"Like, superhero names? Batman and the like?" Dakota blurted out.

"Yes indeed, Mr. Fesson. Although please try to refrain from using 'man' as a suffix in your title. You have no idea how overdone that is."

"I'll be The Weatherman," he said, leaning back into his seat.

"Didn't I just tell you specifically not to use 'man' at the end?" He shrugged. I rolled my eyes as well as I could, which was, in fact, not very well. I'd need to practice my eye-rolling sometime soon.

"Can I be Know-It-All?" Contri asked. "You know, because when I read something I know all of what it says. It doesn't have 'man' at the end. Or 'woman'."

"I'll be Ray." Emerald.

"How about Winter for me?" Jacques said, quite obviously. Had they actually thought this over this morning or something? They seemed to have names ready, off the top of their heads.

Soon, in addition to The Weatherman, Know-It-All, Ray, and Winter, we had Trampoline (Because now, Abbot can jump as high as one! Hopefully he knew how to land.), Terra (She's the Roman goddess of the earth, Terra explained. It all fits!), Immortal (Whenever I get old I can just become young again, Marvin reasoned. Plus, I couldn't think of anything else.), Emoticon (which got my vote for the cheesiest), and Sam, who, having no power (yet), didn't really have many things to sprout off of.

"Elastica," I decided, a couple minutes after everyone else. "I can make elastics. And it sounds cool, like I'm super flexible or something. Which I kinda am, being a gymnast and all."

"Excellent," Miss. Demi said. "It's been a while. You should probably get up to your rooms for a quick rest. Snack will be brought to you by my assistants, Maddi and Adam, and in ten or so minutes they'll fetch you for your first real class."

A pair of teens, maybe a year or two older than us, walked into the room as if on command. Adam (at least I figured it was him) waved and smiled, but Maddi, the smaller of the two, didn't make an effort to be nice.

"I'll take the boys and Maddi will bring the girls," Adam said, and they followed him out in a clump. We did the same, in a straighter line. I was at the front.

Something- a piece of paper- drifted out of Maddi's pocket, and I stooped down to pick it up, scooping it off the ground so I wouldn't hold the line up.

Something (probably my brain) stopped me from giving it back to her. At least, right away. Sure, I knew it was the right thing to do and all, but hey, I was curious.

I unfolded the paper, which I actually made a bigger deal out of in my head than it actually was.

Meet at 11 in the kitchen- M

I smiled and shoved it into my pocket, which was pretty full by now. I had a schedule, the thing Mr. Hart gave me- I reminded myself to go into the washroom and see what it was, seeing as all it felt like was a rock. I did not think it was just a rock, from the way my teacher had slipped it discreetly to me after knocking all my classmates out. And he whispered. I couldn't forget about the whispering.

Well, whoever Maddi was meeting would have company tonight, I promised myself as I strolled into the room and collapsed on Contri's bed. Wow. I didn't even have to energy to take two steps up the ladder on the side. Going into the washroom to scrutinize something that felt like a rock? Forget it. My only consolation was that Emerald and Terra, on the opposite side on their bunk were doing the same thing. Sam was too, on her bed, next to the window.

I looked over at my bunk mate and smiled softly. Contri was dead to the world, sprawled out on the other half of the bed. The thought of waking her up (well, we only had about ten minutes) crossed my mind, but she would be too exhausted, and even with her power allowing her to never study again, she'd have to read.

I sat up, slightly more refreshed, and closed my fist on an elastic. When I opened it, it was gone. Something else I knew by instinct.

I slid into the bathroom, my hand already pulling out the thing from my pocket. I shut the door (quietly) and looked at it.

And groaned. I turned it over in my hands a few times, but there was nothing else, it seemed.

Just a rock.