Overload

Chapter Three - Crazy Town

It wasn’t long before June felt herself being jolted awake from the uneven car ride. She let out a groan and turned on her side, compromising the comfortable position of her neck. She forced her eyes open and groaned again. When her dad had said early, he’d really meant it.

From the cracks of her drowsy eyes, she could spot the soft orange rays of the sun beginning to peek beyond the thick cover of trees. Though the windows were sealed shut, June shivered from the cold air that had accumulated from within the car.

“Is it always this cold?” she mumbled and pulled her jacket tighter.

From her right she heard the low rumble of her father’s chuckle. “The school is on a hill.”

Well it wasn’t as if she hated the cold. She much preferred it over the heat so at least the temperature wouldn’t be too much of a problem. She figured it was the least of her problems since it was her roommates that she really needed to worry about.

Not that June wanted to sound elitist but apparently being the daughter of one of the school’s deans didn’t give her privileges to a room all to herself. How was she going to cope?

“We have some rules that you need to know,” her dad began.

June was jolted in her seat when they passed over a rather large bump. She moaned when her head fell roughly against the seat. “I can just read the school manual or something.”

“No, these rules are specifically from me to you.”

June squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to go back to his sleep as she felt the car turn.

“At all circumstances, beware the boys,” he began.

The sound of something crunching beneath the tires stimulated June’s senses. She gave up on going back to sleep, guessing that at this point she was too far gone to get a few more hours in.

“Now I don’t mean you can’t date.”

June felt a smirk twitching her lips at his tone. He sounded uncomfortable, uncertain of his own words and if she wasn’t mistaken, he sounded quite troubled with what he was saying.

“But the boys at this age, particularly at this school are immature little kids,” he continued. “So don’t expect too much. The girls are much more civil than them but considerably less than normal high school kids would be.”

“Right, just be antisocial, no worries,” she muttered sarcastically.

Her dad paused. “It’s unhealthy to be antisocial at this age, isn’t it?” He sounded disappointed.

June raised her head to stare at him. Was he actually serious? Had he really considered asking her to be antisocial for the sake of his fatherly conscience?

“Just – I’d rather you stay away from the boys. Make friends, yes. Date . . . not so much. Remember, it’s still a school. You still have grades to keep up and extra classes to maintain to learn about your powers and such.”

June snorted. “The last thing on my mind is boys. The first thing I need to do is learn how not to shock the next guy I even shake hands with.”

“Hmm.”

June raised an eyebrow. Again, her dad had sounded disappointed. Like he wanted her to do exactly that.

She rolled her eyes. Typically dad-like. What more could she have expected, even after all these years? June was still that little girl in her father’s heart and mind so it didn’t come too much as a surprise for her.