Leave It to Nia

Summary: Someone has a psychic cold, and it's not Booker or Raven. Of course it happens at the worst possible time - while Raven and Chelsea are in the middle of the biggest fight they've ever had.

A/N: I'm getting too old for this. Eh, well. At least now I can say I've finished the first draft of a novel, and this is the result of stalling the rewrite process.

I tried (and failed) to watch Girl Meets World, but I genuinely like Disney Channel's latest sequel series. The first season was better though. My main issue with this season is how they messed with Raven and Chelsea's friendship, so...here we are. I also keep waiting for them to bring back psychic colds, and for Nia to develop her own abilities. It was kind of inevitable that I'd end up combining them all in a story.

Note: Minor spoilers for the Sleevemore trilogy. (Wow, it's been a really long time since I've written fic for a current show.)

Chapter One

It started on Friday. All week she'd woken up with a scratchy throat and stuffy nose, but they both went away by lunch. On Friday she still felt sick until her last class. Nia hoped the unseasonably warm weather was wreaking havoc on her sinuses, but she had to face facts. Her symptoms would not go away by the time she got home from school. Nia's weekend plans were so over the second her mother got a look at her red, puffy eyes.

"Miles and I are supposed to hang out tomorrow!" Nia whined to Tess. They made it to Nia's room since Raven and Chelsea were out, but they only had a couple of hours until Raven's shift ended. "As soon as Mom sees me, she'll make me cancel!"

Tess grimaced at Nia's blotchy face. "Maybe that's not such a bad thing. Your eyes are messed up."

"Thanks Tess," Nia grumbled. She sat on her bed with a box of tissues nearby, feeling chilly and hot all at once. Not a good sign. As much as she wanted to go out, she also wanted to crawl under the covers and stay there until Monday morning.

Tess shrugged. "Seriously though, maybe you should get some rest. Miles will understand. And you don't want to get him sick, do you?"

"No, I guess not," Nia answered, her resolve weakening. He wouldn't ditch her just for canceling once, right? Maybe they could FaceTime so he'd see that she was really sick and not making up an excuse. "But I'm not giving up yet. Maybe if I take some medicine, drink a lot of juice and rest until tomorrow, I can still meet up with Miles." While she spoke, she got into bed and pulled the covers up, relieved to finally get some sleep.

Considering Nia's exhaustion, her best friend looked skeptical. "Yeah, maybe."

And maybe I'll get an A on that social studies project I haven't even started yet.

Confused, Nia stared up at Tess. "That was a little harsh. And I can't believe you haven't started the social studies project, we got the assignment two weeks ago!"

"Uh, you know, you get your rest. I'll check on you later." Tess shook her head as she bolted for the door. Nia wasn't sure, but she thought she heard Tess talking to herself...

Did I say that out loud?

As Tess entered the hallway, she ran into Booker and Levi. "Hey guys," she said. "Do you want to go play basketball or something? Nia's not feeling good so she's taking a nap."

Booker was instantly concerned for his twin. "I thought she didn't look right today. We can play basketball, Tess, right after I tell Nia we're leaving. Should I call Mom?"

"No!" Tess exclaimed. "I mean, uh, Nia doesn't want your mom to know she's sick. She's afraid she won't be able to hang out with Miles tomorrow."

Levi wrinkled his brow. "Miles? That's one of the psychic kids from the center, right?"

"Right, and..." Tess paused, noticing Booker had spaced out. "Oh boy. Vision Face Alert." Unable to continue the conversation without him, Tess and Levi waited patiently in silence.

The psychic came back to reality in less than half a minute. Both Tess and Levi sighed with relief, tense after the freezing incidents. "Well?" Levi demanded. "What did you see?"

Booker seemed bewildered, typical after a vision. "Nia," he answered. "She was saying, 'Now I definitely have to cancel my date. I can't go anywhere like this!' But she looked completely normal except for the cold. Maybe she's talking about being sick?"

"In that case you better go check on her," Tess replied.

