Chapter 1

An Introduction to Summer

"Lance!" shouted a voice far away. "Lance!"

"What!" shouted Lance Calloway from underneath his pillow. He lay on his bed, disturbed out of his sleep by his mother, Margaret Calloway.

"Get up, you're going to be late for school," said Mrs. Calloway from the other side of Lance's bedroom door.

"Go away," murmured Lance from underneath his pillow. He threw up a hand and his mother's voice was muted. He turned around to face the door to see the door knob still shaking as his mother tried to get inside his room but he heard no sound. He smiled at himself.

Lance was a normal 15 year old attending the Flintmark High School in Missouri. Flintmark was a very small rural town in the southern part of Missouri in the plains. Lance lived in the town all of his life. He had several friends, even though he wasn't the typical jock that the other guys in his class were. He had hazel eyes, dark brown hair, and had the average height and weight of a teenager his age. Even though most of him was normal, there was something he kept secret, that wasn't.

Lance had always had a sort of, gift. He had been aware of it for as long as he could remember. It wasn't anything huge, or so he thought, but it was something that he knew no other normal person had. It was something, that grew as he did, but he wasn't exactly sure where it came from.

Fire, Lance had been able to start the smallest of fires telepathically. Not only that, but along with his "fire" gift, he had been able to produce some type of barrier between himself and another object or person. He had not even let his parents know about his little secret, he didn't want them thinking he was a freak. But just because he kept it a secret, didn't mean he couldn't use it. As a matter of fact, he just did...on his own mother.

Lance looked back at the door with a small feeling of remorse for putting up his extremely translucent shield. He took it back down and immediately heard his mother, still talking.

"...and if you miss one more day of school, your father will not be happy young man!" said Mrs. Calloway from the other side of the door.

"Okay mom, I'm up," said Lance walking over to the door. He unlocked the door and let his mother into the room. Lance opened the door and a smile spread across Mrs. Calloway's face.

"Well good morning sweetie!" said Mrs. Calloway walking into the room. "Make your bed and we'll go grab a bite to eat, then I'll take you to school." Mrs. Calloway walked over to Lance's closet and started setting out clothes for him to wear.

"Mom," said Lance.

"You know, I think that we might go your father's diner for breakfast so we can at least say hi to him before you go to school..."

"Mom," said Lance dragging out the word.

"...you know your father is starting to look down a lot on the fast food restaurants around here, especially ever since the last inspection he had. Did you know the FDA shut down Martha's restaurant yesterday down the street? I would never..."

"Mom," said Lance dragging the tone on a little bit longer.

"...I mean, I thought that restaurant was one of the cleanest I had been in, of course besides Mark's--."

"Mom!" shouted Lance. Mrs. Calloway turned around to face Lance.

"Yes dear?" said Mrs. Calloway.

"I can pick my own clothes out for myself, and school's out mom," said Lance.

"What?" said Mrs. Calloway.

"Yesterday was our last day, we took our final exams," said Lance.

"What about your report cards?" asked Mrs. Calloway.

"The school is mailing them this year," said Lance.

"And they don't even bother to send out a letter," said Mrs. Calloway clicking her tongue. "Well, I'm done here I guess." Mrs. Calloway put Lance's clothes back into his closet and walked out of his bedroom.

"So your mom didn't even know that school was out for the summer?" asked Lisa Green, one of Lance's closest friends.

"Nope," said Lance as he picked up his skateboard. "Then she rambled for another ten minutes about how the school board will be hearing from her."

"Your mom is so cool," said Lisa. "I mean, I wish my mom would be willing to go to the school to take care of all of my problems."

"No you don't," said Lance walking into the ice cream shop on the main highway in Flintmark.

"What can I get for you kids today?" said Mr. Daniel, the owner of the shop.

"Hey Mr. Daniel," said Lance. "Can I get a...well just a vanilla malt today I guess."

"Okay, and what about you little miss," said Mr. Daniel.

"The same," said Lisa.

"You guys gonna stay a while?" said Mr. Daniel.

"Yes," said Lisa before Lance could answer.

"Well, I'll bring 'em out in just a bit." Mr. Daniel disappeared behind a curtain hanging behind his register.

"Why did you say yes?" asked Lance in a hiss at Lisa.

"Because, you always want to leave. Can I not sit and enjoy my malt in the air conditioner for once?" said Lisa.

"If you're willing to sacrifice your ears to hear his boring stories about, 'The Good Ole Days'."

"Lance I wonder if your parents ever taught you anything about how to socialize with people," said Lisa.

"What they taught me was to not socialize with idiots like you," said Lance under his breath.

"What was that?" asked Lisa in an almost amused tone.

"Here we go for my two best customers," said Mr. Daniel reappearing from behind the curtain with two large malts in his hands. He placed the large glasses on table at the booth Lisa and Lance chose to sit at. "Now, I didn't know whether or not to put cherries on the top but I took it upon myself to do it anyway."

"Thank you Mr. Daniel," said Lisa sweetly, glancing over at Lance with a sarcastic smile on her face.

"Your very welcome," said Mr Daniel patting Lisa on the shoulder. "So Lance, how's your father been with the business?"

"I guess it's going great," said Lance. Lance's father, Mark Calloway, owned a small restaurant down the road from Mr. Daniel's shop. Many of the diner's and shops were located on Highway 25 in Flintmark, the main road in and out of town.

"Well that's good to hear, seeing how the price for food seems to keep going up every time I turn around," said Mr. Daniel. "I remember when I could go down to the gas station, and buy a..." Lance gave Lisa a look as Mr. Daniel started to talk about his childhood. Lisa almost sucked down all of her malt as she giggled at Lance's discomfort. "...but of course my Aunt Susan wasn't very fond of those new tops that came out. She said that they took away the fun of spinning them since you didn't have the string."