Matilda dribbled up the line as fast as she could. She outran one of the midfielders but the defense soon boxed her in. She was forced to pass the ball ahead to her fellow teammate, a forward who went by nickname of Cinnamon, who was herself being hounded pretty well. Unfortunately the ball was stolen when the Maroon Tiger's number 23 aggressively headed the ball to her own team. Matilda slowed for barely a second to turn around than headed back up the field. To her frustration, the ball had found its way into their goal before she was in any position to help.

After the game, the team that called themselves the Red Avengers gathered around their coach sullenly. Disappointment was heavy on the air.

Coach Ramón looked around at the solemn group. "You guys all played very well." She said, continuing on without acknowledging the mutters of protest among the group, "Of course you didn't play perfectly. There is always room for improvement. Shauna in particular, I was disappointed with the defense; you could have rallied them better."

Shauna was the team captain. She played center midfielder and had near complete control of defense for the team. She had confessed to the team earlier while in the locker room that she had cramps, but was unwilling to tell the Coach for fear that she would be switched out. It had put her off her game.

"But still, the other team was in top form today. You can be proud you played against a team of that caliber, and they only got off one shot on us. The Canaries, whom you defeated 2 weeks ago, lost to them by 4."

After the soccer game Matilda was pulling off her uniform, which stuck to her skin with sweat, when she felt a hand push her into the locker.

"What the heck!" She yelled, turning to confront her attacker.

"Why didn't you pass the ball to me!"

"Shauna, what are you talking about?"

"The ball, you stupidly sent it to Cinnamon and she wasn't even open."

"I had no one else to send it to."

"You're so stupid Matilda. I was open right behind you."

Matilda shook her head trying to recall the incident. "Shauna, I did not see you. If I made a mistake I'm sorry. There was no way for me to know you were there unless you told me."

"So now it's my fault." Shauna took a step toward Matilda and Matilda took a step back, bumping against the wooden bench behind her. Shauna was a muscular girl, not usually a bully, but taller and heavier than most girls. Her hair was cut boyishly short, and her face was still red from the game. She smelled faintly of sweat.

Matilda felt mildly intimidated, but she was not the sort of girl to back down when she felt she was right. She had had years of experience not backing down to bullies. By now it was habit.

"Whatever you think, I'm not telepathic, you know. You didn't call out. In fact I was wondering where my backup was."

There was a strange twitch in the girl's face at that, in fact, her whole attitude changed. Suddenly she was smiling in an almost goofy way.

"I thought your were."

"What do you mean?"

"Telepathic."

"Oh, that."

"There's been this rumor going around for years that you have strange powers."

Matilda's mouth quirked its own grin, a slightly scary one that said plainly, 'I know something.' It was the sort of grin calculated to make bullies feel a small inner voice of caution.

Matilda crossed her eyes and 'looked' at Shauna intently.

Shauna leaped back in alarm, almost plastering herself against the opposing locker in an effort to get away. "Don't do anything to me!" she almost begged.

Matilda let out a peal of laughter. She bent over with the force of the giggles wracking her body. "You should ha…" she breathed heavily, "you should have seen your face."

Realizing that nothing paranormal had occurred, Shauna contemplated creaming Matilda. But then, she wasn't really a bully, just pissed at herself and looking to pass the blame. She ruefully conceded that Matilda had gotten her good.

"So they are just rumors?" Shauna asked, turning her back as she allowed Matilda to finish changing out of her uniform.

Matilda shot her a sly look. "I didn't say that."

Once they had emerged into the sunshine, Shauna decided to walk Matilda home. They had been playing soccer at the high school field and using the school lockers. Although she was not enrolled there, Matilda had gotten special permission to play on the high school team, preferring it to college sports with an older crowd. One thing she missed though, was the sense of comradeship other girls on the team had with each other, having grown up knowing each other and also connecting in classrooms. Matilda was known at the high school, but only as the strange genius girl who played soccer.

"What did you mean back there?" Shauna asked. "Do you really have powers?"

Matilda sighed; regretted somewhat the strangeness of her childhood. "The rumors about me are highly exaggerated," was all she could say.

Jenny was sitting on the porch, enjoying the sunshine as she graded a stack of papers. Looking down the street she saw Matilda walking down the street with her soccer bag slung over her shoulder. What was unusual was that Matilda was talking animatedly with another girl as she walked. Jenny smiled, glad to see Matilda making a friend with someone her own age. She sometimes felt that Matilda spent too much time within herself, fascinating company though she might be. A friend her own age was something she clearly needed.

"Jenny, this is Shauna, from soccer. Shauna, this is my greatest of friends, Jenny. I live here with her."

"Its lovely to meet you," Miss Honey said politely.

Shauna looked up at the manor Matilda called home, comparing it to the apartment in which she lived with her mother and younger brother.

"Yeah, its kind of big, isn't it?" Matilda nudged the still staring girl.

Jenny raised a cup from beside her. "I made punch, girls; you must be thirsty. Speaking of which, how was the game?"

"We lost, but not too badly. They scored once against us."

