Extraordinaries • {Peter Parker}

Chapter 7

"You wake her," a voice said from the end of the room. I was in Jess's spacey room, laying on her queen-sized bed. I had tried napping, but after two hours of tossing and turning, I gave up. Instead, I just lay there with my eyes closed, letting my mind wander.

"No!" the other voice, Jess, whispered. "Last time I woke her up when she was sleeping she punched me!"

I heard Megan's eye roll from my resting position on the bed, "You know that was an accident."

"I'm still not sure about that."

I inwardly smiled, it really had been an accident--a reaction to being woken up instantly--but it was hilarious. Megan had laughed for ten minutes afterwards while Jess clutched her stomach.

I heard the high-pitched ding of the doorbell and Jess spoke, "Ha! My guests are here, so you wake her." Even though Jess's footsteps were light, the wooden floor still creaked underneath her weight. There was a long moment before Megan did anything and I kept my eyes closed. I didn't want to get up from my spot on the bed. Her bed had one of those special feather bed pads on it and it felt like heaven.

As I was losing myself in the feathery softness, I felt a pillow connect itself with my face.

"Wake up, Greenie," she said. I groaned at the nickname. Since I had received my powers she found every excuse to use plant nicknames for me. Her personal favorite was 'Ficus.' Because for two months last winter, it had been the only thing I could make grow; my powers had been low from lack of sun.

"Oh good, you're awake," she said and I opened my eyes. Meg was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, looking strictly business.

I sat up, rubbing my tired eyes. "You didn't have to throw a pillow at me."

Megan chuckled, "Be glad I didn't get a cup of ice water."

"You're a jerk." It was an immature response, but I was tired and a little bit grumpy. I bet I could have been hangry, but not for the food that normal people thought of.

Megan just shrugged, knowing I didn't actually mean my comment. She was used to my mood swings on cloudy days by now. During the first few months of having my powers and when I was just figuring out how the lack of sun affected me, my mother offered to take me to anti-depression classes. I was uncharacteristically mopey and was easily irritated. Her and my dad actually sat down with me at the table and 'asked' if I was doing drugs or something else I shouldn't have been doing.

I didn't know what to do at that point in time. It wasn't like I could say, "No I'm not doing drugs, I'm just solar powered because I have superpowers." So instead, I blamed female problems and a vitamin D deficiency. Though, the vitamin D deficiency wasn't far off from the truth.

But eventually, they stopped caring. They were too busy screaming at each other to notice my mood when the weather changed.

"You might want to clean up in the bathroom before you present yourself to the public," Megan said as she got up to leave. "You look like death."

"I feel like death," I called out to her when she left Jess's room.

Willing myself out of Jess's comfortable bed, I sauntered into the bathroom attached to her room. It was decorated similarly to her room: bright lights, baby blue walls and lime green accents. Bright and happy, just like Jess.

Looking into the large mirror, I saw that Megan was right. I did look like death. My short was frizzy and sticking up in places I didn't even know were possible, giving me a lion's mane look, and my black mascara had smudged underneath my eyes. I looked like a weird mix of lion and raccoon.