Valorie

Chapter Five

           "Hold still, Valorie!" Janis scoffed with a mascara brush between her fingers.
           "Ow! You got my eye again!" Valorie jerked her head away just as the brush came back to her eyelashes. She squeezed her eye shut and refrained from rubbing it.
           "I did not! Quit being a baby!" She said, grabbing her cheek and pulling her face towards her again. It was the night of the dance, and they were almost dressed for the occasion. Janis wanted to go all out and wear make up together, even though Valorie begged her to be spared from it. But, as usual, she gave in, and Janis' mom let her dig around in a bag of her expired stuff, since she didn't trust the girls with her 'adult makeup'. Janis tried to insist they were adult enough, but to no avail. The girls just assumed she was being stingy, since she didn't get to buy much new make up for herself often anyway.
           They smudged an old, dirty bottle of off-colored foundation onto their faces. It was a little too light of a color for Janis' complexion, but it looked bright orange against Valorie's near-white skin tone. Janis didn't say anything though, since it was all they had. They also patted buckets of white powder into their skin, which helped out Valorie's issue... a little. On Janis' end, however, it was only making things worse. They had no idea what they were doing, but went ahead anyway. Janis attempted to draw a small wing of eyeliner next to her eye, but after having to wipe away a shaky line several times, she got angry and just gave up. They put a small bit of black eyeshadow on their eyelids, helped each other put on the mascara, and finally slapped on a little lip gloss. They were ready.
           "Has Sylvester messaged you?" Valorie asked, waiting with her friend in her atrociously messy kitchen. She didn't answer her. They stood hunched over in their dresses, Janis glaring at the floor with her phone to her ear.
           "You girls ready to go?" Heather walked in wearing pajamas, ready to start her bedtime routine when she got back home, and fixing her hair into a messy bun.
  "Hold on..." Janis grumbled. Valorie watched her scroll through her apps until she came across a video game she had downloaded. She opened it, and immediately went to one of the accounts.
           "I knew it!!!" Janis groaned, and then instantly began typing him a messages through the game's chat function. She even started an in-game voice call and sent him multiple invitations to join it. Finally, to Valorie's shock, he actually responded— quite rudely— on the app.
          
           What do u want? I'm in the middle of something

           Janis was outraged. Her thumbs began to rapidly type out a string of sentences on her keyboard. Suddenly, he was calling her from his regular phone number.
           "Are you serious? What do you mean what do I want? You're supposed to be meeting us at the—" Janis stopped talking for a moment and listened to him on the other line, "Well I don't think it's funny!" She suddenly yelled, "You've been worrying me for days, making me think you're not gonna go through with this, can't you please just—" She was apparently interrupted again, and Heather rolled her eyes. Valorie thought for a second that she was just as annoyed at Janis as she was.
           "Men." She said towards Valorie, shaking her head. Valorie just nodded in a half-hearted agreement.
           "Really... you mean it...?" Janis then asked in a soft tone, turning away from her Mom and friend, and she starting to get a little flustered. She began to smile at whatever Sylvester was saying, and that's when Valorie rolled her eyes, "Okay... see you soon... bye," she hung up the phone and sighed, "Well, what are we standing around for? Let's GO!" She shouted, suddenly shoving her tiny friend out the kitchen door, causing her to trip on her dress a little. Her mom followed them outside and they hit the road.
           "Too bad it was too short notice for your Dad to get us a limo." Janis told her as they stared out the car window at their little town's sidewalks and houses. Valorie was trying to memorize all of the details of the streets outside, so she wouldn't forget them when she moved to the city.
           "Yeah..." She had actually insisted her father didn't get the limo, even though he told her he'd figure out a way to make it happen. She just didn't want all of the attention like Janis did, and she knew her Dad was trying to be tight on money anyway. So she lied to Janis and told them the limo place didn't allow people to rent only a day in advance. Which was probably pretty true, anyway... but they never really found that out for sure, so it was a lie nonetheless.
           The car suddenly screeched to a halt, and Heather pounded her palm into the center of the steering wheel, blaring her horn at bearded man wearing workout gear in front of her bumper. He had come out of nowhere, running nearly as fast as the cars driving down the four-lane intersection, just before the light turned green. The only reason she missed him was because he had the capacity to react in time. The girls' mouths hung open in surprise at the sudden event. There actually wasn't much traffic, but Heather was enraged.
