Valorie

Chapter Two

           "Should I talk to him?" Janis gawked at the boy from across the hallway. The bell for lunch had just rang, and everyone was getting ready to leave the school and make way to their favorite lunch spots. Sylvester stood around with his friends. He was very short, just a few centimeters taller than Valorie. He had black hair that was slicked back, sticking against his head, and it wasn't because he had gel in it. It was more due to the lack of washing it. He had thick, round glasses, and a round belly underneath his suspenders to match his chubby, baby-like face. He carried around an open school laptop, showing off his games to his friends. They have hardly ever left the school for lunch. Valorie didn't really find Janis' love interest appealing, and yet she knew they really didn't have many options. She always knew that she'd probably end up with some kind of sociopath that had the ability to summon chains around his victims' ankles, or a man that could turn his fingers into knives, and threaten to cut her whenever she didn't listen. She supposed she also had a bit of a morbid imagination, but she always heard about creepy people like that on her and Janis' serial killer documentaries, and the thought haunted her. There was no chance a decent man would ever want her.
           Sylvester's endowment made him seen as a reject. It was usually people with gross powers relating to bodily-functions that got them thrown to the wolves. Sylvester had the ability to use his snot as a very powerful adhesive. How unlucky. His boogers were sticky enough to secure a wooden bird house he built, and he happily showed it off to Janis over PicChat. Apparently Janis could put up with that, but the thought of it caused Valorie to dry heave. If people like that were her options for dating, she was better off alone.
           Janis gasped, looking up from her phone and realizing he and his friends were walking away towards the lunch room.
           "Crap! Come on. I'm just gonna do it!" Janis took her skinny friend by the sleeve and began dragging her through the crowd. They stopped at the entrance of the cafeteria and watched them join the line to grab their food. Janis huffed, biting what was left of her mutilated nails. Valorie watched between her and the boys with worry. When the group of them finally appeared on the other side of the lunch line, and made their way to sit down, Janis held her breath and B-lined for their table. Valorie scurried after her.
           "Uh... Hey!" She paused right in front of them, causing the group of three boys to peer up at her awkward smile.
           "Oh. Hey." Sylvester smiled back, but his eyes were shifting around at the other students. Valorie gawked at all of them, unknowingly. Next to Sylvester were his two best friends, Nathan and Bruce. Valorie knew very little about them, but she knew that they all had weird abilities, which made everyone avoid them and treat them relatively badly around school. It probably didn't help that they weren't the most handsome bunch of boys.
          Bruce was a small guy like Sylvester, only he had a much darker complexion, and several more tiny, black whiskers growing on his upper lip and the center of his chin. He also had very large, square glasses, and wore a button-up blue and black plaid shirt. His black hair was buzzed nice and short, showing off a big, shiny, zit-covered forehead. He had big, obvious blue and black headphones on top of his head, and he wore them proudly, blasting his music so loud into his tiny ears that you could hear it just standing next to him. He had a large over bite and baggy, exhausted eyes that could only be recognized as someone who had spent hours awake, late into the night, playing his favorite video game.
  His endowment was basically having bad breath. The smell of his spit was potent and toxic, and some would describe it as, 'the smell of a rotting, dead carcass'. His type of ability would likely be described by teachers as some sort of defense mechanism to scare away predators and bullies. It also made him completely unbearable to talk to, because the sickening smell of his exhalations were horrendous. He could be seen regularly popping breath mints and chewing gum into his mouth throughout the day, which sort of helped, but not enough. How unlucky. Sylvester and Nathan must've just gotten used to his awful stench.
           Nathan was much taller than Janis at a staggering height of one-hundred eighty-two centimeters. He had long, curly, unkept hair that covered at least half of his face. He had tiny, pursed lips, and braces glued to his crooked teeth. He was acne-ridden as well, and he seemed like he also had some sort of phobia against showering. The one who attended the most to his appearance, out of the three of them, was Bruce, who was extremely self-conscious about his smell anyway. Nathan wore a dirty jacket and basketball shorts over his long, hairy legs. He had a severe hunch back, and tilted his head slightly as he looked past his filthy, dirty-red curls. His wrists and fingers were skinny and pale, and you could see large veins bulging out of his arms from under his thin skin, with his sleeves rolled up past his elbows. His endowment was... unmentionable.
