Time for School

Ambush

I stared a Frank for a moment before I spoke up.

"Whoa. ... What's going on?"

He took a hard look at me and sighed heavily. He then loosened up a bit and backed off.

"Sorry about that," he remorsefully replied. "Maybe I came off a little strong there."

"Maybe," I concurred with a confused chuckle. "I noticed you weren't acting very normal during lunch. Any reason why?"

"Yeah," he replied while I straightened my shirt. "It's just that... you and this whole 'change' thing is starting to bug me, man. I think it's great but I can't shake the feeling that there's something more to this. It feels like you're... hiding something. You know that I know you. Something's up and I want to know what it is."

Frank was one of my most trusted friends—He indeed knew me better than anyone. I figured if there was anyone I could entrust my secret to, it was surely him. There was no way he was going to take 'no' for an answer anyway. I took a deep breath and nodded.

"... All right," I sighed, "I'll tell you what it is. But you gotta promise not to tell anyone else - not Nora, not Josh or Brandon... nobody. Okay?"

He was a bit surprised by the request, but nodded in agreement.

"Got it. So what is it? I really have to know."

Then, an impish smirk spread across my lips.

"First...," I trailed off before I blinked my eyes. Everything went silent and immobile around me, including Frank. I calmly circled behind him, blinked my eyes with focus solely on him, and continued on, "...you have to look behind you."

"Whoa!" he shouted in shock as he realized I disappeared behind him. He quickly spun around, his eyes bugged out. His astonishment caused him not to yet realize everything and everyone one else was frozen around us.

"How... what did you...?" he uttered.

"Then," I continued as I calmly looked from side to side. "take a look around."

He mimicked the motions of my head in confusion. Very quickly, it sunk in for him that nobody was moving and everything was quiet. Instead of shouting in response, he slowly walked up to an immobile student.

"Holy... crap..." he uttered in a mix of amazement and trepidation. "What–when did–how...?"

"You okay?" I asked with a chuckle.

"I think so!" he exclaimed with a hand upon his head as his mind tried to process his surroundings. "What is this?!"

I tried not to laugh. It was pretty amusing to me by then just to see peoples' reactions, after becoming so used to it myself.

"Well, I... can freeze time," I casually replied.

"Freeze time?!" he shouted. "Yeah, that's normal! No way, this is a prank... right?"

I smiled as I folded my arms over my chest. "Does it look like one?"

He sighed heavily and took a seat next to an inanimate student. He placed his hands on his knees while trying to steady his nerves for a moment. I had no idea what he was thinking, but, he did ask what I've been hiding. Granted, I know he could've never imagined it would be stopping time.

He was sweating a bit as he then looked up at me with a smirk.

"Wow, man," he remarked. "I can easily understand it all now. Wow. ... If I had this power, I'd be pretty damn confident, too."