Gamma Accidents #1: Journey

by Erin Sheena Byrne

whip around and snatching at anything loose and light.

  The practically identical girls landed, smoothly, and looked over their shoulders at the newbies, their long shiny blonde ponytails bouncing. In sync, they winked an eye each and quaintly waved a hand, acknowledging their existence.

  Bella just thought they were smug. She instantly disliked them.

  Flying twins was not the only out-of-ordinary happening.

  Everywhere the newcomers looked, they saw teenagers using their extraordinary powers: a weedy looking kid stretched his body until his head was scraping the ceiling; a sweet looking girl froze the stream of water coming from the water fountain until it was just a long arc of ice; a cheerleader practiced her routine in the middle of the hallway, jumping high, twisting and twirling better than any normal person ever could.

  It was chaotic: fire blasting across the newcomers' path at unexpected moments, kids who could stick to the ceiling dropping down without warning, speedsters blurring past and "accidentally" knocking people over... it was making the teenagers dizzy.

  "We have to get a timetable," Jack said, struggling to figure things out, "because I have no idea where we have to go."

  "Doesn't this school have a welcoming committee?" Ethan asked.

  "Do you really want to be shown around by one of these freaks?" Ty questioned, indicating a group of odd-looking kids with weird coloured hair and bizarre clothing.

  "We're one of them now," Bella reminded him.

  Ty's eyes darted around, glancing at every face. "You know, I'm not so sure about that... have you noticed the looks we've been getting?"

  It was true: people were keeping their distance, their expressions etched with suspicion.

  "I guess they heard we were coming," Caleb said, sounding sad, something that was totally un-Caleb like.

  "Ignore them," Ethan said, putting one arm around his shorter brother's shoulders and the other around Ty's. "We're not here to impress them."

  "Hey, is that Audrey?" Bella said, pointing down the hall to the black-haired young woman advancing towards them.

  Audrey walked upright and professionally, like a secretary. She approached the teens, an unmistakable smile spreading across her face.

  "I'm so glad you decided to come," she said, her voice full of appreciation. "You have no idea what this means."

  She briskly handed each teen a piece of crisp, white paper. A timetable was printed on and an extra note written in a lazy scrawl at the bottom.

  "These are all your classes, as well as a note from Rust," Audrey explained. She started walking off. "I'm sure you'll find your way around!" she called over her shoulder.

  Ethan looked up from his schedule. "How's this for being thrown in the deep end?"

  "Never mind," Jack said, shaking his head. "Let's just be on our way."

  The schedules outlined the usual classes: English, science, maths... so on.

  An extra class, unheard of in other schools, was Hero Training. This class took place in the gym, as noted in the schedule.

  The note from Rust simply said, "Be at the gym at the end of school."

  It was all vague and, as Ethan said, they were thrown in the deep end with nothing but a piece of paper to keep them floating.

  "Our first class is English with a Mr Shakes," Bella said.

  The kids cautiously navigated through the halls, warily peeking around every corner before proceeding, terrified of being blasted with fire or ice or water or slime or whatever else these super kids could blast at them. They carefully checked every door until they found the right one.

  The classroom looked totally normal: desks, chairs, a blackboard, a window, four walls, a ceiling and a floor. The impression of normal wouldn't last long.

  Before the teacher arrived, everyone was carrying on with their usual business, which seemed to consist squarely of messing about.

  The teenagers sat near each other, for security. They leaned in, close, for conversation.

  "You know, I can already tell you how this is all going to go down," Ty said, his typical cynical tone not wavering for a second. "We will be outcasts, sitting alone at lunch and avoided by every student of this school. One of us will run into a bully and probably get ground into a fine pulp. Then, we'll get on with our original mission: to find the villain teacher. We'll think we've found him and it'll turn out not to be that one. Then we'll find the real one but it will be all too late, he'll kill us and dance on our graves."

  Bella put a hand on his shoulder, a smile on her face. "Oh, Ty. Don't give away everything: we've still got to live it."

  6

  The English teacher was... entertaining, to say the least.

  Mr Shakes was short and lanky, nearing his sixties with thinning brown hair and thick, round glasses that made his eyes bulge, giving him a cartoonish appearance.

