Spark in the Heart

“Jojo,” the girl attempted to stop the male who was walking too fast for her. No matter how much she tried to catch up to him, he always seemed to be a few steps ahead of her. 

“Jojo!” she called out to him again. To no avail was she able to catch his attention and make him stop and turn toward her. 

With an inhale and an exhale, she slowed her breathing down. A surge of electricity crackled down her legs. She pulled back slightly and propelled herself forward. She was running at a speed faster than she could possibly achieve. A 180 turn from how much she was struggling previously. 

The distance between the two closed quickly. Before she could stop herself, she crashed right into his broad back. On instincts, she wrapped her arms around him tightly to prevent herself from stumbling back and losing balance. A sigh escaped her lips, her breathing pattern returning to its original state. Although she was comfortable in this position, she was thrown out of her thoughts a little too quickly. 

Jojo twisted his upper body around to look at the shorter female. A frown marred on his lips as he opened up his mouth to speak. 

“How did you knock into me that hard? I wasn’t even walking that fast…” he paused for a moment, “and I didn’t stop walking either…”

Her shoulders slugged with a grimace mirroring his. She was frustrated that he didn't even notice the difference in their height. It didn't matter now, there were other pressing matters. She slowly retracted her arms from around him but when her fingertips grazed against his sides, a spark of electricity jolted the man. It wasn't like that of a static shock. It was noticeably more painful. He didn't make any move to indicate that he felt it but he questioned her about what that was about. 

"Did you just shock me?" 

"What do you mean?" she tried to cover it up. Knowing Jojo, he would find out one way or another. It was a matter of time; the only issue was that she can't just tell anyone about this ability of hers. She would rather he found out on his own in a situation different from this. Maybe in a big battle where she has to save him from a life or death situation. This was underwhelming, to say the least. 

Jojo tilted his head down, getting closer to her height, "I saw the spark. What are you trying to hide?" 

She felt her palms become sticky and sweaty, which was bad because it often created more electricity. With her current mastery, there was no way she could control all the electricity that will drip out of her hands. The more nervous she got, the more her hands drooled electrical discharge. She threw her hands behind her back and folded them together. Her cheeks were flushed red as she tried to come up with another excuse. 

“It’s…” the pressure was really building up. She felt so wrong for lying to him but she didn’t know how to bring it up to him. Despite her reluctance in revealing her secret, she could not think of any other time to tell him about it. She didn’t want to keep him in the dark much longer either. They’ve been friends for years and for her to act like this to him, keeping secrets from him, filled her with guilt. 

She let out a shaky breath, then looked up into his eyes. She softly called his name, her heart pounded against her chest as if it was attempting an escape from prison. Jojo watched her silently, giving her the time she needed to collect her thoughts before speaking to him. He had always been the kind, considerate type of person in his own silent way. They’re always silent gestures that one would not notice unless they pay close attention to him. To those who don’t know him well, they’ll see him as a cold person who doesn’t have a lot of ties with people due to the expressionless look he always seemed to have.

After another few seconds, which felt like forever and more, Jojo was the first to speak up. 

“I know how difficult this may be for you but I cannot help you unless you voice your thoughts to me…” he muttered, a hand brought up to the top of her head. He threaded his fingers through her hair with the hope of calming her down. It did exactly as planned. Her body advanced closer to his and before they knew it, they were in each other’s embrace. Her thoughts cleared up within the short time of Jojo’s comfort. 

They pulled away from one another, each moving back a step to create a small distance. Feeling reassured and confident this time, she began to explain to him her newly found powers. She described how, with steady breathing and a steady mindset, she can use the sparks of electricity in her body to boost her physique, such as running faster, jumping higher, pulling herself up faster, and more. 

After her longwinded explanation, she resumed her eye contact with him. She prayed deep in her heart for him to trust her and to not laugh at her. When she found him laughing, a hand placed on his forehead as his shoulder shook from how hard he was laugh, her heart dropped to the pits of her stomach. Her eyes wavered left and right, searching for answers as to why he was laughing so hard. She thought of the worst reasons possible for his reaction. 

To stop her from hyperventilating, Jojo’s hands reached over to cup her cheeks. He smiled a smile as sweet as honey but as rare as poudretteite. She froze in her panic, eyes staring into his, awaiting his reply. Was he going to hate her? Was he going to spite her? Was this the end of their relationship? 

“Thank you… for confessing your secret to me. I have something to admit as well,” he began, “but I need you to put your trust in me. Can you keep a secret?”