A/N: I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT WRITING FOR SO LONG. My inspiration flew out the window and I didn't want to give you bad quality content! Anyway, thank you so much to Ronnie.H, charityf1915, flaymecloser, hannahisabannana, thewordmajestic, NikkiReedfanfor and Deadbirdsleeping favouriting/following! So much for keeping this story going, am I right? So sorry for leaving it for months on end, I will try to update when I can!
holly: thanks so much for reviewing and reading, I really appreciate it, and I'm really glad Emily is interesting so far!
Ronnie. H: Thanks so much for reviewing! I'm really glad you like Emily! And I know what you mean, and I'm going to try to complete this! I actually do have someone I envision as Emily: Kiko Mizuhara , but with longer black hair.
Deadbirdsleeping: Thank you for reading and commenting! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! I'm really glad that Emily fits in and doesn't seem to just be there for the romance, I really want her to fit in like she's meant to be there.
Nathan mockingly clapped "Nice entrance, very dramatic!" He exclaimed.
""The probation worker's gone mental, he just attacked me! Somefin' really weird is happenin', I'm hearin' these voices in me 'ead, it's like I can hear what people are finkin!" Kelly exclaimed hysterically, earning a few mocking glances from her co-offenders.
"Aw, have you been sniffing glue?" Alisha said in a mocking tone, smirk on her face.
"That fucks up your kidney." Emily piped up.
"The storm, the lightnin', I dunno, it's done somefin to os!" Emily turned to her, almost serious, when she completely flew over the dig at her – usually she'd lash out, spout some incredibly original insult at her like 'I'll make your cunt feel like pins and needles for the rest o' your life.' She never just ignored it.
"So, you're like a female, chavvy version of Professor X?" Emily raised her eyebrow, earning both a furious glare from Kelly and confused expressions from everyone else, minus Simon, who seemed to perk up like a baby rabbit finding its mother after a few days alone in the bitter wilderness "You know what, forget it."
"Your glasses don't deceive us then – you are a twatty nerd!" Nathan exclaimed, turning to Kelly again when Emily flipped him the bird, bored with his shit "Okay, if you can hear our thoughts, then what am I thinkin' now?" He shoved his fingertips to rest on his temples and screwed his face up slightly.
Kelly's eyes flared with anger, then she lashed out, spit flying "You fink its bullshit!"
He scoffed "Of course I think it's bullshit, you don't need to be a mind reader to know that." He replied disbelievingly, rolling his eyes at her. The absolutely seething expression on Kelly's face eased for a moment as she stared at him, sitting in the wheelchair, suddenly becoming confused.
"Why are you in a wheelchair?" She demanded.
"It was the storm," Kelly's face dropped in shock, concern waving over her face – Emily felt a sudden wave of guilt for being a bitch to the girl, she was truly lovely behind the abruptness and the ruthlessness "The strange tingling sensation in my anus spread through my body and now, I can't feel my legs."
Her expression of concern faded and she furrowed her brows in anger, raising her leg up and slamming her foot on his leg, making him cry out "I'm serious!"
"What d'you mean the probation worker attacked you?" Curtis asked, disbelievingly.
"This does sound like complete shit." Alisha deadpanned.
"'E's out there and 'e chased me!" Kelly shrieked.
"He was acting weird since the storm." Emily piped up, crossing her arms over her chest and moving her eyes across the group with indifference "Maybe he has gone mental. Why would she lie about that shit anyway?" Kelly turned to, whipping her head her way – she wished she hadn't called her a chavvy version of Professor X, despite that kind of being a compliment. She obviously hadn't taken it that way. Kelly sent her a grateful expression that eased the weight of Emily's chest slightly.
"Something's happened to me too." Simon suddenly said – voice wrangled, as if it took a lot for him to say that. All eyes turned to him, and he shifted on the spot; eyes moving down to peer at his shoes then forcing them back up.
"Did you pop your cherry?" Nathan exclaimed "Ah, we're all very happy for ya!"
"Earlier on, when we were in the locker room, I was invisible." He mumbled, obviously not used to such attention being focused on him "I turned invisible."
"So, she's psychic and you can turn invisible. That seems likely, yeah." Curtis huffed out a laugh.
