#mutant chapters

If I had been fully aware when I awakened again, I’m sure I would’ve been annoyed at how many times I managed to pass out in a single day.

   I was not having fun.

   Biology class was about half over and my body HURT; even more than when I had just begun training. I let my body go limp over my desk as I barely held onto what Mrs. Tanaka was lecturing about. As well as being extremely sore, I was also tired. On top of the spring festival and the fighting, M.E.W. had decided to make me train in my running skills. Anne said I had been too slow in getting to the enemy, considering I didn’t find it until it broke a huge cement wall into smithereens. She told me that she wanted to minimize the chances of the town getting hurt, so I needed to work extra hard to keep the enemies away. For the rest of Saturday night and most of Sunday I was in the base, working my butt off in the running track. The problem was that I barely had enough time to get school done, so I had to go late in the night to finish up the loose ends of my homework.

   “Turn to page 326, class.” Mrs. Tanaka said as she chalked down something on the black-board. I lazily lifted my chin from the science book I had been using as a pillow and flicked the page over. Yawning, I gazed back up at Mrs. Tanaka. Suddenly, I felt an overwhelming heaviness weighing down on my eyes. It was too easy to comply to the desire.

    WHAM! A book crashed onto the front of my desk. My body jolted upright in less than a second as I beheld a stern Mrs. Tanaka standing in front of me.

   “Are you done taking your nap?” She asked.

   “Yes, Ma’am.” I mumbled, trying to focus on her eyes. She nodded and went back to her desk. A few chortles were passed around the class as I rubbed my eyes. I was too exhausted to care about them today. I noticed Louis who was in front of me looking back. My eyes flitted away from his and back to Mrs. Tanaka.

   During lunch time, Dorothy had dragged me back to sit with her posse of friends. They all chatted noisily, blending in with the droning of the lunch hall. I, again, was laying slack on the table, sitting next to Dorothy. She burst out laughing at something Alex had said. She was full of energy today. Anne believed that she did extremely well for her first time on the field, so she didn’t have to do any extra training. It was also probably due to her being somewhat in shape, compared to my rounder features. I had struggled with the exercise much more than she did, but I felt more in shape recently.

   I heard someone call out something and a few people shifting in their seats, but I didn’t care enough to look up. Another voice joined the conversation. It became too loud to sleep, so I lifted my head in drowsy acceptance. Right before me, Louis had sat down next to Alex. He looked at me, expecting me to say something, but I quickly shifted my eyes away and rested my head back down into my folded arms.

   “Don’t mind her, she’s just really sleepy.” I heard Barina chuckle on the other side of the table.

   “Oh, yeah okay.” Louis replied.

   “Hey Juniper! Stop being so lazy and talk with us!” Alex shouted at me. I felt someone kick my knee. I lifted my head slowly, glaring at Alex.

   “Ow?” I grumbled.

   “I didn’t kick you that hard. Get over it.” Alex snorted, going back to her food.

   “Uh… anyway,” Dorothy injected.

   “Oh yeah! Did you guys hear about those girls on the news?” Katherine piped up.

   “Yeah! That was so crazy…” Barina cried.

   Louis turned his head towards Barina. “Wait, what happened?”

   “You don’t know? Everyone’s been talking about it! It’s all over the news!” She exclaimed.

   “A few days ago this huge robot thing smashed through our base’s wall, but these two girls who were dressed up like super heroes beat it down. It was sooo cool!!” Alex commented.

   “I’m actually kind of scared. Like, what if more of those freaky robots come?” Barina quavered, looking down at her salad bowl.

   “Then those two girls will take it down again!” Alex snorted, “Did you see them? It was like they didn’t even break a sweat!”

   I rubbed my arm, remembering that I actually sweated a lot during that fight.

   “You guys are being ridiculous,” Katherine sighed, “How could you believe such an outrageous story? It has to be some kind of scam! The military would never let such crazy things get into our town, anyway.”

   “But why would they trick us like that? I mean, if our base really did get attacked, wouldn’t that be important enough to get onto the news?” Alex retorted.

   “I dunno… Dorothy, Juniper, Louis, what do you guys think?” Katherine asked us.

   Me and Dorothy exchanged quick glances and we both shrugged our shoulders.

   “We don’t really know.” She lied coolly.

   “Uh… yeah.” Louis replied quietly.

   “Well, whether it is or not, it’s still pretty outrageous. Look’s like we have a few super heroines on our hands.” Alex gleefully added.

   After that, the conversation went towards the arbitrary things that Dorothy’s friends usually liked to talk about: What they were wearing, what that person said to whoever. Louis simply concentrated on his food and I went back to napping. But I soon felt a tapping on my wrist. Looking up again, Louis was looking at me again.

   Whispering, he leaned in towards me. “Uh… I never got to t-thank you… for uhh.. Saturday.” He muttered, his face flushing slightly.

   “It was nothing.” I whispered back.

   “No, it was really… n-nice of you to do that.” He insisted.

   I bit my lip. “I… just… can‘t stand to see people getting embarrassed like that.”

   He smiled, “Well, I’m glad.”

   Before I could catch myself, I felt my face heating up slightly along with the tips of my mouth tilting upwards.

   “Whoa!” Barina cried, “Juniper just actually smiled!”

   “What? No way!” Katherine gasped.

   “What were you guys talking about??” Barina questioned.

   “Nothing…” I grumbled, looking down at the table.

   “I heard them talking about Saturday!” Katherine stated cheerfully.

   “Oh yeah! That thing in the hallway! It was spreading all over school.” Barina chattered, “Are you guys?…” She trailed off, a smile spreading across her face.

   “A-Uh, No! no…” Louis stuttered nervously, his eyes quickly jumping from the girls over to my face.

   “Are you sure? It seemed like it…-” Katherine started, but then started to trail off as she looked beside me and stopped herself. I looked to my side. Dorothy’s jaw was set and her eyes were closed, as if she were holding something back.

   I cleared my throat. “It was nothing.”

   And with that, the bell rang for classes. Me and Louis both sat up quickly and hurried along to empty our trays into the garbage. Dorothy followed close behind me as I strode out of the cafeteria. I still felt her presence as I turned the corner into a nearly empty hallway.

   “Juniper,” She called out, an edge her tone.

   Sighing, I turned around. “Yeah?” I was going to get it now.

   “I wanted to talk to you about Louis,” She stated, straightening her posture.

   “There’s nothing to talk about…” I mumbled, turning to walk away.

   She grabbed my shoulder. “I think there is.” She replied sharply. I ground my teeth together. “You two have been very ‘chummy’ recently. I know that you have a right to make friends, but you know how I feel about him, June!” She cried, flinging her arms out. She never really told me that she liked him directly, but we had a way of knowing what was on each others minds. “It’s not fair!”

   “Look,” I began, not bothering to turn around. “I get that you like him and stuff, but you’re overreacting. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a history class to get to.” I shook her hand off. “And just to be clear, I do not by any circumstances plan to take Louis for myself.” I finished, beginning to walk away.

   “Juniper!” She barked, her dark green high-heels clicking on the tiled floor. Before she reached me again, we both halted in our steps. I felt a vibration around my neck, and I was sure she felt it, too.

   “Oh, now?” I groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I’m going to miss class!”

   “Well, too bad,” Dorothy snapped. “We need to go.” She scanned the now empty hallway. “Let’s go through the window, so no one will see us.”

   “Are you kidding?” I exclaimed.

   “Are you planning on getting caught by a hall monitor?” She countered, exasperated. “C’mon.” She jogged over to the window and looked out, gripping the bottom of the pane and lifting it up. It complied with a few squeaks. As the glass came up all the way, she stepped onto the sill, lifting her body towards the outside. She briefly looked back at me, smirking, and then let go. I ran towards the window, as if I could catch her feet before she plummeted to her doom, but when I reached the open frame, she had already landed on the ground and was awaiting me in her greenish-black armor. I gulped, stepping out onto the sill just like her. I reached into the collar of my shirt and pressed my thumb onto the microchip. As soon as I saw the light flash before my eyes, I let go of the window. I felt the woven cloth materialize over my skin and the amour forming over it. Before I knew it, both of my feet lightly landed on the ground, barely making a sound. My bouncy rose-colored pony-tail cascaded down my back. My shoulders relaxed. It felt good.

   “Hey… is your microchip vibrating… more?” Dorothy asked cautiously.

