Bionic Chaos [Leo Dooley]

Chapter One

I'm destined to be a star. I know that my future will be full of red carpets and flashing cameras and money. For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to be an actress. Ever since I was little, I've wanted to be one. I used to put on little shows for my family. Most of them weren't that good, but I've always known what I want to do with my life, which is different than most of my peers can say.

Working at Tech Town, the local technology store in Mission Creek, California, is not part of that plan. But I have to earn a living before I star in a blockbuster movie somehow. My parents made me get a job now so I could have something to fall back on just in case I don't make it in the movie industry. They don't want to support me when I'm fifty and have no job. What they don't understand is that I will make it big someday. Just not today, especially with me on bathroom cleanup duty with the new-ish girl.

Recently, Tech Town has gotten two new employees in a matter of a few days. That's strange considering no one in their right mind would work here for fun. I would much rather work at the local boutique down the road, but they won't hire anyone under eighteen. So, I had to get a job at Tech Town since they were hiring for people who are under eighteen. I guess that's why these two new employees came here. I've seen them around school before, so I know they're around my age.

The girl - Bree - is alright. She tends to usually keep to herself, but when Cailtin is working, she can't keep quiet. I don't really mind that she talks all the time when Cailtin is here, though. It keeps Scott off my back for slacking on my job. It isn't because I hate working or anything like that; it's because I hate working here. This place is always full of nerds, including Bree's brother. 

Chase, on the other hand, is always trying to suck up to Scott. He's always trailing behind Scott, telling him about all the nerdy stuff he does at home and how he's one of the smartest guys to ever live on this earth. He even mentions how he's working on a cool project with his girlfriend, which I totally do not believe is true at all. No one like him could ever get a girlfriend.

Thankfully, the day is almost over now, and I can get away from these awful people. I only have a few more years until I can get out of this town to create my better life. I only have a few more years until I can get away from these people who are holding me back. I only have a few more years until I can be free.

"Great day today, Tech Towners!" Scott says happily. He claps his hands energetically. I roll my eyes. "Chase, I think you've got a bright future here."

"Me too!" Caitlin pipes up.

"Go home, Caitlin!" Scott shakes his head at her. He obviously has a favorite employee here, and it's not the people who've been working here forever, meaning me and Caitlin. After Caitlin runs to the backroom, Scott continues with his critiques of each employee that works here. "Maggie, you and Chase's sister left mop streaks in the ladies room. What have I said about leaving mop streaks in the ladies room?"

"What were you doing in the ladies room?" Bree asks with a raised eyebrow.

"He likes to go in there because -" I begin saying, but Scott sends me one of his famous 'I will fire you' glares. With a sigh, I shake my head. Bree and Chase give me a weird look that I ignore. "You know what? I should go, too."

Gripping the wooden handle of the mop, I spin on my heel, gritting my teeth. I know I shouldn't be so upset about working here because it makes me sound so above the others, but I can't help it. I see great things for my life; this is just a little hiccup on the way, right? Hopefully, because I can't see myself working in this nerdy store for the rest of my days. 

Caitlin is talking to herself as I enter the backroom. Actually, that's not true. She's talking on the phone to someone about something that I don't care about. When she sees me in here, she quiets her voice until I can't hear her speak. That's fine with me. We aren't exactly friends, though we aren't enemies, either.

I shove the mop and its bucket into the corner of the minuscule backroom. It can barely fit the small table and four chairs here without being crowded. There's another door on the backside of this room which leads outside, but it's usually blocked by the mop and its bucket. Today, it isn't, revealing the dust and grime along the door in the shape of the mop. Caitlin is supposed to clean this room once every week, but apparently she doesn't do a good job at it.

"I thought you were supposed to leave," I say to Caitlin once she gets off of the phone. "Why are you still here?"

Caitlin gives me a scathing look. I offer her a fake smile. This is usually what our relationship looks like. I say something that makes her angry, she gives me a look, and I send her a fake smile. We rarely get along with each other, which is fine with me. She is just a roadblock to my highway of success.

"My mom is late yet again," she says, surprising me. She never really speaks to me, only to tell me to get out of her way, so this is weird. "I'll have to wait half an hour for her to get here."

"Oh, my mom can take you home," I say. Okay, what is going on with me right now? I don't like her, so why am I offering her a ride home? "She won't mind."

"I'll just go shopping in some of the other stores around here," she says, shrugging. She slips her purse over her shoulder before heading to the door on the far side of the room. Her hand grasps the doorknob as she glances back at me. "It'll be fine."

Caitlin is already out of the door before I can tell her that it's the one that leads outside instead of the one that leads into the rest of the mall. She must know where she's going, though, because she's been working here longer than I have been. I have no idea what she is thinking, going out that way, but I don't follow her to see what is going on with her. There's no point.

Just as I'm about to leave through the back door myself, I realize that I don't have my phone on me. I must have left it back in the store at the cash register or something. I set my purse back down on the table just as I hear a crash coming from the main part of the store.

I hurry to the door and peer out into the store. Chase and Bree are still standing in there, arguing about something. They both look very angry about something; they're probably angry because a major display that Scott just set up yesterday is on the ground, broken to pieces. I'm just about to step out into the main part of the store when I hear Chase say, "Oh, you think you're so clever, don't you? Well, you forgot one thing. I can do this."

My heart stops in my chest at the sight of the things from the display rising up into the air. No one is lifting it up; there's no invisible air current running through this building that could possibly make them fly. There's nothing that could make them rise up like that. Unless . . .

"Oh, please," Bree says like this is totally normal to her. And maybe it is. "You're gonna have to move faster than that."

She takes off running through the small store, but it isn't the normal running that our classmates do in gym class when we're forced to run the mile. No, it's faster than anything I have ever seen before. She can't be the fastest person in the world because she's just a teenage girl who isn't even on the track team. 

There's something seriously wrong with these two if they can make objects fly through the air and they can run faster than Usain Bolt. I'm not exactly sure what's up with them, but I do know one thing: I'm going to get to the bottom of this, whatever it is, no matter what it takes.