The Gifted

Book 2: Chapter 2

By the time we got back to the estate I was short on breath. I think my oxygen levels dipped into minus figures, I was panting so hard.
We collapsed on the grass outside my house.
For a minute we were both just breathing heavily but then I heard a giggle.
I looked over to her in confusion. Why was she laughing at a time like this?
"Why are you laughing," I managed to speak.
"Did you see his face?" She said each word between gasps and giggles.
"Yeah, it was scary, did you not think so,"
"Well yeah, but-" she paused and giggled. "It was fun, well not fun, but exciting! I felt an adrenaline rush for the first time and it was thrilling!"
"I thought you felt an adrenaline rush whenever you see Tony's hair," my breath was recovering.
"Oh shut up!" She said sitting up and hitting me on the arm.
"Ow," I mumbled into the grass.
"Come on! Let's talk about this inside,"  She stood up and nudged me with her foot.
I unwillingly rolled over and my friend pulled me to my feet.
We walked towards my house, two bedroom, one bathroom, tiny garden. It was identical to the thousands of houses I lived next to. I lived in Marybrook, the second biggest council estate in England, the place where all the scum ends up eventually. As we got to my door, I simply shoved it open. Our lock's broken, it's been picked too many times. Besides, we have nothing valuable left in the dump I call home.

When the door closed I quickly observed the situation. I looked into my kitchen. It was empty, of people, but, full of trash. Disregarded Fast food packaging and grubby glasses littered the counter. I saw the empty beer cans in the exact same moment I heard the snores coming from the living room. My heart sank, my father was home.
I signalled to Clare to be quiet and she understood immediately.
My dad isn't someone you want to be around when he's drunk.
Actually, scrap that. My dad isn't someone you want to be around period.
After my mum left, his charisma declined quickly (his personality wasn't great to begin with, I don't blame my mother for ditching him, I just wish she didn't leave me behind to deal with him.) He lost his job and we ended up in this dump.

We crept up the stairs as quietly as we could but we weren't aided by the creaky floorboards. When we finally reached my room, I sat on my bed and my best friend turned to face me.
"You're plotting," I could tell by the excited glint in her narrowed brown eyes.
She giggled and opened her mouth, then closed it. I rolled my eyes.
Sometimes I wondered what was going on in her crazy mind under her mop of tight curls.
"Flame's totally has a crush on you!"
I raised one eyebrow.
"Not that you would want him too, he's a freak, it would never work," she continued and then clutched her heart and flopped onto the bed beside me.
"Star crossed lovers, so tragic..." She declared dramatically, pretending to wipe her eyes of tears.
"What are you talking about?! He looked like he wanted to kill me after school, besides I'm pretty sure he already has a girlfriend, not that I care!" Kaia was a girl in my school that seemed permanently at Flame's side.
Clare looked thoughtful for a second.
"Flames and Kaia do seem close... But whatever, as I said, you couldn't date him any ways, he's a freak,"
I ground my teeth.
"Could you stop saying that word,"
"What word?"
"The word you just said,"
"What?"
"Freak! Could you stop saying freak!" I could feel my cheeks reddening.
"Wait what? Why?"
"I don't like it," I muttered, staring at my shoes.
"Geez, why do you even care, you're not one of them."
She was right, I was overacting. I didn't even know why I disliked the word. All I knew was whenever anyone said it, my insides twisted.
"You're right," I mumbled.
She peers at me suspiciously for a second and then shrugs it off.
"Whatever, so, you wanna come to mine and watch a movie," My spirits lifted, Clare's house was one of my favourite places, her mum and dad loved each other and their children,  and there was always a cheerful atmosphere, the entire house was clean and the garden was well looked after.
"Sure."

*note: I made another book that is entirely dedicated to the return of the gifted, please consider adding it to your library. Also check out my other book like "call me Tom" which was a collab between darshanajkrowling and I. Anyway thanks for reading, please vote, comment about what you enjoyed and share to your friends!*