The Real Ram

Chapter 3

"How was your first night?" Shawn asks me as he plops himself beside me at the breakfast table. I tense up, still on edge from my nightmare last night. Trish, who is sitting across from me notices right away and motions to Shawn to scoot over a bit. He does so and I send her a mental thanks that I'm sure she gets.

"Good morning," Beast says as he sits down in front of me.

"Good morning," Trish and Shawn say together.

"Hey we should probably tell Zoe what we do in the mornings after breakfast on a day like this," Shawn says. Maybe I'll just give up. I can't tell them the correct way to say my name, so it's not going to change.

"I guess so," Beast sips his orange juice. "Okay so, once every few months, all the trainers have this giant meeting."

"They get together during the morning practice hours to talk about the progression of their students and bla bla bla," Trish adds.

Beast explains, "Because they all are at this meeting, none of the kids have a trainer for the morning session."

"Since we can't train properly without one," Trish continues, "We decide to have a giant game."

"The game is more than a fun practice. We learn to use our abilities better in real life situations. You want to do the game with us?" Beast asks, "I know 'social' really isn't your thing, but it would be a good bonding exercise."

"That's a good idea," Shawn quickly says. He must look up to Beast. Even dressing like him. T-shirt and jeans.

Trish asks, "You up for it?" I smile and nod. We finish breakfast and I follow my group to wherever the game is. I notice crowds heading the same way. The hallway soon becomes a bit too crowded, and someone pushes past me and I lose my group. They don't notice, so I keep an eye on them and go with the flow of the crowds. They turn left and I try my best to as well. I manage to get into the left hall, which isn't as crowded, and I catch up to them. They didn't even notice I was absent.

"Zoe, you know how to play Capture the Flag, right?" Trish asks me. I shake my head no, "Well you need to learn, our team needs you."

"We lose every time to Jack's team," Shawn says.

"Well they always cheat!" Trish counters.

"The game's simple," Beast starts, ignoring Trish and Shawn's small argument, "There's two teams, the Red and the Green. We are on the Green Team, and Jack leads the Red. We each have a flag that we hide in this huge staged area, and whoever finds the other team's flag and brings it to their base first wins."

"There's no use of serious weapons, or dangerous abilities. But Jack's team never listens, they just blame us for not being careful. Once you go down by another ability, then you're out."

"Do you get it?" Beast asks and I nod. We enter a smaller room and I see that there are forty-five of us.

A guy gets up and stands on a little platform, "Nice seeing you all today. I'm hoping for a win this time."

Trish leans in and whispers, "That's Mac. He's the leader of the Green Team."

"Trish you want to say something?" he turns to her, quickly irritated.

"No, I was just catching up our newest member," Trish explains, she then whispers, "He kinda has super hearing. Even though that's not his power."

"New member?" he turns to me, as well as all the kids in front of me. "What's your name?"

"It's Zoe!" Shawn shouts.

Crap, now everyone will be calling me that.

"Well Zoe, I hope you make a good addition," he looks away, but not before glancing at Beast. I see a twinge of...anger? Maybe envy in his eyes. "Does everyone know the plan?"