I stared at the green bottle as it spun in a circle, slowly coming to a halt as it pointed to a giggling, black haired girl. The boy on the other side of the group of people crawled over, and the pair had a chaste kiss amongst the wolf whistles and cheers before they both sat back down. I just continued to watch from the comfort of the recliner in the corner. I only glanced at the game when my eyes weren't fixated on the gorgeous cheerleader on the other side of the room. Yep, it was another typical summertime Saturday night party.
The aptly named Jewel Berry was over there talking to her friend Lela, while Jewel's boyfriend Louis had his arm slung over her shoulders. Why he did that, I had no idea, as he was much larger than her, and the arm must weigh a ton. But he didn't care, he was jealously eying the people playing spin the bottle, and finally wandered away from Jewel after a few more people had a spin. Yes, the moron just left the most gorgeous girl in the school so he could kiss other people.
Idiot.
"Why aren't you playing?" came a deep voice from my right. Ahh, my lovely stalker, Quincy. He just didn't want to give up.
"The person I want to kiss isn't playing," I replied with a sigh.
"Ahh, but I'm right here!" he pointed out, sitting on the arm of the recliner so that he was pushed up on the right side of my body.
I came very close to literally launching him across the room, but that would have been as big of a mistake as I could make.
"Quincy, how many times do I have to tell you that I'm not interested? I like girls, and you're not a girl. Just please, take the hint and leave me alone before I have to tell my brothers to pay you a visit." It was an idle threat, but Quincy didn't know that. Because I was the baby in the family, with three very famous older brothers that were at least ten years my senior, most people didn't mess with me. They had all excelled at multiple sports during their time at the West Shores Institute, the exclusive Connecticut private school we all attended. Nobody could ever understand why an East Coast school had a name like West Shores since we were nowhere near a single body of water, but I guess rich people think differently. Every one of my brothers had been an amazing athlete back in school, and while none of the other students knew about their superpowers, their mere size would be enough of a deterrent.
But yeah, their powers could probably level the school.
I absently wished that my best friend Libby was here to keep my temper down, but she just hated these parties. Knowing her, she was probably home with her fingers crossed that I wouldn't do anything too stupid on my own. So far, I'd been able to do that, but the night was young.
"Hey, no, I get it. It's just that you're gorgeous and all, so I keep thinking that maybe I'd get lucky, and you'd change your mind." He was rubbing the back of his neck, and I felt bad for him. Not bad enough to change my mind to make him feel better, but bad in that I felt bad that he was crushing on the gay girl. Of course, I was crushing on the straight girl, so I guess that we had something in common.
"Not today dude. Maybe try Tori, I know she's always liked you." This was a true statement. Tori was the stereotypical hot nerd, and really liked Quincy but was way too shy to say anything to him. I didn't really know her, though her mind became an open book to me when I touched her arm, so there you go.
But Quincy just snorted. "No way. She's off limits. Louis already made it clear that she's his."
I took my eyes off the game, just as Louis was sitting down and demanding the bottle. "What do you mean she's his? I thought he was with Jewel?"
"Oh, I mean Jewel is the arm candy, but he's planning on making Tori the girl in his bed." Quincy just shrugged as if that was both okay, and a forgone conclusion. But it just made me pissed off, and I almost fried Louis where he stood - Errr, sat.
"Go away, Quincy. You're just proving why I hate men." I nudged his leg to get him to move, and he finally stood up. "If you were a good person, you'd save Tori from Louis, instead of letting him get his way."
I ignored him after that, concentrating on the bottle that became a blur when Louis spun it. He leered at all the women in the circle, all of whom backed away. Nobody liked him, and it was still a mystery why Jewel was with him when he was obviously a prick. It certainly wasn't money, because outside of the few people like Tori, who was at the private school on a scholarship, everyone was filthy rich. Hell, even this party, in the wooded hills of southwestern Connecticut, was serving imported beer and serving drinks in crystal tumblers instead of the typical red solo cups.
As the bottle started to slow, I subtly took control of it, and stopped it, pointing it right at Louis' own crotch. Yeah, kiss that, dick.
"Damnit!" he growled, spinning it again, though slower so it wouldn't take so long for him to kiss someone. You might be shocked to learn that the bottle ended up pointing in the exact same direction. I know, what are the odds, right? Telekinesis is a wonderful thing. Funny enough, it takes more control to make the spinning bottle look like it realistically slowed down, than it would for me to pick Louis up and slam him through a wall. He was lucky I needed the practice.
