The Innates (Book #1)

Chapter 17

"So, Jess..." Ace sits at the lunch table, where Jackson and I sat yesterday. "How was your first day of training?"
"Well, I stabbed a dummy, I threw a knife at a dummy, Alice hates me, and I have to study all kinds of Innates. I'm feeling okay." No seriously, nothing good happened and nothing bad happened. So I guess I'm stuck.
"Okay, let me go over it with you, Jess. To make up for the time I wasn't there for you." Ace suggested.
"It's okay, Robert came to my rescue. In time."
"You're mad?"
"I'm not mad, I'm just really... anxious, 'cause I don't wanna fail." I read through the words over and over.
"Give me the paper... let's see, what are Hypnotics?"
"Hypnotics are people who can enter your mind and control your thoughts, push."
"Okay, excellent... what are Controllers?"
"Telekinetics, like Jackson right here." I see Jackson stuf his whole mouth with a turkey sandwich, looks like his jaws are about to break. "Slow down, Jackson, you're gonna choke."
"Mm-mm, I'm starving. No one's stopping me!" He distinctly mumbled. It made me smile, but more anxious.
"Okay, Jess, focus." Said Ace. "What are Beamers?"
"That's a tough one, so I'm gonna say... laser-vision and x-ray vision?"
"Good job! Okay, I'm gonna give you a hard one: What are Blockers?"
"Easy, Blockers are able to block telepathic waves."
"And...?" I chitter my teeth nervously.
"Uhm... don't tell me, don't tell me." I insisted, but I wanted him to tell me, but no.
"They are also telepathic." I groaned angrily.
"You know, Mr. André's not gonna test you, you know that right?" My heart suddenly breaks and melt through my chest.
"What...?" I took a long pause. "So I reviewed for nothing? Man, I have to be less anxious next time."
"Or at all." He said.
"Yeah, well..." All of a sudden, Jackson started coughing and grappling his chest. He slides down his chair and pounded on his sternum. His coughing grew more agonized, Ace and I rushed to his aid.
"Dang it, he's choking!" Ace yelled.
"Yeah, no kidding... Jackson, I told you to slow down and now look what happened!" Jackson strikes the tip of his shoe against my stomach, trembling.
"Hold on!" Ace said, punching Jackson's gut, which was idiotic. Jackson's breathing worsened.
"I'll take care of this!" I shoved him away. How will I get to stop this flailing worm from kicking? "Jackson! Stop, I'm gonna have to use my powers on you, don't worry. Everything's fine, everything is okay." I slowly made my two tallest right fingers intangible and slightly move them around. As I felt something greasy touch my fingers, I scooped it out immediately no matter how disgusting it was. Jackson peacefully closed his eyes before I could pull out what was clogged inside his throat.
"Jackson, wake up, it's over." I said.
"He's not breathing!" Ace sounded panicked.
"No kidding!" I yelled. The students in the cafeteria looked again at me in terror. I pressed the side of my head on his chest to check his breathing. No sign, no beating. No hope was lost, so I stacked my hands against each other on top of his chest and pushed as hard as I could three times. I checked his breathing again. I pushed three times again, nothing.
"I think he's dead. Not Jackson." A student from behind cried.
"No he's not!" I shouted.
Not for long, a greasy projectile shoots out of the breathless Jackson. No one knows where it landed, but his eyes shot open and gasped for his life.
"Jackson!" I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him close to me. I embraced him. "You're alive." I said.
"Jackson, I'm glad you are okay. I'm so sorry I punched you I--"
"It's all right, I know you meant well." He sounded hoarse.
The students, again, applauded and chanted my name out loud. Out of all the students, the tallest one appeared. But it wasn't a student, it was Mr. André.
"Jess, you saved a life." He said as Jackson stands up, full of life. "Here is what you deserve..." I was expecting a medal, but expecting will lead you to depression and losing hope. Instead, it was a knife. Not just an ordinary knife, its blade was crafted with coldsteel and the handle was copper. It was smoother than the elevator's walls. I shook his hand firmly and everybody proceeded to clap.
"You did it again, Jess." Ace said as they both hugged me. Jackson's embrace was tighter than Ace's. I couldn't stop breathing hard, luckily I carried my inhaler.

After everyone stopped panicking, the solemnity of the cafeteria went back. Everything is calm and peaceful. Like a rockless stream, it never stopped flowing, no waterfall.
"Jackson! Jess!" I recognize that squeak anywhere, it's Sarra. But she brought Alice with her. She seemed extinguished. "We heard what happened, are you okay?" Sarra squeezed her body between me and Ace, despite her average body weight. She's not skinny or brawny. Everything is perfectly average. Alice sat next to Jackson and pouted when she saw my face.
"Why's everyone so worried? I'm all right, okay?" Jackson said, he gulped the last swallow of his third bottled water.
"Hey, guys!" Two guys greeted and walked to our table. It was Robert and Zach. Wait, it's not some other guy, it's the oldest kid that played with Jackson's group. He settles infront of me and shook my left hand without me offering it, "Hi. It's Jess right?"
"Hi, Zach." I smiled. Everything felt like all was in place. I got accepted to this academy, I'm a Seeker in-training, I fell off a rooftop and survived, I saved Jackson's life, and now everybody loves me. I guess
"First, the dummies and now, Jackson. Is there anything you can't do? I mean, except for being too sensitive." Alice said.
"He's not sensitive, Alice." Sarra said. "At least he fell off the building and survived instead of just beating up the man who tried to kidnap you. Your way of getting accepted to this school was so cliché."
"Say that again or I swear I'll extinguish your flames!" Alice drops her hand on the hard table.
"Girls, stop!" Jackson said.
"This is about Jess..." Said Robert. "not you guys."
"Not my fault I was kidnapped." Alice said.
"Alice..." Jackson frowned.
"Not my fault you were so vulnerable back then." Sarra blurts out. Alice clenched her fist and all her bones and ligaments crackle. I leaned against Ace.
"Didn't I tell you two to stop?!"
"Let's get back to class, before a bloodbath occurs. The bell is about to ring and we're all done with assisting the students today, right?" Zach said.
"Yeah, training is done and it's time for academic stuff." Robert said. "Oh, Jess, here's your schedule..."
"An index card? That's all?"
"Pretty much, yeah." Sarra said.
"Hey, we have the same classes!" Ace said. "Now, I'm your tour guide again."
"You two have fun in class!" Zach said as the seven of us parted our ways.
"Okay, bye!"
"Don't we need our stuff?" I asked.
"We have lockers, let's share mine for now."
"For now? I'm sorry, I do not know how to open a locker."
"We don't need combinations, you just punch in the numbers of your password. It's super easy and the buttons are really squishy."
"Oh, okay."
"The principal's probably gonna assign you to your locker and give you the map of the campus."
"Wow, it's gonna be a long day." I said, walking inside the elevator along with the other students.