I Wanna Know, Can You Show Me, I Wanna Know 'Bout These Strangers like Me

Mal was still getting used to this new school, and the idea that there were other people out there with the same magical abilities as he had -- a whole school's worth of them. He'd spent the majority of his morning exploring the school and had wound up at a table in the cafeteria, which was good because he was starving. He ordered a thing of fries and sat down at a table.

Preslea wondered into the cafeteria with her journal and pen in hand. She ordered a fruit salad and sat next to the strange boy. "Hi." she said softly and went back to writing.

Mal looked up. He'd been a little zoned out, and was surprised to hear someone talking to him. He turned his head to find an unfamiliar blonde girl sitting beside him and offered her his signature big childish grin. "Oh! Hi! What's your name?"

Preslea looked up and put her hair behind her ears. A soft smile appeared across her face. Oh good, someone who is actually nice. "Uh, Preslea Clark." She said in a whisper.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Malachi Byrd, but most people just call me Mal." He held out his hand to her in greeting. He had yet to really meet any friends at this school, and he was more than happy to find someone who had the potential to be one. "What'cha writing?" He didn't look at her journal, despite his curiosity. He'd learned from his older sister, a writer, not to look at a writer's work without permission.

Preslea timidly took his hand and shook it. "It's nice to meet you." She said, perking up a bit. She quickly closed her journal and grabbed it. "I-It's nothing. Just a journal."

"Oh, okay. Do you like to write a lot?" he asked. He could see that she was shy, and he didn't want to pry too much, but he couldn't help it. By nature, he was curious, and he liked to get to know people.

Preslea nodded and bit her lip. "Yeah, I take it everywhere with me incase an idea comes up." She said quietly and ate a strawberry. "Um, what's your element..?" She managed to ask.

"Oh, cool. I don't really write a lot but my sister does!" He shrugged. He never could sit still long enough to focus on reading or writing. "Earth, what about you?"

"I'm earth too!" She grinned, warming up to Mal. "Watch this." She smirked softly and had some plants that were against the wall grow up to the ceiling. "See?"

"Awesome!" Mal grinned and watched her grow the plants up to the ceiling. Inside, he felt a small spark of jealousy, though mostly he was just happy for this girl to be able to control her powers well. He had very little control over his abilities, if any at all. When he wanted to make plants grow, they were no where to be found. When he wanted them to stay away from him, they were everywhere. But that was what he was at this school to do, right? To learn how to control these powers. "I wish I could do that."

"You can't?" Mattney raised her eyebrow. "That's the best I could do. Well, at least you didn't sneeze and replant the whole garden." She laughed to herself and smiled.

"Nope." Mal shook his head and shrugged. "I don't really know how to control my powers," he admitted, albeit a little sheepishly, and ran a hand through his messy hair. "One time I was in a bad mood and walked by my mom's garden and all the plants when pfft." He made a gesture with his hands that was supposed to show the plants withering.