A Tale from Eirini

The low drone of a phone buzzing woke me up. My eyes still shut, I tossed my hand around, looking for the thing before it began to speak. I spent a few minutes searching before I heard it. “The time is six-oh-five a.m.” Son of a—

I got ready for the day as usual; teeth, shower, hair, and bathroom. I had roughly thirty minutes to spare before I had to teleport to school, so I spent my time wisely: rushing through as much homework as I could. Twenty-five minutes later, my mother woke up to remind me not to dawdle, even if I could teleport. “Just because you can avoid traffic, Jeremiah, does not mean you can wait until the last minute to show up. Early is better than on time!” It was the same thing every day, has been since my ability showed up when I was in middle school. I began to daydream about traveling the world, losing track of time. I suddenly came back to reality, and my mother’s words came back to me. Sighing, I grabbed my bag and shut my eyes. There was a loud pop as air closed the void I left behind me.

Just as I landed in my seat, the late bell finished ringing. My homeroom teacher stood to my left. I sheepishly waved at her. She shook her head and handed me a slip of paper. I didn’t need to read it. The class went by slowly. Relearning about the creation of the Global Ability Monitor Union, or GAMU, for the umpteenth time is always fun, said no one ever. At least I’ll have one of my friends in the next class. The same old thing about how a prophet or oracle runs them is how they wait for a new world-ending event or global conflict to stop. They “stand as the first protective measure against those who choose to threaten the world.” All the GAMU police do is sit around and make money for doing nothing.

The next class was imperiology,  the study of powers. It was like physical education, but with a teacher who was allowed to beat the crap out of students to point out what they did wrong. They say it’s to inform us of new ways to use our powers, but there’s not much you can do for teleportation. You shut your eyes; you open them; you aren’t where you were. That’s it—however, Mr. Polnsk thinks that isn’t the case. He believes I’m too stuck in the traditional use of it. It’s not like I make a portal or something. 

I was proved wrong when Polnsk decided to chuck a dodgeball at me while I sat talking to Alyx. He misjudged, and it went sailing toward them instead. I reached my hand out to block it, though it never connected. Instead, it reappeared on my right side, headed straight for him. There was a pong as it hit him square in the face. I was screwed. For the remainder of the class, I was forced to recreate the event. I managed a few times, even being able to create an infinite falling loop. I was scared to stop it until Polnsk called in Beatrice Whittle, a woman who could manipulate the speed of an object to an extent. It took her until lunch to finally slow it to a safe speed. She had to leave early, to which I profusely apologized. She assured me it was okay, but I still felt like garbage. It took me a few seconds, but it clicked that it was indeed lunch now. In a panic, I sprinted to the cafeteria. 

Thankfully, I snagged a spot nearer to the food. Now slowly marching forward, I could see more of the cafeteria. Stereotypical crap, it seems. Cliques were formed and solidified, though some decided to mingle, typically with the freshmen or people they knew since elementary school. It was still weird as a sophomore to no longer have to worry about being the center of attention whenever I enter a room. Someone prodded me in the back, telling me to move up. I flushed, hurrying forward to grab my horse meat and canned mac and cheese. As I made my way to the exit door, someone I didn’t know blocked my path. He looked like one of the seniors, followed by a near replica of himself. “Come on, guys; I gotta get to ISS. The last thing I need is to have something snowball into something worse.”

The one to the left grinned, Chance, maybe? “Really? You sure you don’t want to sit next to Alyx and show them how cool you are? Mr. Teleportation gonna’ take them to all the exotic places, right Josh?” As he spoke, he shrunk down to his usual height. His skin tanned in most places, his hair becoming straight, the color of coal.

Josh was now back to his usual look as well, practically the polar opposite of his twin. Bright platinum blonde hair that curls and ghastly white skin with those chocolate splotches covering him. Their eyes were the same color, though, something they couldn’t change: deep purple, almost amethyst. “Totally! Hey, if you take them to get sushi or something, could you bring me back some of that fried rice? You owe us!”

“Owe you, for what?” I asked.

“For taking your place in ISS!” They spoke in unison. I stared dumbfounded.

“How are you going to do that? The ISS teacher can tell when someone’s using their powers.” I gave each of them a curious look.

“Easy, we both walk in, looking like the other. Bosch’ll tell one of us to leave and get you, and then we will come back as you! He can’t use it passively. But Josh here decided to impersonate Welles and got ISS, so there’s a reason he’ll be there. Now! Go sit your happy keister down and smooth talk your way into something more than their DM’s.” Chase gave me a knowing wink. I looked at him, annoyed, cursing at him. They both laughed and left for Bosch’s classroom. I turned around and scanned the room for Alyx, spotting them on the far side near the Bulldogs, the folk who think football is everything life has to offer. They all have physically enhanced abilities that let them play better than others on the field. Many joked I would be a perfect fit, but teleportation isn’t quite allowed on the field. I checked. Moving forward, I began to sweat. Irrational thoughts clouded my mind. Were they even interested in me? Did they have someone in mind already? Were they even interested in anything like that? I began to curse repeatedly in my mind. Their voice, the way they always seem to have my back. Their appearance, wow. Bob-cut curls that tumble in a beautiful flow of fiery red that stops short of a flannel jacket—

“Hello, Earth to Jay? You’ve been standing there for some time now.” Their hazel eyes were locked onto mine, a curious look on their face. What do I say? How should I say it? Why is it suddenly so difficult? The twins, obviously, but I mean, who wouldn’t like to hang out with them? They’re amazing. 

