I asked "so where are we going?"
Ace says "well it's gonna be a long night so we're gonna eat first, if that's alright?"
I nod and say "yeah, that's fine." We ended up going to Burger King. Not the place where I imagined having my probably last meal, but definitely the people I wanted to have it with. And I was really shocked that when Finn mentioned that I was probably gonna die tomorrow, we got our food for free.
After we eat, I say "we're gonna have to try that I'm probably gonna die thing more often."
Blaire says "then never go to that place again."
I say "maybe in a disguise?"
Ace laughs and says "what, you expect someone to just walk into Burger King wearing one of those huge floppy hats?"
I look at him with a very serious expression on my face and say "yes, Ace. I expect someone to walk into the local Burger King wearing a very large floppy hat."
They all burst out laughing.
We sit and talk for a while, then we get up and go outside.
I ask "so, what's next?"
Finn says "well, since you've loved bowling since we were little, wanna go bowling?"
I say "depends, are you gonna cheat?"
He says "only if I'm on your team."
Ace says "no fair!"
Blaire says "let's keep it fair, boys against girls. Finn, no cheating."
I say "Blaire, no turning off the lights to mess them up. Ace, no becoming a bowling ball so you can walk down the lane yourself and knock all the pins down. Got it?"
They all laugh.
I say "I am totally serious. Unless I develop powers by the time we get to the bowling alley then no one gets to use theirs."
Everyone sighs but agrees, so we go to the bowling alley. We do as Blaire suggested and play guys against girls.
When Finn threw his first ball, it was a perfect throw and the ball hit all the pins.
I instantly call out "cheater!"
He says "can't I just have skills?"
I say "no, you can't. You cheated."
Blaire laughs and says "Nova just let him have the one." She whispers "if he's not cheating then he isn't gonna get another one."
I laugh and nod.
Ace says "I seriously can't become the ball?"
I say "nope."
Finn says "people always say to be the ball, why can't Ace do that?"
Blaire says "because that's not what people meant when bowling was invented. Now go."
I laugh and watch as Ace throws the ball and gets a perfect hit.
I say "Finn?"
Finn says "nope, not me."
Ace says "I've got skills."
Blaise says "yeah, you're skilled at cheating. I saw you cheat on the math test the other day."
Ace says "no, you didn't. I didn't cheat."
Finn says "yeah, on that one. What about the English test last Wednesday?"
Ace says "can we stop playing interrogate Ace and just bowl?!"
I say "we're not done with this conversation, Ace."
Ace rolls his eyes and sarcastically laughs.
Blaire throws her ball down the lane, and she only misses one pin.
Ace says "now Blaire is cheating!"
I say "no, because she missed a pin. If she was cheating she would've gotten all the pins."
Finn says "crap, she figured out how to cheat the right way."
Blaire says "Finn I didn't cheat!"
Ace says "or so you say..."
Blaire says "I swear to god Ace, I will slap you."
Finn says "you're only mad because he's right."
I say "alright, next person caught cheating is gonna get slapped."
Blaire says "thank you!"
I laugh and take my turn. I miss three pins.
Ace says "now that's cheating done right."
I turn to him and say "I will slap you."
He says "sure you would."
I say "I kicked Finn between the legs last week, I can slap you across the face."
Blaire says "why'd you kick Finn in the private place?"
I say "I thought he was a kidnapper!"
Finn winces at the memory of being kicked.
I say "Finn, I apologized like seven times. I don't know what else you expect me to do."
He says "can't a memory just hurt, Nov?"
I say "memories shouldn't cause physical pain."
He sighs and says "whatever."
I laugh and we all continue to bowl for the next couple of hours. Before we know it, it's 10:45. Which was logical, because we left my house at 7:00, and left Burger King at 8:00.
Blaire says "it's too late to go out and do anything at this point, let's just walk around."
Everyone nods, and we start walking.
After about ten minutes, Finn says "hey Nova, wanna try telekinesis?"
I say "Finn we've gone over this there isn't a way for me to get half your power."
He laughs and says "not what I meant."
Blaire says "how could she try it?"
Ace says "dude, it's impossible."
Finn says "Nova, come here."
I walk over to him, and he puts out his hand. He says "grab my hand, okay?"
I look at him for a minute.
Ace says "are you just trying to get her to hold her hand? Are you saying that you've got a little crush on Nova?"
