This is my first time attempting to make a story so constructive criticism is appreciated. I'm not that well at writing and did not look over for errors. I'm planning on rewriting this later because I don't think this is long enough and to add details as to whom the main characters are and I've never written in first person view. I'm not well educated on grammar or things like making new paragraphs so please excuse that. I don't know if I'm going to continue this I just wanted to get a basic idea down. "Repeat after me. I, say your name, solemnly swears..." "I, Erin Blackwell, solemnly swears..." "I, say your name, solemnly swears..." Akira snickers. I sigh. "To never use my powers with intention of harm." The speaker continues on as if Akira never goofed off. "To never use my powers with intention of harm." We promised in unison. Well, maybe not Akira. When we were both offstage I inhaled and before I could start ranting Akira cut me off saying; "Superstitious people say 'Every time you sigh, you loose something to be happy about." "Well, that must explain why I'm always in a humdrum mood." I spoke in a depressed tone. "Oh, and, WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" I shouted at her, gaining a few glances by passers and making Akira giggle. I was angry and confused. Why couldn't she understand what was happening is important? Because of that little joke Akira could have made fools- no, ruined ourselves! "Calm down, Erin, it's not like I did any harm. If people don't like us that's their problem. If you spend your life with a poker face and trying to be what everyone expects you to be, you will never enjoy yourself." Akira countered. "This is different! This impacts our future! If our future is ruined then we can't enjoy ourselves, can we?" I shot back. "It seems you started to take after me." Me and Akira were best friends ever since we were 9 years old. Really, it was more of a love-hate relationship since Akira had to be the smart Alec she is. ~ It was early august which made the leaves turn brown and the air crisp. Walking home from school, I heard a voice call out "Hey Erin!" I turned my head to see Andrew waving at me with one and and his other hand wrapped securely around a ball. "Great timing! Me and the others are about to play kickball, wanna play?" I hesitated at first. There's a test tomorrow and no matter what I didn't want to get a bad grade. "Come on, you have time to spare, right?" Andrew urged on. Reluctantly, I agreed and started to walk towards them. While walking, I spotted a stranger almost my friends with long, silky black hair that reached to her waist, pale skin and a thin, petite build which made her look like a apparition that my unkempt shoulder-length brown hair couldn't compare too. "This is Akira, she's from Japan. Cool, right? Good thing she already knows English. I mean, that would be bad, right?" Andrew kept prattling on and on like he always did. "Anyway you can go on her team since we set them up already." I saw that everyone was in position, including the outfielders and the kickers in line. I nodded my head and set my backpack down and stood in line. "Hajimemashite." Said Akira, holding out her hand. "Huh?" I asked in confusion. "Nice to meet you." Akira translated. "O-Oh. Nice to meet you too. I'm Erin Blackwell." I said shaking Akira's hand. "Akira Minami." ~ That's how me meet. One way or another it turned into a rivalry which I was out schooled in every single competition. Then, one day we both woke up and was told we slept for 3 years and a group of other people around the world has had the same experience and every single one woke up with supernatural powers. It was really hard to take in all at once, including our new heights and all. Then we were thrown into this big thing about how everyone was arguing over 'Supernaturals' rights and whether not they should be killed or experimented or whatever. Eventually, they settled on putting us all in one big building where we will stay at in the US. Some people still disagree and it felt like the silver war all over again with riots and everything. There were originally around 160 Supernaturals but then a big group dedicated to removing the existence of the Supernaturals started to pick us off. They didn't have an official name so people just called them Anti-Supernaturalists. People need to get some more originality. So all the Supernaturals are staying together for security and surveillance matters. Just to make matters worse, there is also a group full of Supernaturals that are no better the Anti-whatever and terrorize humans. Apparently we are no longer labeled as human which makes me indignant. So now, me and Akira are going to meet the other 'Supernaturals'. Erin felt anxiety creep up on her. What if they get the wrong impression? What if they are bad people? What if- "Take deep breaths and just be yourself. Nobody can put a mask on forever so you mind as well just go with the flow." Akira reassured me. "Right, right." I focused on my breathing and soon the building came into view. It looked like any other condo but more... Luxurious? I think the right word is. It's hard to put into words. We were led to the doors and they were opened for us to be greeted by a woman. "Welcome! I'm Mrs. Barnett but call me by my name, Lea, if it's more comfortable with you." She started to walk into the building and we followed her. The main floor was a really big lounging room with many people speaking different tongues and many different looks. Mrs. Barnett handed me a key. "You two will share a room. Good luck and good bye." Mrs. Barnett walked away. "She is sooooooo~ helpful. Huh, Erin?" Akira spoke sarcastically after she was a safe distance and nudged my side. I giggled "Yes. Very helpful." I joked and nudged her back. We walked a little further into the room and decide to stand near a spot where few people are near the wall. The room was fairly lit. Some people sat