Chapter 1
Rainbow

Do you ever just end up somewhere, and start contemplating all the decisions that led up to getting there? They don’t even necessarily have to have been your decisions, per say. They could be others like “Hey, class! We have an upcoming boat trip, and I hope to see each and every one of you attend!” or “I bet you could totally balance on the railing. It's the same thing you always do in gymnastics, isn’t it? Or are you some kind of coward?”

Although the more that you think about it, at some point, you have to accept responsibility for where you end up. At some point, you have to accept that the very cool epic party funded by a public school is just a big boring boat where the main attraction is free refills of lemonade, and some barely-supervised dancing on the deck to the tune of PG rated song lyrics as you hope it doesn’t rain because the sky isn’t looking too great but it’s not like the school has the money to reschedule to a better-looking day. At some point, you have to accept that sometimes whether or not you do something potentially dangerous has less to do with the amount of skill one person has, and more to do with how smart you are.

Apparently I was the kind of smart that ended up slipping down into the deep (but luckily warm) water, falling behind from the boat containing all of your equally-aged classmates, and spending every little bit of energy you have keeping afloat; because as it turns out, it is really difficult to swim when your denim jeans and comfy sweater start soaking up water.

Treading water was becoming more and more impossible. I tugged open my jeans, thankful that I’d already removed my sneakers, thinking that having bare feet would help me grip to the railing. They were a struggle to kick off, but once I got them down far enough, I combined the kicking to get them off to kicking to stay afloat.

Once my legs were freed, it was far easier to get my coat off. Now I was treading water in a t-shirt and underwear. I put in the effort to reorient myself to where I could see the boat. It was moving away from me, of course. My eyes may have been tainted by the dirty, salty water; but I could see enough to tell that much. It seemed so much faster than when I’d been on deck. Of course it was. I tried swimming towards the disappointing excuse for a cruise, but quickly found that the currents made staying in place an easier challenge.

The loss of clothing was nothing but an illusion of stabilization. The teachers had been getting lazier and more infrequent with their student headcounts. Theoretically, there wasn’t anywhere for anyone to go. We’d been on board long enough that it became monotonous and unnecessary to count. It was a chore that diverted energy away from what little fun there was to be had. I had to wait until I was noticed missing. And then, I had to wait until I was assumed to be overboard and not just in the bathroom.

This could all be prevented if the idiot who dared me came clean, but there was no reason to. We’d not made a big show of anything, and as far as I knew, no one noticed what happened. He would be consequence-free until he fessed up. Probably wanted me to die.

Oh god. I’m going to die here, aren’t I? Die here once I lose the energy to fight the currents. Too far away from the edge of the salty water to swim to safety. I was trapped, treading water. It almost seemed pointless. Dying at 14 just before the end of my first year of high school, nothing but a useless null, just because I took some bait to try and prove a point.

What point? The point that I’m stupid? That I’m a loser? That I probably shouldn’t waste my arm energy emphasizing my thoughts when no one is even around to see me gesticulate? What a loser. It’s me. I’m the loser. The big stupid loser. I was on my way to drowning a sad and pathetic death at the bottom of this salinated soup, all because I wanted to try and prove to someone who doesn’t even matter that I’m good at something.

And why? For what? My ego? My pride? I was going to become a ghost, trapped in a watery grave. Or not. Maybe the captain miraculously turns around, and I’m all rescued and saved. Or more likely, I’m washed up on shore weeks from now and falsely identified as what my parents named me, and dead named for all of eternity with no one around to correct anyone.

I screamed, uselessly. I screamed and I screamed as loud as I possibly could in the desperate hope that the departing ship was still close enough to hear me. Just in case someone could hear me over the music and the distance and the waves and the sea birds screeching every so often. It didn’t take very long for my throat to get too painful to continue. It didn’t help that I’d already taken in a few too many gulps of saltwater; adding to the building, burning sensation.

In relative silence, I hovered at the surface of the water, kicking my feet. I could feel myself slowly sinking as my legs got weaker and weaker. My vision was fading. The cruise was departing. No other ships anywhere nearby. Nothing to help. Nothing I could do. I was pathetic. I was going to die. I stopped using my arms, and soon, only one leg was keeping me afloat. The currents had moved me around without me realizing, and I’d ended up where they weren’t so strong somehow. Not that that would do anything.

Was there a point in trying still? Was there a point? I should just stop, shouldn’t I? Just let the water consume me. Let the floating turn to sinking. Just give up. My face sunk underneath the surface, and yet the burning sensation in my eyes started before submersion. It wasn’t the sting of saltwater that now engulfed my eyeballs. It was something new. Something strangely familiar. Something I’d only ever had described to me.

I was floating underwater, with nothing but a small breath keeping me alive, and the darkness of the back of my eyelids flickered into a shimmering gold. The palms of my hands were home to an equally strange sensation pulsating into existence. It was a warmth without heat. An unknown comfort. A crawling sensation, but in a good way.

My breath bubbled out of me, and I used a new and unknown burst of energy to force myself back to the top of the water. I clawed my way back to the surface, still exhausted, but feeling renewed.

Treading water, I held my right hand outstretched in front of me. I stared at my palm. My vision was bordered with gold, and the stronger it got, the stronger the glow.

There was a circle of light in the center of my hand, and it was growing exponentially until there was a beam of light shooting up. As I pictured it increasing in size, it delivered. A massive, overpowering beacon shot up into the otherwise darkening evening sky, vibrant and alive.

If no one noticed this, then what was the point? They were going to notice me. From now on, they had to.

“Surge and Rescue - Prismatic Beacon of Hope!”

The newspaper headline was taped to my wall. An awful pun, commonplace in the somehow thriving news industry. Not that I blamed them too much. How often can you tell the same story of yet another teen unlocking their potential in a time of crisis? One week since that happened, or at least since this particular headline was printed.

My parents were conflicted over the whole drama. On the one hand, they were delightfully proud of my abilities. They’d been not-so-secretly worried that I would end up as part of the useless underclass of nulls, living my life without something intrinsic they could brag about.

On the other hand, they were outraged by how the articles referenced rainbows and other colorful analogies to refer to me. They were upset about how my ability to create light came with a prismatic effect.

On yet another hand, probably and metaphorically the result of some kind of twisted genetic experiment, they were absolutely furious at how certain articles talked about me using non-gendered language. They were positively pissed that even a single sentence didn’t refer to me using a strict binary, because how could anyone possibly see me as anything other than what they saw me as.

It was hypocritical, wasn’t it? I nearly died, and all they really care about is how I look. They complain day in and day out about how I choose to dress, and they are still baffled that anyone else could, even in passing, question my gender identity. Because all I was, was what they wanted me to be.

If they paid attention, they would’ve known what was about to happen. You could take a screenshot of my bedroom at that moment, and perfectly discern the near future with minimal effort.

Early Saturday afternoon, according to the clock. Every possession of importance shoved into a bulky backpack dripping with keychains and accessories; and a duffel bag stained with paint. A folded note on the otherwise now empty desk. A turned-off light. An angsty teenager, a few summer months away from a 15th birthday, sitting on the bed staring at a headline taped to the wall, working up the courage to leave.

The distant, downstairs voices of a submissive father conversing with his second wife, debating whether or not his firstborn’s newly found ability outweighed the crime of gender-nonconformity. A common topic in the household. She never liked me, did she? She was always looking for excuses to get rid of me. He loved his wife more than he loved his only child. I never knew why. Was it because I reminded him of my mother; with my unnaturally paper-white hair? Was it misguided grief, or was it something else? Some concept I would never know?

What did it matter?

I stood up, and secured my bags to my body. Taking one last look around the room, I landed on the mirror. Normally covered by a towel, it was finally able to reflect the barren room. It was able to reflect me, and my body I struggled to accept. The stains of color in my hair. The accessories I used to try and express myself. It reflected the sadness, but necessity of leaving.

I exited, closing the door behind me. I was used to leaving the house undetected, though not usually carrying this much. Luckily, the stairs didn’t give away my presence, and I slipped out the back door without issue. Even if I’d been heard, my parents would’ve probably just assumed I was going for a walk or something. They rarely cared where I went on the weekends, so long as I wasn’t out too late. Even then, it was only because then there was an excuse to shout at me if I wasn’t home when the sun was down.

My destination was not, however, an aimless promenade to escape the monotony of home. My destination was a new home. A new place to be. A place that was not particularly reputable, but a place that provided a possibility of hope. A possibility of starting anew.

It was a massive, sprawling complex located on the border of The Burns, my familiar home district, and the Backstreets where I rarely ventured. The place took up the equivalent of an extra-large city block. The one-way streets bordering the location were barren, as most avoided this area. The wide sidewalks were covered in chalk art. There were countless entrances, but one was labeled “MAIN ENTRANCE” with a big and colorful sign displayed above rows of massive mailboxes.

The building itself? It looked like an avid LEGO brick collector mixed an accumulation of differently-shaped bricks, and dumped them into a haphazard pile before cementing them all where they fell. Saying that the location was unconventional would be an understatement. Rooms of all shapes and sizes were stacked together into a conglomerate that seemed impossible to navigate. Rope bridges, stairs, windows, and doors could be seen distantly from the street. There was no telling how tall this place was at its tallest peaks. Rumor had it that the basement was just as impossibly impressive. To add to it all, every segment and section of the endless additions of the unique architecture was painted its own unique and vibrant hue in an explosive spectrum of colors and creativity.

I’d slowly made my way closer to the entrance, mesmerized by the impossible pathways of color in the sky reminiscent of unsanitary plastic hamster mazes, as I heard a voice.

“What brings you here?” The words were spoken by a particularly tall black woman approaching me from behind. I hadn’t noticed her previously, and her voice startled my attention away from the gardens of perfectly cultivated flowers and vegetables interspersed throughout the sidewalk and guarded by little white wooden fences.

“I ran away.” I blurted out. “And even if I didn’t-”

“You were quick on your way to being kicked out and now you’re here, looking for a place to stay.” The woman walked past me. She was wearing a suit that was about as brightly pink as you could make a suit without simply wearing neon pink LED lights and calling it clothing. One hand held an iced coffee, and the other, a small red handbag with a logo I didn’t recognize but seemed vaguely expensive.

“Why,” She sipped the coffee, “don’t I hear,” she really was going ham on that poor straw, “more than one set of footsteps?” She stopped her trajectory for the first time, spun on a shiny black pointed high heel, and stared dead in my eyes. “If you don’t follow me, you’re going to get lost.” She shoved the straw back into the corner of her mouth and sucked noisily, maintaining eye contact with an indiscernible emotion.