           Nobody talked about it, but Valorie knew, because everyone at school knew. She hated thinking about it, because the idea of having such and awful endowment was horrifying, but in short, Nathan's endowment made him prone to accidents. At some point, every year since she's ever been in school with him, Nathan never fails to have a horrible day at some point during the school year because of his ability. Every year a new story circulates about him... a story about him crapping his pants, and his three-point-twenty-seven PH poop burning through his underwear. That's right. His fecal matter was as acidic as hydrofluoric acid.  He was a huge target for bullying and teasing, and Valorie could definitely see why. She wondered how people got so unlucky to end up with such disgusting and shameful endowments. It was no wonder that some people grew up to be supervillains. All things considered, Sylvester probably did have the least repulsive power out of the three of them.
  "Do you guys mind if we sit with you?" Janis asked slowly and carefully.
  "Uh... Sure, go ahead." He said, not really giving any sort of reassuring encouragement. They all looked back at Sylvester's computer screen as the two girls sat down with them. It was very quiet between the five of them, and the atmosphere was excruciatingly uncomfortable. Janis and Valorie would look at each other, catching Sylvester's friends eyeing them from the side. Valorie looked at Janis and sent her a questioning stare. Janis bit her lip once again.
  "So. Are you excited for the dance at the end of the month?" She laughed. Valorie had a lump in her throat for her friend's success in this interaction. She talked to him constantly over the phone, even FaceCalling every once in a while. But when they were at school, it was almost like they didn't know each other existed. This confused Valorie, but she never questioned Janis about it.
  Her inquiry caused the three of them to look up at her in a dead-eyed stare. He seemed to be contemplating her words for a long time. Janis was bottling up the fear pounding in her chest.
  "Uh... yeah..." He looked down at his lap, feeling embarrassed, "It's kind of a while away though." He went straight back to typing on his computer, and his friends followed his gaze. Janis had no idea how to respond. She looked towards Valorie for help. She didn't know any more than Janis did. They looked back at watched the three freaky boys for a long time. They started talking about whatever game Sylvester was playing, but mostly just sitting in silence.
  "W-what got you interested in Janis anyway? She talks so much about how great you treat her... And she's so excited to dress up for the dance." Valorie said, trying to break the tension, and simultaneously causing a look of distress to cross Janis' face. She hardly noticed her when the boy looked up again. His eyes scanned Janis' entire face and frame.
  "Uh... s-she's really... n-nice... I don't know." He sunk down closer to the screen, suddenly avoiding eye contact. The other two boys stared at Valorie with their vacant, tired expressions. Valorie felt a panic crawl up her spine.
  "Uh... you know, she cleans up well!" She blurted before getting a balled up fist slammed into her back by Janis, "Ow!" Valorie whined, quieter than a kitten. Bruce leant over and began whispering in Sylvester's ear, and the boy scrunched up his face in response to the smell of his breath, however, he listened. Sylvester stared at Janis again and sighed.
  "Look, Janis. I like you, but it's weird to me that you never talk about your endowment." He explained, catching Janis by surprise. Valorie felt like his comment was pretty unrelated and random, but she didn't interject.
  "That's because it's super weird! Like Nathan's... I-I just don't know you well enough to tell you." She lied to him. Nathan scoffed and looked back towards Sylvester.
  "That's what I've been telling you, though. Our whole group is all about loving and accepting ourselves despite having weird, gross powers. No matter what it is, I promise it wouldn't turn me away from you. I just need you to be honest." Sylvester said. His friends nodded in agreement. Janis looked at Valorie again, just as terrified as before. Valorie shrugged at her in response. Janis sighed.
  "Okay, look. I'll tell you, okay? I have the ability to, uh... pee..." She stopped in the middle of her words, and saw the three of them, along with Valorie, staring at her with wide, gaping eyes. It was too late to turn back, "... uh... I pee out... fresh, cold lemonade. That's it." Valorie's stomach flipped. That was it? What kind of endowment was that? It was gross, sure, but totally unbelievable. She knew that Sylvester wouldn't buy that crap.
  "See? That's not so bad! I told you, we wouldn't judge you no matter what it was. And... wow, that's actually a pretty cool endowment." Sylvester laughed, suddenly looking at Janis with a newfound astonishment. Her face turned beet-red. Valorie's jaw had dropped. She wasn't very good at acting, hiding emotion, or lying, although Janis was highly trained in coming up with fabricated tales on the spot.
  "It is a little strange, but I'm sure your lemonade is actually pretty tasty." Bruce nodded with a sly smile. Valorie had to physically stop herself from cringing. She was so embarrassed, she wanted to get up from the table and run away.
