Gabriela took a deep breath before walking into the school, trying to stay calm. She knew this was a bad idea. Walking around an environment such as a high school with new and strange powers was not smart. She should have said she was sick. Heck, she should have just told her dad what was going on with her. But she didn't want to worry him. And he knew that she wouldn't miss school unless she was really, really sick, like puking up her guts sick or something. Otherwise she just pushed through it. School was too important to her.
So here she was, at school with untested powers in an environment that was practically designed to aggravate her. All she needed was Max Dredden to show up and everything would be set for her to go nuclear.
"Hey." She looked up to see Meredith. "How's it going?"
"Not too bad." Gabriela felt her heart clench at the lie. She and Meredith had been friends since grade school and in that time, she didn't think either of them had lied to the other even once. They told each other everything. Meredith had been the first person Gabriela had come out to, the one who supported her the most. And yet, she didn't know if she could share this with her. It was too…strange. Too otherworldly.
Gabriela knew she would have to tell her eventually. It was only right. But not yet. Not until after she had some more control over it. Right now, it could suddenly explode out of her with devastating results. Which only made her continue to wonder if going to school was the right idea.
"So what's on the agenda today?" Meredith asked, her long red hair waving behind her.
"Well, I'll need to do a little extra work today since I took a break last night." Not that she regretted that. Some time off with her friends had been exactly what she needed. But now she had to get back to work. "Need to finish up some homework as well as plan my election speech. Plus find a fill-in for Sumin since they're taking that leave…"
"What's that?" Gabriel stifled a groan as she heard her least favorite person, Dredden, approach. "Sumin's leaving? Whatever for? With Sectionals on the horizon, we can't afford for any screw-ups."
"It wasn't my business, so I didn't ask," Gabriela told him.
Dredden sniffed. "Well, I'm glad they chose now since we still have time to choose a replacement. Hmm…I'll need to think about this."
Gabriel gritted her teeth. "Dredden, you don't get to pick the replacements. That's my job."
"Please, with your track record? You'd probably choose that weakling Bokeem or someone else pathetic. Don't worry, I have some good candidates in mind."
On her best days, Gabriela might be able to ignore him or just shrug it off. This was not one of her best days. She took a step forward, feeling ready to punch his lights out, when she started to feel a little warmer. She glanced down at her hands and saw that they had begun to glow. Whatever weird power she had, it was reacting to her emotions just like she thought. Fortunately, Dredden was turned, mumbling to himself, and Meredith was too busy glaring at him and muttering some creative curse words to notice.
As much as she wanted to punch him, that wouldn't help anyone, least of all her. Especially since she had no idea what extra damage might occur from her glowing powers. So she did what she always had to. She took a deep breath, focusing her anger, and used her words.
"Dredden, for the probably six-hundredth time, you are not in charge of the debate team. I am. So you don't do anything without my 'ok.' Got that?"
"Don't you think that-"
"No, I don't care," she waved off whatever he had to say. "I will decide who will replace Sumin. All you have to do is make sure your debate skills are top notch and maybe edit your election speech since I will crush you there."
Dredden blinked in surprise before smirking. "We'll see. Alright Fuentes, you pick. Let's hope your choice isn't a total disaster."
"How do you put up with that guy?" Meredith asked as he walked away.
"Patience."
"Jeez, how much patience do you need to deal with him?"
Gabriela snorted. "I'm both an out lesbian and a Latinx girl. Endless patience is something I need to have in this day and age."
"Right, sorry."
"Why are you apologizing? It's not your fault. Now come on, let's get to class."
"Yeah, right. Still, I thought you would be more mad about all the posters."
Gabriela stopped. "What posters?"
"Oh," Meredith pursed her lips together, her eyes wide. "So, you didn't see them. Uh…never mind then. Just forget about them. Let's go to class."
She started to move but Gabriela stopped her. "What posters?" she repeated.
Meredith grimaced, hissing through her teeth. "Well…"
"Are you kidding me?" Gabriela seethed a minute later, staring.
Dredden was standing upright in the poster, the sun shining down on him as he held a hand over his heart, smiling out at everyone looking. Meanwhile, in the background, was a very bad imitation of her juggling about a dozen different balls and failing miserably, several falling to the ground. Well, she wanted to think it was a bad imitation of her but in all honesty anyone would be able to tell it was her.
Right under it were the words VOTE WITH CONFIDENCE FOR SOMEONE WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY'RE DOING.
"I tried taking them down, but it's like he superglued them on. Which I don't think is allowed so maybe we could-"
"Wait, them? How many are there?"
Meredith hissed again. "Um…I think I saw around…four walking in."
