by Sybil Nelson
“Daddy, I’m sorry. I didn’t know I would get on TV. I tried to sit out of the camera’s view.” Then I started crying. I didn’t know why I was crying. It didn’t seem that important to me. But my father’s yelling really scared me.
“Dad, what’s the big deal?” Josh asked, hugging me. “It was local news. There’s only like two thousand people in River’s Bend and they all know Priss by name. This town is so small they probably know her favorite color and shoe size as well. Why are you freaking out?”
I buried my face in Josh’s chest. Thankfully, he had a shirt on. My dad didn’t respond. I heard his big feet pounding the wooden floor as he paced the living room. I wiped my tears and looked at him. He stopped pacing, shut his eyes tightly, and then took a deep breath.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for yelling at you.” He wrapped his arms around Josh and me and nearly lifted us off the ground. He hugged us so tightly I started to run out of air. “I just love you so much. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.”
“Like what?” Josh asked, pushing away from the group hug.
“I don’t know. Anything,” my dad said. He let me go and headed toward the basement.
“Oh no you don’t.” Josh ran to block his path. “You do know. There’s some reason why you’re so paranoid. It’s not normal that you time us everywhere we go, that we’re not allowed to have yearbook pictures or cell phones, and that I’ve lived in this house for sixteen years and have never been in that basement.”
My father arched his shoulders back and puffed his chest out. He looked huge, massive, colossal. For a moment I thought Josh would lose his resolve and run away. I certainly wanted to. But no, Josh stood his ground. He wanted answers.
When he realized Josh wasn’t moving, Dad softened and said, “Have a seat on the couch. Both of you.” He rubbed his shaved head while walking back and forth in front of us, trying to find the right words. “Your mother’s job is very dangerous. Life-and-death dangerous,” he said finally. “I’m constantly afraid that someone will come after one of you in retaliation against her, especially you, Priscilla. You look so much like your mother, anyone could take one look at you and know you were Quindolyn’s child.”
That was enough information for me. My mother had a dangerous job and people wanted to kill her. I got it. Dad was trying to protect us. Conversation over. I just wanted to go to my room and cry while trying to forget this night ever happened. Josh wasn’t satisfied, though.
“That’s not good enough. There’s more to it. What could possibly be so dangerous about working for a pharmaceutical company?” Josh stood, challenging my father again.
“Joshua Allen Sumner,” my father said in that low, scary parent voice that’s even scarier than the loud yelling voice. The voice that says they mean business and they’re going to explode if you push them any further. “I’ve said all I’m going to say tonight. Now go to your room.”
Josh’s eyes expanded. He knew my father had reached his limit. “I hate this house!” he yelled, storming to his room.
When my father’s eyes landed on me, I hopped up and dashed to my room as well. I certainly wasn’t going to ask him any more questions. And I definitely wasn’t going to tell him anything about my hot flashes. I didn’t know how he would react. Would he be the loving father who didn’t care if we saw him cry? Or would he be the big, scary, kill-you-with-one-look father who I had just seen?
I wasn’t taking any chances. My fire-shooting fingers would be my secret forever.
Chapter 10: First Day of School
Tai and I used to have a first-day-of-school ritual. We would meet in front of her house and then walk to Willy’s Sweet Shop for a lemonade and a cinnamon roll. After staying up half the night deciding what outfit to wear on the first day of school, we usually needed the sugar rush to get us going. Then we would plan out our day as we walked. This usually meant we figured out times and places to meet to talk about Spencer sightings.
This year was different in more ways than one. First of all, we didn’t stay up the night before discussing wardrobe possibilities. I didn’t even return her three phone calls. Second of all, Tai would be taking eighth grade classes, which meant I would see her even less than normal. They wanted her to go right into high school this year, but she refused because she didn’t want to leave her friends behind. And third, I doubted we would meet to talk about Spencer. He was the last thing I wanted to think about.
After last night, I didn’t want to walk to school with Tai. I stared out of my window and saw her standing at the corner waiting for me, looking way too cute in her lavender tank top and matching lavender and black pleated skirt. She rocked back and forth on her heels while looking up and down the street. Her eyes fell on my house several times. I felt like a part of me was missing. I didn’t know if I knew how to be Priss without Tai by my side. Even while she was away at camp, we talked on the phone three or four times a day. Who would I talk to now?
Just when I was about to turn away from the window and sneak out the back door of my house, I saw Spencer come up to Tai on his skateboard.
“You want to walk to school together?” he asked her. What a stupid question. He could’ve been at school ten minutes ago. He had to pass Polk Middle to get from his house to Tai’s house. Wait a minute. I guess that’s how much he liked her. He went out of his way to walk with her.
“I don’t think so,” Tai said, looking at my house. “I’m waiting for Priss. We always walk to school together.”
“Well, the bell’s going to ring in a few minutes. You’re gonna be late if you wait any longer.”
Tai looked at her watch and then looked at my house again. She shrugged her shoulders and sighed. “Okay.”