"Yeah, did anyone witness this miraculous disappearance?" Nathan asked, an irritating expression on his face – Emily uncrossed her arms and turned to Simon.
"You were all there!" By now, it almost sounded like he was trying to convince himself.
"I think we might have noticed you vanishing into thin air." Alisha scoffed.
"You didn't. I was standing right there; you couldn't see me." Panted Simon – getting noticeably worked up over how nobody seemed to believe him. Emily toyed with the sleeves of her jumpsuit.
She was trying to be reasonable about the situation as there could be many reasons they thought they were fucking superheroes, straight from Marvel: LSD or Angel Dust made you hallucinate, maybe they'd been doing a bit of that and bam, she thought she was a psychic and he swore he turned invisible! Or, nightmare? She'd probably have nightmares about these dickheads any night.
"Alright. Go on then. Do it. Turn invisible." Nathan demanded, struggling to wheel himself over to Simon and staring up at him, obviously awaiting the failure of Simon's attempt at turning invisible. Emily leaned forwards, wanting evidence herself when he made a variety of strange head movements and noises that made her grimace slightly.
Nathan's face went slack and his eyes widened, going dazed and he peered around "He's disappeared!" Nathan mocked, and Simon actually believed him, believed the twat that Nathan is and began to stammer and stumble over his words.
"Can't you see me?" Simon stuttered out.
"No." Nathan breathed, and then raised his empty can and threw it onto Simon's forehead – earning a deep, purely done sigh from Emily "You're invisible!"
"Ok, ok," Emily said, holding her hands out to calm to tension growing "Maybe the probation worker is going on a murderous rampage; that's more fucking believable than superpowers. That's complete bullshit." She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
"Exactly! Even four-eyes doesn't believe ya, and she's level-headed!" Nathan exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air and turning to her "You two are hilarious, really. Keep takin' that medication. Care to give me a head start to the door, four-eyes?" He beckoned to himself, then the door and she scowled at him.
"Don't go out there, he will kill ya!" Kelly yelled, eyes wide.
"Yeah, cos he's such a badass." Nathan shot back, wheeling his way to the door.
She lurched out, and grabbed his arm, he turned back to her, face twisted in a 'are you fucking kidding me, four eyes?' expression "Maybe you shouldn't." She said to him.
"Oh, fuck off four eyes, don't be such a pussy." He scoffed at her, and although she felt sure something bad was going on and that opening the door would make the world shift in some way, he still made her feel like a total and utter fool. He turned back to the door.
Emily lips pursed; uneasiness settled in her stomach. She might not believe in the superpower business, but she believed the probation worker reached the end of his rope. He had seemed far more abrupt and lacked any patience after the storm.
With a wave of discomfort, Emily turned away, in time to catch a glimpse of the look of constipation on Curtis' face "She's telling the truth!" He burst out, making Nathan snort and Alisha scoff
"And you'd know this how? I suppose you're physic too?" Nathan grinned mockingly.
"All this, it's already happened once. I opened the door, the probation worker; he killed you." He turned to Kelly, eyes wide and horrified – as if he had truly witnessed something traumatic. She knew those kind of eyes and it was like a rock settled in her stomach. "You were right there, you were dead. Everything froze. Time went backwards." Curtis tells us, breathing heavily.
"Time travelling? Who are you, fucking Doctor Who?" Emily furrowed her brows in disbelief. He turned to her with wide eyes and furrowed brows.
"It's true!"
"Can you stop with these stupid, nerdy references?" Nathan shot at her. "Nobody gets them!"
"I do." Simon mumbled out.
"Shut it, freak!" Nathan spat at him. Emily glared at him, though it seemed the thick tension in the air was putting him on edge too.
"So, you're sayin' you turned back time?" Alisha scoffed.
"This just gets better by the second." Nathan laughed.
"Everything happened again! Exactly the same, I'm tellin' you, DON'T OPEN THAT DOOR!" Curtis' yelled in desperation but his fury went unnoticed by Nathan, who shuffled over and opened the door anyway. Emily gripped her hands together tightly as she watched the bastard's eyes widen and face twist into fear, but snapped out of her intense daze when he slammed the door closed again.
