HAVRING'S SCHOOL FOR THE GIFTED: Anomaly

The New Kid

            'Riiiinnnngggg!!!! Riiiinnnngggg!!!!' I shut my locker and grabbed my backpack from the grey tile floor. Here goes nothing, I thought as I strolled down the hallway. Having just enrolled in Evelon's esteemed academy, Havring's School for the Gifted, located in Southern Portvan, far from where I had lived, I had no idea how the social order worked. Before I had transferred, I was the in-between girl, the semi-popular nerdy kid. Now, I am determined to fit in, to have a "group." Several older students passed me in the long, crowded hall, not casting a glance my way. I arrived at the sparsely decorated door of my first class and took a deep breath.

"Students, this school year is no different than it was last year. You have advanced in your grade status, but you are still expected to behave in a respectful, orderly manner..." Professor Barnden droned on, explaining the expectations for behavior, dress code, and so forth, but all the while I was taking notes. Not notes for the expectations, but notes from a lecture I was streaming through my phone. Sitting at the back of the classroom gave me an advantage, the teacher couldn't see my earbuds. If the professor were to look at me, he'd only see me jotting down things in my notebook. The lecture was almost over, so I paused it and tuned into the boring monologue of my new teacher. Luckily, I started listening when Barnden got to the interesting portion of his speech. "This year, you will have to complete several tests. These are no ordinary tests, like the many I'm sure you had last year. Each test will be performed using your 'gifts' to help me analyze your abilities, and how well you know their extent. For these tests, you will have a partner. Your partner will remain the same each time, so you need to become familiar with them. I will now pair you up."

"Great. Just great. I'd been told this course was going to be easy. There goes my semester." The guy next to me muttered under his breath, clearly frustrated with the idea of work.

"Carson, you have to work sometime. You'll never get anywhere if you don't put in any effort." A petite girl in front of me had turned around to talk to Carson, looking utterly annoyed with him. The girl happened to notice me. "Hi there! You look like a new face! I'm Brooklynn, but please call me Brook!"

"Hi. I'm definitely a new face, I transferred from quite a while away. My name's Mikaylie." I was quite bored, really looking to observe everyone before making friends, but it would be rude not to respond to someone.

"That is so cool! Have they determined your ability yet, or did they just do the genetic testing to see if you would develop one?" Brook was quite enthusiastic, a little too enthusiastic.

"I'm not really comfortable talking about my 'gifts' as Professor Barnden put it, but you'll see soon enough, I guess." Brook had a look of disappointment on her face, but it quickly disappeared as the old professor began pairing up students. I didn't hear my name for a while, so I put my headphones back in and streamed another podcast, this one a lecture from my favorite professor, Professor Gordon, a super-human history teacher at Wyndsor College, the college every person in Evelon, gifted or not, wished to attend. Lucky for me, I was on track to a scholarship to Wyndsor. All of a sudden, Professor Barnden was at my desk, giving me an evil glare. "Sorry Professor Barnden. I had a podcast I've been dying to listen to, and I thought now would be a good time. But, now I understand I chose a bad time, so you may confiscate my device and headphones."

The old super-human sciences professor softened, seemingly touched by my reply. "It is alright. May I ask what podcast you were listening to? I'm assuming it was semi educational, as most of the students in here have no clue what a podcast is." He smiled, and I immediately liked him.

"I was listening to the latest lecture on super-human history by Professor Gordon of Wyndsor College. He has been studying patterns in the abilities of past heroes, trying to determine an order in which the powers occur." I held up my device and showed him the title of the lecture, and interesting picture of super-human abilities used as the cover. A look of genuine interest came across Barnden's face as he stood, staring at my screen.

He snapped out of his trance before speaking. "Seems like quite an interesting lecture! Perhaps when the day is over I will listen to it myself! Although, I'm afraid I don't recognize you. Would you mind telling me your name?"

Brook then turned from her seat in excitement. "Professor, this is Mikaylie, she transferred from a different school!"

"Thank you Brook. Mikaylie, would you mind introducing yourself? I would like to see your ability before I assign you a partner." With that, the professor walked to the front of the class, beckoning for me to follow. I set my phone down on my desk and slowly walked to the front, trying to avoid stares from my classmates. I joined Professor Barnden at his desk, and he began to introduce me to the sea of unblinking faces. "Students. This is Mikaylie, a new transfer student, as Brook informed me. Having just met her, I need to know her talent before I continue pairing. Please pay attention as Mikaylie demonstrates her gifts to us."

I nodded at Professor Barnden and began to focus. I concentrated on every face in the room, feeling the rippling waves of tense energy. I thought of a single message in my head, and I began to send it through the soundwaves, to each student. "Hi." I could see the initial shock in the faces, before several grins broke out. Professor Barnden looked from the students to me with a confused look, before I sent him a message too. "Telepathy, professor. One of my gifts is telepathic communication." I saw shock on his face too, before he smiled and began clapping. The other students hollered, and I laughed, amused by how amazing they thought I was. Then the professor looked at me, fear in his eyes.

I then received a telepathic message myself. "Just one of your abilities?" Professor Barnden had used my counter power, the ability to grant telepathic communication to others for a short period of time. It was not a separate ability, just the counter ability of telepathy.

"Yes, I have two abilities. I am an anomaly, but the monitoring officials have given me clearance, due to the amount of anomalies in my family. They do not believe it is fair to exile so many members of one family, especially one that has served them for generations, using our special powers. Should I demonstrate my other ability?" Professor Barnden gave me a small nod, and I looked around the room for a small object. I selected a decent sized book from the back shelf, and began to concentrate. I cleared everything from my mind and began to focus my energy on the book. The book slowly creeped off of the shelf, hovering in mid-air before floating over the students' heads and into my hands. Brook shot up from her chair, afraid. For a girl so exuberant, she did scare easily.

"Anomaly! Everybody get away!" Brook bolted for the door, but using my mind manipulation, I managed to calm her down. My manipulative powers allowed me to listen to others thoughts, make them believe different things, make them perform certain actions, and I have the ability to manipulate the objects around me. Brook still looked scared, but she slowly retreated back to her seat.

"Brook's right, I am an anomaly. But, I have permission from the monitoring officials to be in Evelon, rather than exiled to the unexplored. Anomalies are common in my family, and nearly all of them are authorized. The government of Portvan believes my abilities may be helpful to them." In all reality, on part of this story was true. I am authorized because I am the government's weapon. They send me on missions to gather information and complete tasks that are too dangerous for others of super natural abilities.

Brook gave a weak smile, still looking a little shocked. Everyone else in the class however, began rapidly asking questions.

"When did they find out you were an anomaly?"

"Do you have any other abilities?"

"Are you a mutant?" So many questions rang out through the air, and my manipulative powers became overwhelmed. I could hear thoughts when my abilities were still in play, and when large groups of people started talking, a lot of thoughts ran through brain, and overwhelmed me. I could feel myself slipping away, my eyesight going dim, as it does when too many people are talking. I needed to shut off my manipulation, but my energy reserve was depleted. More questions consumed my brain as I slowly lost consciousness, falling to the hard tile floor.