flawed

Chapter 3

Fabian

I hate science. Not the subject matter of the class itself, just the teacher and... my lab partner.

My science teacher, Mrs. Bradley, hates me. I swear, she's out to get me. She always calls on me when I am conveniently not paying attention, and always grades my projects harder than everyone else's.

My lab partner's name is Maisie. And she also hates me. It's probably just because I'm - this will make me sound conceited - one of the more popular kids in school.

She's an edgy, punk-rock-loner kind of girl and I guess that means we just have to automatically hate eachother.

As I walk into class and sit down, Maisie rolls her dark brown eyes at me, which I ignore. Her bubblegum pink hair is in two French braids today, and her lipstick is a bright shade of purple.

Now that I think about it, her hair looks more like Pepto Bismol than bubblegum.

"Alright, turn to page 103," Mrs. Bradley grunts, pushing her cheetah printed reading glasses up her nose. "Today we're going over different kinds of chemical bonds, how exciting! Now to start..." I tune her out and look across the room at Nico. He's texting someone on his phone under the table, and doesn't look up at me.

I turn to Maisie, and say, "This is boring."

She doesn't answer at first, but then replies, her voice completely montone. "Shut up. I'd rather hear this horrible lecture than your disgusting Jabba the Hutt sounding voice." And that's that.

I give her a dirty look and look back at Mrs Bradley, who is pointing at a slideshow on the TV. A kid snores in the row in front of me, and the girl next to him absentmindedly braids her hair.

I turn back to Maisie, wondering what I could do to annoy her, when I see her hiding something under the table. Is that a pudding cup? She quickly sticks her spoon into the gooey chocolate and takes a bite.

"Where'd you get that?" I whisper.

She just rolls her eyes at me, playing it cool. But little does she know, I can see right through her. She's terrified.

How do I know this? I may have forgotten to mention an important detail.

I can read minds.

Yeah, woohoo. You think it's amazing, right? It's not all it's cracked up to be. First of all - I don't use my "power" that much. I've learned over time that it's better for both parties if you just let people have their secrets. You can find out lots of things you really don't want to know. If I ever use my power, it's for stupid things like answers on a math test or to find out if a girl thinks I'm cute. Other than that, I try to avoid it.

The other reason I tend to avoid my power is because... something weird happens when I read people's minds. If I read the mind of someone who is down in the dumps, I automatically become sad. When I read the mind of an extremely angry person, I become furious as well, no matter my stance on the issue that person may be mad about.

I've been able to read minds for as long as I can remember, but I still can't figure out where the ability came from. I've tried asking my mom, by saying things like, "Theoretically speaking, if I had mind reading powers, where would they come from?" She usually just laughs me off.

Anyways, back to Maisie.

Her eyes get wide, and I whisper, "I'm not a snitch; I'm not gonna tell on you."

Her expression barely changes, and she writes something down that Mrs. Bradley says. I know she wasn't scared of getting in trouble; something else was bothering her.

I focus, and read her mind as quickly as possible. I suddenly feel trapped and scared, and immediately stop, knowing if I keep going, I'd panic and someone in my class would notice.

But one thing's for certain - that girl is hiding something big.