Nic and I said goodbye to mom before walking through the front door and making our way down the block to where the bus would pick us up. We didn’t talk much on the way there, a couple words here and there, before she put in a pair of earbuds and the rest of the walk was spent in silence. Despite what the events of this morning may lead one to believe we were never really that close. It wasn’t because of any particular reason, we never talked much as children and that pattern followed us up to high school. The prank war had only started late last year.
Nic was always doing her own thing, and the same went for me. We had different interests, her life revolved around music. She was the family’s little virtuoso, the girl who could play anything she got her hands on. As for me, my interests were never as clear cut. I wandered from hobby to hobby, dipping my toe in the water before yanking my foot away and never looking back. Ironically enough I tried everything except music, so we could never bond over that.
When we arrived at the bus stop, the place was surrounded in an unnatural stillness. Traffic was nonexistent, people were held up in their homes, even the birds didn’t have the energy to sing. This only subsided when Nic plucked her earbuds from her head and started talking.
“Hey”, she said, breaking the silence.
“What’s up?”, I asked casually.
“You’re going to the festival this Friday, right?”
“Of course. It’s tradition after all”.
She gave me a grunt in response before putting her earbuds back in and turning away.
“Good talk”.
We spent the rest of the time in silence before the bus arrived. From the second I boarded, it became tremendously clear as to where I was gonna sit. When I entered the bus I was greeted with a shouting match. Judging by the voices I knew that the next half an hour would definitely be interesting, and a quick walk all but confirmed my suspicions. As I made my way to the seat in front of Ryan it became obvious that they’d gotten so deep into their argument that they tuned out their surroundings. My best friends Marianna Reyes and Ryan Hara were sitting across from each other.
“Are you out of your mind?” Mari asked rhetorically “What could Damien Silver possibly do to Tempra. She’s a chronokinetic and a specialized one at that. There is literally nothing that he’d throw at her that she couldn’t avoid.”
“Wrong.” Ryan countered, matching her intensity, ”He’s a pyrokinetic, electrokinetic, hydrokinetic, and an aerokinetic. The man has so many different abilities, it’s genuinely disgusting. While all Tempra has time, and she doesn't even have that many techniques. He has more skills, more experience, and is the team’s leader. All he needs to do is just take away her air, and it’s over.”
“Yeah because the power to control time is no big deal or anything, being a human lighter is definitely more impressive”, she remarked the irony spilling from her lips. “And when it comes to the air thing, you’re assuming that he’d even be able to do that. Damien Silvers diversified so if he could, and that’s a gigantic if, all he’d be able to do is make the air in a small room slightly thinner. And while she doesn’t have a lot to work with, the abilities that she spent her time mastering and refining are significantly more powerful.”
“Well this looks fun. Whatcha up to?” I asked, gaining their attention.
They looked away from each other for the first time since I’d walked over and Mari began grinning at me with almost devilish enthusiasm.
“Alex, perfect timing,” Marianna exclaimed. “You have common sense, so do me a favor and tell Ryan just how stupid he’s being.”
“No Alex, tell our dear misguided friend that she’s not as smart as she thinks she is,” Ryan retorted.
“Well if you really wanna know my opinion”, I started, making sure to drag out my response for as long as I reasonably could, “I’d say that you’re both wrong, but enough of that for now.
The chances of those two actually changing the subject by themselves was slim to none, so instead of letting them indulge in their crazed bickering for the rest of the bus ride, and the school day, I felt it would be better to change the subject.
“How was your guys' summer?”, I diverted.
“You’re really not gonna pick a side”, Mari whined.
“How was you guys’ summer”, I repeated.
“Good.” Mari replied, sighing. “Spent most of the time reading and brushing up on stuff for the new year; hadn’t gotten to read that much with all the school stuff and that was going on last year. It was pretty fun.”
Marianna Reyes is a short, Mexican girl at five or so feet with naturally tanned skin. A heart shaped head led into long streams of jet black hair which tied into a single ponytail. Since before I’d met her during the start of our third grade year, she dressed incredibly conservatively. Dark sneakers, blue jeans and a light button up shirt. She was naturally beautiful and over the summer she’d definitely looked more mature than the last time I’d seen her. Guys would definitely flock to her, but knowing her she wouldn’t really care. She never had the time for that stuff. But given how blunt she often was, she’d probably scare off any guy brave enough to ask her out.
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She’d been like that since I’d known her. The smart studious one that took on as much as she possibly could. Our seventh and eighth grade years she made her goal to be a part of everything that could look good on an application. Class president, yearbook club president, a member of Speech & Debate club, a member of the newspaper club, head of the leadership committee, etc.
