Saying goodbye to summer was hard. I had really gotten used to setting my own schedule and doing things that I wanted to do all day. Now I would be stuck behind a little desk for six to eight hours a day, listening to teachers drone on and on about things that I couldn’t care less about and that I was pretty sure wouldn’t affect my life in any way besides me being able to ask a Jeopardy question every now and then.
James, Eva and I went to a pre-start-of-school party on the Saturday before classes started. We caught up with what our friends had been up to all summer. Those that were camp councilors told us of their horrible campers and those that traveled with family traded favorite places stories with James and Eva. Some of them had gotten their Limited Provisional Licenses now and could drive on their own. No one had crashed their parents’ cars, yet, and no speeding tickets, yet, although Terry had a close call. He’d been stopped for speeding, but he’d been let off with a warning. The police officer was an old family friend though and his parents found out all about it. I think that he’d rather have gotten the ticket. We had a great time teasing him about it.
The one sour note to the evening came about halfway into the party. I found Eva sitting on the couch, by herself, looking thoughtful and a little sad. I sat down next to her.
“A horse walks into a bar. The bartender asks, “Why the long face?””
Eva groaned. “That was bad. What did I do to deserve that?”
“Well, I find you here all by yourself, looking kind of sad and I have to ask, “Why the long face?””
“Oh. It’s nothing really. James is downstairs playing a videogame with Matt, so I was chatting with a few people when Bobby came in. I said hi and he nodded back, but then he walked away without another word.”
“So, Bobby sort of snubbed you and that makes you sad? I didn’t realize that you even knew Bobby.” Robert Draker, or Bobby as everyone called him, was by all accounts a very nice guy. Unlike the typical stereotype of a football jock, he was good in school and he didn’t bully anyone. He was bigger than a lot of the guys, but nothing huge, and he had short straight brown hair and blue eyes. He was a good-looking guy, but not hot. Everybody seemed to like him. He was like the Troy Bolton of our school. Good at lots of things though he never let it go to his head.
“Yeah. James, Bobby and I used to be close. Kind of like how you and James and I are close now. Something changed the summer before our second year of middle school though. We separated for the summer, with James’s family and mine going on a trip, and Bobby going to camp. When we all got back Bobby stopped hanging around with us. I don’t know what happened. Anyways, sometimes I just think about the way things used to be and I get sad. I hate losing friends, especially when I don’t know why.”
“Did you try asking him?”
“Of course, I did. He just blew me off. He kept saying that everything was fine and that he was busy and that we’d get together later. Only later never came and here we are three years later.”
“Well, the night isn’t over yet and we still haven’t danced. Do you think that we can convince DJ Linda to play a few Zumba songs?”
Eva’s face lit up with excitement. “That is an awesome idea!”, she said, and we were off to go twist Linda’s arm and cajole as many people as we could to join us in an impromptu Zumba class.
The next Monday, we were all back at school. It was depressing, but unavoidable. It was our second to last year in high school and many of my friends were excited to take the PSATs and start taking courses that would either help prepare them for or get them into college. The college chatter started almost right away and even though it was the first day of it, I was already sick of it. I hadn’t spoken to my dad about college in awhile, but I wasn’t sure that I would be going at all. I’d felt this way for over a year now, but when I got my ability, I became even more sure that college wasn’t in my future anytime soon. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, so what was the point of going to college? College was there to prepare you for your career. For those who had a calling or direction to their life, then college made perfect sense. They could learn useful things. But for those of us that were still unsure or had no clue, college would be a place where we’d be trying out different options, learning a bit about this and a bit about that, and just gaining general knowledge. While that may be a laudable goal, I didn’t see any reason to go into debt for it. I could just as easily take online courses to sample different subjects and see what interested me or I could just take entry level jobs in various industries, until something caught my attention. At least I’d earn some money that way and I could go to college later on with some experience under my belt.
Besides, I already had two potential fall-back trades, blacksmithing and Kung Fu instruction, that I could see myself doing and I didn’t need college for either. Now that I had my new abilities though, a whole new range of possibilities had opened up for me.
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With these thoughts in mind, I barely noticed that everyone in English class was leaving. Didn’t we just sit down? Had I spaced out the entire class?
“Hey Abby! You’re coming?”, Eva asked.
“Where to? What happened to class?” By this time, we were the only ones left in the classroom.
“Where has your mind been the last few minutes? Mrs. Shelby had to leave on some urgent personal business, and we have a study period. Since it’s the first day and only our third class, there’s nothing to study. Everyone is going for an early lunch. I was thinking that we should go sit in the park and enjoy this beautiful day sitting under that shady elm tree by the picnic benches.”