"He's right! The probation worker's gone mental!" He breathed in shock, leaning against the doors heavily. Suddenly, the shadow of the probation worker appeared and he heaved his body against the door, making Nathan shriek and dash away.
Emily stumbled into the group huddle, absently digging her nails into her palms "Maybe he's on crystal meth. I mean, that stuff makes you crazy." Alisha suggested, voice panicked "My friend Chloe did it and she nearly shagged her brother. And he's really ugly."
"How is that where your mind is right now?!" Emily exclaimed in confusion, ignoring the angry fish look Alisha sent her, but went back to panicking the fuck out.
"The graffiti. I'm going to kill you. He wrote it." Simon said in sudden realisation.
"What did I say – I said there was a hidden meaning!" Nathan cried "Or not."
"I prefer the monkey police and the Tescos bag." Emily murmured, tugging on the sleeves of her jumpsuit and keeping her eyes locked on the door for any sudden, unwanted movements.
"Same here, love, not gonna lie." Nathan said, and Emily pondered for a split second on how odd he sounded when afraid. He somewhat suited being a cocky piece of shit.
There was another roar and the probation worker's large, stocky body slammed against the door, making her wince and swallow thickly "Did anyfing 'appen to you?" Kelly demanded Alisha, who looked at her in disdain and fear, lips trembling.
"No! W-We should call the police!" Alisha yelled.
Simon's head trembled as he shook his head "He took our phones, he's got all our phones." Oh shit. Emily shoved her hand in her pocket, feeling her stomach hollow out and ache. Great. This was probably karma or some shit. After being relieved to be away from Lewis' constant messages, she is now being hunted down by a homicidal probation worker out for blood.
What even was her life?
"He's stopped." Curtis said, breaking the silence.
"Don't jinx it." Emily practically begged.
"You dickhead, why did you come back here? You should have gone for help!" Alisha sneered to Kelly, who turned to her in pure shock and pure fury on her face.
"Wot do you know, bitch!" She shot back.
"Shut up, you chav."
"D'you know if you call me a chav one more time, I'll kick you so hard in the cunt your mum will feel it." Alisha backed up, obviously threatened but also properly pouting. Emily was a hair strand away from tearing her hair out in frustration or having a mental breakdown.
"Her mum'll feel it? How does that work?" Nathan questioned in confusion.
"I think it's supposed to be a figure of speech." Emily said.
"'E tried to kill me! I came back to warn yous lot and I could 'ave jus' left ya! I'm sick o' every single one o' ya judgin' me. You can all fuck off!" Kelly barked out, seeming to be at the end of her rope. Emily felt another swarm of guilt pool in her stomach.
"Yeah, whatever, I'm getting out of here." Alisha said dismissively, beginning to stalk down the corridor.
"Come on, out the back way!" Nathan called, running alongside her. Emily paused, and peered at Kelly out of the corner of her eye, then began to walk down the corridor as well, feeling slightly lightheaded, as if this was merely a nightmare that she would wake up from.
But this wasn't like her usual nightmares. Her nightmares were full of shadows around corners and waiting for impact. Never running from her crazed probation worker. She'd tell Lewis about this and he'd hum and say 'don't over-exaggerate, love, I know when you're lying." And she'd leave it, even if it was the truth but she'd make dinner and they'd watch 'Only Fools and Horses' until they fell asleep.
That was only if she made it out alive.
She narrowly dodged the liquid seeping out of the locker – which she noted was red and thicker than water, it was far back in her panic-fogged mind but she definitely registered it in her brain – but Nathan hadn't been as lucky and went flying, slamming to the ground with a groan.
"Are you okay?" She found herself asking, although what she really wanted to say was 'get the fuck up, we need to run so we don't end up like whoever's in the locker.'
"Just fuckin' dandy." He groaned, opening his eyes and staring at the ground. It was odd, watching his face twist with horror as he scrambled to his feet "Oh fuck! Jesus Christ! Get off me! Jesus!" He yelled, scrubbing his hands on his jumpsuit.
"Is that blod?!" Kelly exclaimed.
"No, course it ain't, why would you think that?" Emily said sarcastically, but her voice sounded distant, like her head was shoved in a bucket of water.