  "What are ya, crazy? It's eight o'clock at friggin' night! What are you doing running around the biggest intersection in this tiny ass town for? You almost got yourself killed, you muscular-legged maniac!" She screamed as she hung out the window, honking the horn again, and gesturing to the man with the insanely large thighs, quads, and calves. He gave her a dirty look before picking his pace back up, suddenly sprinting down the street once more, scaling hundreds of kilometers in seconds.
  "Damn... nice ass, though..." Heather squinted at him from afar before racing through the light.
  They pulled up to the front of the school, and dozens of kids dressed in cute, fancy outfits were already piling through the entrance. Valorie and Janis sat in the car for a moment as she tried to call Sylvester again. He answered promptly, which made Janis happy, at least. Valorie, however, couldn't help stare at some of the students flooding the area. She saw a very beautiful white limousine pull up, which started to make her feel a sting of regret and resentment. Then one of the beautiful popular girls walked out, Jacqueline Harmon, and she looked dazzling as ever. She was a year 12 student, almost finished with school, and Valorie was barely a quarter through year 10. However, she knew about her, and she knew she had the power to manipulate rays of light, and she was showing it off with her sparkly dance dress that night. The change in lighting was enough to catch the attention of someone who was caught in a daze or a deep conversation. It was a strange phenomenon, but as if all of the randomly placed lightbulbs and streetlights had suddenly turned to face her, she was standing in a sort of spotlight stepping out of the car, and her adorable, thigh-cut, sleeveless silver dress was glistening with thousands of tiny, reflective crystal and glitter decor. Everyone was excited to see her, and like a celebrity, dozens of her friends ran up to greet her. She was radiant, confident, and so full of energy and life. Even though she was in heels, she was practically jumping around.
  Her boyfriend was a very sweet, handsome guy with a plant manipulation ability. He greeted her with a kiss and led her over to a patch of grass off of the side of the courtyard. He knelt down and spread his fingers through the grass, and suddenly and array of different flowers began to sprout up and bloom around his hand. The girl actually looked surprised, as if she hadn't seen him do it a million times. He carelessly ripped the plants out of the ground and handed them to her in a bouquet, still kneeling down on one knee. She happily accepted them, and they kissed, hugged, and chatted as they began walking inside together.
  So many people were using their endowments outside the school. Although they weren't really allowed to, as long as they weren't putting anyone at risk, the teachers were pretty notorious for letting it slide. In small towns like the one Valorie would soon be leaving, using your endowment was pretty much expected of you, where it was more dangerous and complex in larger, densely populated cities. She couldn't stop wondering what it would all be like...
  "Okay, they're here!" Janis squealed, suddenly grabbing Valorie and shaking her, "They want us to meet them in the back parking lot and walk in with them together."
  "Why?" Valorie questioned.
  "Mom! We're going!" Janis ignored Valorie's questions and called to her sleepy mom, who was staring at her phone in boredom.
  "Okay, your Dad's picking you up at eleven, right Val?" She asked towards the screen of her Candy Crack puzzle game, starting up her car again.
  "Yeah..." Valorie answered, but she was half-tempted to sneak him a message, telling him she suddenly wasn't feeling well and wanted to go home early.
  "Okay. Bye!" Janis shoved Valorie out of the car, and they walked together towards the back of the school as her mom drove off. They saw their dates standing under one of the street lamps, along with Bruce and another girl that they had never seen before.
           "Hey!" Janis chimed, trying to mask her confusion as she stared at the curly-haired, overweight brunette accompanying them, "I'm so glad you guys are here! Who's this?" She asked, Sylvester was glued to his phone screen, and his two friends stood around awkwardly, wondering if he was gonna respond. Valorie didn't understand why he always had his game out when his friends were perfectly fine without it for a few minutes. She figured Janis' demanding presence must've made him really nervous, and so he found every chance to escape. Valorie could hardly make eye contact with Nathan, after all, being far too shy to make any sort of first move or greeting, and he seemed to be too, hiding his eyes with his curly, tangly hair, which he had done nothing to make look nice for the night.
