“Hey everyone,” I said, tapping the little mic that stuck out of the podium on our theater’s stage. The shrill feedback sound pierced everyone’s ears, causing a few grimaces in the crowd. No one was going to complain the speech put them to sleep at least. “Well, I can see the budget for audio equipment hasn’t improved much since I’ve been gone.”
That got a couple of small chuckles from the large crowd, which was enough of a win for the entire day in my book. Most of the students were looking up at me, and I had a lot more engaged looks than I had been expecting. I wasn’t sure why. I assumed it was either because I wasn’t even a full year removed from being a student myself, making me still “cool” enough to listen to. Or maybe it was because I had been on the news because of my powers. Perhaps a little mix of both.
Looking out at the crowd, I’d expected to feel more pangs of nostalgia than I did feel. For nearly four years, Cassidy Wheeler High School had been where I spent a good chunk of my life. It was kind of shocking how little I felt about the school. For some people, high school was a time they considered the best of their lives. It wasn’t like I had a horrible time or anything, though it was certainly four years that didn’t feel like they amounted to much until I met Lori.
“It hasn’t even been ten months since I was a student here, but so much has changed for me, and maybe even for all of you. I’d wager a lot of you have your own thoughts and opinions on us folks with powers. Don’t worry, I won’t ask for a show of hands or anything like that. At the very least, I’m sure there are plenty of parents who make their opinions known, whether you want to hear them or not.”
There was a murmur of agreement and a few nodding heads in the crowd. Not everyone looked happy, which concerned me a little with Megan on stage. I could take the heat of dissenting opinions well enough. Not being liked by everyone was just a part of life. That didn’t mean I wanted an innocent seven-year-old girl to gain the ire of the people in the crowd. Instead of making a big deal of it unless I had to. There was no need to get riled up about thoughts I couldn’t prove anyone was having.
Clearing my throat, I started to read off the note cards I had up with me before a feeling stopped me. The speech I had written down was something that felt generic to me. Nothing that was too outrageous, and to be honest, probably wasn’t worth anyone’s time, including my own. I could play it safe and tell everyone that they all had great things in front of them, probably exactly how everyone expected me to. Then I had a sudden urge to speak from the heart with the platform I had been given.
“You know, I wrote a whole speech down here,” I said, holding up the cards for the crowd. I ripped them in half and stuffed the pieces in my pockets. “Instead, I think I’d rather talk to you guys on a more human level, so this might not be too refined.”
The tiniest spark of interest flickered in the crowd. Another tiny win for staving off the mass apathy of teenagers who would have rather been anywhere else.
“This is difficult for me to talk about, but when I was twelve, I watched my parents get shot in their heads during a home invasion. The person was nobody to us and had no connection to my family. It was just unlucky for us. Wrong place and the wrong time, you know? I imagine most of you around my age have heard about that. That’s the kind of thing a small town talks about a lot.
“As you might expect, that left me in a bad place for a long time. It wasn’t really until I learned I had the powers I do that I started to take steps forward with my life. I met a lot of great people, including my fiancée and our daughter we adopted.”
Rebecca must have been a mind reader or great at reading the room. She came over to stand next to me with Megan sitting in her arms. I had checked with Megan at least a few million times to make sure she was okay with me calling her my daughter, and she said she was okay with it each time. The bright, warm smile told me that her opinion didn’t change. She leaned over to the mic and waved with a little hand.
“Hi people!” Her voice was a little too loud given how close she was to the microphone.
Nearly the entire crowd said hi back and waved to the little girl, which just made Megan light up like a Christmas tree. Before she could take over the whole speech, Rebecca brought her back to the chairs that had been lined up behind us. I saw a few girls in the front row who clearly adored Megs, and even some of the guys couldn’t help but let their tough guy masks break a little. Maybe they weren’t as apathetic as I thought.
“They’re the world to me.” I rolled my sleeves up to my elbows to show some of the scars I’d acquired since I left school and joined Luna. “These scars I have are just some pieces of physical evidence I have to show that it hasn’t been easygoing to keep them safe. I promise, if you guys are imagining me doing something cool getting these, that probably wasn’t what happened in reality. If none of you knew me from school, believe me, I’m the least cool guy on this planet. It’s a miracle the two ladies behind me put up with me.”