  "I— Uh... right... well, now that you know, can we please stop talking about it?" Janis asked as the sweat started beading up on her forehead.
  "How'd you find out it was lemonade? When I found out my shit was acidic, it was because I used to burn holes in my superhero underwear as a kid. The doctors did tests, and found out I could actually use my ability to shoot fiery-acid shit at my enemies like a bombardier beetle, blinding them with burning, noxious emissions." Nathan explained bluntly, staring the girl down. He obviously wasn't shy about his power once you gave the slightest bit of inquiry about it.
  "Uh... that's uh, pretty impressive? Look, I-I really don't like talking about my endowment." She shook her head, staring at the table in embarrassment. Valorie was already feeling noxious.
  "Is your lemonade-pee unsafe to drink? Or is it totally ammonia-free?" Bruce queried.
  "Does it really come out cold every time? Does that mean your body's ability to chemically alter your urine into lemonade is paired with some sort of cooling ability?" Nathan asked, intensely interested in her power. Janis wasn't expecting such invasive questions about her made-up endowment.
  "Guys, settle down, she's not used to being as open as us. She's still shy about it." Sylvester told them, causing them to roll their eyes and shut up. Valorie couldn't be happier that he stopped them.
  "Yeah, I don't know, guys, I've been secretive about my endowment my whole life. T-that's why everyone thinks I don't have one..." Janis said, staring at the floor to her side.
  "Well... thanks for telling us. I'm sure that must've been hard, but... I'm so glad you did." He smiled, reaching out across the table. Janis looked up at him in surprise, and hesitantly took his hand. He was smiling at her, suddenly being charming and kind. Valorie thought, maybe she was wrong about this guy.
  From then on, Janis was hooked. The long days leading up to the dance couldn't go by any slower. Valorie was still hung up on the fact that she was moving, but Janis completely forgot, it seemed. They were both counting the days, but for totally different reasons. A day hadn't gone by that Janis didn't mention the dance. They went shopping one day and spent hours finding a dress. Janis was very picky and insecure. She felt like everything looked ugly on her. She finally found a very cute low-cut, black dress, with small, baggy sleeves that fell off her shoulders, and a short, frilly skirt that reached her thighs. Valorie thought she looked very pretty in it, and while Janis still had her self-doubts, she ended up going with it.
  Valorie didn't get a dress because in her mind she still didn't know if she was going. Janis hardly noticed that either. She was full of herself and her mind was on her amazing date fantasy with Sylvester. Now that he was talking to her at school, Valorie felt like a third wheel between the two of them, and Janis dedicated most of their free time out of class searching for him in the halls so she could quickly say 'hi' to him, before rushing to her next class. Valorie couldn't really do much about it either. In the past, she appreciated Janis' skill in finding fun things for them to do when they were bored, but that lead to the habit of her always deciding what they were gonna do. Valorie was far too timid to protest.
  One night they walked to Janis' place after school to have a sleepover. It was still a school night, but as long as they made it to class on time, neither of their parents really minded them staying at the other's house. It was just getting dark and the two girls were sitting on the couch, staring at their phones as one of their comfort shows, "Family Man", played in the background. Janis' mother walked in through the front door with a few bags of groceries, and a large fountain soda from the convenient store. She groaned as she kicked off her high-heeled boots.
  "Hey girls. You hungry?" She questioned, making her way through her messy rental house. It was closer to the size of a trailer, and wasn't much prettier than one. The Wheelers weren't exactly known for having a nice, pretty house. The floors were hardly swept or vacuumed, the sink was constantly full of dishes, there was random stuff scattered along the tables and counter tops, and Heather, Janis' mom, was, in fact, a bit of a hoarder. She had a mountain of mail piled up on her small table next to the couch, along with her bags of candy that the girls weren't really allowed to touch. All of the drawers in the house were hard to open, having been stuffed with random junk over the years. There were stains on the walls and furniture, cigarette butts and ashes could be found in old cups and bottles. Heather was an avid drinker, too, which was probably a large factor to her chaotic mess of a living space.
  In contrast, Valorie's house was usually very clean, uncluttered, and organized, which was a direct reflection of how her father operated. He was often very strict and disciplined with Valorie and her tidiness around the house, which was a pain for her. However, he wasn't tyrannical about it. He didn't use chores as a punishment, but rather explained it to be a daily responsibility that everyone has to do. That didn't mean Valorie hated it any less. They especially butted heads about her room, which often became an unmanageable mess within a week of her cleaning it. It always baffled Steven how messy she could make it within such a short period of time. Valorie felt it was useless to clean, because it was just going to get messy again, anyway. It was just another pointless responsibility that she'd have to suffer through, like school, and like the rest of her useless life. Janis' house was an escape from that. Heather hardly cared about things being neat and clean until she needed a pan for cooking or a clean bowl for her food. The girls could spill red wine across the living room carpet and she probably wouldn't notice until months later.
