Rose and I walk into the classroom with our arms linked. I notice her hesitate for a moment as we walk in front of the class. Some of our classmates glance at us curious; after all, Rose is the new student, and she is walking next to the psycho of the class.

I ignore the classmates and pull her towards the seats in the back. She follows me, sending a flirtatious smile towards some of the boys who are still staring. They blush, quickly looking away from her.

I had noticed her public personality earlier, still it is rather… irritating, seeing her make her flirtations so obvious. Her flirtatious personality had disappeared during our fight the day before.

I should kiss her.

Actually, I should ravage her. Slowly kissing her down her neck until I make her sing.... But this isn’t the place, and I don’t want to put on that kind of show for the boys. A sigh of disappointment escapes my lips.

“What’s wrong?” Rose asks as we sit down in the last row next to each other.

I look up at her worried eyes and give her a smile. “Nothing, just feeling bad for those poor boys who will have their hearts broken because of you.”

“Oh hush. It would never go beyond a smile anyway, you know what I am going through, it would be dangerous for any guy to get to close to me.” She brushes her hair to the side as she puts her backpack on the floor.

“I got close to you.” I say, unzipping my backpack and pulling out a notebook.

“Yeah, well, I guess you’re different.” She looks down at her desk as she speaks. “You’re already involved.”

I put my hand on her face and gently make her look at me, “Is that the only reason I am different?”

Her breath catches as her gaze is caught on mine. She moves her hand to the hand I have resting on her face.

The boy next to us whistles a catcall. “Now that, that was a pickup line. Well delivered too.”

Rose blushes as she moves my hand away from her face. I turn my gaze to the boy next to us and briefly consider whether or not I can use my powers to kill him with my eyes.

He cheekily smiles at me. “Sorry Elena, couldn’t help myself there.” He turns his smile to Rose. “So you are my new classmate? My name is Blake.” He offers a hand to Rose “And stop staring at me like that Elena, I’m not interested in whatever trouble Rose is in and I don’t think I stand a chance against the competition anyways.”

I keep staring at Blake. He is a notorious playboy and has dated practically every girl in the school. As is his right as one of the handsomest people on earth.

I can say this objectively too, Blake is the picture of masculinity and charm, with blue eyes, raven hair and a six pack like you wouldn’t believe. I even briefly considered dating him, before I realized that his personality didn’t really interest me.

We became friends last year after I beat him up for picking on one of the freshman. An interesting story that I decide not to dwell on as I realize that Rose is talking to him.

“Hey. My name is Rose. And what do you mean by competition?” Rose takes Blake’s hand and shakes it.

Blake looks back and forth between Rose and I for a moment, “Really? And you consider yourself a flirt?”

Rose covers her smile with her fingers, “What makes you say that I am a flirt?”

“After that smile you sent to the boys, what else could I call you?” His smile dampens as he looks back at me, “Elena, can you please stop staring at me like that? I swear on our friendship that I only have friendly intentions.”

Rose glances at me, blushing slightly as she finally realizes what he is saying. I finally let my gaze soften when I see her blush. A smile appearing on my face.

Our conversation stops as an unfamiliar teacher strolls into the room. “Hello Class! My name is Mr. Monroe, Scott Monroe to be exact. I will be taking the place of your old teacher for English.”

Someone at the front of the class raises their hand.

“Yes, Miss Telemor?” Mr. Monroe motions toward her.

“What happened to Mrs.Renelds?” She asks.

“I’m afraid that Mrs.Renelds had an unfortunate accident. She quit after some discussion with the Principal.” He responds before he picks up an attendance chart and calls out our names.

My psi suddenly explodes into motion, causing me to put a hand on my head. I can feel another psychic presence.

I watch as everyone stops what they are doing to give their full attention to Mr.Monroe, I feel as the psychic presence tries to force me to pay attention to Mr.Monroe.

Mr. Monroe. He is using Psi. Is he another Beta Tester? I surreptitiously glance at the rest of the classroom, they are all giving their attention to Mr.Monroe and writing down notes. No one is passing notes.

Everyone is being controlled including Rose.

