Episode 5

The questions I had for her rang in my head. Why did she run away so abruptly? And the way she explains things is in such an odd way—it was almost as if she tailored the words for me.

But how could she do that? I know she said she had been watching me, but I didn't know it went this far.

The rest of the day seemed to drag on. Mr. Brawn had us doing grunt work for the rest of the day, organizing books, cleaning out desks, and sanitizing the nasty cafeteria while also taking out all the garbage in the west wing of the school. It was embarrassing; students would pass by and laugh at us. Some even called us "substitute janitors." One jerk in particular chucked a cup at my head in an attempt to shoot it into a garbage can and didn't even apologize.

I was never much of a neat freak, but after the events of 8th grade and all the control I lost over my life, cleaning was the only thing that gave me that order and routine back.

Besides, all the teasing wasn't that bad.

At least it was better than what Mark and Thomas gave me.

The bus ride home was boring as always, but at about the fourth turn from my neighborhood, I decided to check my phone to see if that app was there.

Chrono-Chat—what an odd name for something supposedly tied to reality-bending powers.

And what did she even mean by that "bend reality"? Everything seems pretty normal, even after I used the powers. The only thing slightly off about the day was how laid back and cool I was in the latter half of it; I'm usually always on edge.

I got off the bus and ate the dinner that was prepared for me by my father and left in the fridge.

"I guess they're still at work."

Nevertheless, I ate the meatloaf and began working on my homework from the previous night.

"This packet is huge; how did Mr. Powers expect us to finish this whole thing in one day?"

I sat at my desk staring at one of the quotes in the text; it said, "I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul." I sat on it for a good number of seconds. I attempted to apply it to my own life, but I didn't resonate. I wasn't in control of my life; the 8th-grade year was now.

Upon finishing the packet later that night, I greeted my parents at the door and spoke with them.

"Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad."

"Well, hello to you, too, Jack." They said in a playful tone.

"How was prison life?" My father asked jokingly

"It was nothing," I said in a confident voice

"That's what we like to hear," said my mother

I was lying; the day was nothing short of trouble. I had gotten so accustomed to lying to them about how my days went that it just became second nature.

"Well, we're off to bed."

"Goodnight," I said as I trudged back up to my room.

I thought about the quote and drifted off to sleep.

Master of my fate, yeah, right.

The next morning was just like the rest; the days might as well be blended at this point. My mom was talking to me on the way to the bus stop, another one of her tried-and-true lectures.

"Hey, son."

"Yes, Mom."

"I want you to know that you defending that Reginald boy from that Ryan kid was the right thing to do."

"It was very noble of you to do, even if you did smash his face in," she chuckled after that last sentence.

"Thank you, Mom."

I gave a smile, but this time it was genuine. For the first time in almost a year, I gave my parents a real smile.

I hopped on the bus, passing by as people whispered about me.

"Is that the guy who beat up Ryan?"

"Yeah, I think it is."

I remained silent as I walked through the aisle, hoping that I could get through the bus ride without people talking to me.

After I sat down, a girl plopped down right beside me.

Oh great, here we go.

"Hey, you're that Jack kid, right?"

"Yeah, I am. Do you need something?"

"Well, I just really wanted to thank you for defending my brother."

Brother? Was she talking about Reginald? I don't recall him having a sister.

"You see, Reginald would always complain to me about Ryan's bullying, and because of our disabilities, we couldn't really stand up for each other."

Disability? I didn't know she was disabled. I mean, I noticed her crutches, but I just thought she broke a bone or something.

"So thank you so much, Jack."

"Don't mention it," I said as I hopped off the bus and headed into the school.

I passed through the halls and heard the common morning conversations. People were asking about homework and weekend plans; even by the time I hit the ISS room, the conversations had flowed into it.

"Hey, Jack," said the boy from yesterday

"Hey, man."

"Did you hear about the new student in Mr. Powers' homeroom?"

"No, I didn't. Do you happen to know anything about them?"

"Not much, but all I know is that his name is Mark Striessand."

"Mark Striessand?" My eyes widened in shock.

"Yeah, do you know him or something?"

I shook my head nervously.

Why was Mark at this school? I purposely chose this school to get away from him, and now he was in my homeroom.

I felt my heart sink and fall out of my chest.

I took my seat beside the boy, my stomach churning with fear. I couldn't focus on anything; I just stared into space, attempting to mentally prepare myself to see him tomorrow.

"Hey Jack, Earth to Jack."

"Huh?"

I snapped out of my fear-induced haze and looked at the boy speaking to me.

"So what do you think this Mark kid is like?" he asked me with a smile.

"I dunno," I said, trying to move the conversation topic elsewhere.

"Well, I hope he's a cool dude," the boy added.

"Y-yeah," I said nervously.