“How’d you get them?” The question came from a girl a few rows from the front. When the teachers glared at her, her hands flew over her mouth, and she shrunk down in her seat. I managed to fight off the grin that tried to form on my face.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to get mad at her,” I said, finally glad I had a little bit of equal ground to stand on with the teachers at the school. It wasn’t like they could give me detention. “If you want the truth, I got these by being reckless and biting off more than I could chew a few times. I won’t share the details, because they are a little gross. Know that I have a few more where these came from.”
That got the crowd murmuring again. I knew I was only throwing fuel to the fire of their curiosity, but I wasn’t going to dive in and tell them I got one by having a hole burned through my arm. Telling them I went to a different planet was completely off the table, even though that would have really spiced up the whole thing. Sadly, for the poor students from a small town in Oregon, that was one secret I couldn’t let out.
“Anyway, I know a lot of you feel like everything that’s happening right now is the most important time of your life. Don’t get me wrong, for a lot of you, the stuff you’re experiencing now is the first time you’re going through it, so it is a big deal. Using my life, I’d like to tell you all there’s a good chance it’ll seem so insignificant in a few years. You know young kids will trip and scrape their knees and act like it’s the end of the world? That reaction is usually because that’s the first time they’re dealing with it, and that’s not going to magically change just because you’re older now.
“So, I want you all to...just be good people to each other. I didn’t have many friends here. I wasn’t popular. I wasn’t even targeted by bullies. I was someone who drifted through class each day with no ambition other than making it home to repeat the cycle. I’m preparing to get married less than a year later. You all have so much time and potential in front of you, but I know things can be hard now. The world is changing as we speak, so why not use your time here to be better? Why not go talk to someone who’s always alone and looks like they could use a friend? Because in five years, you might not care about the science presentation you’re stressing over now, but you could make a great friend who has your back through thick and thin.”
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I took a second to let what I said settle. I could see that a few kids didn’t care all that much. That was still what I’d been expecting the entire time. Besides them, there were a lot of shifting faces. Some threw glances around the room, likely spotting other students who weren’t as popular, or maybe looking for people they wanted to talk to before. That moment would have been the part in my original speech where I told them to keep working hard and it’d pay off for them. I couldn’t bring myself to tell all those students something that could have been a lie.
“You might not think you have a lot to offer. I know I didn’t think I had anything to offer anyone. I thought I was a burden to my sister who was my legal guardian from twelve to eighteen years old. I thought I was a burden on people until I got a grasp on my powers. I can’t understate just how much being nice to someone can help. Your kindness can be a tool for building a better future. Sometimes all you have is each other, and you have to make the most of it. So, you know, just be good people. It pays off more than you might think.”
I know it wasn’t the speech Principal Davenport had been looking for, but if he wanted a success story, then it was going to be with these kids being better people. The reality of the situation was that some of the students there weren’t going to amount to any “success stories”. A lot of them were going to make just enough to pay their car payments and make their rent or mortgage. I wasn’t interested in trying to give the school a good name. If the school was going to get a good name, it would be from the media attention I brought it. I didn’t care about that. If there were two people in the crowd who became friends because of what I said, then I’d done enough. If bullying went down some because of what I said, then it was all worth it.
When I sat down next to Rebecca, I thought the whole thing was done with, and I’d just get to chat with her and Megan. That’s when I followed her gaze and saw a few of the kids starting to walk up the stairs to the stage. I sighed, hoping they’d at least give me some personal space. Lizzy getting all close was one thing I’d gotten used to. I was still a little on edge from the public speaking thing. The list of people I wanted near me was very short.
“Hey, can you take Megan and go show her around the school?” I asked Shelly. We both knew there wasn’t anything of value to show her. It was a high school in a rural area, it wasn't like we had any grand secrets hidden away. All I was looking for was an excuse to keep Megan occupied and with someone safe, so Shelly quickly took off with the kiddo.
The students, four in total—all girls, naturally—were taking their sweet time walking over. Rebecca scooted a bit closer to me, put her head on my shoulder, and put her arms around my torso. Her affectionate show of possession certainly wasn’t lost on me, and I had to fight the urge to smile when the girls did finally get in front of us.
“Hi,” the front girl, a small brunette, whispered. “I really liked your speech.”