Gabriela looked back at the poster, her fists clenched. How dare he! She knew Dredden was an ass but she didn't think he would stoop to something like this. The worst part was that everyone would know what he was talking about. She had complained several times about all the things she was managing and had to do. In hindsight, it hadn't been the best idea to do that in earshot of people like Dredden, or anyone really with student elections coming up. But the thing she took the most pride in was that she really did shine under pressure. Even if she was overwhelmed by everything she had to do, she always rose to the challenge and handled everything with 100%.
"I'm going to kill him," she promised.
"Not that that's a bad idea but…is it just me, or is it getting hotter in here?"
"Meredith, be serious."
"No, really."
Gabriela paused. It did seem like it was getting warmer. She could see steam rising in the air around them. And Meredith did look a little flushed. But…she couldn't really feel it.
Then she noticed her hands.
They were glowing.
"Um…uh…I gotta go," she said hurriedly. "Um…bathroom emergency. Bye!"
Then before Meredith could say anything, she took off. She rushed through the hallways as fast as she could, pushing past others with the occasional "sorry" thrown over her shoulder before she spotted the familiar black figures on the walls and shoved her way inside. She found an empty stall and slammed it shut behind her, locking it, before finally looking closer at her fist.
Her heart instantly flew up her throat as she saw her entire fist brimming with glowing, white energy. It looked like something from a video game or a movie. And yet there it was. She hadn't even noticed it before but she could feel all the energy in it now, just waiting to be unleashed.
She tried to control it again, focusing her anger and pushing it back. But then that stupid poster popped back in her head and she felt her fist light up even more.
"Oh god," she muttered. What was she going to do now? She couldn't very well walk around school with her hand like this. She could try finding some gloves but she wasn't even sure that could fully hide it. Besides, that wasn't even the problem.
The energy in her fist was practically bursting out of her. It was taking everything she had just to keep it in. She grunted and winced, trying desperately to tighten her hold on it but she was slipping. If she didn't do something soon, she was going to explode.
With only one idea in mind, she quickly held her hand next to the toilet and let it out.
And boy did it come out.
She tried her best to focus it but at that point there really wasn't much she could do. It just poured out of her, a continuous stream of white hot energy that burned a hole right through the floor and into the ground. It was like a laser beam the way it drilled down. She could see cracks forming in the tiles and felt the entire bathroom shaking a little. Or maybe that was just her.
She tried to put a lid back on it but it was like trying to stop a geyser at this point. All she could do was hold her hand steady and wait for it to be over.
After a few more seconds, she finally felt it let up and she watched carefully as the last few sparks burst out before fading away. Almost instantaneously, she slumped over, suddenly feeling exhausted. Like all her energy had been drained out of her. In a way, it had.
"Jeez, girl," someone in a stall said, causing Gabriela to jerk upright. "What the hell was that?"
"Uh…" Gabriela blinked. "Tuna casserole?"
A pause. Then, "ah, I feel you there."
Gabriela breathed out before turning to admire her handiwork. She couldn't even see the bottom of the hole she'd just created. And the sides of it were glossy and smooth. She looked at her fist again, making sure there wasn't any other surprises lurking inside but as far as she could tell it was back to normal. For now.
She stared back at the hole, her heart pounding. What was she going to do now? What the hell could she do? What could anyone do in a situation like this? Should she tell someone? No, that wouldn't work because then she would have to explain how she did it and then…well, a whole bunch of bad stuff would happen. And it wasn't like she could hit it. It was a freaking hole in the ground!
Oh, why hadn't she stayed home? She could have come up with some excuse. A high school was literally the worst place to test her powers. She hadn't even lasted five minutes in here. It was an obstacle course made to test her patience, insecurities, and emotional balance. Adding nuclear powers was just the icing on top of the mushroom cloud.
So what could she do? How the heck was she going to hide this hole in the ground?
Taking a deep breath, Gabriela began to think rationally.
A few minutes later, she left the bathroom, having placed an out of order sign on the door using her extra school supplies. It didn't look truly authentic but it should stop most people. She had also placed a wad of toilet paper over the hole. One thing she'd learned over the years, no one wanted to touch any sort of paper on the bathroom floor so it would probably stay there a while.
The hole would be discovered eventually. At some point a janitor or a really desperate student or someone would enter the stall and remove the paper, but hopefully it would be long enough that no one would be able to link her to it.
Now to more pressing matters. Like how to last for the rest of the day. She just had to avoid any stressful situations. Yeah, that was it. Just…get through the day as calmly as possible. And if something stressful came up, she would just ignore it. That was it.
So what was her first class?
She pulled out her schedule and let out a loud and long groan. Mr. Warners. Just perfect.