Curtis was the unlucky sod to start approaching the locker. She backed off, watching from afar, peering around her and waiting, waiting for the probation worker to come in and beat her- beat them all, beat them till their heads caved in and their hearts stopped beating and nobody would give a fucking shit.
The locker door slammed open, it was enough to make her jump from her thoughts, and the lifeless body of Hardman hung, lodged in the locker, coated in blood. She stared, frozen still where she stood and felt her heart beating erratically in her chest.
"Gary." She said. Staring at how his blood collected by his ears, hardened and thick. She felt vomit rise in her throat, and she was tempted to just let it happen, but she swallowed it down and breathed as calmly as she could with the slashed-up corpse of her co-offender shoved in a locker like he was an object to be treated so horribly and to be hidden away.
Like he was nothing.
"I did wonder what had happened to him." Nathan breathed out.
It was like a wave of realisation had wafted over the group. There was a silence that could only be explained as 'what do we do now?' It was a matter of life or death, and Emily never thought she would have to say that seriously again until now.
"He's gonna kill us." Alisha whimpered out.
"Turn back time, stop this from happenin'." Nathan said to Curtis, eying him with both contempt and a begging. She understood. He didn't want to live this trauma and she got that. None of them did, but she bet her life that, by the look on Curtis' face, that they wouldn't be saved from dealing with this shite.
Fucking superpowers.
"I don't know how it works!" Curtis replied, panicked and wide-eyed.
"It's alright." She said.
"That's great!" Nathan mocked "That's really useful!"
"It's alright." She said again, louder. This time, they actually heard her.
"It's not." Nathan said "It's really fuckin' not."
"People don't rely on time travelling. They deal with shit even if they don't want to cos' they have to." She snapped at him, and he stopped his stupid face-scrunching at Curtis to look at her "It doesn't fucking exist, we can't blame other people for this shit. Okay, prick?"
He didn't answer, and had they not been in this situation, she would have laughed in his face. He looked like a twat, eyebrows practically touching his hairline and eyes so wide it looked downright wrong.
Curtis nodded at her, and turned to the whimpering Alisha and placed a hand on her back "Come on. Don't look at it." He reached for her hand comfortingly.
It didn't end how Emily had expected it too really. She'd expected them all to run, Curtis and Alisha hand in hand, but Curtis' libido sprung to life and he gasped, loud and clear, the bulge in his jumpsuit was most certainly his rock-hard penis and he wrestled Alisha for dominance, face locked in one of pleasure.
"I've got to have sex with you, right now!" Curtis groaned "You're so beautiful. Let's go, let's do it now.
"What's up with him?" Nathan exclaimed.
"Are you fucking kidding me, guy?" She deadpanned.
"Get off me you freak!" Alisha shrieked, shoving him off with all her strength. The minute her hands left his skin, his face set back to normal, and he panted for breath. He breathes out a confused 'what' and that only makes Alisha sneer furiously and raise her hand to slap the hell out of him, until he grabbed her wrists, and the same thing happened.
He went rigid. "You're so hot! I'm gonna bone you, I'm gonna shag you senseless." He growled to her.
It felt kind of wrong that they were just standing there and not helping Alisha in any way at all. Like, she didn't look happy in that situation, they probably should help her. Especially since Curtis was unbuckling his belt-
"Jesus!" She shouted, marching over and shoving Curtis as hard as she could. It wasn't much seeing that it was a 5'7 weakling against a 6' athlete but he stumbled and ultimately let go of Alisha, gasping for breath. She distantly heard Nathan say something like 'battle ready' but she ignored him "Mate, the fuck? There's enough crime going on here, don't need to add any of that shit into it."
"What the fuck, Em?" He groaned, this time due to pain, not pleasure "What did I do?"
"Uh, you said you were gonna shag 'er." Kelly told him.
"You were getting' yer chap out." Nathan told him.
"Shut up!" Curtis exclaimed.
"Have we forgotten about the murderous probation worker?" Emily piped up, but apparently her worrying about them dying wasn't as big of a deal as a discussion they can have somewhere other than here where it's fucking safe.
