Summer here I come!

In a 4th grade classroom of Bellwood elementary, a 10 year old looks at the clock as if he could make it move faster and have summer vacation start.

Ben POV

"Just a few more minutes. Come on, come on," I thought, looking at the clock.

I've been waiting all month for this summer to start. I finally managed to convince my parents to let me go on a road trip with grandpa Max and I just can't wait. My leg is bouncing with excess energy and it seems like everyone around me, even my teacher is just waiting for that bell to ring.

"Now I just want to inform you that I will be teaching summer school this year and it's not too late to sign up," my teacher says.

'Yeah right, no I've had enough school. It's time to learn from grandpa's military training and have some fun all over the country,' I think to myself.

We all hear the bell and nearly run for it.

"Yes! Out of here," I say out loud.

"Everyone have a good vacation and I hope to see you all in the fall," my teacher calls out as we start to leave. "Benjamin, wait a moment."

'Aw man, what now,' I flinched and nearly groaned. Turning around I see my teacher holding a small leatherback notebook.

"Don't forget your 'diary' on your way out," my teacher said as she held my journal up.

I could hear some of my classmates chuckling on the way out. I swear she said that on purpose, probably to teach me to not write or doodle random things during class. It won't work.

As I walked out I was skimming through my journal. To most it would seem like just any ordinary journal or diary. It was full of notes of different things like my day to day, personal thoughts and the occasional drawing.

God I love shorthand, ciphers, invisible ink and of course hidden messages. Having memories of a past life sure comes in handy. Though sometimes I wish I could remember the holes in those memories, I guess I could deal with that some other time.

As I was on my way to the sidewalk to wait for grandpa Max I noticed the school bullies Cash and JT trying to take someone else's money again. I clenched my fist. There are very few things I hate. Grandpa Max's cooking isn't on the list but bullies are.

"Hey lay off Cash," I called out.

He and JT turn around to see me. JT gets a look of fear while Cash gets a flash of irritation in his eyes but still takes a step back.

"This has nothing to do with you Tennyson," Cash said, trying to sound tough and scare me off.

When I was younger it worked because I didn't like violence and my best skill was running. Then grandpa Max taught me how to fight and how to be brave… Well, let's just say no one messed with me anymore.

"I said to let him go. Or are we gonna have a problem."

Cash started to shake now, a sign he's either getting ready to fight or run. I hope he chooses the latter, cause I really don't want to fight him.

Clicking his tongue he turns around and starts to walk away. "Whatever, you're not worth it Tennyson."

As he leaves JT follows like some lackey. I finally let out the breath I was holding in. I look at the kid they were bothering and help him up so he can get going.

I start to write down in my notebook about the confrontation I had with those two, but in my secret messages I write about how the feelings I get from the people around me are getting stronger. The stronger this feeling gets the more I'm starting to think I might be an empath, and if that is true then it means I might be a mutant.

I guess I should explain in more detail. One day when I was 6 I read a history book and found someone that shouldn't be there, Captain America, aka Steve Rogers. Seeing that I started to freak out a little, and I was glad that my parents weren't home that day.

As soon as that shock passed I went to the computer and looked up Charles Xavier. A few seconds later I found him. The man who brought up the theory of human mutations.

I was shocked and now I'm worried. I started to look into different things. First I looked into other famous people and organizations. First was SHIELD then Anthony 'Tony' Edward Stark followed by Dr Bruce Banner, Dr Henry 'Hank' Pym and many others.

Back then I could feel my anxiety rising and my worries turned into panic. I managed to calm myself down cause I didn't find anything dangerous that could cause me more anxieties. And once I calmed down enough I turned off the computer and grabbed a notebook to write everything I could remember. The good, the bad and the apocalyptic. 

I was so out of it that my grandpa nearly saw my notes. I had to burn the pages and get a new notebook so I could write all of my thoughts on.

Honk Honk

I was taken out of my musing to the sound of my grandpa's RV, the 'Rust Bucket'.

"Come on Ben! We're burning daylight!" grandpa Max yells from the driver's seat.

"Coming!" I yelled as I put my notebook away as I walked to the RV. "Oh man, this is gonna be the best summer ev-"

'It couldn't be, my eyes are playing tricks on me,' I thought because I could have sworn I saw my cousin sitting in the RV. But that can't be possible cause last I heard she was gonna spend all summer doing her own thing.

I turned around, nearly praying that it wasn't true. Shame it was. "Ah! Gwen? What are you doing here? What is she doing here?"

"Take it easy dweeb, this wasn't my idea," my cousin said, far too annoyed and somewhat irritated in my opinion, mostly cause I haven't done anything to her to get her to be mad at me. "Someone convinced my mom that going camping for the summer would be a good experience for me."

"Grandpa, please tell me you didn't."

