Chapter 8: Early Summer Days

Frostbite left a few minutes after I told her what I knew about my teleportation abilities. She seemed concerned and told me that she’d visit again in a few weeks. She also said she’d chat longer but the other gang was stirring up trouble on the other side of town. After she left, the air got warmer and I collapsed on the floor. I could hear Danny fall beside me and we both sighed simultaneously. I pulled out my phone to check the time and I saw some messages from Samantha asking where I’d gone and if I was okay. I replied by telling her that I had a panic attack and that Daniel brought me home to corroborate with Daniel’s lie. It did feel wrong to lie to Samantha but the ends justify the means, as they say.

Eventually the last week of school rolled around, which meant exams. Exams that I hardly studied for, that is. It was a very bright and very hot Monday, so I was extremely fatigued from the start. Samantha and Daniel wished me luck for my exams because they knew just how much I’d neglected studying in the past few months.

The silence of the exam rooms was something I wasn’t quite used to since we didn’t have many mock exams during the semester. Everyone’s eyes were on their papers and I was almost clueless as to what I should even do. My mind was filled with regret and I played around with my pen before just doubtfully attempting the paper. The sounds of quiet scribbling, feet tapping anxiously on the floor and a few sighs here and there were all I could distinguish from the deafening silence the exam room had to offer. Furthermore, the heat wasn’t helping and I felt a headache brewing at the back of my head. I had to try to keep focused, all the while wishing I’d studied for at least a little bit when I had the chance.

About thirty minutes had passed and two people had already finished, so they put their papers faced-down and waited for the session to end. I could feel a flash of envy go through me but I ignored it and kept at my own paper. Eventually, another hour and thirty minutes had passed and some people had already left. I was still answering some of the last few questions with my own logic and reasoning when the invigilator approached me for my paper. I handed it in, heavily dissatisfied with myself and left to catch up with Daniel, Vanessa and Samantha before we left to go to the coffee shop we usually went to before Danny and I got powers.

I met with the group outside of the school gate and they all seemed as dissatisfied as I was.

“I’m telling you Mrs. Fellon didn’t teach us how to solve that equation,” Vanessa said with the usual, disconcerted tone in her voice.

“Yeah, I can’t remember for the life of me,” Sam agreed.

Daniel sighed, “I can’t remember and I had an entire set of extra classes to go to for Math specifically.”

I knew they probably didn’t fail the entire exam but it was nice to know I wasn’t the only one struggling there.

Eventually they noticed me coming and called me over to them, so I stepped my pace up. We walked and talked about the exam and what we would do after they ended and the summer officially started. Vanessa was going out of the country for an inter-school fighting tournament but the rest of us didn’t really have any extravagant plans for the summer. Daniel planned to go fishing with his dad if he didn’t have any overseas business trips, Samantha planned to host a party at her mother’s house if her mother allowed it and I had nothing better to do than take care of my sister and experiment with my own powers (of course I didn’t tell them that last bit).

We arrived at the coffee shop and the floor mat we stepped on when we entered said “Expresso Yourself,” which never failed to bring a smile out of Sam’s face because of how much she loved corny jokes.

We sipped on our respective coffees in the warm afternoon. Danny and Vanessa seemed to be getting along like a couple again which was about as heartwarming as the cappuccino in my hands. Samantha was having an iced-coffee with a side of lemon-chocolate cookies, which definitely taste better than they sound. She was nibbling on them awkwardly, averting her gaze from me and looking at the other paintings of coffee-related puns that were strewn about all over the shop. Furthermore, the shop itself was empty because no one really wants hot beverages in the summertime, so she was just avoiding me. Even though I knew it was rude to stare, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I thought of something to say but I couldn’t get the words out. Maybe she’s waiting for me to start a conversation? Maybe she just doesn’t want to talk to me. Maybe she’s got some stuff on her mind right now so I should leave her alone. It didn’t take very long for Danny and Vanessa to realize what was happening, so he gave me a nudge and asked Vanessa to walk with him somewhere outside of the coffee shop.

I couldn’t stop myself from feeling relief but I didn’t know what to do about the awkwardness of it all. I had to say something or else we would just be sitting here in silence. Then my mouth said something before my brain gave it the instruction to.

“How’s that iced-coffee?”

It was a small chip, barely even an ice-breaker, but it was something.

She met my gaze and smiled a little, “It’s a lot better than I thought it was going to be.”

“You don’t usually have iced-coffee in the summer?” My brow raised.

“Nope,” She pointed to the menu. “I usually get lemonade or cold water.”

“I see, I see,” I nodded and sipped on my coffee. “You know, I’ve never tasted iced-coffee either, what’s it like?”

She slid her glass over to me and said, “How about you try it for yourself.”

I looked at the glass like it was a completely alien object. Was I really about to take her drink? I guess it’s okay since she offered it to me. Maybe I should offer her mine as a trade-off.

“Well, I haven’t had cappuccino yet either,” She said with a cough.

I chuckled a little bit and handed my cup to her. She took it and blew on the top of it so the coffee swirled around, with its dark and light brown hues creating little abstract paintings in the cup. After a little while, she closed her eyes and sipped it. I didn’t even realize how tense I’d been until she put the cup to her mouth. She didn’t take very long to put the cup down and complain about how hot it was. We laughed about it and in the corner of my eye I could see Danny and Vanessa peeking through the window, but I ignored them. She broke the last of her cookies and handed one half to me. It reminded me of the first time she shared these cookies with me and I thought they would’ve tasted horrible, but the softness of the cookies combined with the contrasting sweetness and sourness of the chocolate and the lemon just made for a really delicious cookie.

Eventually we all had to go home because the day was ending and Danny pushed me to walk Samantha home. We weren’t really in a rush to go anywhere but we kept a steady pace. I was, again, lost for words over-thinking uncontrollably, but when she stopped on the bridge we were walking onto stare into the sunset, my mind cleared.

“Sam,” I stood beside her. “It’s kinda weird to ask but would you wanna do this again?”

We turned to each other and the golden light from the sunset reflecting from her face made her look nothing short of angelic. My stomach turned but I ignored it.

“Just the two of us?” She raised her brow.

“Yeah,” I ignored the butterflies in my stomach. “It doesn’t have to be the coffee shop, we could probably catch a movie or something.”

She giggled and turned back to the sunset, “It’s a date then.”