"It's when you were touching her." Simon said. His voice shocked her, she'd almost forgotten he was there. Alisha froze in her spot, and stared at her hands. It reminded her of moments in Anime where they'd lift their hands up into the sky and stare at it. She'd always thought it was dumb, what's the point of it? She often mocked it in high school and her mates always laughed.
She pressed her hand to the jugular of Simon's neck and he lifted his head up high, gasping for breath, mouth falling open in a perfect 'O' shape. "I'm so hard for you." He gasped out "I want to rip your clothes off and piss on your tits."
Alisha let go and shrieked "What is happening to me?!"
"You are terrifying." Emily commented to Simon.
"Yeah, you sick bastard!" Nathan grimaced.
And the climax – pun intended - of the situation happened like they always do.
Suddenly.
It was the sound of glass shattering and the sound of the jagged line of metal in the probation worker's hand – it was the clang against the tiles. It was his messed-up sounding groans, like he wasn't all there, like he'd suddenly lost most of his brain cells.
It was the feel of his thick, rough fingers wrapping around her ankle and holding on.
She screamed, and he did too. She couldn't get her legs or arms to co-ordinate with her properly, she stumbled and tripped but the probation worker held on tight, and raised whatever was in his hand. Emily's heart was in her throat, and she had already pissed herself a little bit, and didn't care if it was noticeable.
She hadn't been this afraid in so long.
Then, there was Kelly screaming, shouting, huffing and puffing. She felt lighter, and felt better curled up with her face buried in her knees and arms around her legs, trying to hide from him and everyone else.
There was shouting and yelling, maybe at her, maybe at their probation worker, maybe at Kelly. She didn't know. All she could hear was herself. Her heartbeat pumping too fast in her chest, her blood rushing in her ears, she could taste the bile in her throat and the blood in her mouth from biting her tongue.
Then. There was silence.
Emily lifted her head.
"What the fuck." She whispered, nose blocked and eyes stinging from tears she didn't know had been falling from her eyes and streaming down her face. She could smell the iron-y scent of blood in the air and see that the floor was at least 2 metres below her.
She was fucking hovering.
"How-What-What's happening?" She found herself stammering out. Eyes locked on the corpse, head smashed to pieces with a bloodied can of paint by it. They were all staring at her, like she was some freak. Maybe she was one, but they didn't have to stare. Didn't their parents ever tell them it was rude?
"We don't know." Simon was the one to reply.
"…How're you doin' that?" Alisha asked, breath hitching.
Emily inhaled deeply, trying to calm her unstill heart, but the sight of the bloody, caved in head of the probation worker made her feel nauseous. She was falling to the ground before she even realised what was happening. Her arse slammed into the tiles and she groaned, leaning her head against the wall. She whispered to herself, a sense of disbelief hung around her. Both about the fact that she was levitating, and that Kelly was a murderer.
Had Kelly seriously just killed their probation worker? On their first day? Surely you should at least wait a week before you go bludgeoning his head in with a can of paint. But that was just her. It was inexplainable that Emily was levitating, no science, no logic, nothing. It made her sound like a prick when she was bashing on about how the superpowers were shite.
Alisha exclaimed, jerking Emily from her thoughts "You killed our probation worker!" As if Kelly didn't already fucking know that.
"This is very, very bad." Nathan breathed, hands over his temples.
"I feel sick." Alisha gagged.
"'E woulda killed 'os!" Kelly yelled, defending her actions.
"We should call the police! It was self-defence!" Curtis suggested, sounding a bit desperate and not wholly convinced.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's right. We show him the dead boy in the locker and they'll do some CSI shit and figure it all out." Alisha scrambled for words, obviously looking for light in the darkness. It would probably work in their favour, really.
"They won't believe 'os!" Kelly yelled.
"We just tell them the truth, stick to our story!" Curtis tried.
"Wha's our story? They can turn invisible, they can turn back time, they can fuckin' levitate? It doesn't matta wot we tell 'em, they'll say we're lyin! They'll say that we killed them both! No-one's gonna believe ya, not anymore!"
"You sure about that, or are you just dragging everyone else into this because you're the only one who's fucked up here?" Emily said to her. Kelly killed the guy, not them. Technically, the 'we' Kelly kept going on about was just 'Kelly'. Emily's stomach twisted, with guilt at the notion of ratting her out and the scent of iron in the air.
