Woes of a Superhuman

2

James Cartier a.k.a The Nothing

powers: invisibility

"There's something so accessible about heroes who have faults." - Laura Dern

James felt the tingling sensation along his back, making him shiver as his veins slowly coursed with energy.

What he couldn't tell was if it was his powers or her that brought this tingling sensation.

He dodged around other students in the hallways, trying to get away from the classroom as fast as he could. James pulled his hoodie closer to him and turned left and made his way toward the lunchroom.

James sat down at his usual table in the far back corner of the cafeteria. He grabbed earbuds from his backpack and jammed them into his ears before clicking on a random song.

He bobbed his head as a familiar tune blasted through his earbuds and sighed as he closed his eyes, leaning so that his back hits the white painted brick.

James let the worries and stress of the day melt away until he saw one image pop up, the song turning into merely background music.

Her hair- blonde, her eyes- piercing blue. She looked so upset, distraught. But those aren't the right words. James shook his head, a frown appearing on his face as he tried to decipher her emotion.

Lost.

He felt a tug on one of his earbuds, but didn't acknowledge it, still concentrating on the picture in his mind of the beautiful girl that was- for some odd reason- lost. What did she have to be lost about?

"You're going to go deaf if you keep listening to music at that volume." a perky voice echoed through his thoughts, snapping him away from his thoughts. 

James reluctantly peeled his eyes open, to see a brown haired girl in front of him. He let a smile come to his face as he took in her haggard ponytail. 

"You go for a run, did ya' Kip?"

Kip gave shot him a glare, her brown eyes twinkling with amusement, as she reached over and flicked his forehead before fixing her ponytail.

"Asswipe."

Kip placed her backpack on the table and sat in front of him. She looked down at the food James had in front of him, and he nodded. "Go ahead."

Kip flashed him a smile before digging into his sandwich, that he had honest to god forgotten he had pulled out. 

"So what's going on in that little mind of your's meathead?"

James didn't pay attention, all of a sudden feeling creeping into the back of his head; a slight buzzing, similar to a headache- but not really. 

He rubbed the back of his neck for relief, and dropped it when it didn't help.

Kip had moved onto the chips he had, chewing on one as she snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"What?" He asked swatting his hand away from his face.

"Where ya' go? You keep spacing out on me," Kip said a slight frown on her face, " You know, I can't just keep starting these conversations without follow up from you, Jamey."

James made a face at that nickname his best friend made for him. Jamey, ugh. 

He felt the buzzing intensify, and heard a laugh come from inside his head. 

Weird, he thought, the sound was melodic. Girlish even. 

James ran his hand over his face, believing he is going crazy; believing he heard a voice inside of his head. 

The buzzing went away quick and he exhaled, not noticing he was holding his breath.

"Shut up." He mumbled at Kip before stealing a chip back from her. As he crunched down on one, he watched Kip talk about the latest meet. She had beat her record by far; and colleges were already scouting her.

He was happy for Kip, of course. But something pulled in his heart at the thought of her plans for moving far away from Richmond. He knew that as soon as they graduated, he would probably never see his best friend ever again with her wanting to go to school somewhere in Europe. 

As the bell rung, he slid his backpack straps around his shoulder and walked side-by-side with Kip, who was still yapping about how the coach didn't have proper training methods or how she had to do after school training for herself because everyone else couldn't keep up.

James on the other hand, was still stuck on the fact he had heard a girlish voice in his head.