“Walk to and from school today. You’ll get exercise,” Aiden mimicked Nay as we walked home from school. “And none of you are allowed to use your powers!”
“Is this some sort of training exercise?” I scowled. I rubbed my hands up and down my arms. It was starting to get cold. “Because I don’t like it.”
Dex shrugged. “I don’t see what the big deal is.”
“Of course you don’t.” Anthony rolled his eyes. “You’re the most in-shape out of all of us. Except for maybe Aiden. But he just likes to complain.”
This being said by the guy with super speed... But I get what he was saying. When he couldn't use his powers, he wasn't exactly fit. He was lanky and short, Kristie being the only one on the team that was shorter than him.
Our team leader, the second tallest of us all, glared at the smart boy but said nothing in return. It was true that he did like to complain, and it was true that he was in-shape, just like Dex, who was the tallest out of all of us.
“Well, I think it’s fun!” Kristie giggled, practically skipping down the sidewalk. “We just get to spend more time together!”
No one else seemed particularly thrilled by this.
“Track try outs are tomorrow,” Anthony informed all of us as we continued our way down the sidewalk. “Lena and I are trying out.”
Aiden shook his head. “I still don’t understand how you’re going to pull that off without raising some suspicion,” he told him honestly.
Anthony shrugged. “I can control my powers well enough that I won’t go berserk when I’m running.”
“If only Violet could do that,” Dex mumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets.
“Hey!” I shouted, hitting him in the shoulder. He didn’t even flinch. “I have better control over my powers than I used to!”
Dex rolled his eyes. “You say that every time.”
I puffed out my cheeks, done with this conversation. I didn’t like it when Dex teased me, and I knew it’d only continue if I found back with him. So I said nothing more.
“If track try outs are tomorrow, that means basketball tryouts are later this week,” Aiden spoke up. “I think I’m going to try out for the team.”
Basketball reminded me of Tom. He was on the team. I bit down on my tongue and stopped myself from saying anything about that, even though they all already knew. We’d been together when Tom had told us tryouts were coming up.
“Help! Help!” a woman suddenly shouted, and my friends and I looked over to see a man grabbing her purse and yanking it away from her. “Help! Thief! Help!”
The man took off running down the street, and I turned toward my friends, about to ask them what we were going to do. Before I could say anything however, Aiden cut me off.
“Mission time!” he announced before running off down the street after the thief.
I stared after him in disbelief. “What an idiot!”
Anthony took off after Aiden, using his powers to pass him. Kristie, Dex, and I followed in a sprint. Anthony made his way to the thief with ease and stopped right in front of him.
The thief seemed surprised by how quickly Anthony had reached him. I didn’t blame him.
“You’re not going any farther,” Anthony glared.
This didn’t seem to scare the thief in the slightest. He pushed Anthony, who was half his size, out of the way and he took off again.
Anthony did not let this deter him. He got up and ran after him, stopping in front of him within seconds once again.
“Get out of my way, twerp!” the thief yelled, lifting his hand to knock Anthony over again. Before he could, however, I stopped him by using my powers to lift him up into the air upside-down.
“What the heck?” the thief cried, swinging his arms and legs around to try to free himself. He looked at me, the one obviously keeping him up because of my outstretched hand in his direction. “Put me down, you freak!”
“Drop the purse,” I warned.
The thief shook his head and tried his hardest to break free from my hold. My hands clenched into fists as I tried to keep him in the air.
He needed to drop the purse or else I was going to drop him. I couldn’t keep him up for much longer.
“If you don’t want to give it up,” Aiden grinned, using his hands to create a gust of wind, “then we’re going to have to take it by force!”
He threw the gust of wind at the thief. It was so powerful that the purse blew out of his hands and went flying down the street.
“Kristie, catch!” Aiden called out to her.
“Got it!” she cried, jumping into the air and shifting into a hawk. She grabbed the purse with her talons before shifting back to normal, the purse now in her hands.
