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Story about one of the characters from Element of Surprise.

Ezra's head drooped closer to her paper. Alera was cool, but he just wouldn't shut up sometimes. It never helped to have a boring professor first period after nearly pulling an all-nighter. Her eyelids fluttered, then closed.

"Randal! Think fast!"

"What?!" Ezra's head snapped up, followed quickly by her hand, catching the corn muffin neatly and taking a bite almost reflexively; Leo did this to her every day. She stared around the cafeteria in surprise. "Whuu... How did... I get here?"

"You okay, Randal?" Leo reached over and beeped the girl's nose. It was a habit he'd picked up to torment her with after discovering she had a crush on him in sixth grade, and as close friends and highschool freshmen it was practically a ritual now when he was concerned for her, a reminder of how long they'd known each other. "You walked here with us, when we met you outside of Lonna's room at the end of fourth."

"But, I was just... Alera..." Ezra shook her head. "I... I think I blacked out, Leo..."

Leo Denver was not a clever or gentle person. He was crude and loud, and arrogant to a fault. But when something was wrong with his friends, he did what he could to help. Ezra Randal was one of the best friends he had, and blacking out was a sure sign that something was wrong. He grabbed her by the arm and hauled her bodily toward the nurse's office. The girl sighed. She felt dizzy.

"Well, you seem fine." The nurse frowned. "But your behaviour is very odd."

Ezra looked up at her quietly, her face distorting into an expression of terror. "How long have I been here?"

"You sat in the waiting room for fifteen minutes, eyes closed, just... swaying in your seat. Then I called you in and you've been here for five more minutes. You've been in my office for twenty minutes, Ezra."

"I don't... remember."

"I know. You told me you wouldn't."

"I... did?"

"Yes, Ezra. You did. You told me that you were in fact unconscious, and that when you woke up you'd forget everything from the moment Leo pulled you out of the cafeteria." She seemed oddly sad as she headed for a drawer. "I'm going to give you a card for some people who may be able to help you. I suggest you tell your parents about this and have them call. Somebody will call them eventually, and it will be best for you and your family if it's your parents."

"What are you talking about? Who do you want me to call?" She held out her hand, taking the card. Moments later, scraps of shredded paper fell to the floor. "No! I'm not one of them! You can't make me go with them! I'm not like them! I'm not! I'm not!"

The nurse shook her head sadly as the Aberrant burst into tears.

"Hey, Kay?"

Kay was sniffing her lunch suspiciously. "Yuh?" She peeled open the sandwich, sniffed it again, and glared at it as if waiting for it to confess to some heinous crime.

"...Well, for one, the bologna isn't going to eat you." She sat down as the blonde finally shrugged and started eating. "Also, I was just wondering, what's your designation, your skill? It's gotta be interesting to have people calling you Sergeant."

"G'man' Aoffa. Ngyerf..." Kay swallowed noisily, and took on a solemn face. "Command Alpha. Killed a kid, in fifth grade, 'cause I told him to jump off a bridge... and he did."

Somebody laughed. "She's lying about the death. The part about jumping off a bridge is true, though. They were on a field trip to a miniature golf course, and he broke his ankle." Ezra turned and found herself staring at surgically-perfect, expensively white teeth, patently false bronze skin, and bright green contact lenses hidden by a mop of hair the same purple-dyed shade of brown as her own. "Liam Rosenblum, Camoflauge Beta, Chameleon."

"Ezra Randal, no designation or nickname." The girl had quickly adapted to the students' semi-formal manner of introducing themselves to one another.

Liam plunked himself down beside Kay and leaned against her in a tired manner. He sighed dreamily in response to her warning glare, closed his eyes, and pretended to snore. Ezra leaned over and put a chicken nugget in his mouth. "Hfoy, I corra biya vedadariyen," he protested, blinking at her in mock censure as he spoke around the morsal.

"Some vegetarian," Kay snorted "getting a double order of Philly cheesesteak."

Chapter 3 as it currently stands has been cancelled for an indeterminate amount of time. Cassi is a lazy ******** and makes no promises to when - or if - chapter 3 will resume.