Michael Vey: Prisoner of Cell 25

Chapter 9: A New Crowd

The next day I didn't see Ostin until lunch. I found him sitting where we always sat, at a small round table near the vending machines. It was pizza day and he'd gotten an extra slice. He waved to me. "Michael." I sat down at the table.

"Your eye's looking a lot better," he said.

"Thanks. Where were you this morning?"

"I had a dentist appointment."

"How'd it go?"

"It was just a checkup. Two cavities."

"Probably all the ice cream you ate last night," I joked. "At my last appointment I had three. I can only chew sugarless gum now." I opened my carton of milk. "So we're starting a club."

"Who?"

"Us. You, me, and Taylor."

"What kind of club?"

"It's for people with..." I hesitated. I hadn't told him about Taylor. "Unique abilities like mine."

"Excellent. So why Taylor?"

"I don't know. Why you?"

"Because of my intellect, of course."

"Well, there's more to Taylor than meets the eye."

"And with her there's a lot to meet the eye. Her superpower can be that she's super good-looking," Ostin said.

"That's not what I meant," I said.

"What's the club called?"

"We haven't named it yet. Something about electricity. I was hoping you'd come up with something."

"I'll put my computer on it," he said, tapping the side of his head. He took a bite of pizza. Before he'd finished chewing he said, "Hey, we get our tests back in biology today."

"Can't wait," I said sarcastically.

"How'd you do?"

"I don't know. B maybe. If I'm lucky." I didn't have to ask him what he was getting. We both knew he got an A. He could teach the class.

Just then one of the cheerleaders walked up to our table. There was a basketball game today and the cheerleaders always wore their outfits on game day. "Is this seat taken?"

Ostin's eyes were as wide as glazed doughnuts. "No."

"Good." She dragged the chair off to a nearby table.

"Any time, babe!" Ostin shouted after her. "Come back if you need another one. Got plenty of 'em. I'm your chair connection." He turned to me. "Did you see that? She spoke to me."

I nodded. "Yeah, I think that's going somewhere."

He took another couple of bites of pizza. "So what happened with your mom last night? First she's mad as a hornet and then she's taking us out to ice cream."

"She's just afraid that someone will find out about me. That's why we moved from California, you know. And our last apartment."

"Yeah."

"You haven't told anyone, have you?"

"Never."

"Good. Because I'd have to shock you if you did."

He looked at me anxiously. "You're kidding, right?"

"Like an electric eel."

He stopped chewing.

I punched his arm. "Relax, I'm kidding." Then I added, "Sort of."

Just then Taylor walked up to our table. She was also wearing her cheerleader outfit. She looked as pretty as ever. I could feel my tongue knot up, and I started blinking like crazy.