The Super Enrichment Programme

I'm coming over.

After the long drive home I trudged slowly up the stairs to take a shower and change.

I thought about everything that had happened whilst I went through my wardrobe to find something to wear. I chose a pair of joggers and a baggy hoodie because I’m not planning on going out anytime soon.

I dragged my feet down the stairs to see what was for tea, only to find my parents curled up on the sofa, both silently crying.

‘C-can I order pizza?’ I muttered, watching as my dad turned to face me.

‘Sure, don’t worry about us, get what you want. My wallet’s on the side in the kitchen,’ he whispered and I nodded, backing out of the living room as quietly as I could.

I grabbed the phone and ordered a large spicy pizza from dominoes before collapsing into one of the kitchen chairs to wait for it to be delivered.

I pulled out my phone and realised that since Ethan Texted me earlier Hale and Nolan had been trying to get hold of me. I had three missed calls and texts from each of them.

To: Hale/Nolan

From: Gemma

Sorry I didn’t reply before but I was at the hospital, Tom got hit by a car on his way home from school. Only a few minutes after we broke out of SEP.

I sent a reply and put my phone down, not expecting an instant reply.

To: Gemma

From: Hale

Ok don’t worry. Is Tom ok?

To: Hale

From: Gemma

He’s unconscious and has to stay in hospital for at least a week coz he’s broken both his arms, his left leg, collarbone and a few ribs. He could puncture one of his arteries if he moves too much before his ribs have healed.

I started crying again as I relived what the doctor had said to tell Hale about his friend. I hope he’s dealing with it better than I am.

To: Gemma

From: Hale

Oh my god, that’s awful. Are you okay?

To: Hale

From: Gemma

I’m getting there

That was all I managed to type before my vision blurred from another wave of tears.

To: Gemma

From: Hale

I’m coming over.

I didn’t argue with him, right now I could do with my best friend and seeing as she hates my guts (and apparently my entire family) I really appreciate him caring.

Hale turned up at the same time as the Pizza Delivery guy.

‘Are you hungry?’ he asked when he saw the huge pizza I was clutching.

‘Just a little,’ I muttered, leading him upstairs.

We sat on my bed eating the pizza with the radio on in the background.

‘What did your parents say about being at school for so long?’ Hale asked.

‘They haven’t said anything, they were on the phone with the hospital when I walked in so they didn’t really pay that much attention to me,’ I explained as he nodded in understanding.

‘Well Emma was smart about it. It seems she rang all our parents telling the, that we would be staying on at school for about 4 days for a project,’ Hale told me, a grim smile on his face, ‘She sure is good at being bad, she’s thought of just about everything every time,’

‘She didn’t want anyone looking for us,’ I concluded and Hale nodded.

‘That’s what I thought,’ Hale added.

‘She’s always wanted to catch someone who was doing something like this,’ I muttered, ‘Ever since we were little and we knew about our powers, she used to pretend she was a bad guy to try and find out what they would attempt to do to stop people finding out what they were doing,’ I looked up to see that Hale was looking at me with wide eyes.

‘It seems she has continued this ‘Research’ but used it for the opposite of how the young her intended it to be used: To stop people catching her.’ I finished.

‘That all makes perfect sense,’ Hale said with awe, ‘Do you think we can use this against her?’ he asked.

I hadn’t thought about it like that before, and I only just remembered that she used to do that anyway.

‘I’m not sure,’ I whispered.

‘Did you ever pretend to be bad with her? Or write down what she…’ He trailed off, watching as I leapt off of my bed and started to rummage through a draw full of old scrapbooks and memories.

I pulled out the very book I was looking for: A red hardback notebook with ‘Top Secret’ and ‘DO NOT ENTER’ written all over the cover.

‘We both had one of these, and we wrote everything in here.’