   It was. I glanced at her, and then looked around. “They can’t already be in town. We would have heard something by now-”

   A sudden shrieking rang in the distance. Both of us immediately darted towards the sound. It was about a mile away, near the middle school’s direction. We leaped over the high school’s gates and sped down the streets, a blur of rose, green, and black. As soon as we came over to the middle school, he beheld many people screaming, coughing, and running away from the blazing scene before us. The middle school had set on fire. Teachers and children alike were rushing to the safety of the streets. I heard a fire truck barreling down the streets a few blocks away.

   “Where is it?!” Dorothy yelled over the panicked cries.

   “We need to get a closer look!” I yelled back. We both sprinted towards the school. Flames licked the blackened second story. My microchip vibrated strongly, but there was too much smoke to see what was causing the reaction.

   “I can’t see!” I cried to Dorothy. A few more people burst through the burning entrance way. Two of them stumbled by, but one, a middle-aged female, stopped in front of us in awe.

   “Y-you’re the girls from the news!” She exclaimed, “Please, I think someone is up there-” Before she could finish, she sputtered a few harsh coughs. “P-please…” She begged, stumbling away.

   Me and Dorothy both looked up. The sun’s bright rays penetrated dense smoke enough that I could make out a few windows from the second story. I squinted, my eyes constantly focusing on the small soot particles floating around.

   “I see someone!” Dorothy cried, pointing up at one of the windows. Two figures were up against the glass, struggling with one another. One wore a burnt school uniform, the other was midnight black. “What is that thing?” She asked, as startled as I was.

   I didn’t even look at Louis as I shoved past him and out of the room. My apron fluttered behind me as I traversed through the flowing crowds again. I made it to the bottom floor, my heart racing and beads of sweat dripping down my face. I quickly flung the front doors open and rushed towards the gates. I noticed all of the faces around me. They didn’t know what was coming, and frankly, I didn’t either. No one at M.E.W. ever explained who or what the enemy exactly was. All I knew was that I needed to transform and go.

   I flew out of the open gates and bolted down the sidewalks. An ally way came up and I swerved into it, descending into the darkness of the shade. I pulled the microchip out of my shirt and held it up. My hands were shaking violently. Was I ready for this? I didn’t feel like I was. What if I failed? I breathed in and out. This wasn’t the time to wonder. I placed my thumb steadily onto the chip and closed my eyes. Once I opened them, I saw the world around me with clarity yet again. I dropped the microchip and let my hands fall to my sides, feeling the rough texture of the woven amour on my legs. The microchip rumbled aggressively again and I dashed out onto the streets.

   My rosy hair streamed behind me. My footsteps were sure. Those who were out and about only caught a glimpse of my figure as I bolted through the streets. I made it across the whole town in less than three minutes. Soon enough, I was in the thick of the jungle-like forest, traveling through it with ease. My microchip continuously vibrated harder and harder, probably indicating how close I was to the threat. After another few minutes, I came into a large clearing. The wall separating the town from the rest of the island stood before me, tall and thick with cement. The microchip vibrated like mad. This had to be the place.

   A rumble grew under my feet. I looked around but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Panicked, I turned around and started to climb a tree, hoping it would give me a better view. It was then that the wall before me busted into a million pieces. The air clouded with dust and I dropped back down, alert and searching through the thick air. I noticed a large figure’s shadow. The dust cleared and I was shocked. A gigantic robot, two times my height, stepped forward on human-like feet. Its’ metallic head was large enough for me to crawl inside. There was a opaque green hatch in the middle of the head that glowed with an eerie light. Its torso was painted a dull green and it had three appendages sticking out: two of them extremely long, amour plating them all the way to their sharp hand-like claws, and the other arm being a heavily plated gun. It had two thick legs that it walked on. The blood left my face and my whole body trembled with terror. It was just like I had been transported into a comic book, with me being the heroin and my enemy being an unrealistically built droid. I usually loved comics, but I did not want to read this one.

   Without giving another thought to it, I flew to the left, away from the hunk of metal, and on the verge of screaming. I heard the rumbling behind me and I quickened my pace. Though I was sure I could reach speeds nearing two hundred mph, this giant could still track me. I searched the forest whizzing past me for somewhere I could hide. I spotted a tall tree that was surely higher than the robot. Hopefully he wouldn’t be able to see me. I directed my course to the trunk, latching myself onto the wood and clawing my way up the tree without the aid of branches. The robot was speedily making its way through the trees, causing them to crash down with the sheer force of its sprint.

   “H-how in the world could the military miss something like that?!” I yelled to myself as I made it to the highest point I could reach. It seemed nearly impossible that such highly trained soldiers could miss such a huge hunk of metal romping through their towns. The branches up near the top were flimsy and I didn’t want to risk them breaking under the weight of my armor. I hid behind a branch covered in leaves, peaking through them to spy on the monster’s progress. It halted abruptly when it reached the trunk. I held my breath, wondering if it could sense fear. The metal head slowly looked up, straight at me. In a mixture of fear and giddiness, I jumped out of the tree, aiming for its’ head. “DIE!” I shrieked, lifting both of my fists up and bringing them down with the momentum of my fall. My blow hit the middle of its’ head directly and it stumbled back as I landed on the ground. I laughed a little manically as I saw it struggle. “That’s right!” I called out, still shaking in my metal boots.  “You’re going dow-”

   My breath was cut off when it suddenly jerked upright and wrapped its’ cold claws around my body. I was lifted into the air and flung at least a hundred feet away. I landed hard. A few precious seconds passed before I opened my eyes and perceived the monster charging towards me again, its sharp claws reaching towards my throat. I switched my stance into a crouching position and pushed off of the ground. I flew over the beast and onto the other side. I swiftly clicked the small blue bead from my microchip and the large sword appeared in my hands. Before it could turn, I dug the sword into one of its arms. It was easily severed in half and the metal crashed to the ground. As it faced me, I swung my sword into one of its legs. I sighed in relief as the robot fell with a crash. It struggled to stand up again.

   “Too bad this was so short. I wish we had more time together.” I chuckled loudly. This was way easier than I assumed it would be. Almost lazily, I came towards the robot and lifted my sword, ready to cut through its metal flesh and finish the job. Before I knew what was going on, I rose above the ground, my sides being crushed by the intense strength of the robot’s last metal claw. The grip grew tighter and tighter. I dropped my sword and it fell with a thud. My breaths became short. Even though I was more durable in this body, this still hurt. It felt like my bones were breaking. I searched frantically for a way out. I couldn’t find one. I was being suffocated. The robot lifted its’ gun arm, ready to shoot.

   All at once I heard a loud bang and the hand gripping me fell to the ground as the robot fired right over me. I struggled and broke free of the iron grip of the claw. I whirled my head around. A mysterious looking figure with black and green armor that resembled mine stood before me with a hefty looking gun. She relaxed her tense stance and smiled at me.

   “Hey Juniper.”

   My eyes widened. “Dorothy?”

   She smirked wider. “The one and only. Do you like my outfit?” She asked, twirling around.

   “Um… yeah.” I chuckled. She must’ve finished the initiation.

   “Also, my weapon.” She chimed, showing me the overly buff gun.

   “It’s amazing. Not as cool as my sword, though.” I gloated. Then I remembered that I didn’t have my sword on me. I looked behind my shoulder and saw it laying on the ground right next to the struggling robot. I walked over casually and picked it up, then raising it above my head and taking a few steps toward the robot’s torso. I let it come down on its’ center, crumpling the metal armor as if it were made out of paper. The robot stuttered a little bit and then became lifeless.

   “And that’s how it’s done.” I laughed, turning back to Dorothy. I saw her brief look of amazement be wiped away with one of her eye rolls.

   “Not super impressive…” She mumbled sarcastically.

   “Yeah right.” I snorted.

   “Oh please, have you seen this beast?” She questioned, lifting up her gun proudly.

   I laughed. “Yeah yeah. Anyway, we should be going-”

   “-Do you hear that?” Dorothy cut me off.

   We both stopped to listen. It sounded like something else coming towards us. Dorothy came over to my side and we both readied ourselves for another fight.

   “Wait, Dorothy… my microchip isn’t going off. I don’t think this is an enemy…” I murmured. At the same time, we both saw figures coming out into the clearing. Some held cameras. Others were dressed in military uniforms. They held guns.  Me and Dorothy both froze in place.

   The people stopped walking and gaped at the scene before them in awe. Two people, one holding a camera and the other holding a boom microphone, stepped towards us cautiously.

   “What in the world…?” The one holding the microphone murmured quietly.

   I dumbly stared into the camera, unable to say anything. What a stupid time for stage fright.

