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Zirko Morozov

"My name is Zirko Morozov. How're you doin'?" Zirko put his hand out for fellow student Jasmine Vogel to shake. Jasmine looked at Zirko's hand with a raised eyebrow, rejecting his handshake.

Like a snake, she glared at him.

"So, you're Zirko. Not as impressive as Aaron said you'd be." She said, arms crossed. Zirko was dumbfounded. This person already knew about him?

"Who's Aaron?" Zirko asked, following Jasmine to what looked like the Cafeteria. The doors were inviting, but the people weren't. They were all either talking to their friends at 'their tables,' or just sitting alone, on their phones, most likely spending hundreds of their parents dollars on game coins.

"One of my friends." Jasmine said, not wanting to interact with Zirko. The pair reached a table with a group of people at it, and Jasmine sat down. She opened the bag she was carrying on her back, and pulled out a book.

"Introduce yourselves." She said to her friends.

There was a pair sitting together, a guy on a Chintendo CheeDS, three girls enthralled in their own conversation, and a girl who was sketching. Zirko, who wasn't good with words, just looked at these people with the look of a scared puppy.

"Hi. I'm Phoenix, this is Julia." The boy in the pair that was sitting together said. Julia looked up from her phone, and gave a small, uninterested wave.

"Hi, you're Aaron, right?" Zirko said to the guy on the CheeDS. He looked at Zirko, gave a friendly smile, and nodded.

Zirko looked at the three girls who were talking. Aaron elbowed one, a blonde with thick-rimmed glasses.

"Hi there, stranger! I'm Lucetta!" Zirko gave a sheepish wave to this very peppy girl.

"I'm Lindsay." Said one of the girls. She was taking selfies, and immediately returned to her phone after she introduced herself.

"This is Alison! She's really quiet, so if she doesn't talk to you, don't be offended." Lucetta said.

Alison gave Jessica a look that would strike fear into the hearts of small animals, and then continued quietly talking to Lindsay.

The one with the sketchbook looked at Zirko like she was analysing his every move.

"I'm Opal. Pleasure to meet me." Opal said, immediately gaining Zirko's respect with her sense of humor. Zirko decided to sit down with these strangers, opening his bag and pulling out a brochure.

Theodore's Academy for the Abled, the brochure said. Zirko was Abled, which meant that he had different genes than others. He could create fire, set things on fire with his mind, and was able to heat anything up with a thought.

"So, you guys are all Abled, right?" Zirko asked.

STUPID QUESTION, ZIRKO. OF COURSE THEY ARE, he thought.

"Yeah we are. Want to hear our abilities?" Lucetta enthusiastically asked, as if it was the most important thing ever.

"How about we demonstrate them at the mall after school?" Aaron recommended. The others seemed to agree.

"Cliché, but practical." Said Phoenix. Zirko nodded in agreement, still reading the brochure. Lucetta stood up, grabbing Allison and Lindsay as she stood.

"Let's go!" Lucetta said.

"The day isn't over, friend." Opal said in a very sarcastic tone. Jasmine chuckled as Aaron checked his watch.

"The day's been over for 5 minutes." He said.

The group of students exited the Academy, walking towards Thumbling Mall, which was a brisk walk away. The small group was surprisingly accepting of Zirko, who was still wondering why they had even brought him to their table. He decided that it wasn't time to overthink his situation. He had friends, if not, close acquaintances.

"Okay, we'll stop here." Julia said. The group was in a small, open space outside of a Smears at the mall. Perfect for testing out powers. Zirko could tell that things similar to what they were doing had happened there, as the grass was singed, covered in slime, and overgrown in some areas.

Phoenix volunteered to show off his ability first.

"Aaron, use your ability on me." He said.

Aaron created a sword out of some grass and a vase, and stabbed Phoenix through the chest. Zirko was disgusted, as Aaron just murdered Phoenix. The life drained from Phoenix's eyes, and immediately returned, as Phoenix jumped back up.

"I'm okay!" He said. Zirko looked on with a mix of awe and terror. Phoenix, like his namesake, came back to life when he was killed. It appeared that Aaron's ability was to create anything out of objects around him, like turning a long piece of grass into a blade, and a vase into the handle.

"I'll go next." Said Zirko. But it wasn't Zirko. Julia's voice came from 'Zirko,' and she shifted back into her normal form. She smiled, bowed, and tapped Jasmine's shoulder, whispering something.

"Oh, is it me?" Jasmine said, smirking. She snapped her fingers, and Aaron began crying. Emotion Manipulation, Zirko had seen this before. When he was at a convention, someone was making their friend feel extreme emotions for money. Zirko hadn't understood why they did it at the time, but apparently the manipulator had the opposite emotion of the manipulatee.

Zirko looked over at Allison, and raised an eyebrow.

"Can she do anything?" He asked. Allison jumped, and continued up into the air. Zirko took a bottle of water out of his bag, and did a spittake.

"Flight is a myth! Literally every other power has been recorded but flight." Zirko said, flipping through an encyclopedia of Abled powers. He paced through the patches of grass, and he remembered something.

"Lindsay, you haven't showed off your power!" Zirko said.

Lindsay took off the sunglasses she was wearing, and looked at Julia. Julia's blank white eyes lost their pupils, and her eyes became half closed.

"Slap yourself in the face." She said and Julia slapped herself in the face so hard, it left a mark. Julia snapped back to normal.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!"

Julia shouted, her eyes filled with rage. Lindsay just shrugged.

"I was showing off my powers." She said smugly, putting her sunglasses back on. Julia glared at Lindsay before returning to talking with Opal and Jasmine.

Lucetta stood up from the bench she was sitting at, and started waving her hands around. All around her, the plants began to grow, until they took the shapes of Topiaries of Zirko's "cool friends." Zirko admired his, as he thought it was the best-looking. The area they were sitting in began literally heating up, until Zirko's topiary was on fire.

"NO!" Zirko and Lucetta shouted. Zirko quickly made it so that the flames burned out and Lucetta's tears quenched the flames on the ground.

"Haha... That's my power, heat manipulation." Zirko said, embarrassed. He received looks of awe from the others.

"It's not that good. I mean, at least 400 Abled have that ability." Zirko said, not understanding why they were in awe.

In place of the topiary of Zirko, was a creature made of lava and vines.

"It's name is Jorge." Said Aaron.