Brianna Acero and the Second One's Return

15. Cassie wins by a hair...tie

"All right then," says heavy metal looking dude. "My name is Jack, and my team and I would like to welcome you all to the compound!"

We all answer respectfully, and I sneak a glance at the board to find that the boy speaking to us now is the leader of the highest-ranking team in the compound, "Team A" as it says on the board. They must be really good then, I wonder what their Gifts are.

"So, Alexa has already told you that our teams are usually made up of people with complementary Gifts, the variation gives us more of an advantage during missions. In a way we balance each other out, our Gifts set us apart. Now, as for what our Gifts are, well that is for us to know and for you to find out. If any of you think they have a special enough Gift to join us, we might consider choosing you to be a part of our team, just please don't waste our time. Being the best requires a lot of time that we simply do not have."

He finishes with a flourish, smiling when a round of applause follows. He seems pretty confident, or maybe full of himself is a better way to put it, he seems to know for sure that people will want to join him and his friends. I bet being the team with the best rank also gives them plenty of brownie points with the new trainees. Jack steps back and lets the next captain introduce her team, a group of all Physical Gifts, but all a different type. Strength, stealth, and elasticity; the latter demonstrating by making his arm elongate and twist in a very unnatural angle. Again, we applaud once she finishes her speech, thanking her when she wishes us all good luck in our first year. She has a nice smile, I like her, at least more than Jack. He had been staring off into the distance throughout her whole monologue, even chatting with his team once in a while, completely tuning her out. Rude.

The teams present themselves in order. Best on the board to worst, so I know that Mara will be the second to last to speak out of the nine teams. When her turn finally arrives I clap harder than everyone else, drawing her attention. She smiles in our direction, and I feel the sides of my lips lifting on their own accord. I'm pretty sure I know who's team I want to be on. If they will take me that is. Out of all the Gifts that have been presented, with the exception of team A, who deemed themselves too good to share that information with us, I thought that Mara's team was the most unique. Maybe she will use that to her advantage.

"Hi guys, my name is Mara, and I wanted to start by thanking you all for your patience thus far. I know that listening to all of us go on and on about ourselves might be a bit boring, but I promise you it is important."

That earns her a few chuckles and I smile at her attempt to lighten the mood. It's true that I was getting a bit tired, but more than anything I just wished they had given us some chairs. My legs were tired from standing for so long. It was like I was being poked by a thousand tiny needles. Cassie was also fidgeting next to me, shifting her weight from one leg to another.

"As you can see, all of our teams are very special, but I like to think that we stand out from the rest."

She lifts her arm in our general direction, face focused as she closes her eyes and listens. Then suddenly out of nowhere, music starts to pour into the room, a K-Pop song I have already heard a thousand times. Some girls start squealing, they must be fans or something.

"It looks like Alexa is listening to some tunes while she waits for us to finish. I didn't know she liked this song!"

She starts bobbing her head, earning more laughs, and for some reason a sense of pride surges through my chest. She is definitely being the most entertaining out of all the captains.

The music stops, and a high pitched whistle follows. I cover my ears, the shrill noise bringing tears to my eyes.

"Oh! My bad!" Mara exclaims, but the look in her eyes tells me she meant to do that. Why she would do it, I have no clue, until I see the people around me staring at her in shock. But not just shock, respect. Nice move Mara.