“Oh. I hope everything is ok with Mrs. Shelby. She’s nice. Uhm…I’m going to sit here and work out some things in my brain for a bit. How about I join you soon?”
“Suits me fine. If you come by and I’m asleep, don’t wake me until halfway through lunch period.”
I waved goodbye to her and looked around the class. I had the place all to myself, so I figured that I might as well get in some practice time with the field and I shifted into R1. Of course, I was a bit distracted and I forgot to take my desk with me. I ended up on the floor. Dammit! I sighed and decided to that I might as well stay on the floor.
I took a second to bring my schoolbag into R1 as well and then I took out a notebook and pen and started writing out possible jobs or careers where I could make good use my new ability. The first was easy.
Stock Analyst. I was already doing it and my ability to get inside information would make me a star in no time.
What else could I do with my abilities? As I asked the question, a flood of ideas came to mind.
Paid assassin. No one would ever be able to see me, and I could get into just about any building.
Bank Robber. I could walk through the safe door and take as much money as I wanted.
Robin Hood Thief. Steeling from criminals and giving most of it to charities.
Private Investigator. I could follow cheating husbands and wives and catch them in the act.
Wow! What did it say about me that most of the ideas that I thought of first were either illegal or immoral or just plain wrong? Could I really see myself killing someone? How could I use my powers for good? I loved super-heroes and that’s what they did every day. How can I help people?
Police Officer. I liked the idea, in theory, but in practice police officers usually work with partners and I’d end up showing my ability to someone all the time and that was off the table.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that unless I wanted to show the world what I could do, there weren’t very many options for me to do good with my ability. At least none that I could think of right now. I wasn’t giving up yet. I also hadn’t developed my powers to their fullest. There might be things that I learn about my powers that will let me use them for good.
I decided that a change in scenery might help me come up with new ideas and I put my notebook and pen away in my bag. As I got up to leave, the classroom door opened, and three boys walked in. One of them I had just seen last night, Bobby Draker. The other two looked familiar, but I didn’t know them. From their size, I’d guess them to be on the school football team. One was blonde and trim, with well defined upper arms showing out of his tank top, while the other was dark haired and bulky. Bobby sat down in the teacher’s chair and the other two sat on the desks right in front.
“Why are we in here, Bobby?”, asked blondie.
“It’s an empty classroom. We need to talk about the Northfield High game. This is a good place to do it.”, Bobby answered.
“Mr. Becket gave us an early lunch. I’m hungry. Why don’t we talk about it while we eat?” This was from bulky boy.
“Because I don’t want anyone to listen in. Northfield kicked our asses in the exhibition game last week and we all know why.”
“Yeah. Jimmy Traiger copied our playbook when he switched schools at the last minute. That rat must have used it to get a position on their team. Most coaches wouldn’t have taken him on after their team had been practicing together for so many weeks, but with Northfield’s record against us being so bad, there was no way that Coach Thorpe could turn him down.” Bulky boy did not look happy as he said this, and I was glad that I wasn’t Jimmy.
“Coach will just have to come up with new plays. It’ll suck, because we just spent all those weeks learning and practicing our plays, but what else can we do?” Blondie shrugged hopelessly.
“No way, Art. We don’t have time for that. Sure, we could learn a few new plays. Coach always makes some changes, but to redo the whole playbook isn’t an option. The season starts next week. We need to even the playing field. We need to find a way to get their playbook. If we could do that, then at least our teams would be more evenly matched. Both of you used to go to Northfield Middle school before you moved. Do either of you know anyone there who would help us get their playbook? Maybe you have an older brother that knows someone? Anyone or anything that you could think of?”, Bobby said.
Blondie, or rather Art, answered, “No way Bobby. All my old friends at Northfield had a great time riding my ass when we lost last week. They’re looking forward to teasing me all season and they won’t help. I probably shouldn’t have stuffed all of our wins in their faces last year.
Bobby turned to bulky boy. “How about you, Skip? Anyone?”.
“Nope. Once I changed schools, I lost touch with everyone there. My older sister used to date the quarterback, but they’re not there anymore and he was an only child.”, Skip said. Skip? Was that a nickname or was it short for Skippy? What kind of parents would name their child after peanut butter?
“Shit! You guys were my last hope. I’ve tried all of my contacts and no one can help. I’m almost ready to try breaking into the school to get a copy, but if I get caught then I’ll get expelled and I’ll be off the team. Better to lose to a bunch of cheaters than to get kicked off the team. Alright, thanks guys. Let’s get to lunch.” With that, Bobby led Art and Skip out of the classroom.
I waited a few minutes before shifting back to reality and joining Eva under a tree. A plan was forming in my mind. I was going to help Bobby get that playbook.