Chapter 14

"Do we wanna know what happened next?" asked Austin, "'Cause this is getting a little weird for me."

"Hold on, it gets weirder," Kelly told him.

Five years ago…

The psychics were still at their table when their pizza came, but Kelly was sitting with her family in a not-so-far away table.

"So you met some kids who were psychic," said Nadine, "Why'd you have to blow us off?"

"And you lied to us, too," said Benny.

Kelly sighed. "I'm sorry, I just…well, I wasn't certain if you guys would really be interested in them and whatnot—you have totally different interests. You all like to go to the movies and they…" She looked at Carla, who was now levitating the pizza to sprinkle pepper all over the sausage. "…do that."

"OK, tell me I did not just see that," said Daniella.

"I know, that was a lot of pepper," said Wendy.

Daniella glared at her sister. "The pepper was floating! And they're not mutants or Witches."

"I don't care. That was still a lot of pepper."

Daniella groaned and buried her head in her arms on the table.

"Look," said Kelly, "you guys have been on my case lately and I found some people who understand me. And I—"

"—would rather hang out with those freaks than us?" Ryan asked.

The psychics all heard that and looked at him.

Kelly stood up. "'Freaks'? Is that what you call me behind my back?"

Sarah stood up, too. "He didn't mean you, he meant them—"

"These people are just like me! If they're freaks, then so am I!"

Sophie got up. "Kelly—"

"Just get out of here." Kelly went and sat back down with Carla and the others.

"Fine, we will." Ryan got up and left, followed by the others.

"Right behind you." Nadine grabbed her stuff. As she got out of her seat, she accidentally flicked her hand against the table. "Ow! I broke a nail!"

"Pinky?" Kelly asked.

Nadine narrowed her eyes at her. "You know what? I don't even care."

"Yes, you do," Martin said, reading her mind.

Nadine groaned, stomped her foot, and stormed off.

Kelly smiled at the other psychics.

The next day…

Kelly was sitting in the oscillator chair again, her eyes closed. "I'm seeing myself…surrounded by people…" She opened her eyes and saw that Dr. Sleevemore, Carla, Martin, and Sparky were all leaning over her, waiting for something to happen. "…who really need to back up off of me. Personal bubble!" They all backed away.

Dr. Sleevemore examined the oscillator readings. "You're tense and irritable…and down to a 1.6 on the Sleevemore Scale. This requires further study." He took the papers off to his office.

"Come on, Kelly," Carla said as Kelly took off the helmet, "If there's something wrong, you can tell us."

Kelly sighed. "It's nothing."

"That's not what I'm getting," said Martin.

Kelly glared at him. "OK, big-shot. Since you know everything, what am I thinking?"

Martin focused. "You…are thinking…about…changing shampoos."

Kelly imitated a buzzer. "Conditioner. Next!"

"You're also worried about your normie friends."

Kelly said nothing.

"Kelly, it's OK," said Carla, "We all know what it's like when your friends think you're a freak."

"Actually, they think you're the freaks."

Carla sighed. "That is so normie. Well, if that's how they see us, then that's why we have to stick together."

Kelly half-smiled, considering that. "I guess you're right."

"It's for the best. Now, come on. Sparky's making nachos." Carla led her over to Sparky, who was in his chair, frying some cheese for their chips.

"Oh!" said Martin, "I'll get it!" He walked over to the door.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

The gang was at the door.

"Uh, we come in peace?" Lucy said, holding up her hand in the peace salute.

"Oh boy," said Martin.

"Yeah, we wanna know what's going on here," said Tech, putting down Lucy's hand.

"Right," said Duck, "and we're not leaving here until we get some—" He sniffed the air and smelled cheese. "Nachos!" He raced for the cheese.

Kelly saw them and stopped them. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We really need to talk to you, Kelly," said Lexi.

"Uh, Kelly?" said Carla, "Dr. Sleevemore doesn't like visitors during research hours."

"'Research'?" asked Duck, "Girl, you guys are melting cheese!" He grabbed some chips.

Kelly groaned. "I'll handle this." She swiped the chips and pushed them over to the side. "Let me guess? You're here to see the freak show?"

"Look, Kelly," said Ryan, "I'm sorry about what I said. We're here to apologize."

"We really need to work this out here," said Lucy.

"Yeah, if these are your friends," said Sarah, "then they're our friends, too."

Kelly smiled. "Really?"

Sarah nodded.

Kelly hugged her.

"Uh, excuse me!" Martin jumped in, drawing their attention to the line of psychics on the opposite wall, "What if we don't wanna be your friends?"

Wendy scoffed and walked over there, followed by the others. "Excuse me? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's time for you to leave," said Carla, getting ready to throw them out.

"Well," said Ace, "what if we don't want to?"

Carla smirked. She pointed at the tray of doughnuts and then at Jack, tossing one of the glazed at him and hitting him in the face with it.

Sarah scoffed. "So you can throw a lousy doughnut at Jack. With your mind. Whoo!"

Carla threw the whole tray at him.

"That was actually pretty impressive. BUT! I'll bet you cannot do that with a chair."

Carla started to lift a chair.

"SARAH!" Jack snapped, countering the attack along with Wendy to put it back down.

"Will you guys stop it?!" Kelly cried, "This is my family you are tele-pelting!"

"We're your friends!" Carla snapped back.

"Not anymore." Kelly started to leave with her family, Sophie pulling her out by the arm.

Carla held out her hand.

Kelly stopped moving.

Sophie realized she wasn't moving and stopped the others. "Kelly. What's wrong? Let's go."

"Uh…I-I can't." She then realized what was going on and turned her head to glare at Carla. "Carla!"