   Dorothy gave a few chuckles and spoke up: “If you were wondering, we just saved your little town. Don’t you think the military should have gotten to this thing first?” She asked haughtily.

   “So you aren’t the ones who broke the wall or the disabled security systems?” The microphone holder asked cautiously. I peered behind them out of curiosity. Disabled security systems? That was odd. The gunmen cocked their weapons and I shrunk back behind Dorothy.

   “No way!” She snickered. Suddenly she walked straight up towards the camera and swayed her weight onto one foot. She ignored the guns following her every footstep. “This robot just tried to kill all of you. Me and my friend here took it down for you guys. You should consider yourselves lucky.” She laughed.

   “Tell us, what are your names and how did you defeat it? You both look like you’re still in high school.” The camera man asked, closing up on her.

   Dorothy glanced at me from behind. I quickly crept up behind her and whispered: “We shouldn’t let out any information about M.E.W. unless they want us to.”

“Well…” She thought. “For now, I‘m Violet and she‘s Rose. Anyway, we need to go. More cities to protect or whatever.” She waved them off.

   The microphone holder stuck out his hand towards us. “But you haven’t-”

   “Bye!!!” Dorothy yelled, yanking on my hand. We both dashed into the forest with the speed of lightning.

   As we flew through the trees again, I looked over at her.

   “Rose and Violet? Why did you use our middle names? That could blow our cover!” I shouted.

  I saw her roll her eyes “Juniper, It doesn’t matter. We definitely wont get caught. But can you believe it? We’re like… superheroes!!” She squealed.

    I checked off another name on my scribbled list as I sat in the corner of my decorated classroom. It was the day of the spring festival, which happened in the middle of march at my school. This was one of the most popular events at our school. We would all split up into different groups depending on our grade or class and would set up different events in our classrooms such as café’s, small game rooms, and the like. This year, my sophomore class was hosting a ‘traditional’ French café. I was obligated to help set up in order to avoid serving people in a frilly French waitress costume that was supplied by the theatre club. However, I found it as a good excuse to stay in the classroom and observe for potential teammates for M.E.W.. It proved to be difficult due to my tendency of avoiding socialization. I mostly people watched, searching for anyone who seemed to show signs of determination.

   Dorothy was just finishing her basic training today. Once I brought her to the base, they immediately took her in and explained to her everything she needed to know. Afterwards, they gave her a microchip and sent her to be injected. I stayed to watch, considering my own injection had been very different from hers. She stepped into an empty chamber that had windows all around for viewing. She put the microchip necklace around her neck and closed her eyes. Then a blue light burst within the room. Once the flash dissipated, Dorothy opened her eyes and gazed around in wonder. No signs of the painful bolts of electricity that once went through my body, just awe at all of the new sensations she was experiencing. This was what was suppose to happen with me, but because I didn’t have the microchip first, all of that raw power took over my body and cause all of that pain. Now I had a huge machine implanted into my back to keep me from dying. Not a good time.

   Today, Dorothy was asked to stay at the base as she would now be admitted into the official team. A part of me wondered how well we would work together. I wasn’t sure, and that made me nervous. I didn’t let off to it, though. Anne was watching me with a proud eye and I didn’t want that to slip away if I showed any signs of weakness. I needed to be the best leader I could be, especially because that could give them extra motivation to find my dad.

   I sat on a spare chair in the back of the classroom, looking over a pad of paper and a pencil and also watching two freshmen girls sipping from their small espresso cups. There was soft café music playing in the background. The scent of coffee wafted through the room. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Louis wiping down one of the tables. He was the only boy in our class to accept the role as a waiter. I watched as the two girls shifted their gazes towards him. I cleared my throat and looked back down at the pad of paper and crossed out their names.

   “Hey, uh… Juniper?” I heard Louis call out. I looked up. “Can y-you help wait on people for awhile?” He asked, nervously.

   I felt a chill run up my spine. “No.” There was no way I would ever willingly wait on tables. The thought terrified me.

   His mouth twisted into a slight scowl. “But all you’ve been doing is looking at that paper for the whole time…”

   “No.” I stated firmly.

   “Juniper, please. It’s our busiest hour and I can’t do this alone.”

   “No.” I repeated. I thought I had won for a minute. He sighed and turned his back on me, walking back behind the black curtain that divided the sitting area and where all of the food and drinks were being stored. But a few minutes later he returned with our teacher, who walked right up to me and pushed my note pad down.

   “Ms. Tatum, Louis has brought to my attention that you refuse to help wait on tables, but if I remember correctly, all students must work a total of 3 hours on this and you have only worked half of that while setting up.” I looked at her in disbelief. She had a matter-of-fact face on. Louis hid behind her.

   I felt my breath quicken. I had indeed lost. “Ah… ‘k-kay.” She nodded and I was lead by Louis behind the curtain. He rummaged through a few boxes which held the uniforms, then pulling out a waitress uniform and holding it out to me. I flinched.

   “I’m not wearing that.” I said, my eyes glued on the short skirt and puffy sleeves. He hesitated and then bent down, putting it back in the box. After a little bit more rummaging, he took out the male uniform.

   “Then wear this.” He said, dropping it into my arms. He went out of the curtains and left me to do so. “And the protocol says to put your hair up, too.” He called.

   A few minutes later I walked out of the curtain, wearing a simple white button-down shirt and black pants with my hair tied up into a sloppy bun. I noticed Louis double-take at me as he was taking the order of a table. The room had filled up significantly.

   “What do you need me to do?” I asked with a stoic expression while i made my hands stop shaking.

   “You just need to prepare the orders that I give you. Here’s a few.” He gave me at least 3 papers filled with orders of food and coffee. I groaned under my breath and went back behind the curtain.

   Before long, I didn’t have time to worry, because the café had an almost continuous flow of customers. People came, ate, and left. I was busy putting plates of small refrigerated sandwiches together along with pouring cheep coffee into small cups and thankfully i didn’t have to talk much. Surprisingly, the time flew by and I only had a few minutes left of helping. Louis had been on shift non stop for the whole time we had been open. I secretly admired his strength in going for so long.

   I passed by him while delivering a tray to a table. “How are you holding up?” I asked.

   “I’m okay,” He mumbled. “…but ever since I had to change the pants of my uniform because of the coffee spill, I feel like my circulation has been getting cut off.” I gave him a shrug, expressing a little bit of sympathy. We went on.

   I noticed that a few of the waitresses finally came back. Though I was done with my shift, one of them asked Louis and I if we could go out to get more stock for the rest of the day. After that, they said both of us could be done. So we both ventured out into the crowded hallways of the school. It was bustling with loud chatter and excited teenagers. I followed closely behind Louis who seemed to be rather good at getting through crowds. All of the food stock was located on the first floor in the cafeteria’s kitchen. We first had to trek our way through the third and the second.

   “I didn’t realize how busy this has actually gotten.” Louis commented as we shoved through a group of people to get down the stairs.

   “Yeah. I’ve never actually gone before.”

   “Why?”

   “I don’t like loud noises or big groups of people.” I explained.

   “Right…” He mumbled. For the rest of the way we were silent.

   We finally got down to the kitchen and found our café’s stock. We both ended up carrying 2 boxes that greatly impaired our vision. It was a difficult way back. Many times I had almost tripped on my own feet trying to balance. It was times like these when I wished I could just transform and carry these things like it was no problem.

   We were on our first flight of stairs back. There was a steady flow of people moving up and down them so we tried going towards the railing. I decided to jog ahead of Louis so I could put the boxes down at the top and rest for a bit. When I reached the top I carefully placed the boxes against the walls and waited for him. Louis was on the last stair when he miscalculated the height of it and tripped. He bent over, saving the boxes from getting crushed, but sacrificed something else. As his body slammed onto the ground, I heard a surprisingly loud rip. I felt a weird drop within my stomach as I slowly looked over and realized what had happened. He wasn’t lying when he said the pants were too tight, because the seam had busted from top to bottom., I almost jumped over his body to block the view from the rest of the onlookers who witnessed. I glared viciously at one girl who had started to show signs of giggling. She stopped and walked away quickly.

   “What are you-” Louis asked as he got up. In one motion I yanked his right arm up so his back would be facing the wall. “What are you doing?” He tried to ask again. I shook my head and started to shove him away from the crowd. He stumbled along with me, trying to gain control of his direction again. I flipped his torso around so his backside was against the wall.

