by Dee J. Stone
She gives me that same look. “Let us date? I don’t need his permission.”
“Right. Still I would feel pretty crappy if your dad didn’t approve of me.”
She laughs. “You’re too cute when you’re nervous.” She bends forward to kiss me, then pulls back. “I’m still mad at you.”
I yank her toward me. “I know.” And I kiss her.
“Not in my classroom, McGuire and Randall.”
I slink down in my seat as the teacher starts the lesson.
***
Maddie’s on one side of the gym training her group and I’m on the other with mine. I’ve split my students into teams of two. They’re going to battle one another without using powers, but I stressed not to hurt themselves. There’s an uneven amount of kids, and Jack wanted to sit this one out, but I’m forcing him to be my partner. We haven’t really talked much lately, and I kind of want to know how he’s doing.
We face one another, our fists raised. “How’s it going?” I ask him.
He slams me right in the eye, causing me to crash into the wall. Even though I said no powers, he can’t shut off his super strength. Not that it’s a problem. I easily heal myself.
“How about throwing a lighter punch,” I say.
He shoots me a look like he can’t believe I just said that. “Lighter punch? Right.”
“Hey, you never know when you’re going to need to tone the strength down. Example, when you need to save someone. You might accidentally squish their bones and kill them. You need to learn to be gentler.”
He shakes his head. “Me, a hero?”
“Why not?” I motion for him to raise his fists and we go at it again. “You can be an awesome hero one day.”
“Don’t want to be one. Heroes are lame.”
“Ouch.”
We continue fighting. Jack manages to lessen the strength, but he still knocks me into the wall too many times. When I’m lying on the floor, flat as a pancake, I tell him we need to take a break.
A quick glance at the other kids tells me they’re doing fine. Jack and I go to the side to have a small chat. I make sure to keep an eye on the kids so they don’t kill one another.
I pour a full water bottle over my head. “You never answered my question.”
He takes a gulp from his own water bottle. “What question?”
“How’s it going?”
He shrugs. “Whatever.”
“School’s good?”
“Boring.”
“And you’re making friends?”
He laughs. “Are you my mom?”
“Come on, man. I’m just looking out for you.”
“Why me? Why not all the other kids here? Why do you insist on sticking your nose in my business?”
I hold up my hands. “Maybe because I see you as a friend. If not for you, my sister would be dead. Heck, me or Maddie would be dead.”
“So this is like you’re repaying a debt?”
I shake my head. “I just want to be your friend. That’s all.”
“I don’t need friends.” He looks away.
“Yes, you do. Everyone needs friends. What are you so afraid of? No one is going to hurt you or use you or take advantage of you.”
He doesn’t say anything. Then, “I know that now.”
“That’s good.”
Quiet.
“How’s your sister?” Jack asks.
“She’s going to be okay. Maybe you can come over for dinner one day and meet her. Meet my family.”
“Oh, I don’t know.”
“My parents are more than grateful for what you did. They’d really love to have you over.”
He doesn’t respond, but I take in the small smile tugging his mouth.
“Anything else you want to talk about?” I ask. “Or do you want to get back to training?”
He’s on his feet like his butt caught fire. “Training.”
We make our way back to the others and I tell them we’re going to battle using our powers now. But unlike last time, only one team will go at a time so I can oversee everything.
Jack and I go first. “Full force,” I say. “Give me everything you’ve got.”
He lifts his hand and gives me a hard shove. I use my telekinesis to hold myself in place. Jack’s power is very impressive, but I think I can hold him. He uses different techniques to try to push me into the wall, but I remain planted in place.
“How’s he doing that?” a few kids whisper to each other. “No one can withstand Jack’s power.”
I wonder if this is what Hiram was talking about—about Maddie and me being more powerful than all the other kids.
Jack grits his teeth, sweat shining on his forehead. He musters all his energy for one more shove that does no good, before collapsing on the floor.
I hold out my hand to help him up. He glares at me. “You cheated.”
“I didn’t.”
“Screw this.” He scrambles to his feet and storms out of the gym, slamming the door. I’d go after him, but I can’t abandon my students. Hopefully he just needs to walk this off.
All my other students blink at me. I force a smile. “Let’s, uh, team two, give it a go.”
Maddie slides over to me as I watch the kids battle each other. They’re pretty good fighters, but they’ve got too much anger inside them. “What was that about?”
“I don’t think Jack is used to not being the favorite, the most powerful. He was Hiram’s best man. I guess he feels a little out of place. I invited him to my house for dinner sometime.”
“That was nice of you.”
I nod. “I feel like he deserves to be part of my family. He did save Kaylee and everyone.” I puff out my cheeks. “He doesn’t realize that people care about him. He doesn’t believe that I want to be his friend.”
Maddie rubs my arm. “He’ll come around.”
Yeah, hope so. “How are your students doing?”
She points her thumb toward her side. Her kids are fighting, but they don’t look like they want to murder one another like mine do. “How did you do that?”
“I don’t know. I just explained to them what we were trying to accomplish.”
“Which is?”
“Helping them see the good in life.”
“Right.”