"I thought it would be fun if your cousin tagged along with us. Is that a problem?" Max said with joy, only for his question to almost sound threatening.

Gwen and I didn't have anything to say, but to be honest I'm glad she's coming along. Although she and I fight a lot we are actually pretty close. The only thing I don't like about her is how uptight she can be and how she tries to get a rise out of me only for me to bring her back down.

~~~~~~~

As we were on the road Gwen started to complain about how her summer plans are ruined, even going so far as to show me her schedule for the whole Summer.

"Well you know what they say, 'No plan survives first contact on the battlefield'," I tell her, trying not to let my annoyance show on my face.

"You should know, all of your plans fail no matter what you do."

"Firstly, it's an expression that means to always be flexible with what happens around you. Secondly my plans are mostly simple because a simple plan is better than something far too complicated," I tell her. Her annoyances with me now affect me.

She just glowered at me and I can't help but sigh at her attitude. I get it, we're 10, but that doesn't mean you can just go off on me with an attitude just because of the trip.

"Something tells me this is going to be a long summer," I hear grandpa Max muttering as he drives

~~~~~~~

We finally arrived at the camping spot and started to set the tent up along with cleaning a spot for the campfire and bringing out the table for dinner. Speaking of…

"Chow time," grandpa Max said as he brought out a bowl of what looks like worms.

"Okay, what is that?" I ask hoping it's bait for our dinner.

"Marinated mealworms. Hard to find them fresh in the states. You know they consider them a delicacy in some countries."

"And totally gross in others," Gwen groaned, seeing one just slip out of the bowl.

I grabbed one and just started to eat it. Gwen gagged and grandpa seemed rather happy I gave it a try.

"Not bad, kinda like eating crickets. But could we maybe cook it next time grandpa?" I asked genuinely. I wasn't lying, my mom being Mexican meant that we tried some interesting things, one of my favorite snacks being crickets.

"Hahaha, I'll think about it. But if you're feeling adventurous I got some smoked sheep's tongue in the fridge," Max said as he went in the RV to grab the dish.

This time I gagged and Gwen nearly puked. As much as I like different kinds of food there is a limit.

"Okay, I got a few bags of chips, juice cans and some leftover Tlayuda that my mom made. What do you have?" I ask my cousin a little hopeful.

"Some rice cake and some hard candy," Gwen said rather dejectedly. 

"Think we can make it last the whole summer?" I asked as we turned to grandpa Max bringing the 'food' he had with a look in our eyes that would fit right in home on a kicked puppy.

~~~~~

After dinner I started to write in my journal and even took out my laptop to help me identify constellations. Meanwhile Gwen was doing her own research on who knows what.

We were like that until grandpa Max walked out of the RV with a bag of marshmallows.

"Who wants to roast marshmallows?" He asked.

"I'll get the firewood," I called out as I got up and left my things on the table. I then say aloud "Hey, maybe we can tell scary stories while we are at it. Like the story of having to spend summer with a freak of a cousin. Hahaha."

I could tell she didn't like that but she was just not getting into this whole camping trip. So I thought I could poke the bear and hope she got out of the city and into the woods.

"I'd like to grandpa, but I'm busy doing a web search on cures for extreme doofesnes. Nothing yet Ben, but let's not give up hope," she said in a rather smug voice.

'Aw man, she got me,' I thought. 'Or did she?'

"At least there might be a cure for doofusness, can't really do anything about your geekyness," I shot back.

That seemed to almost get her mad so grandpa Max got between us. "Alright you two we are all in this together. Now come on we can just mope or we can try to get along and have fun."

"I vote for moping," Gwen said without a second thought.

Grandpa seemed to get a little upset with that comment. At least that's what it felt like, but his face seemed rather neutral.

"Don't worry grandpa. I'll get the firewood and we can get started on the stories," I said with the most encouraging smile I could muster.

As I walked away it felt like grandpa was giving me an appreciated kind of look. I wasn't sure since I didn't turn around.

Walking in the woods I picked up as many sticks as I could so many thoughts passing through my mind.

"Maybe I should follow Gwen's example and think of what my future career should be. Maybe a psychologist? I mean, I do tend to help people with their issues anyways."

I then noticed a bright light in the sky. Turning to it, I see what looks like a shooting star pass by.

"Cool! You don't see that in the city," I comment as it passes.

I was thinking of a wish to make when it suddenly jerked in my direction at a speed that could kill even a whale.

"Not good!" I yell as I run for it.

It crashed right behind me with a shockwave strong enough to knock me off my feet. Now that the danger passed, I turned back to see what it was.

"Almost looks like a satellite. What is it?" I wondered as I got a closer look.

I then fall into the crater, right next to the weird space object. 

'Ah man, nice going doofus,' I chastised myself for always being such a klutz, only to realize the space junk opened up with something glowing inside.

"Why does this seem familiar?"