The Ables (7 page)

Chad again. “So tell me, Phillip, what’s your power?”

I had expected making friends to be a bit more difficult a task, as it had always been at regular schools, but this was turning out to be pretty easy. After all, every kid here has at least one shared interest:

super powers.

“I’m a telekinetic, actually.” I probably sounded a little too proud. I paused then, expecting Chad and Steve to be every bit as impressed as my classmates had been.

And they were. Steve whistled—you know that high-pitched whistle people do when they’re impressed—and then Chad said, “Wow. That’s a pretty cool power, man!”

“No kidding, dude,” Steve concurred. “You don’t see too many telekinetics, do you?”

“No,” Chad agreed. “You certainly don’t.”

Their chemistry was amazing, and I was buying it hook, line, and sinker.

“You know,” Chad began before trailing off slightly. “You know, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that power in action before.”

“Me neither,” Steve added, playing his supporting role superbly.

And then Chad brought it home. “Say … I don’t suppose you’d be willing to give us a little demonstration, would you?”

I was instantly hesitant, though not because I suspected anything was amiss. I just wasn’t sure my powers were ready for showing off. These kids were probably used to some serious telekinesis folklore, people moving cars and trees and such. And that certainly wasn’t me—though I briefly considered whether my father had ever moved a tree. “I don’t know, guys. I’m not very good at it yet. It’s hard to do when you can’t see anything.”

Chad wasn’t going to be denied. “Don’t be embarrassed, Phillip. I know you’re not an expert yet. Heck, you should see how sloppy Steve still is with his powers, and he’s in the ninth grade!” I heard Steve smack Chad on the arm. “No, I’m teasing, I’m teasing. Look, kid, everyone sucks with their powers at first. But you can move things with your mind, man! That’s something I’ll never be able to do, and I’ve never even seen someone do it.”

Steve repeated his favorite line: “Me neither.”

Chad again: “If you can use it—even a little bit—I’d sure like to see it.”

“Yeah, me too.”

I was going to have enough trouble making friends my own age. How could I pass up this golden opportunity to impress some really friendly ninth graders? “Well,” I admitted, “I am pretty good with this phone.” I’d spent most of the night practicing my newly discovered powers instead of sleeping. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and set it on the table in front of me, face up.

“Yeah?” Chad asked excitedly.

Steve was equally enthused. “Let’s see you move it! Come on, you know you want to.”

I did want to. I wanted to show off and have a cool power and be the kid that other kids were jealous of. I wanted to fit in and be liked and show off my special abilities. So, naturally, I walked right into their trap.

“Okay. Give me a minute to concentrate.” I moved my hand facedown over the phone, above it by a foot or so. I pictured the phone sitting on the table and then flying into my hands, exactly as Dad had taught me to. I kept visualizing it snapping up from the table and into my palm.

Only nothing happened.

“What’s the matter?” asked Chad. “Can’t you do it?”

I heard Steve start to snicker, but I thought he was just laughing because I couldn’t move the phone, which would have been painful enough. But I still didn’t realize there was any kind of conspiracy afoot.

“I don’t know,” I protested, suddenly worried that the moment was changing from the formation of a possible friendship into a life-defining moment of high school embarrassment. I didn’t want to be the kid who couldn’t use his powers. “I think I’m just nervous or something.”

At this, Steve laughed out loud—I mean pure guffaws—and my head snapped in his direction in mortified shock.

But Chad was soothing and calming. “Don’t mind him. Steve’s a big jerk. He couldn’t use his powers on the first day of school either, so don’t let him get to you.” His kindness was intoxicating, and it almost instantly distilled my anxiety. “Now just … can you try it one more time … for me?”

I moved my head from Chad to Steve, which Chad noticed, reassuring me, “Don’t worry about him. It’s just you and me here.” The funny thing is, I believed him. “Now, concentrate on moving that phone again. Just take a deep breath, relax, and you’re all set.”

And so, I did. I breathed deeply, exhaled, and then focused back on the mental picture of the phone on the table. I blocked out everything but the thought of moving that phone. I’d done this dozens of times last night, and I would do it again right now, even if it killed me. Chad Burke was going to have his socks blown off, and then he was going to like me!

