Dawns High and the Destruction of the Bees

Con.

Roy McCarthy:

August, 28th—

It's 7 AM in the morning. Gosh, why wake up so early? This is like one of the last chances I get to sleep in before school starts—then again, did I ever arrive at school on time? Guess it doesn't matter. I get out of bed and go to the bathroom to look in the mirror. Handsome as always, I see. For the next few minutes, I do different poses until actually brushing my teeth.

I go to the kitchen to make myself some cereal. I bring it to the balcony and set it on the table. Not a bad view of the forest from here, pretty clean. I enjoy my time alone. It feels peaceful and I can think about everything in my life.

Yesterday, I arrived at Dawns from Tenters. George Hum, my closest friend, came with me. My parents forced me to come to school here. They said it was good for me and a whole lot of other crap. As if. I wanted to go to a high school near my house, most of my middle school friends are going there. At least George came with me. Me, George, and another boy called, Matthew Lin, are sharing the apartment. It's directly facing the forest and one of the fourteen apartments on this floor—that is, the third floor.

There are two different poles for the dormitory buildings—the north end and south end. The entrances to each side of the dormitory are different so it's like there are two dormitories each for girls and boys. At one end of the dormitory is 7 apartments and there are 7 floors to the dormitory so in total, each floor has 14 apartments and each full dormitory has 98 apartments.

I sit down in the chair by the table and eat my cereal while reading a book. As I finish and head back inside, I find Matthew and George eating breakfast together. "What are you guys talking about?" I ask.

"Just getting to know each other," George replies, "Come, you haven't introduced yourself yet."

The Matthew boy says, "Hi, I'm Matthew Lin, from Falce. Nice to meet you" He looks good, but definitely nowhere close to my level of handsomeness. Matthew also seems like a guy who'd wear a suit and beat a bunch of old greedy businessmen when talking about a contract. Wait—what am I thinking?

It seems like we're around the same height so I'll feel better whenever walking next to George, who is 6 ft 3 inches. Yes, I know. I may dream to be that tall, but I don't see how that's going to be possible as I'm only 5 ft 8 inches.

"Roy McCarthy and I'm from Tenter," I say. "Eh—pleasure to meet you too."

"Since when do you have manners?" George asks. Dude, I'm sometimes human okay? Of course I have manners. I kick his leg under the table.

"Ouch! What'd you do that for?" George says, rubbing his calves.

"Do what for?" I ask, pretending not to know anything. George gets up and goes to wash his belated clean.

Focusing on Matthew, I say, "Look, we're all gonna be buddies for the next four years, but some rules need to be established. First, don't ask me for my level. Second, don't be annoying. Third, don't be stupid, and the list will grow. Until then, if you follow these instructions, I guess we can live peacefully. Deal?"

"Okay, I'm fine with them, but before we make a deal, I have my own terms. Clean up after yourself, do not ask me for my level either, do not throw your clothes everywhere, and I get to ask you one question," Matthew says, a smug grin on his face. Or maybe that's his usual smile.

I'm surprised. Nobody has ever negotiated with me before. They normally get weird out and will leave me be for the rest of eternity. It doesn't bother me because it's my goal to make them get as far away as possible. And a question? It can't hurt right? This guy is different, but what kind of different?

"Fine," I say, "What is it?"

"What is your power?" he asks. Well, I should've said I don't want to tell him my ability either, but it's a bit too late now, isn't it?

"My ability allows me to copy someone else's ability to a certain extent," I say.

"What is 'a certain extent'?" Matthew asks. This guy sure likes to know everything.

"That's two questions," I remind him.

"Maybe you cut my question off before I can finish asking you," Matthew says. What a sly person.

"I can only copy one's power when I'm exposed to it, but to my level. So if the person's level is lower or greater than mine, I'll still be able to copy their ability, but to my level. Also, I can't copy the abilities of the 4 families," I say. There's some other limits, but who's this guy to know so much about me?

"Got it," he says.

"Now, my turn. What if your ability?" I ask.

"I don't recall you being able to ask a question? Was it in your terms?" Matthew asks.

"That is where you are wrong, my dude. Maybe you just forgot about it," I say. I'm not letting him get away with everything. If I did that, my name wouldn't be Roy.

"I can create fire, control it, and do whatever else related to that," Matthew answers, giving in. Wow, that's some cool ability. I wonder how strong he is. Matthew is from Falce. He can't be too weak no? Plus, he looks like your typical strong opponent.

"Okay," I say, standing up to go to my bedroom. "Later then."

The thing about levels is that even if you are only 0.1 away from another person, that's considered a big difference between your powers. What your ability is, also makes a difference; but at the end of the day, it's your skills that will decide the final outcome of the battle.

There aren't many powerful people anymore. Most don't even reach level 5 by the end of their lives. There are only about 25 living people whose power level reaches 10. One of them is Mr. A, principal of Dawns High. People say he is a mysterious man and my wish is to never meet him in all my time here.

Today, me and George are supposed to go around town, to get familiar with this place because we've never been here before. Well, I've been here once when I was little, that's about it.

I go back to the living room after half an hour. "Are you ready to go yet?" I call out to George. He gives me a thumbs ups and starts to get ready.

"Where are you guys going?" Matthew asks. George replies, "Just walking around, you know, to get to know this place better."

"Oh, same. I'm supposed to meet my friends in 10 minutes," Matthew says.

"See you later then!" George calls and we walk out the door.