on couches and watched TV while other sat near what looked like a bar and chatted white other just walked around and talked to others. It was a good impression at first but there were a few scary looking people in the mix which made me nervous a bit since I was a shy person from birth. Me and Akira are never ones for socializing which we both found contributed to our friendship since we felt comfortable with each other. Akira slid up the sleeve of her black hoodie without realizing it and started to scratch her arm. Something I realized she did when she was uncomfortable or nervous. I nudged her and she muttered a 'sorry' and shoved her sleeve back down and started to run her hand through her hair and play with it. "So!" A unfamiliar high voice sounded next to me. I turned to be greeted by big round brown eyes. "Aaaah!" I shouted in surprise while bumping into Akira who had to put a hand on the wall to steady herself. The stranger looked to be in her twenties and laughed "You scared me..." I breathed and felt my heart pounding in my chest. The girl had a ebullient look to her. "A person's eyes are the window to their soul." I heard Akira mutter quietly behind me. She looked like a friendly person which gave off a good first impression."I'm Kelly" "I'm Erin." "Akira." "I see... So... What powers do you have?" Asked Kelly with a animated yet expression. "Uhh..." I don't know how to get out of this one. "Come on, Kelly. Stop teasing her." Interfered a new person. Kelly whined and I saw a man probably the same age as Kelly whom had dirty blonde hair with slight curls. 'Thank you' said my eyes. 'No problem' his eyes said back. The savior led Kelly away and then after a few minutes of standing around taking in the sights Akira suggested we go to our room. "But where is the rooms?" I asked. Akira scanned the room once more before walking to a small group of 4 people before asking something in a language I did not know. After a few minutes of talking Akira returned and led me to the elevator. "How many languages do you know?" I asked Akira. "Shichi." My eyes widened in surprise at her answer. The elevator 'dinged' and opened. Our shared room was a fairly normal size with two beds on opposite sides of the room with drawers for clothes and two desk. The shape was rectangular shape and the beds stood at the two long ends. Night stands stood beside our beds with lamps on them and I was slightly surprised to find our stuff already here. The room was a color of sky blue. There was another door in our bedroom which I found out to be a bathroom. Akira moved to where her stuff was on one of the beds and started unpacking and I did so too afterwards. ~ I was awakened by a loud noise of Mrs. Barnett say "Time to wake up! We need tests to take place to confirm which class you are in! Please report to the main floor in no later than 1 hour!" Mrs. Barnett left the room. I groaned and pulled the covers over my head, groggy and sleepy, wishing to spend a little more time in my pajamas and under the warm covers of my bed. I heard a 'thump' come from the other side of the room and knew that it was Akira rolling herself out of her bed, a method she always used to wake her up. Something it my head which stirred a headache and I winced. Still not moving from under the covers, I was still being pelted. "Stop throwing yen at me!" I yelled at Akira. "Not until you get up!" She shot back. Suddenly I felt myself getting dragged from my bed. "No wait-" it was too late. I landed on the carpet floor headfirst and groaned "Why?" Me and Akira reported to the main floor, the lounging room, and saw it was packed with many people. "Quine eres?" A foreigner spoke to us. I looked at Akira. She probably knew the language the woman was speaking. Whenever we had encounters with foreigners Akira swooped and saved me from an awkward conversation. "Akira Minami." Akira said, pointing to herself and then to me."Erin Blackwell. Ilegamos ayer." "Oh. Bienvenida." "Gracias." "De nada." The person walked away. "What did she say?" I asked. "She asked who we were and welcomed us." She answered." Mrs. Barnett walked up to us. "All right! Time to go!" "Uhh... Why do you need us?" I asked her as we started to walk away. "You're doing physical tests. We'll take things like your height, weight, etcetera and strength levels and label you for how strong you are. We use letters D C B A and S, D being the lowest and S the highest. Then add numbers to get a more specific level. Someone D/5 would be the weakest and someone S/1 would be the strongest. A person that would be C/3 would be in the middle. Get it?" "Sounds complex but is really easy to understand. Basically, your labeling us." Said Akira. "I don't like the term 'label' but if you want to put it that way, yes." Afterwards we were loaded into a car of some sort and taken to a clear, deserted area that was probably former wilderness since there was only the green grass a building near the outskirts. We entered the building and people took things like our weight, weight, did eye and hearing tests. Then we did other tests such as agility, taking obstacle courses that involved jumping, climbing and running, which Akira dominated while I was still having trouble with the start. Then we had to lift weights where we both did poorly. Then we had to do tests with different school subjects which I guessed was for intelligence. "Now, the fun part." Said Mrs. Barnett. Barnett took Akira specifically to the middle and we all watched from the lab. "You see that object in the middle? Attack it and we will measure your power levels." "Huh?" I asked in disbelief. Both of us never used our powers before. We don't even know what or powers are. So how are we supposed to do this? Suddenly, there was a huge explosion from the middle and our view was blocked by the smoke and I could feel the heat from the explosion. The glass window broke and I felt searing pain and then everything went black.