‘Haven’t seen her,’ I said, wryly. No pun intended.
Izzy levitated down.
‘Tell her we’re looking for her,’ she said before walking away. Christie and Rory followed.
Just when I thought I was in the clear, Izzy turned around and telekinetically flipped my file from my hands. My pages were scattered once more. I sighed and got down on all fours again to collect them.
***
I used to sit next to Izzy in the second grade. When the class began developing abilities and learnt that I didn’t have any, they started avoiding me all because of a rumour Izzy started. Although it eventually turned out to be true, having AD was social death.
Izzy decided not to sit next to me one day. When the teacher asked her why she wasn’t seated at her usual spot, she cried out that I had AD and she didn’t want to catch it.
‘That’s not how AD works,’ the teacher explained, but the kids kept their distance.
***
I was barely done collecting my scattered pages when I heard footsteps behind me. I assumed it was Izzy and her stooges back to torment me.
‘I’m not in the mood, Izzy!’ I turned around and snapped, but this time it was a helping hand I saw.
‘I’ve been called many things but not Izzy,’ Asher said.
‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘I was certain it was her.’
He knelt down beside me and helped me collect the remaining few pages. ‘I’m guessing this was her handy work?’
‘Yeah,’ I sighed.
Asher examined one of the papers. ‘Number four is actually covalent. The bond is formed with two opposite charged ions.’
‘I should get a new lab partner,’ I said.
Asher was the smartest person I knew. He was an effortless straight-A student. Although his intelligence deserved adroit status in my view, Asher was a maladroit.
He handed me the papers.
‘Thanks.’
‘No problem.’
‘What happened to your foot?’ he asked.
‘Just a minor fender bender,’ I covered up. ‘I’ll be good in a few weeks.’
The tardy bell rang. The flood of students had subsided, and the hallway was nearly empty. I finished packing my books in my backpack and closed my locker. I grabbed the crutches I had leaned against the locker next to mine and proceeded to the next class. Asher walked with me.
‘Winston High Spring Dance,’ he read aloud as we walked past a Spring Dance poster.
‘Are you going?’ he asked.
‘I’m not sure,’ I replied. ‘School dances are superficial and biased. It’s obvious who’s gonna be crowned king and queen. I can’t participate in such bureaucracy.’
‘Yeah definitely,’ he agreed.
Chapter 7
The back rows of our classrooms were usually reserved by the adroit. Allie and I always sat next to each other or in adjacent rows. Chemistry was one of the classes where we sat together. The adroit were obnoxiously rowdy as usual.
‘Settle down!’ said our Chemistry teacher, Mr Cleary.
A boy I hadn’t seen before stood next to him in front of the classroom.
‘I’d like for you all to meet Gael,’ Mr Cleary said.
‘Tulip!’ one of the male adroit hollered. The back row erupted in laughter.
‘Quiet!’ Mr Cleary ordered.
It didn’t matter what kind of person Gael was; he had been labelled within hours of joining the school. He had been judged merely based on his ability, which apparently didn’t meet the adroit standard.
‘Gael is our new transfer,’ Mr Cleary continued. ‘He’ll be joining us from today onwards. I hope you’ll all welcome and assist him during this period of transition.’
Mr Cleary turned to Gael. ’Welcome, Gael.’
‘Thank you,’ Gael responded.
‘Please have a seat.’
Gael sat at one of the empty desks in the front row.
***
Most kids had control over their abilities by the age of thirteen so unlike primary schools, high schools weren’t required to have long wave inhibitors with full coverage. Our school had few inhibitors, mainly in the auditorium, detention room, sick room, gym and sports field. The sports field inhibitors were usually switched on during sporting events and practise to ensure fairness in certain sports in case some competitors had super speed, strength, endurance or any other ability that would be considered an advantage.
The dining hall was also one of the few rooms that had an ability inhibitor. It wasn’t always that way though, however. The adroit had started a telekinetic food fight that prompted the school to install one.
