I looked around the classroom that I was sitting in. An old, and I mean old teacher was teaching history. Going on and on about something. I think I might puke from boredom, if you can even do that. But I tried not to let it show, it is harder to keep up the shy girl image than I thought. I give an applause out to all those girls posing as shy girls. Let me just say that I never really applause people, nor did I connect well to people. I was never a shy girl, never popular, never sweet, never really sarcastic. Being a bitch was more of my style, it fit me well too. You don’t care about anyone, but they care about you, to a certain extent. Weird how it works that way. I would love to just be a bitch here, but I’m not exactly aloud to do that here.

I’m on a mission, no matter how stupid that just sounded, I do. At thirteen years old I was one of the very few who were gifted in fire. Sure you have those freaky people at the circus who eat it. But they really don’t. Me, I have the actual gift. It is natural to me, and fire loves me. Besides a way you can tell if they are gifted with fire is that we all end up having the same type of childhood. Lots of fire. Some people, who aren’t fire gifted, will say we had bad childhoods, but I really think it was the best thing that could happen to us. Parents would always try and keep us from playing with fire.

When I was three, I’m pretty sure I was three. Mister Wuggle Wears went up in flames. He was my first teddy. I think I still have his ashes somewhere. My mom found me that way, hugging Mister Wuggle Wears, and with flames licking my arms. It was quite relaxing. I got yelled at, and sat in time out for seven minutes. I think I burned the banner that was on the stairs in the last two minutes. It was really cool, I wanted to see how wood burns differently than teddies.

Then, I think when I was seven, in first grade, they had a fire safety person there. I think I was a bitch then too. Anyway, he was showing us not to play with matches, and he started to show us how to not play with matches. Pretty weird, anyway, the match caught fire, curtsy of mwa. Sure, they never realized it was me. Nothing bad really happened. Actually it was pretty good. The person got a third degree burn, and the school burned down to the ground. Thus, rendering the school useless for the rest of the year, so in a way, I skipped first grade. But I did learn something, stone becomes a weird runny liquid when it comes in contact with fire that is really, really hot.

Along with our awesome childhoods, we normally follow a certain career path. No one who gifted in fire, normally stayed with their parents past the age of eight. I left for the streets at seven. Then I got picked up off the streets, learning a nice job, really young. Well you needed to be young to learn this career path. The path was normally assassination. It has way more ups than downs I have to say. Getting 75,000 for killing some weird person with a sniper from one hundred, two hundred yards away, is pretty sweet. Then it is even funner when you can kill them anyway that you want. It was always fun to use multiple torturous ways. I normally like to cut off their heads. It is so cool, like it all those movies, their head goes flying across the room. It is so cool.

The bad thing that comes with the job is something that mere humans, not gifted in the wildness of fire, have established. That horrendous thing called the law. Did I mention it was absolutely horrendous?

So that is the whole reason my hair is dyed a dark brown, with red highlights, and these annoying green things that are called contacts. Sure they are useful, but they mess up my eyes. They also totally throw off your aim. Not that I need it right now. I have three months to kill this thirteen year old. Don’t ask me why, don’t know, if they want them dead, I do it, and I don’t ask questions. I want to have fun with the thirteen year old. I totally plan on taking my time, I mean how often to girls that have my profession get to have a boyfriend? Abate the fact that I need to kill him in three months, it should be really fun.

So I guess that is the whole reason that I’m not sitting up in a tree right now, snipping the poor boy from his seat, which was the suggested method, and instead am sitting in the same class as him. Why I’m playing innocent, shy and gentle girl, at a school that has martial arts students, majoring in lots of weapons, graduating left and right. Which is also the reason I’m not puking right now because of the teacher, or not throwing one of the knives that are hidden in my bamboo bracelet at his head.

So I guess that he is giving us the life story of some weird dude named Da Vinci, and I’m going through my life story. Wuppdy-doo. Finally the bell rings. I’m well into my first month, about three weeks, one week left in the month. I glance over at my prey, that sounded so cool, Jake Nulisz. Kind of cute. He has big pretty brown eyes, and hair to match them. Obviously popular, with that comes the playboy attitude. And that will, ultimately be his downfall. But he doesn’t need the traits to have that problem, it is already set in stone.

