The Headmaster’s office was clear over in the eastern wing of the school, more than a 3 minute’s walk away. Sighing, I took the first step in this great voyage and made my way through the labyrinth of halls, walkways, and stairwells that make up the school building, encountering students along the way, all of whom stopped to take a look at me on my march to the Headmaster’s office.
A pupil bumped into me when I was walking over to the Headmaster’s Office. It was a complete and total accident. She looked like a freshman, and merely grazed my shoulder, really nothing more, managing to trip on her own feet and fall flat on her face, scattering her papers everywhere. I kneeled next to her. “Are you okay?” I asked, helping her gather a few pieces.
She jolted up and looked at me with shocked violet eyes, light-brown bangs hanging over them, most likely not expecting something like this from the person she just bumped into. “Uh, yea,” she replied timidly, taking the assignments, or at least I think they were, from my hand, “Thanks.”
“No problem,” I assured her, helping the girl up. “What’s your name?”
“Vanessa.”
“I’m John.” I extended my hand, and she took it with a small giggle. “Anyways, I have to go.”
She looked a bit disappointed, “Why?”
“Headmaster called me into his office. Not sure why, he just did,” I shrugged.
“Oh, okay then.” She turned around, a hint of sadness in her voice, “See you around, then?”
“Yea. See you later.” Was I really going to “see her later?” Maybe. Maybe not. Though she did seem awfully downcast during our departure.
The door to the waiting room was in front of me, with ‘Headmaster Willson’ painted on the glass in big, bold black letters. Opening the door, I was greeted by a plain brown room with plastic, uncomfortable-looking chairs arranged around the right wall, and another door on the other side of the room, with a secretary and her desk on the left. The secretary caught my entrance and signaled me to take a seat, which was as unbearable as I thought. As the hard plastic dug into my skin I heard two people discussing behind the other door.
“Are you sure this is a good idea? This could go horribly wrong.” One voice advised.
“Yes, I am sure of it,” Another, more familiar tone, assured.
The first speaker sighed, “Whatever you say,” A pause and some muffled footsteps followed, “But don’t come crawling back to me if this little scheme of yours goes up in flames, for your sake and my own.”
The door swung open, and an angry-looking man in his mid-20s with flaming red hair and bright yellow eyes stepped out of the office. He shot a glare at me, but it disappeared with a resigned sigh as he exited into the hall, looking rather fed-up with the situation. That was Director of Security Keaton, who, as one could have guessed, was particularly stressed when he had to work at Elmsworth, though one could hardly blame him, as keeping a school like this ‘safe’ was a tall order, even for a man like him, a former prison guard, of all things.
“Come in, John,” The Headmaster said.
The secretary merely shrugged and went back to whatever she was doing on her computer.
Taking a breath, I entered the Headmaster’s office and closed the door behind me.
“Hello, John. How are you this on this fine morning?” He asked, collecting a few papers off his desk and putting them in a folder as I sat down in the chair across from him. The clock on the wall read 8:21.
Headmaster Wilson was an imposing man, standing at 6’ 1”, with broad shoulders, and an aura of authority surrounding him and his head of deep green hair with streaks of silver that glittered in the light, though he wore an if not happy
Shrugging, I answered with, “Well, mornings are a bit hard sometimes, and you did take me out of Homeroom before it could even really start, so overall I would rate the day so far a 6/10, not the worst, but not the best. Speaking of which,” I leaned back in the chair, “Why did you take me out of class so damn early?” There was an audible undertone of irritation in my voice as I spoke, and I was pissed that this man had ruined my first day before it even started.
“Glad you asked that, John,” And from the folder, he pulled out a document and slid it over to me, and it instantly caught my attention.
I stared at it for a few moments, slowly processing what it meant, chewing on its contents. “Where the hell did you get this?” I asked, my eyes peering at the Headmaster’s now stony face, deprived of all emotion.
“That means you know what it is, right?” Again, no more expression.
“Yes,” My voice held a sharpness, “What about it?”
He got up from his chair and walked over to a bookshelf on the left of the room and picked out two books, “I’d like to ask you some questions about what you know,” The Headmaster said as he set the books on the desk and took a seat.
