Rewind Hero

Chapter 2

I was able to catch up with Marcus and Violet a few blocks from the school. I apologized and they accepted, saying they shouldn't have brought it up. We agreed to meet up at Chúc mừng phở, Violet's family's restaurant, after school since Marcus didn't have wrestling practice today. We then went our separate ways, Violet to her English class, Marcus to math class, and me to biology.

Dad told me that biology class had become entirely different since the advent of superpowers, with companies and doctors working together to try and discover why they appeared and how they functioned. They'd categorized and explained how thousands of different abilities worked, but the root cause eludes us all to this day, some had just given up and chalked it up to religion or some cosmic fluke. In any case, biology is much more interesting than it was now that all the mitochondria nonsense was learned in elementary school and the study of superhuman abilities was the main focus. I usually just observe in this class because, though I have a superpower, I'm the only one who knows that.

My powers first manifested when I was eight. I woke up from a nightmare, but my room was different. The light of the moon didn't illuminate any of it as the window on the left wall was covered up, as were my blue walls and wood floors. The ceiling, floor, and walls were all covered by dark gray, chess-board patterned structures with the iridescence of oil. They were ice cold to the touch and felt like vinyl. I was so terrified that I would have pissed myself had the nightmare not already caused me to do that in my bed. I felt ashamed, but I knew it was going to be fine,
I could fix it, I thought to myself. Less concrete than a thought and not as sharp as an instinct, I could feel something different inside of me. I gave that feeling the slightest push and a feeling like rushing down the apex of a rollercoaster, a massive and exhilarating woosh , the wet spot from my bed and pajama pants was gone. I had no idea what just happened until I saw the clock had changed from ten thirty to ten fifteen. It was then that I realized that I had superpowers, I had turned back time. I was excited, but not as much as I could have been. Had this happened a week earlier, I would've been absolutely ecstatic, bouncing off those peculiar walls with joy, but that was the week Rachel had come home, or rather, what was left of Rachel. Back problems, knee problems, newly formed red scar tissue from a number of wounds, and the nights where she woke up screaming. For the first few weeks, she always woke up screaming, sometimes people's names, other times just wild noises. The war was over, but not for her.
I kept my newly discovered abilities to myself and never used them after that. At thirteen I was declared legally powerlessandI would never be expected to join a superhero league.I'd be far less likely to be conscripted, the militaries of the world being far more interested in signing up super powered individuals than the roughly forty-two percent of the population that had absolutely no superpowers. Besides, why would anyone want to be a hero? Far more trouble than it's worth if you ask me.

I sat three rows from the front in Mr. Erickson's class. He's pretty laid back as far as teachers go, the only problem I have with this class is that he has it with me. Brent Michales sat two rows ahead of me, I had come in late so I thankfully didn't have to look at his stupid face. That's not fair, I didn't really know him and Marcus said he's alright, we've even played street hockey with him a few times, he's a decent human as far as I know. And it's not his fault I didn't just ask her out when I had the chance. Still, the rest of the class I could only think about throwing something at the back of his head. Mr. Erickson was going on about the specialized metabolic system of individuals with boosted physical attributes like super strength or speed. They made us memorize the international classification system of superpowers (ICSS), why? I don't know. It's entirely useless, just like most things taught in school, that is unless you're going into hero work, like my sister, or work convening hero activities, like my parents. Honestly, I've considered quitting school entirely to join my Uncle Alvin as part of the Disaster Clean-up Crew, a group of construction workers, garbage men, and actual janitors who clean up after superhero fights. Those guys are the real heroes, after all, what's more heroic than putting things back together after a tragedy? But, dad said he'd disown me and mom said she'd like, jump off a bridge, so here I am, listening to this middle-aged hippy talk about superhero biology.