Hello everyone! It seems like a really,really long time since I've updated my story. I'm so sorry to all that were waiting (which probably aren't much, but...). According to Word, I have 40,975 characters on my chapter. I feel very happy and overwhelmed at that number. *Note: This is the longest chapter ever. It is 7 1/2 computer pages long, and over 16,000 characters. Please deal with me.
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She never realized that the school would be so big. She supposed that she probably should have known, since it looked so large from outside, but it was difficult to imagine a place so large.

“Do you want to see the dorms of the actual school?” Scarlet snapped out of her own thoughts and looked at Blake. Or was that Bradly? Ugh, she couldn’t figure out which was which.

“I think it’d be best to visit the actual school. I mean, I’d be at the school no matter what group I get placed in, right?”

The-thought-to-be-Blake grinned. “I guess so. To the school it is!”


“…And this is the hallway that you first saw when you came in. Ready to see the dorms?”

“Urgh…can’t I see the dorms another day?” Scarlet was starting to get a migraine. She suspected that it was because 1) She had the worst sense of direction in the history of bad direction, and 2) The school was so big that it was impossible to memorize its insides in one day. They had seen each elemental instruction room and each elemental practice room. Then there were the detention rooms, the rec room, which was the room in which Scarlet met Jake’s friends, and the lunchroom, which was more like a gigantic dining room.

“No, we have to do the tours today. Besides, the dorms ate easy; they’re sorted by color anyway, so if you use rock magic, just look for brown.” Jake, Blake, and Bradly looked at her with pleading eyes.

“Fine. Just stop giving me those looks!”

The boys all laughed.

After a few minutes, Scarlet spoke. “Hey, Jake?”

“Yeah?”

“What element did Lumas start out with?”

Jake stopped, and raised his hand to his chin in concentration. “Hmm…it was, like, six years ago when he came here…I think he started with light; I can’t tell you how annoying the small orb of light that followed him everywhere was. Like Baine said, he’s an uber-genius, so he mastered all there was to know about light in what, one year? He started badgering Brenden after that, asking him if there was any way to learn other elements. After two weeks, the headmaster finally agreed to teach private lessons to him. According to Lummy, it was excruciatingly hard to learn the basics of another element.”

“What was the other element? And how come you didn’t learn any other elements?”

“Well, I haven’t learned all there is to know about the wind. Lumas is amazing to learn everything about light in such a short amount of time. Besides,” he said, grinning, “everything else would be so boring! Nothing else interests me. And your other question…Lumas studied darkness next. I guess he wanted to do two opposite things. Anyway, it took him two and a half years to learn it. That’s the longest time he’s ever taken to learn an element. After that, he studied earth, then fire. Now he’s going to try to master wind, and his teacher is yours truly!”

Scarlet had to laugh at that. “You’re teaching Lumas? Ha! Ha ha ha…”

Jake frowned. “Hey, I am better at wind magic than him. I’m his best friend and all, so I should teach him!”
The look of determination on his face caused Scarlet to whack into the wall while cracking up.

“…What’s so funny?”

“…Nothing, nothing,” she said, still trying to regain her composure.

“Uh-huh, sure…Well, her we are! The earth dorm. Blake and Bradly know every nook and cranny to each and every dorm, so they’re gonna take the lead here. I’m going to head back to Lummy and the gang. Is that cool with you?”

“Oh, uh yeah, sure,” confirmed Scarlet, but the truth was, she was feeling really uncomfortable. Jake, her only friend, really, was leaving her with two guys she knew even less about. No, she thought, trying to send him a message telepathically, don’t leave me here…! But he was gone.

If either of the twins noticed her sudden discomfort, neither of them said anything. They gave her comforting grins, patted her back, and said simultaneously: “Well, then. Are we ready to go now?”

Her pride masking the remaining fractures in her composure, she lifted her chin stood up straight, and said: “Show me the dorms.” The twins walked on each side of her, holding her hands as the three of them walked inside.