I recognized them almost immediately as Novelties in an Unordinary World by C.G. Valtz, a novel about an alternate reality where superpowers were basically fantasies until one day some random people went from Torpids (People who don’t possess an ability) to Wielders (People with abilities) and Whatever is Known About The Unknown is a series government conspiracies and cover-ups compiled by Josfe Munz into a book, including an organization called the Roswell Branch. Now, why that one in particular, well.
“My father. He works for one of the organizations covered in Munz’s book. As for Valtz’s work, I’m not sure. It’s alright, but not too outstanding. I’ve read better.”
Wilson opened The Unkown to a page pointed to a paragraph and told me to read it
“As stated earlier, the Roswell Branch is believed to have committed various crimes in the name of science, as have many others. This one stands out, however, as it is not focussed on mind control like MKUltra, or the mutations and ‘surguries’ carried out by Project Phoenix, but instead, it focusses on the Heavens above, on the stars and the secret lives that exist in the vastness of Space. The Branch is thought to be led by aliens, in search of new life beyond our world after crashing on Earth in 1948, and they are in a symbiotic relationship with the government who provide funds for the alien’s research while in exchange are given extraterrestrial knowledge and technology.”
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I looked up at Wilson, confused, “What the hell does this have to do with anything, other than my father working here?”
“Well,” He sighed, “I’ve heard that your father is a high-ranking official, so I was wondering if-”
My head hanging, I cut him off by lifting my hand, and then stare the headmaster right in the eye, “You took me out of Homeroom just so you could ask me if I was an alien?” My voice was stern and cold, I was done with this buffoon, “Why would you even want to know that?”
“To be fair, your eyes don’t glow when you activate your abilities.”
“And? That is merely an inherited mutation from my father. It’s not unheard of for people to have it, you know? For fuck’s sake have you never seen it before I came here?”
The headmaster opened his mouth to answer, but just then the bell that dismissed Homeroom rang and I stared at him again with a piercing glare.
“I have a class to go to, Headmaster,” I got up and walked over to the door, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to be on time for it,” And with that, I left the office and exited into the hall, putting the conversation with the headmaster behind me and looking forward to the rest of the school day. I probably won’t be speaking with Wilson for the foreseeable future, at least, that’s what I hoped, but oh well. Thankfully, I can also cool down relatively fast, so that came in handy on my way to technically my first class, but at the same time not. Damn, what even is homeroom?
Everything seemed to be fine after my summoning to the Headmaster’s, though kids occasionally sent glances at me, but nothing too horrific. ‘Maybe this place isn’t so bad,’ I thought to myself on the way towards lunch. Most students had no real idea how to react to me, for my powers had yet to be revealed. I had overheard a few people talking about how they were serving some famous chocolate velvet cake slices during lunch, and I wanted to taste these delicacies myself and see if this was truly some of the best cake out there.
The cafeteria was absolute chaos when I arrived more than a little bummed out that I nearly missed this sweet treat. I had to act fast if I wanted to get my hands on a piece, but sometimes, there were other options available. Smirking, I snapped my fingers, releasing a small pulse and time slowed to a crawl, with nobody moving at all after a short moment. This little trick seemed to have no direct correlation with my main ability, and it was always a different story whenever I asked my father about it as we had similar powers, though I have to admit it was pretty cool to stop time, if only in a room-sized radius.
I walked to where the cake was being served, dodging fighting students, floating utensils, beams of energy, and bolts of lightning. I seemed to have caught one student while he was using his ability, super speed. His body trailed some form of energy behind it. Calmly, I reached the cake.
A singular unclaimed slice remained, and I snatched it up, along with the rest of my meal, and turned around, and was given a jolt as I did so. Sierra was right behind me, eyes glowing jade, showing that her powers had been activated. It took me a moment to realize that she too was frozen.
Waving my hand in front of her face, I smiled a bit. “Lol, XD, get reckt nub.” She didn’t react in any way shape or form. “Anyways, gotta blast.” Exiting out of the cafeteria, I snapped my fingers again, and time continued as normal.