I barely started to move when she smoothly spun back around, her suit jacket fluttering slightly in the breeze, and continued her path toward the big doors of the main entrance. I scrambled forward, trying to keep up. Somehow, she managed to walk quickly and silently in the most hard and uncomfortable-looking shoes I had ever witnessed in person (short of some outdated ceremonial metal armor I’d seen on display at a museum).

We entered the building into a spacious room that looked to be the cross between a lobby and a living room. There was a cozy corner where some kids played video games, a resource desk, chairs and desks of all shapes and levels of comfortability scattered around. I had no time to properly take in any of it as my guide took me through the room, up and down a few hallways and ramps, and finally led me to a plain white door with a simple plaque reading “Stephanie & Daisy.” She unlocked the door, and left it open as she settled into the room.

The center of the bedroom featured an s-shaped floor-to-ceiling king-sized bunk bed which acted like a room divider. The bottom bunk was accessible to the right, while the top bunk opened to the left. Between the far wall and the bed, there were shelves for both sides, and backed up against the side of the bed immediately seen upon entering were a pair of dressers.

“My name is Stephanie.” The woman placed her coffee and purse on the left dresser. “Daisy was my roommate, however she moved out recently. Got her own place. Haven’t updated the sign yet.” She kicked off her shoes into an overflowing closet, also on the left side. “Orca warned me that you would be showing up.” She clumsily organized a teetering stack of books balanced on the edge of a large desk covered in electronic bits and trash, which she hastily started gathering to toss into a trash can in the left corner of the room closest to the entrance. “Orca can predict the future, but not that well.” Most of the trash consisted of disposable coffee cups and candy wrappers, though I did see some reusable mugs scattered around. “Mostly he just spends most of his time in the kitchen.” Stephnie shoved blankets spilling off the top bunk back onto the bed, revealing a whiteboard screwed to the sticker-coated surface of the wall that backed the bottom bunk. “But also he keeps track of potential new residents, and he told me that you’d be showing up and to welcome you as a roommate.” She sat down in a gaming chair parked on top of a large blue rug with a non-zero number of coffee stains.

“So, I can stay here?” I looked over to the right side of the room. It was a bare husk of a living space, populated only by a desk, a wire waste paperwastepaper basket, and a wooden chair. The windows visible on the far wall were covered by beige curtains, same as the ones on Stephanie’s side, though hers were open, letting in outside light. The bed was made with plain white sheets and pillows. “Just like that?”

“Just like that. You get your side, I keep mine. You’re safe here, and as you probably already know, considering you got here in the first place, there are plenty of resources available to get you situated in the world. Plus, there’s an excellent kitchen run by a chef who knows exactly who will show up wanting what and when.” Stephanie spun the chair slightly, and scooched it closer to the desk where she opened up a laptop. “Feel free to unpack whenever.”

That last sentence unfroze me from the entrance. I closed the door behind me finally, and walked over to the bare, right-side desk. I unloaded my bags onto the dusty surface, then opened the closet door. It was the same as Stephanie’s where it folded when you opened it, though hers looked slightly broken.

I got to work sorting my things to the sound of her keyboard clacking as she typed. Hanging up clothes on the hangars available, plugging my phone into one of the many outlets, sorting out my toiletries on top of the dresser, and placing my single, sentimental teddy bear on the bed.

“What’s your name?” Stephanie asked as I sat down on the floor to take a break. “I forgot to ask.”

“Rainbow,” I responded. “You can call me Rainbow.”

Chapter 2
Ella

“Last week, the pop star known as Billiard with the ability to control all spherical objects was arrested following a publicity stunt where she attempted to alter the rotation of the Earth. Top scientists have been studying the effects, and while it is difficult to say for sure, several climate change experts have made statements claiming that the alterations will have catastrophic long-term effects.” Darren paused to take a sip from his water bottle, “Sales for Billiard’s recent single titled ‘I make the world go round’ have skyrocketed following her arrest due to fans attempting to help her make bail, despite Billiard being held without bail due to the nature of her crimes.”

I stared at my desk, trying to stay calm. Two more presentations, and I would be next. I hated this class. I utterly despised it. Well maybe that was a bit strong. Ninety percent of the time, it was fine, but on the last day of the month (or whenever the last day of the month the class was held), oh no. No-sir-ee-bob. Worst. Class. Ever.

Every single student was required to write a report on something that happened in the news in the past month. Which would be fine on its own. But guess what? It was not on its own. Not in the slightest. Because on the day the paper is due, everyone in the class is required to give an oral report summarizing whatever they chose as their topic.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, presentations are sorted by last name in alphabetical order! And because my last name is Astral, I’m 4th in line. I can’t even pretend that no one is paying attention because that early into the class, most of everyone is still paying attention.

Everyone is paying attention, ready and waiting for me to mess up my words. Ready and waiting for inevitable failure. All because of the sick and twisted social experiment this teacher insists on imposing on its students. I was so busy panicking, I barely noticed that the next student in line to present had started.

“..the ‘when’ was September 23, so it was pretty recent. Anyways, so you know The Dream Crushers - of course you do, I’ve been talking about them - well one of their members (the criminal known as Phoenix), it turns out that she’s actually 16. Which is absolutely crazy considering she melted a whole building. I guess you could say she’s pretty hot…”

My turn was getting closer and closer and closer. I was trying to stay still. Trying to calm down. It wasn’t helping. Wasn’t working. What if I just spontaneously stopped existing? That would be better. That would be a lot better. Stupid presentation. Stupid stupid stupid. I had to get out of here.

I racked my brain for excuses. None would come. I could feel the panic building and building. It was bad. It was really bad. It was getting worse. I had to leave. Had to leave. I didn’t want to do this. One slip up, and it was over. I would be humiliated. Presentations like this should be illegal. They are stupid and bad.

It doesn’t help that everyone else is doing flashy, interesting, big headlines. Everyone would think that mine was stupid. No one cares about what I have to say. So I should just leave. But I cannot leave. Because I am in class. And I am stuck here. And this sucks. This whole school is stupid and it sucks and I hate it.

Stupid accelerated learning rich kid classes. Too much pressure. Just too much. I don’t want to be here. I want to be underneath a cabinet. Just anywhere else. Maybe not actually a cabinet, but definitely not in here, waiting for my absolute doom. This is punishment for something that I did in a past life. This oral presentation. There is no other explanation. This is cruel and unusual punishment.

“...but it turns out that the orangutans were actually fine, all things considered. However, 12 continue to imitate ducks, but no one is really sure why. The important thing is that zoos are criminally underfunded, bordering on animal abuse and…”

I should really pay more attention to who is speaking. That’s the third presentation already. I’ll have to get up next. Oh no. Oh god. Oh no. Fuck. Shit. Ass. Goddamnit. I have to leave. I have to leave.

“Ella,” I barely registered that the teacher was talking, “Ella, it is your turn to present-”

I felt myself shaking as my vision clouded over with black smoke. My ears popped as I left existence. I found myself completely unable to move or perceive anything other than an inky black abyss. My lungs didn’t feel like they should, and my mind was distorted. It was terrifying and yet peaceful at the same time.

Unable to perceive the passage of time, I had the strong urge to leave this space. With that thought, reality blinked into existence. I now laid on my back, staring up at the sky. The black ink dripped across my vision before vanishing. I was surrounded by the crisp, fall air. Underneath me, I could feel the coolness of grass and dirt.

I pushed myself into a sitting position, noticing wisps of purple smoke appearing then vanishing as I moved. Once I was upright and glanced around, I realized just where I was. This was Sky Park. I came here a lot over the summer to chill in the lake. The side furthest from me was where the beach was. I didn’t usually go to the area I’d ended up in just now.

The park was kinda close to my house. Also kinda less close to my school. Which I was no longer at.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!”

The scream was unleashed before I was able to process what had just happened to me. What I had just done. I looked around briefly before standing up to try and figure out where it was coming from. My gaze landed on the massive lake in front of me. There were huge ripples at the center. Someone was swimming away from the scene of the impact, and towards me. The swimmer was approaching extremely fast. I’d never seen someone cut through the water like that.

The closer the swimmer approached, I realized that they were swimming with their face in the water, rarely coming up to breathe. Whoever this was, they were clearly an expert. They appeared to be fully clothed, as well.

Once they were at the shore, and climbed out of the water, I got a better look. Their hair was bright white with streaks of purple and yellow. They wore denim overalls over a red t-shirt, and fishnet gloves. They shook their hair out like a dog, and were patting themself dry before noticing me.

“Hello there!” They said before immediately spitting out some water.

“Hi.” I awkwardly responded as I mentally tried to figure out their gender. I gave up. “What are you doing?” I added, unable to contain my curiosity.

“Been practicing launching myself as far as I can.” The soaking wet individual lifted their right foot in the air, and peeled off some algae before returning both shoeless feet to the ground. “I swam in the wrong direction, didn’t I? Yep. I did. My stuff is all the way over there.” The stranger started walking. I followed their gaze. There was a small bag and shoes in the distance.

I tried to remember the feeling from before. The need to be somewhere else. The darkness framed my vision once again. I envisioned being over there, and then I was. I picked up the items, and with another flash of smoke, I was standing in front of the soaking stranger. Not knowing what to say, I just held out the items to them.

They stared at me, down at my hands, then back at me. “I mean, thanks?” They took the bag first. It was a novelty crossbody where the purse was built into a bright red stuffed animal. Then they took the shoes. A pair of neon green off-brand plastic clogs, which they dropped onto the ground to shove their feet into. “What’s your name?”

“Ella,” I answered.

“Rainbow. I’m Rainbow, I mean.” Rainbow finished fixing the shoes. “Well, Ella, are you doing anything else the rest of the afternoon?”

“What?” Did I do something wrong? Were they upset with me? What did they want?

“Hang on.” Rainbow dug around in their purse for a moment before pulling out a folded up sheet of notebook paper. “Here.”

I unfolded the paper, and read it.

soul
when you meet
wisps of purple smoke,
bring her back,
for a bite of orange cake,
a new recipe I did bake
-orca

“I don’t understand.” I handed the paper back to them.

“Yeah, Orca is a bit cryptic. He predicts the future, but I don’t think he’s great at English.” Rainbow folded the paper back up to shove into their bag, “What he is great at though, is baking.”

“Any chance that the ‘orange’ cake is actually carrot cake?” I asked, hopefully. What was I doing? I should’ve left this conversation already. Rainbow was so easy to talk to. They radiated enough confidence that it was infectious.

“Aha,” Rainbow startled me, “I know I was looking for you!” Rainbow started running away from the lake, “Let’s go!”

I stared as Rainbow sprinted out of the park. Once they were some distance away, I used the smoke to teleport next to them. “Where are we going?”

