Capítulo XII- Toma un poco té de menta

     Chase held a smile on his face as Patience recited the lyrics to Everybody Talks by the Neon Trees. They had the radio turned up after leaving the academy. The two bionics teens' excitement from Patience's promotion to a mentor had them bopping their heads to the music. More Patience since Chase was driving. He simply moved his head to the beat and mumbled some of the lyrics. She waved her arms around and placed them on his shoulder directly singing to him.

     Although they were excited about the promotion and it involved their bionic lives, it felt like they were regular teenagers having a late-night drive. In reality, it was almost nine o'clock. But nevertheless, they were over the moon having the windows rolled down and the summer night breeze hitting their faces. Even if they loved being bionic heroes and saving lives, they wanted a break to enjoy their lives.

     Ever since their identities were exposed to the world, the little part Chase had of his normal teenage life disappeared. Or so he thought. He still had Patience and she brought the bit he thought he lost of his normal teenage life back. She would even show him things he missed out on in his childhood like watching children's movies. They would dig through her stash of movies in her shed and pick out what they wanted to watch for the night.

     Now, for Patience, her normal teenage life had built up to an exciting adventure when she met Adam, Bree, and Chase. She did miss out on some things because of her mom and her parent's divorce, but it wasn't much as Adam, Bree, and Chase did. However, when bionic teenagers were exposed to the world, her normal teenage life disappeared too. It wasn't a bad thing. She loved helping people. Sometimes everything would be too much. Chase would help her through it whether it would be helping her gain more control of her bionics or being a supportive boyfriend in tough situations.

      Whenever the two would be together, it was like they had a normal teenage life. Of course, subtracting the missions and training. It would always make way to their conversations never letting it escape them. But it was something they did bond over. It wasn't easy being a bionic teenager saving lives. It has been proven multiple times.

     Patience glanced up at the sky. Back on the mainland, the stars didn't shine as they did on the island. Chains of constellations decorated the sky, and the edge of the Milky Way galaxy was clearer than any day swirling with blues, gold, and greens. Taking a glance up on the mainland was more disappointing than Leo and Patience breaking one of Mr. Davenport's equipment. But seeing the moon and bits of constellations try their hardest to shine through was enough to enjoy it.

     Patience put her head back in the car. She fixed the crazy hair the wind blew out of place by raking her hair back. She piped up, "We should stay up one night at the academy and star gaze."

     "Oh, actually, that reminds me. There's a meteor shower occurring at some point this summer. I heard something about that but I was busy at the time and couldn't look into it." He smiled, not taking his eyes off the road. "We can even use Mr. Davenport's telescope!"

     "Tell me when it will be so I can make enough space on my computer. I'm going to take a lot of pictures."

     "I will. We should bring blankets out and have a picnic under the event."

      "I like the way you think. I'll pack some treats and you can make sure we have the blankets and telescope. I'll leave my collection of pillows in the car so we won't have to come back to my house."

     "Then it's settled. It's a date."

      Chase pulled up to Patience's street. He had to stop in front of the house so she could get out and scan her fingerprint on the reader. Although Krane was defeated, the Valmoridas kept Mr. Davenport's security system. The gates opened letting Chase park the car in her driveway. The gateway closed behind him waiting to reopen when it sensed the car back out of the driveway. The car door slammed shut and beeped when it locked.

     "I can't wait to tell my dad! You think he'll be excited?" Patience asked, her smile widening with each word.

     "Of course, he will! He'll be very proud of you. It's like getting a promotion at a job."

      "It is a job. Mr. Davenport said he'll pay good money too. Oh, this is my first job," Patience gripped his shoulders. "I hope I don't get fired."

     Chase overlapped his hands over hers removing her hold. "Patience, you're not going to get fired. Mr. Davenport promoted you to a mentor for a reason. Plus, we have a lot of faith in you."

     "Faith? I'm starting to overthink again."

     "You're stressing yourself out. I'm sure you will do a fantastic job. You are the best martial artist I know. You taught Leo and even us what you know. It won't be any different teaching the students. They already love you and you have Bob, Spin, Leo, and Xue by your side."

     "You're right. I need to relax a bit and turn this into excitement again." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. They popped open and a grin appeared on her face, clutching the collar of his shirt. "I gonna be a mentor!"

