The sun began streaming in through the window, the light hitting Grace in the face and causing it to scrunch up before she opened her eyes reluctantly and rolled over, lying on her back and placing her hands behind her head as she stared at the ceiling. Today was her first day of high school. It was still taking a little while for that fact to sink in, it seemed like just yesterday her and her mother were moving in even though it was more like ten or so years ago now, right before she’d started primary school. Truth be told she hadn't thought about it much until now. Glancing over at her clock Grace sighed, realising she had a lot of time to fill before school was even close to starting now. Sliding out of bed she walked over to the large fish tank in her room, kneeling down and watching the small collection of guppies swimming around. “Morning guys.” She said, still staring at them. After a few moments, however she sighed and stood up. “Still not talking to me hu?” Grace had always been slightly hopeful that, along with her water powers, she would have developed the ability to talk to marine creatures. To this day she’d had no such luck. Walking into the bathroom she also checked her neck for gills, another hopeful wish of hers. Though she was aware by now she’d probably developed all the powers she was going to she still liked to hope. She took a fairly long shower, seeing as she had a lot of time to spare and then went back to her room. Before she closed the blinds she did glance out her window at the room across from hers next door but if Patric was awake then she couldn’t see him because his curtains were closed. Shrugging she closed her blinds and got dressed before heading downstairs. The house was quiet and still; meaning her mother still hadn't gotten back from her most recent crime fighting endeavours or she had gotten back rather late and was just asleep upstairs sleeping. Grace set about making herself some breakfast and sat down in the living room, turning on the TV and flipping to a channel that had cartoons. She did pause briefly on a news channel where her mother was fighting off some crazy bug lady. Obviously the result of last night’s call out. However it was quickly over and she flicked over to cartoons.

'Remember Patrick, in order to use your Chi to its full potential you must be at harmony with yourself at all times. You can achieve this by daily meditiation.' The words of his first official master drifted lazily through Patrick's mind as he sat in a cross legged position with his eyes closed and hands on his knees. Every morning started this way, three hours of meditation, just as his master had instructed him. His eyes opened as his second alarm clock went off, indicating that it was time to begin moving on to the next step of his morning regiment. As he rose from his seated position he removed his T-Shirt in a single fluid motion, allowing his incredibly honed teenaged body to be exposed. Moving to the window he parted his curtains with haste to let in the sunlight, the sight of which brought a smile to his face. He had never stayed in one place for very long in his youth, but he had always spent his summers in this home. He glanced over at Grace's window but figured she was already starting her own morning routine when he didn't see her. Moving back to the center of his rather spacious room he stretched his arms to their limits above his head while at the same time rolling his neck slowly from one side to the other. Inhaling deeply through his nose, he slowly began to lower his arms before moving through the first few forms of his preferred martial style. The exercise is designed to not only stretch all of his muscles in prepartion for the day, but also improve his muscle memory. While he is highly skilled in this particular fighting style he still has a long way to go before he can be considered a master of it, which is why he has been using it's kata's for his morning routine. After he had completed up to the advanced forms he dropped into a more relaxed state to give his muscles a moment to rest. With the recovery period finished he kneeled down and placed his palms on the floor. Without hesitation he altered his position and began doing push-ups. Finishing with his push-ups he quite literally jumped back to his feet before once more settling into a relaxed stance. With his chosen exercised completed he made his way to the bathroom that connected to his room. Setting the shower up the way he liked, he looked at himself in the mirror for a bit to let the water heat up. Flashing a brief smile at his reflection he hopped into the shower. 15 minutes later he was drying himself off and putting on a different T-Shirt, this one a plain white color, and a pair of jeans. With his fingers running through his hair he entered his room again and glanced briefly at one of his clocks. Realizing that he still had an hour before school would start he signed a bit before heading downstairs. Patrick didn't bother checking for his father as he was never home until later in the evening, and even then he would often leave shortly after. Instead he grabbed a protein bar and headed out the door, knowing that he would be eating at the school later on anyway. Taking a couple of bites out of the bar he covered the short distance between his home and Grace's. While many would knock before entering a friends house, he and Grace had spent a lot of time together during his summers so he just walked right in. Without so much as a word he waltzed into her living room and plopped down next to her, just as he finished the bar. He focused on the TV for a couple of minutes before abruptly standing back up. "Alright this is boring Grace! Lets go for a walk instead! I know we still have time before school, but we can take our time. I will be waiting!" Without giving her time to reply he made his way out of her house to await her outside.