  "Oh, um... this is Gracie. She's coming with Bruce tonight." He finally said, hardly looking up. Gracie gave them a little wave. She had thick glasses like Bruce and Sylvester, and giant, buck teeth that almost hung out of her slightly agape mouth. She was quite a big girl, almost bigger than Sylvester, which seemed to be the plumpest of the bunch. She had on a pretty cute dress, which was tight around her waist, but was patterned with cute, white, red, and pink rosey designs. She also had on a small red cardigan, and a little black purse strung over her shoulder.
  "Okay..." Janis crossed her arms, starting to fall into a pissy expression, "Well, are you ready to go in?"
  "Yeah... one sec..." Sylvester told her, squinting at his phone screen as his little avatar slashed a sword the pixelated enemies before him. Janis scoffed, shooting her friend a look of disbelief. Valorie said nothing, and when she looked back over, Nathan was suddenly right next to her, looming over her and breathing through his mouth, and startling her a bit.
  "Hey..." he said.
  "Oh... hey..." she answered, immediately staring at the ground and unconsciously taking a step back from him.
  "You look pretty." He said. Valorie felt her face burning up, finally looking up at him for a moment, and for a split second, she saw his dark green eyes twinkling at her past his ratty hair, and she actually thought they looked quite handsome.
  "Uh... u-uhh... thanks..." she managed to spit out an answer, looking down at the sidewalk to let her hair hide her eyes as well. A silent, awkward moment passed before Sylvester started freaking out.
  "Ugh!! Noo! Fucking cheaters! Hackers! You fucking cheated!!" He grunted and whined before looking up at the people staring at him. He grumbled under his breath as Janis raised a very judgmental eyebrow at him, and he shoved his phone into his pocket.
  "Come on... let's just go..." he said, aggressively snatching Janis by the hand and storming towards the school entrance. Janis continued to stare him down with only the slightest approval of his behavior. Bruno looked at his date and hesitated as he reached a hand out to her. She smiled coyly, taking it and following after the first two. Valorie saw him secretly pop another breath mint while the new girl stared down at their hands.
           Valorie gulped, looking up at her date... now it was her turn. His eyes trailed down her face and body, stopping at her right hand. He finally lifted one of his arms from out of his pocket, and his palms and fingers already looked clammy and drenched in sweat. She offered her hand back anyway, and they silently walked together up to the entrance. She prayed to the gods that he wouldn't humiliate her with his abhorrent endowment tonight.
  They walked in, and the lights were turned off, the room only illuminated by glow sticks, party lights, and a few far-off Captured Light-Emitting (C.L.E.) bulbs in the other rooms. There were helium balloons everywhere, and she saw one of the student council members blowing them up himself and tying them off for the other students to take. He was making people laugh with his naturally high-pitched voice. Streamers and paper flowers were hung from the highest parts of the roof, probably pretty easily by the students and staff that could fly, jump, levitate, or stretch to meet the height, which she knew some students here were capable of doing. One kid had his shoes off and was climbing up the side of the wall like a lizard to show off, which would easily put him in detention on a normal school day, but all the chaperones could do now was yell at him to get down and threaten for someone to come get him. The school had hired a d.j. that could play and manipulate radio waves through his mouth. All he had to do was hold up a long, metal rod, which he seemed to be fine with, as long as he was in a comfortable chair, and the latest hits would begin to boom from his gaping mouth. He had on a microphone headpiece to blast the music through the commons, and as he moved his lips and beatboxed, he was able to create some cool remixes of the current song that sounded machine-generated. He was actually very talented with his power, and didn't need much equipment to operate. Everyone was already having a good time.
  The six of them shoved themselves into a vacant corner of the room, away from all of the people.
  "Wow... this is the first time I've ever been to a real school dance..." Gracie snorted as she laughed, looking at her date for his opinion.
  "Me too. It actually looks pretty cool." He nodded, gazing around, petrified of all of the rude people he encountered on a daily basis. None of them really wanted to be there... but every one of them wanted to feel included. And yet, they really didn't talk much. For nearly fifteen minutes, they didn't move, or dance, or say a word. They just stared at the sea of kids that was so close, yet so far away, and none of them were brave enough to go and be apart of it.
