unOrdinary: An Old Friend Returns

The Library

Waking up on Sunday morning, I see that the sky has become overcast and the clouds are promising heavy rainfall. I quickly put on my pink shirt that shows three potted plants and has a flowery font below that says, "Pot Head" and a pair of blue jeans. I dash to the bathrooms to brush my teeth, run my hairbrush through my brown locks, and then return to my room. It has not started raining yet.

I scramble to look through my suitcase and pull out my dark purple rain boots and even darker purple, almost black, umbrella. I grab my school bag that has my laptop, stuff my cellphone in my back pocket, and I am out the door. I stop by a small shop to grab a breakfast burrito and then I am in the Wellston library.

No one is there, not even the librarian. My access card, that Keene gave me as he was showing me around the school, allows me and all the other Wellston students access outside of regular hours. However, since I did not want my presence noticed if anyone checked the logbooks, I switched out my access card with Evie's, leaving mine in place of hers on the coffee table.

I head to the back to look at the records. I am looking for the archived newspapers, those published at Wellston and those from the City Herald, the city's newspaper. I scan the shelves, finding the current school year. I trace back my steps to go back two years when John first came to Wellston.

I pull down the newspapers, everything from those years up until now. Hands full of newspapers I head towards a table, hidden in an alcove of the library. No one will be able to see me unless they walk right past, so this is a perfect location for my research.

I decided to start with the oldest newspaper first to see when John first drew the students' attention. Luckily, I have gotten good at skimming and speed reading or this task would seem almost insurmountable.

It seems like John drew the newspaper's attention from the onset. A writer named Isen remarked upon him when he first entered in a piece called "New Kid's a Cripple". Way to go Isen; that is one way to draw a target on someone's back. John must have faced a lot of bullies given that publicity. It's already hard being the new kid. If everyone believes you are also weak, then I could not imagine the difficulty John had to go through those years. Then it seemed like the newspaper had forgotten about John, probably thinking he was beneath their notice.

It was astounding that John had been able to go through two years of bullying by Wellston's students and never reveal his powers. I would need to find a way to get John's medical records from Doctor Darren, but if my suspicions were correct, he probably stayed more in the infirmary than any other student. How had John become such a glutton for punishment?

I started tearing up. I knew how. Dad was how. He was the monster who manipulated people's minds, breaking them down. It was no surprise that John would have remained scarred, even two years after his rehabilitation. So many other victims of my father bore self-inflicted physical scars after release from rehabilitation, John just hid his beneath the surface.

Scanning through this year's newspapers I located the ones I suspected were printed around the time of John revealing his powers and becoming the Joker. This is where John has cracked, an event that was able to break him when physical injury had not been able to do so. Seraphina!

Seraphina was the key. Known as the Ace, Seraphina had once been the school's Queen, before she had walked away, and Arlo had named Remi Queen in her place. Along with a boy named Blyke, Arlo and Remi made up Wellston's turf war combatants. Elaine was their healer, and from what I remembered she was also Seraphina's roommate. It was a great point of pride that Wellston had been undefeated for five years.

Arlo, Remi, Blyke, Isen, and Elaine. I would have to prepare portfolios of each. I took out my laptop and connected to social media. I scrolled through their pages, scanning through their contacts to form a web of influence for Wellston. As high tiers, they would know the power players but some, like Remi, Blyke and Isen seemed to have recently been connecting more with the mid and lower tiers.

Remi drew my attention. Her profile picture featured a boy whose smile I felt like I recognized. Ruffled emerald hair and green eyes, lightning abilities. No way! Could it be?!

X-Static! Remi was X-Statics' little sister. X-Static had gone to Wellston, what a small world. Just as I was about to delve deeper into the connecting, I feel my phone buzz on the table.

William! Shoot, I forgot to call him yesterday to tell him that I had transferred to Wellston and spoken with John. I press the green phone button and place the phone near my ear.

"Hi, William. I was just about to call you."

"Hey, Eloise. How are you?"

"I'm doing well. I've just finished getting settled it."

"I'm glad to hear it. How was your first day?"

"Well technically my first day is Monday, but I got a very lovely tour of the school on Friday."

"Did you? Did you find John and have him show you around?"

"Definitely. We also met up yesterday for brunch and then we got a workout at the track. I left him to do his homework today, though."

"Haha. Yes, let him do his homework. Check-in on him though, he sometimes gets distracted."

"Will do, William."

"Thanks for doing this Eloise. I feel so much better knowing you are looking out for him."

"My pleasure. You take care of yourself, ok?"

"Will do, Eloise. Bye, talk soon."

"Bye, William."