Retaliation

Everyone cheered for Luke Skywalker and booed the Empire when it “struck back”. But did anyone ever stop to think that made the Empire was just fed up of a kid running around with a light saber causing trouble? It’s really hard not to crush bugs when you know that you are fully capable of doing so. That’s exactly how I felt when I came up against Ethan. And lets just say that the Sith would be very proud of me.

It was the Thursday before the school dance, and I was psyched. Despite all of the craziness of my life, nothing could smother my enthusiasm about going out with Erica. I couldn’t stop picturing the girl of my dreams resting in my arms as we slowly swayed to the music. I lifted my hand and pushed away a bang that had fallen across her face. She gave a contented sigh and locked her beautiful eyes with mine. “Oh Alex,” she said. “This is awesome. It’s more fun than I thought.”

“Of course it’s awesome.” I replied. “I’m in an awesome school, at an awesome dance, dancing to awesome music, and” I looked directly into her eyes, “I’m doing it in the company of an awesome girl.” She blushed and looked away. I touched here chin and raised her head, so that our faces were mere inches apart. Slowly, we moved closer together. I could feel the moisture of her breath. My entire body was tingling with anticipation. I could feel her lips on mine and… “Mr. Peterson, could you please draw your crown out of the cumulonimbus mass?”

“Huh?” I said, shaking the daydream out of my head. I looked up at Mr. Grignard, the Geography teacher. “What did you say Sir?”

“Get you head out of the clouds.” He replied. “Or is the special girl behind your eyelids more important than my class?” The entire class snickered. I felt my cheeks burn as I sunk lower down in my seat.

“Sorry Sir.” I replied. “I’ll try to pay more attention.”

“I’m sure you will.” He answered. “Now,” he said addressing the class, “Let us look at the eroding effect of denudation.” I looked around and caught Allison’s eyes. She shook her head at me and looked away. Behind her, Ethan was trying hard not to burst out in full laughter. “He must be loving this.” I thought in disgust. I had the sudden urge to freeze his face that way. I shook the thought from my head. I gave Allison a hard enough time about misusing her powers. I shouldn’t be doing the same thing.

I barely managed to get by the rest of the Geography class without thinking about Erica. I walked out of the class as if I were in a dream. Allison fell in line with me. “Can’t stop thinking about the dream girl, can you?” she said with her trademark malicious Allison grin.

“Bug off,” I growled playfully. “You of all people should know how I feel about Erica.”

She shook her head. “All to well unfortunately.” She looked away. “Sometimes I wish I didn’t.” she added, with a catch in her voice. Before I could ask her what that meant, she stopped me and said, “I also know how you felt about Ethan after you saw his face in class.” She stopped me before I could protest. “Alex, just because you could doesn’t mean you should.” She said. “We shouldn’t risk any ability screw ups, especially since you chased away our guardian angel.”

“He wasn’t our guardian angel.” I complained loudly. “He was just an advanced Peeping Tom.”

“He got us out of the lab, didn’t he?” I couldn’t argue with her there. “Besides, I know you. You’re a sissy lover, not a fighter.”

“Thanks for the compliment.” I retorted. “Don’t worry. I won’t hurt Ethan.”

“Good.” She replied. “See you later?”

I raised my hand. “Later.” As she walked away, a sudden thought struck me. I never did ask Allison who she was going to the dance with. Allison didn’t have all that much friends, which raised the question if she was going at all. I thought that I should call her later and find out.

The last bell of the day sounded, quickening my pulse. One day down, one more to go. I raced outside to meet my parents. Halfway out, I realized that I had left my math book in my locker. My mind was so occupied with Erica that I started forgetting even simple things. I ran back to my locker and started rummaging through it. My head seared with a sudden jolt. The whispers clouded my head more thickly than ever. That voice! I know that voice! It was trying to say something. Something urgent. “Hey stranger. “A voice said. The whispers dissipated. I stopped and took my head out of my locker. Erica was standing in the hall, all smiles. Most of the kids were already gone, so it was just to two of us. I had to constantly remind myself that this was no daydream. “What’re up to?” she asked.