***
“You look terrible,” Kyle said to me while I loaded my locker with books.
In third grade Kyle said my hair color reminded him of something that his dog threw up. When I started crying, Spencer came to my defense and told Kyle that he should probably take his dog to the vet because that didn’t sound healthy. That was when I fell in love with Spencer and when Kyle kind of fell off my radar. Normally, I just ignored his insensitive remarks, but he chose the wrong day to mess with me. I was not having it.
“How dare you say something like that to me, you conceited, inconsiderate, little turd! Just because I don’t get paid to smile in front of a camera doesn’t mean you can comment on my looks. You’ve got some nerve, Kyle Montgomery.” I poked him in the chest with my finger, making him back up and slam against the lockers. People in the hallway turned and stared at us. “You apologize to me right now or you’re gonna regret it.” I was so hot I probably burned a hole in his shirt with my finger.
Kyle looked absolutely terrified. His mouth opened and closed, searching for words, and his hands were shaking, literally shaking.
“I … I … I’m sorry, Priss. I really am. I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant you looked sad. You look like you’ve lost your best friend or something.”
Did it show that much? It had only been sixteen hours since I last talked to Tai, and already a self-centered egomaniac like Kyle noticed something was wrong with me. How was I ever going to get through this?
To make matters worse, my favorite teacher, Mr. Billings, didn’t come back to teach math. Mr. Billings never made me feel stupid in class and always said that the answer was in me; I just had to get it out. Sometimes he would even put on music and let us try to shake the right answer out. I usually still got the answer wrong, but at least I didn’t dread going to math class.
Mr. Billings apparently retired yesterday and his replacement, Mr. Witherall, was just plain creepy. He had a face that looked like plastic. The same blank expression was glued to it all the time, and I never knew if he was happy or sad or even breathing. It was like getting taught by a mannequin. And to top it all off, he had a glass eye. Or at least I think it was glass. I wasn’t sure. I just knew it didn’t move with the other eye, which creeped me
out so much it gave me shivers just thinking about it. I’ll have to ask Tai about glass eyes and … wait a minute. I’m not talking to Tai. Ugh, my life sucked.
“I hope you have a good day,” he said in his deep raspy voice when class was over. He sounded like he was eighty years old but he looked about my parents’ age. I wondered if he’d had surgery and that’s why his face looked so fake. I could tell he was trying to look younger than his age the way his hair was dyed an unnatural shade of black.
I looked around the classroom to make sure he was talking to me since I couldn’t really tell who or what he was looking at.
“Yes, I’m talking to you, Priscilla.” That made sense. I was the only one left in the room.
“How do you know my name?”
“I have the class roster. I know all of your names.”
“Yeah, but it usually takes new teachers a few days to learn everyone.”
“Well, you stand out, Priscilla.”
I didn’t like the way he said my name. He said it slow and dragged out the S sound. It gave me a weird feeling.
I grabbed my books and high-tailed it out of there. I made a mental note to never be alone with that weird guy again.
***
I knew I was supposed to take the twins to the park that afternoon to make up for what I had done to Chester, but I was already in a sucky mood and I didn’t feel like walking to the park. I was too tired after my stressful day. So, instead, I dressed them in their swim trunks, took them to the side yard, and pointed a water hose at them. They loved it, and I didn’t have to get out of my lawn chair.
While the devil twins laughed and giggled in the water, I stared down the street at Tai’s house. I wondered if she was home. Did she find her eighth grade classes hard? Maybe she was still at school, studying. I had done such a good job of avoiding her all day that I kinda hoped she’d step out of the house for a second just so I could get a glimpse of her. I shook my head. What a pathetic thought. I didn’t need a best friend. I would be just fine by myself.
I turned my back on the Houston house so I could concentrate on the devil twins, but … they weren’t there.
“Charlie, Chester!” I yelled franticly. “Where are you?” There was no telling what those little trouble makers were getting into. Dad would kill me if something happened to them because I wasn’t paying attention. I closed my eyes and tried to listen for their voices but couldn’t hear anything. That was bad. They were never quiet.
“If Prissy won’t take us to the park, we can take ourselves. I’ll get the car,” I heard Chester whisper.
What car?
“I’ll make sure no one sees,” Charlie said. I ran to the front of the house and saw Charlie standing in the driveway. Chester was in the driver’s seat of Dad’s Escalade. And it was moving. Chester had gotten it into neutral. The driveway was slanted just enough for it to start rolling back, right toward Charlie.
I ran as fast as I could. If I hurried, I would be able to push Charlie out of the way in time. Suddenly, I was falling. My face hit the dirt with a thud. I had tripped over one of Charlie’s toy trucks. As I scrambled to my feet, I saw the massive SUV barreling down on my baby brother. There was no way I could get there in time. The car was a second away from impact.
Without thinking, I leaped up, lunged for the car, and grabbed hold of the front tire on the driver’s side. Amazingly, it stopped. I had stopped a car just by holding the tire.