“Thanks!” I tried to put on a confident smile. When she didn’t say anything, I struggled against letting my face fall. “Did you, uh, have any questions?”
“Um, no.” She shuffled her feet awkwardly, barely able to meet my eyes. I could understand that social difficulty. “I, uh, I’m sorry about your parents. That’s a terrible thing to go through.”
“It was hard,” I agreed. “I wasn’t exaggerating either. I was in a bad spot for a lot of my life until I discovered my power. A lot of things fell together in a good way for me after that. It took me a little bit, but I learned that I’m more than just a guy with dead parents. Don’t get me wrong or anything, I still miss them every day.”
She nodded emphatically. “I wanted to tell you that what you said hit home. It was touching. I just moved here over the summer. Making friends isn’t easy for me. These three just talked to me one day and now they’re the best friends I’ve had in my life.”
The other girls smiled, and a tall blonde pulled her into a side hug.
“Hey, that’s great, and I’m glad you have a group of friends here. I was content to be alone for most of my life. I didn’t think it was all that bad for a while. Then when I got those friends who wanted me in their lives, it completely changed my world.”
“Thank you for telling others to do the same. I didn’t think I’d want to come up here to thank you for the speech. I thought, well, I thought it was going to be lame. Either way, it was a good excuse to get out of class.” Her face was bright red and it looked like her social batteries were about drained.
“I’m glad someone got something out of it. I was losing my mind trying to think of anything to say.” I shook my head a little. “I know I’m not a student anymore, but I’m not that far off. I know a lot of these things were used by people to take time out of class and that’s the only reason anyone cared.”
The brunette nodded again before turning her attention to Rebecca. “I’m sorry for interrupting your time up here. Thank you for letting us see your daughter. She’s totally precious and you two looked so happy when she was saying hi.”
“Please don’t apologize, that’s why he stuck around.” Rebecca stuck out a hand for her to shake, taking care not to grip the girl’s smaller hand too hard. “She’s the cutest kid back home too.”
All four of them waved goodbye, and even though the brunette seemed happy to talk, I could tell she was relieved she didn’t have to anymore. She wasn’t lying about being shy. Part of me wanted to feel a little bad for her because I saw so much of myself in her demeanor. Then I saw her three friends wrap her up in a massive group hug. Yeah, she was going to be just fine. High school students could be fickle, so being able to have friends like that was a great thing to witness.
I tried to imagine my friends with me in high school. They were all older than me, so I couldn’t see our schedules overlapping much. That was one downside to being the baby of the bunch. There was no chance I would have had the stones to talk to any of the girls I knew. Alex probably would have been on the football team or something, a stoic, brooding guy that the girls all fawned over. Lizzy could have been the best cheerleader this school ever had, no doubt causing “controversy” because of the scar across her face would have been a big deal for something that placed importance on looks. Val would have been putting dudes in headlocks on the wrestling team. If there was any lady who could make it on that team, it would have been her.
Lori and Rebecca would have been the easiest for me to talk to had we gone to school together. Despite Lori’s emotional outbursts, she was still easy to talk to, and she was still my best friend. I could have seen our friendship blossoming slowly and awkwardly without superpowers to help bolster our conversations. Rebecca was my soulmate, and that was a hill I was ready to die on. I might have been a rambling mess talking to her. Scratch that, I would have certainly been a rambling mess talking to her if I’d met her during my time in high school. And we still would have found a way to work it out. My social struggles and her being from a different time period wouldn’t have stood a chance.
It gave me a new appreciation for everything. If I didn’t have any powers, I had no idea where I would have ended up. My sister would have been working for less money than she deserved. If I was in college, I wouldn’t have had any clue what I wanted to study or do. Realistically, I probably would have been working my own job with low pay in Shamrock, trying to look at the bright side that I was able to make ends meet, even if I was just scraping by.
“Do you want to stick around?” I asked, trying to stop dwelling on a past that wasn’t my own or real. I leaned back in my seat, listening to the gentle hum of all the students talking with each other. “I don’t think they’ll need me for anything else today.”
Rebecca looked out at the crowd and tightened her grip on my arm. “Yeah, let’s scram. I know you want to take me to your parents’ graves.”
“It won’t be that exciting,” I said with a shrug. “I think Mom and Dad would be happy if you came, though.”