The rest of the day passed quickly and without much more incident. In the end, the teachers taught their lessons and assigned work for the day, and I had to endure the long hours of sitting at a desk. A fair trade, honestly. Meant I had something better to do than waste away at home. Before long I found myself on my first free period, or free block, or whatever you wanted to call it, really doesn’t matter. I decided upon wandering the halls of this strange school, and I remembered that one of the teachers mentioned secret passageways hidden in the walls, though he was an eccentric old man.
It was during this walk that I encountered a situation I had already seen multiple times already: a student beating up another student of lower rank for a trivial or even non-existent reason. In other words, this world’s version of bullying. However, this time was different as it was Vanessa, with her deep purple eyes, now ruffled mousy hair, and scratched and bruised face. She was going up against some other chick, and it wasn’t until now that I noticed how short she was. Standing at about 5 foot none, she was under average height, even for her age. Why was she so vertically challenged? I wasn’t quite sure, though it was mildly interesting. The girl that cornered her was a solid 5 inches taller than her, almost my height. She was berating her over not finishing her homework or something similar. I vaguely remembered seeing something in the scattered pile of papers with someone else’s name.
It was a bit amusing to watch the confrontation, like a hunter watching two rabbits fight; my power probably being greater than theirs combined, that was until Vanessa caught me looking at stared at me with pleading eyes. They seemed genuine, and I felt guilt building up within me after every moment of seeing them.
Gathering my strength, I decided to step in, approaching the situation with a vague idea of what to do. However, it seemed that her assailant noticed me before I closed in too much, and turned to face me, “The hell you want, bitch?” Her eyes were glowing red and appeared dangerous, though I knew they were empty threats against someone like me.
“Leave the girl alone,” I demanded, standing tall, asserting my dominance.
“Oh, yeah, tough guy?” She replied, squaring up, “Fucking make me.”
“Come at me, you useless piece of shit,” I called in response.
She roared as she charged me, though I moved not a muscle, and simply smiled a bit. Vanessa looked confused, and the other girl looked even more pissed off than before. She didn’t know how to fight with her abilities, only how to flail her arms around using her powers to enhance her raw physical abilities, so I merely parried her attack and countered knee square in the ribs, knocking the wind out of her momentarily before I immediately landed an uppercut to the chin, her face in a mixture of shock, pain, and surprise as she fell.
“You okay?” I asked Vanessa, turning around, only to be met by an empty space that used to have Vanessa in it. ‘What in the goddamn?’
It was then that I felt a gentle, but still noticeable, tugging at my pants. Looking down, I saw a five-inch tall Vanessa standing on my shoes. “So shrinking is your ability, then?” I asked, bending over to pick her up.
“Well, yea,” She chuckled nervously as I held her to my eye, studying her carefully. She managed to keep the same dimensions, just smaller. She couldn’t have weighed any more and a heavy fountain pen.
“Your clothes shrinks with you?”
“Do you know how embarrassing it would be if it didn’t? Like, imagine a 3-inch tall girl running around the school naked.” Vanessa shivered at the mere thought of it, but I noticed a faint blush on her face as she shook, “I can also shrink anything that I’m holding, so yea, that’s my ability.”
‘Kinky,’ I thought to myself jokingly. She didn’t seem like the kind of person to enjoy that sort of thing, being shy around people.
“Hey, uh,” Her small voice took me out of my stupor, “Can you take me to the Nurse’s Office, please?” Right, she had been injured.
“Sure, no problem.”
“Thanks.”
I stood there, looking down at her minute figure. “What are you waiting for? Let's move.” She pulled at my sleeve, trying to get me to move.
“Aren’t you going to grow back to your normal size or something?”
“Well,” Vanessa started, “I was hoping that you could carry me in your pocket or something…” Her voice trailed off, “But if it’s too much of a hassle, then I’ll go back to normal,” She blurted.
‘It’s fine,” I said and gently plopped her in my blazer handkerchief pocket. “Are you comfortable in there?” She wiggled around for a bit before popping her head out, a smile on her hurt face, and nodded. “Off we go.”