Brody

"Xander wake up."

"Mhmmmmn." A soft voice tickled my ears and a felt a tap on my shoulders, groaning my eyes flutt ered open. I rose my head from the lab bench and blinked twice, rubbing my eyes, before I could see the person clearly.

It was the Biology teacher, Ms. Simmons. She was an averagely tall middle-aged woman with brown hair and eyes, an above-average face that had little makeup to cover up the wrinkles, and a busty slim body.

She was decked in a white short-sleeved shirt with a blue long-sleeved blouse covering it, a brown knee-length skirt, and black heels.

I glanced at her smiling face, her arms crossed on her chest, and turned my head to look at the laboratory. It was empty and I could hear the students conversing as they passed by the laboratory in the hallway.

Did I sleep throughout the entire class?

"Are you sick Xander? You look like you've had a rough day." She asked and commented, her soft voice filled with care.

"No ma'am, just didn't get a lot of sleep," I said, a wry smile on my face and she sighed.

"Staying up all night studying again right? I've told you this before Xander, High school isn't a race or a competition. You need to relax and go at your own pace. Otherwise, you're going to get some health issues along the line." She iterated seriously, looking at me with a hopeless smile as if she was proud and disappointed at the same time.

Unfortunately, for her, the original didn't take her advice and now, here I was...

"Thank you for the advice again ma'am. And I'm sorry for sleeping through the class, it won't happen again." I nodded my head and assured her but she only smiled and shook her head.

"Well, you're already way ahead of the class in terms of everything so it's not a big deal for you to sleep through the class, it's not like your grades are going to be affected.

"Just take my advice and let your mind cool down, maybe make some friends and hang out." She waved her hand in dismissal and turned to walk back to her seat at the head of the lab.

"Oh, and it's break so I'd have to ask you to leave the laboratory." She paused, turned her head to look at me, and said with a smile, gesturing playfully to the door with her thumb.

I smiled and nodded, taking my bag from the floor and slinging it to my back. I walked out of the class after waving her goodbye. Never thought I'd meet a teacher this cool here, the original sure knew how to get on a teacher's good side...

"Ugh, the aches aren't gone, shit." I clicked my teeth in annoyance and massaged my forehead with my hand as I felt a sting in my brain, my feet taking me through the hallway.

Yesterday, after finding my mother's books, I couldn't sleep so I stayed up all night reading 'Activating Evolution', learning from my textbooks, and using the computer to surf the web for some information.

Even after that, I couldn't sleep so I trained my power for a while and then after getting exhausted, slept. I slept around four ten in the morning and woke up at six thirty, so I had a little more than two hours of sleep.

And when I woke up was when a series of shitty headaches decided it was the best time to ruin my day. So it wasn't surprising to me that I slept throughout the Biology class, I already knew all the stuff she was teaching and more so it was hella boring.

At least the headaches were worth it because I had gotten some breakthroughs. First and most importantly, my time limit had been extended to nine to ten minutes, eleven if I wanted to collapse into a mess.

Turns out I was right about my power and the role my brain played in it. My brain was adapting to the long exposures to the other dimension with each consecutive use.

This meant that I wouldn't have a limit if I kept this up in no time and maybe, no more headaches and the threat of sickening nausea.

The second thing was that I had found out Nikki Sanders's home address. The woman had a strip-tease website so it was a simple task to find her computer's IP address and then use it to get her home location.

Now, all that was left was for me to find an excuse and travel all the way to Nevada and also find someone who could help me launder the money. The latter was easy due to the presence of the 'Dark Web' but the former was the problem.

How was I going to convince my dad to allow me to Nevada all by myself? If worst comes to worst, I'd had to find a way to sneak out and go.

In the event of any scolding, I'd put the blame on my teenage rebellious phase since the original didn't have one.

Some might argue that wasn't stealing a crime? And that wasn't I going to be a thief if I successfully pulled it off? A bonafide criminal.

Meh, that was the least of my worries. In the new world I was in, my morals were only going to drag me down and it wasn't that I was what you'd call righteous anyway. My former father made sure of that perfectly...

Plus, the money was stolen, stolen from someone called Linderman if I remembered his name correctly. So I was just going to rob the robber, it was as simple as that...

Lastly, I understood more about the abilities of we 'evolved humans' as named in the book.

There wasn't a chapter or anything at all about my power but at least, I understood how most of the other powers worked so I could probably use that to my advantage if there was a chance.

Also, by reading all the space-related abilities mentioned in the book, I had an inkling of the true nature of my power.

I'd still need to research more to verify and get more information before I can be certain for sure but if it was what I think it is, then I wouldn't be sitting ducks when I face people like Peter and Hiro, even Sylar for that matter...

My feet came to a step as I reached an intersection, on my right was an exit that lead to the other side of the school. I really wasn't in the mood for classes after the break and P.E. was next, something I never liked.

"I guess I'll skip," I muttered to myself casually as I looked at the door students were moving out through. "But how can I do that without my father breathing down my neck? Ah yes, the nurse's office."

My lips thinned into a smile so I took out my phone to check the way to the office. After memorizing the route, I slipped it back into my pocket and walked out of the building, brushing shoulders against someone who was coming in through the door.

It was time to get some legal shut-eye...

"Xander!?" Hearing my name out of the blue, while walking towards the office through the wide open grey stoned area, I paused and turned my head to my right, the direction of the familiar voice. Oh right, this place was around where Claire's locker...

