Supernatural Abilities

Chapter Two - The Beginning

I was too focused on this guy that I didn't even notice that Principal Peters was still talking until I heard him asking for me to introduce myself.

"Uhh..." I stuttered out and cleared my throat. "I'm Taylor."

"She'll be the one giving Cole, here, a tour this morning. She's quite a remarkable student so she can answer anything you could possibly want to know," Peters continued but I couldn't bear to let my eyes leave this boys'.

"Actually, I forgot I have a test in first period," I rambled. "Math, y'know, pretty important for graduating. There's no way I'll be able to do this tour with that--"

Peters interrupted me. "I'll talk to your teacher and get it rescheduled. This is pretty important and I can't imagine anyone else but you showing him around."

He continued on about our school while Cole and his father took a seat in the chairs next to mine. I held sweat beading on my palms while I tried to slow my breathing. I felt this Cole guy looking at me from the corner of his eye as I struggled to keep my cool. I knew I was failing even though I'm pretty good at keeping my emotions in check.

Maybe this was a coincidence. After all, it was just a dream. They don't come true.

But they do. Many times I have dreamt of something and later, days or weeks following that night, they end up happening. Minor things like acing a test or Ryan falling down. Some a little bit more important like my dad getting arrested or finding myself having to testify for him in court. Never has anything as scary as the dream I had last night has had even the slightest chance of actually happening. I know Deja vu is a real thing, but this is more than that.

"Taylor?" Principal Peters brought me out of my thoughts. I looked up at him and he had a slightly concerned look on his face while he looked at me. "Are you ready to go and give the tour now?"

I glanced over at Cole and he had an unreadable expression on his face. "Uh, yeah. Let's go then." Without even looking to see if he was following me or not, I practically ran out of the office.

It didn't take long for him to easily catch up with me. My great escape seems to have not been so fast or good. "So you're Taylor," he said as he strolled to my side. "My dad said that the principal kept going on about you and how you're such a good student when he requested a tour."

"Ha, yeah..." I trailed off. "He, uh, seems to like me."

"That's an understatement. You must be his number one student." I didn't reply to that so we continued on with that awkward silence that I was so worried about being prior to being introduced to Cole. Oh, how little my problems were ten minutes ago.

We walked around the school and I would point out different landmarks for him; the gym, music hall, auditorium. It's small around here, only a couple hundred students attending this high school. The town we lived in wasn't the biggest so everyone practically knew everyone.

"So what grade are you in?" He asked.

"Twelfth."

"Hey, me too!" I snuck a peek up at him and he was grinning back down at me. "It's a pretty nice school. Got any siblings that go here?"

"No, I'm an only child."

"Really? Must be lonely with just your parents around the house, huh?"

I clenched my teeth. I expected small talk, not a game of twenty questions. I liked the awkward silence more than this. "It's only my dad and I."

"Oh," he paused for a moment. "Divorce?"

"My mother died when I was twelve."

"Ouch, sorry to bring that up... Cancer, I'm guessing?"

Didn't this guy have any boundaries? This is a topic I have never liked nor wanted to talk about with anyone, let alone a complete stranger. Even Ryan hardly knew the entire story of my mom because I didn't like talking about her or what happened. He knew her before she passed away, we were best friends long before that as well, but he holds back from asking questions due to my feelings concerning the situation.

"No," I looked him straight in the eye with a standoff-ish glare. "Car accident."

He only hummed in response, obviously backing away from the forbidden topic, and continued walking in silence. The only sound that would break the reverie was myself occasionally making comments about the campus. He didn't seem too interested in the tour and acted more like his head and thoughts were in another place.

"Can we look at the field?" he finally asked. "I'm really into sports." Nodding, I started heading there.

The field was a bit separated from our actual school. It's on the same land, but a barrier of trees lined the outside. It was a regulation sized football arena, but didn't have the same pizazz as a larger, wealthier school would. It was still early morning so all of the gym teachers had their classes inside to save their students from getting cold in the dewy air.

"This is the field," I went on to say. "We're known as the Bobcats and--"

"Taylor Elise Buckley," he interrupted me. I turned around and he was leaning against a tree. "Seventeen years old. Daughter of Richard and Sarah Buckley. Born and raised in the same exact city, state, and house for your entire life."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "How do you know that?"

"I know quite a bit about you, Miss Buckley," he began looking at his hands. "From your entire background to the reasoning behind your eye color. Your parents have green and brown ones, so how exactly did you end up with gray? I'm not an expert in genetics or anything, but I'm pretty sure that's not how they work."

Putting my fear and wonder about how he knew all this information about me on hold, my mind stuck to what he was saying about my eyes. That question was always a mystery to me. No one in my family, let alone anyone I know, has eyes like mine. I'm not just talking about color, but overall appearance. When people think of gray, it's usually a bland color. However, my eyes are unusual, striking even, and bright. They stand out and while I liked them, it was always to go-to compliment for other people to give me.

Cole continued on without answering the question he proposed. "You were a bit of a mystery to us because you showed little to no signs of power besides that one day." His eyes met mine. "But just seeing you now, I know this lead was correct."

I gave him a confused look. "What are you talking--"

"You're different. Not just a little off meaning you like pulp in your orange juice or crunchy peanut butter or whatever other weird tendencies that people like or do, but I mean you have an ability."

I stared at him in utter confusion. "Okay, you're not making any sense and quite frankly, I need to get to class now. You saw every part of the school and I'm sure you can make it back on your own--"

I began walking back but he stuck his arm out to block me. I would have normally pushed past or went around, but when flames licked up his entire arm, I was taken by surprise. His arm was bare, no clothing in the way or anything as the fire flickered and I felt the heat radiate off of it. The air was damp so any kind of random forest fire would have been next to impossible, though it would make no sense because it was focused on him. However, above all, Cole looked fine--comfortable even.

"What the hell are you?" I jumped back. He had a slight smirk on his face as the flames disappeared and he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm just like you."

_______________________

It's a short one, I know, but I promise the the upcoming chapters (after all this introduction business) are longer!

Well, thank you SO much for all the support on the last chapter! I hope this one spikes your interest as well. As always, thank you for everything and see you soon for chapter three :)