I can Read Minds now

But as Professor Dildo continued his lecture about humanity's fallen civilization, the fire inside me stirred again, and I pressed my palm against my chest, willing it to stay quiet. And then I heard his thoughts.

Gods, I hope these idiots don't ask questions today. I haven't read these slides in years. This Camilla girl—why does she sit like that? Does she intend to? Dill, focus, focus, focus.

I blinked hard. That wasn't part of the lecture. Those words had formed in my mind, but they weren't mine. They felt different—older, more cynical. Holy shit. I'm reading his mind.

"Has the Professor said anything about—" I started to ask Caleb for clarity, but his confused gesture alone was enough to show me that I was losing my mind.

Professor Dildo kept talking—something about fossil fuels and planetary collapse—but now I could hear the words in his head, layered under his actual voice like a radio frequency bleeding through. Thoughts, unspoken and raw. What the hell? Something feels off about today.

I gripped the desk until my knuckles went white. My heart was racing, but not from fear. It felt... good. Like I was unlocking something that had always been meant to be mine.

For once, I wasn't clueless. I wasn't just the freak with blue hair sitting in the back corner. I knew something no one else did. This power... I love what I'm becoming.

I looked around the classroom, testing the boundaries of whatever was happening to me. Camilla. Frank. Marvel. What else could I hear if I focused? I strained, reaching out with this strange new sense, but found nothing. Just Professor Dildo's wandering thoughts echoing in my head.

I need to work on this. How did I even read his thoughts in the first place? I knew I was special—I was starting to love what I was becoming—but I still needed mastery. Control and understanding.

"Class, that is all for today," Professor Dildo announced as the bell for break rang through the speakers. This is the dumbest class I've ever taught.

"Let's go for break," Frank Caleb said to me, already packing up his notes with the efficiency of someone who actually cared about his grades. No freaking way I'm walking with you.

That's when Derrick saved me. He appeared at our desk like he'd been watching for the perfect moment to rescue me from social disaster.

"Hello, Great Caleb," he greeted Frank with exaggerated formality. "I'm taking him."

Thank you, bro. I mean, I didn't want to be mean to Frank. He deserved at least one friend, but it wasn't going to be me.

We stepped out into the hallway, and I was hit by the familiar chaos of break time—hundreds of students moving through the corridors, voices echoing off concrete walls, the smell of whatever mystery beans they were serving in the cafeteria.

We lived in a community where money wasn't the currency. At School Central, currency was belief. You could access things—better food, small privileges, even protection—if people believed in you. If you had influence. If you mattered.

And now, outside the classroom, I could see the van had already arrived. Ten students were graduating today, being shipped off to the South with their regulation bags and forced smiles. The same ceremony we'd watched dozens of times before, always wondering when our turn would come.

"You look different," Derrick said as we walked. "Like, more focused or something. What happened in there?"

I can read minds now. I'm becoming something incredible. But how do you explain something like that without sounding completely insane?

"Just thinking," I said instead. "About everything."

"Yeah, well, Camilla is way above our league, bro. You know that," he said with a grin. "It's break time. Let's go see if we can catch the graduation ceremony before they load everyone up."

As we walked toward the courtyard where the van waited, I couldn't shake the feeling that everything was changing. I felt good, something that made me feel like I was finally becoming who I was supposed to be.

And who the hell am I supposed to be? Attend school, turn twenty-five and they ship me off to— I had no idea what that meant yet.

The courtyard was packed with students, all craning their necks to get a better view of the graduation ceremony. It was the same ritual we'd witnessed countless times, but it never got less unsettling. Ten students stood in a neat line beside the black van, three girls and seven boys, their faces a mixture of excitement and barely concealed terror.

"There's James," Derrick pointed to our roommate, who stood third in line wearing his best uniform—the one he'd been saving for this day since he was sixteen.

I watched James fidget with his bag strap, and for a moment, I wondered if I could hear his thoughts too. I focused, reaching out with whatever this new ability was.