Chase, Leo, Adam and I casually walk through the school hallways before first period. It's a nice, sunny Tuesday morning, yet I feel extremely crummy. It's one of those days when I have this strong desire to run and let loose. Since we go to school now, I lost my daily running routines. That's the small price I pay for attending high school. Leo catches up with Janelle as soon as she sees her. Adam licks on a raspberry lollipop while Chase yaps about how much sugar there is inside that hazardous thing. "Guys!" I roll my eyes at their childlike behavior and reach inside my backpack for my phone. Sigh. No messages. I recklessly looked around, hoping for Ethan to appear. I walk apathetically ahead of Chase and Adam when I bumped into someone. "Oww!" I exclaimed in pain. I think she just crushed my foot. I frowned at the sight of my now slightly dirt-coated shoe. "I-I'm sorry!" The small, timid and scared freshman abruptly ran away from me. "W-wait!" I sigh in disbelief. Adam and Chase continue on arguing loudly about the candy. "Adam, I'm telling you, sucking on that lollipop is like dumping a week's worth of protein pellets in your stomach!" Adam, unable to control his anger, resorted to yelling. He obviously forgot about Chase's ultra-sensitive hearing. "Aaahhhhh!" Chase screamed, desperately covering his ears with his palms.
"Adam, stop!" I exclaim over Adam's loud 'lalas'.
"I'll eat what I wanna EAT!"
I yanked his lollipop from his hand and threw it away. "Bree! WHAT did you do that for?"
"Adam, STOP YELLING!"
Silence occupies the room.
As I glare at him, I notice everyone in the hallway staring. Adam and I smile in apology as Chase falls to his knees and flinches at the pain we caused to his sensitive ears. Through the corner of my eye, I see Leo slowly getting away, totally denying that we're his siblings. With that, everyone else clears the hallway quickly and the three of us are left alone.
This is a normal day for us Davenports. People think we're freaks. We do things that scares people and they run away. We're known for that thing. What more if they find out that we save the world on a daily basis using our super bionic abilities? It frustrated me at first—how people steer clear of us three-but I learned to deal with it later on. Eventually, I learned not to care.
I sit on the ground and tend to Chase's aching head. "You okay, Chase?" He nods and leans his back against me.
Here's a little trivia: I've been his personal nurse since he was four. I was only five then while Adam was seven. At that age, we were just starting to adjust to our bionics. Once Adam would start training, Chase would start to cry out hysterically. I thought Adam was teasing him again, but eventually I learned that while training, Adam made loud noises that made his ears hurt badly. I didn't know what to do, so I would take him far from Adam, hug him and entertain him with toys until he stopped crying. No one else understood how painful his super hearing can be. Since then, I was always the one who would calm him down. Now, Mr. Davenport makes me bring around special analgesic pellets that are strictly for Chase's bionic ears.
I reach for the jar of pills inside my bag and gave Chase one. "Here."
He swallowed the pellet and exhaled in relief. Soon, he lets go of his ears and puts his hands down.
"Adam," I whisper, looking up. "How many times do we have to tell you not to scream when Chase is around?"
"I'm sorry," he mutters. "For the record, I told you not to mess with me and my candy."
He helps Chase to stand up straight. He does the same to me by holding his hand out. I reach for it as he pulls me up. "I'm sorry about your ears, bro," he says.
Chase nods weakly, straightening up his wrinkled shirt. "It's all good." He looks at me gratefully. "Thanks, Bree."
"Anytime."
The whole morning was a total drag. The classes bored me to death and the teachers were extra crabby. In addition to that, my Physics and English teachers gave me extra homework to make up for my absences. Oh, I'm sorry. I was diligently saving your asses that day. You're all welcome. Academics aren't exactly my forte unlike my little brother, Chase. It didn't help either that Ethan's nowhere to be found. He's one of the reasons why I still tolerate high school.
During lunch time, I go ahead to our usual table since I couldn't find the other boys. I walk confidently to the cafeteria despite the disgusted looks on the students' faces. It doesn't matter what other people say. I hear Chase's voice inside my head. If it wasn't for him, I would still be having emotional breakdowns until now.
