Power (Book 1)

Chapter 6

"I'm home!" I called out to my parents.

"In here!" Dad yelled. I followed his voice to the kitchen.

"Hey Mom, hey Dad," I say as I toss my book bag on the floor.

"Hello, sweetie!" Mom turns from the oven to give me a hug. "How was your day today?"

"Great!" I say. "I had a match in the gym today." Her face turned serious. 

"Oh, no, but don't worry, I didn't get hurt. I actually won." I grinned at her.

She didn't return it. "What did your father and I say about you using your powers?"

Oh. I completely forgot about their number one rule: don't stand out, which indirectly means don't use my powers.

"Sorry," I say.

"You should be," Mom lectures me. "If you use your powers, bad things will happen, Jay. Haven't we told you that?"

"Yes, I know. But it was one time. It isn't like I break the rules all the time for no reason. And what was I supposed to do? Let him sit there and beat me until someone stopped him? You know how coach is. He hates me."

"Watch your tone, son," Dad said.

I ignored him. "You make me hide what I can do while everyone else shows off and flounces around their abilities like they're nothing, and I'm stuck being that one kid who sits alone in the corner and doesn't fit in with anyone else. If I didn't have Ben and Jake, then I would be no one," I say.

"Well!" Mom throws down the towel she was gripping only moments ago. "You don't have to be 'somebody'. The only reason you're at that school is because we felt that it would be better for everyone if you learned to control your abilities. But so far, all I've seen is a really bad attitude and a lack of respect. And since you think you're a nobody, no TV for the rest of the night. Go to your room." Her face steamy red, she pointed to the stairs.

I turned around and headed up the stairs, equally as mad. Why did Mom have to be so strict? She was the only reason I didn't use my powers. She and Dad had some real personal issues with superhuman abilities. Maybe they were jealous because they didn't have any. That made me feel slightly better.

I walked through my door and slammed it behind me for effect. Then I examined my room, making sure nothing was out of place. Everything seemed fine. My room was clean, organized, and just about perfect.
I leaped into my bed and kicked off my shoes, staring at my ceiling. What could I do? There was nothing entertaining in here besides my TV. I couldn't play with my old Z-Box, couldn't watch my favorite shows.

Then, an idea occurred to me. Why couldn't I just teleport out of here? My parents wanted to make such a big deal about me not using my powers. Why not give them a reason to be mad?

But what if they checked my room and found out that I wasn't there? What then? I'd probably be kicked out of the house.

Wait. If I teleported out of the house, but left a note saying where I was going, then there would be no problem, right? I would get in trouble for going out, but at least they would know where I was.

I pulled a sticky note off of my desk and grabbed a pen, scribbling a short note onto it. Then I stuck it to my door.

I grabbed my phone and dialed a number.

"Hello?" Jake sounded tired.

"Hey, you busy?" I asked him.