But the phone didn’t move. Something was wrong. I wasn’t sure how I could be experiencing so much stage fright.

Suddenly, without warning, I felt a quick burst of air, heard a small clicking sound on the table in front of me, and then there was a loud crash behind me as something shattered.

“You did it!” Chad exclaimed in faux excitement. “You moved it with your mind!!” The mockery in his voice was thick now, replacing what had formerly been a genuine tone.

It took a second to register because it all happened so fast, but I knew in the pit of my stomach what had happened.

“Steve! Did you see that?! This kid moved that phone with his brain! Smashed it right into that wall—that was amazing!”

Steve, as usual, agreed. “Totally awesome, man! He smashed it into a million little bits!”

“Why’d you smash your own phone, Phillip?” Chad had gone from my new best friend to the most evil person I’d ever known in about three seconds, and it cut deep. Gone was the genuine tone of voice and friendly demeanor. His words were now taunting and bitter, and I couldn’t do anything but sit there in stunned silence.

Chad just continued. “Don’t you know your own strength, you idiot? I mean, geez! All I wanted was to see you move it a little … you didn’t have to obliterate it.” Steve was roaring with laughter now. He was probably doubled over and crying in sheer joy.

“That’s enough!” A new voice entered the discussion, this time a familiar one. It was Bentley, my classmate. And he sounded mad. “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”

Good grief. In the history of high school, had that line ever worked?
I was thankful for Bentley coming to my defense and equally relieved to hear his voice. But I was sure that line had never resulted in anything but more mockery. Things were about to get a whole lot worse.

But instead, I just heard Chad and Steve scamper off, as though Bentley had brandished a firearm or something.
How did a kid with cerebral palsy manage to sc
—

“You can’t use powers in school, Phillip,” Bentley declared.

“Yeah, it’s an NPZ,” said Henry, who I had not even realized was present. In the heat of the moment, I’d stopped paying attention to some of the subtle things my ears would usually key in on.

“What?” That was the only coherent thought I could find at the moment. I was still trying to figure out how a kid with a cane and a kid with a wheelchair scared off two ninth-graders.

“The school,” Henry stated in his trademark blunt fashion, “is a no power zone. There’s a blocker somewhere around here. Nobody can use their powers in this place.”

“Those jerks were just messing with you,” Bentley explained. “They do it every year to a new kid—at least that’s what my brother said. They think it’s hilarious. They find some seventh-grader they think they can fool and then prank them into trying to use their powers. Then they laugh at them. It’s pretty cruel, I think. And positively Cro-Magnon.”

I was still a bit confused but was slowing catching up. The cafeteria was returning to its normal volume levels as everyone lost interest in the possible blind-kid fight. “Why would they do that?” It seemed unnecessarily evil to go so far in a lie just to get a chuckle.

“They’re just mean. It’s what older kids do, I guess,” Bentley offered, not reassuringly. “I’m sorry we didn’t get here sooner, but the lunch line was pretty long today.”

“Wait a minute,” I objected. “How in the world did you two manage to scare them off?” I was dying to know.

“Oh … I keep forgetting you can’t see,” Henry stated.
My, he is blunt, isn’t he?
But at least he was honest; you had to give him that. “Donnie’s with us.”

I heard Bentley’s cane as he propped it up against the table and sat down next to me. “Everyone’s afraid of Donnie; isn’t that right, Donnie?”

I don’t think Donnie gave Bentley any reaction, but he did sit down across from me, and I felt the table rock from his mammoth frame.

“I don’t understand,” I confessed. “Why would they be scared off by a guy who doesn’t even know what his power is—no offense, Donnie.” He again said nothing, so I simply hoped he had not taken offense, if he’d even heard and understood me.

“That’s even scarier,” Henry said like it was a fact. “Don’t you think? I mean, if you were facing off with a super villain, would you rather know for a fact that they could fly—in which case you could plan for that power and incorporate it into your attack—or not have any idea what danger you might be facing?”

“Besides,” added Bentley, “whatever his powers are, he’s definitely super strong. Even regular humans with Down syndrome are strong. That’s what my brother says. Those two wieners would run from Donnie even if he didn’t have any powers at all. I know you haven’t seen him, really, but Donnie’s a giant. He’s, like, six feet tall. He’s bigger than most of the teachers here.”

