Havocked

04

Breaking News: Our villain, Havoc, turns out to be not-so-evil when he saves reckless high school student-who we soon identified as Aurelia Winters- from being run over by speeding cars.

"Reckless? Really? They should also appreciate me for saving the poor reckless cat," I grumbled as I forced a spoon full of cereal into my mouth.

"We got to see the first of his powers-" the television shut down.

"No! I wanted to see what they were going to say! Besides, what if they put a snippet of me being the damsel in distress and getting saved by a superhero- actually, not really a superhero. Did you know that he tried to convince me to let him drop me from 6 miles above the ground? That's like falling from a plane-"

"How dare you not inform me about going through something as traumatizing as this! I had to know about this from my coworkers calling to ask about your state! I sounded like a fool not knowing about this when apparently the whole world knows!" my mother began her scolding session which I know is about to go on for hours. I was always told that I definitely inherited my tongue from her, seeing as we both never shut up. One time I greeted her in the morning and she ended up telling me about the origin of the words 'good' and 'morning'. I vowed to never tell her that ever again.

I continued chewing on my cereal as she carried on with her rambling.

"Max, my friend from high school was also a bad child like you. You know what his parents did to him? They-" and I tuned her out. I did not want to hear about Max being sent to the circus and being trained like one of the animals for the hundredth time.

Mom sighed. "Brianna was a really good human. She never failed to lend me her textbook when I was in need. But hey, that does not mean I was a bad student. I also solved my homework every now and then, unlike you, missy!" I do not know how the conversation went from me almost dying to homework but this is mom we're talking about. Elouise Winters always had the tendency to ramble for hours on end without the need to pause for a breath. I bet if she gets tested she will be sent to the ocean after discovering that she's a fish.

I worked on tuning her words out again when her cellphone started ringing. She looked at the caller and sent me a glare before she answered the call.

"Yes, she's okay. Don't worry, that little rascal won't die if it's the last thing she does. Did you know that she was bitten by a snake when she was 2 an-"

"I'm going for a run," I proclaimed to no one in particular before I wore my running shoes, tied my hair and bolted out of the house before my mom finishes her call and restarts her scolding.

With my earbuds in and music blasting into my ears, I tuned out the rest of the world and carried on running with intensity. With a few breaks to drink water, I'd say I was on a roll with my very great running today. Of course, that was until I mindlessly bumped into someone.

I wiped the sweat on my forehead with my sleeve and panted as I looked at the human who dared interrupt my run.

"Tyler Jones?"

"That's me," he said with a smirk. Tyler Jones is a very attractive man. 18 years old, just like me, but goes to a different school. He has curly blonde hair that perfectly complements his olive skin complexion and gray enticing eyes that can't help but remind you of the beautiful clouds on a rainy day. His features were sharp and irrefutably appealing which explains why he's a popular topic amongst our teenage neighbors.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "I thought you were locked up in your house to study for your exams."

He shrugged. "Let's just say I'm done. Besides, how do you know that piece of information when we are clearly not friends?" he asked smirking.

"Your mother told my mother who told me. By the way, that was very unfair of her to do. Mom almost considered grounding me too because of that!" It was true. Tyler Jones was my neighbor of 8 years. We do not necessarily interact but our mothers do and are really close at that. You can imagine how horrified I was when my mom attempted to lock the door on me so that I study just because she was inspired by Mrs Jones' idea of locking your child inside the house until you are sure they memorized every single letter in their textbooks. Besides, I did do my fair share of studying and my grades were slightly above average. I do lose marks here and there because of not submitting my homework on time but I always do well on my exams.

Tyler erupted in laughter. "That's just sad. I always manage to sneak out of the house but imagine if it was you in my place. You'd be stuck forever!"

I rolled my eyes. "I think I'd manage, thank you very much."

Tyler snorted. "Yeah, I don't think so."

I always found it strange how Tyler easily submitted to his crazy mother's words but I guess it was plausible. They only had each other-just like me and mom- which made sense why they get along so well. Tyler wouldn't admit it but he's a big mama's boy.

"I think I'll go back to what I was doing before bumping into you. Nice to know that you're alive and well," I exclaimed before I attempted to leave.

"Wait!" he called out and stopped me by taking a hold of my arm.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"I heard about what happened to you yesterday. I hope you are feeling well. I can't imagine how hard it must be for you mentally right now. How are you feeling?" It felt really weird to see him being this caring but I shrugged it off and nodded.

"It's all good. The villain saved me and I strangely don't feel like anything is different besides people suddenly asking all about me."

He stiffened. "The villain, huh?"

I nodded. "Havoc. I'm sure you knew that already. I'm really not sure what he was thinking."

"He's a villain. No one knows what he's thinking but himself," he grumbled.

His weird behavior at the topic of the villain did not pass me but I shrugged it off.

"Now, I seriously need to leave. Goodbye, neighbor," I said before running off.

"See you!" he responded before turning around and running in the opposite direction.