Scary Spies

School has started. For everyone, they've enjoyed a week long vacation of relaxation and spending time with friends. As for my February vacation, I broke free from a mad scientist, had some pretty cathartic moments as I reunited with my friends, and spent four whole days catching up on schoolwork. I'm still behind on schoolwork, that didn't magically fix itself. Super enhanced brain even had trouble doing all of the assignments given through a four month period. Do you even realize how much work is put on students? Don't even compare it to way back when, there's too much pressure on students!
It's almost weird to walk through these halls again. Before, I would walk down the halls and no one would notice me. I was just one of the orphan girls, another tragic story among many here. Now I'm a new story that everyone wants to hear about. A car crash on a highway that no one can seem to look away from. People blatantly stare at me as I pass them in the halls. I try to be pleasant and smile, or if someone is too obvious I wave at them. If Trey and Elise weren't here, I might've cowered away. I know I'm going to need to take a lot of bathroom breaks to let my hair down, literally. Keeping my hair short and my eyes blue gets more difficult as I hold it. It's almost like holding in your gut. When your first do it, you can only hold it for a certain amount of time before you exhale and relax your muscles. I'd like to think this gets easier over time and I'm just really new to the power game.
At my locker, I pick up my books for English and World History. Trey stays with me to make sure I'm okay. He's been very supportive since I showed up at his house. His family welcomed me back into their home. They hugged me and cried. His moms asked me to stay for dinner and we all caught up. I told them the story I told the police and they all listened in horror. Now they check in all the time and Trey very seldom leaves my side. It's sweet, and I definitely feel like I'm part of the family.
I sit in my English class with my book and notepad out. The walls are still a weird cream color and the desks still wobble. Even though the board hasn't been used in a week, it's still slightly tinted orange. Each wall has a board with a bunch of stars on it. When school first started we had to put our three goals for the school year a yellow paper star. Each class ended up getting their own board and at the end of the year, we get to see if we reached any of our goals. I think my goals were to find an adventure in each day, change for the better, and to take on responsibility with ease. I think I'm doing pretty well on project that so far. I also have all of my assignments from when I went missing in November to somewhere in the mid-January section, even the paper I went missing for while exploring the caves.
Can you imagine if I handed in a paper on the laboratory? How would I describe the area? Barren. It's designed in one color and it's a paste white. How would I describe the people? Upper class. They have a way of walking that tells you they think they're better than you. They have a thirst of wanting to know their subjects inside and out, which honestly was very dehumanizing. Although, would I be considered human anymore? According to that doctor guy I'm a human hybrid of some sort that isn't safe to be around living people. Well, here I am in a classroom full of high school students, but that's the American school system for you. I'd be here even if they knew I wasn't safe. How would I describe the atmosphere? Cold. The few emotions I felt were fear and anger. Well, I did feel better with Cierra and Marissa with me.
The bell rings and Mr. Forleo, who was sitting at his desk, finally looks up from his book. His face becomes pale when he sees me and he looks back down. No one else seemed to notice and just keeps talking about their vacations. It takes a few moments, but Mr. Forleo stands up. He starts walking towards the door and says, “Miss Smalls, I need to see you outside.” He didn't even make eyecontact, just continued outside. I stand up and follow him.
Mr. Forleo and I stand awkwardly in the empty hallway. Everyone has gone to class and no one is left roaming the area. He scratches the back of his neck and takes a deep breath.
“I'm glad to see you're back,” Mr. Forleo says, “I know you went into the mountains to do your project.” I nod, not sure where he is going with this or how to react. He's looking down and playing with his fingers.
“The thing is,” He continues, “I never told you to go into the cave. You went there of your own free will. I only assigned you the paper and if you think about it, you didn't need to go out there. You could have gone to the mall or something.”
“Excuse me?”
“I just don't want you thinking that it was my fault you went missing. I mean, no one really knows what happened. I just don't want you to blame me.”