We turn to my group, who are going at each other’s throats. No longer are they in teams of two, but one big mess of bodies beating the life out of one another.
“Maybe you should take over,” I say. “Clearly, I’m not cut out to be a teacher.”
She stares into my eyes. “No self-pity. Get in there and make them listen to you.”
“How?”
“Be patient with them. Nice, but firm, too.”
I watch them some more, feeling less and less confident that I can do this. “Maybe I have the more difficult kids.”
She pushes me. “Get in there and break it up.” She returns to her group.
I step toward the pile of bodies and yell, “Okay. Time to stop.”
No one listens. They just continue fighting.
“I said, stop!”
Again, nothing.
“Guys, come on. You’re supposed to be helping each other, not beating yourselves to death.” Looking up at the Suits and Melissa, it’s obvious they do not seem pleased.
That does it. Waving my hands, I pry the kids off one another. I press them against the wall to keep them from going for round two. “I didn’t want to do this, but you left me no choice.” I scan each one. “We’re here because you guys want to get better. You don’t want to behave like JQ’s lab rats anymore, right? But if you keep fighting like this, you’re no better than them. You’re not changing and we’re just wasting our time.” My gaze sweeps around. “Tell me right now. Do you want to change? If yes, we’ll continue. If not, then I’m leaving. So which is it?”
The kids exchange glances. The door opens and Jack sneaks in. He must have been outside, listening in.
“Well?” I ask. “
You guys don’t see how much goodness you have inside you. Do you want to be the heroes I know you can be? Or are you…” I shut my eyes, not wanting to say this but knowing I have to. “Nothing more than kids with powers who want to inflict pain?”
The kids look at one another again. No one utters a word. The other kids have stopped training and are staring at us. Maddie gives me an encouraging smile.
“Heroes.”
We all turn to the right side of the room, where Jack is heading toward the center.
“That’s what we want to be,” he continues. “Don’t we, guys?”
They nod. A few cheer.
He continues walking until he’s standing right in front of me. “I was wrong to stomp off. You and Maddie are trying to help us. You don’t have to be here. You’ve got better things to do. Nick’s sister is sick, but he’s here with us. Maddie also has her own life. But they’re here because they…care. They want us to live up to our full potential. I get it now. I was angry because I’m not the best. But I don’t need to be the best. I just need to be the best version of me.” He turns to his fellow powered kids. “We’ve had hard lives, but we don’t need to live that way anymore. I trust Nick and Maddie. I trust Melissa. I think we should let go of our anger and let ourselves be filled with positivity. With good.”
The kids watch him with eyes and mouths wide. One by one, they clap and cheer.
Maddie and I are lifted in the air by one of the kids with telekinesis. “To Nick and Maddie!”
Everyone cheers again.
Chapter Nine
Maddie’s going through my closet, searching for something for me to wear tonight for our date with her dad.
“I can’t believe you don’t have a decent outfit.”
I’m lying on the bed, staring at the celling. “And I can’t believe I finally got through to Jack.” I sit up. “The kids trust me now and believe in me. Just like I believe in them. It’s awesome.”
She turns around, smiling. “I knew you’d get through to them.” She faces the closet. “As great as that is, we need to find you a decent outfit. Where did you say your parents and Kaylee are? At the therapist?”
“No, they took her out for ice cream. Just the three of them. Matt is over at a friends’ house. Not that he would be any help here. He’s got no opinion on clothes, either.”
“Yeah, but he went to dances. And of course there’s prom at the end of the year.”
I shrug.
“Does he have a girlfriend?” Maddie asks.
“Matt? Sure,” I say sarcastically. He’s never had any, just “lady friends.”
Maddie pulls out the dress shirt and pants I wear when I visit my grandfather in the nursing home. She makes a face and returns it.
“Mom thinks I look cute in that one,” I say.
“She’d think you look cute in anything.”
I frown at her. “I might be totally off here, but something tells me you’re even more nervous than me. I mean, that outfit looks fine to me.”
She pulls it back out. “You do know it’s a bit small on you. I noticed it the last time you wore it. Time to get something new.”
“Does that mean we’re going shopping?”
She shakes her head. “No time.” She rummages further until she pulls out an outfit I’ve only worn once. To one of Kaylee’s dance recitals. We didn’t have to dress up, but it was a nice surprise to Kaylee, because her rival bragged that her family would come in nice clothes and Kaylee was jealous.
“This looks great.”
I wave my hand. “Too fancy.”
“Put it on.”
I shake my head.
She holds it over my chest, her hands shaking a little. They’re also red, like fire’s brewing inside “Just put it on.”
I close my hands over hers, wincing at her scorching skin. “You never told me why you’re so nervous.”
Pulling out of my grip, she sits on my bed. I lower myself next to her. She pushes some black hair out of her face. “It’s nothing.”
“Maddie. Come on. We said no secrets.”
“Did we?”
I widen my eyes, begging. She can never resist this look.
She exhales deeply. “He’s not exactly a fan.”
“Of Blue?”
“Of you.”
My eyebrows knit. “What did I do?”
She shrugs. “He thinks danger follows wherever you go.”
