The Problem with Power

Chapter 3: Enter, Dylan's Schoolmates

Dylan was in a state of complete shock.

Zero

How could he explain this to Heather? How would he able to go to school, with people jeering at him about it. He was nothing, he would have been happy with a 1 but a zero? Heather would try to be understanding, but Dylan knew she would be disappointed. He would bring shame to her and his family, plus her boyfriend, although he was a nice guy, would never let him see the end of it.

Dylan was so absorbed in this pit of anxiety that he didn't hear Mr Henderson continuing to talk to him as if this was an insignificant problem.

"Now lad, being a zero is not a bad thing" and he pausing as Dylan turned to look at him with a mixture of confusion and worry. "You're powers are very much linking to puberty as with most of our students and it's all a part of growing up, just like some people are late bloomers during puberty some peoples powers develop much later in life, like me, for example, my powers didn't manifest until I was 17!"

Dylan was surprised by this information, he opened his mouth to ask questions but Henderson motioned to him not to talk, wanting to continue with his rambling.

"That being said, there is not the question of what we're going to do with you" he went on, moving to the filing cabinet behind his desk, opening it and ruffling through the documents within. "We're going to put into the 'Special Cases' unit we have here at Northland" he continued, appearing to find the paper he was looking for, retrieving it with a flourish and returning to sit back down at his desk.
"The unit is especially for people like you, those with conditions and unusual, rare powers that don't fit in with the rest of the pupils" he seemed to notice Dylans still worried look "Dont look so down lad, it doesn't mean you'll be split up from your peers, you will attend classes and have access to all the college facilities as usual, but we will require you to have a weekly check up with me whilst you study with us at Northland" he finished, whilst he was looking over the file, he frowned slightly before snapping his fingers, setting the paper alight and it burned to ash on the desk.

"SO that's why there are no smoke alarms in the office" Dylan wondered. Coming to think of it, he noticed, a part of the security gate on the way in, the school had very little in the ways of onsite security. His day dreaming was cut short when Henderson stood up, and motioned him to do the same. "Seeing as you're the last special case from your year group and there were quite a few from your year mind you, I might as well walk you down to the unit myself" he said, walking over to the door and opening it "Come now lad, don't be shy"

Dylan wearily stepped out of the office into the brightly lit corridor, noticing that the recent hustle and noise around the school had died down, he assumed that the rest of the school was in the mandatory year 7 assembly. In a way Dylan was glad he wasn't there, he had always hated crowds.

Along the white washed corridors they went, passing through a wide open social space with plush sofas and armchairs, Henderson told him it was for the older students to relax during their study periods (Mr Henderson assured him that they were not 'free' periods where students did no work" and out down another corridor, past the cafeteria and into a dead end, where a door read "Private Common Room, specified staff and student access only"

"Oh, I better give you this" Mr Henderson said, handing Dylan a small door key, with which was a keying with a trinket bearing the college logo "This room is for yours and other special students use during school hours and weekends if needed" he went on "however, if you abuse it, we will rescind those privileges" he added, placing his hand upon the door handle and stepping through.

The room reminded Kevin of an open plan apartment. There was a large living space which was also part of the dining area, with cushioned armchairs, a couple of small two seat sofas and a large sofa which could seat three. In the middle of all this was a small table which contained at set of coasters with the college logo, a pot of college branded pencils and a stack of white napkins. A doorway on the opposite side lead a small kitchenette and along the opposite wall were a set of lockers, however Dylan's attention was drawn to the people in the room that all turned to look at him as he entered. There were five people in total; a group of 4 were sat in the furniture in the middle of the room. A small girl with short brown hair in a plaid dress sat in one of the armchairs reading a book on kitting patterns, she looked up briefly, flashed him a smile and returned to her reading. Opposite her sat the kid with the electrified spiky hair he has saw earlier, getting a closer look at him, he seemed like a rather twitch fellow. A pair of twins lounged on both of the two seat sofas; one wore all black whilst the other wore all white. Both seem to lose interest in the new arrival rather quickly however and Dylan assumed they were older students who had been here for a long time and proceeded to throw a small ball between the pair of them. Sometimes it brushed the top of the electrified kids head, causing a large spark, not that he seemed to mind, as he was peering at Dylan intently.

Across the room sat at the moderate dining table, which could seat six was a lithe girl with a set of platinum blond locks. She initially seemed bulkier around her shoulders, like they were padded out with stuffing, but as he peered closer, he swore he could see a dull metal gleam underneath one of the short sleeves of the dark shirt she wore. She appeared to pouring over a piece of paper, drawing a sketch of what looked like some form of sword. When she looked up, she had a pair of ice blue eyes. Dylan felt like he had been x-rayed, however, there was no light in those eyes, which Dylan found un-nerving. The smell of bacon sizzling was wafting from the kitchen.

"I guess I'll leave to mingle then" Mr Henderson said, before Dylan could protest. "Tutor time starts in an hour due to the long nature of the welcoming assembly, quite frankly I think it is stupid, but apparently its tradition so I cannot argue.
He looked back down at the slightly scared boy with a wry smile.
"l shall probably see you in classes later, I do teach here after all, look after yourself lad" with that, Henderson left and softly closed the door behind him.

