The Odd Ones Out

Cause, Effect, and Side-Affects

Okay, a few things to note here. For one, this chapter turned out to be very long (over 3400 words) and I split it up into two to let the story breathe a bit. Two, after too long of a hiatus from updating, there were some minor things changed for the sake of the story. You may reread the earlier entries to get those bits. The only change that is relevant for this chapter is that, instead of a car, Griff drives an RV. This isn't a style change. There is substance to this!

Any comments or feedback is much appreciated! Tell me what you like or do not like about certain plot points or characters. Reading comments is always my favorite part of publishing! That said, enjoy the chapter!

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"What do you mean your hair just started falling out?!" Stella asked as Griff drove through the morning commute. "You sure it wasn't, like, some bad shampoo or something?" She fumbled with her words, trying to make sense of the bizarre situation.

"I'm telling you how it is, Stell," Griff started, balancing his attention between her and the road. "I woke up this morning, like any other day. Yeah, I had a bit of a headache, but that was nothing a few pain pills couldn't fix. Anyway, after I got into the shower, my... my hair, it just fell off, clump after clump... I thought about going to get it checked out but decided to check in with you guys first. See if you guys had any... side-effects," he said, glancing at Stella's ponytail.

"I can smell better," Wes chimed in from the couch, his fingers clutched tight around his nose. "The mothballs and peppermint smell is doing a special little number on my nose right now. By the way, your shampoo smells great! Although, I'd skip on the Head and Shoulders from now on... just sayin'."

Fingers tightening around the wheel, Griff let out a low groan, staring forward at the road.

"He thinks we have superpowers," Stella added with a sigh. "Then again, compared to cancer, hell, I don't know which one sounds more bonkers. Even if that were true, that we have..." Stella hesitated and bit her tongue on her next word, "superpowers. What does that even mean? That with Wes' power of slightly better smell, your baldness, and my ability of absolutely nothing, we're gonna fight crime and save the day?" She scoffed at the very idea, rolling her eyes.

"Well, my eye sight's also better," Wes said. "I don't even need my glasses anymore."

"You didn't feel that was worth mentioning before?" Griff asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked at Wes through the rear-view mirror. "Last I checked, you don't just get twenty-twenty vision overnight... not cheap, anyway."

"I kinda thought that was self-explanatory, 'cause, y'know... the whole not wearing glasses part." In sync, both Griff and Stella glared at Wesley through the mirror. "Or not!" he corrected himself, holding his hands up in defense. "Guess it wasn't as obvious as I thought. Not my fault you guys aren't observant."

"Me going bald," Griff began, shrugging off Wes' comments, "you and your eyesight... both the night after whatever that was happened. Sure ain't no coincidence. Can't be. I'm thinking we check in with everyone else that was there last night. See if they noticed anything weird at all if you get my meanin'. Hair falling out, twenty-twenty vision, third arms, anything that wasn't there before."

A car honked its horn, yanking Griff out of his daze of thought. Seeing that the stoplight had turned green, he drove through the intersection and into their school parking lot.

It was no surprise that the destruction from the night prior had amassed the unwavering attention of the town and then some. Along with the firefighters and repairmen, reporters from several local news outlets gathered around the school library. There was no lack of students snapping pictures, recording videos, and jumping in the shots of the cameramen.