Freakshow

Chapter 6

"How should we start?" Beau asked me. I replied, "why don't you give me a demonstration, just so I know how its done." He smiled and shook his head, "okay, here it goes." He stared at one of the dodge balls scattered on the floor, it started to shake and then shot around the gym. I spun around to watch it fly but I tripped over my own foot and fell. I closed my eyes, ready to hit the cold hard floor but I didn't. I opened one eye and then the other, I was suspended in mid air. I looked at Beau, "Are you doing this?" I asked him. He smiled and nodded I was then lifted completely off the ground and put back on my feet. "Whoa," I whispered, "I wanna do that," I told him. He laughed, "I'll show you."

He walked over to me and stood behind me, his hand brushed my arm and it sent shivers down my spine. "Okay, here's what you're going to do. Focus on that ball," he pointed over my shoulder to a dodge ball that sat about seven yards away. I stared at it, "now what?" I asked without looking away. "Imagine it floating up to the ceiling, you can put your hand out to help if you want," he told me. I stared hard at the red rubber ball and in my mind's eyes saw it float up to the ceiling and right back down to the ground. I shook violently and then flew up faster that I had intended. It shattered one of the skylights and shattered glass fell to the floor. Behind Beau laughed and slapped a big hand on my shoulder, "You're really powerful, probably the most powerful tela I've seen yet. You just need to-" I cut him off.

"Wait," I said, "what's a... tela?" He gave me that, how do you not know that kind of look but then his features softened. "Its what we call rookies around here. Now as I was saying, you just need to learn how to control your powers more, then you should be set." I looked up at him, "can we practice some more?" He was still a little sweaty from the game of dodge ball he had just played and his chocolate brown stuck to his forehead in little clumps. He looked down at me and his ocean blue eye bore into my hazel ones and sent butterflies flitting around in my stomach. I didn't crush on a lot of guys back home, and the feeling of having one made me nervous, but I decided not to fight it. "I think we can do that," he said nodding but never breaking his gaze. We hurled dodge balls at each other for a couples hours. Beau taught me how to deflect them and how to control my power more. A few times I let loose and hit him too hard, the impact sent him flying against the wall. Once I held out my hand to help him up but he grabbed it and pulled me into his lap. I giggled and wriggled out of his grasp. I had never felt this way before and I couldn't tell if it was good or bad thing.

Mr. Easton came in to see my progress but stopped in his tracks when he saw the glass from the skylight scattered on the gym floor. I had almost forgotten about it. "Sorry?" I told him, although it was more of a question. He looked stunned, "did you do that?" he asked. I looked at Beau then back to Mr. Easton, "Yeah. Listen, I'm really sorry I didn't mean to..." I faded out because he started to laugh. "Oh, Rose," he said, "this is wonderful! I knew there was something special about you!" He turned around and started muttering to himself about telling someone about me, "uh, Mr. Easton?" I asked, he turned around and looked at me, "yes Rose?" he replied. I pointed to the glass, "what about that?" I asked, he waved his hand, "I'll have it cleaned up. You two take a break! You earned it!" he yelled as he turned and walked back out the door. I looked up at Beau and he shrugged, "Come on, you wanna go get fro-yo? They have a Tutti Frutti in here." I nodded, "sure, that sounds good."

Beau led me to what seemed to be a big food court, filled with fast food franchises like Subway and McDonald's, as well as places like Red Lobster and Applebee's. "Wait," I said, stopping, "I don't have any money." Beau turned around, "you don't need any, it's all paid for by the institute," he said gesturing to the shops around him. "Ya don't say," I muttered to myself. We walked into the Tutti Frutti that was much bigger than the ones we had back in Washington State. We went through the line and I got chocolate and raspberry, the same thing I got every other time we came here. My mom always pushed me to get something different but I was stubborn. Just like my... I started to think but stopped myself, it was too painful to think about. We took a seat on a lime green couch and leaned back against the wall. I peaked over into Beau's cup and saw he had almost the same thing I had, he chose vanilla instead of chocolate though. We ate in silence for a while and then he looked over at me, "so, how's life?" he asked. I opened my mouth to answer but Jamie, Sally, and Autumn came rushing in, "We need you now," Jamie said, "like right now," Autumn added. They then grabbed my arm and pulled me out of my chair, I looked at Beau and gave him an apologetic look. Its okay, he mouthed and waved goodbye.