Trial 017 - 2019 Wattys Sci-Fi Winner

Chapter 1

16.9.2722

"Hey, Neutral!"

I didn't glance up from my e-book. Usually, some of the kids would get bored and move on. No sense in going out of their way to trouble the Inert kid in the corner.

"What're you reading?" the boy demanded.

I peeked over the edge of my e-book and squinted against the sunlight at the figure approaching me. Dustin. That kid was a regular. He was sixteen, two years older than I was, and he stood a whole head taller. Several years on the gladiator team had given him shoulders broad enough for two people. I quickly glanced back down at my e-book, glueing my eyes to the screen and hoping in vain that he'd go away. He always liked stealing something-if not cash, then anything of value that I had on me. Even when I didn't carry anything important on me, he still made a point of trying, if only to prove he could. I hated him.

"Hey!" Dustin roared, stomping to a stop at my feet. "I asked you a question!"

He twisted his hand, summoning an invisible force that wrapped around my torso in a vice grip, attempting to force me to my feet. I staggered upright, dropping my tablet in the process. Around him, his friends from the gladiator team gathered up at a safe distance, forming a wall between my corner of the yard and the path to safety.

"It's rude to ignore someone when they're talking to you."

I stared him down, doing my best to maintain my blank expression. I couldn't give him something to latch onto. Kids like Dustin, they only wanted to show off. He was the strongest Kinetic on our school's gladiator team, and since Kinetic abilities weren't allowed in the classroom, he took every opportunity he could get to show off his powers outside. So of course it made sense for him to target the one kid who couldn't fight back.

Anyway, this wasn't my first time dealing with punks like him. I know people say if you stand your ground, you'll discourage the bullies, but that's not the case here. If an Inert stands up to a Kinetic, they get chewed up for breakfast.

"Hey, Dustin," I said as calmly as I could. "I thought you were trying to get in extra practice during the lunch hours."

"Coach is cutting us some slack after I won us the last game," he said, shrugging. "I wiped the floor with Lasko High's heaviest hitters. You know, Charlie, you should come to the matches one day. Maybe you can pretend you have powers as you sit and cheer for us on the bleachers."

At that, he laughed, and his friends laughed with him. By now, I'd heard that joke often enough that I only stared back expressionlessly, patiently waiting for them to finish up and leave. Seeing my lack of reaction, Dustin scowled, and I felt the invisible bonds around me tighten. Before I knew it, my backpack was swept off the ground, flying into his hands. He handed it off to his friends without skipping a beat, waiting for them to ransack it. I didn't flinch. I'd gotten into the habit of keeping it mostly empty a long time ago.

By now, this was almost a daily ritual for me. Every day at lunchtime, I carried my meal out onto the rooftop yard of my school, which was actually pretty roomy considering the city already suffered from severely limited space. I used to eat in the bathroom, but I had learned the hard way a while back that the bathroom offered few escape routes and no adult supervision. That's why I just stuck it out up here. Even then, Dustin and his friends still found a way to torment me, but at least they could only limit themselves to minor pranks and insults.

"Nothing," one of his friends said, letting it drop to the ground. "It's empty."

"What about that?" Dustin asked.