Chase

As I walked through the hallway of Mission Creek High, I thought about my family. The thought of Adam, Bree, and I supposedly unrelated made it awkward between us. And I despised it that way. Adam, Bree and I grew up together, knowing we had each other's backs. Knowing that we would stand by each other's sides no matter what. We were a team. Us against the world.

Davenport came out and told us about our origins about a week ago. How we were originally created by his younger brother, Douglas. How Mr. Davenport built an underground lab and hid us there, to train us to be bionic heroes. All of this information wasn't new to us, though.

I came to the assumption that he felt guilty that he didn't tell us before himself and that we found out in a way he felt was horrible. Before I could interrupt, Davenport began talking about how Douglas actually created us each with different DNA. Our DNA strands weren't identical, meaning we weren't related. We were in the state of shock, but we played it off as much as we could, reassuring each other that it wouldn't affect our bond as a family. But it did.

It made it uncomfortable between Adam, Bree, and I. Might as well call each other roommates all living under the same mansion. Davenport isn't assigning us as much missions as usual. He is probably giving all of us time for the shocking news to sink in. But I wanted to go on missions. It would be a distraction. It would also take our mind off of us not being related, and we would be working together as a team.

Like old times.

Bree

I stuck a dollar in the slot, and the vending machine accepted it. My gaze flickered all over my choices. I punched in a letter and a number, and the snickers bar began to move. The rings that held the snickers bar spiraled but stopped short, and my favorite candy bar didn't fall. I cursed under my breath. I kicked the vending machine, praying that the piece of candy would fall. It didn't budge.

"Seriously!" I hissed. One-dollar bill just went down the drain.

"Today is not my day," I mumbled to myself, examining the candy. Maybe I should call Adam to use his bionics to shake it free. I pounded and kicked several times. The piece of candy still did not budge. I huffed in exasperation, throwing my head back.

The snickers bar slowly tilted forward. I stared at the candy dumbfounded. It drifted like a weightless feather to the bottom of the vending machine, as if gravity didn't exist. I reached in and grabbed the snickers bar. I studied it closely. How the hell–

"If I were you, I would've chosen Twix. But, you know, we have our favorites," a familiar voice came from behind me and made me jump. I whipped around to see Chase smirking. I rolled my eyes. His soft, hazel eyes gleamed with amusement.

"Molecular Kinesis comes in handy very often, doesn't it?" He made it sound more like a statement than a question.

I glanced down at the piece of candy. "Wait, that was–"

"Me? Yes, it was." He interrupted, and began to walk away. "Oh, and," he turned back around. "You owe me one," he pointed and winked. He flashed his gorgeous, smug grin, and walked off, leaving me blushing like an idiot.

I was glad he had his back to me before he saw that my cheeks grew a dark shade of red.

I've always thought my feelings toward Chase were simply caring about him in a way a sibling should, but now that I know that we aren't related, I see those feelings in a different light. What I thought I felt for him before was now more complex...

I was disappointed when I found out about our origin because, now that we know we aren't related, our whole life was a big lie.

Our real father is Douglas.

We were stuck in the lab because we were actually hiding from our devious uncle/now-father.

We were raised as siblings but turns out that we aren't related at all.

We have glitches because our bionic infrastructure was inserted into our nervous systems, which is why our bionics go out of whack when we feel strong emotions.

So technically, our whole life was a big lie.

But even though Chase and I aren't related, I still feel as though he's off limits. As though it's still as bad as it was when we still thought we were siblings.

Plus, why would he suddenly fall in love with his so-called sister. Also, our relationship would corrupt if he found out about my feelings for him.

He should never find out about my feelings for him.

It would be better if he'd never know.

It would be better if he would never know for the rest of our lives.

But, what if it comes to the point where I can't stand keeping quiet?

Where I can't stand seeing him having a life of his own.

And me not being a part of his world.

Chase

When I turned to walk away, I immediately caught sight of Bree's blushing cheeks, which caught me off guard. I accidently tripped over the toe of my sneaker, but quickly recovered. I instantly felt embarrassed.