I sit on the chair and drop my bag when the football team looks at my direction. Oh, boy. My stomach starts to churn as they come near me.
"Heyyy." Roy and his posse surround the table. "If it isn't the Daven-slut." The crowd laughs. Roy drops his hands loudly on the table.
Run, Bree. I hear that voice again-the same voice that keeps on telling me to run away and disappear from everybody's sight.
No. I'm not running. For the first time, I decide not to do what I'm good at.
"What do you want, Roy?" I furrow my brows at him.
He shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh. Nothing. Just checking on you since it's a good time. Especially that your freak show of a brother Adam's not around." He raises his brow.
I force myself to look directly into his eyes even though it's piercing me like a drill.
Roy stands up on one of the chairs and looks around. He speaks in a deliberately loud voice. "I heard Adam Davenport's taking steroids." The whole cafeteria laughs and giggles. I look down on the floor, ignoring his ear-piercing tone. "Also, I heard that Chase Frankenbrain uses cheat sheets. So that's how that nerd plays it."
I clutch onto the plastic chair, fighting the urge to run away. My legs are itching terribly. My glitches are acting up again.
"Why aren't you answering back, Bree?" He says, getting down from the chair. "It's all true, isn't it?" Roy makes an insulting face, flicks my forehead and nearly shoves me when a huge, muscular fist knocked the guts out of him. He fell to the ground, crouching at his aching abdomen.
"You don't go running around hurting girls. Especially NOT my sister."
Adam.
Roy's posse gives way and doesn't do anything but stares at him. He frantically comes near me, holding my forearms. "You okay, Bree? What did they do to you?" He says that with so much concern on his face. He may not be the brightest, but he has the purest heart.
"I'm perfectly fine."
"Did I come too late?" He made an apologetic face.
"You were just in time," I say, smiling. I don't say this often, but I'm thankful for having him as my big brother.
Our heartfelt moment ends as I see Roy standing up, with a plastic chair in hand, about to swing it to Adam's nape—right in the bionic spot.
"Ad—"
He freezes. Roy is stopped by a smaller hand this time.
"Never, EVER do that again, punk."
He yanks the chair from Roy's violent hands and throws him across the room.
The deep voice, extraordinary strength, the overconfidence and conceited ego—that could only mean one thing.
Spike's out.
"Who DARES mess with us Davenports?" He says arrogantly with one foot resting on the table, flexing and kissing his muscle-less arms.
We patiently sit outside the headmaster's office while Mr. Davenport talks to Principal Perry. This is the first time I've been called here, but I'm not scared. Not when I'm with these two caring brutes I call brothers.
"I'm sorry, guys," Chase apologizes. He's been saying the same thing for half an hour already. "It's my entire fault why we got called in. If I was able to control myself better, Spike wouldn't have activated."
"Hey," Adam says, stopping him from rambling. "Give it a rest. It's not your fault, man. If it wasn't for you, my chip would have been broken by now."
"He's right, Chase," I say. I glance at Adam. "Thanks for sticking up for me."
"No problem. That's what big bros do," he says, smiling stupidly. "I think."
Chase sighs. "Those guys are such jerks." He shakes his head. "If only they knew how many times we saved their butts. They'd be kneeling before us like we're gods."
I recall the times we painstakingly saved the world for those bastards. Adam could barely hold that super speed train. I cannot count how many times Chase nearly destroyed his ear drums during our missions. One time, the three of us almost died shutting down a particle collider.
"It doesn't matter. They're never going to know," I say bitterly. It's completely true.
"I just want to be given credit for what I do best—destroying things and saving the world," Adam confesses.
"I want to show the world the endless possibilities you get with knowledge," Chase adds. "And also start a new world where height isn't a big deal."
For underrated superheroes, we had so much dreams and aspirations. I can still remember the time when we were only children thinking about our ambitions. I wanted to travel the world while Chase wanted to be a lawyer. Adam on the other side just dreamed of going upstairs. It's always been the same dream for him. Now, they're all different. Life changes people so much.
I sigh, lean on Adam's strong, broad shoulders and close my eyes. "I just want to be normal."
end