Danni snorted rather loudly. Then she started choking, grasping her chest and gasping for air.
At the same time, Eric plopped down beside June who stared down at her food uncomfortably. She watched his hand shoot up and point in Danni’s direction. He flicked it once and Danni’s choking ceased.
“Always laughing while you drink,” he mused.
“The first time I choked, you were the one that shoved milk up my nose,” Danni shot back, wiping the back of her mouth.
Eric chuckled and turned to his potato jacket. “So how was the basement? I heard they rounded up all the electric-talents for something. Probably testing. It’s about time they did it for you guys as well.”
“About time? What do you mean?”
June sat up straighter with interest but leaned away from him ever so subtly.
Eric frowned, having caught her movement.
Darn. She hadn’t been subtle enough. June averted her gaze to her tomato soup.
“You’d think they’d understand that putting all of us with similar powers together is safer than putting us with other powers that obviously clash.” Eric gestured to the dining hall that was amok with subtle displays of talents here and there. “I remember they mixed telepaths with a bunch of speedsters. They thought the telepaths couldn’t handle being together.”
In a way, June could see the reasoning behind it. Obviously, seeing as they could read thoughts to varying degrees, being in a room with others that could easily invade their own respective minds was obviously not very reassuring. It sounded like a one-way ticket to a psych ward, hearing so many voices at once.
“But those telepaths,” Eric began with a shake of his head and a smile. “The professors found them just sitting there, all having a mental conversation together. It was like they’d created their own personal chatroom with one another. So they put the telepaths into proper groups of skills and stuff.”
“Well to tell you the truth, our testing didn’t go so well,” June told him with a grimace. “I electrocuted one of the professors.”
Danni burst into another round of laughter again, only thankfully this time, she hadn’t been drinking water. However, that did give her freedom to laugh to her heart’s content.
June shrank back in embarrassment.
Max, having noticed this, chucked a spoonful of peas towards Danni who was hit in the face with them.
Danni stopped dead, her glare fixated firmly on their roommate. “Did you just –”
“Danni, are you seriously still so temperamental?” Eric interrupted with a sigh. “And here I was thinking I’d raised you better.”
Danni forced her gaze away from Max who’d turned a little pale at their roommate’s previous angry attention. “You made me into the monster that I am today. Aren’t you proud?”
“Immensely,” he mocked with a grin.
“You two know each other well?” June asked in surprise.
Danni glanced to her with an equally surprised look. “Didn’t I tell you? I’ve practically known Eric since I could walk and talk.”
“And I’ve been trying to raise her so well since then,” Eric added sadly. He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair as if it would start greying at any given moment. “What I’d give to take back those years and raise her properly.”
“I’m genuinely scared for your own kids in the future,” Danni mused. “You couldn’t even raise me well. I mean, look at me.”
As if to prove her point, Danni sprouted a pair of large grey elephant ears and a matching trunk.
YOU ARE READING
Overload
Teen FictionIt's hard enough trying to have a normal life. When a complication forces June to give up the thing she loves most, she resorted to hiding, in hopes that her new-found abilities would fade. However, once things take a turn for the worst, June's eyes...