Chester jumped out of the front seat, and he and Charlie ran into the house, laughing up a storm. Afraid to move, I stared at my hands gripping the tire. How was I strong enough to hold an Escalade in place? It had to be another part of my powers. This wasn’t normal. I had to get this car back into place before someone saw me. Slowly, I got to my feet without letting go of the tire. I grabbed the open driver’s side door, hopped in, and then quickly put it in park. Crisis averted.
Tai had told me once about this woman who was able to lift a car to get it off of her child. She said that the adrenaline had momentarily given her super strength. I wondered if that was the case with me. Did I just have a momentary burst of strength because I wanted to save Charlie? Or did I really have super strength? I had to know.
I jumped out of the car and then stepped around to the front of it. I made sure no one was watching and grabbed hold of the front fender. Then, with just one finger, I pulled the car forward toward the garage. Now that’s girl power!
Chapter 11: Snot Wars
Thursday morning I woke up looking forward to using my fingers to make a nice warm bath, but something felt different in my body. My powers were gone. I tried to listen for Josh singing in the shower, but I couldn’t hear a thing, thank God. I tried to make heat rise from my fingertips. Nothing. Finally, I got out of bed and tried to lift it with one hand. It wouldn’t budge. A feeling of relief washed over me. A part of me would miss my powers. I was glad I had them when I needed to save Charlie’s life. I’d had a couple of nightmares imagining what would have happened if the car had hit him. All joking aside, I kinda loved my brothers.
I didn’t know where the powers came from or why they had disappeared. Maybe it was just part of some divine fluke that was meant for me to save my brother’s life. I didn’t know and I didn’t care. I was just glad they were gone. It was a burden having a secret like that. There was no one I could trust. I was just glad Tai hadn’t told anyone. Or, at least I hoped she hadn’t.
Things were still super weird between Tai and me. I hadn’t spoken to her since that night at Spencer’s house. Come to think of it, I hadn’t addressed another issue of betrayal that came up that night.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t gather up enough courage to tell Josh about Stefanie. I kinda hoped that he would realize on his own what an awful person she was and dump her. But that didn’t happen. In fact, I came home to find the bottle-blonde, bubble-blowing, lying, little bimbo sitting on my couch and staring at her new ring. It was the promise ring that Josh wanted to give her. I felt a heat rising in me. I wanted to set her face on fire. I know that’s mean, but she was really going to break my brother’s heart. I couldn’t let her do it.
I had to tell Josh the truth. But would he even believe me? And if he did, what if he ended up hating me? I sucked in a deep breath and decided it had to be done.
“Hey, Patricia,” Stefanie said as I walked past where she was perched on our couch. Dad would flip if he saw her feet up on the coffee table. He had just dusted it. Thankfully, he was at the grocery store.
“It’s Priscilla,” I said even though I kinda thought she already knew that and just called me Patricia to annoy me.
“Whatever. Could you just tell your brother to bring me an iced tea with my sandwich? Thanks a bunch.” Then she pulled her gum out of her mouth, wrapped it around her finger, plopped it back in, and blew a bubble. If there were bubble gum Olympics, she would win a gold medal, hands down.
“How’s your car?” I asked as nicely as I could, showing off a fake smile.
“What do you know about that?”
“Oh, just that tires can be expensive nowadays.”
She stopped smacking and glared at me, her eyes turning to slits. Then she smiled and resumed her brutal assault on that poor, defenseless gum before saying, “No matter. Josh bought new tires for me.”
I gasped. My brother actually paid for her tires? Poor Josh was paying in more ways than one for her lying and cheating. He’d been saving his money for over a year to pay for a football camp at Penn State. He’d probably spent all his money on those tires. This was the last straw. Oh, this chick was going down. I stormed into the kitchen and found my brother making Stefanie’s favorite sandwich: turkey, roast beef, and Swiss cheese on rye bread with the edges cut off and a smidge of low-fat mayonnaise. I was annoyed that I even knew that.
“Josh, there’s something you need to know about Stefanie.”
“I know, I know. Iced tea.” He grabbed a Snapple out of the fridge as if he was in a hurry. God f
orbid the skank have to wait for her sandwich.
“No, not that.” I took a deep breath and blurted, “Stefanie’s cheating on you with Trevor Callahan.”
“That’s not possible. Trevor’s in college. He already went back to Duquesne.” Josh didn’t even pause in his sandwich preparation.
“I know, but before he left, he was kissing Stefanie. It was on Labor Day.”
“I don’t know where you’re getting this from or why you would make this up, but Stefanie wouldn’t do that to me. She’s wearing my ring.”
“Josh!” Stefanie called from the living room.
“Coming, babe.” Josh poured the Snapple into a glass and placed it on a tray next to Stefanie’s sandwich. “Priss, we’ll talk about this later. But you need to learn to like Stefanie. She’s going to be your sister one day.”
I almost puked.