Lunch couldn’t come any sooner because I was famished. I was halfway through gobbling my lunch when I noticed Allie gawking at me.
‘What?’ I mumbled with my mouth full.
‘Is there something you need to tell me?’ she asked. ‘Are you eating for two or maybe even three?’
I rolled my eyes. The thought of me being knocked up was preposterous.
‘It’s the drugs,’ I groaned. ‘They’re messing with my metabolism or something.’
‘You have all the symptoms,’ Allie persisted, ‘nausea, tiredness, the monstrous appetite—’
‘I’m not pregnant!’ I retorted. ‘I don’t have a boyfriend. I’ve barely kissed a boy.’
‘That’s what my cousin Beth said before her parents found out she was pregnant with twins. Maybe you have a secret boyfriend you haven’t told me about.’
I played along. ‘A secret boyfriend, huh?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Like who?’
‘I don’t know… could it be Oliver?’ she mockingly asked.
Allie and I turned to look towards a dining hall table where a few maladroit, including Oliver, sat. He spoke to a hamster.
Allie and I shot each other a disapproving look. No, we shook our heads in sync. Definitely not.
Allie looked at another maladroit table where Asher sat.
‘Maybe it’s Asher,’ she continued. ‘He is totally crushing on you—’
‘He’s not!’ I interjected.
‘Or maybe it could be the new kid, Tulip.’
Gael or his infamous adroit imposed epithet — Tulip — sat by himself intently reading a book.
‘Why are you pairing me with all the maladroit?’
‘Plant manipulation isn’t half bad, don’t you think?’
I stole a glance at Gael. Just then he looked up from his book. Our eyes met for a brief moment. I quickly redirected my gaze towards my lunch.
I hadn’t seen him use his ability, but Gael was apparently able to manipulate plants.
‘I don’t know,’ I said.
Plant manipulation wasn’t half bad. In fact, it was out of my league. I knew Allie was kidding, but she was right. The thought had crossed my mind a million times. The only romantic relationship I could hope for was with a maladroit. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would willingly settle for someone with Severe AD and voluntarily risk spawning abnormal offspring. The chances of two healthy parents without AD having children with the disorder were one in one hundred thousand. In the cases of one parent having AD, the odds were significantly increased to a staggering one in two — a fifty per cent chance.
‘What makes you so sure the father of my baby isn’t Eric?’ I asked Allie to distract myself from the depressing thoughts.
Allie longingly glanced at a table, where Eric sat along with a few other adroit including Izzy, Christie and Rory. She sighed. ‘Because, as much as I like to dream, Eric would never go for girls like us.’
Eric caught us staring, so did Izzy. Surprisingly, Izzy didn’t look at us with contempt as would be expected. Allie and I quickly looked away.
Allie’s demeanour shifted. She slumped forward, resting her head on her hand and began playing with her food.
‘Are you gonna eat that?’ I asked.
Allie passed me her tray of a half-eaten burger and chips. ‘Knock yourself out.�
��
I ravenously devoured her burger. A boy, Ailin waved at Allie before taking a seat at a semi-adroit table.
‘I forgot to mention,’ I mumbled while chewing. ‘Izzy and her minions were looking for you earlier.’
‘What for?’
‘I don’t know,’ I shrugged. I washed down the burger with some juice and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
‘You might not be pregnant, but at the rate, you’re downing those burgers, you’re definitely gonna have a food baby,’ Allie teased.
I felt my stomach and cringed at the thought.
‘So um… Ailin asked me to the dance,’ said Allie.
‘Really?’
‘I didn’t give him an answer.’
Ailin was no Eric. I knew how much Allie wanted to go to the dance though. She probably hadn’t given him an answer out of solidarity. She probably figured no one would ask me.
‘You should go,’ I urged her.
‘You think so?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Cool,’ she said. ‘You mind picking out a dress with me after school?’
‘Sure.’
