Synectica

Chapter 1

        It was a cool, beautiful October day – at least according to Netta. Most people would say it was gross out, but Netta loved it. It was pouring rain – beautiful, clear, refreshing rain. Netta could stand in it forever. She was just kind of odd like that. No one really noticed her that much though, so it wasn't really a problem. She was somewhat short which helped her not to stick out in a crowd. Her chestnut brown hair hung a little ways past her shoulders and she had eyes the color of tree bark. It was probably for the best that her features allowed for her to slip under the radar because she had a habit of standing in the rain with her arms stretched out as far as she could reach, as if trying to feel as much rain as possible.

        But today Netta wasn't outside in the rain. She needed to practice. Her foster mom was a history teacher at another high school a couple towns over, so Netta always got picked up nearly three hours after school ended at three. That gave her plenty of time to finish her homework and practice her piano before she went home. She was a little behind where she would have liked to be in the piece she was working on. She crept through empty halls to the band room and listened carefully outside the door. Nothing. Good. She opened the door slowly none the less and stuck her head in to check that no one was in there. Not a soul. She sighed in relief and walked over to the piano, her footsteps echoing through the enormous room. She noticed as she sat down and touched the keys that they were a little sticky, most likely from the dampness of the rain. She looked lovingly at the keys and then began to play a waltz by Chopin. She loved the way her fingers looked as they glided across the keys, intricately playing the keys necessary to coax the sweet melody out of the piano. As she was playing, she heard whistling outside the door.

        "No need to panic." she told herself, although her heart rate had already increased. "It could just be a janitor."

        Then she heard a voice; a young voice that seemed to belong to a boy. But, among other things about Netta that made her different, she could hear the voice inside her head. Ever since Netta was about five years old, she was able to hear the voices of thoughts inside her head. In short, she was telepathic. There was a place inside her head where she could hear people's thoughts. They sounded almost like voices spoken out loud; only she was the only one who could hear them apart from the person to whom the thoughts belonged. She had never told anyone about her gift. It was her secret.

        She could still hear the whistling coming from outside. She decided to listen a little more closely to what exactly the voice was saying. Mostly this boy, whoever he was, was contemplating the soccer practice he must have just come from – the other players, the goalie's idiocy, the coach's "unjust" rule, and something about the rain and not having an umbrella. And then she heard something that made her eyes go wide in fear. He was about to take a shortcut through the band room. She started to panic a bit. She had maybe only a few seconds to decide whether or not she was going to run for it. She wasn't one for making small talk, especially to people she didn't' know; a besides, it had been a long day. So she scurried over to a row of tympani and waited to hear the door creak open. From behind the tympani, she could have a decent view of whoever was going to come in.

        The door opened, though it did not creak. The boy flung it open; most likely just to hear the sound of it banging against the wall. She watched as the boy swung his gym bag over his shoulder along with his backpack, leaving one hand to keep in his pocket as he continued to whistle. The boy walked over to the door that led to the parking lot, saw that his ride wasn't there yet, and leaned against the wall, his head tilted up and his eyes closed in exhaustion. As Netta watched him, she realized that she knew him; sort of. He was a junior, a year older than her. She didn't recognize the neat light brown hair at first, but it was Andrew Carpenter. The only reason she could recognize him was because she shared the same lunch wave with him. She had never actually talked to him much. He always followed the other soccer jocks around school and didn't seem to take much notice of quieter people. He had deep brown eyes and a smile wary of people. As he stared at the rain falling, he smiled as if at some personal joke. Netta was curious as to what this joke was. But then again, that was technically eavesdropping to listen, so she decided against it. She stared at him hard from her crouched position and decided say hello telepathically.