Reader: Revolt

Reader: Win

"One of you two will definitely win," Jade whispered to you and Rose, "you guys are amazing at this stuff!" 

You laughed quietly. You had entered your last class totally forgetting about the competition your English teacher had invented a week ago over your book reports. 'Whoever writes the best report wins'. That was it, no elaboration whatsoever. 

Mr. Greensberg-Wright (aka, Mr. G, as everyone calls him) was a bit like that. He was young and liked trying to keep people in suspense and shrouding things in mystery, as he said. Although he usually spilled the beans before the due date, this time he hadn't, and you admit you are a tiny bit proud of your English teacher for apparently scaling a few rungs of his echeladder. 

You felt Rose shake your hand. "May the best writer win." 

You smiled at her and nodded. Rose was practically obsessed with wizards and you knew for a fact that she wrote a lot of fanfiction about them. If the book report had been on a book about wizards, she'd probably have it in the bag. Fortunately for you, the book had not been about wizards, but had instead been about some totally normal kids in the sixties. A book which you luckily enjoyed and had read it a few times previously. 

Although it would feel great to win, you didn't really care much about the competition, especially when you didn't even know what the 'win' meant. He could turn around and say 'the winner is scrubbing toilets for the next week', for all you know. 

 Luckily for you, the 'win' is a chocolate frog. You stood up to a lazy applause from your clearly uncaring classmates, not that you cared. If Jade was any louder, she'd be whooping and whistling. Thankfully, she was only clapping like a five year old hyped up on red cordial and sweets. She beamed at you like it too. Her smile was contagious and you found yourself smiling up at Mr. G, graciously accepting the chocolate and shaking his hand. 

 In that instant of contact, you knew something wasn't right. A buzz had flitted through your fingertips and his eyes had turned pure white for just a single moment, but you saw it. This was a scene you had been faced with nine times previously. You had just met your tenth soul. 

You hurried as quickly as you could back to your friends without making it look like you were hurrying. You sat down and realised that there was quite a large crack in your gold bracelet, and your eyes widened. 

"What's wrong?" Again, the warm whisper of your boyfriend's voice, sounded in your ear. You held up your arm to show him. He sighed and took your wrist, gently touching the gold band with his thumb. 

You were about to tell him he didn't understand, that it wasn't just some random thing from the local store, but then you realised he did understand. From his point of view anyway. He had never seen you go a day without your bracelet, and he was thinking what would happen if it was his shades in that position. He knew the bracelet was really important to you, just like his shades were to him. You sighed as well, slumping into your seat. 

 Was this what Dolorosa had meant when she had said that your friends would discover who you really were? Just like your thoughts earlier this morning, you would be hauled off to area 51 and experimented on because your stupid bracelet had broke. 

You suddenly sat bolt upright in your seat as an idea bounced into your head. Dolorosa had once taught you a tiny bit of strength magic, and you knew now would be the perfect time to use it on your bracelet, to keep your facade up a little longer, although you would have to reveal yourself to your friends.You thought about the magic and about how you would reveal yourself without your friends letting off to the other class members that something was wrong. The only thing you could think of was making them promise not to react, a plan with a lot of holes, but you trusted them. The next problem was getting you all together. 

You decided to tune into your class while you thought of your solution. "You will be working in groups of three to five to complete this project, starting now." Uh, what? Coincidentally, your solution just fell into your lap. Everyone had got up and started moving tables and chairs into their chosen groups, your friends were no exception, moving to be with Rose. You quickly hurried over, pulling your table and chair the short distance to Rose's. 

"So, any ideas?" John looked to you and Rose and you tensed slightly. You had no idea what the project was even about, let alone how to broach the subject of you being an alien. 

"G-Guys," You stammered uselessly, earning yourself a few confused looks from your friends. 

"Are you alright ______?" Jade asked, her head cocked slightly to the side. She reminded you of a dog. 

"I-I'm not sure," You bit your lip. "I need you to help me with something." The looks of confusion mixed with looks of concern, and you sighed. "Alright. Um... I'm going to show you guys a secret. You can't tell anyone or be surprised or say anything or-" 

"Show?" Rose, being Rose, picked up on your use of the word. 

"Y-yeah." You held up your bracelet for them to see. 

"That's a big crack. It won't last long," John stated. 

"Was that the secret?" Jade asked furrowing her eyebrows. 

 "No," you sighed. "You have to promise me that none of you will react. No screaming, no scrambling away, no anything that will alert anyone else." You stared at them fiercely and they nodded. You could see the mixed looks of concern and confusion still etched into their faces, mixing again with slight fear, and you sighed again. "I'm not who you guys think I am," you blushed slightly, realising you sounded like something out of a cheesy film, "and nobody except you can know who I really am. I will explain everything later, but you can't react. At. All." 

 You looked around for a moment before continuing. "This bracelet provides my," you paused for a moment, trying to place the right word, "disguise. And if it breaks, I will be revealed to everyone. So I need to borrow your strength. With four of you, you shouldn't really feel the effects, but you will all be able to see who I really am." You grasped Dave's and Rose's hands, because they were right next to you, observing your friends' faces. Not much had changed from earlier, excepted the looks had deepened, even Dave's. "I need you all to link hands, please." And they did so. "Alright, and remember. Don't. React. Oh, and don't let go of anyone's hand." 

You sighed, trying to relax your thoughts. You felt your facade slide away and, to be honest, you felt naked. You head a few muffled gasps and saw everyone's eyes widen. Then you felt a kiss on your cheek. Looking up you saw Dave, smiling slightly at you. 

"You're even more beautiful."You felt your face heat up and you looked away from him, observing the new looks on your friends faces. They were all smiling and you felt a burst of confidence. 

 "Mr. G is possessed. I have to get rid of the spirit possessing him. What you will be able to see, no-one else in the class will. I will answer your questions soon." They all nodded at you, not really smiling anymore. You closed your eyes, locating you're friends souls and felt the power surge run through you and into your bracelet. You kept your eyes closed and focused on separating your spirit from your body.