The earth dorm was pretty earthy. Grass-like carpet covered the floor, and ivy the color of the twins’ hair crawled up the walls. Vines hung from the ceiling, and trees were placed randomly in the room.

“This is the main room of the earth dorm! We have a fireplace,” Blake proclaimed, pointing to the fireplace. The edge of the mantel was mossy, and the fire emitted green, leafy flames. “We also have an infinite number of moss sofas to sit on; you just need to know the right words. Watch this: Miam Botswutai!” Chairs erupted from the ground, behind each person, and shot forward, each person landing on the soft, mossy seat. Surprisingly enough, the chairs weren’t damp at all.

For the first time ever in Scarlet’s life, she giggled. “That was really, really cool.”

“Do you like it? The dorm, I mean.” Though he was grinning, his eyes were serious and pleading.
“This is it?” Scarlet said, surprised. For some reason, she had expected something more than this.
“Well, the girls’ room is on the left, boys’ on the right, but yeah, that’s pretty much it. The dorms are mostly bedrooms that people stay in. So, back to my question: do you like it?”

She pondered the question for a while. “Well, it’s cool and everything, but it’s too green. Doesn’t it get a little creepy, with the green everything?”

“Um, not really. Oh, well. Let’s go see the other dorms!”

The next dorm they visited was pure black. Darkness. Just looking at it gave Scarlet goose bumps. It seemed to emit an aura that said: Take one step out of line and you are dead.

“Heh…gives you the creeps, doesn’t it?” Scarlet turned to see Bradly smiling, but it was a nervous smile, and beads of sweat were beginning to roll down his forehead.

“Let’s just get this over with,” sighed Scarlet, “before we change our minds.”

Inside, it wasn’t much different, except for the fact that it had some light. Despite the purple light, Scarlet could clearly see Blake and Bradly. “This is kind of neat, if, you know, you ignore that feeling.”

“I suppose your element isn’t darkness, then…if it was, you would feel right at home here.” Scarlet jumped as she looked behind her. There stood a girl, dressed all in black. Her golden hair was twisted back in a braid, and the top of her head was covered in a wide black headband. Her eyes were blank and a deep purple. She lifted her hand; Scarlet noticed black nails. “I am Hana, and I’ve lived here for two years… What about you? I presume that you are new…” Every sentence sounded like it was left hanging. Hana’s voice was rather deep for a woman’s, and so low Scarlet had to strain to catch every word she spoke.

“Yes, I’m new here. My name is Scarlet. Jake, Blake, and Bradly are giving me the ‘grand tour.’ Well, Jake was. He left just a while ago.”

“I see… Well, this is the darkness dorm… I suppose you won’t be seeing much of it, so I guess this is goodbye…” She walked off to the left part of the dorm.

“Yeah, ‘bye…”

“Hn? Oh, that was Hana. She’s even wackier than Annabee, though much less…hostile. Yeah, that’s the word. You ready to leave yet? ‘Cause I am really starting to freak out.” Scarlet looked at Blake’s hands. Sure enough, they were shaking slightly. She realized her hands were also quivering. Then the creepy feeling that she hadn’t noticed while talking to Hana came crashing down. She needed to get out now.

“Come on, let’s go,” she said urgently, grasping both the twins’ hands and pulling them out forcibly. The moment she stepped onto the concrete ground, the anxiety left her. The adrenaline rush was gone, her body relaxed, the heart slowed to a healthier rate. She felt safe.

“…Right, let’s get on with the tour!” Blake exclaimed after a few seconds of regaining their wits.

“None of the others are gonna be like this one, right?” Scarlet desperately hoped that she had just experienced the worst.

“Nah, that one’s always the worst; only people who practically live in the darkness can stand it; most people can only survive there for about ten minutes before going insane. Even Lumas has problems. C’mon, this is the next dorm.”

This one was a gory red, and Scarlet didn’t need to look long to figure it out.