That, above all else wants me to break out of his control. But I realize something, if I break free of his control, it will only be me who is breaking free. And if he is hostile… I could find myself fighting my entire class just to get to him.

So I let him control us, knowing that it would just require me to flex my psi in order to escape. Mentally, I thank my title for giving me resistance against psi attacks, otherwise there would be nothing I could do against this man.

Class passes excruciatingly slowly as I watch him control us all like puppets.

Finally, class ends causing all of the students to gather their things to leave. I breathe a sigh of relief as I grab my bags and move to follow them.

“Elena. Stay a moment.” Mr. Monroe says. I freeze as I feel his psi wash over me, commanding me to stay where I was. “What a pity, I had hoped that you would be more of a challenge to control. After all you are a Beta tester.”

He slowly walks a circle around me, confidence in his every movement. He continues “Admittedly, your brain was harder to control than the others, but it still doesn’t compare to those monsters in the tutorial.” He stops in front of me. “I had hoped to stay here as a teacher longer, but seeing as you are already under my control, I suppose it is time to leave for home. Come along, I will take you to my house.” He turns around to start walking.

“Do you have any idea how creepy you sound? I mean, really? 'I will take you to my house'? What a thing for a young male teacher like yourself, to say to his beautiful female student.” I say, not having moved an inch.

He stops at the sound of my voice, cautiously he turns around “How did you-?”

“I would have said something along the lines of, oh, I don’t know ‘Wow, it’s great to finally meet someone from The Game Of The Gods. Why don’t we sit down and mutually agree on how terrible dying in the tutorial was’. But nooo, you just had to go the creepy, villainy route.” I sigh dramatically, leaning against one of the desks.

“I said, Come to my house.” Psi washes over me as he tries to control me.

I gather my psi, pushing back against his power with everything I have. I cough to hide my struggle as I become slightly nauseated from the sudden use of psi. I lean back into the desk with a smile. “Really? After I just told you how creepy you sounded. You had to go even creepier. ‘Come to my house!’ Wow. What a cringy villain you are.” I use [Unmatchable Speed] to appear in front of him, equipping my gloves as I move and pointing my fist at his neck. “Let’s get something clear here. I don’t like being controlled and I don’t like my friends being controlled. So back. the fuck. off.”

To my surprise, Mr.Monroe doesn’t even blink, he just smiles at me. “Now this, this is fun. Who would have thought that Set’s warnings about you were correct. I am sorry that I have to do this to you.”

I feel as three bullets hit my back, sending me flying towards the other side of the classroom. I crash against the wall, whimpering slightly.

A woman walks into the room, holding an old style western gun. She hands the gun to Mr. Monroe. “Thank you Agent thirty-four. Nice shooting.” He turns his attention to me, “Good thing I came here prepared. I can heal you from those bullet wounds, but you will have to come with me.”

I bring a bloody hand to the windowsill, lifting myself up off of the floor. A smile appears on my face. “I have decided that I hate getting shot. It hurts, you know?” Finally I am standing up, I can feel as the blood leaves my wounds. “You really like playing yourself as the villain, don’t you Mr.Monroe? I would love to continue our little reparte of words, but I am afraid that I am late for my next class. I have an important test, you know. See you tomorrow.” I smile at him, before I use [Unmatchable Speed] to break the window and jump out of it.

Using [Take Your Time] I slow time down as I fall and grab onto the railing, using it to stop my fall. I let go of the railing and fall to the first level, whimpering as the bullet holes in my body complain.

I quickly hurry to the girl’s bathroom and lock myself in one of the stalls. I look down to see my gloves healing me, but the wounds are closing slower than they should. I close my eyes and try to sink into meditation. At this rate, I will bleed out before my gloves can heal me. I need to focus.

The root chakra. It is blood red and symbolizes survival, life and death. I circulate my psi around that chakra.

I cannot die.

I refuse to die.

Captain! The ship is sinking! I repeat, the ship is sinking!

Calm down Cadet. This will not be our last fight! I refuse to let if be.

What are your orders Captain?!

Batten down the hatches. We are in for a rough one.

