mutated

chapter five: adriana's existential crisis

It wasn't every day a guy who was skinny and looks like can stretch actually stretches like Elongated Man from DC.

And I have no idea how to make sure a guy keeps their mouth shut. Sexist, I know, stereotyping guys as the ones that can't keep their mouth shut when the girls are the ones that are usually portrayed as gossips, but honestly, the guys in my class were as bad as any clichéd gossip girls. When they spread rumors, they spread fast.

Anyways, back to how I found out that Ryan was also mutated. In one of the weirdest, and I'm sorry, grossest ways possible. It was during water polo, of all things. Ryan Lam had been the goalie, his tall and lanky frame making him the usual choice, and as his fellow Ryan slammed the ball at the goal, he had stretched, his arms lengthening until he reached the ball and stopped it from going in. Sure, we had stopped the ball, but it was still sort of gross.

Thank all and any of the gods above for some extra splashing I cooked up to stop everyone from seeing it. Ryan Lam, however, was keeping his arm underneath the water, the refraction of light stopping others from realizing his stretched arm, and it was only then that I realized his arm hadn't retracted.

The game went on like that, Ryan soon realizing I was covering up his arm for him once in a while with some extra splashing, and he gave me a discreet but thankful smile every time I managed to block the ball before he was required to catch it. It was also then when I realized that he wasn't the only one who's mutation was developing in the pool.

Normally, I played midfielder or attack, and I would flank on the side as a wing to catch the ball from whoever was in the middle since although I was one of the faster swimmers in my class, I wasn't really one to start scuffling in the middle of a 3-meter deep pool. That job was usually left for Abby and Elisabeth, the other two fastest swimmers in our class.

The two would never be put on the same team since our PE teacher isn't a complete idiot, so it was often fun to bet around on who would get the ball first as it was thrown in the middle.

But today was different.

Every. Single. Time. Abby got the ball.

Now, I'm not being salty. Or I'm not trying to be. But soon, I realized that the water was helping Abby. I was pretty sure that ripples and splashes do not suddenly change direction by themselves. Or that water current will swirl around someone's feet so they don't have to tread water to keep afloat.

Although I myself did use my powers as sneakily as possible to help, Abby was taking it to a whole new level and did it in such a way that I thought she had entire control over her abilities.

Turns out, she was manipulating the water subconsciously. She had no clue that she was hydrokinetic. At all.

After explaining the situation to Ryan Lam, and then threatening to slap him again if he told anyone, I hurried up to the girls changing room, eager to get up there before everyone dripped water all over the floor and made it impossible to change without getting your skort wet. As I finished changing, Karyn helping me strap on my brace, I moved to leave.

Abby was washing her hands, and I watched her carefully. When she took out her hands to add soap, I realized that her hands were completely dry. About that, even her hair was completely dry, not in the hilarious spikes it would often end up in. I'm sorry Abby, but it's true. That confirmed my suspicions that she was a hydrokinetic.

As she placed her hands back into the water, I wasn't the only thing that froze. The water, like a glorified ice fountain from Frozen, had completely iced over, spreading out in a very pretty sprout shaped statue. She immediately smashed it, looking cautiously over towards the rest of the girls, before continuing to wash her hands.