  Heather was a strong willed, short-tempered, relatively young woman, for having a teenage daughter. Despite this, she seemed like she lived with this fog always surrounding her and always filling her head. Valorie, and Janis especially, felt like she wasn't always completely "there". Heather worked hard, working two different jobs every day in order to make ends meet. She'd always come home, put together some sort of dinner for herself and her child, and had a few drinks before bed. Some nights were worse than others, and Valorie had seen those nights, but she could be a lot worse. Even when she'd wake up sick and hungover, she'd roll out of bed and somehow make it to work anyway.
  Heather was just a few centimeters shorter than Janis. Her light brown, curly hair was cut in what almost looked like a mullet. She was quite overweight, and she usually wore cute, baggy button-up shirts and sleek, black pants to compliment them. She didn't leave the house without doing her make up and throwing on a pair of dangling earrings and a few pretty necklaces. Much like Janis, Valorie thought, her mother cleaned up well. But the fog was there.
  She'd forget to pay bills and wasn't always paying attention to how much money she'd spend week to week. She didn't pay much attention to Janis either. She'd shrug her off pretty often when she was too tired to care, she didn't always keep track of what she was doing or where she went, and when she did start wondering where she was, it turned into a huge fight, most of the time. Some nights Janis would get screamed at through the phone for being out past 7 p.m., and sometimes she didn't even notice her absence for the entire night. Heather was a roller coaster, but she also had her good moments.
  Her love language was mainly food, and she never failed to surprise the girls with treats like take-out, pizza, and fast food, most nights for dinner, or sometimes she'd bring home doughnuts and MoonBucks coffee on her way home from picking up a pack of smokes in the morning. Maybe Janis didn't get a "how was your day?" or even an "I love you," from her mother as much as she wanted, but she knew that she was loved and cared for whenever her mother shoved that greasy, sugary, delicious food in her direction.
  "I could eat." Janis shrugged, not taking her eyes off of her phone.
  "What'd you want? I didn't get anything from store except my soda and cigs." She explained as she placed her bag of items on the table.
  "Uhh... Mac and cheese?" Valorie was amazed at how fast Janis always knew what she wanted for her next meal. Whenever she was asked about what she wanted to eat, she could never decide in a timely manner. It once took her all day to decide what she wanted to eat for her birthday dinner that night, and when she finally suggested they just ate her birthday cake for dinner, her Dad told her he'd make pork dumplings. Sometimes she felt like he knew herself better than she even did. She usually just let other people decide the meal, and then ate whatever everyone else was having, and she wasn't much of a picky eater, either.
  "Alright. You know, I finally paid the gas bill." Heather sang with delight.
  "Good for you, it's about time." Janis spat. Heather shot her a disapproving look.
  "Well, smart ass, if you think you know so much, why don't you get off your ass and pay the damn gas bill yourself, huh?" She taunted. Janis rolled her eyes. She didn't feel like arguing, although, she had a lot to say, but she didn't like arguing with her mother in front of Valorie.
  "Anyway, you know that one's easy to forget. I hardly ever use the natural gas. But now that it's getting colder, it's about that time of year I start payin' it again. I can't heat this whole damn house on my own." She ranted on as she smacked her cigarette package into her palm. She opened it up and popped in a smoke, lighting it right in the dining room. She seemed calm after taking a long puff of it.
  "That means we can cook here, again?" Valorie sat up in realization with a smile. Janis looked at her from the side with a slightly uninterested expression.
  "Sure," Heather sighed with another breath of smoke, "You'd be doing me a favor. If you want, I can still get the water boiling so it's faster."
  "Okay. Come on, Janis." Valorie got up to head to the kitchen. Janis groaned, but followed her.
  "Why don't you just let my mom do it?" Janis asked her friend as she watched Heather test the condition and of the stove. She held her lighter up to the burner and it caught aflame.
  "Aha! It totally works, girls." She said, then moving to fill a pot with water.
  "She's already pretty much cooking it for us anyway." She told Valorie.
  "Nuh-uh, we have to sit here and watch it." Valorie smiled.
