While everyone else got to cool down, Owen worked on keeping his super strength in control.
Ku knows he's a quick learner but this was proving difficult.
"Owen, you need to remain calm. You are too worried about breaking something," Ku sighs, as Owen accidentally throws a tree across the room.
"I'm trying. It's just not working...besides...I'm always calm," Owen grumbles.
"Ever since you met those guys, that has been proven otherwise," Ku says.
"Okay, but still. Why is this so HARD?!" Owen smacks the tree next to him and it goes flying. His eyes widen and he looks down at his hands.
"Good grief," Owen mummers.
"You will get there. I know you will, now just keep trying," Ku tries to cheer him up. He walks closer to Owen and puts his hands on his.
"Hold my hands," Ku instructs.
"What?" Owen questions.
"Hold my hands," Ku taps his hands against Owen's.
"But I'll crush them," Owen protests.
"You will not," Ku reassures him.
"You don't know that! I don't want you to have you have broken hands!" Owen looks at him like he's crazy.
"Just relax and hold my hands. Like you do in a handshake," Ku repeats.
"But-"
"No more buts. Just do it."
"...okay..."
Owen holds onto Ku's hands, and tries hard to not crush the bones. His eyes closed, as he concentrated. Sweat pours down from Owen's forehead. Ku smiles at the teen and nods his head slightly.
Owen suddenly pulls back, his breathing heavy as he looks down at his shaky hands. "I can't do it Sensei, I can't do it!" He looks over and Ku instantly puts a hand on top of Owen's head.
"You can do this Owen, you just need to practice."
--
"Guys! Guess what!" Owen dashes into the room...the door in hand.
Everyone stares at him. Wide-eyed.
"No need to worry. All you need to do is this-" Owen shoves the door back in place and it works. "And it's as good as new." Although he told everyone to not worry...he was the most worried, he starts visibly sweating.
"Dude. You have problems..." Brenton's voice trails off.
"I know, I know," Owen sighs, taking a seat on the floor, careful not to apply excessive force. "I actually have to think in order to NOT break something," Owen rests his forehead on his palm.
"You'll get the hang of it," Urana pats his back and pulls back quickly.
"Yeah! Stay positive!" Ava adds.
"Okay, well, I'm positive that I'll have to think in order to NOT break anything forever," Owen lifts his head up.
"That makes, like NO sense," Brenton comments.
"Oh, c'mon, don't be like that," Alex punches his shoulder playfully.
"I'd punch you back but I might just break your bones," Owen pouts, putting his head in his hands.
"Dude, you're like, one of the smartest people I know. Either you're gonna figure it out or you're just gonna get the hang of it and eventually forget about it even being there and all. So relax," Brenton offers, saying it like it was the most obvious thing ever.
"He has a point," Urana agrees. "One way or another, you'll overcome this challenge, so don't worry so much."
"I guess," Owen mumbles and ties up all of his hair.
"You just tied your hair without breaking the ponytail," Ava brings up. "You're just thinking too much."
Owen looks down at his hands, he blinks multiple times, trying to figure out why and how and just...what.
"Don't think too much," Alex reminds him. "You have a habit of doing that way too much." Alex looks thoughtful, tilting his head a little.
"It's so frustrating! I-I just don't get it! Do I think? Do I not think? Do I just not do anything? Or is it something else entirely?! Just, WHAT?" Owen rambles, looking confused.
"Hey, you're gonna be okay right?" Brenton puts a hand on his shoulder.
"I don't know. Honestly, I'm just confused. Nothing beyond that. Just, confused," Owen sighs.
"Take a deep breath," Urana instructs, turning her ocean blue gaze on him. Owen takes a deep breath, closing his eyes and leans his head back.
"Just clear your mind. Focus on something happy," Urana adds, not moving her gaze.
"She's intense," Ava mumbles.
"As if that wasn't obvious already," Alex mumbles back.
"Just because I'm not looking at you doesn't mean I can't hear you," Urana calls out.
Alex and Ava jump a little in surprise.
"Heh, that's Urana for ya," Brenton chuckles at the cheerful teens.
Owen continues to keep his eyes closed, focusing on a single image in his mind.
"What do you think he's thinking about?" Alex asks, looking curious.
"I don't know...I can't really read him," Brenton knits his eyebrows in confusion.
"I don't know either...his eyes keep everything well guarded," Ava raises one of her eyebrows.
"Well, you two sure know a lot about people huh?" Alex questions, smiling.
"I'm just used to knowing what a person is like, I'm used to reading people," Brenton grins.
"And I'm just going off the fact that the eyes have the truth, which is true, but Owen sure has his walls up," Ava adds.
"The only one who seems to get him is Urana, but they've known each other for years so I get that," Alex shrugs.
"Hmm, true," Ava and Brenton muse at the same time.
Owen sucks in a breath, then releases it and opens his eyes. Urana then looks back at her homework, putting it back in her bag.
She then pulls out papers from Owen's bag and clicks her pen.
"Alright. Math homework: Question 1: of the-" and Urana recites a problem.
"2.6234," Owen answers. Urana writes it down and moves on to the next question.
"Seriously! Are these guys rivals, or best friends?" Ava puts her hands on her hair.
"I don't know at all!" Alex agrees.
"I'm just surprised that they're both. With the way they argue," Brenton doesn't continue but proceeds to shake his head.
--
Urana knocks on the door of her parents' room only to have the door open a bit itself. She pokes her head in, opening her mouth to say something when she spots her parents looking at pictures.
She looks at the photos, a bit blurred from the distance. There's a little girl in the picture with black hair and blue eyes, but she didn't look like Urana at all.
Confused, Urana glances at the other pictures and her parents. She moves away from the door, not wanting to intrude further.