The first thing Scarlet noticed while inside the fire dorm was that it was freaking hot! She wished that she had brought a hair band to her hair up with as she frantically fanned herself. Only one minute had past and already she knew that she hated it.

“Well, well, well! Who’s the new kid?” A boy walked up to her. He had a long, lanky frame that towered over her by at least a foot. His sharp, angular face looked down at her, his mouth in the shape of a Cheshire grin, and his dark emerald green cat-like eyes gleamed maliciously. The shock of red hair was long, a few locks curling under his ears. Scarlet blinked. There was something familiar about this guy…

“This is Scarlet, Alex,” Bradly informed warily, both twins placing a hand on Scarlet’s shoulders, as if ready to protect her.

Alex laughed. “Heh, like I’d even give a care about that little pipsqueak.” Scarlet thought she felt a vein pop. Pipsqueak? Little pipsqueak? How dare he…(Scarlet had an anger issue and a height problem. Saying anything about her vertical challengement usually set her off.)

Both Blake and Bradly held her back as she was about to give him an upper cut to the ribs, as she couldn’t hook him in the jaw. Alex noticed this, and grinned, leaning forward until they were eye to eye. “Feisty one, huh? Don’t worry, tiny redheads aren’t my type,” he said condescendingly, walking off in the opposite direction.

“Get back here, you…” Scarlet let out a stream of profanities so vulgar that Blake and Bradly froze in horror; the cocky boy only laughed.

After a few minutes, Scarlet left the fire dorm with a huff. “Who does that guy think he is, calling me short? It’s not like everyone else is freakishly tall like him; there are people who are average, you know. Stupid, conceited, stilt-tall man. Ugh! I can’t stand him!” As she ranted, the twins walked a few steps ahead of her, slightly worried. Should they try to stop her? Would she go into another angry rant, and yell at them? They mutually decided that it was good for her to let it all out.

The rock dorm looked like something a caveman designed. The chairs and sofas looked like big lumps of rock (which they were, but that’s not the point) with a back and armrests. A lamp on the side looked like something had bashed it until it was within an inch of its life. It was truly pathetic.

“Yeah, so this is the rock dorm. We joke around and say that the rock kids have rocks for brains. They don’t, actually. This pitiful piece of crap is a fluke. Rockies tend to be secretive. Look at this.” With that, Bradly discreetly pressed a rock innocently sitting on an armrest. To Scarlet’s surprise, it caved into the chair, and a low rumbling sound echoed through the room. To the front of the room, a hallway had appeared.

Blake shook her as Scarlet gazed in awe. “Come on, Scarlet. You’re not gonna see anything else if you just stand there. Let’s go!” He walked to the mouth of the entranceway, expecting her to follow. She snapped out of her trance and bounded after both of the twins.

The true main room was a million times better than the fake one. Chairs that looked comfortable to sit on were placed in the corners of the room. Nice, soft carpet lined the floor. A bookcase, a computer, a television—things to pass the time with sat near the chairs. “This is cool.” Scarlet looked up. A chandelier hung from the middle of the ceiling.

“Rock elementals usually tend to excel in architecture and interior designing. I think it’s got something to do with sculpting.” Blake’s fingers trailed the wall; it was smooth, and looked like marble. “They’ve changed it up. I think it’s ‘cause they like modern designs.”

“Why isn’t anyone here, though?” Why would someone create such a neat room then leave it? Scarlet couldn’t understand.

“I dunno. They prob’ly made a secret meeting room and are designing something else.”

“But I thought you knew every secret to every dorm,” accused Scarlet, remembering the words Jake said. Blake and Bradly know every nook and cranny to each and every dorm.

“Only if they don’t change. The rock dorm changes about every six months, so every six months we scrounge the main room, looking for secret entrances. It gets tiring after a while,” Bradly chuckled. “We do it ‘cause it’s a hell of a lot of fun, though. The rock dorm keeps us on our toes. Well, we’ve seen all we need to for now. Next is the light dorm, come on.”

