We Are

Author Note: I might update if encouraged further

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Chapter the Second:

Of Showing What We Do And Being Oblivious To Devious Occurences
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The light in the room hit my eyes as soon as I heard the soft clattering sound that seemed to be if windows opening. I recognized them because they were the same style as the ones in my house. Larinx must’ve been awake now. I didn’t want to open my eyes but I knew I had to, mornings for me were like a cat at the beach. One of my eyes slowly opened and I focused on a pair of eyes staring back. I screamed and the figure before me moved, then I was knocked out of bed...

More like I fell out.

Luckily, the floor was very soft for it was not tile but a large rug.

“Come on. You’re that disgruntled in the mornings.”

“Good morning Larinx.” I sat up and rubbed my eyes a bit. Larinx laughed and threw a towel at me.

“Go on, everyone else is ready and you’re the last person up. Its 7 am, Power Performance starts at 8. Change into whatever clothes you want.” Larinx walked out of the room and closed the door behind her, I lazily got up. After a few moments of thinking I gathered myself and went to look for some clothes, not that I had anything nice to wear anyway. I picked out a white shirt, simple jeans and some converse sneakers.

I left for the bathroom and bid good morning to the others, they were all ready and waiting. As I locked the door behind me, I tossed the clothes onto the toilet, which had the top down, and hit the shower. The water was nice and warm, and I tried not decided to stay there because I knew there were people waiting for me. Yet the warm water was so inviting, I didn’t want to leave. Either way, I got out and dried myself, then stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror.

I would do this sometimes; just stare back at the face in the mirror like I never really knew it. Long black hair, very curly but in a puffy sense; deep brown eyes and dark skin, not as dark as your average African American, but getting there, and a rather round face about me. I kept thinking about how I would like to be different, making less puffy cheeks or bigger lips, even if the ones I had right now were rather big already.

I kept thinking about how different things would be if certain events in my life hadn’t’ occurred. Life was like that sometimes and I had learned not to be a follower or a leader, to simply follow my own flow about it.

There was a knock on the door.

“Hey Olivia, are you done yet?” The voice sounded odd, but I simply figured it was either Kyle or Veir and because of the door the voice sounded odd. Although why they called me by my name escaped me.

“I’ll be out in a minute.” I quickly dried my hair and put on my clothes, at least trying to put some gel on so my hair wouldn’t be so messy when it dried. The curls were as hard to control as a bull ramming at you while you’re wearing a red pepper suit. Not pretty, I know, but my small comparisons never are.

I finished in record time: three minutes and fifty seconds. I opened the door and came face to face with, would you get believe, Spencer. I was speechless and I stammered a bit.

“Hi?” He said, I screamed ‘rape’ and closed the door once more. I heard laughter from outside and I locked the door, and then slid slowly down to the floor. My heart started pumping and beating, the adrenaline rushing to all the parts of my body. Did I really just yell rape and closed the door on the guy that practically saved me from that flying tennis ball yesterday?

Yes, I had.

“Liv? Liv!” I opened the door a crack to see Veir looking back, he crouched down and looked me in the eye. “Nice joke wasn’t it?”

He sent me an image, a thumbs-up. He wanted me to act as though I was just kidding around. I laughed, naturally and opened the door. Spencer, wearing his school uniform like the rest, was laughing as well.

The Driftwood uniform, which I had seen in the pamphlet, consisted of two styles: uniform for girls and uniform for boys. The girls had to wear black plaid skirts (which could not go over the knees), white blouses with their Dorm insignia and a black blazer with the school’s insignia on it. The boys wore white shirt with the corresponding dorm insignia, black pants and black blazers with the school’s insignia. All students had to wear black ties as well as black shoes.

I had grown used to this kind of restraint of individuality, as I had classified it in my head. At least black made you look more slimming than green.

“That was some joke.” He laughed, I laughed and everyone else laughed. I wondered, though, why I was the only one not in uniform. “Hey, we’re looking forward to watching your power in the auditorium, catch you later.”

He moved and shook Veir’s hand, then left. Veir glanced at me and chuckled, again the laugh echoing within my mind. I stood out in the hall and faced the wall, then started making a motion as though I were slamming my ahead against it. The others laughed.

“We’re in the same class.” He said before I even thought about asking him about Spencer.

