Poppia Smith's Story

The sunlight shone through the shiny, multistory windows of Stella Luna Library. It's tan, aged bricks seemed to glow on this seemingly ordinary school day. Students were scattered throughout the large building; books which have rarely been opened were being studied by young, knowledgeable minds. Free period was most commonly used to catch up with the rigorous education Stella Luna set upon its students. One girl, in particular, felt the pressure and rushed to the library after lunch to finish up her SG homework.

"Glace."

The girl had turned a small, rocky tablet in front of her into a block of ice. In her hand was a Solar Arctic, a type of Solar Gun that shot out cold, icy light. Professor Spark had issued a daily project in which SG students had to turn in an example of what their weapon could do. Not really excited about the project, the girl had decided to lay the whole thing off. She forgot about it, of course, and the day changed into the next day and the project was due. Remembering about it, she had rushed to the library and quickly grabbed a tablet in which she would turn to ice with her Solar Arctic.

"Impressive," said a young woman with curly, golden hair. She smiled at the red-headed girl and nodded. "Your Solar Arctic has a lot of potential. I assume it took a bit concentration to turn that tablet into ice. Eventually, with work, you'll learn how to turn bigger things into ice," the woman took a look at a clipboard she had in her hand. "A plus. Wonderful job, Poppia Smith." she walked off, leaving Poppia, commonly nicknamed Poppy by everyone, nothing to do with the block of ice in front of her.

"Hmm," muttered Poppy. She glanced at an empty space in a bookcase and looked around for the librarian. After not seeing anyone and letting a few students pass, she took the block of ice and shoved it in the empty space. Poppy smiled to herself and admired the sunlight shining through the library windows. She took a deep breath and sat down at a long, wooden table. Setting a spacious book titled Solar Energy on the table, Poppy cleared her mind as she prepared herself to study for the test the same day.

It never ends, she thought to herself.

"Blah blah blah." whispered Poppy. She forced her eyes to finish reading chapter one of Solar Energy. It took her quite a while since she began to get off track a bit earlier when a Hawk student insulted a Lark out of nowhere. The librarian yelled at the two and sent them off immediately. Poppy gained much entertainment from this and completely forgot about studying for the test in Professor Spark's class.

"...they must be wisely spent and need to be widely shared." read Poppy. She glanced at the next paragraph and groaned. How do these authors have time to write such things, thought Poppy. She closed the book and set it aside, scratching her hair in a stressful manner. Looking over to her left, Poppy caught sight of a glum looking boy dragging his feet to the table next to hers. He sat down and began reading a book. Poppy familiarized the boy as Kaine Stark, a fellow Solar Gun wielder. She gave out a light gasp and sauntered over to Kaine.

"Kaine," began Poppy as she sat down next to him, disturbing his peaceful reading session. "You know that test we have in Professor Spark's? Did you study for it?" she didn't want to study alone, so she decided that she might as well get someone else to study with. Looking at Kaine with a polite, yet serious face, Poppy tapped her foot in impatience. She loved fast replies.

Kaine greeted the girl, Poppy, he thought, as he recognized her from Proffesser Spark's Solar Gun class. Proffesser Spark... he thought, he was sure he was forgetting something. "You know that test we have in Professor Spark's? Did you study for it?"

The test! That's what he forgot! He blew off studying for Makayla, and if he didn't get his butt in gear, he would fail for sure.

"No," He said, laughing nervously and setting his book down. "I completely forgot..." he said, face-palming. "Study partners?" he asked, smiling.

"No," began Kaine. He laughed nervously and set his book down back on the table. "I completely forgot. Study partners?" Kaine face palmed in the middle of his sentence, then looked up at Poppy smiling. She put a fake smile back, not knowing what there was to smile about.

"Sure." replied Poppy. She walked off for a moment to retrieve a book, and when she came back she slammed a humongous book down in front of Kaine. She turned a few pages and stopped at the start of chapter two. "We must study the whole seventy-five pages of chapter two," said Poppy as she sat down next to Kaine. "Well, let's begin."

"We must study the whole seventy-five pages of chapter two," said Poppy as she sat down next to him. "Well, let's begin."

"Alright, let's see here..." he said, beginning to read the chapter. As he read on, he sighed, and rested his face on his palm. "See, this stuff is all about Solar Energy, harnessing it, controlling it, stuff like that. I've never really understood it. I mean, I'm a great shot, and I can hold my own in a fight, but the spiritual side just gets me. Like, they say you're supposed to have a spiritual connection to your weapon, a sort of link between you and Sol, but to me, Archer's kinda just a gun. I probably sound like a jackass, but I just can't get my head around it, you know?" He said, laying back in the chair.

"Alright, let's see here..." he said, beginning to read the chapter. As he read on, he sighed, and rested his face on his palm. "See, this stuff is all about Solar Energy, harnessing it, controlling it, stuff like that. I've never really understood it. I mean, I'm a great shot, and I can hold my own in a fight, but the spiritual side just gets me. Like, they say you're supposed to have a spiritual connection to your weapon, a sort of link between you and Sol, but to me, Archer's kinda just a gun. I probably sound like a jackass, but I just can't get my head around it, you know?" He said, laying back in the chair.

Um, what?

"Yeah, totally. Me too." said Poppy, nodding her head in fake agreement. She glanced at the large, old clock propped up high above the front doors of the library and closed the book she and Kaine were studying. Placing it on a book rack, Poppy looked at Kaine and lazily muttered, "Well, free period's over. What's your next class?"