FUUUUUUCK!!!

Jason looked everywhere. He had a big pack and Bear bolted over to greet him.

"Oof, someone's glad to see me. Hehe. How was detention?" He asked crossing over to drop the package.

Stephen's eyes glazed. "Oh yeah. It was priceless."

[ Wait a second...]

Jason wore a white shirt and khakis. He sat back and wiped his forehead.

"Poor grades...Vandalism. Incitation of food fights...Did you achieve all of this in one week?" He read the notes that the principal sent.

Stephen turned red, he saw the light in his eyes disappear.

"Ah and here's this."

He shrunk into himself at the book.

Principal Justin McDevitt was just settling down in his office at his table, a while after he had sent them off, he smiled. "Ah, the book's finally dog-eared ey? Let's see..."

He opened Stephen's notebook and he gasped at the lettering. The sheets were rumpled but the notation was highly offensive.

YOU NEVER KNOW UNLESS YOU TRY <in cursive lettering please>

YOU NEVER KNOW UNLESS YOU TRY <in cursive lettering please>

His eyes wobbled.

...

"Mister McDevil was being a little too hard on me anyway." He explained and shrugged.

"A little?" Jason said coldly and Stephen folded his arms looking aside.

He heaved a sigh and did a double-take on the TV.

Stephen kicked the movie with the back of his sneaker under the couch. Bear whimpered.

"Ah?"

The reporter with pink pixie hair arranged her papers talking on Clancy News.

"An attempted robbery case has been recorded at Dazers, a renowned hardware store known for its pricelessly stark label and it seems to me like the two robbers had a case of bad luck, failing to escape. While sadly, a large portion of the stolen goods was damaged and perhaps lost in the depths of the sewers..."

Stephen grinned at the video of the robbers getting arrested. He wished he was standing there right now on a podium, the tied robbers below his feet, his chest heaving with laughter as he stood tall on a number 1 stand, holding a golden cup with streamers flowing down and an adoring fangirl by his side.

"Awesome." That dream was shattered when he spoke.

I'M TAKING AWAY YOUR VIDEOGAMES

"What!?" He looked as if he had not heard Jason right.

"Huh? B_but...dad!" He protested.

Stephen paled when he locked them in his room.

Sweat dripped down his face. "Hmm."

"Sometimes, Stephen, you just have to swallow your misgivings and do the right thing. I won't tolerate this kind of behaviour anymore from you. I have faith and I certainly do not expect you to keep up with this destructive behaviour for very long! You need to adjust and buckle up."

Stephen reddened.

"It was just a joke! Give it back." His voice cracked.

Jason was severe now, Stephen saw the lights in his eyes blaze. The lines of worry around his eyes softened.

"Please?" He begged clasping his hands together. Pulling at his heartstrings. "Please, dad?"

"Just stop."

Stephen bit his lip, this was his limit.

He watched Jason drift to the bathroom in shock and he shut the door.

Click*

"Bah, who needs that old system anyway?"

30 minutes later*

He heaved a long-suffering sigh after that epic fail. He still had his new games stashed somewhere but what good was a game when he had no system?

He didn't even have the password to his dad's laptop.

"NO!!"

...

Ernestine gave her house one harried look, it

was a blue cottage-styled house painted blue with flowers on the beams, her dear old Darla, a slender woman with nape-length white hair in a flowery top and jeans was waving at her.

"Goodbye, knock 'em dead! Ernie!"

She hugged her books and waved goodbye.

She was uncertain if her abilities would do more harm to her than good. She held her books firmly so that she would not make cause any more accidents.

Her life was already a trainwreck for all she knew and now she was a freak!

And Stephen was all to blame.

Stephen had powers, no achievements yet he was zipping around happily. His new powers only gave him room to go crazier, not to take the high road.

"Grow up, Ernie. No need to be presumptuous. Let the candle burn. Soon...maybe soon, you'll get rid of him for good." She frowned at the rock on the road.

She hesitantly set her fingers out and the pebbles glowed yellow slowly and floated.

She looked stunned and then clenched her fingers retaining her focus and it remoulded into a crystal shape. "Yes."

Her jaw dropped when the pavement cracked. She looked around the quiet neighbourhood and puffed.

"Having trouble?" Stephen asked on a bike.

She held up her books in shock.

She stiffened glaring at him in disdain. "The only trouble I see here is you..."

Stephen laughed leaning on his bike handles. "Okay...you look a little puffy around the eyes." He patted his nose and she gasped checking her face.

Growling at him.

"I thought I was clear about staying away!"

She walked abruptly to Clancy Junior High School.

A long building twice the size of the park on the far left.

Heaving a sigh, she made something good of her hair. She had forgotten to pack lunch. She was hungry, dead tired, fed up, she felt like the earth was dragging on her feet.

After nights of sleep deprivation and studying. She would take on this tedium-promising day.

7:28 AM

Clancy Junior High School

"Two minutes."

She broke into a run taking curves around the local stores to the school.

Her papers flailed out from her books.

"No!"

She huddled them up grumbling.

"Tired?"

She looked at Lance Parker, he had nape-length black hair, pale skin, blue eyes and he wore a white shirt with a bat inkblot, faded black jeans and new black boots.

"As if." She snatched the papers from him and he waved.

"Okay?"

Ernestine rushed to the basketball court and she collapsed on a staircase. The court was empty, the cheerleaders had taken over for practice.

"Where's everyone?" She asked.

"Gone." Drew Larsen, a fair-skinned girl with long frizzly black hair arrived. She had a heart-shaped face, and hazel eyes and she wore a specially designed purple, white and yellow cheerleader outfit.

The official colours of the school.

"Gone. Meeting's adjourned and you've been downturned." She waved her thumb downwards. She had an especially deep voice.

"Excuse me?! What does that mean?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"You should try next year or better yet ask Mister Mateo for a second chance." Drew rattled her pom-poms.

She nodded. "Oh thank god." She muttered under her breath.

She was further delayed by the school assembly and then she manoeuvred around the school hallways to Mister Mateo's office.

"Mister Mateo! Please, give me a second chance! I'll take a test. I'll take anything!"

His eyebrows rose above his glasses. "Sorry? Miss Sanders, the trio to represent Clancy Junior High School at Washington DC Decathlon has already been decided." He arranged his papers.

She winced. "Decided?"

"I don't understand what has been happening to you, Miss Sanders, but your grades have surprisingly been declining_ You scored a 62 on your math aptitude test."

"Me? A 62? Impossible! I've surpassed every GPA that there ever was! I deserve to be on that decathlon!"

Mister Mateo chortled. "Of course, Ernestine I've heard...but lateness comes at its own price. We are currently at full capacity."

"No!"

"Maybe you should take some time to clear your mind...And focus on what's more important."

She held her paper with her name boldly written on it. Her eyes were tearing up.

***