Finally the bell rings, cutting into my thoughts on how much longer it will take be to puke, and where to puke. Oh! And here comes the prey. He walks up to me all strutful like. He looks really demented, like he is trying to be snobby. I bet he wouldn’t even have to try to be snobbish. I put up my ‘wondering why this popular boy is coming up to me’ face. I bet I look like a retarded fan girl.

“You , me, movies.” got that sounded so retarded. He isn’t even asking, more of thinking it would be a flat out yes.

Well, the thing I would normally do is flip loverboy off. But seeing as I am ‘shy’, cough cough, I should say yes. But then I would just be another girl handing off his arm. I could give him a sarcastic remark, then it might be that he wants to have dated every girl in school, and he would just try harder to get me. That would be deathly funny. Sarcastic it is, “Wow. Such a way with words, loverboy.”

He stares dumbly at me, while I throw the my backpack over my shoulder, smile so sweetly at him. Then I walk out the room. I can hear a few of his friends who where still in the room laughing. Score one me! I had dished out the line so nicely. I sounded so amused, yet sarcastic. Go me! I walk out to my dorm room. It was the last period of the day anyway.

I ponder on the way I acted on the short walk. Maybe he would like the bad girl attitude. No, that wouldn’t be that much fun. Maybe I could change my personalities everyday. Tomorrow, shy like, next day girlfriend, next day sarcastic, then gentle. Oh yeah, that has fun written all over it.

I open my door, and then close it behind me, locking it. I turn on the lights, and get ready for the night. I pull a shirt that reads, ‘Burn Up the Floor Like No One is Watching”. I do love the shirt. The problem is that they don’t mean literally. I walk over to my desk, on it is a little candle. Apple Crisp smelling, like a home baked apple crisp. I blow slightly on it, a flame flickering to life. It jumps wildly around for a few moments before setting into a constant flickering light. Turning out the lights, I crawl into bed, the flame still burning.

Crawling out of bed, I switch into normal clothes, not even bothering to blow out the flame. Sliding my messenger-bag over my shoulder, I started to walk up to my first ‘class’ breakfast. Oo! Her comes loverboy, with some of his friends. He talks all sarcastic like to me, obviously trying to match my previous attitude. To late for that loverboy, I think, I’m shy and innocent today. I don’t let the smirk show that I’m feeling. Instead I smile all sweet and innocent, saying ‘hi’ all cute like to them as they are introduced to me. Somehow I ate breakfast with them, and they are nice.

There is five of them, two girls. The first one is a math genius, you could say geek, except she has the awesome love of the color blue. Which explains her hair which is dyed utterly, and completely, blue. A nice dark blue. I think I can diffidently get along with her. Right her name, Melissa. The next girl has the total shy theme going on, but when she is with friends, she is outgoing, and has the latest gossip, and blackmail. I think I can get along with her too. Blackmail is totally my thing, when I can find pieces of it. I have no idea were she can get all of her information, considering that she never talks to anyone, but that is the power of Elisa.

The three boys are alright. The first one is a sweet little geeky boy, lover of computers, named Anthony. Let me tell you he has a way with computers too. Apparently loves hacking into the school system, and messing around with firewalls. He should become a hacker when he grows up, but is more fixated on the NASA program, such a waste to the hacking community. Me, can’t hack for my life, I have people to do it. Not that I need to do it a lot. The other one is a punk type person, but has an undying love for purple things. His hair is in a mohawk, and it has the cutest green tips. I mean cute. Joey does have the ability to hurt people a lot with apples, always seems to have one or two on him. Matt is suppose to be funny. He really isn’t. Normally he is the one who gets pegged with the apples from Joey, got pegged a few times during breakfast. He tries to be serious a total of one time during lunch, saying how he got this girl to go out with him, he got pegged with a apple from Melissa. They’re dating.

Loverboy, I learned, not at all contrary to my belief, has dated almost every single girl in the school, and has a certain ability with a sword. Best in the school actually, in martial arts and swords. Bet he couldn’t beat me at knives, but we aren’t doing that in gym. He flirts with me throughout lunch, and since I’m shy today, I can’t give him sarcastic remarks back, though I giggle a little back. A small blush might of found its way to my cheeks.