“I’ll go take it back,” Anthony volunteered, raising his hands up in the air as Kristie tossed it to him. He caught it and took off.
“What the hell are you people?” the thief demanded, continuing to wiggle in my grasp. I was going to drop him soon...
“We’re... different,” was how Dex chose to explain us, finally becoming visible beside me.
I glared at him. “Thanks for all your help.”
He rose his hands in surrender. “What was I supposed to do?” he question. “You guys had it under control!”
“It still would have been nice if you’d at least tried to help!”
“And how could I have done that?” Dex asked snippily. “Would I stay invisible and then trip him like we’re in some old cartoon?”
“That still would have been more helpful than just standing there!”
“Can you guys please stop fighting?” Kristie interrupting before Dex or I could say anymore. She looked like she was going to cry. “I hate it when you two fight.”
It wasn’t my fault Dex was an insufferable idiot sometimes.
“Yeah,” the aforementioned strong boy nodded. “How about you just focus on the guy you have dangling in midair?”
I let out a frustrated huff, but did as I was told. It was best if I paid full attention to him, since it was getting harder and harder to keep him up. My hand was now shaking.
“Violet?” a new voice suddenly asked.
I spun around, my eyes going wide at who was staring back at me. “Tom!” I gasped, and then looked to see this man was still floating in the air. Because of me.
I immediately let go of the thief, unfortunately dropping him in his head. He was out like a light.
“Tom, I...” I didn’t know what I was supposed to say. Tom had just seen me use my powers! Now he knew that I wasn’t... normal.
“Violet, what’s going on?” he questioned, taking a concerned step toward me. “Why were you... How did you...?”
Before I could come up with any excuse, Dex was suddenly right behind him. I opened my mouth to shout at him, but wasn’t quick enough. Dex lifted his fist and smashed it against the back of Tom’s head, knocking him out immediately.
I nearly screamed. “Dex!”
Dex smiled and let out a sigh. “Damn, did that feel good.”
“Oh, my goodness...” I crouched down beside Tom and gently placed his head on my lap. “Are you insane?”
“Oh, come on,” Dex groaned. “Stop babying him. I didn’t even hit him with my full strength. As much as I really wanted to...”
I was almost hyperventilating as I brushed Tom’s hair out of his eyes. I didn’t know if I was breathing so hard because Dex had hurt him or because Tom had seen me using my powers.
“Kristie!” I called out to the redhead. “Call Hank!”
She nodded, reaching for her phone and dashing off to make the phone call.
“Stop freaking out,” Dex drawled uncaringly. “Your boyfriend’s going to be just fine.”
He didn’t know that. Sometimes Dex underestimated his own strength. I just wanted to make sure Tom was going to be okay. And he wasn’t my boyfriend.
“You really can’t control your emotions, can you?” a new voice suddenly asked, and I looked up to see Anthony had now returned from returning the purse. He was talking to Dex. “You get the opportunity to punch the guy and you take it without a second though.”
Dex shrugged. “It wasn’t like I was going to pass up that opportunity.”
“How’d you even know Dex punched him, anyway?” I couldn’t help but ask the brainiac. “You weren’t even here.”
Anthony looked from me, to Dex, to Tom, and then back to me with a flat look on his face. “It wasn’t that hard to figure out,” he informed me.
I still couldn’t believe that Dex had actually punched him. Sure, he may have needed to be unconscious for Hank to erase his memory, but there were better ways to knock him out...
This was awful. Who knew what kind of damage Dex could cause? Even if he hadn’t used his full strength.
“Stop worrying so much,” Dex drawled uncaringly. “He’s going to be fine.”
“I wonder if Violet would be worried this much if you were the one injured, Dex,” Aiden smiled wickedly, coming up and patting his teammate on the shoulder. “Or maybe this worrying is only for Tom.”