“That was so stupid...Now, why are you all in uniform?” I asked curiously, unless it was just another joke from Larinx.

“All the newbies wear regular clothes and use uniforms when class starts, which is tomorrow. All the returning students have to wear their uniforms to the Power Presentation.” Kyle explained, as he walked into the bathroom to check his tie and cuffs, which had a KS on them. He smiled and walked out, then motioned for us to go. I sighed as we all walked out the hall in a group.

There were several other students walking down the long hall and chatting, most with uniform and only a handful in regular clothing. I was guessing that there weren’t a lot of ‘us’ that were found each year. Still, I expected a little bit more. As we walked into the elevator, we all started talking about the school and classes. Actually, I was listening to Kyle, Larinx and Veir talk about most of the things that happened in the school. Debate Team, Swim Team, Athletics, Chess team, School Newspaper, and all those other things that one would find in any regular school. Exactly like I thought, Driftwood was no different than any place else except for the things its students could do.

Soon enough we found ourselves walking with the rest of the students to the Auditorium at the base of the hill near the tennis courts and track field. Everyone was lively although I heard a couple of new students saying they were rather nervous. I couldn’t really feel any butterflies in my stomach like I usually did when I walked up and in front of everybody at school, to give the morning announcements or to read my English reports. In moments of nervousness I usually became desperate and thought that the world was out to get me and began imagining all the worst possible situations that would happen. My friends back home would laugh about that and so would my parents. They kept saying that I had to stop being like that; people weren’t going to eat me alive unless I provoked them.

Courage was something I felt I was always lacking for some reason. Courage to tell my mom that I didn’t like the shirt she picked out, courage to tell my friends there were certain jokes I didn’t like that they made and courage to volunteer for a club or some extracurricular activity in school. But here, I felt that I would be able to start anew. Perhaps that dose of courage I never had would be gained here.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when Kyle padded my arm and pointed to a couple of stairs, I could see all the students with regular clothes walking up them. We had already arrived at the Auditorium and were inside the main lobby, I had been thinking so much that I barely noticed my surroundings. My new friends waved goodbye and headed towards the main entrance with the other uniformed students and I headed up the stairs. They led to a dark hallway and then to the back of the very large stage, where we met the burly man that had been talking to us the day prior. It was then that I remembered he had mentioned he was the Power Class teacher, sort of like a teacher but his teaching aspects were different. I had remembered just now because even though I wasn’t aware of what he had been saying at the moment, I had still been listening. What was his name? Mr. Burlington? Mr. Burkina? Ah! Mr. Burnapart.

I wondered why we had to do this, perform our powers in front of the whole school for them to see. Larinx had told me that no one really minded but a good part of the school wished they didn’t have to go through it. Perhaps the school thought that it was better for everyone to know who had which powers so they could all associate themselves better. I tried looking at it from the point of view they wanted us to think about, and I found it a bit racist if not uncalled for.

“You will be called by your name, you are to come up and present your power then you will be assigned your homeroom.” Homeroom? The others hadn’t told me about that. I sat down at the chairs they had behind the curtains, along with all the others. They were facing towards the curtains so when they opened we would be facing the crowd.

The curtains were pulled and lights shined a bit but not too much on us, I was able to see the crowd of students that grew silent as Mr. Burnapart walked onto the stage and announced the beginning. He explained why we were all here, that it was to merely find out a bit more about each student from the abilities we held. That it would be a great educational ceremony as well.

He sat at a table with some other adults, all in suits and looking much like FBI agents did on all those cop shows my father used to walk back home. They looked like they had something stuck up their asses, well at least to me. Mr. Burnapart started calling names in alphabetical order.

I didn’t pay much attention expect when there were big ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from the students. There was one who talked to animals, another who could shape shift, and another that breathed fire. The powers I saw were amazing, things that I had never seen before, but for some reason there was no excitement or awe upon my face or in my mind. I knew they were incredible things but I didn’t feel they deserved the merit of being gawked at. It was like a dog show and we were the dogs. Either way, I was going to present my power. My friends hadn’t had a chance to see what I could do so I thought I could have some fun with it.

After a while, the presentations were rather odd and boring to me. I didn’t know why; the powers were all equally fantastic and such.

