[u]Codi Bailey and Atticus Fowler[/u]

Codi, although afraid of what Henry would say to her, was not as fearful of being reprimanded by him or any other teacher as she was about what Atticus would say. The primary reason for why she had done such an atrocious action was because she doubted the school, which prized the safety of its students, would force Atticus to do something that went directly against his will. Codi had called it a prank, but she wasn’t laughing about it; in fact, she had broken down crying about it. She was made even more hysterical by whatever had happened to Dana. She couldn’t let her emotions reign over her, though, so she forced herself to at least gain a partial amount of composure, so she could think about the situation.

She looked at Henry, “Dana said she and Asae were attacked. I don’t know where Asae is, but I think she left.” She said, the light in her eyes suggesting she was aware of the trouble she had caused, but wasn’t going to think about that until the current issue was resolved. Codi was normally pretty empathetic, but she had already committed herself to something, dark as it was. She saw it all the way through, or she was spineless; she didn’t like making promises she couldn’t keep. She had promised Atticus on the way to the school that if she got the opportunity, she would throw him into a scenario where he wouldn’t have a choice but to try to breathe underwater. She had meant it, even if she didn’t enjoy it herself.

In the meantime, Atticus surfaced, and found that he needed to breathe again. He got up and walked over to the group, finding himself alarmed by the situation, but more so focusing on Codi. Henry had said she hadn’t been responsible for the act, but somehow, he doubted that was the truth; had he just not read the question properly? The fish-man walked over to Codi, looking into her face, and knowing by the tears that she must have been the one to push him. Clearly, she hadn’t wanted to do it, either; but still, that wasn’t something he could forget about easily. “Codi! What were you [i]thinking[/i], I could have drowned!” He said, the most logical, and most obvious question of the day. 

Codi wiped the tears off of her face, “I didn’t enjoy it, but either someone made you try, or you’d never know. It’s not like you haven’t made me do tough things before to find out about [i]my[/i] powers.” She muttered, giving him a reminder of the things he had suggested that she do before.

“There’s a difference between people and guinea pigs, Codi.” He said, his tone returning to a normal, non-betraying quality of his emotions, though there was still a hurt note to it.

“You say that so easily, Atticus, but you don’t have powers where you need a test subject to find out what you can do. You advised me to do something I hated so I could comprehend the scope of my powers, and I promised you that I would make you try to breathe underwater, because you’re a fish-man. I meant it. You think it’s a one-sided thing, where you can tell me to do something that goes against my morals or beliefs? I just did something that went against them again just now, so that I could help you find out about [i]your[/i] powers. You can breathe underwater, and do you think you would have done it unless I’d scared you that badly? I knew it was dangerous, I did it anyway. It’s not like I don’t know what the consequences were. I don’t have anything to gain from it.”

Atticus stared at her again, “That was still [i]ridiculously[/i] dangerous; you couldn’t have asked the teachers or faculty to see if I could do that? Wouldn’t there have been some safer method?”

Codi looked at Atticus, her emotions seeming a bit exhausted, so that she seemed tired, and unable to react further, “I doubt the faculty would forcibly try to make you do something that would cause a life-threatening situation, and you wouldn’t do it when I asked you to try voluntarily. I know I’m responsible for it, and I’ll accept whatever consequences there are. I only had to do it once to know, so there’s not a chance I’ll do it again. I just didn’t see any other way. You wouldn’t listen to me, but had you, I would have pulled you out of the water if you had started to drown.” Her eyes filled with a few tears, “I’m sorry I had to do this, Atticus, and I really am guilty about it. I hope you can forgive me, but if you can’t, I’ll understand why you don’t want to.”

Atticus studied her face, finding, to his despair, that she was telling the truth. He looked over at Henry and Dana, “It’s easier for me to handle this, because I didn’t drown, but had I started to? I would have been a lot angrier than I am. It’s just hard for me to be angry at you, even as ridiculous as this is, and as angry as I should logically be. I must be insane, not being furious, and perhaps wondering if you’re a friend at all, except that we’ve known each other for a year, and I know you don’t lie.”

He shook his head and sighed, “I don’t think I’ll ever understand it, but I can’t hold a grudge over this, even though common sense should tell me otherwise. We can still be friends, but promise me, that you will never, [i]ever[/i] do this again. I need your word.” He looked hard at her.

Codi nodded, “I promise.”