"Yeah, you're right. Looks like we'll have to put off basketball though. Come on, Levi."

Nia tried to sleep, but she woke up when she heard the front door open. She glanced over and saw Booker and Levi in her doorway. "Hey guys," she said with a weak smile. "Tess probably told you I was sick. I'm fine though."

"Not according to Booker's vision," Levi replied.

Sitting up in bed, Nia raised an eyebrow at her brother. "You had a vision? About me?"

"Yeah. I don't think you're gonna make your date with Miles," Booker answered. He explained the vision and his thoughts about it.

Nia let out a long sigh. "Oh well. I still don't want to cancel, but it's not looking good. Honestly right now I just want to sleep."

That went way better than I thought it would.

Nia stared at Levi. "What do you mean?"

Equally surprised, Levi hesitated before answering. "About what? I didn't say anything."

"Yes, you did," Nia insisted. "You said, 'That went way better than I thought it would.'"

Levi's eyes widened in shock as he took a step back from Nia. "I...didn't say that, Nia. I thought it. Word. For. Word."

"H-he didn't. I didn't hear anything," Booker said, backing Levi up.

Starting to feel scared, Nia glanced between her twin and her honorary younger brother. "T-the same thing happened with Tess before. I heard something about a social studies project but she didn't say it out loud. How...what..."

"You're finally getting your psychic power!" Levi exclaimed. "This is so cool!"

Booker shook his head in disbelief. "No way. I'm her twin. If I have visions, she'd have visions too. Twins can't have different psychic powers."

"I didn't know you were a psychic expert. Are you applying to the Sleevemore Center?" Levi retorted.

Nia laughed. "Okay, hold on, we have to prove that I can read minds. Let's do an experiment." Just saying it out loud amazed her. Was this possible? Wouldn't her mother have mentioned it before? On the other hand, they only found about their family's legacy less than two years ago.

Then she went into a sneezing fit. Nia used a handful of tissues before she could speak again.

Ew, that's nasty.

Gross! I hope she washes her hands.

Nia glared at Booker and Levi, respectively. "Thanks for your sympathy, you two. I'll make sure to wash up after I clear out my poor, stuffy nose."

While Booker frowned, Levi gasped. "It happened again! I didn't say that was gross, I only thought it!" He paused. "But seriously, do you at least have hand sanitizer?"

Nia rolled her eyes and reached for the hand sanitizer bottle on her nightstand. "Okay, now, an experiment. I've read your minds so far, but it's just been random. Do you think I could read someone's mind if I focused on them?"

"Let's try it," Booker volunteered. Then he stood there with a smirk on his face, waiting for her to say something. At her perplexed look he explained, "Go ahead. 'Focus.' Read my mind."

Since Booker was so condescending, Nia became even more determined. "Okay, I will." She sat directly across from him and stared at her brother's head, willing his thoughts to get louder. In a weird moment she swore she felt her psychic energy pushing against his. Finally...

THIS IS THE SONG THAT NEVER ENDS! YES IT GOES ON AND ON MY FRIENDS! SOME PEOPLE STARTED SINGING IT NOT KNOWING WHAT IT WAS, AND THEY'LL CONTINUE SINGING IT FOREVER JUST BECAUSE THIS IS THE –

Nia yelped and jumped off the bed. "Stop stop stop stop stop!" she wailed, her hands over her ears. He'd been think-singing at the top of his mental lungs. "You know how much I hate that song, Booker!"

"What song?" Levi asked, amazed.

While happy that he'd annoyed Nia, Booker still couldn't mask his disappointment. "Wow. You really can read minds."

Nia couldn't be more thrilled to discover her new power, but she worried about Booker's resentment. "What's with you? Are you really so jealous that you can't be happy for me?"

"Hey, you've been jealous of my psychic power, now it's my turn," Booker retorted defensively.

Exasperated, Nia insisted, "Come on, Booker. I accepted it when you told me, remember?"

"Not right away..." He trailed off, breaking into a genuine smile. "Okay, yeah. This is awesome."