Gifted Children

Chapter 8

"Um, alright," Markus said a little nervously.

He pulled off his hood, and what they saw was not what they expected. He had piercing grey eyes and ginger hair, with freckles across his face.

"What?" Markus asked the group, as they were staring at him.

"I thought you were gonna look, I don't know, a lot more menacing," Colin told him.

"What, am I supposed to have shoulder length hair and a huge scar down my face?" Markus asked with a chuckle.

"Well, yeah, I guess," Jake said with a chuckle.

"I think we're all wondering," Isabelle spoke up, "What abilities do you have?"

"Wow, I thought you'd never talk to me to be honest," Markus joked.

"Why wouldn't I talk to you?" Isabelle asked, slightly confused.

"You just seemed a little uncomfortable around me," Markus explained.

"You did almost take down our car in the attempt to talk to us," Isabelle told Markus.

"Alright, point taken. But, to answer your question, I have super strength, and can heal injuries."

"Whoa, that's awesome," Nick said as he continued to drive.

"Yeah, but it's not as good a electricity, or earth, or water," Markus complimented the group on their abilities.

With that, the group made it to Nick's house. 

"Hey guys, we're here," Nick said as he pulled into the driveway.

The group went into Nick's house, and sat down in the living room.

"Well, what do you need to talk to us about?" Nick question Markus.

"Well, you may be a little worried when I say this, but I think someone may be going after us for hour abilities."

"What? Why would they be coming after us?" Stella asked him.

"I think they want to get the abilities from us and use it as some sort of weapon," Markus explained to the group.

"So, what can we do about it?" Isabelle asked.

"I don't know. It depends on how they come at us first. For now, we need to lay low. If we want to practice our abilities, we'll need to find somewhere secluded from people."

"The abandoned skate park," Jake said.

"Yeah, that's where we tested out our abilities. It's on the outskirts of town. No one would ever think of that," Nick explained to Markus, who clearly didn't understand at first.

"Yeah. That would be great," Markus told the group. "You guys could show me that tomorrow."

"Well, I think we're all hungry, so why don't we make some supper?" Isabelle asks the group.

"Sounds good to me," Markus shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

Everyone agreed and got up to go to the kitchen. They decided to make some homemade pizza. They all had a blast putting their own toppings on as they sang to the music that Nick put on the TV. They forgot all their worries about their abilities or what could happen about them. The group found themselves growing accustomed to Markus, and even Isabelle was laughing at his jokes and talking to him.

Jack could also tell that Isabelle and Nick were acting different towards each other. He pulled Isabelle towards the side to talk to her.

"Izzy, do you, like Nick?" Jack asked her.

"Um, I don't know, why do you ask?" Isabelle asked, confused.

"You guys are looking at each other like you're together or something," He laughed at that statement, but stopped when he saw that Isabelle didn't laugh.

"Wait, you are?" his face lit up. "That's awesome!" Jack hugged her.

"Really? Thank you so much!" Isabelle hugged him back.

"Izzy, you two are perfect for each other,"  Jack told her. "Are you going to tell everyone else?"

"I don't know, they might look at us differently," Isabelle thought to herself out loud.

"Izzy, everyone would love to see you together," Jack reassured her.

With that, Isabelle hugged Jack again, and went to talk to Nick.

"Hey, Nick?"

"Yeah, what do you need Izzy?"

"We should tell the group that we're together."

"What? Why do we need to do that?"

"It does us no good to keep it away from them."

"Okay, if that's what you want to do."

"Really? You wanna tell them?" Isabelle asked them.

"Yeah. If it makes you happy, I wanna do it. I love you." Nick assured her.

Isabelle thanked him and bear hugged him. They called the group to their attention.

"Hey guys. Um, we have something to tell you," Isabelle started the announcement.

"We're dating!" Nick said cheerfully.

Everyone's faces lit up.

"Really?"

"That's awesome!"

"Congrats!"

Everyone came over to them and hugged them, but Markus stayed where he was. After they all ate Isabelle talked to Markus alone.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Isabelle asked Markus.

"I just don't think I know you guys that well enough to really congratulate you," Markus looked a little disappointed.

"Hey, you're a part of the group. We all like you. Trust me." Isabelle told Markus.

"You really think so?" Markus' face lit up as he listened to Isabelle reassure him.

"Absolutely," Isabelle told him.

Markus hugged Isabelle as a sort of thank you, and they made their way to the living room, where they decided they would sleep for the night. They decided to watch Moana on Netflix.

For everyone, this was a pretty great day.