Gifted #Wattys2015

Chapter 7

Teenage Tula

Once again, Tula sat in class, tuning out her teacher and playing her game, when suddenly, a huge burst of new emotion entered her field. It was strong frustration, quite unlike the average person, and it was from right outside. It was vaguely familiar as Tula asked Mrs. J if she could go to the bathroom. At her nod, Tula walked out as fast as she could to see who it was. The sight before her eyes made her jaw drop in wonder. There sat Jay, tapping furiously to a tune she could not hear, and looking like he wanted to pull his hair out with frustration. "Jay! Jay! Jayden, listen to me, I can help you." 

Jay slowly looked up at her and nodded. 

"I need you to think of something. A person or memory that you remember really well. Focus only on that and on nothing else."

It took him five minutes to calm down, think of something and push everything out. He looked back at Tula and smiled weakly. "Thanks."

"No problem. Can you tell me what happened?"

"I was just sitting in class, and suddenly it started getting louder and louder. I looked around, but no one seemed to hear it. It became so loud that I couldn't understand anything at all. I couldn't think or talk."

"Jay, you're a telepath just like me. Those were people's thoughts you heard, that's why no one else could hear them. Have you always heard things?"

"No, never before. It just happened today."

"Okay. I've taught you how to control it, let's get back to class. I'll explain everything to you later," Tula said, suddenly worried. As far as she knew, no one just suddenly developed Gifts. It happens slowly, and to everyone. Majority of people crush it early, passing it off as imagination, but some people harness it, and it grows in them. A sudden attack was completely unheard of, according to every article and book she had read.Pushing the thought away for later, she pulled on her memory of Helen and knocked on the door.

Maybe the look on her face told Mrs. J not to ask why she'd taken so long in front of everyone, or maybe she just didn't want to. Either way, Tula was grateful for not having to make up an excuse. Tula slipped into her seat and couted the minutes till class ended. A minute before, she tried to see if she could talk to Jay telepathically.

Jay?

What?

It's Tula, I'm in your head, so don't turn around. This is part of what I can do, I think, though it doesn't work for normal people. 

Okay.

Meet me at the library in lunch?

Yeah. 

See ya.

After class, Tula automatically hung back, knowing Mrs. J would want to talk to her. As she approached, Tula decided not to tell her the truth, at least until she spoke to Jay. So she just said, "I'm really sorry, but I had a really important reason. It's just that I can't exactly tell anyone quite yet. If you give me a day or two, I'll explain everything to you."

"Okay, that sounds fair. I'll give you till Friday."

"Thanks," Tula said, almost running out of class and straight to the library.