Better Undercover

Chapter 3: I May or May Not Have Tried to Destroy the School

Chapter 3: I May or May Not Have Tried to Destroy the School

The next day at school, I was sitting in the caferteria as usual. But today I was on my phone, actual involved in the group chat. Nikki made sure everyone included me, and they were, even though I could tell some of them weren't happy about it. I smiled.  I had someone who was there for me.  Some people even seemed happy to talk to me.  I got some 'Hey, Courtney's and smiles in the hallway in the morning, and one girl from track even texted to wish me good luck on a big project.  Today was starting to be a pretty good day.

I'm pretty sure I jinxed myself, because the rest of the day took a sharp turn for the worst.

The first thing I noticed was the heart charm on my bracelet was gone.  The one physical sign I had connecting me to my best friend was gone.

"Hey, Chloe!" someone said as she came over to me. "Chloe!" I looked up. It was Hillary. I didn't spend a lot of time with her, barely any, actually. She wasn't in any of my classes, she wasn't in my friend group or on any of the clubs or teams I was on, but her locker was next to mine so I saw her every morning.

"Chloe!" she was looking right at me. "You're Chloe, right?"

I shook my head. "No." It's almost the end of the year, how don't these people know my name?

"Oh. Becca?" she asked.  I couldn't tell if she was joking or not, but I was pretty sure that she wasn't.  She had no idea who I was even though we were locker neighbors.  And we went to middle school together, but that seemed to slip her mind.

"Courtney," I replied emotionlessly.

"Oh. Anyway, I heard someone say you were dating Mackenzie's cousin, but I didn't think that was true because Lindsey is dating him, but I wanted to check with you."

"I didn't even know Mackenzie had a cousin, and I'm not dating anyone. You can go tell that to Mackenzie, Lindsey and whoever told you that."

She took a step back. "I was just checking, jeez. No need to get all defensive.  Someone saw the pictures."

I thought it was a perfectly good time to get defensive.  "What pictures?"

"From last week's party.  Were you really that drunk that you don't remember it?" Hillary asked.

"I don't go to parties, and I don't drink.  Let me see the pictures."  I reached for her phone.

"No, don't touch my phone," she said.  "I'm not showing them to you.  You know what I'm talking about and you're just trying to deny it."

 Instead of responding, I turned I walked up the stairs and when I made it to the top I heard laughing and looked down. My group of friends was walking up. It didn't surprise me.

Molly was looking particularly smug, and I had little doubt that she was the one who started that rumor in order to get me back for being in the group chat.

As they rounded the flight of stairs to get to the floor that I was on, I turned and someone opened the door and hit me in the face. I heard Molly and other people laughing.

I lost control. I was so mad at everyone for being against me.  They didn't understand was I was capable of and I was going to show them.  I was no longer going to be the nerdy girl who no one liked, who was too quiet and too goody-goody for anyone to be friends with, who was involved as much as possible and still was a nameless student.

Every door in the hallway was disintegrated. Which made everyone stare at me. A few of them were staring with their mouths open.

I regained a little focus and figured I should try something. Maybe I could try to control it, just a little bit. It couldn't get worse than it was right now.  I had to show them; had to be better than them, for once.

I closed my eyes and I was able to bring all my energy to my hand. There was a ball of fire floating on my hand. That was the first time I was able to control it in some way. It made me feel so powerful, and I had to try something else. I focused some of my energy to my feet and I started hovering.

Everyone looked terrified, and I didn't care. I was more powerful than them for the first time. I was better than them for the first time. And they realized it. I was going to make them all pay for how they treated me. I hated all of them. None of them were ever my friend.

Suddenly, someone was holding my arm. I looked down; it was Nikki. "Please, Courtney. Please calm down."

The look in her eye was just like when another one of our best friends moved in 8th grade, the sadness of losing a close friend for a while to a complete  unknown.  I may still be here, but I was slowly moving towards the unknown of being control by something none of us understood.  Power.

I stopped flying and the fire flickered out. I collapsed onto my knees and stared at the hallway, the doors that were no longer there and the faces of everyone. "What did I do?" I asked.

"Nothing. Besides the doors, nothing," Nikki said as she sat next to me. "You're ok."

"I was going to hurt them. I was going to kill them. And I wanted to."

She shook her head. "That's not you. That's the power talking, controlling you. I know you better."

"I have to get out of here."

"No, Courtney. Please stay. We can help you figure this out."

"Figure what out?" Everyone was still in the hallway staring at me. "I have superpowers. Powers that I can't control and that are just going to end up destroying the school and everyone in it. I know nothing about my powers besides the fact that it hasn't happened this bad ever. It's been getting steadily worse. And now that everyone knows I have powers, it's not going to help."

"It'll be ok," Nikki said. "Nothing is going to happen to you.  Everyone is going to accept you and not have a problem with it."

I felt flames on my hands again. "No, they won't be mean to me. They're afraid of me. Afraid of the freak. Look around, Nikki. Look at their faces."

She did and I stood up. "Courtney, please don't leave."

"I can't talk about this in front of everyone. And I'm not going somewhere else to talk."

"Hey, everyone. Could you do us a favor and give us some space?" Nikki asked. No one moved.

I stood up and the flames on my hands got bigger. "We asked you to move! Are you going to do that, or just stand there and look stupid?"

Everyone ran down the stairs. I heard Molly say, "She was a dweeb before, now she's a freak too. She's just digging her own grave."

I sighed. "See Nikki. Before I was a nobody; now I'm a freak. And I can't do anything about it.  You heard them.  They made up their mind.  And I can't change it."

"But I can help you."

I heard teachers talking on the stairs and in the classrooms. I shook my head. "I have to go."

"I will help you, and I will make sure when you come back people will accept you."

"Then I guess I won't be coming back. Ever." I ran down the hallway and jumped out the window and started flying. I had to go anywhere but here, at least for now.