Time

I'd barely finished writing my answer when the teacher called time.

"It can't be noon already," I didn't see who said that through the walls of my cubicle.

"Pens down," the teacher continued while ignoring the students protests entirely, "You had more time than those soldiers did on the battlefield so stop complaining."

I leaned out of my cubicle to look up at the clock. He wasn't lying it was in fact noon.

"Bring your papers forward," the teacher huffed out of irritation as people continued to protest, "There's a mandatory assembly in the gym at one o'clock, and I mean mandatory. You will be court marshalled if you're not there."

Assembly? That wasn't on the schedule. I brought my paper forward without complaining, and waited for Ethan just outside of the door. He was only a few seconds behind me. We headed to the cafeteria for lunch together.

I could sense Savannah heading the same direction we were, and getting closer together. The hallways became more, and more crowded as more, and more students joined us in the hall headed towards the cafeteria. When we finally got to the cafeteria it was the fullest I'd ever seen it. We rushed to get into the line for lunch. High level students milled around waiting for low levels to get where they wanted to cut in.

The one closest to us tried to pull a kid out of line to take his place only to be hit by my murderous intent. I could see his palms get sweaty as he let his hand fall, and looked our direction.

"Touch him again," I mouthed silently, "And I'll rip your balls off."

Ethan knew exactly what I was trying to say to him because I'd accidentally said the same thing to Ethan through our mental link since it was literally the only thing on my mind. His color came back a little when he saw I was only ranked at a level two. He started approaching me with purpose. His stride slowed as he got closer. Until I could barely call it walking.

"Did you..." his voice faltered, "...say something to me?"

"Yeah," I closed the gap between us, and hammered him in the gut hard enough to drive the air out of him, "I said leave that kid alone."

I let him fold to the ground as I stepped back into line. Then my gaze flitted back up so I could look at each of the cutters one by one. Two of three backed off, but the third just stood there, and waited. It looked like he was going to try, and take my space in line. The other bullies slowly moved the the end of the line, including the guy I just gutted, and waited for the clash to come.

It didn't take long for the line to move up to the point where I was looking up at the bully in front of me.

"What do you want?" I let my face stay blank.

"Can we trade spots in line?" The question would have seemed friendly if it wasn't for his tone, and the tension of his muscles.

"I waited in line like a good kid," I snorted, "Why would I give you my spot?"

"Because it's the smart thing to do," he literally grew a few inches taller.

"Oh look," I smiled slowly, "Gaintification. Hey Ethan," I looked over my shoulder at him as I hypnotized him, "You want to throw him for me."

Ethan lifted him with his telekinesis as easily as he could lift a marble.

"How far do you think I should throw him?" Ethan smiled darkly as he lifted big dummy higher.

"We don't want to hurt too bad," I started laughing, "So you pick. I'm still not that good at gauging your power."

"Okay," Ethan shrugged, "Then I'll just drop him instead of throwing."

He was pretty close to the rafters at this point. Ethan dropped him fifteen feet stopping him before he hit by mere millimeters. Before dumping him in a heap.

"That was mean," I watched as all the other assholes in the cafeteria decided not to fuck with anyone while we were watching, "Did he piss you off or something?"

"He's in my club," Ethan explained, "And yeah. He's a dick."

I'm glad he's on my side. Ethan could be pretty brutal when he wanted to be. At least when he wasn't choked up on his own fear. I picked out a bunch of meats quickly with Ethan right behind me picking out more normal foods. Savannah got stuck somewhere in the line behind us when she came in.

We were already getting our first few items of food when she got there so it wouldn't be fair for her to cut in line with us. At least that's where I thought her line of thought was going. It was hard to tell with just emotional feedback to work with. I felt the phantom feeling of my wings twitching. It startled me a little, and made me double check that my camouflage was in fact completely intact.

We ended up pretty much alone at the end of one of the tables. Some weaker kids sat on the other end of the table, but didn't interact with us directly. I stuffed down as much meat as I could as fast as I could. I was famished, and I knew it wouldn't fill me up. Which made me a little grumpy as well.

Savannah sat down about the time I finished up my plate. You'd think that watching them eat would make me even hungrier, but Ethan's spaghetti, and Savannah's tuna fish sandwich with fruits were unappetizing to the point that the thought of eating it was enough to keep my appetite at bay.

"What do you think of this assembly?" I tilted my head back to look at the rafters.

"I think we're going to be meeting those people we've been researching," Savannah started on her sandwich.

"The guys Goliath mentioned?" I asked vaguely.

Savannah opted to nod with her mouth full. Just great. More trouble I didn't need. I remained silent while they finished off their lunches. Periodically checking for anyone that wanted to cause trouble.