     Chase placed a hand on her cheek and the other was at the side of her neck. "I'm so proud of you!" He didn't need his super hearing to hear her heart thumping out of her chest. Chase leaned in and softly kissed her lips. Patience smiled into the kiss loosening her grip on him, her pulse slowly going back to its normal pace against his hand.

     She pulled away and softly pinched his nose between her knuckles. Patience's house keys were withdrawn from her purse. Four figures, Yoshi, Koopa, Kirby, and of course, Toothless, hung on the navy blue lanyard, clanking against each other. She had two keys, one to her house and the Davenport-Dooley's mansion. She turned the knob letting Chase in first. However, he let her pass through considering she lived there.

     Patience removed her shoes and nearly placed them on the shoe rack. Dante was on the couch like always waiting for her to come home. "DAD! GUESS WHAT!" She was already in front of him blocking the tv. Chase shut the door behind him and stood by the door. He wasn't going to be there long enough to take off his shoes.

     Dante shot up from the couch startled by her sudden shout. "WHAT! Is everything okay?" he worriedly glanced between the couple. He grabbed Patience's shoulders, examining her face.

     "More than okay! I got promoted!" she threw her hands in the air waiting for a hug from Dante.

     Dante smiled embracing his daughter. "Congratulations! But what exactly are you being promoted for? Is it a new color?" he asked, peeling off of her.

     "Even better. I'm going to be a mentor!"

     "A mentor? Wow, that's incredible!" He wrapped an arm around her and lowered his head to place a kiss on the top of her head. "How are you feeling about it?"

     Grinning, Patience looked up at her father, "I have no clue!"

     Dante's eyebrows creased showing the faint lines on his forehead. He glanced over at Chase wondering what she meant. Chase answered, "She's nervous and excited. Expect her to be baking tonight if she can't sleep."

     He nodded understanding. "Okay, I think I'll make some tea to calm you down, Pat. Chase, you want to stay for some tea?"

     "Uh... sure, that sounds nice. Thanks, Mr. Valmorida." Chase proceeded to take his shoes off.

     "Patience, could you get some mint leaves from outside? I'll start the kettle."

     "Yeah." She strolled to the back door and unlocked it as she slid into her outdoor slides.

     Patience had a small garden of herbs in their backyard next to the door. Pots of herbs stood on a shelf underneath her dining room window. She had mint, basil, and rosemary, which was her favorite scented herb, parsley, thyme, and more. She began growing them two years ago for cooking or baking. She picked off five long stems for their tea and marched her way back inside.

     Chase was already sitting at the dining table talking to Dante. His beautiful smile shone underneath the warm light as he easily conversed with him. He was the one to speak to him first and Chase dragged out the conversation. Dante didn't hold a hard glare, he had a soft smile on his face just like Patience did. She knew she didn't have to worry about leaving Chase alone with her dad.

     Patience held the herb in her hands stepping out of the dark living room. Chase took a glance at her pretty face as she walked into the warm-lit kitchen.

     "How are you, Chase?" Dante asked, plopping the mints into the kettle. "Sorry, I didn't get to say hi to you when you got here. Patience gave me a scare."

     "No, it's okay. I knew she was going to do that. I'm doing great. Although, the students have been stressing me out lately," he truthfully answered.

     "Why's that?"

     Patience took the seat adjacent to Chase. "There's an exam coming up in three weeks testing the students' growth and my ability as a mentor. We have a lot to work on."

     "An exam? What's that about?"

     Patience shrugged, "We don't know. Mr Davenport randomly chooses what we do but it's nothing we haven't been taught."

     "Oh, that does sound stressful. If you do fail don't stress yourselves out too much. You're still young and have a lot to learn. Chase, have you ever mentored anybody before?"

     "No, but I am mission leader. I have been since I was 12," he pointed at Dante, grinning.

     Patience had told Dante multiple times that Adam, Bree, and Chase's childhood was taken away from them. Mr. Davenport was a good man, but he had yet to understand why their childhood was robbed if he was able to remove their bionics. However, Dante's smile didn't fall hearing the young age. He kept it up so Chase wouldn't feel discouraged. "That's nearly five years of experience you have on you. It's an achievement."

