-
-
Y/n walks back to the dorms with a nearly empty boba drink in her hand. Deep in thoughts, she takes small sips in order not to disturb it.
She couldn't stop thinking about her recent conversation with Sera and John.
"X-Static died from the hands of EMBER... A superhero," she murmurs, "That sounds familiar..."
She stops in front of a trash can and throws the plastic cup away.
"Sera isn't wrong, but John isn't wrong either. It's hard to choose what side you should be on... Wait, I need to head to Elaine's dorm room too... Wait how did I even think about her?"
Cursed ADHD.
Y/n sighed. "Maybe I should go shopping. I need more lotion," she hums, "I'll tell Sera when I head to their dorm."
-
"Aw crap! I forgot to tell John," Y/n face palmed as she and Sera were walking to his house. Chuckling at her friend's forgetfulness, Sera pulls out her phone. "Don't worry, I'll call him," she says," He should be up by now, anyways."
Ring! Ring!
"...Hello," John's groggy voice answered the phone. "It's 2 pm, John. The heck?" Y/n said in surprise as she grabs the phone from her friend's hand.
"Y-Y/n? I thought this was Sera..."
"It is," Sera sighed, "Hey we're heading to the mall to pick up some stuff. Will you come along?"
Sera and Y/n arrive at the pathway of his humble abode, walking up the stairs to get the door. "Ah, S-Shopping? Sorry, but I'm kinda busy right now..."
"Oh really?" Both Y/n and Sera chorused.
"Y-Yeah. My place is a mess... It'll take all day to clean," John persuaded. "If you'd move into the dorms like all the other guys, this wouldn't be a problem anymore," she counters.
"Then I'd have to worry about my life."
"True," Sera agreed, "Well, that's really too bad then..."
"Yeah! And—"
Ding dong!
Ding dong!
Don't tell me...
"YOU'RE ALREADY OUTSIDE?!"
~
"You think he's ok?" Y/n whispers as her ears twitch at the loud rumbles and tumbles incoming from the inside of the house. "Of course he is," Sera reassures. "I kinda feel bad for—" Y/n was rudely interrupted from the loud slam of the front door opening suddenly, giving her a small peep and hiding behind Sera.
John gloomily stares at the two females standing in front of the door.
"Aw, don't give us that look," Y/n teased. "Come on, with Y/n and I, we can speed up your cleaning time—"
Sera stops abruptly as she peers over his shoulder before giving a small smirk. The room was literal shining because of how clean it was. John sighed and stepped aside to let both of them in, introducing the 'messy house' to their eyes.
Sera picked up his boxing gloves from the floor and set it on the table before turning around. "There. All done! Let's get going!" She says.
Scratching his head, John let out a sigh. "Ugh fine... you got me," he says defeatedly, "But try to keep it short this time, alright?"
"...Why do you even put gel in your hair anyways," Y/n mumbles as she resists to touch his non-gelled hair. "You be lookin' like a helmet head ass."
"...Did someone say something?"
-
"HEY Y/N!" John calls out from behind a rack of clothes holding a pink shirt, "How's this one?" He says with admiration. "I think the writing is pretty cool! La Mé, it's gotta be French or something! Wonder what it means..."
"I'm gonna tell him," Sera deadpans.
"E-Eh..."
In the end, John wanted to try it on despite his hopes and dreams crushed by Sera.
Surprisingly, it wasn't that bad. After all, its John we're talking about here.
-
"Phew. Didn't expect that one to go so smoothly," John sighed in relief. "See? The mall isn't that bad," Y/n says as she holds tightly to her bag of lotion. "Let's not go that far—"
John was bumped by a small blonde figure as she runs over to a small booth.
Ability Gauge.
"Hey Sera!" John points,"It's an ability gauge!Wanna give it a try?" Y/n stops and stares at the sign where he was pointing at, curious at the man who was using an ability of some sort on someone's wrist.
"No thanks," Sera objects," I've heard those things are always a scam." "Come on! It's just for fun," John insisted, "Let's check it out!"
"Okay, fine."
And that's how they ended up waiting in line.
Y/n begins twirl around a piece of her hair, minding her own damn business before she jolts from the lady in front of her.