I gape at her. “Says the dad with the daughter who can create and manipulate fire.”
She throws her hands up. “I think he’d have a problem with any guy I go out with. I guess he feels super overprotective since he didn’t take care of me for the past five years. Add your powers and you’re…well, a threat. And you’re right about him not liking what he sees on TV. He thinks you’re lazy. Sorry.”
Unbelievable. “Were you planning on telling me that I need to be on my best behavior tonight?”
“No. I didn’t want you to be more nervous than you already are.” She presses her hand to my chest. “But you don’t have to worry. He’ll love you.”
I lower her hands, squeezing them in mine. They’re no longer hot. “I thought you said you didn’t let anyone tell you who to date.”
She bites her lip. “I only said that to calm you down. If my dad doesn’t like you, that would put a wedge between us. And I just started reconnecting with him again.” She buries her face in her hands. “I can’t choose one of you over the other.”
I lower her hands. “You won’t have to. I’ll be the perfect boyfriend. He’ll realize that the guy he sees on TV is totally different from the guy standing before him.”
She laughs lightly. “You know you’re talking about yourself, right?” She lays her head on my chest. “Just teasing. I know you’ll do fine. And if he doesn’t like you…then…then…”
“Then nothing. Because he will like me.”
The door bursts open and a blur rushes inside, running around the room. “Maddie and Nick are making kissy face!”
Clearly, Kaylee had a lot of sugar this afternoon. I hold my hand out, stopping her in place.
She wiggles around, kicking her feet in the air. “Higher!”
Slowly, I bring my hand closer, yanking her toward me until she’s sitting on my lap. “Say hi to Maddie.”
She faces her. “Hi, Maddie!”
Maddie wraps her arm around her. “How are you, Kaylee?”
“Good. Mommy and Daddy said the doctor is going to help make the bad dreams go away.”
“That’s great.”
Kaylee beams. She grabs Maddie’s hand and flips it over. “Where does the fire come from?”
Maddie’s unsure eyes flick to mine. “I don’t think we should talk about my powers.”
“Why not? They’re so cool. Everyone’s always talking about Nick, but you’re a superhero, too!” She turns around in my lap, facing me. “Sorry, Nick. But Maddie needs to be famous, too. How come she’s not on the news all the time like you are?”
How could we explain that I’m on the news for all the wrong reasons? There haven’t been any more incidents. Maybe the person framing me finally got bored. I hope.
Kaylee tugs my arm. “Nick. How come?” Her gaze drops to the outfit on the bed. “What’s that for?”
I smile at Maddie. “We’re going on a date.”
“Can I come?”
I’m about to answer, but the door opens and Mom sticks her head in. “There you are, Kaylee. You…” She looks from me to Maddie. “What did I say about being alone together?”
Earth, swallow me up now. Why does she have to do this in front of Maddie? Can’t she wait until she leaves?
Kaylee pulls on my shirt. “Can I come on your date?”
Mom’s eyebrows lift. “A date?”
Matt runs into the room. “You’re going on a date?”
“What’s the big deal,” I mumble. “We’re boyfriend and girlfriend, so it makes sense that we’re going on a date.”
Matt smiles in this proud way. “Nicky’s going on a date. That’s so adorable.”
I glare at him. Seriously, my family is too much in my face. I’m surprised Dad hasn’t—never mind, here he is, peeking into my room.
“Date?” he says. “But we brought ice cream. Do you kids want to take some with you?”
I hold up my hands. “It’s not just any date. I’m meeting Maddie’s dad. So can everyone please leave?”
“I’m not leaving the two of you alone.” That’s Mom.
“Can I come on the date?” Kaylee.
“So adorable.” Matt.
Dad just holds up the carton of ice cream. This is just too much. I take Maddie’s hand and make us invisible.
“Okay, okay.” Matt chuckles. “Let’s leave them alone.”
Everyone exits the room except for Mom, who hovers in the doorway. “Nick, I’m not leaving unless Maddie does.”
Sighing, I go back visible. I try to eye signal Mom to quit embarrassing me, but she ignores me.
Maddie gives me a small wave, motions for me to put on the outfit she chose, then follows my mom out of the room.
As I put the shirt on, I look at myself in the mirror, practicing how to behave around her dad. Ugh. Nothing seems right. If I’m too confident, I’ll come off as arrogant. If I’m shy, I’m not confident enough.
A knock on my door. “Are you still changing?” Maddie asks.
“Shouldn’t you be getting ready? You know, at your house?”
“I’ll go after I see how you look.”
I run my hand through my hair. It’s gotten really long. Will her dad draw conclusions about me based on my hair?
Why’s everything so complicated? Because I’m scared I may lose Maddie?
She knocks again. “Nick, I know you’re finished. What’s the big deal? I bet you look good. Come on! We have to be at the restaurant in an hour.”
I push some strands of hair out of my eyes, give my refection two thumbs up, then slowly open the door. Shutting my eyes, I expect her to burst out laughing at how ridiculous I look, but she pulls me to her chest.
“You look so hot I don’t even recognize you,” she says.
“Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?”