“Sorry, I was just remembering Polnsk’s class. Sorry that happened, by the way.” I gave an awkward chuckle as I slid— sat across from them.

“Nah, it’s all good! It was pretty funny to see you do that to him, though. He’s definitely going to have a bruise on his face. It’s all thanks to my newly hired bodyguard.” They gave me a sudden telepathic squeeze. I stiffened, attempting to keep myself from making a fool of myself. Bodyguard-zoned, woo.

“Y-yeah! I just hope it doesn’t land me into more crap with Bosch. Chance and Josh decided to take my spot in ISS so I could hang out with you—” I stopped too late. I suddenly found the grey horse meat very interesting. The mac and cheese looked extra gluey today. I felt their gaze on me, digging in like something that digs into the ground.

“Like a mole?” I cursed, placing my head right beside my food. That’s right. They can, in fact, read minds. I screamed inside my head, unintentionally making them cringe. They chuckled after recovering. “Listen, I don’t peek about that stuff but you made it too easy. Besides, who do you think gave the two the idea in the first place? You didn’t think they came up with it on their own, did you?” I dumbly nodded. It seemed like something they would do. “Well then, instead of focusing on that, why don’t you try and impress me with your newfound capability to make portals?”

Feeling obligated to, I took a spoonful of mac and cheese and tossing it into the air, sending it through one hand and out the other. It was simple enough to juggle the thing, but what I wanted to do was so much worse. I cleared my head, pretending to focus while I shifted slightly. As the tiny scrap of food exited from my left hand, I moved it toward them, swiping the food quickly with my right hand. It shot out right on target. Time seemed to slow; it was the perfect shot. Then I saw the grin as Alyx began to move out of the way. There was a soft splat as the scraps hit a different target. Alyx was cackling. “You are too easy to read! If you wanted to do something like that, maybe come up with the plan while I’m not there to hear it—” there was more they were going to say, but the sound of a chair scraping on the floor behind them silenced them.

“So, what I’m hearing is the privacy invader and the chicken are the reason my back has food on it?” We both cursed silently. Ezekiel Espolón, nicknamed “Ram” for his approach to the football field. “Which one of you is paying for my dry cleaning bill?”

I spoke up first, stuttering. “W-well, you wouldn’t need dry cleaning if the school didn’t require the sports teams to get all dressed up before an out-of-town game. So if there’s someone you should be mad at, it’s them.” I swallowed hard. This was not going to end well.

“Oh, really? Maybe I should have a talk with them then. Tell them it’s a stupid rule? Tell them they should take away my few chances of dressing up all nice?” He began walking around to my side, ending right in front of me. “How about you open the conversation with the school nurse, huh?” He grabbed my shoulders and threw me toward an empty table. Not wanting to get broken bones, I made myself vanish and reappear where I was. The problem is, I forgot that when I teleport while moving, I keep my inertia. I slammed into Ezekiel, sending him tumbling into other students.

Alyx muttered an “Oh no,” before chaos made its way through the entire cafeteria. Ezekiel tumbled into a student I don’t know too well, and they began to argue over what happened, growing physical rather quickly. The two cliques they were with soon jumped to help their respective “leader,” slinging food or punches. Students hit other students, powers began to activate, and the school’s power intervention system was taking its time to start. I looked over to Alyx to see them being descended upon by one of the original goons. Popping between Alyx and whoever this girl is, I gave a wave, seeing a dessert pie slice in her hand. “Are you going to eat that?” I asked, causing her to swing it down toward me. I smiled, causing the pie and, accidentally, part of her arm through a portal of mine right back at her. I made sure to keep the portals open as her arm followed her backward. “Sorry, I did not mean to do that!” Alyx’s hand grabbed onto my sleeve, and I understood what to do. Regrettably, the PIS came on, followed by GAMU officers entered the building. 

They put PIS bracelets were put onto everyone in the cafeteria, followed by the principal, Mr. Richard Gowan, having an impromptu assembly with the school about the dangers of using powers at school outside of class, thanking GAMU for their intervention. At least Alyx wasn’t having to worry about hearing everyone’s surface thoughts now. We were all dismissed, Alyx and I going our separate ways. That’s when I saw Chance, Josh, and Bosch coming toward me. Josh called out to me. “Sorry, man, we wanted to see what was going on, and yeah.” May whatever deity I angered take pity on me.