• I closed the bathroom door and stared at my reflection in the mirror. Had something changed? Maybe it was the fact that my hair wasn't in my face? I un-clipped my long bangs and shaped them into their usual style across my eye. There was hardly even a difference. Combing out my braid, I thought about the gathering. No-one had ever taken so much interest in me before! Not at school, not even at home. I was hardly ever asked how my day was or what was going on. Cammy was the only one. Ever.

    Could she be up to something? I thought. She seemed devious, and, after all, was friends with Luce....

    I let the thought go, thinking about the ceremony, instead. Tomorrow... I thought. Tomorrow my whole destiny awaits me. I sighed and slammed my head into the bathroom counter. Ha! My whole destiny! Yeah right! Surely you get more than one try!

    The next day.

    I yawned as I walked down the street alone. Though I had been psyched since I woke up, I was never fully awake. I stuck my hands into the pockets of my blue shorts and shivered. Maybe I should have worn a jacket.... I sighed and kept walking, twitching my head to flick my bangs aside. I watched a bird flying in front of me. Sometimes I wished I could be a bird. To have the ability to fly was man's greatest dream, after all. They didn't know how good they had it. Something caught my foot. I cartwheeled safely back to my feet. That's the second time in two days that I've tripped! I need to start watching my step.

    "Y'know," A familiar voice said behind me. "whenever I see ya, your always fallin'!" I turned to see Luce standing behind me.

    "Stalking me again, I see." I said. He looked surprised for a moment, but then was back to normal.

    "No, I live 'round here," He said.

    "Hmm, you seem to be talking differently,"

    "Yeah? What's it to ya?" He scowled. I shrugged and began to turn again, but he grabbed my bangs, which covered my right eye, and tugged. "What's with these bangs, anyway?"

    "Ow, ow! Why are you pulling on them?"

    "'Cause they're long! And they're coverin' your face! Bangs shouldn't cover your face!" I slapped his hand, but it did no good, for he wore black leather gloves. I reached up and squeezed his wrist. For a moment, it did nothing, but then his grip loosened and his hand was limp. I kept squeezing, even though he had already fallen to his knees.

    "Stop, stop, stop!" He screamed. I let go and he gasped. "Jeez! All I did was grab your bangs!"

    "Yeah, and it hurt!"

    "You hurt!" He said, climbing to his feet. "You almost broke m'wrist!"

    "You're exaggerating!" I waved my hand as if it were nothing.

    "Ah, fighting agin I see." An unfamiliar voice said. No-- not an unfamiliar voice, an unfamiliar accent. I looked around Luce incredulously.

    "Cammy?" I asked. There stood Cammy, but she look like a completely different person. Her dark pink hair was shaggy, now. Loose and out-of control bangs almost covering her tinted snowmobile goggles. She wore an orange, baggy T-shirt over a white, button-up dress shirt. The dress shirt's sleeves were rolled up, the collar sticking out, and the bottom hanging down. Her too-big jeans were ripped up at the knees, and her old high-tops could stand to be cleaned, or maybe just replaced.

    "Yeah!" She answered with a British accent that wasn't there yesterday. "Don't you recognize me?"

    "Uh..." I wasn't sure what to say, so I just said my thoughts. "Since when do you have an accent?"

    "Wot?" She said. "Always! Of course... I was hiding it yesterday.... See, me mum doesn't like me having such an 'informal' accent, so she makes me hide it at events like yestaday."

    "Oh. O-okay..." She must have a strange mother. She began to walk my way and passed me. She looked back.

    "Well, come on, then!" She said. "We can walk together!" I stood still for a moment longer, then I started walking, too. I heard Luce pacing along behind us.

    "Uh..." I replied. She looked at me.

    "Ha!" She laughed. I looked at her curiously. "You look do a lot more different than I thought you would!" I almost asked what she meant, but then remembered that, without her goggles, she was blind to details.

    "Oh, how?" I asked her.

    "Well, for one, your hair!!" She started laughing. I blushed and bowed my head, letting the bangs cover my face. "I mean, it's pretty! But -- how did you get it so... silver?"

    "It's... natural," I said self-consciously.

    "Really?" She exclaimed. "No fair!" I blushed even redder. I'd never liked my hair much. I thought it was one of the reasons people didn't like me. We chatted while we walked the rest of the way. Luce was completely silent the whole time.

    Cammy and I were right in the middle of a debate about whether using shaved kittens for school projects was a good idea or not when we reached the training grounds. I stopped talking for a moment to pull my watch out of my pocket. It was 11:55, perfect timing. We entered, continuing our debate.