The odds are stacked against us, but I'm not about to surrender.
The principal drones on with his speech about how it's rude to break the rules in Freedom Academy (which I would argue had very limited freedom). I take the chance to observe our situation.
I had expected them to just grab us and go, but if our principal was dumb enough to decide to give a speech before taking us in - giving us more time to figure out a good escape plan - then I'm not complaining.
I think he caught on though.
"And Y/n Park! What in the world of doughnuts do you think you're staring at?"
"The guards, sir."
"And why not stare at me? I'm the one giving the speech here, not them. You trying to escape?"
"No, sir."
"Then why?" He steps forward, closer to me. "And give me a good reason why. Not something like 'oh, well, my printer ate my dog'."
I see J-Hope glance at me in my peripheral vision.
I want to say something snarky back, maybe make fun of the principal just for the satisfaction of it, but it definitely isn't the best idea. I take a deep breath, mind racing for a good excuse, and I push these bitter words out of my mouth instead:
"The guards are... intimidating, sir. You have quite the army. I'm just a bit terrified at the moment, that's why I keep staring at them. You're right... I shouldn't break the rules. It's not a good decision. Now, please continue with your speech. I apologize for interrupting."
There is a nice, long moment of silence.
I'm not sure he even understood half the words I used, but it must have been sincere enough because he looks happily flustered.
Bleh.
"Alright, Y/n, well, you keep doing, uh, staring at the guards, then. I'll talk through this so I can make sure you're hearing me good enough though." He holds up a megaphone.
My eyes widen at the thing. What the heck -?
"SO, CONTINUING ON WITH THE SPEECH, Y/N PARK AND YOUNG LAD, YOUR ACTIONS HAVE GONE DIRECTLY AGAINST EDUCATIONAL DECREE NUMBER 68..."
I wince at the loud sound. It's startling and just a little bit painful, but I figure it's much better than the lack of silence.
A few more moments pass. The principal's voice eventually subsides into a low buzzing sound.
That's when I feel something in my hand. I quickly glance down to see what it is and see that the golden threads are back. Apparently, I'd been subconsciously drawing on the noise so that it wouldn't be too loud for my ears. Now I've got a good amount of unused energy stacking up and I'm not sure what to do with it.
I could use it myself, but what if it all goes wrong? I barely know anything besides the fashionable superhero pose to blast me into the air, and even that won't help very much in this situation.
I realize that the principal is reading off of a paper now.
Since his eyes aren't on me anymore, I take this opportunity to glance over at J-Hope... and that's when a thought occurs to me.
Why hasn't he used his powers of disguise on us yet? He has the ability, doesn't he?
J-Hope senses my stare and looks at me, confused.
"Powers," I mouthed. "Use your powers."
The confusion immediately clears up, judging by the look on his face, but he shakes his head. "No more," he mouths back.
I raise my eyebrows. "What?"
He shrugs, gives me an "I'm sorry" look, and turns back to the principal before we can get caught.
He's got no more powers?! I trusted this guy!
I look back at the guards, frustrated. What do we do now?
I'm stuck with power supply building up that I'm not even sure how to use, and J-Hope is stuck because he can't use his anymore.
Wait...
Could I... transfer it to him? Like, spread the golden threads of sound toward him? Would that even work?
Could sound bend light?
I look down at my hands in wonder. The gold threads are thicker and much stronger now. The guards can't seem to see it, and the principal is still reading off of the paper into the megaphone.
I could use the threads of power myself, since they're already wrapped around my hands, or I could pass it on to J-Hope.
But which one?
~
A/N: Would it be a smarter decision to pass our energy on to J-Hope or to use it ourselves? 🤔
Thanks so much for reading! Till next week <3