This would not help her stress.
Sumin had not had much luck in finding Travis. They had searched his usual spots but come up with zilch. Which so far left them with no plan on what to do next except continue on with their day as if nothing was going on. Which might prove to be a problem.
After testing the limits of their new powers, Sumin had discovered something quite alarming. If they had to make a guess, they would say that the power of theirs was desperate to get out, needing an escape, so it did so in whatever way it could. While, fortunately, it wasn't spraying out of them randomly in blasts of indigo light, it had chosen a more creative but still problematic way.
Every time Sumin thought of something, an indigo construct of it appeared. They go to get cereal out of the cupboard and indigo rice krispies begin pouring out of the air in front of them. They go to check the mailbox and indigo envelopes appear in their hand. They watch cars go by at the crosswalk and suddenly have mini indigo cars driving down their arm. They walk into the school's side door, glancing at it for a second, before slamming into a closed indigo door they just conjured up. Flowers, clouds, even the pavement appeared in front of them with an indigo coloring. So maybe school had not been the best idea. However, if their parents found out, then that would cause concern. So, Sumin just needed to keep a lid on their imagination and train of thought.
Easier said than done never felt more true.
So, here they were in Mr. Warners class, in the back of the room which was in contrast to their preferred seat near the front. Here, at least, their little lightshows might be better kept hidden. They had only managed to walk through the hallways thanks to the boisterous atmosphere blocking most thoughts from entering their mind. But now they were back to thinking at full steam.
And just like that, wisps of Indigo smoke began to appear around them.
Sumin concentrated and felt that pull again, drawing the smoky color back into them, a slight moan escaping as they did so. It was like plugging up a dam. The pressure inside them only continued to grow and they didn't know how much longer they could contain it.
The bell suddenly rang and Sumin flinched on instinct. They instantly felt the urge, the shape of the bell appearing in front of them, but this time they were able to keep it contained. Barely.
"Alright, everyone, settle down," Mr. Warners told them. "Let's get started. Now, last week we left off on…" he trailed off as Gabriela Fuentes suddenly appeared in the doorway.
Sumin blinked in surprise. Gabriela was late? Come to think of it, they had been so fixated on their own problems, they hadn't noticed she wasn't there yet. But, why was that? In all the years they had known her, she was always one of the first to arrive to class if not the first. To arrive after the bell went was unheard of. And clearly they weren't the only one who thought so as they could hear people murmuring all around them while staring at Gabriela.
"Well, well, look who decided to show up," Mr. Warners said, as if Gabriela had arrived a half hour after class started rather than a few seconds.
"I am so sorry I'm late, Mr. Warners, there was just this thing I had to take care of and some issue with the bathroom," she rambled, wincing at the last bit. Sumin frowned. They had never seen her act like this before either, so…frazzled.
"It appears fame and prestige aren't everything," Mr. Warners said. "Please refrain from interrupting the class again. Now, go take a seat so that we can finally begin."
Sumin didn't know what Mr. Warners's problem with Gabriela was but he had been coming after her since the term started, even though she was the model student. He seemed to want to find any errors in her work, any mistakes in her answers, any flaws in her attitude. Clearly there was something else going on. And now, Mr. Warners was leaping at this latest opportunity to show his disdain.
Travis had once compared him to Severus Snape from Harry Potter, an analogy that Sumin had to admit was actually quite accurate.
Gabriela chose not to say anything. Her fists were clenched and she was clearly trying to keep a calm expression in place as she walked over to her desk and deposited her stuff. But as she did, Sumin noticed something odd. For a second there, it had looked like Gabriela's fist was glowing.
Then she sat down and her fist vanished from view. Sumin watched her carefully for a few more seconds. Had that been a trick of the light? Or something else?
"Right, last time we talked about magnetic fields and their properties. Well, who here can name the largest magnetic field?"
The Earth, Sumin thought just as an indigo construct of the world appeared in their hands. They were so glad their seat wasn't paired with anyone else or it would be next to impossible to hide this new gift/curse. It was for that reason they decided not to raise their hand today. Keep as low a profile as possible. Not that it matter as they didn't really raise their hand much anyway.
The person who did raise their hand the most, however, was staying still. And again, Sumin was surprised at Gabriela's attitude.
"Anyone?" Mr. Warners ask, looking around the room. "Anyone have a guess?"
Still, no hand went up. A few people seemed to be doing their best to nap with their eyes open while others were idly doodling. Some seemed to be trying to think of the answer.
"Fuentes, how about you?"
Gabriela jerked a little. "I'm sorry, what was the question again?"
Sumin's eyes flew open and they heard a few gasps around the room. Gabriela…hadn't been paying attention?