To check if Bree saw that, I glanced over my shoulder. I expected to hear her chuckle, or see her smug look at seeing me trip. But she had her back to me, lost in her own thought, chewing on a bite of her snickers bar.

Relief flooded through me, though I was kind of disappointed that I wasn't a cause for her frequent, smug look. I had the sudden urge to make her smile. To see her satisfied because of me, which was a weird feeling, since I usually don't feel that way very often.

I shook it off and walked out of the cafeteria, leaving Bree to her own thoughts. If only a hidden ability magically developed that I could hear people's thoughts. On second thought, I would be invading people's privacy, including Bree's.

I met up with Adam and Leo, expecting to see Leo give Adam a look because something he said was completely ridiculous, but, to my surprise, they were quite expressionless.

"Hey guys," I greeted. I tried to be casual, but I felt as though everyone was acting. As though everyone were not being themselves, which gave off an awkward atmosphere.

"Oh. Hey, Chase," Leo said, and adjusted the straps of his backpack.

I frowned, "Are you guys okay?"

Adam and Leo exchanged a look. "Why? Is there something wrong?"

I wanted to say something, but I held back.

I blinked. "Nothing," I stated casually. Fortunately, they didn't question it.

Bree walked over and stood next to me. Her brown, auburn curls rested on her collarbone, and her chocolate colored eyes were focused on the floor.

Everyone weren't themselves, and I was sick of it. "I'm going to head over to English." I spit out and quickly head down the hallway.

Bree

"I'm going to head over to English," Chase said, and it sounded like he spit it out. Like he was disgusted. He started to quickly walk down the hallway.

"Not so fast, speedy," I called, and caught his forearm. He threw his head back, ready to pout like a four year old. I chuckled.

"What's the rush? We have like," I looked up to the ceiling and pursed my lips, "nine minutes 'til the bell."

Chase raised his eyebrows, as if saying 'so?'

My brows furrowed.

"Since when did you ever want to get to class so early? We always spend time talking to each other during passing period."

"Since now," he spat, and walked out of my grasp. I looked back to Leo and Adam. They both shrugged, not having an exact explanation for Chase's behavior. I sighed and looked after him.

I let him go for about a moment, but then I jogged to catch up with him.

He huffed in annoyance. "Leave me alone."

He was walking so fast that I, supposedly the fastest person on earth, couldn't keep up.

"Nope! I'm coming with you," I stated, still trying to keep pace so I can walk beside him.

"You have U.S. History next and it's across the school," he said, giving me a questioning look.

"Hey, you are talking to the fastest person on earth!" I caught a faint smile on his lips. "I think I can manage to get there in time before the bell."

Chase started to slow down, luckily.

"So, why were you so… cranky back there?" I asked.

"It's none of your concerns, I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I'm sorry," he said, but not convincingly. He was obviously avoiding eye contact. He does it all the time when he's lying. When he makes eye contact, he cracks. I've seen it before, because he's done it with me several times.

I stared at him, and after a while with not answering, he looked over to see if I was still there.

"That's it?" I asked. He nodded.

I was going to let it slide, but I wanted to know precisely what was going on with Chase lately. It wasn't only today that he's been acting weird. He's been acting this way for a while.

I still stared.

He chuckled and shrugged. "Nothing."

"No, seriously. Just tell me," I said.

"Really! It's nothing!"

"Still not convincing."

"Bree! It's nothing!"

"Chase! It isn't!" I mimicked. He was taken aback.

"What is wrong?" I asked, softening my tone. He sighed, giving in. Finally, I thought.

He thought for a moment, conjuring up what he's about to say. "Things haven't been, well, ordinary after the 'family discussion,'" He said.

He didn't need to spell it out for me. I knew what he meant. We're all acting weird, and it wasn't just him that noticed. I have, also.

He was going to explain further, but I finished for him. "You feel like it's not the same. You feel distraught that we're all acting weird because we found out we weren't supposedly related."

His facial features softened. I continued. "Look, I get it. I feel the same way. I'll admit, we are acting strange. But take it easy, I promise you we will all soon adapt to the situation."

He was hesitant at first, but then nodded. Chase's lips curled into a smile. I mirrored him, my heart fluttering because I was the one who caused that heart felt smile.