Zach woke up with a feeling of anxiety.
It went deep, almost down to his bones.
‘I haven’t felt this way since before I died.
Something might go down today.’ He couldn’t shake the feeling.
‘Is it possible to test where the danger is coming from?’ Zach thought about his grandparents, and the feeling went away.
‘That’s a relief.’ He thought about his parents and didn’t feel anything.
‘I don’t feel anything when I think about Blair or Fred, so where is the danger coming from?
Could it be school?’ The moment he thought about school, the feeling skyrocketed.
Zach went to his laptop and scanned everything in the file he labeled gossip and rumors.
‘There’s nothing in here that could explain where the danger could be coming from.’ He moved to the file named news and skimmed it.
In it, he saw a guy who could make himself invisible and make things explode with his hands had broken out of prison.
Zach read about his past.
‘Apparently, he went to my school but was bullied and ridiculed there.
No one helped him out.’ Zach groaned and smacked his lips.
‘Of all the days to decide to attack, he chooses the day I ask out Blair.’
Zach grabbed his bag and met his grandpa at his truck.
“Hey, grandpa, I got a bad feeling in my gut about today, be careful.” Henry smiled and nodded.
“Thanks for the heads up, son.” Zach nodded and began making plans to handle this situation.
Henry dropped him off at the school and drove away.
He controlled his gaze and could see the full spectrum of light.
He didn’t see the guy in question, so he looked away.
He texted Fred as he went inside the school.
[Ask your mom to come to the school to interview the principal about Randy Henderson, the guy who broke out of prison yesterday.
He went to our school but was bullied and blames the principal and school for not doing anything.]
[Holy crap, dude!
Your and my mom’s brain cells linked or something?
She told me to interview him.
I am already in the office.] Zach rushed to the administration building and switched to thermal vision.
He saw Fred in the office with the principal, and the secretary was at her desk.
He left the building and decided to skip the first class of the day.
He was almost to the rooftop when he bumped into Blair.
He caught her before she could fall.
He held her full weight with one arm.
She laughed as she stood up.
“Now I know those muscles aren’t for show.” Zach smiled and did a pose.
“Oh yeah, you didn’t know?
I carry guns around all the time.” She laughed again.
“Easy, strongman, if you’re not careful, people would think you are trying to take Benjamin’s spot as the strongest and dumbest.” Zach put down his arms.
“Na, I doubt it, everyone knows I am a genius.” He ran his hand through his hair as he spoke.
“Oh my goodness!
Stop it, Zach, you are killing me.” Blair grabbed his arm as she leaned over and laughed.
“Who knew you had this dorky and corny side of you?” She stood up and leaned against the wall.
Zach shrugged his shoulders as he stood next to her.
“Not many people, but that cause they don’t get to know me, that’s all.” She tilted her head a little to look at him.
“Is it that they don’t get to know you, or rather, you don’t give them the chance to know you?”
“Touche, Blair.
Were you headed to the roof?” Blair nodded.
“Yeah, my teacher said we had a study hall today, so I decided to go see the greenhouse that’s up there.”
“Mind if I join you?” Blair smiled and started walking away.
“Keep up, Zach.” Zach caught up to her.
“I will always keep up with you, Blair.” Blair tucked a braid behind her ear as she looked away.
Zach did one last thermal scan of the building before focusing fully on Blair.
They made it to the rooftop.
The view from there was beautiful, with the morning sunlight reflecting across the skyline through all the buildings.
Zach and Blair spent time walking and getting to know each other.
When it was almost time to go, Zach approached her.
‘Now or nothing, Zach.’ Zach took her hand in his and looked at her.
“I know this has been like our first real interaction and all, but if you already heard from gossipers, I like you in a romantic way.
Spending time with you has been really fun.
I am not saying that we get together right away or anything, I just wanted to make my intentions clear to you.”
Blair didn’t pull away as Zach confessed to her, focusing on him.
Zach looked away from time to time as he confessed.
She could feel his hand become clammy.
She smiled and kissed him on the cheek.
Zach froze.
“Thank you for telling me, Zach.
Of course, I knew you liked me, but rumors and gossip can be exaggerated.
After hanging out with you, I am interested in getting to know you better and seeing where this goes for now.
It’s not a definite yes, but also not a no either.
Is that ok?”
Zach snapped out of it.
He had a huge grin on his face.
“Of course!
Take as much time as you need to, I promise I’m not gonna go anywhere.
I have my first fight later this month.
I will get you a ticket if you want.”
Blair smiled and wiggled her eyebrows.
“Ouu, and miss the chance to see you shirtless and sweaty as you fight another shirtless sweaty guy, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” She pulled him into a hug and looked up at him, and bit her lip before shoving him away and leaving.
“Don’t skip any more classes!” She yelled as she ran down the stairs.
Zach swallowed hard.
‘She still has that spice that I fell in love with, and she’s such a tease.’ Zach walked away and did a quick scan before heading to class.
‘Henderson, I hope you don’t show up and ruin this day for me.’
Fred saw Zach walking with a smile on his face.
His eyebrows perked up.
“Someone is in a very good mood.
Care to tell this birdie why?” He leaned on his desk.
“You, my little pet birdie, are looking at the guy who just secured the bag.” Fred jumped and looked at him.
“No freaking way!” Zach leaned forward.
“Oh yeah birdie, Blair Dezmond will be there at the fight and will be in my corner.”
Fred made a solemn expression.
“All hail the King.
I humbly ask for any pointers.” They both laughed and did their handshake before sitting down.
Zach looked around and saw a thermal signature that was way too big.
‘Shit, that bastard did show up.’
Zach watched Henderson walk into the school and head towards the science lab.
‘Fuck, if he gets there, then the whole school is in danger.’ He wrote a note on the piece of paper.
[Fred, does the school use water or foam to put out fires?]
Fred was puzzled but still answered him with the same note.
[The school uses water.
Why?] Zach sighed.
[Henderson is here.
I am going to handle him and don’t freak out too much.
I will explain everything later.] Zach asked to be excused to the restroom and dropped the note on Fred’s desk.
He saw Fred tense up from the window in the door.
He made a shushing motion with his finger.
Fred stiffly nodded his head.
Zach looked at his phone.
[Dude, are you freaking nuts!?
You land one of THE hottest girls in the school, and now you are a hero?
Call the cops!]
Zach replied and then headed to the home economics classroom.
[I will be right back.
I am just going to make it easier for the cops to arrest him.]
Zach grabbed as much flour as he could, turned on the stove, and filled a pot with grease.
He set it to boil.
He put some foil in the microwave and set it to start in 10 minutes.
‘I never thought I would start a fire as my first deed as a hero.
Beggars can’t be choosers.’
He checked where Henderson was and saw him stuck at the school entrance because some parents were arguing.
‘Lucky!’ He made it to the science lab.
He first grabbed all of the sodium bicarbinate.
He rigged a few jars to break when he opened the chemical cabinet and even sprinkled some around the other jars for good measure.
He used air to float as he tied little bags filled with sodium bicarbinate near the sprinkler system.
He poked a few holes in them just in case.
He then spread flour all over the floor.
‘That should do it.’ He saw Henderson heading upstairs and ran back to his class.
He entered the room calmly and sat next to Fred.
Fred was tapping his foot and looked at him.
Zach raised one hand and counted down to zero.
‘5…4…3…2…1’