  "Uh... would you like some punch, darling? Or like... pizza or something?" Nathan asked towards Valorie, catching her completely off guard as he gestured to the table on the other side of the room. Calling her 'darling' was a lot for her to process to in such a short fragment of time.
  "S-sure..." Valorie spoke loudly over the noise, but again, her eyes were stuck down at her black flats, and she swirled around a piece of confetti on the ground with the tip of her foot. Nathan walked off, and Valorie was relieved that he was gone for a moment. She wasn't used to being treated like this by boys, and she had no idea how to act. Janis cleared her throat before having to nudge her so-called boyfriend in the back.
  "Ow! What?" He glared at her.
  "Uh, I'm kinda hungry for some pizza too..." She said, implying for him to follow his friend's chivalry.
  "Okay...? Go get some." He rolled his eyes. Janis' jaw literally dropped, and even Bruce had a look of concern cross over him, knowing his friend was kind of blowing it. So he decided to give him a hand.
  "Uh, hey, Gracie? Are you hungry too? Come on, Sylvester, let's grab our ladies some pizza and punch." He said, barely giving Gracie time to nod her head in response. Sylvester looked puzzled for a second, and then he sort of realized where he was going with it. They left the three graceless girls alone.
  "So... how'd you guys meet the boys?" Gracie asked, trying to spark up conversation between the three of them after a few moments of darting eyes and nervous swaying.
  "Oh... Sylvester and I met through World of Wartimes. I actually don't play it as much as he does... he's obsessed. He's always on his PC if he's not at school... but it's something to bond over, I guess. Val got with Nathan after they all met." Janis shrugged.
  "Really? That's cool. I met Bruce in person, actually. I don't go to the same school as you guys, though. I know, unheard of these days, am I right? We were both at that comic store downtown, he's a regular and I just started going there. I was looking for new editions of my favorite manga, and he was playing Fairies and Fortresses with some of his friends. I asked if I could join and... he said no, because they were already two hours into their game... but he said it was okay for me to watch! So I did, and it was super fun! I talked to them, and he got annoyed trying to explain the game to me... And then... he actually invited me to join his next game the following Friday, since Fridays are Fairies and Fortress days... I met him at five o'clock that next Friday and, well, the rest is history! But... you know... we've only been seeing each other for a few weeks now..." She explained with a nervous chuckle.
  "Wow... that's... actually really sweet..." Janis said, gazing towards the crowd with a hint of jealousy. She really wanted a true love story like that, not just some guy who she met over the internet and happened to go to school with, and who is usually so nice over the phone, but treats her terribly in person. Valorie felt like everything made that girl jealous... the sad part was, she related to her horribly. It was hard to forget the fact that Janis now had a real endowment of her own.
  "So, how'd you get past the whole smelly breath thing?" She asked the girl, who suddenly seemed nervous and jittery at her question.
  "Oh... you know... I'm not really judgmental like that. Besides, Bruce is the nicest guy I've ever been with. He acts like a gentleman, he calls me pretty, even though I don't think I am... I really don't think I could do better." She laughed at herself, but she actually seemed pretty content with her words. Valorie thought those two must really like each other...
  "Huh..." Janis looked up in thought about her last few words... don't think I could do better. Valorie was worrying about her. Was she beginning to realize that with her new power, she, herself, could do better than Sylvester? "So... what's your endowment?" Gracie suddenly seemed like she was choking at Janis' question, and it was clear she really didn't want to answer it.
  "Oh, it's um... it's really interesting actually... but it's not that impressive. I don't think you guys would care much to know..." She trailed off, staring at the floor. Her face looked very greasy, and Valorie noticed a sickening aroma of sweaty cheese coming off of her.
  "Is that... is your sweat... white?" Janis squinted at her through the darkness, having caught a whiff of her by now, too, probably long before Valorie did. Gracie had no words, but there was an obvious milky-white liquid accumulating on her temples and hairline.
  "Uhh... look, I sweat milk, okay!" She blurted, wiping her head with the sleeve of her cardigan. Janis took a step back in surprise and repulsion. Valorie forced herself not to gag, and swallowed a large gulp of air instead.