“We’re going to get some cake!” Rainbow did not slow down. I found myself waiting and teleporting to keep up. There was little reason to follow them, but I figured that worst case scenario I could just leave with my newfound abilities. Best case… maybe I was making a new friend?

I was shocked by their stamina. We ended up all the way out of the Sky District, and to the outskirts of the Burns. I’d never been near the Burns, nevermind out here. It wasn’t until we were at the entrance of a colorful building that I realized where we were going.

It was an organization of runaways. This was a center that was meant for kids who didn’t have a proper home. For people who wanted to leave. I’d never been to it in person, but it’d always been talked about negatively around me. An informal and chaotic hodgepodge of architectural concepts. A place for people who didn’t belong. Wouldn’t hurt to get a slice of cake. I could leave if I wanted to.

As I followed Rainbow through the doors, the anxiety started setting in. I was so out of place in my plain black jeans and black hoodie. They were colorful, just like the decor. What was I thinking? Following a stranger? I was acting stupid. I’d never been here before. I didn’t belong here. I looked stupid. I was out of place. I didn’t even know anyone. I didn’t belong here.

“Hey-”

“One minute.” Rainbow immediately cut me off, while texting someone. Their phone case was one of those cartoony silicone cases. This one was a pink bunny. I never got the point of those cases. They made your phone so much bigger than necessary. It was more inconvenient than it was cute. Well, I guess it would protect your phone.

“Come on!” Rainbow took off yet again. I followed, normally this time. Rainbow was now indoors and walking. I focused on the back of their head. I tried my hardest to avoid drawing attention. To pretend like it was no big deal that I was here, so far from the center of town. Was it worth it? All this to avoid an assignment? At least it was something new?

I followed Rainbow up and down a series of ramps and hallways to a door. The door was white and covered with paint splatters and marker doodles. There was writing on the door which read Stephanie & Rainbow.

Rainbow slowly unlocked the door, pushed it open slightly, then slammed the door open, “HIYA, ROOMIE!”

Inside, someone was sitting at a desk on the left side of the room. It was a woman wearing a pair of bright green gaming headphones. I didn’t recognize what she was playing. This must be Stephanie. The middle of the room was taken up by a bunk bed, in front of which there was a pair of dressers. On top of the right one, there sat two plates, each containing a slice of cake. The plates each had a little metal fork laid across them.

“Come on. Grab a slice.” Rainbow didn’t seem at all phased by the complete and total lack of reaction from Stephanie. They grabbed one of the slices, then sat down in a hanging blue basket chair on the right side of the room. Each part of the chair was a different shade of blue.

I grabbed the remaining slice, and sat down in a purple bean bag chair next to them. I looked down at the cake. It looked delicious. The frosting was white with little flecks of orange. The cake part was a light orange. Rainbow was already digging into their slice. I took a bite of mine.

“This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”

Rainbow swallowed, “Told you Orca knew how to bake. What were you doing in the park, by the way?”

I was expecting the confrontation to be from myself, but this apparent newfound friend was certainly an option. “I surged.”

“Yeah, clearly, since you can teleport. I mean what were you doing in the park.” Rainbow was staring me down as they ate the cake. Not in a bad way. More of a not-knowing-what-to-do-other-than-maintain-eye-contact kind of way. “Wait.” Their eating slowed down. “Do you mean just now?”

I nodded, taking another bite of the carrot cake. “Yeah. I panicked and disappeared. Then I guess I reappeared at the park.”

“What were you panicking over?” Rainbow asked. “You don’t seem so nervous now.”

“I guess not.” I thought about it. It was like I left my anxieties back in the classroom. I left and made a new friend. Were we friends? I mean I guess so. At the very least I was a guest thanks to a tasty premonition. Hopefully I wouldn’t be in too much trouble once I went back. “I don’t think I was expecting to end up here.”

“That’s the thing about expecting. There’s always someone who has to do it but it’s not always you.”

“What?”

“Never mind. Just something Orca says a lot.” Rainbow waved a hand at that.

“How did you dry off so fast?” I asked, trying to continue the conversation.

“What do you mean?” Rainbow asked.

“Well earlier you, you were swimming fully clothed-”

“For the challenge of it,” Rainbow interrupted.

“Yes, for the challenge,” I repeated, “But you were totally soaked.”

“If you were paying attention when we were talking on the way here, then you’ll know that I was practicing launching myself over various distances with laser bursts.”

“That doesn’t explain-”

“Light and heat are intertwined, Ella, how much of this do I need to explain to you? If you can manipulate light, it is not that hard to heat up some clothes and dry yourself off.” Rainbow put their now empty plate on the floor.

“What flavor was that?” I changed the subject, pointing at the plate.

“Chocolate-chip cookie dough red velvet.” Rainbow answered. “One of Orca’s surprisingly successful creations.”

I nodded. I was almost done with mine, though I was a slow eater. “Where do you go to school?”

“SkyLine.” They answered. “Since I moved here, I got help applying. What about you?”

“It doesn’t matter,” I insisted. “I’ll probably end up getting transferred to SkyLine soon, now that I’ve surged.”

Rainbow stared at me. “Who are you that you can so easily transfer to SkyLine of all places?”

“No one. Just Ella. Astral.” I shoved the last of the carrot cake into my mouth to try and delay further comments.

“Are you serious?” Rainbow leaned forward where they were sitting.

I nodded, embarrassed.

“I bet you can get away with whatever you want, with parents that famous.” Rainbow mused.

“Not really.” It was more like the opposite. Constant pressure.

“When do you have to go back home?” Rainbow asked.

I shrugged and checked my phone. A lot more time had passed than I’d realized. “In about ten minutes.”

“Well you can teleport so you can stay here a bit longer, can’t you?” Rainbow asked.

“I guess.” I was not ready to leave and process the events around my anxiety-induced surge. “Maybe we can exchange numbers?”

“Good idea.” Rainbow pulled out their phone, and soon we were saying goodbye. For now.

Chapter 3
Amy

No classes all day. What kind of luck was that? A day where I had absolutely nothing to do, and I couldn’t even go to classes because of stupid parent-teacher conferences. What was I supposed to do with myself? My current answer to that question was to wander around the Burns. Hadn’t been doing that lately.

Ever since this semester at SkyLine High, I’d been occupied on school grounds. I hadn’t really realized how much of my time it’d been taking up. Funny how used to it I got after years without classes.

“Why do you keep acting like you’re so much older than me?” I heard a girl’s voice. “It probably isn’t even that big of a difference.”

I looked around before my gaze landed on two individuals on the other side of the street. I recognized Rainbow, jogging along the sidewalk. We never talked, but I’d seen them around school. The little girl standing behind them, not so much. I changed my path so that I was following them, but still on my side of the street.

“Well, you’re easily lured, aren’t you?” Rainbow said as the girl, who had been falling behind, vanished in a puff of smoke, and reappeared next to them. “Not that you shouldn’t trust me. When’s your birthday?”

“February 13th,” declared the teleporting girl with long, black hair.

“You’re supposed to include the year.” It amazed me how Rainbow managed to have this conversation without constant audible panting. I didn’t know them that well, but they never seemed much like the athletic type. Then again, I could be dead wrong for all the attention I paid at school events, especially considering how rarely I showed up for them. “Like if I tell you my birthday is October 3rd, then that doesn’t matter if I don’t tell you the year.”

I couldn’t tell if Rainbow was insufferable or not. Something about the way they spoke made anything that would normally be condescending seem oddly genuine. I wasn’t sure if we shared any classes, but I remembered trying to figure them out before. We never had an excuse to talk though.

“Ok well I’m 14.” I was surprised. She looked so much younger. That must get annoying. It was hard for me to relate with short, baby-faced peers, but I could sympathize.

Rainbow barely slowed down, but seemed slightly annoyed, “Yeah, well, I’m turning 15, so that means I’m older, and my point is proven.”

“What point?”

I stopped following them. It wasn’t worth eavesdropping when those conversing were moving at such an unnecessary speed. Though it didn’t matter, I was thinking about how I was turning 17 on May 17. I never really celebrated birthdays before. Never saw the point.

I turned down a sidestreet to see the stairs down to a subway station. I couldn’t explain it, but it felt like this was where I was trying to go. Why not wander around the subway? I had nothing else better to do? I descended. It was as smelly and crowded as usual, although this time, I had a student ID that doubled as a bus card. Amy Yu. Responsible citizen. Paying for the turnstile.

I put my phone back in my pocket as I crossed over to wait for a subway train. My card was inside a little slit in my SkyLine branded phone case. That’s all I had on me. A thick black paint marker, my school ID card, $10, and my phone. I wore the school logo on my hoodie and sweatpants. Pretty much everything I had was from there. Even the marker was from one of the supplies vending machines on campus.

I sat down on a bench, waiting for a train. I didn’t really have a destination in mind. I still wasn’t really sure why I was even here. The underground trains were convenient for getting around, but it was more fun to explore above ground. I got on the first train that stopped. It was an F train, notoriously one of the grossest series of train lines you could board.

As to be expected, the train car was mostly empty, aside from some random bits of trash lying around. The F trains frequented The Backstreets, a place I used to call home up until recently. I always knew it was essentially the slums on the outside of town, but after being away the past few months, I wasn’t exactly eager to return. I knew The Backstreets as well as any girl running around them could figure out, and they were dirty and dangerous. I was lucky to be picked up by the SkyLine-sponsored rehabilitation program.

Never in a million years would I have expected to end up at such a prestigious school. A dirty orphaned forgotten punk like me? Living on the streets and getting into fights? It seemed like a joke to be living in student housing. Sure I wasn’t exactly taking the same classes as expected by my age group, but it was a massive step up.

The click of a gun. I realized that there was someone standing right in front of me. I’d been staring at the ground, lost in thought. Who wore fancy dress shoes like these, anyways? I lazily turned my gaze upward, examining this person from the shoes, to the outstretched hand, to the ornate pocket watch, to the face.

“You know, I’d rather you didn’t get blood all over my clothes. They’re new.” I leaned back in my seat so that I was facing up. Not that far up. I swear, these seats were designed for children. I had to fold my legs when I sat down so I wasn’t in the way. The F trains and the C trains were the worst about this. I should’ve gotten on a train with more normal seats.

“It really is you, isn’t it? Mind if I sit down?” The familiarly overdressed man requested.

“Don’t need to ask my permission.” The key to survival was to act as confident as possible. Whether that be underground or in alleyways. You had to demonstrate that you knew what you were doing, even if you didn’t.

He sat down next to me. I watched him awkwardly shuffle his legs into something resembling a comfortable position. “Haven’t seen you around much.”