"Please, Kelly, don't go!" Carla said, "You have an amazing gift. You were making such progress. You should be here!"

"She should be with her family!" Sophie interceded, "Now let's go!"

Carla turned to the other psychics. "Guys, a little help here!"

They all held out their hands.

Kelly feet lifted. "AAAHHH! Who turned off the gravity?!"

"Let her go!" Carla cried, "She belongs with us!"

"She belongs with us!" Ryan cried.

"I BELONG ON THE GROUND!" Kelly snapped.

"Alright, that's it!" Wendy started pulling her with her own powers.

Jack joined in to help his mom.

Suddenly, the two groups were pulling her in opposite directions and they lost their hold on her.

She started bouncing off the walls and flying all over the place. She hit the ceiling. "Ow! Even my clothes hurt!" Then the forces kicked back in and pulled her back down towards the chair…

Dr. Sleevemore came back in. "Not the oscillator!" He used his own power to counteract the forces and pull her back to the ground…a little bit too hard.

Kelly groaned, a little dizzy. "Oh, I have a tail concussion!"

Ryan and Carla both pulled her up, holding on to different arms.

"You better hope my sister's OK!" Ryan snapped.

"Us?" asked Carla, "You're the ones who let go!"

"Just like the normies!" Martin snapped.

"I'd rather be a normie than a freak!" Ryan snapped back.

"WOULD YOU STOP IT?!" Kelly cried, pushing them all off. She looked at her family. "You are not normies." She turned to the psychics. "And you are not freaks. We're all people here—in a way. I mean, we all still go to school, the movies, we eat pizza, we play volleyball—"

"Some better than others," Lucy jumped in.

Kelly glared at her. "The point is…" She turned back to the group as a whole. "I'm psychic, yes, but that's not all I am. I'm a mutant, that's how I'm psychic. You guys, you're still different." She turned back to her family. "And we're all mutants, yeah, but you guys need to learn that we're not the same and we can't all solve our problems the same way and I'm…different. Even amongst the people I'm most like, I'm still different. I love it, I hate it—that's the problem." She turned back to the psychics. "What I'm trying to say is…I'm not just a psychic…and that's not all you are either." She walked over to Dr. Sleevemore. "Listen, Doc, thanks for all of your help, but…I think it's time for me to go."

Dr. Sleevemore sighed. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that, Kelly…but just remember, our door's always open for you." The door opened itself. "Thank you, Carla."

Carla smiled.

"That's gonna be the phone." He walked off.

RING! RING!

Kelly walked back over to the psychics. "Bye, guys."

"Look, Kelly," said Martin, "I just wanna say…" He turned back to the other psychics. "OK, guys, guys, don't all think at once!" He turned back to Kelly. "We just wanna say that…we're sorry."

"Don't worry about it," said Ryan, "We're sorry, too."

"Oh!" Carla walked over to Jack. "And yes, Jack, I will go out with you."

Jack looked at her. "Wait, how did you—oh! Right! Well, I look forward to—is something burning?"

"Jack, it's you!" Wendy cried.

Jack looked at his tail. The feathers were on fire! "YOW!" He jumped up and put it out.

"SPARKY!" Carla scolded. She looked at Jack. "Oh, I'm sorry. We used to date. He's still not over it."

"Well, I guess he still has the hots for you," said Wendy. She started laughing. Then she was hit in the head with a muffin. "Ow! Carla!"

"Oh, sorry, girl, that was me!" said Kelly, waving her hand.

Wendy glared at her.

Now…

Brenda was stifling giggles.

"It's not funny!" said Jack.

"You gotta admit, it kind of is," said Brenda, laughingly.

"Well, Dr. Sleevemore sure came in handy when Kelly was having those messed up visions two months ago," said Tech.

"I wasn't here two months ago," Brenda and Austin both said.

"Then I guess we have to explain," said Kelly, "See, a couple weeks before game guy came around…"

Two months ago…

Sarah was standing at a stand of shampoos.

A small group of girls was sitting in the lobby with her, watching her.

Sarah read out of a handbook. "'Hello. And welcome to the Mother Nature's Beauty Secrets party. Smile here.'" She realized what that meant and forced out a smile. "Uh…'Our shampoos are all-organic, safe in use for anthros, and completely vegetarian. Now, someone I have never met will tell us how she feels about this all-natural shampoo.'" She waved her hand theatrically.

Kelly walked in.

"Hey, sis."

Kelly glared at her.

"I mean, stranger."

Kelly half-smiled and turned to the girls to do the act she and Sarah had planned out beforehand. "Hello, ladies. Ever since I've been using Mother Nature's Beauty Secret, my hair has never felt more bouncy, shiny, or full of luster."

"'Wow,'" Sarah continued, "'Now who would like some free samples?'" She gestured to the cart.

The girls got up, each grabbed a bottle, and walked off.

"Man, Kelly," Sarah said once the girls were all out of earshot, "once they try those free samples, the orders will come pouring in."

"No, they won't," said Kelly, "Because you just gave out the product." She reached into the bottom shelf of the cart and pulled out a bottle less than a quarter of the size of the bottles the girls had taken. "THESE are the free samples!"

Sarah realized her mistake. "Oh, man, not again!" She slammed the handbook onto the cart and ran for the door. "Hey, wait! I think I gave you the wrong—"

A car warmed up and sped off.

Kelly didn't catch this. She was focused on her vision…

Someone opened their locker.

Archer was inside, dressed like Red Riding Hood, brushing his teeth. "Can't a guy get some privacy?"

The person shut the locker.

Kelly blinked. Huh?

"Kelly," said Sarah, getting her attention, "you're supposed to watch me."

"Sorry, I was kind of watching something else." Kelly tried to figure out what had just happened.