Bionic Sisters

Crush-A-Mania

"Second day! Up, up, up!" Arly was using her superspeed to get ready and was ushering Alli and Ara awake.

I (unclearly) mumbled something about Arly shutting up and turned away to get more sleep.

"Ara, you better get up, or I'm throwing Adam's sand dollar out the window!"

I shot up and gave her a death glare. "You wouldn't dare."

She smirked. "Watch me." She testily dangled it out the window.

I activated my mind control and watched as she set it down.

"Seriously? You're playing the mind control card?" she asked.

"Yup." I hopped out of bed and snatched my sand dollar up. Using my cryokinesis, I froze the dollar over so it wouldn't crumbled. "And you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to make it into a necklace." I got in our desk drawer and pulled out a string. I had Allison tie it around my neck.

"You know why you want it as a necklace?"

"Hmm?"

"Because you loooove him!"

"Or maybe it's because I don't want you putting your grimy hands all over it."

I watched as she checked her hands.

"Hey, you two, that's enough," Allison whispered softly. "Let's go to class."

We all walked out of the dorm as a group, heading toward the training area. Most of our classmates were already there, and only a few were missing.

"It's always refreshing to see new classmates at least give an effort to show up to class." Chase walked up to us with a smile on his face. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Arly sigh.

"We're here to impress," I told him, smiling.

"This crowd's pretty hard to impress," he told me. "Be careful."

Adam came in to start teaching. Chase left to allow him the space to.

"What'd he mean by that?" I whispered to Allison. She shrugged.

"Hey Ara!" Adam called, making his way toward us.

Arly began to giggle like crazy.

"Hey Adam! Thanks for the sand dollar," I replied nonchalantly.

"Aw, you're wearing it as a necklace! So sweet," he smiled.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know, I can't read minds!"

"But I can."

Suddenly, Arly started hitting my back. "Ara, Ara, Ara, Ara..."

"Excuse me for a moment," I tried to say coolly to Adam. I whirled around to face Arly. "What?"

She pulled me two steps to the side. "Use your mind reading to see if he likes you back!"

I contemplated. "Fine, but only if it'll get you to shut up!" I turned back around to face Adam. "Sorry about that."

"I know what it's like to have siblings," he laughed. Oh god, that smile! His dimples!

I took a deep breath and tried to continue the conversation while working my "mind magic". Thoughts practically blew around my head like a tornado. Then, there it was.

"She's so cute. What would she do if I asked her out?"

"I'd say yes!" I accidentally blurted.

Adam paused. "What?"

Arly turned to me. "Adam asked a question, Ara."

"I'm aware," I said, flustered. Suddenly, the bell rang. I began to laugh nervously.

"Okay..." Adam said, going to the front of the class to begin his lesson.

"Ugh! Guys, I totally blew this!" I whined.

"You'll get him next time, tiger," Allison whispered in my ear. Arly patted my back.

Just then, three girls walked over to us. "Hi, I'm Lynn, this is Cady, and the other is Lauren," the leader—Lynn—introduced.

"H-hi."

"So, you're the girl Adam has taken a favor to?" Lynn cut right to the chase.

"I-I guess. Why?"

The girls began to circle us and my stomach began to churn. I had a bad feeling about this.

"He gave you this sand dollar necklace?"

"Ara..." Arly whispered.

I cleared my throat. "Yeah, he did."

Lynn stepped forward. "Give it to me."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Perhaps I should speak louder." Lynn grabbed my necklace and tore it off my neck. She used a hand-heat bionic feature and melted my ice protection. Then, she did the unthinkable.

She snapped Adam's gift in half.

"Stop!" I shrieked.

"Is something wrong over here?" Adam asked.

"Lynn, here, just snapped Ara's sand dollar in half," Arly said, her voice menacing.

"Lynn, is that true?"

"Yeah—why lie?"

I was so embarrassed. Allison wrapped her hands around my forearm but I tore away. "Excuse me," I said, choking back tears. I ran all the way to a storage closet and sank to the floor.

I was beyond humiliated.

After about an hour of crying, alone, I saw the door handle turn and prepared myself for the worst.

To my surprise, Adam came in. "Are you okay? We've been looking for you for an hour!"

"We?" I sniffled.

"Me and your sisters. Look, I'm sorry about what happened with Lynn. I'll get you a new sand dollar, okay?"

"It won't be the same."

Adam seemed confused. "Why not?"

"Because," I said, trying not to let my exasperation bleed into my tone. "That sand dollar was your first gift to me." I drew in a shaky breath. "Adam, I knew from the moment I bumped into that I liked you and that sand dollar meant a lot."

Adam stared at me. "You really mean it?" he asked innocently.

I smiled and tried not to let any more tears fall. "Yeah."

"Well, if it helps, I have the two halves right here." He pulled them out of his pocket and gave them to me.

And then, I had an idea. I leaned over and grabbed some string—the luck of being in a storage closet—and looped it through one half in the sand dollar. Then, I took some scissors and cut it, and then looped more string through the other half. I took the other half and tied it around Adam's neck.

"What're you doing?"

"You'll see. Will you tie my necklace?"

I held up my hair to allow him to tie it. When he was done, I turned to face him again and smiled. "Because we'll always be two halves of the same heart."

Adam seemed to understand and smiled. He then stood up and helped me up.

"Ready to come back to class?"

I looked at my shoes, trying to hide my beaming. "Yeah, I guess."

He cupped my chin and lifted my head so I would look him in the eyes.

"Thank you," he whispered. And then, he leaned me against the shelves and kissed me.

Right there, in the storage closet.