“Guilty conscious?”
“What?”
“I didn't blame you, but if you felt bad I went out there to work on your project that's your problem. Don't you dare pull me from my education fresh from-”
“Miss Smalls, plea-”
“No, I'm not done talking. I was kidnapped for four months and the first thing I hear when I come back is that it was my fault by an authority figure I am supposed to look up to. My assignments are on my desk. I need a moment in the bathroom after this.” I go without his permission. Mr. Forleo stares at me in awe as I leave. I feel my body unraveling as tears burn the corners of my now purple eyes.
I walk into the empty bathroom and slam the stall door shut. My hair falls down around my hips and I wonder if I'll even make it through the day. At least my powers didn't flair up when I was talking to Mr. Forleo. One of worst things that could happen is I push him backwards and fling him across the hall. Or I somehow kill him with a dark spike through his heart. I'm definitely overthinking and need to remember the small win about how I got away before any of that happened. Now this small space is my solitude. I read all of the graffiti on the walls, keeping my mind focused on anything else. There are apparently a lot of skanks in this school. There's also a drawing of a clit and around it says “No wonder the boys couldn't find me! I'm in the girls bathroom!”
The door opens and two students walk into the bathroom. One girl bends down and checks to see if there is anyone in the stalls. My feet are up, she can't see me.
“You know,” One girl says, looking in the mirror, “It was always easy when we were in the lab, but I never tried having normal hair while I was there.”
“We never really got a chance to try it,” The other girl says, “In one room there are power dampeners and in the other we risk exposing ourselves to the madman who found us.” A soft fiery glow is now seen in the room. It dances on the floor in front of me and through the cracks between the door and the stall. My body slightly lifts into the air and I levitate towards the openings to see what is going on. In the mirror I see a girl with fire for hair and red eyes. A tattoo of a snowflake apparates under the corner of her left eye and a flame tattoo on her outer right bicep.
“Yeah,” The flame haired girl says, “But I could hide my tattoos from Doctor Crazy. That gave me some practice. Can you believe the accident gave me tattoos? How much do you think these would have actually cost?” The second girl comes into view. Her hair is long, but this time her eyes are golden. I unlock the door and exit from my hiding spot. At first the two jump, thinking their identities had been compromised, but then the girl with fire hair smiles very softly and the girl with golden eyes looks surprised.
“Spoo- Luna!! What happened to you?” Cierra asks, pulling me into a hug, “We looked all over for you!”
“I thought they grabbed you again,” Marissa says.
“I could say the same to you!” I say, “Where did you guys go?”
“Once we were safe on the ground and out of sight, we changed our appearances to our old selves!” Cierra says.
“Cierra was worried about you so we searched all around where we thought you crashed,” Marissa says, “We couldn't use our powers looking for you, though. We couldn't risk getting caught again, either.”
“No, that's fine!” I say, “I ended up crashing into an abandoned building where my friend, Mike, found me!”
“What was Mike doing in an abandoned building?” Marissa asks.
“He saw the crash and wanted to see what was going on,” I say.
“Okay, but you have powers. What could he do against someone with powers”
“That's the weird thing,” I say, “It's not just us that got powers.”
“Mike has powers?” Cierra asks.
“And Elise,” I say, “Both of their powers were caused by a spike in emotions.”
“Which is weird because ours were a freak elemental accident,” Marissa says.
“What are their powers?” Cierra asks.
“Elise has super strength!” I exclaim, “And Mike has these really big wings. He can also pull arrows out of thin air when he draws back a fake invisible bow. Apparently the arrows come in different colors and each color has a different power!”
“What do the colors represent?” Marissa asks.
“He hasn't figured them all out,” I say, “But red is pain and green is healing.”
“I bet I know the exact order he figured that one out,” Marissa chuckles.
“I'd love to meet them!” Cierra exclaims, “Can we meet them soon?”
“Of course!” I say.