   “I think you should know, and I can’t resist saying it like this: But it seems that people can now see London and France… if you catch my drift.” I said with the straightest face I could possibly manage. His eyes went blank for a second, trying to understand what I meant. Then his face slowly turned a shade of red and he shrunk back.

   “How bad is it?” Louis asked weakly.

   “…From the top all the way to the bottom.” I replied. This was just as uncomfortable for me as it was for him. I wasn’t looking at him in the eyes.

   There was a short pause before he added even more weakly: “So you saw-”

   Abruptly, someone from behind knocked me into him. My hands landed on the wall to keep my balance and his head was right between them. For a fraction of a second, my eyes widens as we both looked at each other, too shocked to say anything. Then I whipped my head around.

   “Whoa, we’re still in school, you too.” A girl with neon blue hair laughed a few feet away from us.

   My face burned with anger. I knew her. “Navina!” I growled. She was one of the most terrible people I knew and I tended to ignore her existence because of it. We weren’t in the same grade, thank goodness, but she still managed to torture me every time we crossed paths.

   “Hey there, Junie! Seems that you have a new bae.” She remarked slyly, looking him over. “Eh, I could’ve done better.”

   “What do you want?” I questioned, aggressively.

   “I was just walking through the halls until you rudely tripped me while you were hanging with your little boyfriend.”

   I felt my face grow warmer. “Stop it…”

   She chuckled again, turning over to Louis. “So, what’s your name?”

   “L-Louis Mache…” He murmured quietly.

   She stepped closer. “What was that?”

   “L-Louis Mache!” He spoke up, still anchoring his back to the wall.

   She observed his posture and raised her eyebrows. “Don’t be afraid of me. I wont bite.” She winked. He pressed up against the wall even more. She smirked. “Are you hiding something back there?”

   “N-No!” He replied too fast.

   She tilted her head over to try and see. “C’mon. Don’t be shy!” She chuckled.

   “Hey, leave him alone-” I said, about to pull her away from him, but before I could, she grabbed his shoulders and forcefully turned him around. A short silence ensued before she busted out laughing and he stumbled away from her grasp. “That sure is something!” She guffawed. “Maybe you should take a little walk with me through the school.” She placed her hand on his collarbone, readying to shove him into the crowds.

   Forcefully, I pushed myself in-between them and grabbed Navina by her shirt collar, shoving her back into the hallway. “Don’t you dare.” I growled at her.

   She gave me a bored glance. “Fine, fine. I’ll leave you and your boyfriend alone.” And with that, she lightly strolled away into the crowds.

   Sighing, I turned back to Louis. He was looking after her striding away with a fearful expression. I piped up. “Look, we still need to deliver these boxes and I don’t think it’s a good idea to let them thaw here while we get you back to the classroom.”

   He shifted his gaze over to me. “But-”

   I cut him off again: “I’m going to cover for you.” His eyes were wide with panic. I exhaled a little unevenly. “Pick up the boxes.” I commanded him. He hesitantly slid alongside the wall without saying anything. I followed him and picked up the two boxes again. He did so also. “Ready?” I asked. I heard him sigh. We started walking. Hopefully we wouldn’t bump into that witch again.

   It was a difficult journey. I was trying to hold the two boxes low and close enough so that there was more coverage for him. I couldn’t help but watch out for Navina. When I entered into my first year of high school, I was immediately targeted by her. Once, I was talking to Dorothy right around the bathroom stalls during lunch. Navina rudely interrupted our conversation by shoving Dorothy aside.

“Ah, so you’re one of the unfortunate freshman to come into this dumpster of a school?“ Not knowing about her yet, I shyly told her that interrupting people wasn’t nice. She started to laugh loudly and told me that telling her what to do ‘wasn’t nice’. She then proceeded to grab the back of my shirt collar, drag me over to the boys bathroom, and forcefully shove me inside. Lets just say that the end of the story had a lot of name calling and a trip to the principals office.

   We were super close to getting to home base. It was the last hallway until we reached our room. I pushed Louis a little bit so he would go faster, but instead he started to back up. I was about to ask him why, but then, with a flash of fear, I understood.

   “Louis!! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Dorothy cried out. I felt Louis bump into my load. I looked over my boxes. She was at Louis’s side already. “Sorry I was so late! I had some stuff to do with my new job, but now we can go and look around together!” She chattered.

   “I would like to, Dorothy, but me and J-Juniper-Uh- we have to get these boxes back to the classroom-”

   “Oh! How heavy are they?” Dorothy asked. She picked the top box off of Louis’s stack. “Not heavy at all! Juniper, you can finish taking these, right?” She said walking over to me. She put the third box on my pile. My arms were already tired. This wasn’t helping. “Good!” She exclaimed, ripping the other box out of Louis’s grasp and then going on her tip toes to put in on my pile.

   “U-uh, but I need to get dressed back in my normal clothes! I’d look silly.” He explained nervously.

   “Nonsense! You’re very handsome and you’re coming with me!” She sang, pulling on his arm. He latched onto the boxes I held, holing on for dear life. I hadn’t a clue of what to do. Yelling at her to stop probably wouldn’t phase her and it would make me look weird. Letting him be torn away would most likely crush his dignity. I dug my fingers into the cardboard.

Suddenly his strength faltered. I felt his hands leave the boxes and I saw Dorothy drag him. He was far enough away that it was visible.

   “Juniper? What in the world?…” Dorothy cried, letting go of his arm. The boxes fell with a large clatter. I heard a few things shatter inside. Oh well. Everyone in the hall was frozen watching us. I fought back a mixture of humiliated sensations. I had wrapped my arms around his torso in a matter of seconds. I had no idea what to say. What did people in these kinds of situations say?  

   “Sorry, he’s mine for now.” I said, my voice cracking nervously. That came out completely wrong. A very drawn out pause ensued as everyone in the hall stared. I didn’t want to see Louis’ expression or anyone elses. Dorothy’s look of utter shock was good enough for me to gather all of the boxes in both of my arms and start shoving Louis through the hall way. Dorothy stepped aside. She was angry. I didn’t care. I would explain it to her later. I made Louis move on his stiff legs.

   We got to the room again. I left him and went behind the curtain to put the boxes next to the cooler. He could deal with putting things away. I let go of the tension in my shoulders, standing still for a moment. I took a deep breath. It was nothing. It was just a stupid accident that I had to cover for. It was nothing. It was-

   “So who exactly am I suppose to be looking for?” I asked, striding down the dimly-lit hallway with Rachyl. Once I had transformed back into my normal form and left Anne’s office, the task of finding members was effective immediately.

   “Anyone who you think would be a good teammate.” She replied.

   “But aren’t there any specific traits that I need to find?”

   She thought for a moment, slowing her pace. “Well,” She began, “I really don‘t know if this is classified information or not, but this power works really well on younger people. We‘re not exactly sure why, but it might be because of the strong emotions they tend to experience.”

   I snorted. “Okay, so look for overly-dramatic teenagers.”

   She chuckled. “Yes, but make sure they’re still obedient. We don’t want any rebels running around. So I guess look for teens with strong determination.”

   A light bulb went off in my head. “I think I already have one person in mind.”

    “Who would that be?”

     I made a face between a smirk and a grimace. “A girl named Dorothy Nelis.”

     I was escorted out of the base by Rachyl and into a tunnel that ran underwater along side of the cliffs. It lead to a small cave that was right next to one of our sandy beaches. Rachyl left once I came to the exit. I made my way out of a hidden door that was camouflaged as a rock on the other side. The ocean that stretched out from the dim cavern I stood in sparkled with the setting sun. I looked out at the soft waves for awhile, just letting my wild thoughts stir. It was like I unknowingly picked up way too many balls to juggle, trying to throw all of them up in the air while attempting to catch the others that fell. Between all of this new responsibility with M.E.W. and my personal life, concerns started to sprout. How would I keep up in school? How would I deal my mother if she started to question my absence at home? How would I ever be able to fight? Uncertainty consumed my thoughts and the wet cave around me suddenly felt too cold. I jogged out of the rocky overhang and into the beach that was covered in warm white sand.  I sat down and let myself unwind while watching the setting sun. Well, whatever I had to deal with I was determined to maintain- no matter how hard it pushed me.

   Soon the orange sun touched the horizon and I figured it was about time to get to work. It was a warm February evening and I knew exactly where Dorothy would be lurking.

   I began my stroll towards the shopping district, keeping worrisome thoughts at bay. It only took me a few minutes to reach the bustling area where I spotted Dorothy, Katherine, Alex, and Barina all peering into the glass of a window display. They all held heavy looking shopping bags and they chattered continuously, rupturing into spastic giggling as I approached them.