     "Thanks, Mr. Valmorida. I'll make sure my team is in great shape by the time of the exam."

     The wooden chair creaked as Dante stood. "What about you, Patience?" He removed the top of the kettle and stirred the tea with the metal stirring stick, it was nearly at a boil. "Are you taking the exam as a student or a mentor?" Patience and Chase exchanged glances mentally speaking to each other, which gave him his answer. "You don't know."

     Patience shook her head and leaned it on her hand. "No, but, but I'm sure Mr. Davenport will tell me what I need to do. If I'm doing the exam as a student I think I'll be okay. If I'm doing it as a mentor-" Patience glanced between them, "What kind of desserts do you guys like?"

     Dante leaned against the counter crossing his arms. "No baking tonight, Patience. You need to sleep so you can be ready."

     "What if I can't sleep? I'll be tossing and turning like crazy."

     "Eh, you can't be tossing and turning in the capsule. You're squished into your pillows."

     Patience leaned back in her chair throwing her hands to her sides. "I'll be staring at the stars on my ceiling."

     Chase reached underneath the table. He placed his hand on her lower thigh giving it a comforting squeeze. "You'll be okay. I'm sure Mr. Davenport will go easy on you since you just started."

     She placed her hand on top of his on instinct. "That's relieving to hear."

     Dante spun around and opened the cupboard to his right. A set of eight brown mugs were neatly placed. A four-year-old How to Train Your Dragon and a #1 Dad mug stood out among them. That mug was given to him for Father's Day when Patience was in 3rd grade. The paintbrush didn't help her messy handwriting. The words sloped down and were written small enough to fit Happy Father's Day to the World's BESTEST #1 Dad!!!!!!! Next to it, were two stick figures of a tall Dante and short Patience dressed in clothing nearly bigger than the figures.

     Dante would have used that cup and given Patience hers if Chase wasn't here. He didn't want to accidentally embarrass his daughter even if he would find it hilarious as he told Chase the story. He closed the cupboard after choosing three brown mugs. Little did he know Chase spotted the mugs and softly smiled glancing at Patience.

     She smiled, asking, "What?"

     He shook his head. "Nothing. I'm just excited you're going to be a mentor."

     Dante poured the hot tea into each mug. As it cooled down, he took the honey jar out of another cupboard next to the microwave. He placed a hot kettle on a tray that withstood the heat with the honey near it. Patience moved the fake plant from the center of the table so he can set the tray down. He quickly made his way back to the kitchen to grab their cups.

     "How is everyone else? Did Leo get the translations I sent him?" He asked, setting the cups down.

     Patience's lips pursed together and her eyebrows rose. "Yeah, but did you ever question why he asked for those translations."

     He paused holding his mug. He looked up to his right thinking back. "No. He asked me during my break. I sent it to him and went back to work. Why did he claim that you were his team?"

     "It's a long story, actually," Chase answered. "He made three commercials to promote our team. It included our number as well. We received non-stop calls for hours."

     "I thought you were like, uh, a private organization."

     Patience swirled the honey dipper as it hovered over her tea. She stopped it and the honey splashed in. "We are. BUT-" she quickly added. Dante sat down before she could continue. " We're okay. Everything was fixed and Douglas made sure random people couldn't call the hotline."

     "Well, I'm glad that's sorted. You kids have a lot on your shoulders, you wouldn't want to keep adding more." Dante grabbed the honey and rolled the dipper in his hands. He offered, "Chase, why don't you stay a little longer, it's the weekend. We could watch a movie."

     Chase stirred his tea. He faintly viewed his reflection in the brown-tinted water. "I don't know. I think I should get back before Mr. Davenport asks where I'm at."

     Dante waved his hand, "I'll call him to let him know you'll leave after the movie." He leaned over to him and said, "Maybe the movie will help Patience fall asleep."

     Patience set her mug down. "Dad, did you know my bionic ability improved my hearing?"

     "Yeah, you told me. Some tea and a movie should calm you down. It will be better than staying up all night baking to feed the whole academy four times."

     "Actually, that sounds like a great idea," Chase agreed. "It will take days to recover from an all-nighter. You'll need to be well rested for Monday."