  "What... like... a platypus or something?" Janis asked her in a dangerously cocky tone. Valorie was starting to worry about her attitude and negative view on everyone's gross powers.
  "Uhh... yeah..." She sighed, crossing her hands over her chest and staring at the floor with sadness, "Like a platypus..." Valorie felt horrible for the unlucky girl, but it explained her presence around the boys. Too bad she had such a terrible power, since she seemed so nice. She probably got teased a lot, like her and Janis did. She turned around and saw a pile of napkins on the table beside her. She grabbed a handful of them and handed them to Gracie with a shy smile.
  "Thanks..." she sighed again, smiling back at her softly, "So... what's your guy's endowments?" She asked, to which Janis and Valorie froze.
  "Oh... well... actually," Valorie wanted to cover her friend's mouth, but thankfully the three boys reentered the picture, balancing multiple plates of food and drinks in their hands. The girls stopped their conversation, took their treats, and thanked them each. Valorie took a very small, nervous sip of her punch, still not daring to look at the boy she was with in the eyes again. She felt bad for wondering if he had maybe spiked her drink on the way back. It tasted fine, though, and she concluded that she was overly worried for no reason. He might've been a strange guy, but he seemed trustworthy. He waited to eat and watched her until she finally took a small nibble of her pizza, and he took that as his cue to scarf his down. Once again, they didn't chat much, they just stood around eating and sipping their punch. Sylvester immediately went back to his phone, and Janis felt like dying.
  "Ugh... I think I'm sick..." Valorie heard a girl say from nearby, as her and her friends approached the table to sign a school poster and grab some cookies.
  "Tabitha, why would you come if you're getting sick? Your endowment is way too dangerous to bring to school sick..." Her friend told her before munching one of the desserts on the table, and taking the marker after her to write her name down.
  "I know, but if I told my mom she'd freak out and never let me come tonight... I'm not missing out, with everyone having fun here without me, come on! Besides, it's just a little cough..." She said, clearing her throat. Her friend gave her a look, and she laughed at her, "What? Come on, I brought my own tissues and I've already been flushing them so they don't start any fires..." she pulled out a pack of open tissues from her bag, along with the balled up, used tissues stuffed in there too.
  "Tabitha! That's so dangerous." Her friend complained to her when she saw the tissues.
  "Come on, guys, it's fine. I've been taking cold medicine all da—" her words were interrupted by a sudden gasp, and a sneeze into her arms. Her friends all shrilled at her as she frantically pulled out some new tissues.
  "Are you okay?" One of them asked, helping her wipe down her arms and the table.
  "Yeah, it doesn't hurt me..." Tabitha laughed, wiping her nose and face as well.
  "Ow... crap... it's starting to sting!" The girl gasped, dropping the tissue she had to the floor.
  "Crap, come on... it'll start to burn if we don't get it off now..." she said, suddenly guiding her friends away to the restroom.
  "Huh... funny how it's so cool when you got hot snot, that burns people, but super sticky snot that's pliable and constructive— well that's just disgusting! Right Sylvester?" Janis commented with a mouth full of pizza, nudging the boy who was engrossed in his mobile video game.
  "Uhh... yeah..." He said. Valorie felt bad for her friend, as all of her attempts to communicate and bond with the boy were met with a bored, inattentive indifference, even during this special occasion which she had been dreaming about for weeks. They were all silent again, and suddenly a slow song came on, and all of the couples were linking up and staring longingly at each other in a warm embrace. Any of the sad saps without a date were standing against the wall, preferably with a group of friends to chat with. Without a word, Bruce looked at Gracie and took her hand again. She stared at him questioningly, and he quietly lead her out to the middle of the room, where all of the other couples were dancing. He placed two hands on her waist, and she put her two hands on his shoulders, and in a clumsy, beautiful moment together, the two smelly teens were dancing and even smiling at each other.