   A wave of nerves suddenly got a hold of me. I paused in my tracks and stared at them dumbly. Dorothy noticed me out of her peripheral vision.

   “Oh, Juniper! I haven‘t seen you in awhile!” She exclaimed, surprised at my appearance. I sheepishly waved my hand. All of the girls fell silent in realizing my presence. I awkwardly stepped towards them as Dorothy met me half way and gave me a hug.

   “Uh… Dorothy, I need to talk to you about something…” I mumbled into her ear. Memories of what had happened between Louis and us started to resurface, causing me to sound cold and angry.

   She pulled back, looking surprised. “About what?” She asked, quietly.

   “…I… can’t tell you here…” I looked over at her friends again. They all seemed a bit annoyed at my presence.

   Dorothy looked back at them, too. “I’m… busy.” She whispered back to me, giving me a patient look.

   “It’s important. “ I stated firmly, looking her in the eyes.

   She sighed. “Look Juniper, whatever it is, can’t it wait for awhile?” She smiled at me. “You can come with us if you want.”

   I was about to decline when she forcefully took my arm and pulled me over to the group. “Juniper is going to be joining us today!” She exclaimed cheerfully. Meagerly enthusiastic comments were mumbled throughout the group in response.

   For the next few hours I followed them around the shopping district. They went into stores, tried on clothes, bought a lot of things, and gossiped about the latest news in school. Things i was never really good at.

   By the time the sun had fully set, the gang decided on going to an old favorite for dinner. Giovanni’s parlor was a popular Italian restaurant within our military base that was always stuffed with customers. As we sauntered in, the smell of pepperoni and aging grease immediately hit my nose. The decor was rustically cliche, with plastic grapevines hanging from the ceiling above and about a dozen black and white pictures from Italian cities nailed to the walls. We waited a short while on a deteriorating red couch before a waiter dressed in a black apron lead us to our table. I sat, bored out of my mind as the girls picked up their jabbering again.

   Katherine cleared her throat. “So… Juniper, we haven‘t seen you in the school halls for awhile. What happened?” I heard Dorothy’s chair squeak against the floor.

   I looked up. “Just… busy.”

   The girls all exchanged looks at each other. Katherine started again, “Well, we all kind of felt like you’ve been avoiding us… especially Dorothy, so-”

   “-So we think you need to quit sulking.” Barina added in. They all gave her dark glances. She looked at them, taken aback as if she didn’t know what she said wrong.

   Dorothy cleared her throat. “Juniper… I know you have problems with socializing sometimes, but it‘s not very nice when you suddenly cut off all conversation with someone…”

   I glared at her, about to pull her aside and mention how she had openly spilled the beans about my father. About to remind her that I told to keep it a secret because it hurt me so much. About to tell her how betrayed I felt. But suddenly Alex piped up.

   “Oh-my-gosh!” She exclaimed excitedly. “Dorothy, guess who’s sitting at the other side of the restaurant?!”

   Collectively, we all turned our heads. My stomach dropped.

   Louis was sitting all the way at the other end of the room, sitting with what seemed to be his family- a younger boy and a youthful woman.

   Barina perked up. “Let’s go over there!”

   “What?!” Dorothy exclaimed, blushing. “No way!…”

   Alex, Barina, and Katherine started to giggle as they stood. Dorothy followed reluctantly. I refused to move.

   “Are you coming, Juniper?” Katherine asked.

   I shook my head, placing my elbows onto the table and resting my chin on my knuckles. They all scurried away without me. I slouched and picked furiously at the red and white checkered tablecloth with my nails. Why did he have to be here? I didn’t want to deal with him, too. I found a piece of salt that strayed from the shaker and rolled it under my finger. It was already aggravating enough to keep my frustration concealed towards Dorothy. Would I be able to handle it if they came over and started talking about my dad again? The piece of salt got stuck under my fingernail. And what I was most worried about: Those girls always had Dorothy’s back. I was sure they would defend her if I tried to explain how upset I was. I flicked the salt out of my fingernail with effort. I needed to get out of here.

   The sound of stomping feet broke me out of my trance. I realized that it was too late to bail as I saw the girls rushing back, beckoning Louis to come along. Great. Katherine reached the table first and gave me a look that could kill.

   “Move over one.” She whispered in a barely audible manner. Before I had time to react, she came over and started to forcibly move me to the next seat. I jerked away from her touch and scooted myself, exasperated.

   They all re-arranged seating positions so that Barina, Katherine, and Alex were all on one side, and Louis was right in the middle of me and Dorothy. I ground my teeth in anxiety. Louis’ brother also tagged along, sitting on my other side at the end of the table.

   “So Louis, How have you been?” Dorothy asked politely.

   “Good… I guess…” Louis mumbled, shifting in his seat.

   “How’s life now that you’ve been here for a few months?” Alex questioned.

   He thought for a second. “Fine. It’s a little weird since it’s just me, my mom, and my brother, Brandon.” He said, gesturing to him.

   “Yeah, ‘just us now.” The kid commented. He crossed his arms behind his head, leaning back. “Kind’a lonely without dad. Louis was terrible for the first week. Even saw him tear up a lil’ bit.”

   I heard a thump under the table, and Brandon yelped in pain. Louis was giving him dagger eyes. Despite this embarrassing news, all of the girls sighed a little bit.

   “Oh you poor thing!” Katherine sighed dramatically. I pinched the bridge of my nose.

   “Has it really been that hard for you?” Dorothy questioned sympathetically.

   He rubbed the back of his head. “Sort of…-”

   “-I didn’t cry a’tall!” Brandon interrupted. “Dad can handle himself out ther’. No need to worry.”

   “You cried the whole night when he left.” Louis mumbled under his breath so it wasn‘t audible to the rest of the table. I snorted.

   “What’s so funny?” Katherine inquired.

   “Nothing.” I lied. I didn’t dare look over at Louis.

   Eventually, our pizza arrived. Louis had already eaten so he didn’t take any and all of the girls only took around 3 small slices. I ended up with at least 5 decently sized pieces on my plate. As the girls chattered with Louis and Brandon, I stuffed my face. My mind wandered on my day. It wasn’t too bad now that I was more relaxed. Maybe this whole fighting thing would be easy. Suddenly I remembered why I was there in the first place. Anne was waiting on me to find new teammates. We could be attacked by the mysterious enemy at any hour and I had been wasting my time.

   I put the crust of my last piece on my plate, becoming more aware of the conversation around me. They were laughing at a joke I didn’t hear. Dorothy smiled at Louis and he returned the favor.

  “So you won the science fair three times in a row?” Dorothy asked in amazement.

   “Yeah. I was nervous every time, but it was a lot of fun.” He said.

   “You must be so smart!” Barina giggled.

   “Juniper, you like science-y stuff, right?” Alex asked.

   “Uh-yeah…” I nodded.

   “That’s… cool.” Louis replied. I looked over at him briefly. He tried smiling at me, but I felt a mixture of panic so i turned back to my pizza. I knew i was being stupid but i wasn’t good at awkward social situations.

   Barina sighed under her breath.

   “Hey girl, cat got your tongue or something?” Brandon poked at me.

   I raised my eyebrows. “No. Just don’t have anything to say.”

   “You never have anything to say.” Dorothy grumbled.

   I set my teeth on edge. “Well, you seem to be doing fine without me in the conversation.”

   “Yes, but I’d still like it if my friend would stop acting like there’s something wrong and make some effort to enjoy the evening.” Dorothy replied aggressively.

   “Oh yes, because everything is perfect.” I quietly laughed. “No promises were broken. You didn‘t do anything at all that would make me angry. Nothing like talking to someone about something that I specifically said not to talk about!”

   Everyone stared at me in confusion. Barina kept looking at me, then at Dorothy, and then at Louis. “Oh my gosh, Juniper, are you jealous of Louis and Dorothy or something?”

   My eyes widened at this ridiculous suggestion. “Excuse me?”

   “Whoa! Juniper, are you blushing?” Alex chortled.

   I subconsciously touched my warm face. “N-NO!“ I growled, digging into my jean pocket and pulling out a few winkled dollar bills. Throwing them onto the table, I scooted out of my chair. “I’m leaving.” I mumbled, flustered.

   Before anyone could stop me, I was out the door and walking into the darkening night.

   “Juniper, Wait!” Dorothy called from behind me.

   She caught my shoulder and I halted.