The light dorm seemed to blind her eyes. Far away it looked like a normal, light yellow building. As they advanced forward, however, another kind of aura surrounded this dorm, but it was different. Unlike the darkness dorm, which warned you to stay away, the light dorm seemed to be saying: Come in, come in! Welcome to our humble house!

“…It’s peaceful,” Scarlet commented. She didn’t dare touch the portraits on the walls; they seemed sacred, like it would be a sin to place a single finger on the painting. She felt uncomfortable, confined to herself.

“Oh, hi!” Scarlet saw a girl running toward her. She had an average build, and her heart-shaped face was red; from exertion or being flustered, however, Scarlet couldn’t tell. Her sandy-blonde hair was drawn back in two low pigtails. “My name is Devon, and this is the light dorm! You must be new here; I’ve never seen you before. Well, I always say hi to newcomers, so, hi!” She paused, then turned tomato-colored and started waving her hands frantically. “Was that rude of me to say?! I hope I didn’t offend you in any way, and if I did I’m really, really sorry! I didn’t mean to, honestly! Oh, I’m so sorry, please accept—”

“It’s all right, Devon. Just calm down!” Scarlet said exasperatedly. She hated this type of person; even more than she hated someone like Abby. At least she could understand that selfish attitude, trying to blame everyone else and trying to make yourself superior to everyone; not the personality type in which the person blames themselves for every wrong that happens in the world, whether it was their fault of not. Scarlet wanted to get away from this person as soon as possible.

“Oh, um…right. I guess I’ll see you soon?” Devon looked at her, eyes pleading.

Scarlet returned an icy stare. “Sure, I guess,” she replied sharply. “Come on, Blake, Bradly. I want to see the rest of the school.”
The three of them left, Scarlet knowing the heartbroken stare Devon was giving her before she even looked.
Scarlet Black had two words to describe the ice dorm: freezing cold. She was pretty sure it was a few degrees colder than freezing, actually, as the condensation on a few glasses were frozen. Her lip started to bleed.

“Y-you o-ok-kay?” Scarlet realized that Blake and Bradly were especially vulnerable to the cold, as their element was earth. She would have shrugged off her jacket that she never went anywhere without and gave it to one of the twins, but she was also cold, and it wouldn’t exactly be fair to the other twin.

“U-um, th-this one’ll be sh-sh-short, so h-here are th-the chairs,” one of the twins said, pointing to the blocks of ice that resembled a sofa, “the f-fireplace that they never use i-is over there, a-and there is no s-source of entertainm-ment ‘cause it would f-freeze anyway.” Blake sneezed. “Anyone g-got a tissue?”

All three left the building before their muscles froze.

The wind dorm was silver, the same color that Jake’s car was. Scarlet heard the whistling of the wind as it swooshed around her face, whipping her long hair into her eyes.

“Right, so this probably isn’t the best dorm to go to after you nearly froze to death, but this was the order we randomly decided, so deal with it.” Bradly walked swiftly around the room, an amazing feat, considering the strength of the wind trying to force him to walk in the opposite direction.

The furniture was a dark gray, like smoke, and it looked just as fragile. So it surprised Scarlet when a girl a year of two older than her flung herself onto a couch nearby and landed on it, rather than pass right through.
The girl noticed Scarlet after several minutes. “Hey. My name’s Catherine; what’s yours?” She seemed as happy and perky as Devon, only less…ditsy. Catherine waited patiently for Scarlet’s answer.

“I’m Scarlet. Uh, Blake and Bradly are giving me the tour,” she explained, looking at the pair, who were throwing random things in the air (“Not the lamp, Blake!”) and watching them whiz around the room from the strong gusts of wind. “No offense, but the wind dorm seems like its got a constant storm around; y’know, with the wind?”

Catherine grinned. “None taken. So you’ve met Jake?”

