4.

"So who can tell me the exact date and time that Henry's comet impacted the earth?" the professor asked as she walked down the center row of desks toward the rear of the classroom.

Sheree's hand would normally have shot into the air at this point with a speed that could break the sound barrier, today though someone else would have to know. Her foot bounced up and down as her mind wandered. She put her head in her hands and exhaled deeply.

"So, you finally became an F rank and all of a sudden my lectures bore you?" The professor said in a quiet voice, suddenly standing over her.

"No, not at all Professor Milton." Sheree said as she bolted upright and tried to focus.

"I'm just messing with you. Congrats on the rank up though," she said and walked away.

Professor Milton was a white woman in her mid thirties. She was the perfect combination of intelligent and cool. She could teach you anything you needed to know in her class, but if you saw her outside of class, she would make you laugh and always knew what was going on with everyone.

"Thank you, I guess," Sheree said halfheartedly.

It was true that she and Elliot had ranked up on Saturday morning. The problem came Saturday night. They had held hands once an hour for as long as they could stand the feeling, but they stopped gaining levels. They made it to F5 and their progress ended there. After holding hands several times for no reason, Sheree had had enough. She spent the rest of that day and all of the next day turning Elliot down when he begged her to try again. She knew it was pointless and so did he, he just liked the feeling that it gave them.

The truth was that she liked the feeling too. She would never say it out loud, but it was constantly on her mind. She had actually woken up this morning extremely aroused after dreaming about him. Since then she had done her best to stay away from him, but she felt like her body wanted his. She bit her lower lip and ran her hand across her left thigh as she thought about touching his muscular chest. What was going on with her? She had never cared about physical pleasure before. Even in the mornings when he would try to hide his erection as he ran into the bathroom. She never cared, now she not only wanted to see it, she wanted to feel it. It didn't make any sense. She bet it was because of her stupid powers. She had awakened something inside of her by touching his hand, and now she was broken.

To make matters even worse she wasn't even getting stronger anymore. She thought about that as Professor Milton released the class. She remained at her desk completely oblivious to the people shuffling around her.

"What's going on with you today Sheree?" Professor Milton said and sat down on Sheree's desk. The sudden noise startled her back to reality.

Sheree looked around the class and realized they were the only people still in it.

"It's a personal problem, nothing to bother yourself with?" Sheree said and grabbed her bookbag and stood up.

"I know it's personal, usually problems are personal. I bet it has something to do with your ranking process," Professor Milton said.

Sheree didn't impress easily, but she found herself in awe of the teacher's perceptiveness.

"How could you possibly know that?" she asked and leaned a little closer to her.

"Well, you aren't a very easily distracted person, so I guessed that whatever it is has to mean a lot to you. I also know about your difficulty in gaining power. So when you walked into my room having achieved a higher rank for the first time ever and don't seem happy, I have to believe that you plateaued. One quick scan later, and I knew you had. F5 is where all new students top out," She said with a shrug.

"Yes, I can't get any stronger all of a sudden, how do I fix that?" Sheree asked eagerly.

"Well, usually all it takes is more effort. You have to push yourself a little harder. I'm not sure if that will work in your case or not, but it's how the rest of us do it," she said and stood up. "I hope that helps, see ya tomorrow," She said and walked out of the classroom. Sheree followed her out of the room with an actual smile on her face. She had the answer to her problem, her body had been telling her how to get stronger all along. She just wasn't wise enough to listen.

She walked quicker than she ever had before to meet the rest of the team at the entrance to the woods. Excitement was another emotion she was fairly unfamiliar with. If she had to feel new feelings it could stay as long as it didn't impair her judgment, she thought as she approached the rest of the team.

"Hey sexy, did you miss me this weekend?" Albert said as she walked up and stood next to him.

She ignored his greeting as she wondered where Elliot was.

"You ranked up child," Professor Klein said shocked. "How did you finally do it?" she asked, unable to hide how baffled she was.

"I'm not sure, I didn't even notice that I had," she lied in her normal monotone. "Where's Elliot?" she asked when she didn't see him.

"He won't be joining us today, he said something about not feeling well and needing to rest. He's probably in bed right now," Professor Klein said.

Sheree felt a sudden heaviness in her chest as she walked away from the group.

"Where are you going, sweet thing, I'm all you need right here," Albert called from behind her.

She again didn't dignify his comment with a response, she normally didn't.

"You haven't been dismissed, young lady!" Professor Klein yelled at her back.

"I have to make sure he doesn't ruin our room," She called back without slowing down.

She was relieved when she walked into their room and found Elliot lying in his bed watching tv. When she slammed the door he jumped up and tried to talk her down.

"Don't be mad at me Sheree, I just needed some me time," He said as he approached her with his back hunched and his hands folded. He looked as if he was about to drop to his knees and start begging.

"I don't care, just kiss me," She said without any emotion in her words.

"Wait, what?" He asked and stood up straight.

"Okay,I'll explain. We stopped getting stronger because we kept doing the same thing. But at rank F5 you have to do more to contin...," his kiss shut her up.

The energy hit them like an explosion, but unlike before they didn't pull away. As the sensation grew stronger, so did their embrace. Elliot's lips and tongue tasted all of her face, chin and neck, while her hands wandered all over him. They collapsed onto his bed in a jumbled heap of movement. She ended up on top of him. She felt the bulge in his pants as she straddled him, but she gave his upper body all of her attention. She started down by his waistline and kissed his abs as she made her way up to his pecs. She ran her thumb across his nipple before running her tongue over and around it. Elliot groaned as she worked her mouth. When her lips finally found his again, he kissed her intensely. They lay in each other's arms and just stared at one another. Sheree lifted Elliot's pendant and kissed the flesh beneath before scanning herself. Her and Elliot looked up simultaneously at the F7 rank.