     "THAT'S TWO DAYS AWAY!"

     Dante rose and he put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Drink your tea Patience. I'll get the blankets and start the popcorn. Chase will find you a movie."

     And Chase already knew which one.

     Chase pushed the chair forward and held out his hand for Patience. She gently placed his palm against his and he intertwined their fingers. Dante had already put popcorn in the microwave and he headed to the closet in the hall. Patience held her tea in one hand trekking to the living room. She set it down on the dark coffee table.

     Chase's eyes landed on the DVD sitting out in the open. It had collected some dust sitting on the tv stand longer than it was intended to. He wondered when was the last time Patience had seen How to Train Your Dragon. She hadn't stopped talking about the second movie coming out next Saturday. Luckily she hadn't bought the tickets yet or else he'd have to return the ones he bought the day they went on sale. He noted to himself to surprise her with the tickets after classes on Monday as a first-day congratulations.

     The first note to the theme song played and Patience's head whipped up to the television. She stopped herself from pressing play on the television. The microwave beeped and she sat back down on the couch.

     Soon enough, Dante came back with two popcorn bowls, one for himself and for the teenage couple. He gave them a blanket and one for himself before giving them space and sat on the two-seated couch rather than the bigger one facing the tv. Patience pressed play and he made himself comfortable on the couch hoping Patience would sleep soundly.

     Patience's hands clasped behind her back hiding her trembling fingers. She stood on the platform gazing at the 20 students in her class, four of which included Bob, Leo, Spin, and Xue. The sight of her friends slowed her racing heartbeat. However, she was acquainted with the other 16 students. She had spoken to each one of them, some a few more than others, but it was never enough to become friends with them. They had already made their own group of friends and they didn't put too much effort into befriending her. That didn't mean that they didn't like her.

     The students waited and talked amongst themselves as she tried to figure out what to say. The plans she had for today's class were completely wiped along with her confidence. She couldn't even use icebreakers to stall as she tried to remember, everyone already knew each other. She cleared her throat and cast a smile on her face. "Excuse me," she said, it came out more strained than she thought it would. Her friends were the only ones that turned their heads to her. "Excuse me!"

     The bionic students were too entertained by their own conversation to tune in to her voice. Spin stepped up on the platform and hovered his hands over his mouth, shouting, "HEY, EVERYONE, SHUT UP!"

     "The next person who speaks is going to get barbecued!" Xue threatened, standing in her spot. She glanced around giving everyone glares.

     The bionics students' mouths zipped up and whipped their heads to the young boy on the stage. "Thank you, Xue, Spin. Maybe a little less violent next time," Patience nervously laughed. She shrugged as Spin stepped off the platform. "Hi, um." She wiped her hands on her new white uniform and licked her lips. "I'm going to be honest, I don't know what I'm doing. All I know is that I'm your martial arts teacher."

     A few students held doubtful looks whispering to their classmates. Leo raised a hand drawing everyone's attention to him. "Hey, now. Patience is a new mentor, not a student. And as a mentor, you should be respecting her."

     "Yeah," Bob pumped his fist in the air. "So what if she's nervous-"

     "Okay, thank you, Bob and Leo," she cut him off. Blood rushed to her face tinting the tip of her ears and cheeks pink. "I'm only nervous because I don't want to fail all of you. I will learn over time and see how things go. So I guess we'll start with a warm-up and then we're going to play a game."

     "As long as we're not training, I'm in," Bob said, shrugging.

     "No, we are training but we're going to start off with a fun activity. It's a game Leo and I used to play in our middle school gym class. It's similar to duck duck goose."

     "What's duck, duck, goose?" Xue asked, crossing her arms.

     "Nevermind, I'll explain that game and then the one we're going to play too. We're going to start the warm-ups. It's nothing we haven't done before. Instead of doing a lap around the academy, we're going to line up and go from one point to another."

     Patience hopped off and directed them to stand in a line at the end of the training area. The room may have been circular but the students had enough room and space between them to line up. She lined up with them and shouted the type of warm-up. Patience kept a close eye on the students as they completed their activities. Most of them had the proper posture and stance, if not, she calmly corrected them.