"Our little Alexa..." her mom suddenly says.
"It's always the good ones who leave first," her dad adds.
---
"Yay! I've got advisory with you guys," Alex cheers, holding onto both straps of his backpack.
"Now you can help us with our homework before we go to Sensei's," Ava agrees, pointing to Owen and Urana.
"Yeah, you guys need to help us," Brenton adds, crossing his arms.
"Never said I wouldn't," Urana says.
"I can just do stuff verbally, it took way too much brainpower to keep from breaking pencils and papers, and the laptop," Owen sighs.
"How many times do we have to tell you to stop thinking so much?" Ava wiggles her index finger at him.
"I tried. It just doesn't work," Owen replies.
They all make their way inside to a large classroom, many upperclassmen were here as well. The teens take their spot at a table near the windows.
With a classroom this big, the tables are able to seat six people.
A teenage girl comes up to their table, she has short black hair that reach right below her ear, with one thick piece of hair that is longer than the others and comes down to the end of her neck. Her eyes are a dark chocolate brown and her skin is a rich sepia color.
"Yo, what took you so long?" Brenton asks from across the table.
"I have better things than come in here and do work," Sasha rolls her eyes and takes a seat next to Ava.
"Probably off doing stuff that almost cost you your bones," Urana guesses, not looking amused.
"Heh, how'd you know?" Sasha smirks, wiping some dirt off of her white shirt. The school year is almost over and clubs and sports ended a few weeks ago, giving everyone more free time.
"Because you made a name for yourself that way," Urana mumbles, clearly not interested in the conversation.
"You're always doing your work, you and Owen both," Sasha looks over at Owen too.
"What? Do you want me to say how dumb those stunts are as well?" Owen raises an eyebrow.
"Chill dude. I don't need you to lecture me. Besides, people just think that I do dangerous stuff, I don't actually do it," Sasha rolls her eyes again.
"The amount of sass you have is crazy," Brenton comments, throwing her a pencil.
"Thanks dude. But yeah, I'm the Sass Queen," Sasha looks proud of herself.
"Huh, Sasha the Sass Queen, and Sasha the DangerKid," Alex thinks. "You've got some crazy and cool nicknames."
"Well of course, I am pretty cool. The Cool Dude," Sasha nods.
"Oh brother, you sure are confident in everything," Ava chuckles.
"It's good to be confident! And you've got a thing or two to learn about that," Sasha wraps her arm around Ava. Who then laughs.
"I'm pretty confident in myself!" Ava protests.
"Can you please quiet down? I'm trying to get my work done here," Urana sighs.
"Yeah, you're being distracting," Owen agrees. After that he continues to work on his homework, not breaking a thing.
Everyone but Sasha smile for a second to themselves before going back to their original mood.
Sasha releases Ava, then proceeds to get out her work. "I guess I should do it," her voice trials off as she starts to work.
Ava goes back to work, glancing up at her friends every few minutes to check on Owen. Who seemed to be doing fine.
"Here's an eraser," Urana hands over a pink one to Sasha.
"Some lead," Owen pushes some over.
"The one homework assignment from Civics," Alex gives her a piece of paper.
"And the other part of that homework," Ava slides over another piece of paper.
"Argh, you guys are making me feel so stupid...how'd ya know?" Sasha takes the things handed to her and starts to do her homework.
"We're your friends!" Alex exclaims, as if it was the most obvious thing ever.
"We always have this class together and you always complain and ask for the same things," Urana states.
"So we kinda just picked it up," Owen adds.
"Of course," Sasha grins a little. A smirk forms on Sasha's face and she quickly grabs Urana's pencil from her hand. Urana turns her head and glares.
"Do you need something?" She questions.
"Yes, for you to stop doing work. Like, let's actually talk," Sasha answers, twirling the pencil between her fingers.
"You'll never get your work done that way," Owen reminds her. Sasha waits until he looks back down at his paper and then proceeds to get up, walks over to Owen and points to his hair and smirks.
Alex, Ava and Brenton stifle their laughter and give her a thumbs up. Sasha's smirk grows and she then messes up Owen's hair.
"Hey!" Owen turns his head back, his hair lose and flowing down to the bottom part of his neck. While some of it is still up in a pony tail. His green-brown eyes glaring at Sasha.
Everyone bursts out laughing, having people from the other tables glance over. The tables were a decent area apart but if you talked loudly then it would be heard by the other tables.
While glaring, Owen fixes his hair.
"Oh gosh...that was funny!" Alex laughs, wiping up imaginary tears. Ava laughs in agreement.
"The look on your face right now!" Brenton smacks the table in laughter.
"You guys are unbelievable," Owen rolls his eyes.
--
That day, the five teens make their way over to Sensei's. As they make their way outside, they spot Amy, waving them over.
Shrugging at each other, they make their way over.
"You're early today," Urana notices.
"You know it! That's why I wanna walk with you guys today, of course it's totally cool if you don't want to together, I'll just make it there on my own," Amy grins, looking more happy due to the fact that she got out early.
"Sure! It'll be fun!" Alex answers.
"I've always wondered what it would be like to take a walk with Coach," Ava puts a finger on her chin, then tilts her head and smiles.
"Couldn't care less," Brenton waves his hand dismissively and walks past Amy with his hand in his pocket. Amy throws him a look.
"You're so rude," she rolls her eyes.
"That's Brenton for ya," Urana chuckles.
"Let's just get going," Owen pulls his hood, since there are more people from school coming out.
"Right, I'll lead the way!" Amy takes the lead and walks.
"This'll be interesting," Owen hopes.
"If you mean her making us run all the way over there," Brenton whispers.