Vulnerable

Ryleigh looked at me like she normally did. It wasn’t a frown or a smile. It was more of a monotonous look. She never seemed too happy when we got together to talk. I didn’t really blame her, saying we didn’t get along whatsoever.

We had just gotten out of her extremely expensive car and were walking towards one of the million Starbucks’ coffee shops in Seattle. As usual, the sky was cloudy and the rain was slightly drizzling over us. Cabs were buzzing down the road, probably dropping off people that were getting early Christmas shopping done.

We walked down the cross walk and into the crowded coffee store. We stood in line for a couple of minutes before ordering. “I’ll go get us a place to sit. Do you mind getting the coffees?” Ryleigh asked.

“Oh, sure,” I said, still waking up from that boring lecture in history. Ryleigh smiled quickly before walking away into the crowd. I gazed at the people, observing their dark coats and jackets. Everyone looked so simple, so boring, so uniformed. Even though I was wearing nothing but black jeans and a dark coat as well, I still felt so out of the ordinary. I felt different and so unlike what I was before. It was sort of an eerie feeling. I didn’t like it at all. I hadn’t really tried out anything, mostly because I was too scared. If I could throw a guy through a wall, there was really no limit to what else could happen.

A Starbucks employee called out the coffee and handed the cups to me. I thanked her politely before heading through the giant mass of people. I eventually found Ryleigh sitting at a table in the back of the shop. She was browsing over her phone, probably texting her friend Diana. Or was it Deena? I shrugged and set Ryleigh’s coffee next to her. She merely glanced and smiled before focusing her eyes back on her phone.

I sat down across from her and took a sip from my caramel macchiato. I waited for Ryleigh to talk to me, but she kept gazing at her phone. So, I impatiently cleared my throat to signal we needed to get this over with. If people saw me with her, they’d probably think we were an item or something. No offense, but Ryleigh? She definitely was not my type.

Ryleigh put her phone away and looked at me.

“So, you wanted to talk?” I asked, taking another sip of my piping hot coffee and nearly choking. Ryleigh faintly laughed, but composed herself when I glared at her.

“Yeah. Um, do you remember that party a couple of weeks ago?” She asked, not looking at me. Oh no. Why would she want to talk about this? Did she see me?

“Yeah, why?” I asked nervously. What if she knew? Hell, I didn’t even realize what was going on with me. If she knew, she’d probably just make it a huge joke across the school. I wasn’t friends with Ryleigh. I didn’t understand her capabilities.

“Well, I don’t really know how to say this, so I’m just going to say it. I haven’t told anyone about this but Deena, so if you tell someone, I will hurt you,” she said. I scoffed silently. Now that I was gaining powers, no one could hurt me. But I let her continue. “I was with a guy that night. I, um, I didn’t really think anything through. But by the time I realized he wasn’t a good guy, he was forcing me to take off my clothes,” she paused. I almost felt sympathy for her. She hadn’t told anyone, and here she was, talking to the guy she hated the most in this world about it.

Ryleigh looked back up at me. She was on the verge of tears, but she shrugged them back. She narrowed her eyes, swallowed, and furrowed her eyebrows. “But then…. Then someone ran into the room and literally shoved him through a wall,” she stopped and tried to think of what else to say. Was she going to ask if it was me?

“Anyway, last night, I was drawing. I didn’t realize what was on the page until I was finished,” she said, pulling out a sketchpad from her bag. She flipped to a certain page and handed it to me. “I was in shock by the time I looked at it. It was like my hands were doing all the work. But, is…. Is this you?” Ryleigh asked, gazing at me with an unknowing look.

I took a peek at the picture and nearly dropped my coffee. The sketch was nearly impeccable. Sure enough, it looked exactly like me. What was I going to do? I couldn’t just lie to her. Ryleigh was going to have to find out the truth sometime or later.

“Yeah, it was me,” I swallowed, failing to meet her eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” She asked. I shrugged.

“Well, we’re not really friends. You didn’t expect me to do that. I didn’t want you to thank me for it,” I confessed. That was part of it.

“You saved me from getting raped, James. How can I not thank you for that. Even if we’re not very fond of each other, I can never thank you enough. But…. How … how did you do that?” She asked, almost scared of my reply.

“Do what?” I asked, playing dumb.

“Throw that guy through a wall! It’s not every day that that happens,” she said incredulously. I looked at her then. Her eyes were full of shock.

“Oh, um, adrenaline rush?” I said, making up a stupid excuse.

Even though I knew Ryleigh didn’t believe me, she didn’t ask any more questions. She slightly nodded and we awkwardly talked about other things.

That was the day when everything changed. That was the day that our worlds started unraveling and secrets came out. That was the day that I will never, ever forget.