     The students obeyed her orders only giving a few side remarks. However, they weren't about her. They were about specific warmups they hated. She couldn't blame them. Everyone had their sets of complaints. Bob hated hip rotations, Leo hated push-ups, Spin hated skipping, and Xue hated arm circles. In fact, Patience herself hated some. She hated lunges.

     Once the warmups and stretches were complete, they huddled in a group in front of the platform she hopped on. "This game is really simple but will also help with our training. We're gonna have four groups of five laying down in a circle."

     Bob raised his hand, "Question, how is this training?"

     "It will teach us to get up fast on our feet."

     "This game used to be torture. Everyone always chose me," Leo said, crossing his arms. "How can you do this to me?"

     "This time it will be fun," Patience assured. "You're in a room full of people who like you instead of bullies."

     Spin stepped forward, interjecting, "Who said I liked him?"

     She corrected herself, "Okay, we tolerate each other."

     Spin was about to give another remark but Leo wrapped his arm around him and covered his mouth. "Zip it, shortie."

      "The rules are super simple. If you get chosen, you have to get up and chase after them. You can use the open space to get back to your original spot after running a lap around everyone. If you are tagged before you make it back, you're it. If you do make it back, the person has to tag another."

     "My brain shut down for a second and I think I missed a rule," Xue said.

     Patience rested her hands on her hips, "It's okay. If you don't get it, it will make sense when we play. Everyone get into groups of four, make sure you're spread apart. I'll be joining random groups as we play."

     Once she was done speaking, the student's voices overlapped each other asking their friends to lie down next to them. Bob, Leo, Spin, and Xue were already in their own group on the floor on their stomachs. One by one, they parted ways until a group of four was standing. They were the kids who barely knew anyone in the class. They huddled together and walked off to the last spot.

     Patience joined the last group. She recognized the girl she lay beside. She gave the girl next to her a smile, "Hi, Kate."

     She hummed and turned her head. She returned a bashful smile, "Oh, hi, Patience." She shook her head, "Sorry, I meant Miss Patience. I'm used to calling you Patience."

     Patience chuckled, Adam told his class to refer to him as Mr. Adam and it stuck with Kate. "Call me Patience. It feels weird hearing you say that and we're not in Adams's class anymore."

     "Yeah, okay. It did feel kind of weird too." Kate returned to her silence. She was known as the most timid one on the island. She roamed the island by herself most of the time. She sometimes had someone with her, but Kate didn't mind being by herself. It was also a choice rather than being diffident.

     Silvia tagged the student next to Kate and she shot up to chase after her. Kate asked, "They can't tag someone in the same group, right?"

     "Yeah, then it wouldn't be fair. She's going to tag someone in another group if she can't tag Silvia."

     "Okay, good. Great. Then I can take longer to prepare myself."

     "Prepare yourself for what?"

     "To run."

     Kate didn't have a specific bionic ability like Spin or Xue. She was one of the students who had the basic enhancements of durability, agility, and stamina. Her main bionics were yet to be discovered if she had any. Patience wondered if she needed something to trigger them like Adam, Bree, and Chase. If not then she would find a talent Kate had.

     Patience was sure each one of these students had unique sets of skills that made them special. She would have to take mental notes or note them down in a journal for each student. She glanced around the room and saw some sort of gleeful look on the students' faces. It was nice for them to take a break from hard training and keep it simple with a game of tag. They had the room to their will and took advantage of zig-zagging to return to their spots.

     Of course, some students held a look of boredom. Not everybody found fun in the same things like how Kate didn't enjoy running much like Patience did. She would take the next two weeks to observe what her students enjoyed and what they did to improve their skills.

      An odd feeling shot up through Patience's nerves. She looked at each of her students on the floor waiting to get picked on by the tagger. She couldn't believe it, They're my students. She didn't think becoming a mentor was an option being at the academy or careerwise and in three weeks, she was going to be evaluated along with her students and their work.

     At that moment, Patience decided she wanted to bring out the better in them and refused to let them down.

-
I'll be having scenes and Chapters of Patience being a mentor. This one's the first one and it's kind of a wreck but that's okay cause it matches Patience being a wreck when her anxiety is going crazy. She's just like me lmfoa

-Aithusa