I truly never figured out how she managed to stay committed to all of those different clubs. A popular theory back when we were in middle school was that Mari was a robot that traveled in order to learn emotions from watching middle schoolers. It was a credible theory however it was never confirmed.
“Same,” Ryan said. “Though my summer was basically just training. It was definitely hard, but good.
Ryan was the biggest out of the three of us, at 6’6”. Where Mari was small, and where I was tall and lanky; Ryan was taller and bulky. A Japanese-American brick wall, resembling a professional athlete much more than a high schooler which was highlighted by a blue tight fit shirt and black pants he wore. His brown hair was cut into a short fade and his chocolate eyes glowed with an inextinguishable brightness. At first glance Ryan looked like nothing more than a stereotypical jock, like he was ripped out of a cheesy sixties movie, but that was objectively incorrect..
“That’s good to hear.” I said, giving them a small smile. “My summer was definitely hectic. My first day home Nic decided to cover my blanket with a heavy duty itching powder.”
“What did you do to deserve that?” They asked within seconds of each other.
”Wow, my best friends ladies and gentlemen. Why did you just assume that I did something? I’m completely innocent.”
“Completely innocent?” Mari asked. “Do you even believe that?"
“That’s fair”, I resigned.
“So, hypothetically speaking of course, I may have bought this extremely sour candy spray that I found online. And I also may have coated her food in it when she left to go to the bathroom”.
“You know, you might be the worst older brother I’ve ever met.” Ryan said.
“Maybe, but I never pretended that I was. Besides, technically I’m only a few minutes older.”
“Okay, then you might be the worst slightly older brother I’ve ever seen.” Mari said sarcastically, emphasizing the slightly.
“Wait, you were eating?”, Ryan asked.
“Yep”, I confirmed.
“Where was your mom when this was going on?”
“She was at the same table”.
“So she just let you mess with your sister’s food?”
“Yep”
“Your family never seeks to amaze me”, Ryan deadpanned.
“When it comes to my sister and I fighting, she usually let’s us sort it out on account of it being far too tiring to deal with the two of us.”
“Ryan, we’ve known this weirdo for a long time”, Mari started, gesturing towards me, “Are you really surprised that his mom’s tired of him?”
“Yeah that’s a fair point”, Mari conceded.
“Okay, okay enough with the personal attacks. Let’s move on to something else before you kill my self-esteem”.
“Oh, you’ll be fine”, Mari chided.
“If you want a conversation change then why don’t we talk about high school”, Ryan said. “After all, we’re heading there right now”.
“What are the two of you planning on doing this year?”, Mari asked.
“I don’t really have any,” Ryan replied. “I mean I haven’t really thought about changing if you know what I mean. Sports was my thing last year and I enjoyed it, so it doesn’t make sense to change it like that y’know.”
“Same,” I agreed. “I’ll probably just do my own thing. It worked out pretty well last year, so why not do it again”.
“Really, you don’t have anything planned?”
“Nope”, Ryan and I repeated.
“C’mon this is our first year of high school, the first year that we have the opportunity to make a name for ourselves.
“I think you’ve already made a name for yourself Mari”, I told her, “however it’s probably not a great one”.
We spent the next ten to fifteen minutes just talking and catching up on some of the more specific things that had happened over the summer. Moving into our new house had taken so much of my time that I’d neglected talking to them over the summer. It felt good being able to sit with a few friends and mess around.
“Speaking of the school”, I interjected to Mari, “You mind telling me about it, because until a few months ago I had no idea that it existed.”.
“I take it you didn’t look up yourself”, she condemned.
“Why would I need to do that when I have you?” I asked rhetorically, smiling when I saw her roll her eyes.
“And why would I tell you? You should have done the research on this yourself”.
“Because my dear friend, I know that you would never miss the chance to educate the dumb masses on something they should know. So, please teach my ignorant self, Marianna. Please allow me to gain but a fraction of your intelligence”.
“Fine”, she said after a brief pause, giving me a look of annoyance “but there shouldn’t be a reason why you didn’t think about doing even a little research?”
“Yeah, like I just said, why would I do that when I have you?”
“I feel bad for your sister”, Mari retorted.
“Not the first time I’ve heard that. Anyway, tell me-”.
Before the conversation could progress anywhere positive, the bus slammed to a screeching halt over the ashen tarmac and the driver’s voice rang out throughout the bus.
“Attention ladies and gentlemen we have arrived at Anastasia Chance High School, have a nice first day of school.
“Oh, guess it’s too late to tell you, sorry Alex”, she told me before grabbing her backpack and walking out.
“Bad luck”, Ryan pointed out, before following Mari out the door.
“Bad luck? Nah, she just played me, I sighed before lugging my backpack over my shoulder and stepping into the lane.