I nibble on the remaining chips. We were greeted by a casual male voice. ‘Hey!’
Allie and I both looked up, astonished. I swallowed hard and wiped my mouth clean.
Eric stood at the foot of the table, accompanied by Izzy and Christie. They helped themselves to the open seats around our table. Izzy and Christie sat beside me.
‘Hi,’ Eric said to Allie as he sat down beside her. Allie seemed to have lost her speech. I responded for her. ‘Hi.’
‘We heard you guys went to the midnight screening of “The Hunter’s Curse,”’ said Eric.
‘Yeah, Riley said he saw you there last night,’ Izzy added.
Riley was one of three kids from our school I had recognised at the midnight premiere. He was also Izzy’s twelfth-grade boyfriend.
‘How’d you guys get in?’ Eric asked.
Allie was still mute. I acted as her proxy once more.
‘It was all Allie,’ I insisted.
‘So you just walked in?’ Eric asked Allie.
‘Yeah,’ she meekly replied.
‘Cool,’ Eric said, impressed.
‘So how was it?’ he asked. ‘The movie,’ he clarified.
‘It was great, um…’ Allie murmured. She paused in thought, cleared her throat and said, ‘It grabs you from the beginning and doesn’t let go. It’s like one long trailer.’ Her confidence and speech were restored the more she spoke. ‘No dull moments,’ she continued, ‘but it’s a bit cheesy, so don’t expect any award-worthy performances.’
The adroit nodded as they tentatively listened. Allie elaborated. ‘The movie didn’t do the book much justice. They didn’t incorporate enough of the quirky inner dialogue that made scenes in the book lighthearted. Film is a visual medium, but they could have incorporated some more voice-overs, especially during the bar scene. Most of the scenes lost their charm because of a lack of the quirky inner dialogue.’
Hearing Allie use my words was unnerving. Was this how I sounded when I analysed things — which I did quite often? It sounded critical and judgmental.
‘Cool,’ said Eric.
‘So, can you like walk through anything?’ Izzy asked.
‘As far as I know.’
‘Awesome,’ said Christie.
The school bell rang. The adroit got up to leave.
‘See you around,’ said Eric.
‘See you,’ Allie replied a bit too eager.
Allie and I watched in bewilderment as the adroit walked away.
‘What just happened?’ I said, collecting my crutches leaned beside the table.
‘Did we just become popular overnight?’ said Allie. She gathered our trays and scrapped the used juice containers into the recycle bin nearby. She sighed a very girly sigh as we walked to class. ‘Eric is so cool.’
The adroit were too kind. I couldn’t recall a time either of them were that benevolent. They wanted something.
Chapter 8
Where are you, Allie? I wondered while I waited for her outside the boutique we had agreed to meet at. It was not like her to be late. I reached into my pocket, retrieved my phone and called her.
‘You’ve reached Allie. I might have misplaced my phone, or I’m avoiding someone. Please leave a message, and if I don’t call back, that person is probably you.’
Like the first three times I tried calling, I was sent to voicemail.
I sat down at a public bench nearby and texted: Where are you? I’m at the boutique.
I waited with the phone in my hand. I waited and waited. No reply.
A group of two girls and one boy strolled down the street on the opposite side of the road. The boy had his phone out, showing the girls something amusing. The girl with the shorter hair of the two snatched the phone from the boy's hand and ran. The boy chased her. She dodged him and threw the phone at the long-haired girl. The boy doubled back to the long-haired girl. The long-haired girl multiplied into two versions of herself. She threw the phone to herself and then to the short-haired girl. This went on until the boy managed to wrap his arms around the short-haired girl before she could toss the phone. They laughed and continued down the road with their hands around each other. The long-haired girl followed a few steps behind.
My phone buzzed. Allie? I thought. It was a text from Dad requesting to see me.
