Insider

Nothing much.

"Oh come on dude! It's not like she's not into you."

That was my best friend Tristan talking. A pretty cheerful fella and sometimes quite nosy, but he is pretty much the only close friend I have in our hexagon. He can manipulate earth, kinda like Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender, which made him pretty useful when it came to structural and architectural problems. Apparently his power puts his body to some serious work, since in the 6 years I've known him since middle school he was only getting bigger in height and width. The guy has as of now a barrel chest, huge shoulders and back, tree trunk arms and some very impressive legs. For some reason though his gut refused to go away, probably because he likes eating so much.
"Abs are not a sign of strength, they're a sign that you're not eating enough." he'd often say. Can't blame him. Nevertheless he was a main attraction for girls everywhere in our hexagon, and he'd hang around them quite a lot, but if there's one thing he is the best at, it's cherishing friends.
Me? I'm the polar opposite. I'm a skinny 16 year old with social anxiety and shadow powers. I'm the kind of guy someone would conjure up a well detailed reason just to get away from me. I'm not at all good with people and my powers probably repel them even more.
To clarify, people like us are called Delta Gene Humans, or Deltas for short. Apparently, some gene in our body has been reawakened throughout time and it changes our physiology, giving us special powers. The most common ones are element based, like water, fire, air and like Tristan, earth. Uncommon ones are usually cocktails of elements, like lava, metal or wood.

But then comes my power.

Long story short, being able to manipulate shadows is extremely rare and no one really knows what the power is capable of and yadda yadda, people fear the unknown and because of that they don't really like me.
"Don't tell me that you actually think Rose would hang out with me, Tris." I answered him.
"I don't think so, I know so." he responded. "Chicks like that, they love mysterious dudes."
"I'm not good with people."
"Well you could give it a shot either way. You'll learn from mistakes and become better with time."
"That's optimistic of you."
"Always look at the bright side. That's my motto. Hey, you're up for that pool game tomorrow right?"
"Yeah. Loser has to pay though."
"Oh fuck off."
We both chuckle and part ways. The road home seemed shorter today for some reason. My older sister Louise was preparing dinner like usual. She practically raised me since I was 5, as our parents died in an work accident, at least that's what she told me. I don't remember much about them, other than a watch my dad left me with a "Keep going champ :)" engraved on its back. I wish I knew more about them.
"You're home early." Louise pointed out.
"Tris had some work to do. You know the guy, he is built for heavy lifting."
"Ah well. Good that you're here, otherwise I'd have had your share as well."
Louise resembles me quite a bit. She has a similar build, although more toned cause of the house work, which according to her makes the best cardio, and she's shorter than me. We have the same eyes and facial features. People often say that we would be basically twins if our age and height were the same. She speaks in a very soft tone, and I could swear I've never heard her raise her voice once in my life. She's the main mother figure in my life, and she's been by my side since basically forever.
"Anything interesting?" asked Louise.
"Not much."
"You always say that. Be more specific."
"Well, Tris told me some girl was into me."
"Ooooh, tell me more."
"Please stop being so eager to know."
"Why not? I'm curious to know what soul mate might befall my brother."
"You're using archaic words again."
"Side effects of having a sister who studies languages. Now tell me more, Conny."
I hate when she calls me that.