   “What in the world was that?” She questioned angrily.

   I didn’t know how to answer. “I… just.-”

   “-Juniper, do you like Louis? Is that why you’re acting so weird?”

   I turned on my heel. “No!” I cried, throwing up my hands.

   “Then why are you being so… snappy?” She cried, a hurt expression crossing over her face.

   I sighed. “I just-” Dorothy’s friends and Louis exit the restaurant from afar, looking for us. I remembered that I had business to attend to.

   “Follow me.” I said, beckoning Dorothy towards the other side of the street, away from them.

   She gave me a puzzled look, but followed. I lead her to the other side of the street, down the sidewalk, and all the way to an open field close by the shopping center.

   “Why did you drag me all the way out here?” Dorothy questioned, annoyed.

   “I’ve been wanting to ask you something for the whole night…” I confessed.

   She rolled her eyes. “What?”

   I didn’t know how to begin. “Well… What if I told you that… ah how do I put this?” I groaned to myself. She waited impatiently. “Uh-okay. W-what if I told you that… there’s a secret base underneath our town?”

   “I would say you’re crazy.”

   I shook my head. “That doesn’t matter. What if there was?”

   “Juniper, you’re acting really strange…”

   “I know. But just… Listen for a second.” I pleaded. “So... The short story is that there’s a secret military organization underneath the town that sort of specializes in engineering superheroes and they kind of need us to be superheroes….” I explained, chuckling nervously.

   She was silent for awhile, but then she started to laugh hysterically. “When did you become so funny, Juniper? I’m going to find everyone else.” She started to leave.

   I moved quickly, pulling out the microchip pendant from underneath my shirt and pressing my thumb to the middle. The flash of light made Dorothy jump and turn around.

   “Please, listen to me.” I begged. The metal on my armor shone in the moonlight and reflected off of Dorothy’s shocked expression. She stayed in her place.

   I quickly went over all of the necessary details of M.E.W.. Who they were. What they were doing. What their plan was. All the while, Dorothy was dumbfounded.

   “So… what do you think?” I finished off.

    “I… think…” She stammered. “Well, for one I think you look the best you’ve ever looked in your life.” She remarked, gesturing to my costume. “I wouldn‘t be able to recognize you at all in that.”

   “Will you join?” I asked, eagerly.

   “I don’t know… This is all really overwhelming to me right now.” She admitted.

   I nodded reluctantly. “Yeah. It’s big. I‘ve been training for the past few weeks and it‘s a lot of work.”

   “I… just don’t know.”

   “Fine. I’ll come back to you in a few days.” I answered, placing my thumb back on the microchip and changing back. I walked a few yards away until Dorothy piped up again.

   “Juniper?”

   “Yeah?”

   “…was that all that was bothering you?”

   I bit my lip. “…You told Louis about my dad.” I said hesitantly.

   “…Oh.”

   “Yeah…” I said, turning around to look into her eyes which were soft with regret.

   “Sorry… I… just wanted to make conversation.” She murmured.

   “I’m sorry for sulking.” I mumbled.

   “Uh… you d-don’t like Louis, right?” She asked, awkwardly.

   I quickly shook my head, remembering the words shared in the restaurant before I left. My face heated up a little bit and I was suddenly glad that it was dark out. “We should get back, I guess.” I started to walk away again.

   “Oh, and… Juniper?” Dorothy spoke up.

   “Huh?” I replied. There was a short pause.

   Ever since that day I avoided eye contact with Louis and Dorothy. There was no way that I would ever face talking about my father with either of them. It was easy to keep away from them, however, because of all the training that M.E.W. called me for. It had already been four week since I started, and I was just about to graduate the basic training. I had reached the level where Mrs. Kentsworth decided I was worthy of training in my super form and I was going to be awarded with my very own microchip. She also mentioned how impressed she was on how quickly I picked up on fighting techniques I was taught. I personally thought it satisfying to have such an amazing secret under my belt. It gave me a sense of importance, but I never forgot my real reasons for joining. I hadn’t heard much yet, but the M.E.W. officials confirmed it. My dad was alive, and they would indeed find him and bring him back.

   I waited for Mrs. Kentsworth in the training center, using the dummies for a little bit of practice. I swished my clenched fist directly into the middle of the solid foam head. It flung back towards the ground and rebounded back at me. I quickly dodged the figure and gave it another jab in the side of its head. It bounced to the left and I stepped back, panting. Someone clapped from behind. It was Mrs. Kentsworth, sitting in her sleek black wheelchair.

   “Wonderful, Juniper!” She commented with a grin.

   I smiled, pushing my black rimmed glasses up the bridge of my nose. “Thank you, Ma’am.”

   “Oh, don’t call me that, it sounds so old. Call me Anne from now on.” She corrected me. I nodded. “Ah, but I digress. I’m here to escort you to my office.”

   I raised my eyebrows. “Why?”

   “Well, today is monumental for our little organization,” she started. “You are the first trained fighter to graduate from our basic training course and to go out into the field. Everyone is thrilled to celebrate this accomplishment that we’ve worked on for so many years.” Joy sparkled in her eyes. “It is also a very special time for you, considering you are to be the center of attention today.” She added gleefully.

   I felt a strange leaping feeling in my chest when she said ’center of attention’. Those were words that I never thought I would hear. “So what are we waiting for?” I asked excitedly.

   She chuckled. “Let us go, then.”

   I followed close behind her wheelchair as she lead me through the dark hallways of M.E.W.’s base. We came up to an elevator that lead to the lower levels of the base. We entered and she pressed the button for the 10th floor, the lowest floor there was.

   A minute passed before the doors opened slowly. The halls were surprisingly bright and cheery for being so many miles underground. The walls were plastered with ivory colored wallpaper and there were hanging chandeliers lining the middle of the ceiling all the way down to the end of the wide hallway. They gave off a warm feeling of elegance. We wandered out into the halls and she slowly wheeled towards the large double doors at the end.

   When we finally reached the doors, she turned around and gave me a small grin. I watched as she bent over towards the middle of the doors and placed her hand on it. Multiple clicks sounded from the wall and the wooden doors opened to reveal a huge solid sheet of metal. It slide away in halves and her office was before us. The decor seemed like a 5 star hotel. There was even a running waterfall on the back of the room behind her desk. I watched the trickling water sparkle as it hit black stones that were embedded into the wall. It was lit up in such a way that you could see every glimmer, every twinkle of water splashing down. Her desk was right in the middle of the room. She wheeled towards it and I followed instinctively, looking around. As I became aware of the whole room, I noticed a few older looking things, such as a whole wall covered with different pictures. One in particular stood out to me.

   “I see you have noticed my sister.” Anne spoke up suddenly. I hadn’t even realized how long I had been staring at the painting of the woman. She wore a flowing white dress. A green scarf whipped in the wind in front of her. She held a parasol to shade herself from the summer sun.

   “You have a sister?” I wondered out loud.

   She smiled with a little bit of sorrow mixed in. “Well, use to.”

   I turned around to look at her. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t-”

   She laughed. “Oh, it’s fine, dear. She’s a thing of the past now.”

   I pursed my lips.

   “I regret that we left on such a bad note, though…” She sighed. “It was when we were both in our 30s when I had to move away due to complications. I never saw her since.”

   There was a short silence before her face lit up again. “Oh goodness! I almost forgot why I brought you down here in the first place!”

   She beckoned me towards her desk. We both went behind it. She picked up a small box wrapped in brown paper and tied in twine and gave it to me. In my curiosity, I tore through the packaging and opened the box. A thin metal chain laid inside. Attached to it was a small rectangular piece of metal and wiring. I lifted the chain, letting the microchip dangle.

   “Technology these days,” Anne mumbled. “ It’s quite amazing what people can invent.” She said. “This in particular is one of my inventions specifically made for my warriors. Put it around your neck and place your thumb in the middle, if you will.”

   I did so, a little bit nervous of what would happen when all was said and done. I carefully placed my thumb on the middle of the chip. A burst of light flashed before my eyes, causing me to shut them.

   Moments passed. I opened my eyes again and shakily took in a breath. Just like before, I could see with amazing clarity. My ears picked up on soft noises from above me. Clicking, tapping, the shuffling of feet. I smelled the musky exterior of the dirt surrounding the bunker. I blinked a few times as my attention was suddenly caught on the black-stone waterfall, full of new and sparkling colors that trilled with every single movement down the slick rocks.

   “Anne-” I tried to say, but I was cut off short by the sound of my own voice. It was strong and majestic. Nothing like my own low, gravelly voice. “What did you do…” I whispered. She only smiled and waved her hand for me to follow her.