"We're all in this." Kelly replied, eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed angrily. Emily wanted to shout on. She wanted to scream at her, that they were innocent, she was dragging them down with her, she was doing this. "If we tell anyone, we're fucked."
Kelly's expression hardened. Maybe she expected Emily to spout this all out, tell this to everyone, get ideas in their heads. Make them run from Kelly, make them dob on her.
"Fine." Emily said, after a moment "What do we do?"
"If there's no body, there's no crime." Simon murmured, rubbing his clammy palm over his fringe "We should bury them under the flyover."
"Yeah? How do we do that? someone's gonna see us." Alisha barked out.
"No, no, no, no." Nathan suddenly said "We give 'em a quick little," He whistles obnoxiously "Right? We put 'em in those wheelchairs, wheel 'em up there and if anyone sees us, we're just a bunch of young offender's takin' a couple a specials for a walk in the sunshine."
He was panting by the time he was finished. It was the only noise in the tense silence of the room where it happened.
"That could work." She half-heartedly agreed.
When Emily was eleven and a half, her hamster: Daniel, died. She was heartbroken, but refused to let her parents or big brother dig his grave, since he loved her the most, she should be the one to say goodbye to him.
So, she dug a little grave for him with her little pink shovel and placed the tiny little box that his body was in and covered it in dirt. She then stuck the cross made out of sticks that Tyler, her brother, made for Daniel.
This was different.
She stared down at the corpses; thrown into the hole they had dug like dolls the kid didn't want anymore.
"Pretty sure this breaches the terms of my ASBO." Nathan commented, already starting to sound a bit more like himself. It set a sense of familiarity in her bones, and almost relieved her.
"We don't tell anyone about this, yeah?" Kelly said to them all, but met her eyes almost immediately "About the storm, or what it did to 'os or anyfing."
No problemo, she thought. Kelly's lips tweaked slightly.
"We're about to bury our probation worker, we don't need to be drawin' any attention to ourselves." Nathan quaked.
"I don't want anyone to know." Alisha stated "I cannot be a freak."
"Is that seriously all you're worried about?" Emily demanded. Alisha snapped her head to her and glared at her. If Alisha's power had been something to do with Medusa, Emily would be a statue right now.
"What about you?" Kelly turned to Curtis.
"There's no going back now, man." Nathan shook his head at him "You're just as screwed as the rest of us. You're black AND famous, you're probably more screwed!"
"I shouldn't even be 'ere." He growled out, jaw clenched.
"But you are. Your self-pitying act makes me want to throw up." Emily told him sternly, but kept it light. They didn't need to be dicks to each other, not when they were in such deep shit together. They needed to be allies.
"You were against this at first too, y'know." He said to her pointedly.
"I was." She nodded "But I'm not anymore." Curtis frowned, lips curling in anger and frustration before turning away from her and shoving his shovel into the dirt. Emily could understand that feeling, to be honest.
"Just then, when 'e was touchin' ya." Kelly started, eyebrows drawn together "How were ya doin' tha'?"
"I don't know." Alisha sighed in exasperation.
Kelly turned to Emily "Wot about you? 'Ow were ya levitatin'?"
"It only happened when Tony grabbed you." Simon mumbled, looking up at her and then looking away quickly.
"I don't know." She echoed Alisha's words "I was afraid, and then I opened my eyes and I was…levitating. I guess."
"It's a self-defensive power then." Simon said.
She shrugged.
They were silent, piling dirt on them until Nathan piped up "Didn't you say you wanted to piss on her tits? Her," He gestured to Alisha "Not four-eyes. It's probably best to keep that sorta thing between you and your internet service provider."
"Ouch." She muttered, glancing at Nathan and looking away when she realised he was grinning at the comment.
"Hold on, all of you have some kind of special power. Everyone can do something except me." Nathan whinged and pointed to Simon "He can do something, HE can do something and I can't. That's ridiculous, look at him! How does that make any sense?"
"We are. It makes sense." Emily said, throwing another shovel full of dirt into the hole.