A loud bang came from the angry woman as she slams her hands on the table, seeming like the guy was in the wrong "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I ONLY GOT A FOUR?!"
The vendor nervously put his hands up. "But Ma'am, you should be proud of this score," he tried to reason,"It proves that you're more talented than the average person."
"BULLSH-T! You only gave me a four and you're telling me it's good?"
Y/n watches silently as the vendor tries to calm down his angry customer. "Ah, Miss. You see, using the standard gauging system, a 3 is average, and 5 is considered 'high-tier'. So, you're very strong. I only consider myself as a 2-"
"YOU'RE A FRAUD!" She shouts.
"I WANT MY MONEY BACK, NOW!"
"M-Ma-'am! You can't just-" he was cut off as the woman grabs his tie and pulls him closer to her. With glowing eyes, she says, "Listen to me. If you don't refund my money right now, I will blow your entire booth to bits!
DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"
"..."
John stares frustratingly at the woman, her words really making him tick off. Y/n notices that he's going to do what he did best, but judging the current situation, it shouldn't be the time to do that. She slightly bumps her bag to John, giving him a warning.
He ignored her.
"Ma'am. Please calm down."
Turning around to see a hair gelled student, she retorts, "HEY! MIND YOUR BUSINESS, BRAT!"
Sassily, John says, "Excuse me? This is my business. I'm not gonna wait around for you to get your ten dollar refund. Stop bullying the guy and give someone else a turn."
You idiot! Why would you even-
"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME THAT WAY!" Letting go of the vendor's tie, she turns her attention fully on John. "KIDS LIKE YOU SHOUKD LEARN HOW TO KEEP THEIR MOUTHS SHUT!" She accusingly points at him.
"Look, lady! I'm not trying to start a fight!" He retorts. "You should've thought of that before insulting me!"
"...Excuse me, miss. I apologize for my friend's actions," Y/n piped in. Where the heck is security? She sweats.
"Why? Are you suddenly scared?" She taunts.
No. You're too loud.
She smirks as she lifts her hand, a bright orb forming in her palm. '...Condensed energy?' John thought as he stared at the ball of light. 'A shot like that could do some serious damage..' Taking a look at his surroundings, he spots a security guard nearby the escalator. A sly smirk crawls appears on his face as he cockily crosses his arms, making the woman angrier. Sera catches the look, a smile appearing as she continues to sip her drink.
Oh golly. He's doing it again... Y/n sighed at the two troublemakers.
"Go ahead," the cripple said, "If you really want to fight, I'll be happy to oblige."
The woman hesitates, probably not realizing what he was planning to do. She puts her guard up at the sight of the three kids. He's not powering up...? And that girl, she keeps smiling to herself. And... A curious stare catches her attention as she accidentally makes eye contact with e/c orbs. Why do I feel... so intimidated from that girl?
Her fists clutching tighter, she raises her condensed energy ball and swings it at John. "DON'T TRY TO BE FRESH WITH ME, BRAT!"
Using his ultimate attack, John yells, "SOMEONE HELP! THIS CRAZY WOMAN's GONNA BLOW UP THE MALL!"
Startled at his loud remark, she grits her teeth. "WHO YOU CALLING CRAZY- " "Miss," a security guard catches her arm right in time. "What's going on here?"
Sera stifles her laughter while Y/n sighed. At times like these, Y/n wondered why she even bothered.
"THEY-"
John, who was acting like the victim he was, raised his hands. "We were just waiting in line!" He says innocently with raised brows to complete the look, "Then she suddenly threatened to blow up this booth so we spoke up..."
Her free hand quickly went to point at the vendor. "THAT'S BECAUSE HE— H-HE SCAMMED ME OF MY MONEY!"
"...He's shaking," Y/n whispered as she describes the vendor.
With cold eyes, the security guard lets go of the woman. "Calm down Miss," he professionally says, "I'll take it from here." Turning to the shaking male, the security guard reaches out his hand. "So it's you again?" He growled.
John became surprised.
"I'm getting sick of your bullsh-t! Return the money that you took from this lady, now!"
"But—!"The orange haired male tried to object.
"Don't make me repeat myself."
With a defeated look, the man shakily returns the money back to the security guard. "I'm warning you... If you cause trouble one more time.." The guard threatens, "I'll make sure you never do business here again!"