The sound of the door opening caught Grace a little off guard for a moment and she leaned back very slightly, looking to see who came in. She had somewhat been expecting her mother, still unsure if she was upstairs asleep or out fighting for justice and junk. However when she saw Patrick she smiled slightly as he sat down beside her. She smiled at him and greeted him good morning then returned to watching her show. The peace lasted only a few moments before Patrick stood up abruptly and declared they were going for a walk, causing her to make a face at him, not that he noticed because he was already gone. “But… but… ninja turtles…” She complained quietly to herself before she sighed and stood up. Walking around her house she began making sure everything was closed and locked, because she’d never hear the end of it if they got robbed before grabbing her bag and heading outside to catch up. “I hope you realise you’ve interrupted a summer long tradition this morning. For weeks now I’ve gotten up and eaten my cereal whilst watching Ninja Turtles. Now I’ll never know if they beat the Shredder for the zillionth time.” It had rained last night, so everything was glistening with water and puddles covered the ground. She reached out, letting her hands brush against the plants as she passed, small water droplets transferring onto her hand or falling onto the ground. She always loved the smell of everything after it had rained. It smelt fresher, cleaner. Gray clouds still hung overhead, meaning they may even get more rain later. The girl felt, needless to say, most at home when she was surrounded by water. Still, despite all her moaning and groaning she was happy to see him. “So… are you as nervous about school today as I am?” Truth be told if it wasn’t for Patrick she probably wouldn’t have seen many people during the holidays. Grace wasn’t the most social of butterflies, often fearing that someone may unintentionally discover her powers if she got too close to them. So it had been hard finding others her age who also had powers. Her mother had networked a little to try and find friends for her, but none of them had worked out as well as the accidental friendship she’d formed with the boy net door.

Patrick found it insane that Grace could just sit around and watch TV without doing anything else, it just didn't make any sense to him as it was a waste of time in his eyes. The most television he had ever watched was the rare times Grace would actually get him to stay sitting in her house rather than dragging her around the city. As time slowly ticked by, and Patrick's boredom increased, he began jogging in place waiting with eager anticipation for her. Today was a big day for both of them, as it marked their first days of attending the superpower exclusive high school. While many would be nervous at the idea, Grace likely among them, Patrick was only filled with excitement. Since he would be with teachers and students like him he knew that his father wouldn't dare make him move again. As Grace finally exited her house Patrick flashed her his brightest smile as his jogging motion ceased. "Jeez did you take long enough Grace? I probably could have ran there and back with time to spare!" While he meant it as a jest Patrick also knew it wasn't too far off the mark. He knew that there were some people who could outrun him, those with speed specific powers, he also knew that not many could keep up with him. He couldn't help but roll his eyes as Grace aired her grievances at his interruption. "Come on! It is highly unlikely that you were watching a new episode! With how much time you spent with that TV this summer I would be surprised if there were any shows left for you to watch." Patrick shook his head a bit in amusement as he began walking along side Grace. He hadn't noticed it earlier but it clearly had rained either in the early morning or last night. This brought a much simpler smile to his face, as he knew Grace would feel a lot more relaxed about what the day would bring with so much of her element surrounding her. As if reacting to his thoughts Grace began running her hands along the droplets the clung to the leaves of the various fauna, causing his smile to grow a bit. "How could I be nervous with so much excitement rushing through me? I am pumped to finally be around people like us!" He casually tossed his arm around her shoulders as he spoke, an action he didn't even notice. For as long as he could remember he and Grace had been there for one another, which was more than welcome for Patrick. Between the charity work he did during the summer, and the constant moving during the rest of the months he never really had the chance to get close to anyone, let alone someone who had powers. "I know you are nervous, but can you honestly say that there isn't at least a small part of you that is excited?"

Grace rolled her eyes slightly seeing Patrick jogging in place. The kid was like a rabbit. She was pretty sure he couldn’t stay in place for more than a few minutes if you paid him. She wasn’t entirely sure, but Grace had also theorised more than once that he probably jogged on the spot whilst he was sleeping too. When he stated she had taken too long the girl pointed at him threateningly. “Don’t make me hurt you.” An entirely empty threat. She wasn’t sure she even could hurt Patrick if she tried. He seemed very hardy and she theorised it was partially due to his powers. Not to mention there was some height difference between the pair. “First you interrupt my Ninja Turtles then you insult my honour. My honour good sir! I was locking up my house to make sure we didn’t get robbed. And the amount of TV I watched during the holidays is none of your business. I happened to go on these amazing emotional adventures with those wonderful people with strange hair.” The girl defended herself. “Just because some of us have ants in their pants doesn’t mean others can’t take time out to rot their minds.” As Patrick threw his arm around her and declared how excited she was she smiled slightly, honestly happy for him. But could just not bring herself t share in the excitement. She had never been the most confident person in herself. She had developed powers at quite an early age, but hadn't gained control of them for a number of years. This fear that her powers may act up on her without notice led to her being fairly withdrawn, believing that if she wasn’t given a provocation nothing would happen because she knew if anyone had discovered her powers then they’d likely would have had to move. She wasn’t sure what Patrick would have thought if he’d come home for summer vacation and she hadn't been there one year with no explanation no forwarding address and no way of contacting her. In the end she hadn't gained much control until middle school. His excitement to be around others like them wasn’t helping her anxiety. It was another fear of hers. They had never met anyone else like them before and it was difficult to be friends with normal people because you could never be one hundred percent yourself with them. What if he got there and realised there were a lot cooler people he could be hanging out with? People more like him? He wouldn’t have to settle for her anymore. Realising she’d been quiet for a long time and she’d been staring at the pavement as they’d walked Grace blinked slightly and looked back up to him, smiling. “Yeah, I guess so.” She never had been a good liar either.