Elements
Chapter 1

I’m not your ordinary high school girl. I’m special. I have powers.

It all started over the summer. I began experiencing weird things happening whenever I was outside. A tree would sway without wind, or flowers would sprout when I sat on the grass. It got kind of freaky, so I told my parents about it, but they, of course, didn’t believe me and called it a coincidence. I have an older brother, Raven, who I told all this stuff too. He doesn’t believe me either, and usually just waves me off.

But then one night, I woke up to a beautiful green gem shining in my room. It was just hovering above me. It went towards me and implanted itself right on my chest, like a necklace charm without the chain. That was when I saw everything. I knew right there and then, I had powers. I had a weird connection to the earth, like I could feel the roots of a tree just from feeling the dirt around it. I felt like if I wanted to, I could make the tree move without even touching it. But I’m not the only one. I know three other people with different colored stones in them, along with the powers, which we have no idea what to do with.

“Honey, you’re going to be late for your first day of your junior year!” my mom shouted to me. I looked over to my clock, which read 7:30. I was late! I quickly dragged myself out of bed and headed straight to the bathroom. I decided I had no time for a shower, so I brushed my teeth and hair, changed, and ran downstairs.

“Where’s Raven?” I asked. “He’s meant to drive me.”

“He already left. You took too long, and he wanted to be with his friends anyways. Would you like me to take you dear?” my mom said, looking a little hopeful I would say yes.

“Sorry mom but I’ve gotta go. I already texted Carina to come pick me up as we’re speaking.” Carina’s my best friend. We’ve known each other since 5th grade and have been close since. I heard a car honk outside.

“Looks like she’s here. Bye mom, love you.”

“Bye Jade. Have a good day at school sweetie.”

I gave her a kiss on the cheek and rushed outside. I hopped into the fancy car of my best friend.

“That was quick,” I said, pulling down the flap and checking my hair in the mirror.

“Well of course it was. This new car is amazing. Did you know it can drive on its own?! I did my makeup on the way here and didn’t even have to touch the wheel!”, Carina bragged.

Carina’s an only child, and her parents are both doctors and super rich. They bought her a Tesla for her birthday.

“You’re too lucky. I wish my parents would buy me one.”

“Anyways, aren’t you excited? Of course, I’m not happy to be back to the dreadful hours of homework, late nights, and early mornings, but I’m excited to see Elijah.” As she said this, her violet eyes began to sparkle. Carina had beautiful eyes, along with jet black hair and a caramel complexion. She’s absolutely gorgeous compared to my green eyes, brown hair, and light skin. Carina had a light grey stone in her chest, and she can connect with Air.

I rolled my eyes. Elijah was only one of the very many jocks at our school. She had a huge crush on him, but I’m disgusted by the jocks in general, thinking they’re all strong and manly.

We pulled up to Los Angeles High School, and straight away, I couldn’t help but notice a flash of red hair in the corner of my eye: Leo. We’ve had a small crush on each other since freshman year, but have decided it was best to remain friends so we didn’t ruin our friendship. He had an orange stone, and his powers were with Fire. He was talking to Michael, who had a blue stone and had a connection with Water. Michael was running his fingers through his dirty blonde hair, his hazel eyes meeting mine and Carina’s.

Carina and I walked up to them, ignoring the skater boys whistling at us. This was high school, of course, there are cliche groups. The skater boys, theatre geeks, white baseball kids, and so on.

And of course, it wouldn’t be a high school without the popular cheerleaders and jocks who always made out in the hall. Kiely Carson and Connor Booth; Kendall Barry and Jason Smith; and Kayla Tarrison and Elijah Nino. They pretty much ran the school. Carina was super jealous that Kayla was with him, and she had a deep hatred towards her.

“Looks like you’ve got some admirers,” Leo said, nodding over to the skaters. He winked at me.

“They make me want to puke. They just want to get into our pants,” Carina replied.

“Don’t worry about them. Their Vans and Thrasher shirts won’t get them anywhere near girls,” Michael joked.

Using my powers, I sneakily made the branch on the tree they were under swoop down and hit one of them in the back of the head. We all snickered.

“We should start heading to class,” I suggested when the bell rang.

“I’ll walk you. Where are you headed?” Leo asked.

“Sure. I’ve got Mr. Jones in room 4B. See you guys later,” I said to Carina and Michael. They waved and went a different direction.

As we were walking down the halls, we ran into Kiely.

“Ew. What are you losers still doing here?” Kiely whined. She was wearing a Gucci crop top, Supreme booty shorts, and was holding a Chanel bag. Her face had a pound of makeup, and her beach blonde hair was outrageously curled.

“Well, we’re just headed to class. I’m assuming you’re headed to the gym with those hula hoops?” I casually said, acknowledging her ginormous hoop earrings. “Or are you going to the circus with all that makeup?”

She rolled her eyes. “Nope. I’m headed to go replace my boyfriend. He’ll appreciate my beauty,” she shot back.

As she strutted down the hallway, Leo whispered to me, “I didn’t know Connor was a fan of hula hooping clowns.” We both doubled over in laughter as we continued to walk to my class, not worrying about the questioning stares we received. We finally made it to room 4B.

“Well, this is me. It’s too bad none of us have any of the same classes. I’ll see you during lunch though.” I was kind of sad I had to go through almost the whole school day without seeing Leo, but I would have to make do.

“Yeah, I’ll catch you later. I gotta run or I’m going to be late. Bye Jade.”

I watched him as he left, his red curls bouncing as he left until he disappeared into the crowd of students.