Wow. 10 chapters already? SWEET!

I wanna thank you guys for review, favouriting, alerting, etc. my story! I'm glad you like it. This chapter is one of my favs. Not much happens but secrets are revealed...

Ooh, did sound mysterious enough? I think I sounded mysterious enough! Read on if you want to know what I'm talking about!

Now for the disclaimer...

I don't own TEC.

"Karmen? Karmen?"

"Five more minutes Mom," I mumble before turning to lie down on my back.

"Karmen!"

I sit straight up, my eyes wide open. "Where am I? How did I get here? What happened?"

Mom sits next to me on the couch and hands me a glass of water. "I'm not sure Honey. I was just organizing my room when some boy came knocking on my door telling me you blacked out in a diner," she looks at me worriedly, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I lie. In reality my head is killing me. It hurts so bad I wouldn't be surprised if I blacked out again. I take a sip of water, trying to remember what had happened only hours ago. Suddenly what my mom just said sinks in.

"Who knocked on our door?" I ask, "What boy?"

Mom shrugs. "Tall, dark hair, says his name is Shock or something. Such a strange name for such a nice boy..."

I nearly choke on my water. "Shock came here?"

Mom nods. I look her dead in the in eye, "Mom, you didn't... you know... talk to him, did you?"

"Of course I did! You don't really expect me to have a boy carry my teenage daughter home without me at least saying thank you, do you?"

"Mom..." I start to say, then my face goes red, "Shock carried me home?"

A small smile plays on Mom's lips.

"What?" I ask her. She ignores me and stokes my hair before speaking again, "So tell me Karmen, what happened?"

I bite my lip. Should I tell her? I mean, she's my mom. She deserves to know but at the same time, what will she think of it? I really don't want to tell her about Francine and Manny, or about tricking Hector. That's basically all that happened except...

"Mom? Have you ever heard of wordballs?"

Mom stops stroking my hair and stiffens up. "Wordballs? What on earth are wordballs?"

She chews on her dyed blonde hair, getting bright red lipstick smeared in it. Chewing on her hair is a disgusting habit she's had since she was really little apparently. She only does it when she's... lying.

I eye her, "Are you sure?"

If there's one thing I know about my mom, it's that if I flat out accuse her of something she'll always find some way so that I'M the guilty one no matter the situation.

"Yes Honey. Would you like something to eat?"

I nod my head and she walks off. She's hiding something, I can tell. I'll just question her about it later. I sigh and lie back down on the couch. There's this really annoying beeping sound. At first I think it's just my head until I realize it's my cell phone. I have two text messages. The first one is from Shock.

Shock: You okay?

I smile. Shock cares about me. He's so sweet. It takes me only seconds to reply.

Karmen: Yeah, I'm okay :)

The second text is from Jessica. Or, as I'm now calling her, Little Miss Jessica 'Let's Act All Mysterious and Then Disappear off the Face of the Earth' Ruiz.

Jessica: What happened this morning? Hector came home all grumpy and stomped off to his room. He won't tell me anything!

Unlike what I told Mom, I fill Jessica in on everything. It takes a while to text but when I'm finally satisfied with my story, I send it. Jessica replies back a few minutes later.

Jessica: Wow. So Francine kissed Hector, Manny kissed you, you made another wordball, and then passed out on the floor of the diner?

Karmen: Yep.

Jessica: lol

Karmen: Not funny!

Jessica: I know. Sorry. So how did Lisa react to the whole thing? She was there right?

I freeze. I forgot all about Lisa! She just watched her crush get kissed by another girl. By Francine! I hope she's okay.

Karmen: She was there. I just haven't seen or spoken to her.

This time it takes awhile before Jessica replies.

Jessica: Want me to talk to her?

Karmen: No. Unlike you I was actually there.

Then I add;

Karmen: Where were you anyway?

Jessica doesn't reply.

I sigh and put my phone down. I should go talk to Lisa. I'm about to leave when I realize that my mom's still in the kitchen. She'll never let me leave the house and I don't think I have Lisa's number.

I groan and lie down, closing my eyes. I think I'll just go to sleep. There's been WAY too much drama for me today and it's driving me insane. I slowly start to doze off, only to be woken up by my cell phone ringing. Seriously?

"What?" I snap into my phone.

"Oh sorry. Want me to call back?"

My face drops. It's Shock.

"NO! I mean... hi?" Gosh, I'm such a loser. "What's up?"

"Nothing. Just making sure you're okay."

I smile. "I'm fine thanks. You already texted me you know."

"I know. I guess I'll just call you back then."

"Wait!" I say, and then ask quietly so my mom won't hear me, "What do you know about wordballs?"

"Um... they're balls with words."

"No, I mean, what do you know about them? Like, how do you get them? I think my mom knows something but she won't tell me."

Shock sighs. "You're born with the power. It's passed down through generations."

Wow. So I'm not the only one in my family who (kind of) has it? How come I've never heard of it until now then?

"Can it skip generations?" I ask.

"No."

Whoa, whoa, whoa. It can't skip generations? But that means...

"So my mom has the power?"

"She should, but things can happen."

"Things? What things?"

"Well, sometimes it gets messed up. That's the only time it skips generations. Also, if you have siblings it's usually the first born who gets it. It's unlikely that both siblings will.

"But Hector and Jessi-"

Shock interrupts me. "Karmen, I said it's unlikely, not impossible."

Oh. "Wow. Anything else?"

Shock coughs before continuing, "Well, it is possible for people to steal your powers."

Stealing powers? Weird. "How is that even possible?" I ask.

"It just is. It usually only happens while joining the Electric Company. Or if the person gives them to you. But that's only the special skill. It's nearly impossible for someone to get your wordball power."

My eyes widen. "Why would anyone want to give away their powers?"

"Lots of people. The power has wrecked a lot of friendships and families over the years." He tells me, "Who knows what things would've been like if Hector got the power and Jessica didn't. I doubt they'd be as close as they are now."

I'm silent for a while, thinking about everything that Shock has just said. He sure knows a lot for a guy that doesn't have the power himself.

"Do you have any idea why my wordballs have major issues? I mean, I've only made them twice and both times by accident."

"Sorry Karmen, but I don't know."

I frown. "That's okay. I guess I'll talk to you later."

"I guess. Bye-"

"Wait!" I interrupt, "Just one more question."

"Okay."

I take a deep breath. "How do you know so much about them? Wordballs, I mean. It's as if you've been studying them your whole life."

Shock doesn't reply. For a moment I wonder if he got annoyed by all my questions a decided to hang up on me. That would be really embarrassing. Finally he replies.

"No, I haven't been studying wordballs my whole life. My dad, he used to study them. Plus," Shock takes a deep breath and that's when I realize that he sounds really sad. "I... I used to have the power."

Then he hangs up on me.

I'm not sure which is more surprising, the fact that Jessica is still acting all creepy mysterious or the fact that Shock was actually speaking this whole chapter.

So the next chapter (or the one after that) will have major Hisa. It'll probably be chapter twelve but I might shove a little Hisa into chapter eleven. You never know.

Bye for now,

BETA XD