I decided to cut him a break after the fourth time spinning left the bottle pointing at him yet again. Everyone was snickering now, and he reached down and spun it as hard as he could, and I twisted it and left it pointing straight up. That's it, asshole, pucker up and kiss the ceiling fan.
Louis stood up with a bellow, making Jewel look over at him in alarm, then marched into the kitchen where he would no doubt be finding a drink. I decided to join him because I wanted to make him a little more miserable.
When I got to the kitchen, his head was tilted back, and a bottle of Stella Artois was draining into his throat. It took no time at all for me to walk past him and reach for two bottles myself, then hand him one when he finished the first, making sure I brushed my hand over his arm as I did so. As I did, his mind opened like a book.
Electrical impulses are amazing, and my mind used them to venture into his thoughts like a live wire, paging through his memories in an instant and trying not to be sickened by the filth I saw there. Louis Evans was the kind of person that should be in jail before he was twenty-one. Honestly, he should be there now before anything he did became worse. But at least now I knew some of his secrets, most of which I couldn't even repeat.
"Thanks for the beer," he muttered, popping the cap, and starting to chug it like he did the first. Behind him, Jewel and Lela walked up, with looks of disgust on both of their faces. Lela was from Argentina, and a gorgeous woman too, and was a cheerleader with Jewel. She eyed me speculatively over Louis' shoulder before his head dropped when the beer was done.
"Hey Louis, I was told I need to ask your permission before I ask Tori out," I said with a smile. "You don't mind, right? You have Jewel after all."
"Keep your dyke hands off Tori, that bitch is gonna be in my bed any day now." He let out a belch, then reached for another beer, completely ignorant at the scowls on the faces of the girls behind him.
"I don't think your girlfriend would like that, dude. Maybe you let me take Tori out, and you stay with Jewel. You don't need two girls, right?"
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" He looked at me as if I were an alien, which I guess might explain the powers too, so who knows. "Listen, I already told you, Tori is mine. Fuck! Go after Jewel instead. That bitch won't even suck my dick."
"You sure you won't mind if I ask out Jewel?" My eyes flickered over to the blonde, who was looking at me with wide eyes.
"Nope. Go for it. But if she puts out for you, I get to be a third."
"Louis, there is no chance you're ever going to be a third unless it's a sandwich in a prison shower. But, thanks, I think I'll ask Jewel out." I took one big step to the left and grinned at Jewel, who looked like she was ready to kill Louis. "Jewel, since Louis seems to be fine with it, would you like to go out some time? Maybe tomorrow for brunch?" She never even got a chance to answer before Louis realized how much he'd messed up.
He spun around to see the two girls, his mouth gaping open. "I knew you were there! I swear baby, it was just a joke!" I could see his face turning red as they both flipped him off and stalked away. He whirled back towards me with a snarl. "You fucking dyke, you set me up!" He swung an absurdly slow ham fisted punch at me that I grabbed and twisted over my shoulder, hip tossing him onto the kitchen floor. I jumped on top of him, pulling his arm up until he cried out in pain as I leaned down to whisper in his ear.
"Damn, you're really a disgusting pig, aren't you?" I asked with a wicked grin that nobody could see. "How could you steal your grandmother's money, and not expect anyone to find out? How many people should I tell that to? Your family for sure, right? Maybe you should stay away from Tori and all the other girls before that slips out." I guess I could spill a few of his secrets as a deterrent.
"What the hell? You can't be serious!"
"Deadly. Believe me Louis, I know more about you than you think. I even know about the pig at the petting zoo."
"Oh, god," he moaned. "Not Piggy!"
"Yeah, so be a good little boy and behave." I stood up, letting him lie there and whimper and stood up to go find Jewel. She was outside with Lela, heading towards her car. "So, what do you think? Do you like brunch?"
She cocked her head at me, as though trying to decipher a tough math problem. "You were serious?" I nodded quickly. She let out a heavy sigh before Lela nudged her. "Listen, that was nice that you exposed him, but I can't see myself with a girl. I'm sorry."
I could hardly be shocked. No, really, I control electricity, I never get shocked. Yes, I know, bad pun! But really, I had a feeling she was going to say no, but it didn't stop it from stinging.
The look that Lena gave me helped though. She reached out and grabbed my arm as I turned away and gave me a sad smile. "I'm sorry about her, but that was really amazing what you did that back. You were like a little hero or something."
And then she ruined it. I did NOT want to be a hero.