“Shut up,” Dex snapped, slapping Aiden’s hand off of him. Our team leader snickered.
“I’d be worried if any of you were hurt,” I admitted, brushing Tom’s hair from his forehead. “But Tom... Tom...”
“Don’t say any more,” Dex interrupted before I could finish what I didn’t even know what I was going to say. “Just stop talking.”
When Hank arrived, he first looked around to see that there were no other witnesses. Luckily, we were on a practically deserted street with no one else around. Even the woman who had had her purse stolen had probably fled for safety. At least Anthony had been able to give her purse back to her.
Hank then looked at me. He seemed confused by my concerned face. “Why the look?” he asked me.
Aiden rolled his eyes. “Dex knocked out her boyfriend.”
“He’s not my boyfriend!” I practically shouted.
Hank blinked down at the unconscious boy. “And this is...?”
“That’s Tom,” Kristie told him for me.
“So this is Tom, huh?” Hank questioned as he looked down at the unconscious boy in my lap. “He’s cute.”
Aiden made a face. “Please don’t call a teenage boy cute,” he told Hank.
Dex matched the look on Aiden’s face. “And he’s not cute.”
Anthony rolled his eyes. “He is to Violet.”
Dex raised his hand to hit Anthony. “We don’t need your comments!”
“Can you guys just shut up?” I snapped, not in the mood for their regular bickering. I was so worried that Tom was hurt. I was also worried with the fact that he had seen my powers...
I was almost thankful to Dex for knocking him out, because now it was easier for Hank to erase his memory. But I was still worried about him. I just couldn’t help it.
“You can erase his memory enough so he doesn’t remember the last fifteen minutes, right?” I asked Hank almost desperately. “He saw me pick up the thief and then drop him on his head. Please tell me you can make him forget that.”
Hank nodded. “I can.”
I let out a long sigh of relief. Thank goodness.
“I say erase his memory so far back that he doesn’t remember who he is,” Dex commented.
I lifted my hand and used my powers to throw a rock at him. “Shut up!” I cried.
He caught the rock without a problem. “You really need to work on your powers,” he informed me. “Your attacks are really weak.”
I picked up another rock and threw it at him. He caught it just as easily as the first one. I picked up another and threw it. He dodged it. I picked up and even bigger one and struggled to do so, so I put it down. I then picked up another rock that was the same size as the first one, but my nose then twitched and the rock went flying into Anthony’s head.
“Ow!” he cried out, rubbing at the spot I’d hit him. “You’re trying to injure Dex, not me!”
I smiled sheepishly at him. “Sorry.”
“I’m going to erase the thief’s memory first,” Hank informed me as he turned toward the man I had dropped on his head. “Hopefully his landing didn’t kill him.”
I gulped. Oh, no. I sure hoped not...
Dex tsked as Hank moved toward the thief. He took a seat next to me and made a face at Tom’s head in my lap.
“You really need to train,” he informed me.
I was the one to make a face now. “Tell me something I don’t know,” I snapped.
Dex shook his head. “No, I’m being serious,” he said. “You really should train with me. I could help you.”
Lena’s words from the last time Dex had said I should train with him flashed through my mind. I shook my head. I did not want to think of Dex all hot and sweaty when I had another boy’s head in my lap.
“If I train with you, will you stop making fun of me for not being able to control my powers?” I asked. It wasn’t like his teasing hurt my feelings—it was just that I hated feeling behind all of my teammates. “And if it doesn’t work, will you still not make fun of me for it?”
Dex’s eyes softened. “Does it really bother you that much?”
I looked away from him in embarrassment. “You wouldn’t understand,” I told him. “You know how to control your powers. You can lift whatever you want or just disappear without problems. I can’t even throw a rock.”
“Hey,” Dex whispered softly, reaching out and taking my hand. This caught me so off guard that I jumped. “Don’t feel bad about yourself. What I say, I don’t say it to upset you. I want you to be the best you can be and I want to help you.”