I made a non-committal grunting noise as a response. I knew the man as Mr. Donut. He ran a small bakery which only sold donuts, at least in the front. Sometimes, I would come by and he’d give me some for free. Sometimes they were less free.

“Been focusing on your studies, have you-”

“What do you want?” I was avoiding eye contact, trying to figure out if I recognized anyone else in the train car. I didn’t, and it was mostly empty, anyways. If anyone noticed the gun, which he was barely trying to conceal, they weren’t about to say anything.

“Are you saying that I can’t just talk to you to make small talk?” Mr. Donut’s voice was the sickly definition of false innocence. “I didn’t even know that I would see you today. What could I possibly-”

“Then we’re done.” I gestured with my hand as if I was brushing something away, “Shoo.”

He glared angrily at me, and brought the gun back up from his lap, trying to intimidate me. He may have been one of the few people to show me kindness in the backstreets when I was hungry, but that didn’t change human nature. In his mind, I was just some kid he could bribe to his advantage. Not even a kid really, just a creature you could talk to. A creature you could reason with.

“I need someone to accompany me-“

“Good for you. You should’ve found someone else. Why should I care?” I hated his voice. It felt like the words were damaging my brain. I couldn’t remember it being like this before, but maybe I just forgot about it.

“I suggest that you cooperate before I have to resort to violence.”

“Good luck with that.” All he had was the gun and his voice, and if I didn’t engage with his attempts at small talk, I was good.

“$1000,” he stated, “if you help me.”

“What? No donuts?” I tried not to sound interested.

“$1000 cash. You accompany me for less than 1 hour, and that’s it.” He was being vague as always.

“You’re going to give me a grand for what? Bodyguarding for an hour?” His voice was echoing in my head in a way I didn’t like.

“You get it.” Mr. Donut’s voice kept bouncing around unnaturally. I was starting to doubt how random our encounter really was. “Do you agree to my terms?”

“Yeah, sure.” The second the words left my mouth, it was over. My brain fogged over. It was a familiar feeling, and yet it was one I’d forgotten. Donut’s hypnosis was designed to be unmemorable.

I looked to my left, to examine the awkward suited man once more to realize he was gone. I wasn’t even on the same subway train anymore. This one had better, more purple seats. According to the display, it was an A train headed uptown. A small donut bag sat in my lap. Inside was a folded note on top of a stack of twenties.

I was about to read it when I realized that the next stop was mine. I departed along with a handful of other students who’d been out for the day. The platform was a lot cleaner than the

one I’d entered in the Burns. It also had less advertisement everywhere. Less of the typical advertisement, anyways.

SkyLine high had its own subway station on campus. The only advertising was either student-made, or school-related. Once I was past the turnstiles, I stopped at a drink vending machine. There were a variety of vending machines around campus. If you had a student ID, they were free. I assumed most of the money was made during Sportsball events, as the campus had the biggest field around, at least compared to nearby districts.

The drink machines were plastered with flyers for the upcoming student council elections. I wasn’t too bothered with those, however one caught my eye as I headed up the stairs carrying my icy-cold orange soda. It was advertising a new club.

“Superhero Club.” The poster design was kind of shit, but I was interested. If anything, it might be fun for an afternoon. There was no information about who was organizing it, just that it was taking place in one of the library study areas.

I ripped the poster from the wall, stuffed it into my pocket, and continued up the stairs out of the subway. I could hear the squeak of footsteps around me, and chose to ignore them. It was a quiet, echo-y, and overly sanitized environment with the intention of setting itself apart from other stations. You knew it was the stop for SkyLine because it seemed like it was cleaned more often than the other stops. The station opened up on school grounds, near the on-campus housing. There was an elevator for those who did not wish to take the stairs.

The school campus was huge with 3 distinct sections; the SportsBall fields (both the ice and summer versions), the classrooms and activity rooms (a very wide and sprawling building with a total of 3 floors and a basement), and finally the on-campus student housing. The student housing was contained in a building which dwarfed the actual school building (but paled in comparison to the SportsBall arena). It was basically an apartment building. 10 stories tall with both singles and doubles for any students who didn’t want to make the commute.

I wasn’t sure what percentage of students lived on campus, but I figured it was most of us. I think the few exceptions were kids whose parents weren’t just sending them away, and a few local students. Once I was out above ground, and out of the range of cool white lighting of the subway platform, I was on my way back to my room. The timed street lamps were turning on, and I realized that more time had passed than I’d considered. The path to the on-campus housing was quiet. Instead of concrete, the campus featured a combination of carefully placed bricks and flagstones, to create an aesthetic I still wasn’t sure if I liked.

I entered the lobby of the apartment building, and instinctively made my way to the elevator. Button 5 for the fifth floor. A turn down a hallway. There I was, Room 5 - Z. I entered via keycard, and locked the door behind me.

My room was small. Floor 5 was all singles. All that was in the room was the default furniture, along with a few bins I’d acquired to sort stuff. There was no closet, nor a bathroom or kitchen. I would have to leave my room to access shared areas for those amenities.

The benefactor who’d snatched me off the street and added me to the school’s program of trying to teach troubled youth wasn’t about to splurge on a suite reserved for kids whose last names belonged on the cover of magazines. I might as well have not even had a last name for the complete and utter lack of help it brought me. That’s how it goes with dead parents.

I finally put down the donut bag on the desk, along with the contents of my pockets. A phone, loose change, a thick paint marker, and a small ziplock baggie containing a tooth. I felt around in my mouth, to see if it might explain some of the missing memory. Sure enough, there was a tooth that felt both much cleaner, and much smaller than the surrounding teeth.

I’d been trying to get in the habit of brushing my teeth more regularly, but I guess it didn’t matter if you could just get a tooth knocked out and have the chore evaded as it grew back without a thin layer of whatever it was you ate that day. Speaking of which, I turned around to toss my empty soda can in the trash bin by the door. It went in perfectly, but there was something else that caught my attention.

Via the full-body mirror attached to the door, I saw that my school-branded hoodie was stained. I unzipped it, to see that my t-shirt now featured a small, round hole. The skin below was, of course, unmarked, but the clothing was now ruined with the stain of blood. I peeled off my clothes, frustratingly shoving them all in the trash bin, then returned to my desk.

I upended the donut bag, and the contents fluttered out all over my desk. Said contents were around $100 in cash, quite a lot of monopoly money, and the folded-up note. Two heavy objects also fell onto the desk. One was a thumbdrive, which contained who-knows-what on it. The other was a carefully wrapped plain sugar donut, which had always been my favorite. Just the right amount of sweetness.

I idly ate the donut as I unfolded the note. I stood, not wanting to sit down just yet.

Thanks for the help, Zombie Girl. Sorry about the trouble. Won’t bother you again, probably.
-🍩

It was at that moment that I realized how much I utterly despised hypnotists. I utterly despised many people; hypnotists, the British, etc. But hypnotists especially. Astral surged motherfuckers. They would always see me as nothing but fodder to use. To manipulate. Just because I’m durable doesn’t mean that I’m ok with that shit. They would never care.

I crumpled up the paper, and tossed it into the trash, not caring that I missed. Might as well just get ready for bed. I grabbed a towel, a change of clothes, and various hygiene products, and went to the floor's bigger bathroom. I was ignored, as the few people who were there knew better, and minded their own business.

Chapter 4
Marcus

“Touchdown!” I screamed, slamming the ball over the net. I confidently turned around to rejoice, knowing that the other team would be unable to keep the ball from bouncing off the ground on their side. I’d already been giving it my all throughout practice, but putting a little bit of emphasis into the ball at the end was a nice way to wrap up the final practice of the season.

“Oh!”

“Dude!”

“Come on!”

I turned around to see that the ball had dented the court with its impact. The ball was unscathed, but the turf was not. I cringed and apologized as Dave undid the damage. It was certainly a way to end practice. Soon enough, I was saying goodbye to my team, and leaving the summer field. I wouldn’t be back until mid-January for the winter season.

I was barely outside of the SportsBall zone before I heard the captain calling out to me, “MARCUS! HEY MARCUS!” I stopped and turned to see him holding out my bat for me. I’d not used it today, and I’d nearly forgotten it.

“Thanks, man.” I took the bat from him. I’d barely gotten the words out before he ran back. That was the captain for you. Damn good player, but not much of a talker. Not that I minded. Better than being trapped in an endless loop of small talk. Especially when I had something to do.

The trek across campus from the SportsBall field to the main building was not a long one. It was a pleasant walk along neatly maintained gardens of fruits and flowers. Various benches marked with names of past students and teachers. The paths were pleasant red bricks perfectly in place. Every so often, there was a vending machine selling various snacks or useful items. I stopped at one for a new pencil sharpener. I’d lost my previous one. It was free with my student card. I slipped the sharpener into my pocket, and continued towards the main building.

The past few weeks, I’d been putting up signs all over the school advertising a new club I was starting. Superhero club. Wednesday afternoon, the first week of October. In study room 4 by the library. I needed at least 3 other people to get the club off the ground. That’s what Mrs. Vance had said when she was talking to me about starting the club. Also that I shouldn’t put my name on the posters. I wanted to start a club to find others with the same righteous sense of justice as me. If I put my name on the posters, then there’d be fans showing up.

As co-star of the SportsBall team, I was part of what the school was known for, its legacy. I was already dealing with constant bombardment from randos acting like they want to be my friend because they see me as popular. A whole load of losers desperate to use me for clout.

I stopped at the main desk in the library for the study room sign up sheet. As I wrote my name down, I noticed that someone already wrote their name on the sheet. Amy Yu. I recognized the name, but couldn’t pinpoint how. Whoever she was, I didn’t talk to her much. I put the pen down, and headed to study room 4.

Room 4 was the biggest student-available study room that was available for me to reserve. It was among the other group study rooms in the non-fiction section of the library, near the bathroom. It was also one of the few study rooms without windows, for privacy. I opened the door to see Amy sitting at the end of the table nearest to the entrance.

The room was taken up by a big gray rectangular table and 10 black and gray seats. The floor was a light gray carpet, a continuation of the library’s flooring. It was a dull room with soft light, and plenty of wall outlets to charge devices. The only thing of interest was Amy, flicking a cap eraser around on the table. She barely looked up to acknowledge me when I entered the room.

I put my bag of SportsBall gear on the floor near the wall, and my laptop back on the table next to me where I sat down across from Amy. There were three charging ports in the table at regular intervals with phone cords. I plugged in my phone next to Amy’s.

