Sofia: Phoenix Rising - Fire and Water Book 2
Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

I send Lori a text as Ash pulls into a parking spot to see if she wants to take a road trip with us to which she responds immediately back with, YES! Ash says he will send Charlie a message asking the same and that we should all meet at my human house after school at three.

Ash and I head into the school building shortly after deciding this and go to our lockers. I look around for Lori, but she hasn’t arrived yet, apparently. Ash simply slings his bag into his locker, shutting the door and leans against it while he waits for me to finish rummaging through my locker. “What the hell do you want, dude!” I can hear Ash questioning someone but have no idea who it could be because my head is inside my locker. I quickly stuff the items I was looking for into my bookbag and back out of my confined space to see what is going on.

“Chill mate. I just need to speak with Sofia for a second, okay.” I watch Blake run a hand through his dark blond hair almost nervously. Shock runs through me at the snarky way Blake says mate. Why does he have to be such a jerk to Ash? It’s not like he wanted to go out with me. It was all a ruse to try and capture me because of my phoenix powers. So why do I detect a hint of jealousy? Maybe I’m just reading into things too much, whatever.

Throwing my arm out, I splay it across Ash’s waist in a pathetic attempt to hold him back from charging towards Blake. “Ash, no!” I shout sternly. “Let me chat with him. You can stay nearby if you don’t want to leave me alone with him. But I want to hear what he has to say.” I promise I won’t go beyond your line of sight, but I want to know why he feels he needs to talk to me, okay. I send this thought into Ash’s head as I can feel the tension rolling off both. They are just itching to fight each other. Ash’s chest rises and falls against my hand as I feel him trying to reign in his anger and then he takes a step back from me, nods his head, turns from us and goes to lean against the closest wall, arms crossed, eyes glaring at Blake.

I pull Blake off to the side and say, “make this quick. I don’t want to be late for class.”

“Do you remember your dream from last night?” I nod my head yes and he continues. “I wanted you to be able to see me in person, to be able to look into my eyes and know that I am telling you the truth. The location I gave IS where my father has your parents. I can’t help you, but I will tell you, there is an extremely strong spell placed upon the lighthouse they are in. I’m not sure how you will be able to get them out of there, but I wanted to let you know. They are safe and comfortable. Okay.”

Peering into his eyes, I can tell that he truly is telling the truth for once and I whisper an okay before suddenly jumping a mile as the tardy bell rings, scaring the bleep out of me! “I’ve got to go but thank you.” On impulse I throw my arms around his waist and give him a quick hug before feeling Ash come up to my side. Taking his hand, we walk away from Blake, leaving him staring after us.

I must force myself to go to each class and sit still. This is hell! I think as I sit in my second to last class of the day, English Lit. And just as much as I want this class to be over with, I dread my next one. Gym class will be rough because I will have to pay attention and participate. This thought makes me want to cry. True I have become more agile with the practice and training techniques Kestrel has been teaching me, but I promise you, my middle name isn’t Grace!

The bell chimes overhead indicating English is over with and I sigh deeply as I pick up my things and head to my last class. I grab my gym uniform (tee-shirt and shorts) and change into it before I stuff my regular clothes and school supplies into the locker in the locker room. As I pull my hair into a ponytail, I walk into the gymnasium and stand in line with the other students.

A groan escapes my lips as I spot the volleyball net has been set up. I am absolutely horrible in this sport! The gym teacher comes in and blows his whistle to get our attention before stating the obvious, “All right guys, we are going to be playing volleyball today. Four teams will split up the students evenly. Each team should break up into a group of six people. Two teams will place themselves on the right side of the nets and same for the left side. Okay then, let’s have some fun!” He blows on his whistle again and we divide as told. I am sort of in the center and praying hard that the ball doesn’t come towards me.

Suddenly I replace myself falling on my butt. “Oomph,” and then an ‘ouch!’ comes from me. It takes a second for me to gather my bearings and then I look around me to see who pushed me off my feet. Ashley! That bitch. I growl as I stand back up. “What in the hell Ashley? Why did you push me?” I’m breathing hard as I try to maintain my calm, my hands are fisted at my sides because I’d like nothing more than to take a swing at her.

“Oops, I guess I didn’t see you standing there.” Ashley says innocently to me. I glare at her but can’t do more than that because the ball is coming straight at me. I pop the ball up and the girl on my left slams it over the net, earning us a point. We high-five each other but as I turn back to face the net, I replace myself flying forward face first into the lacquered floor.

“WHAT THE HELL,” I shout out as I get back to me feet. “What is your problem, Ashley?” I can hear the kids whispering around me and I hear someone say, ‘she didn’t do anything to you Sofia.’ Flipping my head around, I glare at all of them, “how do you explain me flat on my face then? Hm?” My anger is consuming me, I’m at my boiling point. I hear a few people gasping as they look at me and know I must be starting to show signs of my phoenix. ASH! I yell in my head.

Seething at this point, I turn on my heel and dash out of the gymnasium, right into Ash’s arms. “Get me out of here!” I growl into his chest. He pushes me to arm’s length to look me over.

“What’s going on Sof? What happened?” He looks confused as he sees nothing is wrong with me.

“It’s Ashley. She pushed me to the floor for no reason whatsoever and then a few minutes later somehow caused me to face plant on the gym floor. When I accused her, the other kids said she hadn’t done anything to me, and my anger got the best of me making my eyes flare. I just need to get out of here.”

“Oh Blake! You should have seen it. I used a little magic making Sofia fall on her face,” Ashley says in between fits of laughter. “The best part no one saw me cause her to fall and now everyone thinks she is crazy or possessed by a demon because her eyes started to glow just before she stomped out of the gym!”

Blake watches Ashley as she grabs the sides of her stomach while she continues to laugh. “Why would you do that to her? She hasn’t done anything to you. Did my dad tell you to do this to her?” Ashley’s mouth falls open in shock at his response.

“What do you care if I mess with her. I was just having some fun. Geesh, why are you acting like you care what happens to that stupid, silly, little bird?”

“You’re crazy. I don’t care about her, but you don’t have to go being mean to her for no reason. Isn’t it enough that my father is going to steal her powers? Do you really have to make her look crazy to all the humans too?”

“Seriously, what’s got into you Blake. You’ve been acting weird for the last couple of days.” Ashley stares at him, trying to figure out why. “I promise, I won’t pick on her anymore, does that make you happy?” She adds rolling her eyes. Blake nods his head at her and then walks over to his refrigerator to grab a soda from inside it.