Collective

Hadley

When Hadley got home from what she had begun to think of as Powers Practice, she felt discouraged. She had had such high hopes for her plan, and now she wondered if it had all been for nothing. She knew she would have other chances to try again, but the group was only meeting once a week and seven days felt like a long time to wait.

What's more, Hadley felt like she had no one to talk to about all her new feelings. She was scared that confiding in Will would just make him angry that his Power was gone while she still had a chance to save hers. As upset as Hadley was, she couldn't stand the thought of bringing back the reserved, blank Will who was a shell of himself.

Hadley had focused her Power the night of Powers Practice though, and thought about Bryan. In her mind, she saw herself with him in what looked like a wooded area, she was leaned in close to him, talking in an urgent manner and his face was serious and attentive. Hadley took this as a good sign, a sign that she would get somewhere if she kept working on him, and the thought cheered her up, and kept her going.

So Hadley continued with her chores, and her school, and her life, and she focused all her attention on next Powers Practice so that she would have a fail proof plan. She needed to get Bryan talking away from the others. She needed to devise some sort of plan for the session that would involve them spreading out more. Hadley absolutely could not risk any adverse ears hearing her thoughts again.

It wasn't until Sunday that anything out of the ordinary happened in Hadley's life. She had just finished her weekly sweeping of the back patio, a task Hadley's mother was always hinting should become a biweekly occurrence, when she heard a voice behind her back.

"Had." Will's voice didn't sound normal. It sounded nervous and tense, but there was also a hint of something else in it, a sense of almost...elation.

Hadley spun around to look at him, "Hey, Will!" she greeted him cheerfully, trying to balance out his strange tone.

"Could you - do you think we could...maybe go up to the river?" Will asked tentatively, his face serious.

"Yeah, of course." Hadley dropped the broom into its spot in the supply shed and then asked Will to wait one minute while she ran inside and changed into a more comfortable hiking outfit, and grabbed some snacks and water for them. Hadley emerged from the house in sheath style, three-quarter length sleeve, navy blue dress, her hair pulled up into a ponytail with a ribbon. She had on gladiator style sandals that laced midway up her calves.

Hadley didn't know why, but lately she had been putting more and more thought into what she wore around Will. A year ago, Hadley would have put on an old torn dress to walk up the mountain, probably with stains under the arms from too much sweating on previous wears. She would have figured that there was no point ruining anything nice when she knew it would get dirty. But now, Hadley felt more self conscious, and had been making more of an effort.

Maybe it was because Will had been so weird lately, Hadley thought to herself as they set off through the fields toward the mountain, Hadley trailing a half step behind Will. Things had felt less casual and more awkward lately between them, and, Hadley reasoned, it must be affecting the way she felt when she was with him more than she had realized.

They trekked up the mountain in silence, the only sound punctuating the bird calls was their inconsistent and labored breathing. As had become usual lately, the air between them felt tense, and almost unfriendly. There was a nervous energy around will that Hadley didn't understand. Had something happened? It made Hadley anxious.

At one point, Will almost tripped over a protruding tree root and Hadley grabbed his arm, noticing he felt just as hot as he always had before he lost his Power. Guess that was a Will thing not a Fire thing, Hadley thought.