“Now, Miss Rita Nowles.” I glanced forward and at the girl that had just stepped forward on the stage. Her look seemed pretty odd, but had a sort of flair to it like she didn’t’ really care. She had her own style, and I liked that. Her hair was long and auburn, mixed with brown to create a natural look and as far as I could see her skin was tan, much like the tan of the people where I used to live. Those thoughts, bubbling up into the pool that was my mind, made me wonder...

She placed her hands forward and opened them, her palms facing he crowd. Before long, I began to notice a lilac glow about them. As though the energy of her power was being manifested, and then I glanced at the crowd but to my surprise their faces were mostly blank. Bored expressions and sleepy expressions reigned, could they not see the glow or had they seen such a thing before? I instantly felt like a ‘newbie’, perhaps many others had the same power she was currently demonstrating and therefore it wasn’t anything new around. Not know that made me feel very uncomfortable, but I wondered why.

I never really wanted to be part of the crowd after all.

I heard gasps, my eyes turned to see the students floating. Right out from their seats, they floated! As though something was pulling them up and into the air but they seemed to be simply lighter than it. I was confused; they seemed like those astronauts in free fall. Free falling...Like when you sky dived. I remembered my science teacher talking about that. Free fall only occurred when only gravity was acting on an object and no other force acted on it. She had mentioned that in space you were in constant free fall because the gravity was 0; there was no air resistance or anything. Gravity...

That was it.

“You’re a gravity manipulator!” The girl turned to face me; she seemed to smile a bit. At this act the students fell back on their seats and onto the floor, some had been swimming along and playing around. I noticed most people were looking at me but I didn’t care. “That is wicked.”

The men and women at the table smiled at me, as though they had known I was to say that. I wondered why though, perhaps some of them were mind readers or something? The students clapped at the girl sat down next to me. “Rita Nowles.” She shook my hand as soon as I held it out. “Olivia Sanchez.”

Soon enough, Mr. Burnapart started calling students once more. Rita and I commented to each other on each one. As we did so I got to learn more about what she could do. Her family was from Nottingham, England. Back at home she had accidentally made the gravitation around a mailbox strong enough to making it bend over... as well as create a small crater and a crack in the street and sidewalk. That was not too long ago, she had said, that it had been eight months prior to her arrival here.

“Marietta Reynolds.” A young girl, of rather black skin but incredibly silky black hair, came forward and turned to the table of the judges. She seemed perky, but for her size a bit more mature than one would expect. I suspected her to be at least fourteen, by the way she walked and her posture. She pointed at Mr. Burnapart and cleared her throat.

“Mr. Arnold Burnapart, 54 years old, married and father of three children. Their names are Gerald, Glen and Gustav. You are currently about how I can do this and that I must be a psychic. That is correct but I can also hypnotize people and make them fall asleep.” Rita and I laughed, some people chuckled. But I could see that most of us were pretty much impressed. She turned to me when I stopped laughing.

“Olivia Sanchez, 14 and soon to be 15 on March the 26th, you like cats, detest the color pink and are wondering if your ‘roots’ would reach before I reveal something embarrassing.” I laughed once more and Marietta sat down between me and Rita, who had moved a seat to give her space. I was very much surprised. I wondered if these two odd girls would so suddenly be my friends. I had just met this Marietta Reynolds a couple of seconds earlier, more like saw than anything. Rita was a ‘cool’ person, so far in my book. It just made me ponder if it was actually this simple to make friends over here, when I had spent a life time trying to make at least one back in my home.

The names passed and we chatted a bit between each performance, sometimes getting scolding looks from Mr. Burnapart. It made me... want to giggle giddily like a schoolgirl. If I did that then I would most certainly hang myself from my dorm today later. Olivia Sanchez did not giggle, not at all. After a couple of more performances, when Mr. Burnapart reached the ‘S’s’, he called my name and I stood up. I shakily took a couple of steps forward and turned to the table of people.

“Would uh...Would you mind if I wreck the floor, just a little.” They seemed a bit confused. “Don’t worry, I promise to fix it.”