We sat in silence, and I was unsure of how to start a conversation with her. I rarely talked to her, and I didn’t think that we shared any classes together. She didn’t show up to SportsBall games, which I found odd considering she was dressed only in official purple and white school-branded clothes. I had no idea how to approach her. Plus there was the whole green thing. It was weird. Made me wonder what kind of abilities she had to make her skin color that greyish-green shade. She looked like a corpse from a horror movie.

I was still trying to say something when the door swung open to reveal Nick. I recognized him from my math class. He said “Hi” and walked around the room to sit across from me, a seat away from Amy. Nick was a huge fan of SportsBall, and showed up religiously to every single game, no matter what the weather was like. He was much like a mailman in that regard. When he placed his see-thru backpack on the table, I realized that Amy didn’t have a bag. Nick’s backpack held a few notebooks, folders and some snacks.

“Hey, Nick,” I said to him once he was settled down.

“Marcus.”

The awkwardness was overwhelming. I was about to question how many people were even going to show up when there was a knocking on the door followed by it slamming open.

“You can just go in, Ella. That’s how clubs work.” It was Rainbow. I’d not interacted much with them, but it was hard not to be aware of Rainbow. They dressed like a living rainbow trapped in a fishnet, and were always trying to start drama. Nothing bad, just incredibly overdramatic. I got the impression that they liked being the center of attention. Not that I could blame them. I was the co-star of the school’s SportsBall team, after all.

Ella and Rainbow sat down next to me on my side of the table, with Rainbow sitting closer. Neither of them were carrying bags either, though Rainbow had a purse that resembled a plush toy.

“Well, welcome to the club.” I said to everyone. “I’m not sure if anyone else is going to show up-”

“It's a miracle anyone even showed up at all,” Amy spoke up for the first time, “Those were the worst posters I have ever seen in my life. Have you ever designed anything in your life? It was black with fucking neon orange writing. It was like you were trying to make an OSHA-friendly Halloween party.”

By the time she stopped talking I was no longer motivated to try and defend myself. “Ok. Well.” I leaned back in my seat, trying to take control of the situation. “Let’s assume that no one else is going to show up, and if they do, we’ll catch them up. How about we go around and introduce ourselves?” Everyone nodded and made mutual sounds of agreement. “Ok. We’ll start off with me, and go in a circle counterclockwise. My name is Marcus. I use He/Him pronouns, and I am the co-star of the SportsBall team. I’m 16, and my surged ability is to infuse objects.”

Amy didn’t say anything for a moment before announcing, “I’m Amy, which y’all probably figured out from the signup sheet. I use She/Her pronouns. I am 17 years old, and I can’t die.” Amy pointed to Nick to continue. I guess that explained the green. Even her eyes were a milky, pale green. I wasn’t sure if she was blind. Her mossy green hair was in two messy pony tails that didn’t really seem to do much to keep her hair out of her face.

“Hey, I’m Nick.” Nick looked white(though I think he was mixed?) with short, messy, brown hair. I could see a few little blue bows in it. He wore a big, brown coat, and a white crop top which revealed his muscles underneath. “I’m 15, I guess I use He/Him pronouns, and I like knives.” He stopped talking after that, so I guess he was done.

Ella was reluctant to say anything until prompted by Rainbow poking and prodding at her shoulder. “Hello. I’m Ella. I’m 14. I use She/Her. I can teleport. Am I done now?” Ella wore all black and purple. She was pale as a sheet and her hair was long, glossy black, and straight. She smelled a bit like cigarettes.

Rainbow decided to stand up for her introduction. “My name is Rainbow. I’m here to become a member of the greatest superhero team of all time, which this is definitely going to be. I use they/them pronouns, and with the power of light,” Rainbow completely disappeared from view, and after some shuffling noises, they were visible again, but standing on top of the table surrounded by a multicolored glowing outline, “I will make sure I can be a valuable contribution to this team!”

“Rainbow, can you please get off the table? We have talked about this, stop climbing on tables.” Ella tried grabbing at her friend’s pant leg to pull them off. Rainbow vanished from view again before additional shuffling noises, and reappearing back in their seat next to me.

“Well that was eventful.” I never heard a voice more bored than Amy sounded when she said that. “What now?”

“Well, now, we are going to discuss what kind of path we are going to take this club,” I said, standing up to try and seem official. “My plan is that eventually we’re going to be a crime-fighting team, but we need to get to know each other first and-”

“Starting a vigilante effort through a school club. Not the worst idea ever, but I’m not sure what else I was expecting.” Amy interrupted me again.

“Well I think that this is going to be fun,” Rainbow interjected. “Although I think in the future it would be more fun to meet up somewhere else. I mean these study rooms are dull as hell.”

“What? So we’re gonna go on playdates, make friends, and then fight crime?” Amy didn’t actually seem upset by the idea.

“Well, I guess that’s one way to put it.” I dropped back down into the chair. “I know it sounds stupid, but to be honest, I don’t really have any friends.”

“But you’re star of the SportsBall team,” Nick said.

“Yeah, but who thinks they can be friends with a star? Why do you think I didn’t put my name on the sign up sheets?”

Old Draft

Chapter 1
Rainbow

How did I get here? I shouldn’t be here. Where is here, you may ask? Drowning. Drowning due to my own stupidity. What is it that teachers are always going on about? “Don’t give in to peer pressure.”

Well, it wasn’t peers that pressured me into going on the school boat trip. It was the teachers. Constantly bringing it up and telling me how much fun it was going to be. The overnight cruise for the whole class. Oh the memories. The art teacher could remember every one from the past 10 years, oh don’t you know?

Anyways I signed up for the boat trip. What I didn’t sign up for was being dared into dancing on the railing on one of the decks. I mean I GUESS I could’ve just not taken the dare, but where’s the fun in that? Turns out, how long I can stay balanced on the railing isn’t very long. Hopefully, how long I can tread water is a bit longer than that. Although the water was arguably more slippery.

I’m going to die here, aren’t I? At least the water is warm. Has anyone even noticed I’m gone? The moron who dared me probably won’t want to fess up so soon. I’m going to die. The boat is driving away from me. I’m going to die before I even finish my freshman year of high school. What a loser. I’m a loser.

Oh god I’m going to die like the loser I am. And like the loser I am, I started panicking, and falling beneath the waves. I screamed, something I probably should’ve been doing already. Unfortunately, instead of screaming, I ended up with mouthfuls of disgusting sea water.

Suddenly, from one of my outstretched hands, a massive beam of white light shot out as I clawed through the water. I managed to break through to the top of the waves again. My vision seemed changed, somehow. I could access more colors now. Though it was still certainly dark, I could see more clearly now. Everything seemed more defined.

I managed to find the boat again as I treaded water. I treaded harder than I’d ever done anything before, and I reached up with my hands. From my fingers, different colors of light shot up, growing brighter and brighter the longer I held up my hands.

Before long, I could see the boat turning around.

I sat in my room, staring at the wall. It had been a week since the boat trip. A week since my surge and rescue. My parents were so proud of my powers, they didn’t even bring up my recklessness. They hadn’t even brought up how I dressed in a whole week!

Rainbow. That’s what they called me when I was rescued. I looked at my fingertips, letting them glow slightly. Rainbow. Maybe it could be something I could call myself. I’d been looking for a new name anyways.

Should I tell my parents? I really shouldn’t. But maybe their appreciation of my powers could make up for their disdain of anyone off the gender binary. Maybe this could go well? I was prepared to tell them anyway, but then the school trip threw me off my rhythm. I already had an escape plan ready just in case. I can do this. I can tell them.

Before I could stop myself, I was out of my room. I was downstairs in front of my parents in the living room. They were sitting on the couch. I was carrying my backpack. I’d reflexively grabbed it, fearing the worst.

“Mom? Dad? I have something important I need to tell you. Please listen to me.” I gripped the straps. I couldn’t stop now. “I’m non-binary. That means-”

“I know what that means.” My dad snapped, standing up. “You’re just confused.”

“I’m not confused,” I insisted. I’d already lost, but I could pretend I hadn’t. “I’m sick of lying to you. I’m not your son. I’m not your daughter. I’m non-binary.” This might have been a mistake.

“Then you aren’t welcome in this house anymore.” My step-mother barely broke a sweat to say that. It was her most common threat any time I did anything she didn’t like.

“What, so you’re actually going to kick me out this time?” I demanded. The chances were 50/50 at this point.

“Well what are the neighbors going to think when they see you dressing as a clown and rambling about pronouns?” My dad pointed out like the idiot he was.

“I use they/them!” I shouted, unsurprised, yet still shocked.

“Exactly,” he responded.

“Just leave. You’ve already got your bag, don’t you? Surely you were expecting a goodbye.” My step-mom looked away from me as if bored. “You’re no longer welcome here.”

My dad didn’t disagree.

I was no longer upset, but of course I was done here. And she had to be done. I screamed incoherently, and jabbed my finger out towards her. A pale blue beam of light shot out and cut across her upper chest. Now she was screaming too.

I dropped my arm, and the light burned a short line across the wooden floor before disappearing.

As I ran away, I caught myself in the mirror. My eyes glowed a shining gold. I kept running. I left the house. Ran down the street. This neighborhood was too familiar for me to get lost, but I was still nearly aimless in my trek.

I slowed down, my backpack still bouncing against my back, and pulled out my phone. I had a location saved. It was supposed to be this safe haven for LGBT+ teens who got kicked out. I said I was prepared for this. I pulled up the map, and headed there.

It was an odd place on the edge of town. Further than I’d ever been before. It looked more run down than I expected, and the structure was all over the place. It looked like someone dumped out a bucket of LEGO bricks and cemented them all in the random places they landed. The paint was brightly colored too. Like something out of a children’s book. The entrance had a big red sign over it labled “ENTRANCE” and on either side there was a row of mailboxes. The mailboxes were huge, and some of them had little shelves underneath them for packages. A handful indeed had packages, waiting to be retrieved. I could see flowers here and there below windows in the sprawling complex.

“What brings you here?”

I jumped at the voice. I turned around. There was a particularly tall woman approaching me from behind. She was black, and wore a bright pink suit. In one hand, she held an iced coffee, and in the other, a small red handbag.

“I got kicked out.” My voice was small, but it was the truth.

“And you’ve come here for a place to stay?”

I nodded.

“Well you’re in luck, because I've been looking for a new roommate anyways.” She seemed so nice. “What’s your name?”

“Rainbow,” was my immediate answer.

“Rainbow!”

I jumped again at the shout.

“That’s an excellent name.” She loudly sipped the coffee. “My name is Stephanie.” Another noisy sip. “Won’t you join me inside? I can put down my things and get you set up.”

I nodded again, clutching my backpack straps.