  "Uhh... M'lady... may I have this dance?" Nathan extended a hand out to Valorie again. She didn't hide her expression, furrowing her brows and cringing at his choice of words. She still gave him her hand, though, and allowed him to lead her to the dance floor, where they stood in the same awkward positioning as the people they gathered there with. They slowly stepped from side to side to the rhythm of the calm beat, but Valorie was desperate for it to end as soon as possible. She didn't look at his face, and he didn't look at hers. They either looked at the ground between them or the other things and people around the room. There was absolutely no chemistry between them. Valorie didn't like him, she didn't like how he looked, and she didn't like his mannerisms, but she felt completely out of options. If she wanted to go to a dance with a boy, this was the only boy she's got, like Gracie and Janis had both told her before. At least Nathan was a nice guy, despite the disgusting endowment he had that she sadly couldn't get out of the back of her mind.
  Janis was still standing with Sylvester when Valorie looked over, and he simply wouldn't look away from his phone and wasn't picking up on any of her social cues. She was getting angry, her foot was tapping and she was looking at everyone but him. Valorie knew that it was over for Sylvester. Unless he shaped up very quickly, Janis wasn't going to put up with him anymore, now that she knew the truth about herself. It wouldn't be long before she really thought about it... And she probably already was. When she came to the realization that Valorie was leaving anyway, and it didn't matter if they continued being friends. When she realized that her endowment was actually really amazing, and a lot of people would really start to like her once she opened up about it. Valorie was done for, and destined to move on to the next chapter of her life completely alone...
  They turned around again and again, very slowly inching across the room. Valorie was moving farther away, but Janis was suddenly talking, and she even looked like she was yelling at Sylvester. Her face was scrunched up in a sneer, her hands were on her hips, and as she slammed her cup on the table, she was was starting to leave imprints of her fingers melted into the plastic. Sylvester didn't seem to notice. Nathan tried to guide Valorie away again, but her eyes followed that spot.
  Janis' face was getting red with anger and her eyes started glistening on the brink of tears. Sylvester looked helpless, frustrated, and pathetic in her angry presence, and she could almost hear him whining at her from across the dance floor. Valorie stopped though, when she noticed something really weird. Nathan stopped too, and looked at her.
  "Uhh... are you good?" He asked, finally following her gaze. She pushed his hands away and tilted her head. She couldn't tell if she was seeing smoke or not, until suddenly a huge, bright orange flame started crawling up the table cloth, right behind where Janis and Sylvester were standing.
  "FIRE!!" Someone screamed, just as Sylvester saw the flames behind her. Suddenly the music stopped when the d.j. dropped his rod, and the entire room of people was rushing out of the building, slamming into each other, tripping over dresses, popping stray balloons, and knocking each other over.
  "JANIS!" Valorie screeched, watching the flames engulf the table and everything surrounded her friend, who had fallen to the ground after tripping over her short boyfriend. She rushed towards her in a mindless panic, but her fear caught up with her and she stopped when the heat of the flames hit her face. Party decorations were catching on fire and falling from the ceiling, and she watched in terror as one of the burning streamers fell directly down and tangled around Janis' body. Sylvester scooted away from her and started to scramble towards an exit. Valorie put her hands on her head and watched the flames burn away Janis' dress. She was panicking and squirming on the ground as the fire spread across the walls.
  "Valorie, come on!!" Nathan finally yanked her away, and they watched as the school principal and one of his staff entered the room.
  "Holy shit! Christine! Hit the fucking alarm!" The principal yelled before the man next to him began to produce mountains of carbon dioxide from his fingertips. Valorie was escorted out of the building, the fire alarms blaring off into the night, before she saw any of the aftermath.
  Everyone stood around outside, waiting for their parents to pick them up. Some kids were crying, others were talking about the event like it was the turn of the century. Gracie had already left, Bruce's mother having taken them both home as soon as she got the news. Nathan stayed back with Sylvester and Valorie, since he was able to drive himself home. Valorie was silent, staring at the ground with and empty, terrified feeling inside. She stared at the entrance of the building, begging for someone to drag her friend out alive somehow. Sylvester finally stayed off of his phone. Everyone was shaken up, but Valorie couldn't stop worrying the most. She saw her best friend burning alive before her very eyes... She knew she was either dead or severely injured. How could something like this happen?
  Just then, she saw the girl that they had been eavesdropping on earlier. She was sobbing her eyes out as two people, presumably her parents, yelled at her and scolded her as they pointed to the tissues in her purse. She had to surrender it to the firefighters, who properly disposed of her tissues before they could light anymore of the school on fire. So that's why her parents wouldn't let her come if she was sick...
