end of the week anyway. Thanks for sweeping up.” Your teacher left you alone to clean. You sighed, leaning onto the broom for a moment before spotting a piece of paper on the ground. You picked it up and chewed on your lip before looking for something to write with.
‘Teddy bear’ was scrawled on the paper in your handwriting before you crumpled it up and brought it back as a bear. You tapped it twice, laughing as it yawned and stretched its arm.
“Come on, bear. You’re going to help me clean up.”
--
You and the bear pushed two brooms back and forth. You weren’t quite sure how it knew what you wanted it to do, but that was half the fun of discovering new powers.
You grabbed your phone and some music, dancing to it as you gathered up some dirt and dust to dump into the trash can.
Sunggyu sighed as he walked down the hallway. He accidentally froze a class today when someone dropped an ice cube down his shirt, so he was serving some punishment by scrubbing blackboards.
He heard some music coming from a room and stopped, peeking into the room you were cleaning with your animated teddy bear. You were using the broom as a microphone and singing into it, dancing along with the song. The bear mimicked you.
Sunggyu grinned. He had no idea who you were, but he thought you were cute nonetheless.
--
The next day at school, you were standing by yourself in the school courtyard, scanning the yard for Junhyung. He avoided you completely last night, claiming to be too busy with something to talk to you.
You spotted Sungjong with his group of friends and waved to him before looking for Junhyung. He waved back to you, making Sunggyu look back and forth between the two of you.
“You know her?” he asked, glancing at you curiously.
“Yeah. She’s that girl that Junhyung said was off limits.”
“Oh. Well. Screw, Junhyung!” Sunggyu started to make his way towards you as the other stood completely dumbstruck.
“Is he feeling okay?” Woohyun asked.
You were about to give up until you saw Junhyung walking towards you with a smile on his face.
“Well, hello there, beau- OW. What was that for?” he asked, cradling his arm.
“You had cleaning duty yesterday! But since the teacher couldn’t find you, I had to do it myself!” Sunggyu stopped dead in his tracks. So he was a little bit scared of Junhyung after all.
“Oh jeeze. Right. I’ll make it up to you, but I have to go talk to someone about something, so I’ll talk to you later. Bye!” He kissed his fingers and pressed them to your forehead before heading inside, leaving you fuming.
“Uh... Hi.” You whipped around to see Sunggyu standing there with a sheepish smile on his face.
“Hi,” you said back apprehensively.
“Um, I know this might be a little bit awkward, but I saw you cleaning out the room yesterday and just wanted to let you know that you looked cute dancing with the bear.” Your jaw dropped. Someone saw you? Your face started to turn bright red as you turned your eyes towards the ground.
“I’m Sunggyu, by the way.” You looked up to see him smiling at you. He had a cute eye smile. You introduced yourself as Sungjong and his friends made their way over to you.
“Sunggyu, look at you being all rebellious. I just hope Junhyung doesn’t decided to pin you to the wall with knives later.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong! I just said hi!”
“He speaks the truth,” Woohyun said, holding up his hands. He looked at you, trying to make eye contact. You met his eyes for a second before looking away. Woohyun turned to look at Sunggyu with a smile on his face, catching his eyes.
“Oh snap!” he said, covering his mouth while he laughed.
“What? What?” Sungjong asked excitedly. Sunggyu glared at him.
“I’ll tell you later,” Woohyun said, looking from you to Sunggyu. You didn’t like the devious smile on his face.
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