The days go by, me refusing all of loverboy’s offerings to dates, falling for me even harder. I’m having a good time. It is weird, not having friends who don’t kill for a living. Not being with people who brag about their latest kill, the most important person you have killed, the most you ever got for a kill, beat 29,746,293 dollars people. It is weird, but nice.

Martial arts class is the best. The funnest class out of the whole day, except maybe lunch. We did swords the first two weeks I was there. I have to say, swords aren’t my thing. Don’t trust me with a large piece of steel in my hands, but you can with one that is about a forth of that size. I was innocent the one day that I actually was able to disarm Loverboy. That was the main point of the whole fighting thing we where doing that day, disarm your opponent. Understand first of all, that gymnastics was always my thing, and they where useful for pulling what I did.

He did a lunge, trying to stab me in the stomach, big no-no Loverboy. I fell into a backbend, my sword I had thrown away before I went into the bend. I kicked my feet up, making it a full backflip, my toes where able to grab the hilt of his sword, pulling it out of his hands. Twisting my self in the air, I grabbed the sword from my feet and landed with a thud. My sword, far away out of his reach, and his sword now my new sword. I was ready, the sword in defensive, in case he had somehow grabbed another sword. But he hadn’t, he was staring at me open mouth, he didn’t have a sword. So, I let it hang limply next to me. I cast my eyes downward, and blushed, a smile playing on my lips.

A few kids had seen what I did, and thought it was amazing, I pretty much thought the same thing. It was miracle it had worked, holding a sword in your toes is hard. I don’t think I’ll be doing it again. But Loverboy now had another reason to fall madly in love with me, I could actually do something martial arts related. But that was the only time I was able to disarm him with a sword, out of the twenty-two other times that he and I had paired up.

I went back into the changing room, putting on normal clothes. Melissa came up to me, and patted me on the back, Elisa just grinned evilly at me. I think she just got some more blackmail to add to her list on Loverboy and me. If she had something on Loverboy, we would meet in her dorm after dinner and go through it. It was the unsaid thing that we did, Melissa would be there with us, calculating some weird thing, that we would of never thought of in blackmail.

That was the last day that we did do swords in gym. Now we moved onto knives, and how happy abut that you could only think. We discussed at lunch the different tactics for knives. I gave a few, there was no way I wanted them to be able to beat me in this one. Jake though had a very sour thought on knives, “They’re not honorable. Too sneaky.” I gave him a weird look. They where, in my opinion, the absolute best thing. “Only people who are cheapsters are good at them.”

I didn’t say anything to that. Did that mean I was a cheapster? I could use them so well, they were like a second nature to me. A stared into space, completely spacing out. I guess I was a cheapster who used them. I killed from the shadows, led people to places where they would be killed. I shivered despite the cold. I think I’m going to skip the rest of the classes today, and we where starting knives too. I tossed my apple to Joey, who caught it. I pushed up my chair and walked away, feeling slightly sick in the stomach. I didn’t want to go to my dorm room, the monitor would find me too easily.

I looked out to my left, the forest was standing there waiting for someone to come to it, and play. I compiled, darting quickly into the mess of trees. I found one that was low enough to the ground so that I would be able to climb it, and climb it I did, but not before setting my messenger bag by the base of the tree. When I found myself at the top, I settled on to a branch, and just started to think. So much was going through my head.

I started to feel flames with in people. I thought it was just my mind, but it wasn’t. They where almost inside everyone. They all burned differently. I shivered despite the warmth of the day. The flame inside of people could be used so easily against them by any one gifted with fire. Like someone who was me.

I remember passing this boy from my math class. I felt it the first time then. I had freaked, thinking the flame was an actual flame. I had blew it out in a sense, and the boy fell down dead, right at my feet. I had screamed. A teacher opening the door and seeing the boy dead, had called the police. I never screamed when I had killed before, but before I could never feel them die. Before I always knew how I had killed them. But this time I hadn’t. I had been brought to the principal’s office, questioned then released. They didn’t think I did, only that his heart had suddenly stopped working. Jake had found me in the courtyard, I was sitting in a tree I had adopted a while ago as my own. He climbed up next to me. I had shifted into him, letting his arms protect me as I cried. I had felt the flame with in him too, but it was different. It burned differently.