“Excellent!” She led me in through the double doors, and into what looked like the coziest room I’d ever been in. Half the room looked like a living room or play area with couches and a TV. The other half was a kitchen. There were a few people sitting around. On one side there were some kids playing video games. On the other side I could see someone making something that smelled good.

I was worried about drawing attention, but no one seemed to pay me any mind. A few people greeted Stephanie, but that was all.

I was led deeper into the building, up and across a series of ramps, before stopping at a door. The door was completely flat and white with a kaleidoscope of paint splatters as decoration. Across the middle, there were letters which read “Stephanie & Daisy.”

“Daisy moved out months ago.” Stephanie explained when she caught my gaze. She unlocked the door, and gestured for me to go in.

The room was bigger than I expected. The walls were white, and the floorboards were light brown. The room was divided by an ‘S’ shaped bunk bed. The bottom bunk was facing the right, and the top bunk was facing the left. The left side of the room was a mess of clothing, posters, a bulletin board, electronics, and a trash can, just about everything you want in a haphazard bedroom. The bedsheets were dripping off of the side of the bed. The hamper was upturned. The desk had a closed laptop next to a teetering stack of books. An overflowing backpack sat next to the chair. A large, round, blue rug was laid out in front of the bed, and somehow only the left half was in serious need of cleaning while the right was spotless.

The right half of the room was bare. The only furniture was an empty hamper, a desk, a clean waste bin, and a chair. The bed was plain and made. White pillow, red blanket. No posters on the walls over here.

On the wall opposite to the entrance, behind the bed, there were two large windows. The left one had open curtains and a dangling rope ladder. The right had drawn, thin, yellow curtains, filtering in dull light.

“I’m sure you can guess which side is for you,” Stephanie said, pushing me forward gently.

I walked to the right, and sat down in the black swivel chair. There was a door right next to the one I’d gone through. It was labeled “closet.”

“Yeah you can use that.” Stephanie said, tossing her bag into the mess on the left, and sitting down to open her computer. She pushed her bag off the chair, causing the contents to spill out onto the floor. “I’ve got a dresser and it's empty anyways. Except for maybe one or two things. Not that you seem to have much yet anyways.”

I stood up and opened the closet. It was indeed empty, except for a pair of shoes and a few puzzle boxes. I slung my backpack off of my back, and started removing the clothes I crammed in there and hung them up. It seemed like the thing to do.

“So I can stay here?” It seemed surreal.

“I mean if you got here in the first place then that means you were meant to be here. Only future residents can find this place.” I could hear the sipping of the coffee from across the room. “Besides, The Orca said that I’d be meeting someone of your description soon anyways.”

“‘The Orca’?” I echoed.

“Oh that’s just a nickname. He’s got the ability to see the future. Like an oracle. Hence, The Orca.” She explained.

“Oh.” That made sense.

Chapter 2 - Ella

I sat in the back of the room, watching my classmate presenting her project. I sat there, dreading my turn. I didn’t want to present, but to pass this class I would be required to. I was only 4th in line, meaning that there was no chance of the period running out of time, preventing me from having to stand there. I was too busy panicking to pay attention to my classmate, but I could hear her droning on.

“...So therefore, since pee is stored in the balls, any woman whom possesses the desire to pee is, in fact, not a woman, but a transgender man in desperate need of surgery…”

I couldn’t present. I had all my notes. But how could they be enough? I would have to talk, in front of everyone. They’d all be looking at me. If I messed up - it would be a nightmare. Even worse than the presentation itself. What if there was a typo in the slides? Or what if I dropped my cards and they were all in the wrong order? What if-?

“Ella.” My thoughts were interrupted by the teacher. “Your turn. Please come to the front of the room to present.”vI nodded, and grabbed my notecards. I slowly made my way to the front of the room - not too slowly (hopefully) - dreading what would come next. After what felt like an eternity - well that’s what I get for sitting in the back - I was standing in front of the class. What if the light fell down and showered me with glass? Slide one of my presentation was behind me. I had my cards. What if I had dropped them? Being anywhere else sounded so good right now. I looked out the window, wishing I was outside.

“So about blowfish-” and I disappeared into a cloud of purple smoke. When the smoke before my eyes vanished, I was directly outside the window. Of the classroom. Which is located on the second floor. I fell, obviously. Luckily, or not luckily, the grassy ground was soft.

How? I pushed myself up into a kneeling position, and stared at my hands. My notecards were scattered all around me. Was this a surge? I had a power? I could teleport. Could’ve teleported me onto the concrete. This was embarrassing. Cool, but embarrassing. They would know how much I didn’t want to be there.

I heard voices, and looked up. The window was open, and some of my classmates were leaning out and looking at me. This was worse than I could imagine. I was even more of the center of attention now.

I started running away from the school. Every so often I would teleport forwards in a puff of purple smoke, away from the source of my misery, and to the edge of my field of view.

Eventually, I found myself at the park. Next to the rocks. On the edge of the lake. I looked down at the still water. My eyes were dripping black, almost like I was bleeding. The effect vanished, along with the remnants of purple smoke.

This area of the park was empty, as it always was. A perfect place to escape embarrassment and dealing with others. No one would know if I sank into the water. No one would notice me again. Perfect.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!”

I heard screaming, followed by splashing. I stood up from where I was crouched on the shore. Someone with bright white hair was swimming towards me, away from a rippling circle of impact a few yards away from where I was sitting on the edge. I’d never seen someone cut through the water so smooth and so fast.

They swam face-down, like a pro, and popped their head out when they were right at the edge. “Hello!” They greeted me, climbing out of the water. This person was wearing a pair of denim overalls, a red t-shirt, and fishnet gloves.

“Hi,” I responded meekly.

“I’ve been working on my powers here. Since the park is mostly empty on weekdays.” They explained as they rang out their hair. “I can make light beams, and I’m trying to use it to see if I can propel myself across the water. Not the whole lake but this bit,” they pointed, “where it's narrower. I should’ve measured it. Do you have tape?”

“To put over the water?” The scatterbrain looked around my age. They should’ve been in school. I should’ve been in school. Oh no. People are going to be talking about me when I get back, aren’t they?

“Ah.” They looked dumbfounded at my obvious observation.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in class?” I winced. So was I.

“Yeah, well.” They looked annoyed, though not at the question. “My class is going on a school trip. I hate school trips. “They’re dumb.” They looked down. “I’m soaked.”

“Why aren’t you wearing a swimsuit or something if you’re doing this?” I asked.

“To challenge myself.” They looked proud.

I nodded. “Is that your bag over there?”

They followed my line of sight a moment before agreeing. “Yeah that’s my stuff. Come on.” They started running towards the bag, around the shore of the lake.

For some reason, I followed. I walked, but eventually caught up to them when they were holding up a phone, texting.

After muttering something to themself, something that sounded like reading, They asked me “What’s your name?” They looked up.

“Ella.” Why was I so quiet? Was there a rock in my shoe? The water-

“You’re coming with me. I’m Rainbow, by the way.” Rainbow started walking towards one of the paths which lead out of the park.

“Wait, what?” Suddenly, I found myself able to be loud.

“You like carrot cake and don’t have anything better to do for at least two hours.” They turned back around and began walking towards me, shuffling around the backpack until it was secured on their back.

Why weren’t they wrong?

I followed Rainbow out of the park, and into a weird side of town. It was a blur going into a strange building, up ramps, and into a room labeled “Rainbow & Stephanie.” I spent most of the walk just staring at Rainbow’s back.

The room was split into two distinct messes by a bunk bed. The right belonged to Rainbow, which was obvious from them going to put their bag down on that side. The other belonged to Stephanie, who was sleeping on the top bunk. She looked like a college student, but it was hard to tell from this angle.

“I’ve been living here for about 3 months.” Rainbow said, pushing some shirts off of a swivel chair. “That there’s my roommate.”

How had they accumulated such a mess in so little time. Why had I gone with a stranger? I didn’t have anything better to do. The room was too hot for my black hoodie. I had to keep it on. I had to hide in it. Why was I here? They were nice to me. Paying attention to me. There was a window-

“Sit down.” Rainbow commanded.

I complied.

“Now wait a moment, I’ll be right back.” Rainbow left out the door, which I now saw was labeled “exit.” Why label your own door exit? What was with all the lucky cats on their desk? It was a collection, I guess.

Nearly no time passed before Rainbow showed up again with a plate carrying a slice of cake. “The Orca is about as good at baking as he is with predicting what’s going to happen.” Rainbow gave me the plate. “And he predicted I’d find someone to talk to at the lake.”

“Oh.” I held the plate in one hand, and picked up the fork with the other. I took a bite. It was indeed carrot cake.

“So what were you doing at the lake?” Rainbow asked, standing above me.

“I found out that I can teleport.” I admitted through the cake. “I went to the park.”

“So you teleported directly to the park?”

“Not directly.” I didn’t elaborate.

“Alright then. Do you mind saying what triggered your surge?”

I shook my head.

Rainbow didn’t press the issues. Instead, they rambled on about something and nothing for a few hours, until I started panicking, realizing that I was going to be expected home soon.

“It’s alright, come on.” Rainbow headed over to the window on their roommate’s side and pushed open the pane.

“Out the window?” I was confused until I noticed the rope ladder.

“Yeah, follow me.”

I watched as Rainbow descended, and it was then that I realized that this room was three floors up. I wished that I could just join them at the bottom instead of climbing down- and then there I was. Down at the bottom of the ladder.

“You startled me.” Rainbow jumped off the bottom of the rope ladder. “Come on, let's go.”

It was when we were back around the building on the main sidewalk that I asked. “Do you know where I live?” Rainbow had made it sound like I was supposed to follow them.

“Nope! Do you?” Rainbow leaned towards me, waiting for a response.

“Yeah, I’m just going to go home on my own.” I started in the general direction of where my apartment was located, and could hear them following me. “I don’t need a chaperone.”

“Yes you do.” Rainbow didn’t back down.

“No I- fine. You can follow me.” I gave in, not wanting to argue.

We finally arrived at the entrance to my apartment building. “Ok. We’re here. You can go now.”

“I will. For now. But know that I’ll be checking in on you. When you least expect it.” Rainbow seemed to vanish into thin air, but I could hear footsteps leading away from me. Right. They controlled light or whatever.

I entered the building, heading up to my apartment, awaiting my parents’ reaction to me leaving school.

Chapter 3 - Amy

Have you ever died before? I’ve died before. Living on the streets will do that to a person. Starvation isn’t fun. Neither is eating trash. I try to get jobs, but I’m too much of a mess. Too much of a mess for school. For a home. For anything. Am I even alive?