“Trying to find my math book in all this mess.” I said poking my head back into the locker, in an attempt to hide my blushing. “I know I left it here somewhere. Not that I’ll have time to do the homework, I f you get what I mean.” I snickered. She didn’t answer. “Erica?” I pulled my head out of the locker. She wasn’t smiling anymore, nor was she looking at me. She was staring behind me, with a sort of frightened look on her face. I barely spun around in time to see a fist barreling towards me. I ducked as the fist slammed into my locker door. It door closed to reveal Ethan standing behind it. His face was red with anger. “Hey Peterson, you wanna hear a story?” he said. “There once was this boy who asked a girl out to the dance,” he started, not even waiting for me to say that I wanted to hear the story. “And it so happened that the girl told him no, because she was already going to the dance with a dweeb.” He grabbed my shoulder and pinned me against the wall. “So the boy thought that he’d meet the dweeb after school and get his permission to take the girl to the dance instead, because,” he said balling his hand into a fist, “he could make the dweeb’s life miserable.”

“Stop Ethan!” Erica shouted, “This is exactly why I won’t go out with you!” Wait. Ethan liked Erica? That would explain the dagger looks he gave me when Erica hugged me on my first day back. It was enough to turn me into Swiss cheese. “So what do you say dweeb?”Ethan asked.

“No.” I blurted out before I could stop myself. Did I have a death wish?

Ethan’s eyes widened. “What?!” He punched me in the face. “Wrong answer Peterson.”

“Stop it Ethan!” Erica screamed. “Now!” she grabbed his hand.

“Buzz off.” He answered harshly. He turned and pushed her away. Hard. Erica stumbled back, grasping the locker for support. That boiled my blood. Ethan had been picking on me since I came to this school and I really didn’t care. But not Erica. No way was he getting away with this. “What’s the right answer Peterson?”

“No.” I answered, anger swelling inside of me.

“I don’t think you heard me…” Ethan started.

“No, I think I heard you perfectly fine, and the answer is no. I also suggest that you let go of me before turn you into a human popsicle!”

“What are you babbling about?”
I reached out and grabbed his shoulder. Cold. All the anger that I had stored up inside of me came rushing out. I forgot completely about my promise to Allison. A white patch of ice began to grow on his arm. “What the hell?!” he asked in shock.

“No.” I replied. “Hell is hot. This is cold.” I could hear the venom dripping from my own voice. I grabbed his chin. “That’s a good look for you. Maybe I should keep it that way.” I started freezing his face.

“Alex, stop!!” Erica’s voice hit me like a cold bucket of water. What was I doing? I let go of Ethan. He fell to the ground dazed. Erica looked at me in shock.

“Erica, please, I can explain.” She shook her head and turned and ran towards the exit. I ran after her. “No, Erica wait!” I caught up with her just before she reached the door. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back. I looked her eyes. They were wild, darting all over the place. “She’s afraid of me.” I thought. “Erica let me explain.”

“How did you do that?” she questioned. “Who are you?”

“Erica, the day I disappeared I realized that I had the ability to freeze things. After my disappearance, I realized that I could control it and I’ve been using it ever since.” I let go of her arm. “But I’m still Alex.” She just stared at me. “Say something, Erica.” No response. “Say something please. Call me monster, call me alien, but please, say something.”

She took a deep breath. “Saturday at seven, right?” she asked.

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Saturday at seven.”

She gave me a small smile and walked out the door. When I was sure she was gone, I pumped my fist into the air. “Yes!!” Our date was still on, and Ethan would never bug me again. But most of all, Erica knew the truth now. I wouldn’t have to sneak around her anymore, and I had someone else to confide in. I couldn’t wait for Saturday to come. It was going to be the day my new life began. But in reality, it became the worst day of my life. That night my whole life came crashing down around me.