"Twenty stitches, Max," I scold him as we walk out of the Metroburg ER, "Twenty freaking stitches, all because your stupid laser blew up!"
I look at him and the bandages scattering his face and neck. "And look at you! It's like you just shaved for the first time!"
He rolls his eyes, clearly annoyed. He already got a nice lecture from his mom, his sister, and his dad. He's probably just waiting for this all to roll over. I'm just waiting for him to do something else dumb and irresponsible.
"I honestly thought it was going to work," He says as we get into his family's van where we'll wait for his parents to finish paying for whatever his mistake cost, "I must have miscalculated or forgot a piece."
"Really? Is that all?" I ask sarcastically.
He nudges my side harshly, "Calm down, you didn't even feel anything."
"That's not the point, Max, what if I did feel it?" I ask pointedly.
He looks down at his lap, "Well I'd probably stab myself with a piece of glass."
With that my face softens, but before I can say anything, Mr. And Mrs. Thunderman come into the car.
"You're grounded, Max, this little endeavor cost us two hundred dollars," Mrs. Thunderman says, "And you get to pay it all back too."
"What?!" Max and I both exclaim at the same time.
"Two hundred dollars?" I ask incredulously.
"And I have to pay it all?" Max asks just as dumbfounded.
She doesn't even look in his direction, just keeps her eyes trained on me, "They had to give you some vaccine to keep whatever was in that experiment from infecting the wound."
I clench my jaw as I turn to Max who is avoiding eye contact.
"Okay!" He exclaims nervously, "Dad, can we get home please?"
I squint at him but look away, crossing my arms, careful not to mess with the bandage covering my injury.
"Yeah, yeah," Mr. Thunderman says uncomfortably, "Let's do that."
The entire ride back to the Thundermans was silent, an angry and annoyed tension had filled the van. All directed at Max.
I didn't like being mad at him, but he was a real idiot this time. More than the reunion fiasco that happened when we met. But at least that time I stopped him before he could do anything stupid. This time hadn't ended as well to put it lightly.
Phoebe greeted us at the front door, or more her parents and myself, she just completely ignored Max. But he was doing the same so it was like they were separated by an invincible wall.
She smiles widely at me, "I'm glad you're okay."
I nod and return the smile, "To be honest, so am I."
She giggles as Chloe teleports behind her and starts pulling her inside. I chuckle lightly at the enthusiastic youngest Thunderman.
Mrs. Thunderman turns to me as her husband heads awkwardly into the house, "Should I call your parents? Maybe give you a ride home?"
I shake my head, "No thanks, I should be fine, I'll tell them when I go home later."
She hesitates so I smile at her and she nods, "Okay then."
And she goes inside too.
Max sighs and comes up to me, "Ariel, I really am sorry about what happened. You know I wouldn't purposely hurt you."
I smile, "Yeah, I know, you were just being an idiot."
"What else is new?"
I laugh and he smiles at me. I wasn't mad anymore, I don't know if I ever actually was, but I trusted him. More than most, I know, but he was genuine when he talked to me, and I could tell when he was lying. He very rarely lied to me.
I take a deep breath and grin, "Any other stupid stuff you want to do before I go home?"
《○○○》
I woke the next morning more sore than I've ever been my entire seventeen years.
My body hurt everywhere. But my injured arm was by far the worst pain of it all. I looked down at it as I sat up in bed, which was a feat in itself, and noticed the bandage had unraveled and the wound was red and irritated. I didn't dare try to rebandage it, or touch it.
I sigh heavily, remembering the incident from the night before.
Than my arm feels cold. Ice cold.
And than it turns an unnatural shade of blue.
I gasp and my eyes go wide, and then I fall off my bed in the process of freaking out. And my arm is still blue.
"Oh my gosh," I breathe anxiously.
And the next thing I know my bedding is turning red and disappearing, with a horrible burning smell.
Is my bed burning!?
I jump up quickly and stand a few feet away from my now awful smelling bed sheets. I look back at my arm, the blue is gone but now it's wet. I touch the skin that was previously blue and cold and rub the liquid in my hands. It's just cold water.
What was the blue?
Something crashes into the wall by my face. I yelp and look up quickly, stumbling back as I look at the thing that nearly took off my head. It was my blue photo frame that was supposed to be on my desk across the room.
What the crap is going on?
I need to get dressed and get my phone.
I hear rummaging from my dresser drawers. I'm looking at it strangely when the drawers fling out and random clothes come barreling at me. I yelp, once again, as I fall over, covered in my clothes.
I'm almost not surprised when my desk starts vibrating.
My phone comes flying through the air, I put my hand out quickly to catch it but I've never been a veey good athlete. The phone hits my arm and falls into the clothing pile.
I rub my arm where it hit before digging for the phone in my clothes. When I finally pull it out, I speed dial Max quickly. He might know what's happening, right?
He picks up right away, we say each other's names loudly at the same time.
He yells, "I have your powers!"
"What?"
"Your. Powers. I have them. Everyone's listening to me and I may have accidently told my sister to get lost and now she's wandering around the house as if she's in a maze."
I would laugh, but it was more shocking than funny, "You have my powers?"
"Yes, isn't that what I said?" He asks sarcastically.
I roll my eyes as I look at my bed spread, now half burnt and black. My arm is still cold and I'm still under a pile of clothes that came flying out of my dresser when I thought it.
It probably should have clicked sooner.
"Max, what did you put in that laser?"
《○○○》
"So you miscalculated?" I ask, arms crossed and eyebrow raised, "You know, more than you already did?"
We sat in Max's bedroom, him at his computer and me on his bed. I came over as soon as I could, avoiding talking or thinking to strongly on certain things. But trying certainly didn't keep my car at room temperature or any of my car objects in their correct places.
He looks away from his computer to me, "Technically, no. I just didn't calculate how it would work if the laser effected two people at the same time."
I nod, "Okay, so you only did half the work."
He frowns, "I didn't think I had to do that, it wasn't supposed to explode, remember?"
I roll my eyes but nod. "Is it reversible?"
He takes a deep breath, "Not sure, but it should wear off by tomorrow.
My eyes widen, "Tomorrow? We have to wait until-"
"Hey!"
I cover my mouth with my hands as his hair becomes layered with blue frost. He runs his hand through his hair, shaking off the ice as I sit there trying to keep my mouth shut.
"Sorry," I say quietly, keeping my hand over my mouth.
"It's fine," He chuckles, smirking at me, "I mean, can't expect you to be as good as me."
I punch his arm and he starts laughing, jumping out of his desk chair to step away from me.
"Calm down," He says, still laughing, "I was only kidding."
"I hope so, you already charmspoke your entire family to worship you."
"I did not."
"Really? When I got here your mom was making pancakes for you, your dad was oiling your door, and Phoebe was running from you like she saw a ghost."
"Which all happened because of sarcastic remarks," He defended.
I shake my head, "Whatever, Hot Breath."
"Technically, you're Hot Breath now."
I laugh, "Which makes you Pretty Talk?"
He sits there for a second, "Okay, I guess I walked into that one."
I giggle despite myself. He gives me a lopsided grin which causes my heart to race a little too quickly. I look away.
After a moment he clears his throat, "So, what are we gonna do now?"
I glance at him, "Um, should we tell someone?"
He shakes his head frantically, "No, absolutely not, I'm in enough trouble as it is."
I purse my lips. "Well, you can't talk to anyone, and I might kill someone on accident..."
He laughs under his breath.
I shrug and ask, "What do we do?"