"That really hurts, four eyes." Nathan whined "That really stings, y'know!"
"Maybe you can do something," Simon tried.
"Yeah, maybe it's being a major cunt." Emily said, unable to keep the insults pouring from her mouth to the pillock.
"Stop attacking me with words!"
"Would you rather I punched you?"
"Maybe you can do something, you just haven't found out what it is yet." Simon tried again, slightly louder.
"Yeah, yeah right. What if I can't feel pain?" Kelly clipped him on the face, and he shrieked, clasping his face "OW!"
Emily snorted.
"Didja feel that?" Kelly yelled.
"Stop hittin' me!" He yelled back. Emily sighed, massaging her face with her hands, wincing when she put too much pressure down, then picked up her shovel again and continued with the dirty work. Soon, everyone copied and she morbidly wondered if this could be considered part of their two hundred hours.
Kelly sent her a hilariously disgusted expression.
The door of her locker closed gently, but Emily felt the opposite of gentle. She felt an inert anger inside her, like a sleeping beast, weighing her down so her shoulders felt heavy and her feet felt like lead. It was something she had accepted as normal now, that weight, so it was something she could ignore even if it bothered her constantly. She hoped one day it would fuck off for good instead of just in moments where she felt she could smile and laugh, only to come back again later on.
She pressed her finger to her cheek; it was a nice shade of green, mottled and grim looking. She winced "Fuck." She hissed, closing her eyes tightly, letting out a trembling breath when the anger inside her lifted its ugly head; the sudden longing to punch the mirror waved over her, she wanted to watch the shards fall and her reflection shatter and her knuckles bleed. But she wouldn't do that. Emily was reasonable, as Nathan said.
Massaging the concealer into her cheek made it throb painfully, and setting it with powder made her tense but it held her to the ground, it kept her steady. She had nearly started levitating last night when Lewis was at the flat, watching her cook over her shoulder. She'd managed to control it, but just enough to get to the bathroom and hit the fucking ceiling. Took her a bit of time to get down as well. A whole David Attenborough episode, if Lewis' tv series of choice was any way to measure time.
Emily let out a chuckle, gazing at herself in the mirror. She never thought that she'd ever having issues with something like that. She'd never even thought of that before. It was a fantasy. Superpowers only existed in things like Marvel or X-Men. But now, it was real life.
Her chuckle died when she finished covering up the bruise. Make-up was pretty fucking magical too, if she was being honest. She sighed and peered around the empty locker room and for a moment, wondered if Simon was standing there, watching, invisible, jaw clenching, wiping his hand across his fringe making it look greasy and wet.
She stood there, but nothing happened so she inhaled through the nose, exhaled through the mouth and left.
"Gary and my colleague, Tony, have both been reported missing." The new lady, Sally, or whatever said "There families are very worried about them. Have you seen anything unusual, anything at all?"
There was a tense silence, and Emily was pretty sure they'd get off with a 'if you remember anything, come and tell us immediately,' but Nathan stuck his hand up. She turned to him, eyes narrowed. The rest of them did the same, faces screaming 'what the fuck are you doing? Now isn't the time to be yourself!'
"You saw something?" The lady questioned; eyebrows raised.
"A few days ago," He started "I go into the toilets, Tony and Gary were in there. They're butt naked, Tony has Gary by his hair, like this," Proceeded to grab his hair "And he's just doing 'im, doggy style. And Tony's like 'Ah, who's your daddy? I'm your daddy, big daddy."
Emily eyed his ministrations with a muted, horrified curiosity, much like the others. She watched as he imitated spitting on his hand and massaging arsehole, probably. He was continuously thrusting his hips, and got a bit too into it for the actual situation. Having sex with Nathan was probably one hell of a rollercoaster, either one you came out of happy and sated or morbidly traumatised. This was…normal Nathan, so she guessed him acting like a prick was him just being his usual self, which wasn't necessarily suspicious at all.
Except that the lady looked almost to tears.
"Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yah, oh ya, I'm daddy cool!" He exclaimed, pretending to spank Gary and cum and then, "So, I'm guessing they've ran away to continue their illicit homosexual love affair. And I ask you, in this world of intolerance and prejudice, who are we, who are we, to condemn them?"