  He looked straight-faced, stern and serious when he entered the room. He didn't say a single word, but simply nodded to the students, acknowledging their presence, turned around and wrote the day's lesson on the board.

  The classroom was steeped in silence that broke when he spun around. His face immediately crinkled into a big smile.

  "Greetings," he said, excitement riddling his slightly nasal voice. "Shall we begin?"

  He thrust out his short, skinny arm and a swarm of books flew out the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and swirled around the classroom like a controlled tornado.

  A single book rested on each student's desk and opened, aided by invisible hands, to the correct page.

  "Whoa, awesome! Mind control!" Caleb squeaked.

  Mr Shakes smiled at the youngsters. "You five must be the gamma accidents."

  The simple statement made the teens stiffen.

  Mr Shakes waved a dismissive hand. "Don't fret: I don't have anything against you kids. I am willing to leave the past behind and move forward. I encourage everyone to do the same."

  The mean looks the other kids gave the gamma accidents didn't seem to matter so much when they had one teacher already on their side.

  The rest of the lesson went off without a hitch. Then it was onto science.

  The lab wasn't like normal school labs. It looked more like the laboratory of a mad scientist with concoctions of various, bright colours bubbling away in oddly shaped tubes and vials; a plasma ball balancing precariously on a pile of books; random, unfinished robot parts lying around the teacher's desk and a mess of hastily scribbled, scientific notes scattered all over the show.

  The teacher only reinforced the initial "mad scientist" impression.

  He was tall and thin with a small goatee and crazy white hair that looked like he had stuck his finger in an electrical socket, which was highly possible.

  He wore heavy boots, black pants, thick rubber gloves, a white lab coat decorated with faint splashes of various colourful messes, and intricate, robotic glasses equipped with what looked like telescopic and microscopic lenses.

  That wasn't the end of it. Halfway through his explanation of radiation, he turned invisible, allowing his students to read the blackboard with an uninterrupted view.

  Of course, it made sense that a teacher would have to have powers if they taught future superheroes. Nevertheless, it was still a shock to the five kids who had never seen anyone but each other use their powers.

  The little old lady who taught social sciences could project a holographic image from her eyes.

  The man who taught math could grow two extra pairs of arms, to aid in writing complicated equations on the blackboard.

  The sweet, young woman who taught music could create or mimic any sound audible to humans and bats.

  The only teacher that did not seem to have a superpower was the history teacher.

  "Anthony Wepaynar," Jack read the name aloud off the schedule Audrey had given. "It sounds familiar..."

  "I think it's the name of some reality show presenter," Bella simply stated.

  "But I thought you hated reality TV," Caleb pointed out, tilting his head with c
uriosity.

  "I do, that's why I said I think. There's no way I know."

  Jack frowned as he studied the name. "I'm so sure I've heard the name Wepaynar before," he said.

  "The way Jack reads it, it sounds like 'weapon-are,'" Caleb laughed.

  "It's foreign," Ethan told his brother. "I think it's common in-"

  "Hey, we should really be getting to class now," Ty interrupted.

  The history teacher was a tall man, Jack's height exactly. He looked to be in his sixties, with short white hair and a clean-cut beard. He didn't talk with a foreign accent, though. He sounded local.

  He was the first teacher not to show off any powers... he was also the first teacher to say nothing about the new arrivals. He didn't seem hostile, though. He just didn't look too concerned with the whole deal.

  He taught the lesson with no show and no fancies. He didn't turn invisible, grow extra arms, transform into a dolphin or stretch.

  Curious, Ethan leaned over and tapped a student on the shoulder. "Has this guy got any powers?" he asked in a hushed voice.

  The teenager shook his head. "Nah. Gadgeteer. Oh, and a pilot. His missions only ever included flying a helicopter, a plane or a jet fighter. He retired and started teaching here seven years ago."

  "Thanks," Ethan said and returned his attention to the lesson on Christopher Columbus.

  Lunchtime was a real eye-opener.

  Jack, Bella, Ethan, Ty and Caleb had never felt like they were total outcasts back in Crashton High, their old school. They weren't popular, but they were not loners, either. They were pretty average.

  Jack had other friends, besides the girl next door and the triplets. He had made a garage band with some of