Finn says "Nova just grab the hand. Trust me, okay?"
I slowly nod and grab his hand.
Again, just friends.
He points his index finger and says "point to what you wanna move, and move it in the direction you wanna move it. Just make sure to use the hand that I'm holding."
I nod and point to a sign on a lawn. I slowly move our hands left and right, and the sign starts to sway. I move our hands all the way to the left, and the sign goes flying.
I say "oh crap!"
Finn laughs and says "that's the fun part about it."
I let go of his hand and say "if I get caught-"
He says "you're not gonna get caught."
I say "you don't know that."
He laughs and says "Nov, you're not gonna get caught, alright? Just pretend the wind blew it down or something. Or say that one of the people with wind powers was walking around and blew over their sign." He whispers "or maybe you could just blame it on Ace, it's totally believable. He'd do stuff like that."
I laugh and say "Ace, why'd you kick down that sign?"
Ace says "I did what now?"
Blaire says "Ace, you kicked down that sign."
He says "no, I didn't. Finn and Nova telekinetically blew it away."
Finn says "shh, no one needs to know."
Everyone laughs.
I say "let's just pretend it didn't happen."
Everyone nods in agreement and we keep walking.
After a few minutes we pass a house with a bunch of lights on.
Ace says "Blaire, I dare you to dim the lights in that house, then bring them up, and do that until they notice."
Blaire says "piece of cake. Challenge accepted." She closes her eyes, and suddenly all of the lights in the house dim down. Then they suddenly go back up. She keeps doing that, and it keeps getting darker each time. Eventually, a woman came running out and yelled "where's the Photokinetic?!"
None of them said a word, and they all heard the woman go back inside.
Blaire lets out a sigh of relief and says "there, I did it."
Everyone laughs and Finn says "it's like 11:15 now."
I say "half an hour, then I'll most likely never see any of you again."
Blaire says "no. Don't say that. Not yet. Give us time."
I sigh but say "alright. But we can't hide from the truth forever."
Finn says "can we hide for another half an hour?"
I nod and say "we can hide for that long."
Ace suddenly falls down on all fours, and transforms into a dog. A wolf.
I say "oh my god he's a werewolf! Run! It's a full moon!"
Blaire laughs and says "run for your lives!"
Ace looks up at the moon and howls.
Finn just stands there laughing.
Ace transforms back and laughs.
Blaire pulls her phone out of her pocket and says "I've gotta get going."
I say "okay. Thank you, Blare. For everything."
She nods and says "that's what friends are for."
I walk over and hug her.
While we're still in the hug, I say "I'm sorry this has to happen."
She says "it's not your fault. The stupid Government is doing this."
I say "there's still forty-five minutes."
She says "let's hope you get a sudden rush of power."
I laugh and say "yeah, let's hope."
She pulls out of the hug and wipes tears from her eyes.
Ace says "hate to say it but I've gotta go too."
I nod and turn to him. I say "thank you." I hug him.
He says "my pleasure, Nova."
I sigh and say "I hate the Government."
He says "me too."
I pull out of the hug and say "goodbye, Ace. Try not to cheat on any more tests."
He says "that was one time!"
I say "and now you've been labeled. You've gotta be more careful. If we caught you, the teacher probably did too."
He laughs and says "I'll try not to cheat."
I laugh and say "my ghost will be watching you."
He says "no promises though."
I nod and laugh again.
Finn says "we should probably start getting everyone home."
I nod and say "yeah, that's probably the best idea." I choke back a sob.
We all start walking, and we go to Ace's house first. We hug again, then he goes inside. Then, we go drop off Blaire. She cried a little, we hugged a couple of times, then she eventually went inside. That left just me and Finn.
He says "did you have fun?"
I say "I did. Except for the last ten minutes."
He says "wasn't easy for any of us either."
We start walking to my house.
I say "I'm sorry that this has to happen."
He says "so am I."
We walk in silence until we get to my house. When we get there, I pause at the bottom of the steps.
I say "thank you, Finn. I don't know where I'd be if I didn't have you."
He says "same here, Nov." He looks down at the ground, then says "look, I've gotta tell you something." He looks at me, right in the eye.
I say "anything. What is it?"
He says "I um, I know this isn't, uh, I'm..."
I say "you're what?"
He sighs and says "Nova, I think I'm in love with you."