Aftermath
An excerpt from the story Young Heroes written by Victor Marrero
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Background: Ben Baxter decides to take the blame for Ariel Weston's fiery powers accidentally setting off the school's fire alarm. After school ends, Ben is slumping in the main hallway. Ariel decides to talk to him.
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Ariel stood in front of Ben, who was sitting up against the lockers. She crouched down to his eye level and spoke in a gentle tone.

"Ben, I didn't think you would take the fall for this. Why did you do it?"

Ben looked up at her, then looked back down.

"Well, I didn't want you to get in trouble. If the school found out that you had these powers, they would kick you out in an instant, and..."

Ben paused for a moment, a tear flowed down his cheek.

"I don't want to be away from you. I...I kinda panicked. I just put out the fire and grabbed an empty lighter from the trash before the administrator showed up. I got 3 week school suspension, but I did it for you, I guess..."

Ben closed his eyes and turned his head away in shame. He felt the warmth of Ariel's lips touch his cheek, and felt his face redden. She's just being nice, he thought. Ariel pulled away from him and smiled. There was a moment of silence as he stared at her in awe. Before he could react, he felt her warm lips touch his own. His blood rushed to his cheeks once again as he felt his heart race. A flurry of emotions flashed through his mind as he took in the essence of the moment. She gently pulled away again, and gave a dreamy sigh. Ben looked into her eyes, and noticed that they were glowing a faint, yet vivid orange.

"Thank you so much, Ben." She said with a smile.

Ben could tell that she was being very sincere. She stared at Ben with the most honest of looks, and noticed that his eyes had a glow of their own: a very clear and bright blue. Ben was still stunned at what just occurred. His mouth started to gape a bit.

"You're welcome." he uttered, shyly.

He wanted to add something else, but his mind was blank. Ariel got to her feet and helped Ben to his feet. They made eye contact once again, and Ariel gave a big smile, showing off her noticeably sharp tooth among the rest of her pearl white teeth. Ben smiled as well, exposing a gap near the back of his mouth where one of his molars never grew. They both chuckled before they finally headed out of the building, side by side, gently caressing each others' hands.