My eyes fell on Claire who was standing near her red locker, wearing a short red skirt, a striped blue and white cotton t-shirt that extended to her waist with a black hooded sweater on top of it.

A red kitten heel covered her feet and around her wrists were thin golden-colored bangle bracelets. She even had lip gloss on.

Standing beside her was Jackie donned in a plain blue cotton t-shirt that reached her waist, a reddish brown short skirt, and similarly colored kitten heels.

And standing in front of them, with his back against the locker was a tall, athletic, and handsome guy with brown curly hair wearing a black long-sleeved jacket on top of a white round-neck t-shirt, black jeans trousers, and black sneakers.

A black chain was around his neck and on his wrists were black bracelets, in his arms was a brown football, the American kind. He looked awfully familiar...

"Hey." I smiled fondly at her and waved casually and she waved back with a similar smile and gestured for me to come closer.

"Come, I want you to meet someone."

Looking at her bright smile and extraordinary face, I sighed and nodded, walking to them.

I'd just greet them and move on. I wasn't in the mood to make a new friend...

The moment I entered through the archway to enter the mini-walkway, filled with red lockers, Claire quickly walked to me and grabbed my hand, pulling me closer to them gently. I noticed the ring on her middle finger.

"Xander, you already know Jackie right?" She asked with a smile as she gestured to Jackie who had an amused and interesting smile on her pretty face.

"Yes, of course, I do," I rolled my eyes at her and looked at Jackie with a smile. "Hi, Jackie, how've you been?"

"Peachy," She replied with flair and then smiled at Claire and eye with a raised eyebrow. "Can someone tell me when you guys got this chummy?"

I only shrugged in response, a smile on my face, and this time it was Claire's turn to roll her eyes.

"None of your business Jackie and fyi, we are good friends. Isn't that right Xander?" Claire said to Jackie casually, a little defensively, and then looked at me with a scary smile, as if daring me to deny it. Jackie and the guy giggled at this.

"...Yes, yes, of course, in fact, we are besties." I shook my head and said casually, and she nodded with a satisfied smile.

"Now that's out of the way, Xander meet Brody. Brody, this is Xander." She introduced the two of us and I looked at him to get a clear view of his face.

He removed his back from the locker and smiled charmingly at me, shifting the ball to his left hand to stretch the right one to me.

"Hi, Xander." He said friendly, his voice spiced a lot with the local accent.

"Nice to meet you, Brody," I said as I shook his hands, a smile on my face as my eyes scanned his face thoroughly.

Brody...Brody...Brody, why did his name and face sound and look so familiar? Hmm, he was tall, broad-shouldered, with strong slightly thick arms, and an athletic body.

Obviously, a football player. Judging by his overall look and body, he was probably a quarterback. Wait, a quarterback...

Something instantly clicked and my eyes widened in surprise as we withdrew our hands. Seeing the look on my face, he rose an eyebrow and asked politely. "Are you okay man?"

I ignored him as the memories of who he was flooded my mind. I remembered him now. He was the guy who abused his popularity and position to rape the pretty girls in the school, specifically, the blonde ones.

He would try to rape Claire but she resisted so he ended up killing her, accidentally I think. A real scumbag, no, a scum of the Earth. If there were a group of people I hated more than anything, then it was fucking rapists.

I personally abhorred them and if it was left to me, every one of them should be castrated without anesthesia, their balls fed to a dog. Just the thought of someone forcing themselves on my sister was enough to bring out the worst of me and now, I had just shook hands with one. As if my day couldn't get more miserable...

My eyes immediately turned cold and my fingers bawled into a tight fist as I stared into his black eyes, fully prepared and ready to cave his face and teeth in as anger blazed within me.

"Hey man, what's your problem?" He took a step back in shock, as he looked at my face, unable to understand my change in mood.

Claire and Jackie noticed this and Jackie and Claire's eyes also widened in shock. Claire immediately grabbed my arm.

"Xander, what is going on? Why are you angry?" She asked in confusion, her voice low, with her grey eyes looking into mine with worry mixed with surprise. The students passing started looking at us while Brody and Jackie looked at me, still filled with confusion, my eyes never leaving Brody's.

I broke eye contact and looked down at Claire's face. Then I glanced around and seeing the looks we were getting, I breathed in and out deeply.

"Excuse me, Claire, I have somewhere I need to be," I stated calmly, my voice still cold, and then turned to walk away before I make a scene. As I turned, she stopped me.

"Xander look at me," She said softly. I turned my head to look at her and saw that she had a frown on her face. "Meet me after school today. We'll talk about this later."

I stared into her serious eyes and nodded in understanding. She released my hands and then immediately, I walked off. The staring students around, upon seeing nothing worthwhile happening, looked away and went on their business.

I had to get to the office to cool down because the more I thought about him, the more my anger increased, especially since I knew what he was going to do to Claire.

Even if she wasn't my friend, I would've done my best to stop that thing from happening if I was around but, she was my friend, the only one I had in this world. And I didn't joke when it came to my friends...

There was no way I was going to let that sick dickbag try whatever he had in his mind on her. It wouldn't sit right with me if I allowed her to be traumatized when I could've done something to stop it. I was going to put him down in this timeline...

"Seems like I'd have to attend the bonfire tomorrow...."

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