Marie had gotten her wish. The next morning, as everyone headed to school, they passed the library. The cul-de-sac kids were on the bus, so they didn't see yet, but Marie knew that the word would get around.
Marie's third class of the day was Power Control, along with Kevin, Jonny, and Rolf. Because learning to control your power sometimes got out of control, it was a very small class.
The teacher asked each student to come up and display their power. Marie was nervous. She didn't want anyone to know her power was...what it was. Then she couldn't be the Secret Artist anymore! She supposed she could just leave out the 'spray paint fingers' thing. She did have colored pencils.
Marie watched as Kevin went up and stomped his feet, making the roller blades appear on the bottom. He rolled around the room a few times.
"I can also fix any part of my bike just by touching it," Kevin added before sitting down.
Jonny came up and explained how his power was mind reading. Then he started saying aloud what others were saying, so the others panicked slightly and made sure they weren't thinking anything embarrassing.
'God, this is so stupid,' Marie thought, rolling her eyes.
After Jonny, Rolf came up and, taking a deep breath, lifted up the teacher's desk over his head.
Then, it was Marie's turn.
"Marie, why don't you come up and demonstrate your power?" The teacher asked. Marie gulped and slowly walked up. Making sure she didn't show them the spray paint, she made colored pencils appear on her finger tips.
"Very nice," The teacher smiled as Marie sat down, "Now, story time. Who can share a time when their power went a little...haywire?"
"Wait, but what's your power?" Kevin asked, raising his hand. The teacher smiled and drew a flower in the air with her finger. She plucked it from the air and set it on her desk in a jug of water with two other flowers in it.
"Wow, neato!" Jonny exclaimed.
"Now, who would like to share their story?" The teacher asked. Kevin raised his hand.
"Uh, well, one time I was riding my bike and I guess the roller blades on my feet just appeared, so I kinda crashed," Kevin said.
"Once Rolf was carrying something heavy and suddenly didn't feel so strong anymore, so it dropped on Rolf's head," Rolf said.
"About a month ago, I got a big headache whenever I tried reading minds," Jonny said, "And the next day, I could only read the minds of animals!"
Everyone turned towards Marie.
"What?" She asked.
"Well? Do you have a story?" The teacher asked.
"Um, well..." Marie thought, "When I was drawing something, the colors completely changed, so it didn't look too good..."
Just then the bell rang, so the four kids exited the room as four others entered. Lee passed her sister on the way in.
"Hey, what's the class like?" Lee asked.
"Eh, not much," Marie shrugged, "Demonstrating your power then telling a story about when it went haywire."
"Oh," Lee said, entering the classroom. Three other kids were there, none of which Lee actually knew.
"Good morning, class!" The teacher greeted.
About a week later, Bella and the Eds were in Power Class, which was their last class of the day.
"Ok students, today we'll begin talking about powers themselves, and why they sometimes go haywire," The teacher explained, "Can anyone tell me how you can tell you've gotten your power?"
Edd raised his hand.
"Eddward?" The teacher called on him.
"The person will experience a tingly feeling throughout their body, and then their power will be revealed once the person is doing something to involve or activate their power," Edd explained.
"Very good," The teacher smiled, "Now, can anyone tell me why someone's power might go haywire?"
No one raised their hand.
"That's ok, I didn't expect you to know," She said, "There are many reasons, but the main reason is because many kids overuse their power when they first get it. Sometimes, you have to stop using your power for a day or two when you first get it.
"Another reason," The teacher continued, "Is that, when you haven't quite mastered your power, it's sometimes hard to use correctly when you're sad, mad, or scared."
When the bell rang at the end of class, everyone grabbed their backpacks and got on their bus home.