Author's Note: Here's chapter 2, I'm about to start on chapter 3, and chapter 5 is almost done. If you found nothing confusing about that sentence, read it again. Feel free to critique me on this; I typed it real fast and checked it even faster.
Disclaimer: I do not own the idea of Erasers, recombinate DNA experiments, or enchiladas. I also do not own Spiderman, Bed Knobs and Broomsticks, Burger King, or the term "eats like a bird". Though I have argued with that term a gazillion times. Cuz heck, my venus fly trap eats more than I do.
"Okay class, now that we are all here," Mrs. Jonas sends a meaningful glance in Tori's direction, "It is time to begin planning your final project for the semester. You're assignment is to make a small film, at least three minutes long, centering around courage and/or heroics. It can be about real life heroes, like firemen or policemen, or it can be about comic book super heroes. Either way, it needs to have some form of every affect we learned about in over the course of this semester. Sounds effects, color and movement effects; the whole enchilada."
Stephen raises his hand. "Mrs. Jonas, I've been doing some experiments on my own with effects not done in class. Could I use some of those, too?"
Of course. I mean, what else would you expect from the teacher's pet? I've got a bet running with Tiff that he's going to finish this semester with at least a hundred and twenty percent average. He hasn't turned down a single extra credit opportunity since he and his sister transferred here mid-second quarter.
"Absolutely. But don't pay so much attention to those extra things that you forget the actual requirements." Duh. Like he would.
But at least this project won't be too difficult for me. So far I've been having to do all my projects the long and hard way, like normal people, so that I didn't draw any attention to myself. But with my power of mental "programming" and some kick-butt memories, a project with a bunch of special effects about super heroes shouldn't be hard. At all.
"If we make a video about super heroes and super villains, can we make the villains the protagonists?" What kind of a question is that?
"Doming, a villain would be an antagonist. You can try to make a film in which you hope the viewers will side with the villain's cause, but he would still be an antagonist." Did I mention that Stephen is also the top student in English class, as well?
Anyways, I can take mental images and sounds, and put them into a computer as easily as any other person can hum the tune to their favorite song. I think of what I want my video to be like, sort of "push" it towards a computer, and that's it. Instant codes, instant finished project. And because this is the semester final, everybody would already be expecting a really good film anyways. So all I need is to figure out which images, etc, I want to make my video out of. I've got a lot stored up there.
"If there are no more questions, begin your planning stages. You have over a week to do this assignment, so don't be afraid to really think it through before you start working on the videos themselves. You don't want to run into a problem later due to poor planning and have to restart with only a few days left." Well, considering my codes will just invent themselves in whatever way is easiest, that's not going to be much trouble for me. I have seven days out of eight to do my planning. Bring it on!
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZT! Once again, I wonder why we don't have bells for period passing. It's like a digital alarm clock on steroids, only deeper and louder, and it drones on for almost ten seconds longer then the "blinking" buzz of a morning alarm. And it doesn't have a snooze button. Hmmm…Maybe it's to wake up the kids who fell asleep during the more boring classes…
I pack up my drawings and head for the door. I have a total of nine comic-strips of possible videos that I could us as my semester project, but none of them seem quite right. They all just tell a little bit too much for my comfort, or wouldn't be "realistically un-realistic" enough in a normal human's eyes. Even a talented high school student with a semester of video making under her belt wouldn't be able to make morphing werewolves look that real without causing suspicion of help from professional CGI guys. And I have a feeling the ones that show kids in cages would be like digital neon signs screaming, "YO! Mad scientist people! Your escaped experiment is HERE!"
Stuffing my sketches into my locker, I grab my lunch bag and make my way to the cafeteria. I try to save a little money by bringing some of my lunch to school myself, and then filling the rest of my stomach with cafeteria food, rather than buying it all.
"I can't believe she forgot my name AGAIN!" And now for the weekly eye rolling, sense knocking, idiotic argument session.
"Rob, do we have to have this conversation every Monday? She gets a new roster each week, and you've been called Billy since before you even had a school career. Get over it already!"
Rob scowls and kicks the now very-dented trash can by the cafeteria door. "I don't even know how Billy became a nickname for Robert in the first place! My cousin's name is William, and he prefers Billy. So why am I the one who gets stuck with it?"
"Because Will was born two years after you." Tiffany strides up, carrying her almost empty lunch tray. Normal humans would say she 'eats like a bird,' but I know from experience she eats WAY less than a bird. "Robert, Rob, Bob, Bobby, Billy. I've seen your baby pictures, and you did not look like a Robert, Rob, or Bob back then. Then after six or seven years, Billy became a habit. Stop making such a fuss!"
In response to her comment, my other companion just mumbles under his breath and makes way for the lunch line. I follow Tiff to the Outcast Table, as it is known among the more popular students. For those of us who actually eat there, it's where the friendless make friends. Rob sits there because most of the student body picks on him about his math grades; Tiffany sits there because it's the only place where people don't call her The Shrimp; and I sit there because the outcasts are the only students who aren't snobs. Seriously. If enough people tease/torment you, then you learn not to tease other people. The unaccepted are the most accepting group of people you'll ever meet. Though whether that acceptance reaches far enough to include mutant messed-up-DNA freaks, I have yet to find out. Not that I'm going to rush to discover that particular thing. Not on purpose, anyways.
"So, got any good ideas for your movie final?" She asks.
I shrug. "Not so far." I take a seat, and pull out my hamburgers. Working at Burger King has its rewards.
"I'm thinking of making a super hero tournament. I'd have to make it mostly a cartoon, of course, but I could still use the green screen effect to put them in a stadium or something." Oh, yeah, the Spiderman version of Bed Knobs and Broomsticks. Very courageous. But, hey, it's her video; she can make it how she wants it.
"Sup, gals!"
"Hi, Tim," I reply. Tim Matthews was the original Outcast. He skipped a grade, then got held back three times. Nobody really knows why, but what we do know is that if he sees somebody get kicked out of their group, or just never make it into a group, he brings them to our group. Tim's probably the only reason I have any friends at all, even without broadcasting my bigger freakiness.
"Did either of you catch this week's Biology homework? I fell asleep listening to Mr. Carp drone on…"
As the conversation turns toward the regular tenth grade core classes, I get up and get in the lunch line, which doesn't seem to have shortened much in the past ten minutes. Might as well zone out for a bit.