All I could so was stare at him in shock. “Dex...”
I could have sworn I saw him lean in closer to me until someone cleared their throat.
“Ahem,” Hank coughed, looking between Dex and me. “I really hate myself for interrupting a Vex kiss, but I need to erase Tom’s memory before he wakes up.”
“Kiss?” I shrieked, my hands slapping over my mouth. “Vex?”
“Vex,” Hank nodded as he crouched down beside Tom and me. “You know, yours and Dex’s ship name.”
“Ship name?” I squawked. “What the heck is a ship name?”
“There’s no point in explaining it to her, Hank,” Dex sighed. “She might have had a computer with her when she was locked in her room, but I doubt she did anything that involved shipping.”
“What the heck is shipping?” I demanded, my voice still shrill.
Dex rolled his eyes. “See?”
Hank grinned, placing his hand on Tom’s forehead. He closed his eyes, concentrating very hard on his task. I could only imagine how difficult it must have been to erase just the right amount of memory.
“Alright,” Hank sighed once he was finished. “He shouldn’t remember anything he just saw. He’ll think he fainted.”
I couldn’t help but feel relieved. Who knew what might have happened if Tom had really found out about my powers?
“But back to this whole shipping thing,” I couldn’t help but bring back up. “What does it even mean?”
“Look it up,” Dex shrugged, flicking me in the forehead for good measure. I scowled back at him as I gently place Tom’s head back on the ground and stood up.
“Dex and Aiden have a ship name too,” Hank informed me. “Their ship name is Daiden.”
“Please don’t,” Aiden scowled.
“I feel so uncomfortable,” Dex groaned.
“Yet you didn’t when he mentioned Vex,” Anthony brought up, but Dex chose to ignore his comment.
“Is this something you do regularly?” I asked Hank, still speaking too loudly because I was so shocked by the fact that this was a thing.
Hank nodded. “It’s a lot of fun,” he admitted. “Passes the time. Your ship name with Tom would be Vom.”
Kristie made a face. “That sounds like vomit.”
Dex scowled. “Vom makes me want to vomit.”
“Oh, yeah?” I snapped. “Well, Vex makes me want to... Makes me want to...” I couldn’t think of anything to say.
Dex grinned. “Have sex?”
My whole face turned red. “Not with you!”
“Are you sure about that?” he questioned, that stupid grin on his face. “You won’t know for sure unless you try.”
“How about we just train instead?”
“If you want to call it that, that’s fine.”
Anthony was making a face. “I really don’t like where this conversation is going,” he told us, and I agreed completely. “Please don’t talk about your sex lives in front of us.”
Aiden rolled his eyes. “You’re only saying that because you don’t have a sex life.”
Anthony turned beat red. “Well, neither do you!”
This made Aiden turn red as well, and he glanced at Kristie but immediately looked away when he saw she was looking at him. I was really tired of this topic of conversation.
“I’m leaving,” I said, turning around and stomping away.
“You’re leaving your precious lover boy?” Dex asked, following after me.
“He’ll wake up soon,” I shrugged, and I really hoped that I was right.
I didn’t want to be around when he woke up. I didn’t want him to connect this with me at all. It’d just be better off this way, even if it meant he woke up by himself on a deserted street.
Luckily, Hank had brought RV so we didn’t have to walk the rest of the way home. I wasn’t in the mood for exercise any longer.
We had to wait while Hank turned the thief over to the police. While we waited inside the RV, I pulled out my phone and looked up what exactly shipping and ship names were. I was terrified at what the results were telling me.
I practically screamed. “That’s what it means?”
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I'm assuming there are going to be comments about how Tom probably didn't get his memory erased and he probably will still remember, so I'm going to clear that up now. He got his memory erased. He won't remember.
I can't believe I actually had them talking about their ship names... Damn it, Hank.
Please COMMENT, VOTE, and FAN! :)