“Yeah. You know him?” She internally kicked herself in the head. Of course she would know him! Jake was a wind elemental.

“He’s a good friend of mine, but not my best friend, not by far. I mean, his group of friends are scary, for a lack of a better term. I assume you’ve already met them?”

“Uh-huh. And they are scary.”

They both smiled warmly at each other. Scarlet realized this girl could be a great friend.

“Oh, crap!” Scarlet jumped at Catherine’s sudden outburst. “I completely forgot about my assignment, and it’s due in, like, three hours! Sorry, but I gotta go. See ya some other time!” She waved at Scarlet before running to the girls’ dorm.

Scarlet blinked. “Yeah… See you soon.”

Blake and Bradly paused from their shenanigans. “Uh…hey, you ready?”

“Yeah. Let’s go. Only one dorm left, right?”

They left, Blake staying behind for a while, throwing the lamp into the turmoil. Then he spun on his heel and raced after the others.


Scarlet thought she had died and gone to heaven. There she stood, in the middle of the main room in the water dorm. To tell the truth, it wasn’t much, really. It had a nice, mellow, bordering on melancholy feel to it. Soft music played like waves creeping along the shore, and Scarlet found herself nodding along to the tune. The dorm walls and ceiling were blue, but it wasn’t jus a regular blue. These blue walls rocked back and forth, changed shades and shapes, looking like water. A small electric fish bowl had blue stars circling around a plastic blue fish.

Scarlet was in love.

“So, do you like it?” Blake and Bradly both looked inquiringly at her.

Points to Scarlet, she managed to keep a blank face. This feat robbed her of the ability to speak, however.
Despite this, Blake and Bradly grinned at her, then at each other with knowing eyes. That was how they looked at the earth dorm when they first arrived.

A humming sound cut through Scarlet’s dazed mind. She swiveled around to see a lady. She had azure-blue hair (I wonder if that’s natural, thought Scarlet) and the palest skin Scarlet had ever seen on a living person. She was knitting with exceptional speed, so the white of it looked like white foam the ocean makes. She looked up, and Scarlet saw deep blue eyes. “Hello.”

“…Hi. I’m Scarlet.” She held out one hand. The blue-eyed girl looked at it.

“Sophia.” She started knitting again. Scarlet was slightly miffed at this, but kept a smile on her face.

“Well, it was nice to meet you, Sophia.” She watched her knit for a few seconds before her attention drew back to the room.

“Are you ready to go?”

“Hn? But we just got here,” she whined, looking at Bradly.

“Um…we’ve been here for like, two hours, Scarla.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh…’kay.”

“Are you ready for your evaluation, Miss Black?” They all jumped to see Percy Brenden behind them, smiling with that creepy smile of his.
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*Dies* I'm done! I have all of these typed out on Word, but I gotta double space every frickin' thing, and put the italics back where thoughts so kindly (*dripping sarcasm*) left them out. I really hope I got them all, otherwise the sentence might be really whacked out...

I know it must seem like I hate Alex, but I actually love him. No, seriously. He's hot. And sweet, if he likes you. Obviously, he hates Scarla. I'll make him more important; he and Scarlet are going to have to tolerate each other. I just hope he and she don't fight every time they see each other. Wait. Aren't I the one who makes this up???

Oh, oh, OH! You guys all need to read this guy's poems. He, like, rocks. Period. Here's the link: www.thoughts.com/foheskiy. Oh, and look at classic_disaster's, and Gifta's (just look on my friend's list.) They think they suck at writing, but there IS a reason we are all in gifted English. *Note: I don't know foheskiy personally. Just Classic and Gifta.

And Skittles (I just KNOW you're reading this), do NOT call me a grammer teacher. Ever. I hate grammer. I just hate grammatical errors more. I feel like you're comparing me to my crack-high, 10-foot-pole-stuck-up-ass English teacher. You've seen what we all think of her.

Luvvles to ya!