He looked at the lady, waiting for a reaction or response, but, all she does is look at him with a stern, stony face, and then turned and walked away.
They're not really sure what to say at first, she thought, since there was an uncomfortable silence. Maybe because they were mad at him for bringing attention to themselves, or because he had to taint their eyes with something as horrific as what he just did.
Their silence might speak more than words could, in that moment.
They stood on the edge of the roof of the building, and the new lady had just stared at them like they were criminals or some shit. Sarah or whatever was totally on their case, and they'd only been pretending to be innocent for less than a day. Emily wondered how they were going to manage this for the rest of their lives but decided not to think about it for the time being.
"Well, I think we got away with it." Nathan said jollily around his fag.
"Say it louder, why don't you." She deadpanned.
"Do you actually believe that or are you just really dumb?" Curtis scoffed, looking at him with his usual 'are you kidding me' expression.
"I actually believe that." Nathan bit back "I mean, I was there. I should have one of these bullshit powers."
"Ya can 'ave mine. Ya wanta 'ear wot people are finkin about you?" Kelly shot back, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Not really. I want something good," Nathan inhaled "Something from the A-List."
"Maybe you can fly." Simon said.
"We've already got a fuckin' flyer, smart boy!" Nathan exclaimed, gesturing to Emily with a wave of his arm.
"She levitates." Simon muttered.
Emily nodded "Don't be jealous man, I'm wary of standing outside. I might fuckin' float away. Like a kid let go of their Disneyland helium balloon and then be spotted in India or somethin'."
"Wouldn't ya just go up?" Nathan asked.
"Then you'd just die of hypoxia." Simon stammered, earning strange looks from the group. He looked away, jaw tight.
"So I'm at great risk of just floating into space and dying from hypoxia. Great." Emily frowned "So, we've got a levitater. That's different from flying. You wouldn't accidentally die from hypoxia."
"True! That's why it's on the A-List, four eyes." Nathan tapped his nose "Might as well give it a shot" He then jogged to the chair abandoned on the roof. Kelly said a monotone 'Don't' but he jumped off it anyway, face scrunched up as if concentrating, and fell on his arse.
"Ow! No, that's not it. You can keep flyer." Nathan grimaced, massaging his back.
"So, what happens now?" wondered Curtis "Is this it? Are we gonna stay like this forever?"
"What if we're meant to be like…superheroes?" Simon pondered, looking almost hopeful. Hey, even a mental pyromaniac like him can long to be superman every once in a while.
"You lot, superheroes?" Nathan scoffed "No offence, but it what kind of fucked up world would that be allowed to happen?"
"I did not sign up for that." Alisha pursed her lips.
"Can I be Ironman?" Emily asked "He flies, it could work."
"You can't 'cos he's a billionare and you don't have enough cash to buy ibuprofen." Alisha scoffed, inspecting her nails in boredom.
Emily placed a hand on her chest, stumbling as if she'd been shot "Okay. Ouch."
Nathan laughed, flinging an arm around her shoulders as he puffed on a cigarette "That's like me saying can I be Storm even though I'm apparently NOT GOOD ENOUGH for a power!"
"Are my ears deceiving me? You know who Storm is. You're a nerd too, prick. And a hypocrite."
"I'm not, I'm just informed." Nathan stuck his nose in the air.
"We don't care about what you're talking about." Alisha said bluntly. Emily shrugged, and took Nathan's offered fag, placing it between her lips and having a long drag, letting the smoke fill her lungs.
A lot had happened. She'd told Kelly that she wasn't sorry for saying that shit just after The Incident because she'd meant it then. Emily had seen a corpse that one of them had killed and she had been afraid, afraid of the consequences as most criminals are but said that she would never dob Kelly in. She'd held out her fist, and Kelly had placed her fist against hers. She liked to think they were pretty much mates now.
"What if there's loads of people like us all over town?" Kelly suggested, eyebrows raising.
"No, that kind of this only happens in America." Nathan replied "This will fade away. I'm tellin' ya, by this time next week, it'll be back to the same old boring shit."
Amen to that, she guessed.
A/N: Thanks for reading, pls review, they condition my hair x