Alex and her friends are about as popular as used chewing gum, so why is someone following them, watching from the shadows and sending threatening notes? Answer's are hard to come by, but questions start lining up when Alex develops electricity powe...
Jackson looked up as Nick instructed everyone to brake off in twos to practice their verses.
"Remember it's just over a month till Quiz finals." Ken reminded everyone.
"What!? Really!?" several surprised voices cried out in dismay.
"We're going to have so much fun!" Maddison said with one of her warmest smiles.
Ken paused- giving Maddison a weird look, "Um yeah." He said at last with a smile.
Jackson ignored all the joking around and looked at Chick- they use to practice together all the time. But she turned away from him with a frosty air; sure she hadn't told anyone about how he had tried to hack the school- but that might be better then the frost bite he was getting from her ever since!
Without realizing it, Jackson turned his back on Spencer who had hoped to practice with him, and instead approached Claudia who had already gone to a corner with her beat up book of Mark in hand.
Jackson sat down across from her and opened his book to the yellow highlighted verses that were his. They sat silently for a moment.
"Can I ask-" they both said at the same time.
Both embarrassed they opened their mouths again, "You go first-" they said in sink again. They both went silent.
"Have you written anymore of those notes?" Claudia asked at last, just above a whisper.
Jackson looked worriedly at the rest of the room- his guilt felt like a load of bricks on his chest when he spotted Jen sitting with her brother... she always practiced with Ken- because no one else wanted to be with her... and now Jackson was one of the reason's her life sucked...
"Just a couple last week." He mumbled.
"You don't have to you know. Colten can't make you write them." Claudia said with conviction.
Jackson shrugged, she didn't understand how much he had to lose if Colten found out about his secret- but maybe she did know.
"Why did you stop writing those notes?" He asked carefully- watching her face for some clue.
* * *
Claudia met Jackson's gaze, and tried to guess what he was hiding.
The past week and a bit since the quiz meet had been awful for Claudia, she had tried wearing heavy boots, or putting a ton of books in her back pack- that had helped. But she was still terrified that she would start floating at any moment. And she had! In class- when she was particularly stressed- she had started to float! Her desk was the only thing that saved her- other wise she would have been on the ceiling, and EVERYONE would know.
After a few days, Claudia had gone back to doing her hair and makeup- but Lisa was still weird around her and Claudia couldn't forget how Lisa had shunned her- if as ashamed of hanging out with someone who didn't look amazing. So much for friendship.
But now... looking at Jackson- Claudia got the feeling that he... had a secret similar to her own.
"I've had some weird stuff happen to me." she said- avoiding the question about the notes.
"What kind of... weird?" Jackson asked.
"Weird. Weird like... Tracy's limp." She nodded to where the girl, Tracy, was across the room, "Weird like what Lisa saw Jen do at the café."
Jackson leaned back- was he freaked out, or relieved?
"Yeah- I've had some weird stuff happen to me too." He said at last.
* * *
"Hey- could you fix my book?"
Ken looked up to see Alex standing there- her book of mark was falling apart.
"Um, yeah, lets see." Ken said as he stood and took the book, he avoided making eye contact with Alex- it was just too weird! Alex had been a quizzer that Ken had admired from afar in the past two years- she was a good quizzer, and that red hair! But Ken wasn't any good at flirting- so he had never tried talking to her. And when he became too old for quizzing, he gave up hope of even seeing her again- and then! Bam! Here they were.
Ken took a deep breath as he handled his roll of duck tape- he was having trouble finding an end.
"How's your verses coming?" Alex asked Jen with a friendly smile.
Ken looked up to see his little sister brake into a smile, "Ok- I guess."
Ken couldn't help but smile- on top of it all, Alex was also nice!
"I like your shirt."
Ken looked up in surprise at Alex's comment- her brown eyes were watching him, he looked down at his shirt- it was a black with a faded Star Wars symbol.
"Ah, thanks." He said awkwardly, then as quick as he could he fixed up her book, and soon she was gone again.
As Jen practiced her verses, Ken thought about the team... for weeks now they seemed- REALY tense! Like, in the extreme!
The evening passed by and before he knew it, Ken was driving home with Jen in the passenger seat. They had just gotten beyond the city and were fifteen minutes from their house when Jen opened up a water bottle and took a sip.
"Wonder why everyone's so tense at quizzing." Ken commented.
Jen shrugged, "You said it yourself- the quiz finals are soon!" and in typical Jen style, Jen waved her arms- and squeezed her full water bottle.
"JEN!" Ken cried as a geyser of water shot up- and would soon come back down all over his car's console!
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But as Ken's eyes flicked between the road and the water- his eyes grew till they hurt. Was the water... frozen in mid air!?
Pulling over to the side of the road, Ken turned on the lights in the car and saw clear as day that the water- was indeed- suspended in mid air. He looked at Jen- deep in shock- but it didn't get any better. She held out one hand as if using the force to hold the water in place.
"I can drop it... if you want." Jen offered with a funny look on her face.