I sighed and turned forward. At times like this, when I was to use the powers I had been born with, I would almost black out, as though my body already new what I had to do. I place my hands at either side of me, stretched out and palms open but pointing at the floor. I drew breath and concentrated. For a good twenty seconds, nothing happened and then a small rumbling came, I opened my eyes. From the floor sprouted vines, and stems, through the hardwood planks and upwards. Buds came out of them and soon plants grew upon them, various ones. Sunflowers, daisies, lilacs and tulips. Even flowers that weren’t native to the area. Eventually they molded into a spire, covered in all sorts of plant life.

I had been concentrating on it so much I didn’t hear the people around me clapping very loudly. Mr. Burnapart actually came up to me to shake my hand. “Splendid, Miss Sanchez! Absolutely splendid! We haven’t had a plant controller like you in.... well 20 years!”

I stammered a bit but otherwise let go of his hand and sat down at my seat. 20 years? That was odd, how come Kyle and Veir didn’t mention it. Nor Larinx had for that matter. I was the first floral bender in twenty years? That was certainly.... odd. Rita and Marietta were gabbing at me, but I was staring forward, making sure the vines and plants retreated back into the ground and that the wooden planks were all in their correct order. First one... Why did that affect me? So what?! I was the first floral user in 20 years, I was never a normal child and now I wasn’t even a normal child in an abnormal group!

Abnormal....I had never used that word to describe people such as me before. I guessed that even in my own hatred and swirling opinion about racism and segregation, I was a bit racist as well. I tried to stay out of my thoughts and tried to pay attention to the current things at hand. The performances continued and I was trying to give them my full attention.

After all, I could just ask the others about that after this whole ordeal was over.

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“Are you sure she said it was this way?” I nodded when Trey looked at the large, wooden double doors we stood in front of. I turned to them and studied the carvings a bit; they were odd like some sort of old cryptic language. I pushed on them a bit but they wouldn’t budge.

“Come on man, put some muscle in it! Where’s that super strength?!”

“Like your speed is that great!” I pushed upon the doors harder until one of them, the left, began to budge. I shifted my weight and direction and pushed on that one. It was opening, slowly but surely. The hinges, large and iron made, were creaking very loudly. I guessed the door hadn’t been opened in a while. I looked inside after the door was completely open.

I felt rather bad though, like something ominous was going to happen. I sighed, and started walking into the new area. It was like a long, poorly lit and damp hallway, the ones you see in medieval movies and games like that. There were lanterns every couple of feet so you could see every couple of feet, but not that much. Trey started walking and I followed him. I remembered Professor Casey, our geometry teacher, stopping us on the way into the Auditorium. If I could recall correctly, she had asked us to go to the school Library and look for a large orb behind some big door at the back. So:

The big ass door. Check.

Now all we needed was that orb. I had asked her what it was for, and she told me it was for some special assignment we were going to do in class. Find the dimensions of it or something, as long as I got out having to watch other kids for three hours, it’d be ok. Still, I wondered what that Olivia girl would do...

“I can always just ask later.” I muttered. I let out a small grunt as I hit Trey from behind, he had stopped walking. When I looked forward, I saw why. The end of the hallway was a large, circular room. There was a pyramid situated in the middle of it and the strangest carvings were engraved on the walls. The crystal, or orb or whatever it was, was on top of the pyramid. I had a bad feeling, just like I had from the start. Why couldn’t I just stay back at the Auditorium? Trey looked at me, with a rather odd expression. It suddenly turned to incredible horror as he pointed behind me. I turned.

There was a wall closing down on the way we came in. I tried running towards it, to stop it but I tripped over and fell. On something very hard....this started to move. It looked like a tail. It was attached to something on the ceiling; it looked like a giant, Scorpion statue.

Now, here is the very odd thing.

Statues don’t move.

Trey screamed as the tail whipped at him, there was rubble everywhere. I screamed for him but I couldn’t see anything, I felt something hit my stomach hard, and send me flying in the air. I landed on the hard floor, on my back and I groaned. That thing was moving to fast, even faster than Trey. I opened my eyes but there was too much dust and my eyes watered, I waited...

The dust cleared when I opened my eyes once more, I was surprised to see Olivia staring back at me.

“H-Hey? Where’s Trey?” I sputtered as I sat up quickly. Her face was stoic and dark, she stepped back a bit. “What is going on?!”

“Goodnight, Spencer.”

After that, I felt something hard hit my head...then everything turned to darkness.

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