This is more fantasy than my other story. I know everyone is jazzed about the vampy stuff now, but this isn't that. It's still more supernatural, so I hope those vampire fans like it anyway. And as for the people who don't like that, I think you'll really like this.
Thanks for reading! Please comment, vote and fan me!
____________
1. Normal Life
"Lexie!"
I groaned. What did my mom want now? I put my book down and walked downstairs. "What, Mom?" I asked.
My mom presented me with the broom. "Go sweep up the grass from the sidewalk. Your father's finished mowing the lawn."
"Why do I have to do it?" I complained.
"Because I'm making lunch and your dad's about to take a shower," she said with a frown. "Now go."
I grunted and slouched out of the house. My mom could be so annoying. "I'm making lunch"? Are you kidding? What a lame excuse, Mom.
Well, technically she wasn't my mom. I was adopted, so she was really my guardian I guess. Either way, I loved her all the same.
My dad, too. He was a nice guy. In shape, too. Not something that you can easily find in a father-hehe. He worked out everyday at the gym, and was pretty buff because of it. My friend actually thought he was pretty good looking.
Gag. She must have bad taste.
Daphne, well, what can I say about her? My bushy redheaded friend was crazy. But aren't all friends? She was always running up to random guys in the mall and starting conversations with them. Then she always-and I mean always-was able to get the guy's number. She never called the dude, but she always tried to get me to, due to my never-ending single status.
Uh, no thanks.
I began sweeping the cut off grass stalks off the sidewalk and onto the grass. It didn't take me long, but it was getting colder out than it had been a moment before. The seasons were changing from winter to spring, and you could always tell when it was about to rain.
I hurried inside just as the first few drops came down and just as the phone rang. I ran to it and picked it up before it could ring a second time. I was surprisingly out of breath from the ten feet of running.
"Hello?" I gasped.
"Lexie?" I heard Daphne's voice ask.
"Hey," I said. "What's up?"
"Are you okay?" she asked. "You sounded like you just ran a mile."
"I ran into the house...from the yard," I replied sheepishly.
"You need to get in shape."
"I am in shape. I just...don't have endurance.
"Gee, no kidding."
"Stop criticizing me and get to the point. What's up?"
"I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out."
"Sure, that sounds fine. And because it is now raining you want me to walk over to your house?"
"Um...yeah."
"Of course. How did I know?"
"Because we've been friends since fourth grade."
"Right." After she stole my lunch.
My family and I had moved to Calhoun, Georgia when I was in fourth grade. That definitely wasn't as horrible as it could have been, meaning I could have came here when I was in my junior year-which I was in right now-and had no sense of who anyone was or what to do. So unlike most kids, I wasn't very bummed about it. I knew that's what always happens-you don't know anyone, I mean-when you move, but in fourth grade, people tended to be a lot nicer about things.
Well, most of the time anyway. And, well, maybe not for me.
When I first went to school, no one talked to me except for the teachers and administration. None of the students dared go near me. I didn't really know what was so wrong with me, but I ignored it as best I could-as best a little fourth grader could, which for me was pretty well. Then at lunch, I sat down at an empty table with my lunch box, and took out my sandwich to eat.
Right then, this girl with bushy red hair walked up out of nowhere and stole the sandwich right out of my hand.
"Thanks, newbie," she shouted. "I forgot my lunch today." The girl took a huge bite out of the sandwich, and everyone stared, wondering what the strange new girl was going to do. The girl had stared the hardest, wondering if the new girl was gonna do something interesting.
But I was new-and scared. So I just bent my head forward and mumbled a, "You're welcome." I was small, and even though the girl was in the same grade, she looked a lot bigger and stronger.
The girl walked away laughing. But that wasn't the last time I was going to see her that day.
During recess, I had no one to play and hang out with, so I just sat leaning against the wall, watching everyone else socialize and have fun. And then the red haired girl walked up and stood in front of me, towering over me. But all she did was stare. I was scared still, but this time didn't want to show it.
"What do you want?" I asked.
She narrowed her eyes at me. "Don't give me that tone. I'm just here to ask you how you get your hair to stay like that."
I stared at her in shock and confusion. She had just stolen part of my lunch, and now she wanted to know about my hair.
"I know you can speak. Answer me."
I looked at her bushy locks and thought about my own straight ones. "This is my natural hair," I replied.
"Oh," she said, shoulders slumping. "I just thought maybe you could help me get my hair straight too."
I shrugged. "Maybe you should just put it up more often. If you brush it enough maybe it will lay down flat on your head." For a fourth grader, I thought that had been pretty smart.
She thought about my advice for a second, then reached her hand down to me. Hesitantly I took her hand and she helped me up. We wound up spending the rest of recess discussing what hair looked good and what looked bad. We used the other kids on the playground to rate.
I also found out that the girl's name was Daphne, and she really wasn't a bully. She was just insecure about her looks. Bushy hair was way out of style, and she was a little overweight. No one spoke to her either, and she was a sort of outcast. But I didn't mind, so I stuck with her.
Hanging out with her turned me into an outcast too, but I didn't care about that either. Daphne turned out to be a good friend, and that was all I wanted. So what people teased me sometimes? That was their problem.
Over the years, Daphne ate more correctly and exercised too, giving her a slimmer figure. The hair was still as poofy as it usually was, but it didn't look as bad now that the rest of her was more attractive. Daphne also began to talk with other people, since that she wasn't as weird as she had seemed before. She started to join clubs in middle and then high school, and was definitely a lot better off than she had been when I had met her.
As for me, well, there was nothing about me to change. I was fine the way I was, and didn't want to change anything. The only differences I had came out of puberty and aging. Therefore, there weren't any excuses for people to treat me like a regular person. I was still an outcast and a freak to school society, but I also continued being friends with Daphne. Despite all opinions of me, hers were always nice.