  "Janis? Janis?" Valorie heard Heather screaming, and she rushed towards her looking even more tired than before she dropped them off, "Valorie! What happened? Where's Janis?!" She questioned, almost about to cry. Valorie was very upset, but all she could do was shrug. She couldn't tell her what she saw... she couldn't.
  "Oh my god. JANIS! My baby!!" Heather suddenly ran past her towards the girl who was staring daggers at the boy she came to the dance with. She was wrapped up in a blanket, and she looked unscathed, besides her hair having some burns and fringes at the ends. She embraced her daughter and kissed her all over her face. But Janis was just glaring Sylvester down.
  "Everyone! Thank you for your cooperation! It's been a scary night, but you all did excellent! Could've done better on the panicking department, but otherwise, the commons only has minimal damage, we can have it back up and running in a week... We'll shut it down, Monday, but we should be able to get back in session next Tuesday. And... miraculously, nobody got hurt..." the principal announced to the lingering crowd and the new parents arriving on the scene. He looked at Janis, and her mother as the crowd began to cheer with relief and praise for the people who handled the situation.
  "I don't know how, but your daughter survived what should've been third degree burns all over her body..." A police officer told her, writing the information down on a notepad.
  "Oh my god, oh my god... my precious baby..." Heather cried, hugging her daughter tightly. Janis didn't say anything, she just stared at Sylvester. Nathan took a step back from his friend when she began storming towards him, pushing her mom out of her way.
  "Janis?" Valorie questioned in complete shock as she drew near.
  "Janis... how did you... survive? I-I saw you..." Sylvester stumbled backwards as she stopped in front of him. People noticed that Janis had survived the flames without a scratch, after multiple people saw them take her down. She towered over Sylvester by a whole foot, and glared at him like she was about to crush him under her half-burnt sneaker.
  "I-I saw you... burning..." He told her in a shaky voice, to which was met with a sharp slap to his face. He almost fell to the ground at the sudden impact.
  "Yeah, you fucking asshole, and you did nothing! You just left me there! Do you really hate me that much?" She screamed him at the top of her lungs, dropping her blanket and revealing her body, completely healed from any burns, yet her dress was burnt to complete rags and was barely covering anything. If anyone wasn't staring before, they were surely staring now, "You idiot! You absolute fucking IDIOT!! You think I deserve this? You think I deserve to keep putting up with this? I have a real endowment. Not sneezing slimy boogers, or stinky fart breath, or pissing lemonade! My endowment..." She trailed off breathlessly for a second, and looked up at all of the people around her. Her mom hand both of her hands pressed to her lips in shock. Valorie was watching her with glassy eyes. She already knew what she was about to say.
  "My endowment... is the ability to survive super hot temperatures beyond any of your comprehension... that's how I survived, Sylvester," Janis spat, pointing at everyone before poking him in the shoulder, "and if you think I can't do better than you— HA HA! You're so dumb! You're lucky I even gave you the light of fucking day! You're a gross, stupid little gamer boy, and a nobody, and you'll never get a girlfriend!" She shoved him again before wrapping her blanket back around her shoulders. The remaining kids began to laugh, gossip, and chatter about the scene they had just witnessed. Heather hugged her daughter again, and just then, Valorie's father came swerving past the traffic on his motorcycle and came to a screeching halt on the sidewalk next to them.
  "Valorie! I came as fast as I could!" He gasped, running over to wrap her in a hug. She finally breathed out a breath of real air, and could relax again in her Dad's safe, warm presence. She started to cry, "It's okay... this stuff happens... lots of people have crazy powers that get them into trouble sometimes... it's okay... I'm here..."
  He stood up again and greeted the boy who was meant to be his daughter's date. She explained that he actually helped her get out of the building, and he thanked him generously, shaking his hand.
  "I really want to go home..." Valorie sniffled, grabbing her dad's hand as she wiped away her running mascara.
  "Of course, my dear... let's get out of here..." He helped her into his bike, strapping a helmet over her head, and he navigated his way through the crowded parking lot and took them back home.