   “I’ll show you.” She smirked, going towards the other side of the room, leading me to a long mirror. “I hope you like it.” Was all she said before I caught my reflection.

   What I saw in that mirror took me off my guard. It definitely couldn’t be my own reflection. The strange creature was tall and graceful in stature. She wore amour that shone a deep rose color. Under the armor was a woven black fabric that was thick and smooth. Along the amour were glowing streaks of light that contoured to the shape of her figure and gave a luminescence to her face. She had piercingly blue eyes with an expression that seemed dangerous. Her skin was free of blemishes and her features were defined and sharp. The most prominent aspect of this creature were the long waves of rosy hair that had been gathered into a ponytail on the top of her head and cascaded down her back all the way to her hips.

   “What do you think?” It was then that I saw Anne standing behind the figure in the mirror.

   I saw the creatures’ small pink lips move as I spoke. “What… did you do?…” I repeated.

   “I made you your battle armor.” She explained. “Do you like it?”

   I looked back at my reflection. “But… I thought the microchip was just suppose to give me the powers back. What‘s… all this?”

   “Ah, right. We haven’t actually explained everything to you, have we?” She chuckled. “Now is better than never!”

   I caught her glace through the mirror. “Tell me, now.”

   “Don’t be angry!” Anne grumbled defensively. “M.E.W. wasn’t planning on just injecting people randomly, we had a purpose-”

   “-But I thought it was to see the effects the power had on humans and to figure out how to use it to its’ full potential…” I cut her off.

   She shook her head. “That was only part of it. The other part was the need for protection.”

   “Protection?” I asked, coldly.

   She nodded. “Yes. You see, there are a few particular people who have found out our mission to better the artillery for the U.S.. They are not pleased in knowing this and wish to steal our inventions for their own. So far, they have not found our base, but they have come very close recently. We could never stand up against them on our own, so we needed something- anything to protect ourselves. That was the main objective in developing the power. That was the reason we found you.”

   Silently, I stared at her, my jaw agape. I slowly shook my head. “But… I didn’t want-”

   “-I’m sorry, it’s too late to back out of this.” Anne stated wearily. “You already signed the contract. You’re officially a part of M.E.W. and we desperately need you to fight for us. It’s our only chance. If you really cared about what happened to you, you should have read all of our contract” She stated.

   I gulped. It true that i didn’t look very carefully over the paper that i had to sign. Because i cared too much about what would happen to my father I never even thought about what the consequences would be. I never wanted to fight. But the look in her eyes made me wonder if fear could be relevant in this situation. I wouldn’t just be protecting my father’s fate or the people working in the base, I’d be protecting all of the American government along with everyone who lived above this base. Surly, these enemies wouldn’t spare a simple town if their main target was right underneath.

   “…But… why would you need me? We have a whole military right next to the town…” I murmured, still in shock.

   “They don’t know anything about us and what we do. Even though they work for the military, they only serve as a ploy to keep our base under the radar. Plus, they wouldn’t have the power to help in the case of an attack from these certain enemies. We need you.”

   I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Anne…”

   Anne simply looked at me, waiting for a reply.

   I shut my eyes. “Fine.” I growled.

   “Good. I’m glad.” Anne said. “You’ll be needing this, then.” I opened my eyes. She held out her wrinkled hand. In her palm was a small luminous bead. I picked it up between my index and my thumb.

   “What’s this?”

   “Squeeze it inside of your hand and you’ll see.” Anne explained, wheeling her chair back a few feet. My mouth twisted into a scowl. I was about done with surprises today, but I complied, rolling my hand into a fist. Without warning, the bead suddenly felt a lot heavier. My hand glowed and before I knew what was going on, the hilt of a sword formed in my hand and a blade taller than me grew from out from it. I stumbled back in awe.

   “I took the liberty of checking your training history and the most time you spent was in our sword fighting room. I hope it serves you well.” She said, scanning the overly-long sword.

   I couldn’t help but feel a little gleeful. Sword fighting was an interesting aspect of training and I couldn’t help but try it out after the basic strength training.

   “All you have to do to de-activate it is press the blue gem on the hilt. You can snap the bead into your microchip on the top.” Anne explained. I followed her instructions. The blade disappeared into my fist and I placed the bead into a small indent on my microchip. “Oh, and we programmed it so that when certain enemies are near, it will vibrate.”

   “Anything else?” I asked, hoping that she would say no.

   “Only one thing.” She replied. I groaned inwardly. “It‘s not that your performance is inadequate, but we need other people for on this team. I believe that you alone will not be able to handle the enemy well on your own, so please find anyone that you think will be able to handle this secret.”

   Training began immediately at M.E.W.. It happened to be the most intense physical exercise I have ever undergone in my life. The president lady reassured me that I would need training in my normal physical form in order to gain strength in my super form. She appeared to be a very considerate person, nodding in a complacent manner as I accomplished small things such as making a new record on their obstacle course by one-tenth of a second, or attempting to tackle the climbing wall for the first time - of which I was lucky to even get a quarter-way up. No matter how many nods of approval she gave me, I couldn’t bring myself to look at her through the glass of the viewing platform. I sucked and she knew it, too. I didn’t want to be encouraged.

   I woke up resenting the thought of training. Sessions would occur right after school and I struggled with worrying about it every single day, but I refused to let it interfere with my thoughts until the final bell rang. One morning I looked directly into my reflection in the bathroom mirror, setting my tooth brush down. “It’s going to be fine today,” I said to myself. “Everything is going to be normal and you will be able to handle it.”

   I closed my eyes and mentally shook off all of my nerves, saving them for later. My public life could never be a place where I let my feelings get to me. I would live in surety that I would be okay and that I would be able to handle anything.

    Oh how I wished that life wouldn’t intervene and change my plans.

* * * * *

   It was lunch time. I sat in the courtyard under a tree with long, shady branches. No one ever ate there, just the way I liked it. I hated the noisy, hectic bustling of the cafeteria. Having a tranquil area to eat enabled me to de-stress before partaking in more classes and socializing.

   I carefully peeled the plastic off of my sandwich and bit down into the soft bread. I detected a particular detestable crunchy piece of greenery in my mouth. Spitting out the chunk onto my hand, I investigated. It was lettuce from my mother’s garden, which always tasted like bitter dirt. I stuffed the half-chewed piece into the plastic wrap and continued to pull out the remainder of romaine. That’s what I got for letting my mom prepare my lunch. I was about to take another bite when I heard a faint voice from my left.

   “Uh… Can I maybe s-sit here, too?” It quavered.

   I froze. ‘No. Please no.’ my thoughts whispered. My stomach was churning and twisting uncomfortably. The sandwich was squished under the grip of my fingers.

   “...Doesn‘t matter.” I mumbled, refusing to look at Louis.

   “Oh-Uhhh… Thanks.” He murmured.

   I focused intently on eating my sandwich from then on. My whole being hoped that he would not talk to me for the rest of the period. That hope was crushed quickly.

   “So… umm… How’s your concussion?” He questioned timidly.

   “Gone.” I grunted. ‘Stop talking.’

   “That’s… uhh… good.” He replied, sounding a little cheerful. More silence ensued. I heard a slight cough. “Um… Sorry if I’m bothering you or something. It-uh… just seems like you have a difficult time trying to socialize with people, so I thought you’d like someone to talk to.”

    I swallowed my sandwich the wrong way and started cough-gagging. Louis came and knelt down in front of me. Panic was in his eyes.

   “A-are you o-okay?” He asked with a trembling voice. I shook my head frantically. “Oh-Y-yeah of course. Y-you’re choking.” He said, shaking his head. “I… I don’t really know how to do the Heimlich-”

    Somehow he was managing to waste time as I suffocated. I firmly grasped his shoulder and dug my fingers in, letting him know that I did not have the time. “O-oh! Right.” He quavered. I tipsily stood up and he swiftly moved behind me as I began to lose consciousness. I recalled the feeling short bursts of pressure being applied to my stomach while things became fuzzy in my head. My esophagus finally cleared and my knees buckled. I fell to the ground and  my palms came in contact with the soft grass. Taking in deep breaths of air, I bent my head. The air felt smooth and refreshing as it traveled into my lungs again.

   “…Are you okay?”

   I turned my head slightly to the right and saw his knees next to mine against the dark green of the lawn. My mouth twisted into a scowl. “Yeah. You almost let me die, though...”