A brief awkward silence followed, in which the occupants, mainly the electric kid and the girl at the table kept staring at him. Eventually, one of the twins spoke.
"So what's your story then kid?" said the one dressed in black. He spoke with a slight sneer to his voice which un-nerved Dylan slightly.
"Aww, the poor boys terrified" said the one in white, in a tone that was in a complete opposite to his twin. "I know, he continued, lets introduce you to the family" he turned towards the kitchenette, raising his voice "Oi, Val, there's a new kid here"

A dark shape filled the doorway and a large, muscled figure stepped into a view. He wore a pair of shorts and a grey t-shirt which was from a popular clothing brand emblazoned with a jet black cat, leaping forwards. He looked around with a scowl, which changed to a friendlier visage as his gaze turned to Dylan. He had a carried a fish-slice which was comically small in his large hands.

"Ah, new face, new friend!" he exclaimed "I am Val, my full name is too long to say normally, can't chat long, bacon is ready, plenty for all!" he laughed, before disappearing back into the kitchen, humming to himself.

The boy in white smiled at Dylan in a friendly way, his twin only leered at him.
"So I'm Dwight, cause it rhymes with white!" he exclaimed, jumping off the sofa and shaking Dylan's hand vigorously. Dylan was quite taken aback at this how of affection. "My bro over there is Simon, he hates rhymes." Simon nodded curtly to Dylan, his stare was cold.
"Don't mind him" Dwight went on, seemingly oblivious to the obvious hostility "We're two sides of the same coin, hah!" giggling at his own joke, he turned to the others in the room.
"This is Samuel" he said, indicating the electrified kid "but he prefers to be called Sammy, I think he's in your year" Sammy gave a shaky wave, positively trembling with energy. "This little one's name is Sab, although don't call her that, it pisses her off. Her full names Sabrina but most of us are too lazy for such long names"

The small girl looked up at Dwight with a scowl.
"You call me that again, mate, and I'll burn your pretty hair off, got it fuckwit?" she asked, with a tone of voice completely at odds with the vulgarity of her language. She switched her focus to Dylan, who was still shocked at her attitude (or maybe it was the static field Sammy was generating) "Don't mind me guy, you seem nice enough" she giggled, shooting another glower at Dwight before she returned to her book. Dwight seemed to have frozen whilst subconsciously reaching for his hair, but quickly pulling himself together.
"Such a lovely little girl" he said through slightly gritted teeth. "Well" he went on, in a slightly raised voice, "You've already met Val, lovely bloke that guy, cooks good too" he added "oh and over there is Kathy, she likes to draw swords and shit"

The girl with the platinum blonde locks looked up at Dwight.
"We both know all of my swords are bigger than yours little guy" she said her voice firm and confident , smirking a little before adding to Dylan: "I'm the year above you, but by like a small amount, I was born just after the entry date for your year, so I got moved up" she went on "The two bozos are in year nine" she said, citing a chorus of "Oi" from the twins "Sab and Sammy are in your year and Val I think just comes in from time to time, I have no idea what he does here". Just as she finished, the Russian in question appeared, carrying a heaving plate of bacon sandwiches. The kids all rushed to the table and Dylan, being the kind that is used to following others, joined them.

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Through the small feast of pig, the older students were quizzing the younger ones about their powers.

Unsurprisingly, it turned out Sammy had quite the knack of electronics. He stuttered alot when he spoke, Dylan wasn't sure whether it was a condition or from just the sheer amount of electricity.
"When I-!was little, used to shock m-my older b-brother for f-f-fun" he was saying "H-had to s-stop when I w-was little" he went on, "g-gave him a h-heart attack". Dwight giggle a bit at this but this earned him a light cuff across the head from Val, slightly causing him to choke on his sandwich. Everyone else ignored him, even as he slumped off his chair, his face turning blue.
"I can make things I make come to life" Sabrina said, drawing a small mouse on a piece of paper and held it up. The shadows around the room seemed to flicker slightly and a fluffy white mouse rolled off it. It scurried around the table before attempting to leap down Kathy's top. Kathy didn't seem to care, casually picking it up by the tail before throwing it at the opposite wall. It hit with a splat before sliding down the wall, leaving a white smear as it fell.
"Seems the little guy likes boobs" Kathy said, with a wry smile.
"You have none" wheezed Dwight from under the desk, earning him a light kick from Val, dislodging the bit of bacon stuck in his windpipe.
"Well, if we're all done being complete knob-jockeys" Kathy said, turning to Dylan, "Whats you're story pipsqueak?"
Dylan didn't really know what to say, on one hand he knew that honesty was probably most likely the best policy however he didn't want to be ridiculed by his peers.
"I.. I erm.."
"Let me guess" Simon said, interrupting him, "You got a zero on the power meter"
Dylan was taken aback.
"How the hell did you know that?!" he said, shock overriding his anxiety.
"I can read you like an open book kid" Simon went on. Dwight, having recovered from the abuse to his lungs and body and climbed back into his chair, piped up "It's okay man, Kathy here was a rating of zero too, just like she had zer-"

There was a sudden blur of movement and a sword appeared in Katherine's hand (Dylan did not want to know where she'd been hiding it) with its tip just slightly digging into his brow.
"What have I said before, no sword at table child" Val said, giving Kathy a disapproving look.
Katherine, appearing to ignore him, growled "One more fucking word about my tits sunshine, you'll be two plums shorter, got me?"

Dylan sighed.

This was going to be an interesting year.

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