***
Dad treated Cody and me to dinner at Reny’s — an old family favourite restaurant. With its great playground section, long-wave ability inhibitor and dedicated staff to monitor children, Reny’s was one of the few kid-friendly restaurants that could keep Cody entertained. The food wasn’t bad either.
We were halfway through dinner when Dad pulled out a red sports car model from the inside pocket of his blazer and presented it to Cody.
‘Thought you might add that to your collection.’
Cody eagerly accepted it. ‘Awesome!’
‘I didn’t forget about you,’ Dad told me.
He reached into his other interior blazer pocket, pulled out a book and handed it to me.
I accepted it. ‘Thanks.’
‘You welcome. The lady at the bookstore said it was a recent best-seller.’
It was a special edition copy of “The Hunter’s Curse” — a book Dad might have known I had read if he had been around more often. Dad trying to be “father of the year” out of the blue was odd. I hadn’t given it much thought, but Mum had a valid point about Dad not being around much. He had been absent for months. First emotionally, then physically. He would frequently disappear. When he returned, he was often dishevelled, but what was more peculiar was that he seemed increasingly happier.
***
When my treatments began, Dad would always be there with Mum. He would often read to me when I was hospitalised, even when I was old enough to read on my own. He would read inspirational stories and fairy tales with happy endings.
One particular story I loved and identified with was Mutt — a tale about a literal underdog. A story about a dog and wolf-hybrid mocked and labelled a mutt by his purebred peers because of his unknown breed and distinct appearance. Dad must have read it to me a hundred times. Like most fairytales, Mutt had a happy ending.
I loved all the inspirational stories Dad read to me. I loved how the characters prevailed and overcame their challenges. It gave me hope that my treatments would all be worth it someday.
I would fantasise that I was normal and had Mum’s abilities, which I would use to mimic Christie or Izzy’s abilities and rub it in their faces. I would imagine the adroit picking on a maladroit with their abilities. I would step in and use my abilities to vanquish the adroit and bring peace to the school. That was when I still believed in fairytales and happy endings.
***
‘I was talking to your Mum earlier,’ Dad said. He paused for a long moment. ‘We both think it might be a good idea if I moved out for a while
.’
We sat in silence with only the sound of clinking cutlery and muffled chatter in the background.
’I’ll still be around,’ Dad said. ‘I’ll pick you up from school every day.’
More silence.
***
‘See you soon,’ Dad said, hugging Cody goodbye. I slowly exited the back seat of the car. Dad assisted me. He retrieved my crutches and handed them to me.
‘How’s the treatment going?’ he asked.
‘I’m not sure,’ I replied. ‘Still a bit early to tell.’
‘Cool,’ he said. He longingly stared at the house as Cody entered and left the door wide open. He turned his attention back towards me. ‘Your Mum told me about what Cody said — about our fighting being your fault. I want you to know that it’s not. I also hope you didn’t take offence to what I said the other night. About not being perfect and giving up. I realised it might have come out the wrong way.’
It hurt quite a bit, actually.
‘I just realised that you never really had a choice in the treatments,’ he explained. ‘If you truly want to go through with the current treatment and any future treatments, I’ll be there to support you a hundred per cent.’
‘Thanks.’
‘I love you,’ he said.
‘I love you too,’ I said.
We hugged.
***
Allie waved at the back row before taking her seat beside me in English class. I looked over my shoulder. Izzy and Rory waved at her.
‘You won’t believe what happened to me yesterday,’ Allie beamed, smiling ear to ear. She swooned. ‘I spent the whole afternoon with Eric! We snuck into the cinema and hung out afterwards. Izzy and the rest of the gang were there, but I got to sit next to Eric the whole time.
‘I ran into them after school, and Eric was like, “Hey, you wanna hang out?” and I was like “Yeah sure—”’
I wanted to be happy for her, but a part of me couldn’t help feel disappointed that she missed our appointment in favour of the adroit. The same adroit that mocked and ridiculed us both.
‘Did I say something wrong?’ Allie asked.
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