Half-asleep, I breezed through my geometry class. Freshman math was super easy. At least, it was for me.
Instead of listening to the teacher's lecture, I did tomorrow's math homework. I'd already finished today's homework two days ago, and I took a break yesterday working on my secret. That took a lot of time and a lot of communication with my author. My idea of fun slightly differed from theirs.
My classmates stared at me with strange expressions whenever I randomly raised my hand to answer yet another question even without paying attention. It was nice to have a breather class before the real math kicked in. I couldn't wait for Algebra 2 Honors. That was going to be a hard yet fun class. My author bragged about it all the time.
At the end of class, I ran into Jack on my way to biology. He was heading to his Algebra 1 class.
"And then I can make things expand, and melt and freeze, and all kinds of cool stuff!" he continued, already halfway through his rant.
"Did you get phase change?" I asked.
"Air pressure," he said, his blue eyes the size of grapefruits. "And the pressure in other things, too."
"You mean space between molecules?" I clarified. He nodded. "That's…. great.” I managed. I was disappointed. Yet another of my crew got his powers before I did.
"I have to get to fourth hour. Bye," he said, heading away. A halogen lightbulb exploded as he walked by it. Manipulation of the space between molecules was useful, but not nearly as exciting as gravity or friction. I hoped I would get something truly enthralling.
I ran into Robert on the way to our locker. He was quieter than usual, and he seemed to be concentrating on something, but he didn't report any strange new powers.
"See you at lunch," he said, winking. I wasn't sure what that meant, but I was short on time, so I grabbed my biology binder and left.
Biology passed without much of anything, as it was a note-taking day. I took the time to review all the things one could do with manipulation of gravity instead of taking notes on ecosystems and niches.
"You seem to be distracted," Ms. Hopper, my lovely biology teacher, noticed.
I shrugged. "I have a lot of homework," I claimed. It wasn't untrue, but not exactly true. She nodded sympathetically. As one of the four freshmen in the predominantly sophomore class, everyone assumed I was part of the genius club. That wasn't totally untrue, but not totally true, either.
After biology was lunch. Ah. I always camped out in the computer technology and digital media classroom. I turned on my usual computer and logged into the school system, which took nearly ten minutes. I was hungry. I thought about Jason's culinary arts teacher, who was surely cooking something right now. Maybe a fresh batch of cookies? Pasta and cream?
My computer screen blinked on and I finally started programming.
I told you I was a nerd. I even started the school programming club when I was in 9th grade! I was quite a whiz on computers.
Anyway, I had just started proofreading my latest C++ project when the fire alarm rang.
No, I mean seriously, it interrupted me just as I was getting to work. Rude.
With Mrs. Fewins, the computer technology teacher, I rushed out of the class, with my backpack, a strictly forbidden move during fire incidents, and ran out to the upper parking with the school's nearly 1700 students.
It was a nightmare out in the hot sun, looking for my fourth period teacher in that sea of humanity. I could see smoke streaming from the F-wing building in the center of the school from where I was standing. That meant the fire was probably from the culinary classroom in the F-wing. They had a reputation for setting off the fire alarm, though usually while class was in session.
I wanted to get out of this mess. I stared forlornly at a student's Ford Fusion next to us. If only I could drive. I could just hop into my car and drive out of here.
Suddenly, there was screaming in front of me. People stopped moving altogether, and there was a low moaning sound coming from a car. My backpack felt ten times heavier in the heat, and I was pretty sure it wasn't because of Aaron. If only I could get out of here.
"What do you think is going on?" my classmate Hudson asked me. He had curly black hair and was in my French 1 class.
"I'm not sure," I admitted. "But we're not going anywhere anytime soon." I shoved past a few more people, hoping to see what was holding things up.
Then the Fusion besides us exploded in a rapidly expanding ball of flame and molten metal.
I remembered instinctively pointing my arms towards the explosion, and a fireball enveloping me in a bubble. The blast was way bigger than a standard gas tank explosion should have been, but that wasn't what was running through my mind.
My only coherent thought was, I've got my power! And I'm not dead! And somehow, I failed, in that moment, to think about all the people who just died around me.
Yup, that's me for you all.
And in that moment, I was pulled off the face of the Earth, along with five other supreme beings that controlled the laws of physics.
ns 15.158.61.6da2