I guess when I had gotten rid of the fire with in the boy, I had stopped his heart, made his soul disappear. I shuddered to think of what it would be like if someone separated your soul. I just sat there, curled into a ball, thoughts running through my head. What did I really think of Loverboy? Was I falling for him. I was flirting back sometimes with him. Actually smiling more when he was around. But I can’t be. I had only a month left before I would be gone, and so would he, but in a different sense.

I picked one of the leaves off of the tree, it was still green. I breathed softly on it, and the leaf started to smoke. Then lit up all together. I let it drop, setting more leaves on fire as it went past them. I let it, I wanted something else to suffer with me. The leaves caught even more of fire, and the tree started to smoke, but I didn’t move, it would feel so good, to finally be bathed in fire again. I watched the tree become fully engulfed in flames, it was starting to light the other trees on fire, but I didn’t let it, just whispering to the flames as they tried to jump off this tree and to the other one. The flames started to lick me, I let them, it felt so good, like a hot bath. I started to get all giddy, being near so much flames always did that to me. I laughed at loud, letting the flames jump onto me. I didn’t see anything, didn’t hear anything, except fire. It was all around me, and I was happy.

Then two strong arms grabbed me, pulling me from my heaven, from my burning tree. I was mad, it was my safe haven, I had created it. The arms brought me to the ground, but I fought free, and started to climb up the tree. The flames licked my face, the flames where my family. The arms grasped me again, pulling me down, panting, yelling my name over and over again. I started out of my state of mind that was so nice, and into reality that someone was grabbing me.

I twisted around, to see who it was. It was Loverboy, he had pulled me from the tree. He was with me right now, by himself, with a burning tree, it would be so easy just to let the flames leap out and surround him and me, him crumpling into a pile of ashes, me dancing in the flames. But I didn’t, I pulled us both farther away from the tree, from my haven, for it was only a haven for me.

“What the hell do you think you where doing?” I smiled a little at him, the affects of the fire not all the way gone. My clothes hung in tatters around me, but none of my skin was burned, it never was. A flame still danced on my clothes, I picked it up on my finger and brought it to my lips, eating it. It was so sweet, wood fire always tasted the best. He looked at me in amazement. I think he finally realized that I wasn’t burned.

I finally answered him, “Playing with my friends.” I was, they where so much a part of me as my own skin was. They where my friends, always sticking through thick and thin with me, whenever I needed them they where there. He slapped me hard across the face, and I flinched. But I didn’t show it. It must of gotten rid of all my giddiness as I could finally see what shape he was in. His clothes where burned, but not as badly as mine where. He had burns all over him. But most of all I could feel his fire burning within, it was like the first time I had ever felt it with him, the same type. I reached out with my mind, tasting it, playing with it. So sweet, so powerful, so different from all the rest. It burned different colors, but stayed like stone burning.

“Your delirious. We need to get you to a hospital.”He pulled me from my thoughts. I could tell he was trying to decide what to do with me, thinking I was still in my mental giddiness state.

“What the hell are you talking about? I’m perfectly fine, I was perfectly fine till you pulled me out. You’re the one who needs the hospital!” I was right, he knew that too, or I thought he did.

“You just attempted suicidal. And you’re the one telling me-“ He winced hard, the burns finally getting to him. He was saying something else, but I didn’t listen. I walked back over to the tree, it was still burning brightly. I walked up to the tree and placed my hand through the flames and on the tree. I had no idea f it would work, I had done this on smaller scales before, but nothing to this extent. I breathed in deeply, and then made a fist with my hand. The flames leaped for the last time, and then stopped. They where gone, the tree stood bare of leaves, and black in a forest full of green trees. I gasped as I felt all that extra fire enter me. It was like really hot water was scalding me. It was bad, I never took in this much fire before. But it was so beautiful, my it was sickly sweet, like getting high, like getting drunk, a happy harsh feeling. Giggling again, I fainted.

I woke up in his dorm room later, it was about ten o’clock. He was sitting there holding his head in his hands, thinking, I knew as much. He looked up then, he seemed to of aged, becoming older than thirteen in just those hours that I was sleeping. I knew we hadn’t gone to the nurse, he wasn’t that stupid. The questions that they would ask would be uncomfortable for both of us.

“How did you do it?” He asked me, after a eternity of looking at me.