   “Sorry… I don’t know how to do the Heimlich that well.” He replied in a quiet voice.

   “Whatever.” I sighed. “Anyway, I don’t need anyone to talk to. I like being alone…” I trailed off. I knew it was a partial lie, but he was the person I blamed for making my classmates disrespect me and somehow i couldn’t rise above those thoughts.

   He looked at me for a short while and then nodded. “Sorry… I keep causing you trouble.” He mumbled. “I’ll leave.”

   And with that, he stood up and started to collect his things, his mouth trembling slightly. I felt a little twinge of guilt. I sighed, closing my eyes and forcing the words out “Thanks for... you know, saving me.”

   “…Anytime.” He answered gently.

   Suddenly, a booming voice sounded from behind. “Oh my goodness! THERE you guys are!” Dorothy bellowed enthusiastically as she strode over to us. Louis had just about finished gathering his things when Dorothy ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “I missed you at lunch!”

   Louis was completely dumbfounded at this gesture. “Uh… sorry. I… just decided to s-sit out here for awhile.”

   “Why? It’s so boring. Honestly, I don’t understand how either of you can stand it out here!” She chirped. “I guess I’ll never understand it.”

   As she gabbed on, I silently finished off my sandwich, sitting on the ground. Louis politely listened and answered all of her questions and remarks without a sign of boredom. When I finished off my sandwich, they were on the topic of their parents.

   “Yeah. My dad is coming back home in a few weeks and I’m like totally excited!” Dorothy bubbled over.

   “That’s nice. My dad just left a few weeks ago for his first mission here.” Louis replied. “He’s going to be gone for about a year.”

   “Did you know that Juniper’s father is MIA right now?” Dorothy mentioned easily. A knot formed in my stomach. There was a pause in the conversation as her words sunk into Louis’ head.

   “Oh… I…” He mumbled awkwardly. Abruptly, the bell rang. I swiftly grabbed the trash from my lunch off of the ground and jumped up, walking over and throwing it into the garbage can. Without turning around to say goodbye, I walked out of the courtyard and into the hallways.

    The rest of the school day was tough. I mostly tried to avoid coming in contact with everyone, but I couldn’t avoid overhearing the occasional joke about the sprinklers going off. I considered going straight home and skipping my desire to traverse the forest, but it was the last straw when I checked the inbox on my phone. Someone in class pulled out their phone to record the experiment and had caught me causing the chemical reaction that made the huge fireball roll up towards the ceiling. It had been e-mailed and shared throughout the whole school. Dorothy had sent me the video saying that I needed to watch it. As the embarrassing event was played over before my eyes, I knew that I needed to get away.

   The sky overhead had begun to glisten a sunset orange, well known for the beginning of the evening. My eyes scanned across the ground, searching for the path.

   “Ah, I see…” I mumbled to myself as I spotted it. During the time I had been… ‘injected’, as the people at M.E.W. like to say, I had passed out on the cliff side, which was awe inspiring. The damage I had done to the forest made a pathway of destruction leading to it. I walked across a fallen log on the ground, now covered in moss. Looking ahead, I noticed light streaming through a few garcinia trees. I jogged towards them, skipping over debris in the way of my travel.

   I hopped out onto the grassy cliff. The ocean before me sparkled with golden sunbeams, churning softly underneath the steep rocks. I walked out a few paces. The ledge jutted out a few feet, making a vantage point to the beach that was far to my left. Two jagged rocks stuck out from the ground a little ways from the edge. One of them was slanted and smoothed. I sat down on the soft, green grass and leaned against it. Closing my eyes, the gentle breeze caressed my skin and flowed through my tangled hair. It was warm and soothing. My mind forgot the day that was now behind me. I listened to the waves below for awhile. This was what I needed.

   A vibration disturbed my rest. I sighed and slipped my phone out of my shirt pocket. A short message from my mother appeared at the top of the list.

   ‘Where r u?’ I bit my lip. There was no way I would answer that. I tapped the volume button to silent and slid my phone back into the pocket. Not only would she be furious at my disobedience, she would ask me what was wrong. My teeth ground together. Mom never had a special gift of talking to people about feelings, whether they were hers or not. I inherited that, too. It was always my dad who would be the peace maker at home. Once, me and mom got into a really big fight back home in Iowa. She stomped nosily into bedroom and I rushed out of the house and into the woods in our backyard. There was a certain dirt hill that I liked to climb up when I wanted to be alone. That day I had practically ran up the hill,  big tears welling up in my eyes. It wasn’t long before he had found me.

   “It seems to me like something is bothering the queen of the hill.” My dad observed sympathetically. I wiped the tears away and sniffled. He grinned and started to climb the steep hill. “Do you want to talk about it?” He asked as he reached the top.

   I was silent for awhile, but I gave in. “Why does mommy yell so much?”

   He rubbed the back of his neck. “June, you broke a very important dish. It was your mothers favorite.”

   “It was an accident. But she yells more than that.” I mumbled, hugging my knees to my chest. There was more silence as dad thought. The forest had grown slightly darker than when I had entered it. The leaves rustled around us and the scent of fresh pine permeated the air.

   “I think… Mommy yells because she doesn’t understand how to talk to you.” He resolved.

   “But she talks to me all the time…” I retorted, even more confused than before.

   He laughed his hearty laugh. “That’s not what I meant. I know she talks to you, but she doesn’t know what works for you.”

   I gave him a quizzical glance. He smiled.

   “Sometimes when people are different, they have a different way of speaking.” He explained.

   “But why? I thought everyone talked the same.”

   “Just because they use the same words doesn’t mean they’re speaking the same language. It also means that the things you do can mean other things for other people. So for example, when you accidentally broke your Mother’s dish, you saw it as what it was, an accident, and you explained it as just that. But what your mother saw was that you weren’t being careful enough.”

   “So she thought I didn’t care about her dish?” I asked, my back slouching over.

   He leaned over and hugged me with one arm. “Now that you understand, do you think you can apologize?” He asked.

   I nodded to him and he picked me up, slinging me up on his shoulders. We charged down the hill together and I couldn’t help but giggle in delight. We reached the house and I apologized to my mom. We ate dinner together with no hard feelings.

   The sky had turned a royal purple with the setting sun. Stars shined overhead. My fingers dug into the soft grass. Nothing was the same ever since we came here, especially now that he was gone.

   Suddenly having the urge to check the time, I pulled out my phone. 6:30.  My eyes caught on the top of the screen. Oops. My inbox was full of messages from my mother. I grumbled and shut my phone off, laying it on the grass. I’d tell her that it had been off all day.

   I wondered. How many people saw that video? And would I still be hearing about it tomorrow? I shivered at the thought. It seemed like every single mistake I was making this semester was being broadcasted throughout the school. I didn’t understand it. I wanted them to see what I was made of. I needed to show them, because I didn’t know how to talk to them. I wanted them to like me, but it seemed like they didn’t want to. Like I was their enemy and they needed to push me down. Why?

   Suddenly, I believed I knew. It was Louis. Ever since he came into the class, bad things started to happen to me. People were now against me when before they at least tolerant. They must’ve liked him more. Why else would they all be rooting for him and booing for me? Anger burned inside of my chest. I had worked so hard for the reverence of my peers, and now it was being taken away from me.

   But… at the same time, I felt like it really was my fault. I didn’t know how to talk to people and he did. Again, my mind reverted to my father. He would know what to do.

   I buried my head deeper into my knees, trying to shut out the pain I had reminded myself of. But suddenly, I whipped my head up. Why hadn’t I thought of it before? It was so simple. They would know what had happened to him. And if he was still… alive, then they could find him. I snatched up my phone from the ground and stood up. My fingers scrolled through the contact list and tapped the number I needed to call. I impatiently paced back and forth as the phone rang. Finally, she picked up.

   “Hello?” Rachyl answered on the other line.

   “Hi, This is Juniper Tatum… the girl from the hospital.” I greeted.

   “Juniper? Why are you calling us at this hour?”

   I took a deep breath. “I want to join M.E.W..”

   There was a short hesitation before she replied. “That’s… great! I’ll tell Anne right away!-”

   “On one condition,” I cut her off. She waited for me to continue. I closed my eyes. “My father, Mr. Tatum, was sent on a mission three years ago. He went MIA about a year ago. If I’m going to work with M.E.W., then you need to find him for me and bring him back. Understand?” I asked, my voice quavering.

   “Uh… hold on,” Rachyl mumbled. I heard a few footsteps on the other line and some unintelligible murmuring before I was answered.