No one noticed me. I might as well be a ghost. No. People react when I punch them. Ghosts aren’t real anyways. People would be talking about them like they were real if someone proved it.

What is my power? Regeneration. No dying for me. Believe me, I tried. Not that I’m suicidal or anything, I just want to know if it’s possible. Though if I found out, then that would be the last thing I ever found out. That is, if ghosts aren’t real. Or maybe something else. I’m just curious.

Two people walking by. White girls. Wait. One is a boy? Not a boy. Something else. A person with that many colors staining their hair? Has to be neither. Clown, maybe. The girl has black hair. She’s wearing a school uniform, but isn’t carrying a bag.

My own skin is greyish-green. Is it racist for me to call them white kids? I’m basically a kid. I’ll follow them. Let’s see. Clown-haired one is rambling about their high school, and how easy it is to use their powers thanks to it. I think I’ve heard of this school. Never thought too much about it. They’re trying to get the girl to try and go to it.

Controlling powers. Hmmm. Clown hair threatens black hair with stalking as I consider this. They were wearing a damp pair of overalls, so clearly this school didn’t have a dress code I needed to worry about. It's when Clown Hair vanished into thin air that I realized they weren’t white. Their skin was too dark for that. I really needed new glasses. Or any glasses.

Never mind. Or wait. Maybe I should mind. Let’s see. What was the name of this school? Skyline High? I’d definitely heard of this. Maybe I should go to it. I could probably find it. Not today, though.

A stolen meal and a night sleeping in an alleyway later, and I was on my way to Skyline High.

I waited outside until all the actual students entered. Once it looked like classes were starting and no one else was going in, I headed towards the main entrance. When I entered, the greeter (who was writing in some sort of log) reacted to the sound of the door opening.

“If you’re late-” she trailed off once she saw me. “Can I help you?” While some people looked a bit odd after surging, most didn’t look vaguely like walking corpses.

“Yeah.” I looked around the clean lobby. It felt like my very presence was soiling it. “I’d like to enroll at this school to learn how to control my powers.”

“And…” The greeter looked me over. “What are your powers?

“Can’t die.” I tried to maintain eye contact. You’re supposed to do that, right? I didn’t blink either.

“The admissions office is down that hall on your right. What’s your name?” She was writing a note.

“Amy Yu.”

“Ok, Amy. Take this.” She handed me a pass with my name and the room I was heading to. Room 303.

“Have a nice day!” I said flatly, taking the pass, and heading deeper into the school. It’d been a long time since I’d been in a building this clean.

I knocked on the door to the admissions office. You’re supposed to knock on doors to let people know you’re there, right?

“Come in,” a voice called from inside. It was more of a general office than just admissions. There were several desks around the large room with various people doing various things.

“Can I help you?” asked the secretary, visibly disgusted by my appearance.

“I want to become a student.” I explained.

“Becky? Are you busy?” She called over to a woman sitting at one of the desks, sliding around in her spinny chair to better direct her shouts.

“You know I’m not on Fridays.” Becky put down the book she was reading. She looked at me. “Where are your parents?”

“I dunno.” I didn’t. Not really.

“Well, what’s your power that you want to learn to control at our fine institution?” she asked an easier question.

“I can’t die.” I repeated my answer from earlier.

“You can’t die?” She didn’t seem to believe me for some reason.

“Well, I haven’t yet.”

“Please leave.” She pointed towards the exit.

I grabbed a pen off of her desk, and stabbed it through my other hand as hard as it would go. Becky jumped in her seat. I tossed the bloody utensil into the waste bin, and held up my dripping hand. “See?” I could feel my eyes fade into a dull, dead grey as the hole closed up.

“Well,” Becky gulped, “That’s certainly impressive, but we still need to talk to your parents about the paperwork, if you are to become a student.”

“That’s discrimination,” I said, because that sounded like discrimination.

“I’ll help.” A man was speaking. “What was your name?”

“Amy.”

“Well, Amy, I’m Mr. Pendam. If you come with me to the library, I’ll help you print out the necessary papers and go through them.”

“Ok.” Finally, someone who looked like they would be able to help. I followed him, ignoring the other, ruder individuals.

We sat down in the corner of the library at a small, round table.

“Wait here a moment.” Mr. Pendam went up to his librarian desk and did something on the computer for a while, before bringing over some papers to me. “Take this.” I realized he was also holding a paper towel. I took it, and wiped the blood off my hand.

“So, you really don’t have a place to live?” The librarian asked.

I shook my head. One of my green pigtails hit the side of my face.

“Well, then. It’s a good thing that the school offers dorms for those who need a place to stay, or would just like to live on campus.” He gestured towards what I assumed was the direction they were located in.

“Do those cost money?”

He chuckled. “This school pretends to be all elite, but we are still a public school. You’re free to attend, even if some might be disrespectful towards you.”

I thought about it. “Ok.” An actual home to stay in. I never carried anything with me. I used to have a phone I stole, but I lost it at some point. All I had to my name was a dirty hoodie, dirty sweatpants, and two measly hair ties.

“I think we can still go through some of these questions. Do you have any learning disabilities that you know of?” He asked.

“Does ADHD count?” I asked.

“That’s a different question, but thank you.” He made a note. “How much schooling have you had so far?”

Stopped in 7th grade.”

“How old are you now?”

“17.”

“So you’ve not been in school since…” He trailed off, trying to do the math.

“About five years,” I cut in.

“That’s a long time.”

I shrugged.

We continued to go through the paperwork. Every so often, he had to stop to help a student borrow a book.

“What was your surge?” Mr. Pendam asked.

“What?” I wasn’t expecting the question to be on there.

“What caused your ability to manifest?” He clarified, thinking that the term was what tripped me up.

“Well.” I considered telling him. It’s not like I was keeping it a secret or anything. “I guess it was when my mother lit the house on fire, and I was the only one who managed to escape alive.”

That made him quiet. Of course it did. “Why don’t we go do the housing and schedule forms?”

These ones were done digitally. He said it was because we had to make sure things fit in with other students and what was available.

The final thing was to pick a room to stay in. “Now, there are a few students who don’t have roommates at the moment. Do you have any preferences? Not that you know anyone yet.”

“Just choose someone at random.” I said.

“Alrighty then. I shall put you with Rachel Watercrest.” He pressed ‘enter’ then looked up at me. “Hopefully everything shall be all set. Would you like me to take you to the dorms once classes are over? The assistant librarian takes over in the afternoon.”

“That would be nice.”

In the remaining few hours, I sat on the floor, playing with a bit of the rug that stuck out. I didn’t notice when the last bells chimed, but I did notice when Mr. Pendam was touching my shoulder to get my attention. My gaze snapped up at him, and he gestured for me to get up.

“Come on, I’ll take you to the dorm to get settled in.”

I followed him out of the school building, and towards the side that faced away from the street. There were the school dorms. They were tall, and set up similar to an apartment complex.

There was a help desk at the entrance, where I got my room key. With a little help from the helper at the help desk, I found my room.

“I guess this is where we part ways.” I said, looking at the door.

“I guess so.” He turned around to leave, before stopping in his tracks and turning around. “You know what, I have something else for you.” He reached into pocket and pulled out his wallet. He handed me some money and said, “Here, why don’t you use this to buy yourself some new clothes.”

“Thank you.”

He walked away, and I now held the money in my hand in addition to various other papers, such as my schedule. I put the key in the lock and entered the room.

The room was split by a long strip of black tape laid out across the center. On the right of the room, there was a neat, pink set up. Pink bed. Pink desk. Backpack tucked away. Folded clothes. Pink notebooks. Everything was in its place. The right was also pink, but it was barren. The bed was made, but that’s about all. The furniture was identical, but again, empty.

I noticed that there was a closet on each side, and I went to the one on the left, and opened it. Inside, there was a backpack with the school logo, and some clothing that also had the school logo on it. It was too big, but it looked like it would fit me.

I remembered seeing signs of showers when I’d walked through the school, so I grabbed some clothes out of the closet, and headed to the showers. It had been so long since I’d last been that clean. I showered, ditched my old clothes in the trash can, and changed into the soft, school-logoed hoodie and sweatpants. The money was in my pocket. I still wore my dirty old sneakers, but they were fine.

I headed back to my room, feeling fresh. When I got there, my roommate was sitting on her bed, writing in a little book.

“Hey, Rachel.” I waved, closing the door behind me.

She glared at me. “I know I was told that I’d be getting a roommate again, but I wasn’t expecting someone… green. Ugh, you clash with the pink.”

“Excuse me?” I could already tell I wasn’t going to like her.

“What’s your ability?” She demanded.

“You first.”

“Diskoskinesis.”

“What?” I asked, because that sounded made up.

“I can create and control discs of any shape and size.” That still sounded fake. “Now you.”

“Immortality and regeneration.” I crossed my arms.

Her eyes lit up. “Oh, we’re going to have fun.”

Chapter 4
Marcus

I slammed the ball over the net. “Touchdown!” The other team was unable to keep it from bouncing off the ground on their side. I was tired, and not just because I’d been giving it my all for the entire practice, but because I might’ve put some of my energy into the ball, but there were no explicit rules against using powers in SportsBall.

“Good game, everyone!” shouted the captain.

“Good game!” we shouted back.

I lightly jogged over to the bleachers where I’d left my stuff. I picked up my water bottle, and took a big swig. It’s very important to stay hydrated. Especially with high-intensity sports. I put the bottle back in my satchel, and slung the bag over my shoulder.

“Hey, Marcus!” My captain shouted at me.

“I told you I was leaving early today,” I shouted back.

“No, I mean, I was going to say ‘good job today.’” He got quieter as he walked closer to me. “Also,” he pointed back at the bleachers, “you left your bat.”

“Oh, thanks.” I ran back and grabbed it, shoving it into my bag. “See you next practice!”

I headed across campus away from the Sportsball field, and towards the main building. The past few weeks, I’d put up signs all over the school advertising a new club I was starting. Superhero club. Wednesday afternoon. In study room 4. I needed at least 3 other people to get the club off the ground. That’s what Ms. Vance said when she suggested I start it.

I wasn’t the first one in the room. The first one in the room was Amy, a new girl at school. She wore all the school’s colors (purple and white) in the form of baggy school-logoed clothing. Her hair was green, pulled into two messy pigtails. Her skin was a sickly greyish-green. Even the eyes she looked up at me with were pale green.

“You’re late,” she said. She was sitting at one of the ten chairs at the long, rectangular table which filled the room. What I assumed was her backpack was resting on the table next to her. It, too, was school-themed. Good ol’ Skyline.

“The posters said that the meeting wouldn’t start for another ten minutes,” I pointed out.