****

Rose

A fog seems to lift from my mind as I leave Mr. Monroe’s class. I seem to remember that he asked Elena to stay behind. I wonder why? It doesn’t matter I am sure. I won’t see her until the end of the day anyway, our schedules are too different.

My hand subconsciously moves to my shoulder. Elena took a bullet for me. It’s still hard for me to wrap my head around that.

“Are you alright?” Blake asks. He has been walking me to my next class. It's easy for me to get lost in the maze of classrooms.

“Yeah, I am just thinking about Elena.” I respond, grateful for his concern.

“You know that she has a thing for you right?” He asks suddenly.

I stop in the hallway, feeling heat come to my face. “I am sure it’s nothing.”

Blake stops as well, turning around to look at me. “I wouldn’t brush her feelings aside like that. You don’t know her as well as I do. She can be kinda lonely, by choice, I think. She has never, ever, in my entire time of knowing her, shown that caring gaze that she showed you.” He moves his hand through his hair, “Look, Elena is… amazing, in a lot of ways. But she doesn’t open herself up to a lot of people. So if you don’t feel the same way about her, let her know now, so that she doesn’t get too hurt.”

“You really care for her, don’t you?” I ask, surprised by his concern.

Blake turns away from me, a little embarrassed. “She changed my life. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without her. So, yeah, I care about her and I think you do too.” He starts walking again.

“What makes you think I care about her?” I mean, I do. But I want to know why it was so obvious to him.

“Come on, I saw the way you looked at her. If I hadn’t said something, you guys probably would have kissed in front of the whole class. Not that that wouldn't have been fun to see...” He says, scratching his chin in embarrassment. “I just want to make sure that you are sure about this. That she isn’t just some, I don’t know, conquest you managed to seduce.”

“This is only my second day here you know, I haven’t had time to fall in love yet.” I say with seriousness, “I don’t know what my feelings are for Elena.” We stop in front of my next class. “But… I think I like her.” I give him a sexy smile, before turning away from him and walking into my class.

I distinctly hear Blake say “Elena, what have you gotten yourself into now?” as I walk away.

***

Elena

Pain courses through my body as I push the bullets out. I gasp as first one ding, then two, then three are heard from behind me as the bullets hit the floor.

I manipulate the psi around my root chakra on instinct, hoping that it will help me. But, instead of just slowing or speeding up the psi around my chakra, I am manipulating the psi into various shapes. Once the psi, goes into a certain shape, it stays that way until I decide to cancel what I am calling spells.

After an excruciating ten minutes, the wounds finally close, but I can feel an infection going through my veins, so I continue to manipulate my root chakra fighting the infection.

After what felt like an eternity, the infection stopped too and I destroyed it.

I lay there, leaning against the stall door for a few minutes, before I gather the energy I need to pick up the bullets. I study them, watching as strange markings appear on their surface. Markings remarkably similar to the ones on my gloves.

“[Identify Equipment: Bullet]”

.44 Bullet (unique) Owner: Scott Monroe

Abilities: Ignore Healing

Infect

???

“Damn it. No wonder these bullets literally shot me across the room. They are part of his unique weapon from the tutorial.” I whisper to myself.

I close the blue screen and look at the screens that had been wanting my attention since I’d healed myself.

You have learned to manipulate psi into shapes. You have unlocked the skill tree for Psi [Spells]

You have manipulated your blood chakra into the right shapes to unlock the spell [YOU BETTER HEAL RIGHT NOW] at Beginner level 1

I groan, annoyed at the system’s naming sense. “[Define you better heal right now]”

[YOU BETTER HEAL RIGHT NOW] heals wounds that would otherwise be unhealable.

I turn my attention to the next screen.

You have manipulated your blood chakra into the right shapes to unlock the spell [Clear Impurities]

“Please, go ahead and [Define Clear Impurities]”

[Clear Impurities] gets rid of impurities in your body.

Here we go, on to the next blue window.

You have learned to resist mental attacks, you have unlocked the skill [Resist Psi] at Beginner lvl 1

God, I wish I liked alcohol. Because then I could say;

God, I really need a drink.