  "What's your deal with cooking, anyway? It's not that hard, you've hardly ever touched a stove." Heather commented towards her daughter, handing Valorie a box of macaroni. The girl took the processed, powdered cheese out of the box and poured the pasta into the water. Janis glared at her friend.
  "Because I like your cooking." Janis shrugged with her arms crossed, causing her mother to scoff.
  "Well, that's very sweet, honey, but you gotta learn to cook at some point. Your almost fifteen years old and all you know how to cook is a bowl-o-noodles," She told her, referring to the cheap, easy snack that Janis could simply pop into the microwave, "You're lucky to have a friend like Valorie who knows how to cook, she could teach you some things."
  "Teach me? So what if she knows a few different recipes, Valorie still sucks at cooking!" Janis suddenly got defensive, causing Valorie to turn to her in surprise, "And what's wrong with bowl-o-noodles? Especially when you like smoking near a gas-burning stove!" Janis said, swatting at the cigarette between her mothers fingers.
  "Knock it off!" She exclaimed, holding the smoking stick away from her. Janis managed to knock it out of her hand, and immediately proceeded to stomp it out on the kitchen floor.
  "Ugh! You little shit!" She yelled, smacking her on the shoulder. Janis flinched, but her mother just grunted and turned back to the pasta. Valorie stared between them, frozen with fear and shock. Heather held her hand over the pot and slowly clenched her fist. The water began rapidly bubble into a boil as her fingers curled up into her palm. Steam started to rise around her hand, while the little pieces of macaroni danced around in the water.
  "You know, Janis, my life would be a lot easier if you weren't such a shit head." She told her. The pot was starting to bubble ferociously as her fist grew tighter.
  "Well my life would be a whole hell of a lot easier if you weren't in it!" Janis yelled. Valorie stepped back as the situation quickly escalated.
  "You really think you'd be better off with me gone? You'd be nothing without your mother, Janis!" Heather screamed. The water was starting to boil over the pan, but she didn't even notice as she dug her nails into her palm.
  "You make my life miserable!" Janis yelled back, "You're always yelling at me and telling me what to do, you never let me do anything, and you don't care about me!" Tears were started to fall down her face. Valorie stood back, using the little piece of cardboard from the Mac and cheese to shield herself from the two of them.
  "Of course I do!" She finally moved her hand away from the water, flailing them out in front of her, "God, Janis, why do you think I do most of this shit? Because I got pregnant with you at seventeen-years-old, and now I'm paying the fucking price in order to provide for you! Put yourself in my shoes! You have no idea what it's like to be an adult! And you wanna start dating boys, and dressing up all slutty for dances? That's exactly how you'll end up like me! You don't understand a damn thing! You're so god damn immature!" She told her.
  "No. I'm. NOT!" Janis screamed at the top of her lungs, no longer in control of her rage. She shot her arms into the air and threw them down, smacking the handle of the boiling pot of water and toppling it over onto herself. The scream that filled the house in the next second was horrifying. Her mother rushed to her side in an instant, suddenly screaming as well. Valorie watched in horror as the blisters began to appear all over her face and neck in seconds.
  "Oh my god! Oh my god!" Heather picked her up and struggled to carry her to the bathroom down the hallway. She placed her into the bathtub and turned on the cold water. Valorie watched as her friend cried and wailed in agony over the horrible burns she sustained.
  "Valorie! My phone! In my purse! On the table, hurry!" The words tumbled from her mouth like apples falling out of a barrel. She hurriedly rushed to the dining room and fished it from her purse, dashing back to the bathroom as quickly as she could.
  "Oh my god!" She heard her shout again as she ran up to the door, holding the phone out in front of her as she hyperventilated. Valorie stared in shock as her friend heaved in the tub with the cold shower water raining down on her. The third-degree burns were suddenly disappearing almost as quickly as they showed up. Janis looked down at herself and could even see her hand stop shaking as the blisters seemingly evaporated from her skin. She looked up at her mother in shock.
  "Mom?" She asked, confused as to what was happening to her.
  "Honey... your burns... they're disappearing..." She laughed.
  "Is that normal?" She asked. Heather stared at her with wide eyes. She grabbed her daughter's face.
  "No!" She exclaimed, "Janis! You have an endowment!" She screamed. Janis stared at her in shock. She started to sob again. Her mother wrapped her arms around her and started to cry as well. Valorie just stood there, completely stunned, slowly letting her arm drop back to her side. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
  "Valorie! I have an endowment!" Janis screamed.