Turning to the woman, he gives back the money from the vendor. "Here you go, Miss." With a smile, she happily takes her cash from his hands. "Thank you very much sir." "Just doing my job."
After the lady left, the guard gives a glance at the three students behind him. "You three better stay out of trouble!" He growls before walking away.
"... What just happened?" Y/n pondered before worriedly glancing at her friend. Knowing him, he's probably not too happy about the outcome of this situation.
She was right.
With a cold glare and tightened fists, you could almost read what he was thinking about.
It doesn't matter where the evidence points.
The result is always the same.
"Sorry, we didn't mean to cause you more trouble..." John apologizes to the man before him. Speak for yourself.
"There's no need to worry about that!" The man replied, "I appreciate the gesture. Not many people are willing to speak out nowadays. So, thank you."
Fixing himself, he asks, "I assume that you two are here to have your abilities read?" John pushes Sera forward. "Yup! She is!"
"Um..."
"Great! I'll give you a free shot! It's the least I can do!" The man offered as he reaches out for Sera's hand.
Y/n's eyes narrow. "Wait, Sera," she calls out as she grabs her wrist with her bare hand. "!!!"
Her palm is warm... but her hand is cold.
Odd.
"Y/n?" Sera questions, "Are you alright?"
The h/c colored girl stayed silent for a few seconds before letting go of her wrist. "S-Sorry, I must be tired. I'll see you guys tomorrow."
Turning around quickly, Y/n covers her mouth with her left hand as she speed walks away from her friends. "Wait, Y/n!" John calls out for her.
But she was no where in sight.
"...I'll speak to her tomorrow," Sera mumbles before turning back to the vendor and giving her hand.
She's acting weird.
Why did she look so tired after grabbing my wrist?
-
"Can't believe I still have to do homework..." Y/n mutters as she writes down notes for her class. "This is just legal child abuse."
After humming along to her music for a few minutes, she sets her pen down and stretches her arm, hearing a satisfying pop as she does so. Glancing at the electric clock besides her, she frowns as she sees the time. "10:34. I should probably go to sleep now..."
She turns off her desk light and grabs her phone and jumps into the bed, checking for any new notifications from her favorite YouT*ber or maybe some updates from the App Store.
One new message! -10:03
"Holy," Y/n whispers as she quickly taps the bar as it heads towards the messaging app. Her eyes narrow as the bright light hit her eyes. After adjusting to the screen, she reads out, 'Hey. You okay?' From Sera
Her fingers quickly tapped across the screen as she replies to the message.
'Sorry that I couldn't reply earlier.'
'I was studying :D'
'Yeah I'm okay'
'Why'd u ask?'
Not really expecting a reply yet, she shuts off her phone as she relaxes her eyes for a few seconds, before a surprising ding startles her. "She's still awake at this time?! She should be asleep right now."
She unlocks her phone again and reads the text.
'If something is up, you can always tell me.'
'Also...'
'Did you use your ability?'
Y/n widens her eyes.
'Arlo said that you're not allowed to do so.'
'Why?'
Hesitating her reply, Y/n thinks about what to say to something like that.
'He's just afraid that I'll steal the crown from him :D'
'But you're a girl??? You'll only steal the queen's crown??'
'It's alrighty. Arlo is just being overprotective again. I swear he's my mother at times."
'Don't worry too much about it.'
'I'll tell you when the time is right.'
Y/n pauses as she sees the three bubbles appear as Sera replies.
'Why did your hair turn purple at the tips?'
'Your eyes glowed blue as well...'
'Oh don't worry about that lol'
'Maybe the light of the mall? Don't worry about it. I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight!'
Shutting off her phone entirely, Y/n tries to close her eyes and fall asleep, ignoring the songs of her phone that spammed her for a minute before stopping all together. Not really wanting to read what Sera said, Y/n thinks about what to do tomorrow, and surely enough...
She sleeps.
They're bound to find out about it anyways.
But I don't want to be treated differently.
Arlo did, after all.
Why wouldn't they?
....
...I shouldn't worry too much about this.
It's not like it's going to change anything, after all.
Might as well enjoy with what I have now.