Shauna, remembering how she had accused Matilda, looked guiltily down at the floor while Matilda patted her arm reassuringly.

"That's too bad." She turned to the sporty looking girl Matilda had brought with her. "Shirley?"

"Shauna. Yuck, Shirley?" The girl made a face, obviously feeling slighted.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Shauna, what position do you play?" Shauna opened up slightly, as Jenny coaxed her into a conversation about soccer and sports in general.

"I'll be right back. I need to put my stuff down. And Shauna, would you like some Juice?"

Shauna glanced gratefully at Matilda as she left, and went on to tell Jenny her plans of becoming a professional soccer player.

They were playing poker. Matilda was the best at it and had amassed a large amount chips.

"I think I know your tell," Shauna said as she watched Matilda take in the pot once again. "You flip through your cards differently."

"I agree, Shauna. Matilda, that is your tell."

Matilda glared at them both. "I do not have a tell."

"No, every time it looks good, you flip through them right to left instead of left to right." Shauna explained. She winked subtly at Jenny, who returned the wink with a smile. Matilda did not see it as she was busy trying different ways to flip through her cards to see if she really did have such a tell.

"Yeah, and she taps her foot when its bad." Jenny elaborated.

Matilda looked down at her feet.

"Matilda, your turn. Deal them out. And remember; don't smile when you have an ace."

Matilda tried to freeze her face as she picked up her own cards.

"She's making an odd face, she must have something." Shauna commented.

"Nah, that doesn't mean anything. She just bent her left pinky. She has an Queen of Spades."

Matilda suddenly put down her cards and pointed accusingly at the both of them. "You're just trying to make me nervous, you guys don't know my tell at all."

Both of them burst out laughing.

"Matilda, you should have seen your face. We got you good, admit it."

Matilda snorted at Shauna. "I will only admit that you got me well."

"Matilda? Does Shauna want to stay the night?"

Shauna looked at the clock. It was 8 o'clock, and they had been playing a game of scrabble.

When Matilda amazed them all with the words anodyne, galoot, and unctuous all in a row,

Shauna found truth in the rumor that Matilda was a genius. She was also lucky as hell.

"I think I can, I'll have to call my mom," She responded to Jenny's question.

As Shauna left the room, Jenny turned to Matilda and commented, "Shauna seems really nice, you should invite her over more often."

Matilda rolled her eyes. "Jenny, if you will believe me, before today, before a few hours ago, Shauna wanted to liquidate me."

Shauna came back into the room shaking her head. "I was just having a bad day. Then I was so curious about the rumors, I just had to ask. Jesus, Mattie, you scared the hell out of me."

"You called me stupid. I couldn't resist." Matilda stuck her tongue out at her new friend.

"What rumors are you talking about?" Jenny asked, looking between them both.

"You know, the usual ones," Matilda said flippantly.

Jenny frowned. She knew that the rumors of Matilda's strangeness were one of the reasons that Matilda had made so few friends her own age. In fact, Shauna was the first non-college student with whom she had seen Mattie, oh she meant Matilda (and wasn't Mattie a strangely appealing nickname; why hadn't she thought of it?) since she began taking college classes four years ago. At the time, Matilda had been so far above her peers in intellect and maturity that it had made sense. But Matilda had not skipped puberty even as she matured mentally. Now that she was going through hormonal changes, she would be able relate to people her own age better. In a way, Jenny was sad about this. It meant the cocoon that had surrounded them ever since she had met the remarkable child was about to open. At the same time, she could hardly wait to see the dazzling butterfly that Matilda would become.

Up in Matilda's room Shauna finally had to ask.

"Hey Mattie, can I borrow a tampon?

Matilda smiled gently. "Of course. Do you feel all right? Cramps?"

"Yeah, a little."

Matilda led her to the bathroom. "You can use the pads or tampons, whatever you like. Do you need an aspirin? Or I could make you up a hot water bottle. That always feels good to me."

"Yeah, could you? Both please."

Matilda went to the kitchen and turned on the water in the sink letting it warm up as it ran. She went to the cupboard and searched with her eyes for the Motrin. As was habitual with her, she focused her eyes on the bottle and tried to lift it telekinetically. She did this unconsciously, had done it ever since her childhood powers left. So she was entirely surprised when the bottle did a little shake.

"Oh my god."

Jenny appeared in the doorway. "What is it?" she asked.

"Jenny, I did it. I made the bottle move."

"Are you sure?"

Matilda turned an incredulous gaze at Jenny. "Do you think I hallucinated it? I felt my eyes warm up and everything. It was just like before."

"I believe you. It's just, unbelievable." Jenny breathed a breathy laugh. "We thought it was gone. It hasn't happened for so long."

"9 years," Matilda agreed.

"Can you do it again?"

Matilda 'looked' at the Motrin bottle again. Nothing happened. She tried once more, trying to find the 'muscle' from long ago that would allow her to lift things without touching them. She had no success. Finally, feeling a headache about to come unless she stopped straining herself, she gave up. She finished filling the water bottle and brought it to Shauna who took it gratefully.