& I'LL GET ALONG WITH YOU , (open)

Now that he was the official Earth leader and wasn't expected to give his position away as soon as the old one returned--seeing as he wasn't returning--Ashton got a lot more of the perks that came with leadership. Like the separate dormitory all to himself. He had spent most of the day joking with his roommates one last time as they helped him to move all of his stuff into the new dorm. They were supportive enough about it, making jokes about how jealous they were but not seeming to mean any of them. That was the great thing about the Earth elementals. There was such little animosity here. They really were like a family away from his family back in Vancouver.

"I got a summer job," Ashton was telling his mother over the phone, a smile in his voice. "It's only for a couple of weeks, though. Tell Cam that I'll definitely come home for half the summer. I know he was upset..." It unsettled the Earth leader to think that his brother was angry with him for not immediately deciding to drop everything and run home as soon as summer hit. But he wanted to experience part of the summer that the locals were looking forward to and so he'd gotten himself a job to cover the expenses of staying for a couple of weeks. Mom was proud of him for being responsible and Dad was fine with it as long as he called every day to let them know that he was alright. Cameron... not so much. "He's young, Ash," his mother reminded him gently. "He'll get over it." Ashton tried to smile despite the fact that she couldn't see him. "I hope so. Bye, Mom."

Hanging up the phone, Ashton set it down on his new bedside table and dropped the last box in the corner of the room with the others. He had already unpacked the essentials like his alarm clock and his school books, but he would handle the rest later. "What's in here, anyway?" he wondered to himself. Rifling through the box, it seemed to be full of pointless things for fun--a couple books, a board game, a pack of cards that he remembered was missing an ace. And a gameboy. It had been years since he had used this thing despite having had it here since grade nine, and the sight of it actually coaxed a laugh from Ashton. I remember you.

Deciding that he would take a bit of a break from hauling stuff around and helping his mates rearrange their room, Ashton flopped down on his new bed--it was quite comfortable--and flicked the power switch. He was surprised that the thing was still working. Seeing that Ashton was the leader and thus was expected to be available if anyone needed anything, he left the door to his new room wide open just in case.