“I’m just able to,” I replied. I pushed my self up off the bed, and started to walk to the door. I was stopped when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I could feel the fire with in him changing, it wasn’t a type of fire I felt before, it was different. I shrugged off his hand and went out to my room.

It was how I had left it before. Picking up a change of clothes I headed over to the showers. I cleaned off the lingering smell of fire, and braided my hair, getting it out of my eyes. I went to sleep. That was it, no big heroic moment. No big thoughts, just sleep. I woke up in the morning, and went about everything how I normally did. I avoided Jake the whole time, not talking to him, barely even glancing at him. I didn’t enjoy the knife course as much as I thought I would. It wasn’t that fun. I was better than everyone. Could disarm people in mere seconds, but it wasn’t the same. Jake’s words kept echoing in my head, Only people who are cheapsters are good at them.

I guess I was then. I picked up the blade that was handed to me, it was sharp, and ready to be thrown. It would be so easy to flick it over and stab Jake in the heart, but I didn’t want to. I was falling for him, harder than he’s falling for me. Instead I threw it with all my might at the target, before the teacher said go. It goes in two inches. Everyone looks at me. I finally found out what this type of flame is that I feel coming off of them, fear. It reeks of it.

I’ve decided, I’m leaving tonight. I need to move on. This is going to hurt my career, but it is better that I don’t lose my mind. I walk out of the gym, and get changed, even before the bell rings. I go up to my dorm and gather my stuff. I leave my candle where it is for now. I’m not leaving till later. The candle jumps to life when I call to it. I pick the flame off the candle with my hand, and I play with it. Letting it roll over my skin, feeling its warmth. A knock comes to my door, I don’t answer it. They pick the lock, it isn’t hard to do, and come in. I sit there twirling the little flame over my hands, they come in. Its Loverboy. I don’t even say hi, or give a sarcastic comment. I just play with my flame, I know he is watching it too. “Your leaving aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question. He didn’t need me to nod.

“Can you feel it?” I asked. I had brought the little flame close to him. It licked my fingers. I balanced the flame on my finger tip, and brought it closer. He flinched as I did so. I brushed his cheek with the flame. It wouldn’t hurt him, my friend wasn’t going to hurt my human friend. He tensed up, but relaxed when he could only feel the warmth that it gives off. It would be so easy, I had him in the palm of my hand, I could burn him so easily, but I didn’t. We stayed that way. But only for a while. Before two people grabbed my arms. They had come in through the window behind me. The flame let wild, it wasn’t bond by me anymore, it burned Loverboy’s skin as it fell to the floor, starting to spread.

I saw what went across Jake’s face, he wasn’t surprised. I knew him then. I knew who he was. He was the same as me. But didn’t have the gift I did. He was here the same reason I was. He was going to kill me, and I had fallen right into it. I felt my furry grow, And I attacked with the only thing that he and his friends couldn’t extinguish. Fire, but on the inside. Jake was the leader of the group, and if he went down, they all went down.

I found his fire inside of him. And I broke it in two. Pain twisted across his features from the agonizing pain of having his soul torn. I did it again, the two parts becoming four. He screamed, and I smirked, my two so-called friends released me. But that was all I needed, I twirled around and closed the door, melting the handle. Then shut the window. No one was getting out alive. Except maybe someone gifted with fire.

Jake was still withering in pain on the floor. I cut his soul again, four parts becoming eight. I clasped my hands together and blew into them. Flames sprung from in my hands, and I let them free, falling wherever they pleased. They where my only friends, I knew that now. I had thought these people where my friends, but they weren’t. They only had the same goals as me, if different people. I let pushed the flames to eat more, to feed themselves. The three mere humans, the one who was withering in agony, started to catch fire, as did the other two. I smirked. They deserved all that I was giving to them. I kicked the door open, that was alight with flames. I ran then, whispering words into the flame licked hallway, “Burn Brightly. Burn Sweetly. Burn Quickly. Burn Freely my dear friends.”

I’m a fire fighter now. Sort of, I’m like a super hero, except, I put things on fire. I let some people experience the joy of being in flames, but them not burning you. I’m not acting now, not for anyone. I’m still the bitch I was before, except this time, this bitch doesn’t work for anyone.