As if I needed more reasons to be wary of Donnie.

But he had basically just saved my bacon, whether he knew it or not. So I decided to cut him some slack while still keeping in the back of my mind the notion that he could crush me like a bug.

“How come Donnie was even with you?” I inquired.

“Oh, we can’t get him to leave us alone, actually,” Henry corrected me. “He followed me and Bentley all the way here from class. Then he followed us through the lunch line. Then he sat down next to us to eat. And when we saw you were in trouble, I guess he just followed us then, too. It’s like he’s stalking us.”

Bentley had a simpler explanation. “I think he’s just lonely and wants to find some friends.”

“Or that,” Henry conceded.

“Well,” I offered meekly, “thanks, you guys. Really. I really appreciate it. I still can’t believe I
fell
for that crap!” I was mad at myself for being so naïve.

“I wouldn’t worry about it. They’ll find someone else to pick on, I’m sure.” Bentley seemed so calm, so mature, for someone my age. It was like he had an extra dose of wisdom or something.

Henry piped up. “The odds of running into them much during school are pretty slim, actually, since we’re in our own classroom all day.”

“Except that I have to share a lunch period with them every day for the rest of the year, Henry!” I was agitated, but I was also surprised that
that
bit of logic had escaped our little know-it-all friend. “How am I supposed to deal with that, huh?”

Henry didn’t have a chance to answer. “Easy.” It was Bentley, smiling broadly. “Just make sure you sit with us. Or, perhaps, more importantly, make sure you sit with Donnie.”

Donnie grunted slightly, just enough to make me wonder if he was paying more attention than I had assumed. Everyone smiled and chuckled at Donnie’s possible contribution to the discussion.

“See,” Bentley noted, “Donnie’s got your back. And if he doesn’t, we do.”

“Great,” I said sarcastically. “A blind guy, a cripple, and a kid with tremors. God help the punk that tries to mess with us.”

“Hey, how come you stopped wearing your Personal Navigator?” Henry asked.

Bentley perked up. “Personal Navigator?”

“Yeah, they give ‘em to all the blind students, I think,” Henry replied. Then I heard his voice turn back in my direction. “So why’d you quit wearing it?”

“Well,” I explained, “I tried using it to find the cafeteria, but that thing’s useless in a hallway crowded with people.”

“Oh,” Henry said dejectedly, “that’s a bummer.”

“That voice just kept shouting about obstructions. Honestly, it’s a great little idea for a gadget, but it’s not terribly practical in my brief experience.”

“Don’t worry,” Henry said, “we’ll show you the way back to class.”

“Thanks,” I said, meaning it.

“So, you’re not going to use it?” Bentley asked cautiously.

“I can’t see why I would. A couple more days and I’ll know my way around this place, no problem. Plus, it’s only programmed to work in the school, so it’s pretty much useless to me.”

“Do you mind if I have it?”

It seemed a little odd, but after thinking about it a moment, I didn’t really have any objection to consider. “Sure,” I said, fishing into my pocket to retrieve the device. “What do you want with it?” I turned my hand over and placed it in Bentley’s open palm.

“Oh, Arthur Stansbury—the inventor—is kind of a hero of mine,” he said dismissively. “I just want to tinker around with it.” Then, as though that needed more explanation, he added, “I like to tinker with stuff.”

School went pretty smoothly the next couple weeks. I had one more encounter with Chad and Steve, a brief one—they caught me sitting alone again while my classmates were still in the serving line, so they started yapping at me again about my super strong powers. But as soon as Donnie and the boys appeared, they scrammed. I made a mental note to never get on Donnie’s bad side, because without him, I would be royally screwed.

Turned out that Chad was the son of the head of the board—the governing body for custodians—which meant that he got in exactly zero trouble for our little cafeteria incident. Even in the superhero world, people with powerful connections get a leg up. I probably would have been sour about it if I wasn’t distracted by my own new group of pals.

Henry, Bentley, and I were becoming inseparable. We ate lunch together every day and had hit it off right from the start. James Gregory—the other blind kid from our class—had become a pretty regular addition to our lunchtime crew as well. The poor guy had been so worried about finding his way around on that first day that he’d eaten all by himself in the classroom. But now he was with us.