I hung up with Daphne after we chatted for a bit, and grabbed my coat, calling upstairs to my parents that I was going out. When I didn't hear any objections, I flicked my hood up over my head-keeping my long brown hair as safe as possible, since I was still a girl-and started off towards Daphne's. When I reached her house, she opened the door before I had the chance to knock.
"Hey, girl," she said.
"What's up?" I asked.
"Nothing much besides rain."
I laughed. "There's a lot of it."
"Yeah, so how about you get inside before anymore of it lands on you?"
"That sounds very good to me." I stepped into the house. "So what've you been up to the past two days I haven't seen you?"
"Been on dates mostly," she said as she closed the door.
"Really?"
"No, of course not. Since when has anyone asked me out?"
"Should I answer that?"
"Please don't."
I smiled. Daphne and I weren't the "ask out" type, even with the mall attention. Daphne seemed to be getting out there more, though, which was good for her. I mean, I knew she was my only friend, but I thought that if people started to notice her and respect her more, maybe they'd respect me too. To tell the truth, I was fine with being more in the shadows. I just thought it might be nice to meet some more people. Only time would show.
"So," Daphne said, walking towards the kitchen. "What do you want to do?"
I followed her. "You can choose."
"How did I know you were going to say that?"
"Because I always do."
She reached into the snack pantry, tossing me a small bag of potato chips, getting one for herself as well. "Um, let's go up to my room, and we can think of something to do up there."
"Sure." I headed in the direction of the stairs.
* * *
"How was your weekend, freak?" a jerk from the football team asked. "Did you cast any spells?"
I rolled my eyes. In the beginning of my stay in this town, people just thought me a freak because I hung out with Daphne. But then one day, during recess, when Daphne was absent, I was drawing random designs on the blacktop. Someone walked over and then told everyone I was a witch. I explained to all of my classmates that I just enjoyed drawing, and the witch rumor did die down. For a while. It still came up every now and again.
I entered my first period, and I saw I was beat to the room by some of my biggest enemies-the cheerleaders. The captain, Trisha Jackal-her last name matched way too much with her personality-was the worst of my mockers. Everyday if she made it to class before me, she would find a way of embarrassing me, whether it was through tripping me or squirting pen ink on my shirt. Most days she was unsuccessful because of one thing.
I walked across the classroom to the second row away from the windows. Then I headed down the aisle towards my desk, which was two behind Trisha's. She had her cheerleaders and jocks posse surrounding her, and when they looked at me, they all began laughing to themselves. I saw Trisha push her backpack into the middle of the aisle as soon as I walked close to her desk, and one of the jocks flung a pencil. But before I could trip and get hit by the pencil, I snapped my fingers and froze time, holding back a mischievous grin.
Did I forget to mention I could do that? Oops. My bad.
I stood still, and finally smirked at all of my frozen classmates. Then I reached my hand out and tweaked the pencil's position just enough so it would hit Trisha. I put myself back into my pose I was in before I froze time, and unfroze it, smoothly stepping over Trisha's backpack. I watched as the pencil hit Trisha right in the eye, and held back a laugh.
"Ow!" she complained loudly. Everyone around her stared at her in surprise, confused about how the pencil could have hit her and not me-I wasn't about to explain it though. "Gage, why'd you do that? You were supposed to hit her." She motioned to me without glancing my way.
"I-I didn't..." he stammered. "It wasn't my fault. I'm sorry."
I sat down at my desk, content. I placed my books on my desk and waited for the argument to continue.
"You're going to pay for my contacts for the next year," Trisha whined. Gage's shoulders slumped.
I leaned back in my chair.
Oh, I never explained my power, did I? I'm so sorry. To get to the point, as I mentioned, I was adopted. Therefore, I didn't know who my real parents were, and I couldn't ask them who I got the power from-or why if it's like that. I've assumed that I received the power from one of my parents or both, but who's to know? Certainly not me.
My adoptive parents had no idea about my powers when they took me in. They still have no clue. I had never told them, and I was not about to. I like the family I have; they're perfect as far as I was concerned. Telling them might cause them to freak out-and possibly disown me. I knew that that was a worst case scenario, but I couldn't help but still worry.
Anyway, the way I worked it is that if I need some extra time, I focus on the time it is and will it to stop with my mind. The process goes faster if I make some sort of movement with focusing. For example, snapping my fingers, clapping, waving my hand, or even blinking at a clock. It really doesn't matter. It all just works with the mind, so I didn't even have to do anything but think.
Ain't it cool? I loved being able to freeze time. I felt really in control, and I never had to worry about being late-although I usually was anyway. It was most convenient when I was doing chores. Because if my mom wanted me to do something, and I procrastinated, I could do it last second by freezing time, doing it fast and unfreezing time when I was done.
Okay, I'll admit I was lazy, but I always did well in school. That had to count for something. And no, I didn't do well because I froze time during tests to check the answer sheet. I was not a cheater, I swear. I do have a brain and I did use it.
"Mr. Porter," Trisha said when our teacher walked into the room.
"Yes, Miss Jackal?" he replied.
"Could I go down to the nurse's office? Ga-I accidentally poked myself in the eye with my pencil and I think I broke my contact."
Mr. Porter sighed. "Very well, but do be careful next time."
"Thank you, Mr. Porter."
Our teacher filled out a nurse's pass and handed it to her. She left the room, giving all of the kids in the class a peace sign.
I rolled my eyes. She was such a drama queen. I understood that getting hit in the eye with a pencil could be painful, but I was sure it didn't break her contact. Yes, they're flimsy, but the pencil eraser wouldn't do it. She just whined for attention and lied to get out of class.
The bell rang, and Mr. Porter began the lesson.