Unordinary: New Student

21: The Book Talk

The next day, on the Rooftop.

***

John's POV

I sighed gloomily, sitting between Sera and Stephanie. They looked up from their phones, eyebrows raised. "What's up with you?" Sera asked.

"I just found out our report cards are coming out this Friday." I groaned, my stomach churning as I thought about my grades. "Man, even the thought of it makes me nervous!" 

While Stephanie's expression changed to something close to mine, Sera just scoffed. "There's nothing you can do about it now, so there's really no point stressing out about it."

"Easy for you to say!" I wailed. "They're not your grades!" 

Stephanie nodded. "Ugh, I'm really worried about my history grade! I failed the last test."

"I'm worried about all my subjects!" I threw my hands up into the air in frustration. "I'm so screwed!"

Seraphina cleared her throat. "John," She said, glancing at me before continuing to play her game on her phone. "I don't think I can give that book back to you."

After a moment of silence, Stephanie voiced exactly what I was thinking. "Elaine found it, didn't she?"

"Oh come on, Sera!" I yelled. "You're always so careless! I even warned you and everything! You may have godly abilities, but you can't rewind all your mistakes!"

"Okay, okay," Sera mumbled. "I get it. I messed up."

"So the question is," Stephanie said. "What do we do about it?" 

Seraphina waved away our concerns. "I'll keep the book and make sure they don't trace it back to John. Don't worry about me." She added as she caught the looks on our faces. "They'll be lenient with me. After all, I'm Wellston's Ace."

"Anyway," I said dropping the subject. "What did you think about the book?"

"Honestly," Seraphina replied. "I thought it was a bit absurd." As I started to get up, frustrated, she grabbed my shirt and pulled me back down. "But I figured I wasn't getting the full picture. Maybe you can clear some things up?" 

***

After I had explained the main ideas of the book, I looked expectantly at Stephanie , who had been listening quietly. "Stephanie?" I prompted. "Have you read it?"

"Yeah," she replied softly. "When it was first published." 

"And," I raised my eyebrows. "What are your thoughts?"

"I'm with Sera on this one," she said with a small frown. "It's quite unbelievable." As my face fell, she quickly added, "It's not that I'm looking down on these superheroes. I'm just saying that I don't think what they're doing is practical. There are things even high tiers can't do anything about. Take Ember. They've been killing off superheroes like it's nothing." Stephanie paused for a second before saying, "And the goal they're working towards. To make everyone equal? Protect the weak? Let's face it, society isn't going to accept that. Especially the stronger people. You can't change human nature."

"But shouldn't we at least try?" I said, disheartened. 

Her gaze softened. "John, I'm sure the change you are hoping for will come. Just not now."

Sera cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, John. I know that book meant a lot to you."

I closed my eyes, leaning back. "Nah, it's okay. I've read it plenty of times already." I sighed. "Maybe it's about time I took a break from it..."