“Ohhh.” She looked up at the big, black and white clock on the wall, then back at me. “Ok, I guess we’ll wait then.”

“Didn’t you start here like a month ago?” I asked to confirm.

“Yeah. I thought I might as well join a club. This one seemed interesting.” She gently started tapping the table rhythmically with her palms. “Who else is in this club?”

“I don’t know. This is the first meeting.”

“We can wait, then,” was all she said.

We sat in silence for a few minutes. It was dead quiet, other than the ticking of the clock and the tapping on the table. Then Nick entered the room.

I knew Nick. He sat next to me in algebra, and always attended Sportsball competitions. He didn’t seem very athletic, but I guess he liked watching the meets. Nick was white, with a small blue bow in his short, brown hair. He wore jeans and an oversized coat, and carried a see-thru backpack. All that was in there was schoolbooks and snacks.

“Is this everyone?” He asked, sitting down across from Amy, putting his bag on the table.

“We still got about two minutes until the meeting is supposed to start,” I pointed out, still standing. “Hopefully more people will show up by then.”

We waited in more silence as Amy tapped the table and the clock ticked away. Just as the minute hand was about to click into place, I could hear running steps approaching the door. It swung open and Rainbow, an underclassman I’d not talked to much, jumped into the room.

They leaned back out of the room, and shouted, “Come on, Ella, you’ll be late!”

Soon, Ella, who I remember transferred here about a week ago, was entering the room. Ella’s black hair stood out against her pale skin. She wore all blacks and purples, but her backpack was green. A pair of green headphones held her long black hair close to her neck.

Rainbow was all fishnets and denim, wearing jorts and a jean vest. Their arms and legs were covered in multicolored nets. Their curled hair was painted every color you could think of. Their eyes shined gold against their tan skin, and I could only assume they were using an ability to do something.

Ella and Rainbow sat down at the table.

“Alright,” I started, also sitting down finally. “I think that to start with we should go around and say our names, ages, and what powers we have. I’ll start. My name is Marcus, I’m 16, and I have the ability to infuse any object with my own energy. I surged during a Sportsball tournament.” I pointed at Nick, who was sitting next to me. “You next.”

“I’m Nick. I’m 15. I can control weapons.” It was then that I realized that Nick was, and had been, staring at me.

“I’m Amy. 17. I can’t die. Next.”

“My name is Rainbow.” Rainbow stood up. “I’m 15, and I can control light.” Suddenly, a disco ball of color appeared in the center of the room. “I can also go invisible, but just for a bit.” The disco ball vanished, and Rainbow blinked in and out of existence before sitting down in a visible state. “You’re next.”

“Ella. 14.” Ella shifted nervously in her seat before disappearing in a cloud of smoke, and reappearing in the seat next to the one where she’d previously been sitting.

“So you can teleport?” I clarified.

Ella nodded.

“Well that’s cool. I think that we’ve got a great team here.” I thought for a moment.

“I think that we should try meeting up some time outside of school in addition to the meetings.” I said.

“What are we actually going to do at these meetings?” Amy interrupted.

“I think it’s best that we get to know each other first, so that we can trust each other and know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Then we can try patrolling the city for crime.” I thought that sounded like a good plan. The reactions around me, though mixed, looked positive.

“And once we’ve got a hold on the city, we can go after supervillains!” Rainbow’s eyes lit up even more.

“I mean I doubt that. We’re still kids and there’s actual superheroes out there. We’re more like the ‘vigilante club’ than a superhero club.” Amy pointed out.

“All great superheroes start out as vigilantes.” Rainbow argued.

“Either way, we’ll still have fun.” Nick stated.

[they continue a conversation before heading back to their dorms]

Chapter 5
Nick

It's been a week since the first meeting. Our second meeting wouldn’t be held at the school. This time, we would be meeting up at a coffee shop. It was nicer than the room, plus we could get snacks.

When Rainbow showed up, the rest of us had already been sitting at a small, round table in the corner, awkwardly chatting for a few minutes. Rainbow was with a woman I didn’t recognize, but seemed somewhat familiar. Where had I seen her before? Not around the school.

“Hey, guys!” Rainbow greeted us, stealing a chair from a nearby table and dragging it over to where we were sitting. I tried not to cringe visibly at the scraping sound.

The woman was ordering something. Her voice was pretty. Kind of deep, but pretty.

“You’re late.” Amy stated, staring at Rainbow.

“Well, maybe you’re early.” Rainbow rebutted.

Amy seemed deep in thought, and Marcus interrupted with, “Well, we’re all here now, and that’s what matters.” If there was any voice I could listen to forever, it would be his. It was perfect. I would listen to the worst audiobook if he was narrating.

“What do you think?”

Everyone was looking at me, expecting an answer. Oh no, I zoned out again, didn’t I?

“What?” Was the only thing I could respond with.

“What do you want to drink?” Amy boldly repeated the question.

“Chocolate mocha,” I said finally. I noticed that Ella was also quiet. What was she thinking about? Did she respond when she was asked? She didn’t seem to want to be here. She was just spacing out. Was I spacing out?

“Ok.” Rainbow scribbled on a napkin, then went up to order for everyone. They seemed to have gotten funds from the woman they came in with, but I wasn’t sure.

We were about to settle back into chatting, when an explosion at the front of the store sent glass spraying everywhere.

“Turn out your wallets or I’ll shatter your kneecaps,” screamed a megaphone-enhanced voice. The screamer was a tall woman with a blonde ponytail. She wore a bright pink tracksuit, rubber yellow gloves, and a blue eye mask band.

The woman who’d accompanied Rainbow took a big long swig of her drink before crumpling up the cup, and tossing it to the floor. “You’re not shattering my kneecaps,” she declared, before decking the yoga mom and then running back behind the coffee counter.

The intruder went sprawling backwards onto the glassy floor. She was quick to stand back up, but her nose looked broken. Bits of glass fell off her body, and her face was bleeding.

Amy stood up. “Rainbow! Cover me!” She then ran over to the self-proclaimed knee shatterer. “Wassup, you dumb bitch? You gonna shatter my kneecaps? Cause I don’t have a wallet for you to empty.”

Gritting her teeth in fury, the woman snapped her fingers. A loud cracking noise came from Amy, and suddenly she was falling. It looked like her kneecaps were broken. Before hitting the floor, however, there was another cracking noise as Amy’s legs resumed their normal position and she stood up.

“Is that all?” She punched the villain in the stomach.

Rainbow, who’d been idly trying to figure out what to do, shot out a beam of white light to blind her as Amy continued with a barrage of punching.

Wanting to contribute, I reached down to pull a knife out of my boot. I gently threw it, and it circled around the room before stabbing the criminal in the thigh. I made the knife twist around a bit before retrieving it. When it returned to my hand, I grabbed a napkin from the dispenser on top of the table and wiped off the blood.

I slipped the knife back into its place, and slipped under the table. I continued watching from this crouched position. Amy and Rainbow retreated to the back of the shop with the rest of us. Marcus and I under the table, and Ella sitting unmoved from her seat. Rainbow and Amy crouched down defensively next to the table.

As they moved, there was the sound of sirens outside and flashing lights. The woman limped towards us, angrily snapping her fingers, before collapsing from the pain. I noticed Rainbow was still shining a light into her eyes.

As the police entered, I saw Rainbow restraining Amy, who was muttering something about kicking that bitch who shattered her kneecaps. One of the officers had some kind of telekinetic ability, and lifted the woman up remotely, carrying her through the air to the police car.

We were each taken aside one at a time to explain what we’d witnessed, and answer questions. For the most part, I answered honestly, though I might have forgotten to mention my bladed involvement.

When it was all over, we headed back to the school together. We’d mostly ended up not getting our drinks, but Rainbow had managed to get a hold of something that involved a lot of whipped cream and sprinkles.

“Well, that was intense,” Marcus said after some silence. “Good job with the quick thinking, Amy and Rainbow. You did great.”

I opened my mouth to speak but was interrupted.

“What about Nick?” Amy pointed out. “He stabbed her in the leg. Helped me take her down.”

“Good job then Nick!” Marcus patted me on the back. Oh my god he touched me. “I didn’t see that but good job.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be our leader?” Ella spoke up finally. “You were hiding with me.” She hadn’t really been hiding.

“I was assessing the situation,” Marcus insisted.

“Going to need to learn how to do that faster.” Rainbow laughed. They’d also been delayed themself.

“The real hero is me.” Amy seemed satisfied.

“Three cheers for Amy?” I suggested.

No one did it. I felt stupid.

“It was a nice idea.” Marcus tried to cheer me up after the lack of a response.

“Ok.” I said. I’d not been hiding either. I just thought it was a good opportunity to practice my range. Plus, after realizing the woman’s power, I didn’t want to be close enough to have my kneecaps shattered.

We stopped by the school in the Sky District first to drop off Amy. Amy seemed out of place at such a high-end school, now that I thought about it, but so did I.

After becoming 4, we spent a while walking to Ella’s house. It was one of those houses that was so nice, you could hardly believe someone lived there, never mind imagine what the inside looked like. After Ella was dropped off, the conversation remained mostly unchanged as Ella was quiet and contributed little to the conversation.

The next one to go missing from the group was Marcus. His house was nice. Not as nice as Ella’s, though better than my apartment. Marcus lived in the Burns, a middle class area. It got its name ‘cause a few decades before we were born, some dude with fire powers scorched the town. Some of the older brick buildings are still charred. I can’t remember the villain's name, but he was locked up for a long time.

I was sad to see Marcus off, but it was time for him to go home. I’d been to his house before once when we had a project together.

“Where do you live?” I asked Rainbow. It was just the two of us now, just walking down the road towards my house. Well, apartment really. I lived in the backstreets. It was the worst and most embarrassing part of town. I lived close enough to the Burns, but still.

“That’s for me to know.” They didn’t finish their sentence. Alright then.

“Well. We’re here.” I said awkwardly, standing in front of my apartment.

“Good night!” They said before sprinting off into the distance, not even waiting for a reply.

I sighed, and walked into the building. I entered my apartment. My mother was home, but she wasn’t exactly ready to greet me or anything. I went to my room, and dropped my bag on the floor. I flopped onto my bed, and kicked off my shoes. I pulled out my phone, and started scrolling through social media, thinking about Marcus.

I looked forward to future meetings, if only for him.

Chapter 6
Ella

The bells rang, signaling the end of class. It was now time for lunch. I picked up my books, and headed out of the classroom to my locker, where I exchanged my books for my lunchbox.

“Hey, bitch.” came a familiar voice. My biggest regret to switching schools. Kaitlin Vilis. She tormented me near-daily since I joined. I’d been bullied before, but never like this.