I'm Gonna Die Before I Fold.

Ian slid into the seat next to Lee. The tables in Mr. Banner's room were split into fours, and there was room for four to sit per table. Lee explained that back on the first day, the teacher had knocked some boy unconscious for being late. Mr. Banner's "gift" was the ability to knock someone unconscious or kill, if he tried hard enough, just by shooting them a look. Pretty neat. When Lee walked in late and laughing, Ian following behind, Mr. Banner shot them looks that were worse than daggers.

Ian opened the notebook to a clean page. He looked up at Lee, who was already scribbling words across the page in a hurry. Ian looked across at the other two people at the table. Lee had introduced them as Gavin and Mike. Ian looked up at the teacher, who was sitting with his feet up on the desk.

"Lee." Ian whispered quietly and Lee's head snapped up quickly. "What exactly are we supposed to be doing?"

"Oh yeah, of course. You weren't in last lesson, so you wouldn't know." Lee grinned and sat up properly. "Sir, Ian wasn't in last lesson, so what does he have to do?"

Mr. Banner looked up. "Just explain him the basics, and we'll do a proper lecture next lesson."

Lee rolled his eyes and turned to Ian. "He's a lazy git. Basically, Parapsychology is the study of anything paranormal. The past few lessons we've been studying precognition. Basically, for-seeing the future. This lesson, we're just supposed to write out any experiences we've had of this, or of like. And if we haven't had anything, like Gavin and Mike here," Lee waved in a hand in their general direction, "just don't do anything."

"Oh. Okay then, fine by me." Ian shut his notepad. He wasn't a precognitionist, not in any way. In true fact, he hated knowing the future. The future scared him, the unknown about what his life was going to become.

Before he knew it, the bell to sound the end of the lesson rang, high and mighty in the air. It tolled loudly, shaking Gavin out of the slumber he had fallen into upon the desk. Ian laughed as Gavin jumped up and almost fell off his chair. He whined grumpily and picked up his bag, slinging it on his back. Ian mocked wiping a tear from his eye, and followed Lee out of the room.

They wandered out of the block and into the school grounds. The place itself was huge, a massive campus with about 7 different blocks, each with a grand total of 40 rooms per block.

Ian followed Lee, Gavin and Mike, trailing behind slightly. They laughed and joked, heading towards a set of benches, where a group of boys were sat. Lee jumped on one of them, a big grin spreading across his face. Gavin sat down on the other side of the bench, resting his head on the table again. Mike wandered over, not really speaking. Lee waved Ian over, still beaming. Ian smiled and strolled over.

"Guys, this is Ian and he's new here and he's great." Lee sat on the table, pulling a chocolate bar from his pocket.

"Hey, I'm Stuart." A brown haired boy raised his hand, waved slightly. "And this is Matthew, Rhys, Gareth, Jocko, Sean, Jamie, James and you've met Gavin, Mike and Lee. And welcome to Raphael's." He grinned.

"Ian! Show them your talent!" Lee exclaimed loudly, giggling to himself. Ian smiled and nodded. He could feel everyone turn to look at him. He did as he had done before and opened his palm out. A second of concentration and there it was, the small orange flame in the palm of his hand.

"Can you project that all over or just in your palms?" The boy Stuart had pointed out as Sean spoke up. He flicked his blonde hair out of his eyes, staring intently at Ian. Ian smirked. If you're gonna show off, why not show off in style? He threw his bag to the floor by the bench and pulled his top over his head quickly. Lee raised an eyebrow.

"What the fuck dude?"

Ian closed his eyes, letting the cold wind wash over him. Then let his eyes flutter open as a round of soft gasps reached his ears.

"D-doesn't that hurt?" Sean stuttered.

"Not at all." Ian looked down at his blazing torso. It wasn't very often he exposed skin, especially to strangers..

"MR. WATKINS!" Mr. Banner was stood at his classroom window, arms folded across his chest. Ian raised both hands in apology then shook himself out, extinguishing the flame that had covered his skin from the waist up a moment ago. He pulled his shirt back, laughing at the fact that Mr. Banner was stood by the window the whole time. Ian sat down, squishing himself onto the already cramped picnic bench. "You've seen what I can do. What about you guys?"

Ian looked around the group and suddenly felt a wave of self-consciousness. He was the new kid on the block, and he'd waded into a thickly strung friendship, acting as if he'd known them for years. It's not like Ian was shy, oh God no. Ian wasn't afraid of talking to anyone. But he was constantly questioning himself. Non-stop "what if's" ran through his mind. Lee had made their new-found friendship quite clear, asking Ian to stay with them for break and lunch. But what if the others didn't take to him as well? Ian had drifted off into a daydream of panic and worry when someone spoke up.

"Rhys and myself are telepathically connected, but only to one another. It's pretty shit, having that inside my mind 24/7." Gareth said while laughing, pushing Rhys by the arm playfully.

"Boring!" James shouted. Rhys rolled his eyes and kicked James under the table. James winced in pain. "I'll get you back for that later, you little shit." James turned his attention back to Ian. "Anyways, mine's a lot.. Cooler than theirs." Lee started sniggering. He held his hand out. "Go on, touch it." Ian looked up at him then back at his extended hand. Cautiously, he reached out and touch the back of James hand.

"Shit!" Ian jumped back, cradling his hand to his chest. His fingers were quite literally, frozen in place. He paused and watched as it thawed out, water dripping from his wrist.

"Said it was cooler." And that's when Lee burst out into full scale laughter. "It's a nice little counteract to your ability." Ian looked at Lee, who was heaving. He was in the laughing-so-much-he-was-almost-throwing-up stage. James shook his head and patted Lee's back. "It's alright Lee. We understand. Lee gets a little over-excited at some things." Ian nodded with a grin as Lee took deep breaths, trying to calm himself. Ian looked around again. Maybe he was welcome, in this group of people.

"Well, I'm nothing special either." Mike spoke up. "I'm an omni-linguist. I can speak every language ever known, ever." Ian's jaw dropped slightly, his mouth forming a smooth O shape.

"That's pretty fucking special, let's be honest."

Mike smirked. "I guess it does come in handy. And Joc-" Mike was cut off by a ringing bell, signalling the end of break. Gavin groaned heavily. He'd spent the whole of the break with his head on the desk, arms wrapped around his bag.

"What've you got?" One of the group asked Ian.

"Um. Vocals?"

"Oh, Sean can take you there then. We'll meet you back here at lunch time. See ya'!" Lee sprinted off, catching up with Gavin, Jocko and Stuart. Gareth, Mike and Rhys headed off towards in one direction while Matthew and James went the other.

"C'mon." Sean muttered softly, turned on his heel and started to walk towards the smallest block on campus. Ian followed behind Sean, watching the way he walked. His head hung down, like he was deep in thought. His blonde hair was limp, the pinkly tinged bit at the tips of his fringe showing up bright against his pale pallor. His hands were shoved into his pockets, hands balled into tight fists. Ian did not say a word, but watched Sean the whole way to Block 1.