𝙉𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙡 (𝙗𝙭𝙗)

Chapter Two

Cody P.O.V

My mother stood out. Seeing her stand inside the high school front office was weird. Her expensive-looking pantsuit didn't fit in surrounded by semi-casually dressed teachers that the teachers tended to wear. Her focus wasn't on the office, though. Instead, it was directed towards the iPad she held in her arms, tapping on the device as she talked quietly with whoever she was on the phone with. A single wireless earbud was in her left ear, the same ear it always was in.

The office staff watched my mother, eying her for being on the phone. They wouldn't say anything to her about it, though. It wasn't at all surprising to see my mother working while off work. Being the businesswoman that she was, she tended to have work that needed her attention regardless of the time of day.

My mother glanced up slightly, seeing the door open from her peripheral vision. Her voice cut off for a second before she quickly finished whatever conversation she had been having. I didn't find anything business-related interesting, so I tuned the rest of her call out. The moment the call finished, my mother flipped the case over her tablet's screen, giving me her full attention.

"You ready to go?" She asked me, giving a glance towards the office lady. I listened to the sound of mom's heels click against the tiled floor, filling the office's silence with her shoes. I followed behind her, not replying to her question. We both knew the answer without me needing to say it.

"You are so spoilt, Dakota," Mom mumbled, walking quickly towards where her car was parked. When we were within sight of the vehicle, a man, my mother's chauffeur, got out of the vehicle, moving to open the door for mom. I walked around the car, opening the other side by myself. I couldn't help but wish we were already at home. If we were, I would have locked myself in my bedroom already, away from the chaos of the rest of the world . . . and the bright lights.

I walked around the car, noticing that mom had chosen the SVAuto today. I would have crawled across the car to get to my side without walking around, but the backseat middle console made crawling nearly impossible, and mom would kill me if I ruined the seats.

The silence in the car was a typical one, one that I was more than used too. It wasn't that I didn't get along with my mother; we didn't communicate like we should. With her frequently out of the house, the moments she was home, she was busy with something from work or out of the house with dad.

Dad was in the same exact boat as mom, living for his job, and silly inventions. When they weren't working, they were doing something illegal. I wonder why people like them have kids if they don't actually plan on interacting with them.

Dad, like mom, preferred spending his time on his lab experiments. When he wasn't at work, he was stashed away in his lab, only coming out when he had too. He had two labs, one in the apartment, which small, rarely used, and another in a building nearby, which was the one he spent most of his time in. If my family were normal, I'd assume he was having an affair, but I knew that wasn't the case. Dad loved (feared) mom too much to cheat on her.

A part of me wished they were around more, but I doubt it would be beneficial with how used to the lack of the presence that I was.

"Are your migraines getting worse?" The question startled me, but I didn't let it show. I gave her a slight nod, which I knew she saw. My mother sighed, clearly disappointed by my lack of verbal response, but I knew deep down, she wasn't expecting anything else. "I see. Have you brought it up with your father?"

I paused at that. When would I even have the chance to talk to my father? He doesn't like to be disturbed while he is in the lab, at least, not by me, and he rarely comes home. Considering these standards, when would I get the chance to even mention that I've had a good day, let alone that my migraines are worsening? It wasn't like dad would be able to do much. They probably mention homeschooling, which sounds nice in theory, but not good in reality. I would fail if I had to do all this schooling at home, by myself.

"I'll assume you haven't," Mom sighed again. As if it was my fault that I haven't communicated with dad. "Oh well, I'm glad I picked you up now, we have an event to attend at nine, and I was planning on bringing you along . . . if your migraine goes away before then, that is," Those stupid events. Most of those events were filled with rich people who could only brag about their money and petty accomplishments. I thought that my parents figured out that bringing me to those events was a waste of time. Most of the other people brought their kids along to brag about them, but I wasn't really a brag-worthy child.

"What kind of event?" I couldn't help but ask. Her answer could determine how miserable my evening was going to be. Just being submerged in my bedroom tends to make my migraines slowly fade away. If I was lucky, the pulsing head pains would go away after a couple of hours.

A slow smirk formed on my mother's face, one that sent chills down my spine. "A special one," I didn't like the way she said it either. What exactly did special mean? If it was what I was thinking, why did I need to come along? "You'll see when we get there later tonight," If the suspense doesn't kill me, that is.

But I had a feeling that this event had to do with people with superpowers, people like dad. People like mom.

People like . . . me.