Mr. Warners tutted, shaking his head. "How disappointing. I said…" he drawled a little, as if speaking to a toddler, "what is the largest magnetic field?"
Gabriela went silent for a moment and from what Sumin could make out, it seemed she was confused but it was hard to tell given she was on the other side of the class and in front of them.
"Hm. Perhaps you should spend a little less time on your hobbies and more on your studies, Ms. Fuen-"
"I'm just confused," Gabriela interrupted, surprising Sumin and clearly Mr. Warners as well. "Do you mean like the largest in the world or just the largest we can name? Because the largest in the world is the planet itself. But the sun's magnetic field is at least twice as strong as the Earth's and extends across the entire solar system."
Oh. Sumin hadn't thought about the sun, but yes that one would be correct. Except, it appeared that Mr. Warners, given his expression, hadn't considered it either.
"Yes, well, that is correct. However, do not interrupt me again, Fuentes, or there will be consequences. Now, we're going to talk more about the planet's magnetic field today. So…"
As he talked, Sumin glanced over at Gabriela and again could swear that there was a slight glow about her. They frowned, staring for a few seconds, before looking away, not seeing anything anymore. Whatever it was, it must be fleeting. It could be a trick of the light. But given that they kept creating random things out of light, they couldn't really negate the impossible anymore. And the impossible thing was that somehow Gabriela was producing that glow.
They just had to keep an eye on her to see if it was true.
"…and that is why magnetic north would actually be in northern Canada while geographic north would be in the Arctic at the top of the world. Now, magnetic fields appear everywhere. Direct your attention to the screen…"
Sumin looked up and saw one of those toy magnets that kids played with. They were called snake eggs or something. They remembered having a pair as a child. A second later, they smiled as a pair appeared in their hand, spinning around just like they remembered. Sumin would often throw them at each other to see what would happen. Usually, their magnetic sides would find one another and they would slam together. But on occasion, they repelled each other instead, pushing each other aside as they slid by. One time, Sumin and Althea had slid them across the entire room to see the reaction.
And then a glowing image of Althea appeared.
Sumin felt everything within them shut down. Nothing else seemed to matter. Nothing seemed to exist except that one glowing image. It was her smile, her face lit up for the world. That perfectly carefree expression that told you all you needed to know about her. Nothing like the still, emotionless person who lay in the hospital. This was the real her, captured perfectly.
Sumin felt so many different emotions rushing through them that they had no idea what to do. All they could do was stare, trying to savor that moment forever. Pretend that this was the real her and that nothing bad had happened to her, that there was no train crash.
She instantly disappeared, replaced by a train crash.
Sumin bolted upright, stumbling away in shock, their chair clattering onto the floor.
"Sumin!" Mr. Warners called, him and the rest of the class staring at them. "What's going on? Are you ok?"
"I…uh…" Sumin mumbled, thinking fast. They needed to get away. This was too much right now. They felt like their brain was on fire, their breathing coming in short gasps. "I…need to go to the bathroom. Please."
Mr. Warners nodded. "Ok, go on then. But, uh, please pick up your chair."
Sumin quickly lifted the chair up before dashing from the room. They hurried through the hallway, ignoring everything and everyone around them, until they found the nearest bathroom. There was a unisex bathroom but it was on the other side of the school and Sumin didn't care right now, pushing into the girls one instead and rushing into the nearest stall.
Once they were in, Sumin focused on their breathing, deep breaths in and slow breaths out. They kept that up for several minutes, just breathing and nothing else. Then, slowly, they felt their heartbeat even and their breathing return to normal. They let out one last big breath and slumped a little. They hadn't had an incident like that since, well, the day of the accident. Just seeing her face, and then a recreation of the train, put them over the edge. They had thought they'd kept their feelings in check but they should have known better. For something like this, there was no way to do that.
Sumin gave it another minute before they decided to head back. As they turned to leave, they noticed a wad of toilet paper on the ground and wrinkled their nose is disgust. Is it that hard to flush it? they wondered.
Using some dry toilet paper, they hastily picked up the wad and threw it in the toilet.
And then they saw the hole.
It took them a second to process what they were seeing. There was a hole. In the floor of the bathroom. A deep hole from the looks of it and it seemed like someone had used a drill or a laser cannon to make it.
They stared for another minute before saying, "huh."
"What?" Mr. Warners asked after they returned.
"There's a hole in the bathroom," Sumin repeated. "Someone made a hole in the bathroom floor and tried to cover it up."
As they said that, they noticed two things. One was the strange aura had returned around Gabriela, casting her in an ethereal light. The other was the unmistakable look of guilt on her face.
Huh.