Chapter 5 – I’ve Got the Power!

On the way to the park, he passed by Mrs. Doris and Bubbles sitting on a park bench. When Michael passed by, Bubbles suddenly started barking and yapping. Mrs. Doris simply yanked hard on his leash and he settled down. Looks like Mrs. Doris wasn’t in the mood for more running today!

In the tree clearing, he found his backpack exactly where he had left it. Now all he had to do was to get to school without missing any more classes! At 10:20, he walked into his second period class. He had missed his first class of the day, which was English. As he sat down at his desk, his teacher Mr. Cameron was passing out papers.

Oh great! Of all classes I had to be on time for – it’s math! And we have a math test, and I didn’t study!

Michael stared at his test, and felt desperation begin to creep in. He had no idea how to solve any of the problems on the paper. Besides even if he could, his mind was still reeling from his experience this morning. Unbidden, an image of Serena in the shower soaping herself sprung into his mind. Gathering his will, he pushed that image from his mind and looked at his test paper again. One of the reasons he was doing so poorly in this class was because there were too many distractions. In the back corner, always sitting together were four members of the cheerleader squad. Tracy, Linna, Catherine and May were four of the most beautiful girls in the school. They were always dressed in the most trendy clothes and today was no exception. Tracy Adams was a busty blonde who had, in the last couple of years, exploded – literally – into a full voluptuous figure. She was wearing a white blouse and skin tight jeans. The top two buttons of her blouse were undone, showing a healthy cleavage. Linna Summers, another blonde, was wearing a varsity sweater with Markville Marauders emblazoned on the front. Despite the cool weather, she was wearing a mini skirt. Catherine O’Hara was a redheaded firecracker of Irish decent. She too had recently blossomed and she wasn’t shy about flaunting it. She was the tallest of the group. At 6'2", she was easily the tallest cheerleader on the squad. She too was wearing a short mini skirt. Many boys were too intimated by her height to ask her out. Rumour had it that she was dating the captain of the basketball team. May Li was the most conservative of the group. She was a small Asian girl with big beautiful brown eyes. Like many Asians, she was a late bloomer, and had yet to fill out like her friends. She was dressed stylishly in a cashmere sweater and khakis.

From the opposite corner where he sat, Michael glanced at the group and wistfully turned his gaze back to his test. While all four girls were gorgeous, May was the one who distracted him the most. Not only was she pretty, she was smart as well. Michael also knew that he had a snowballs chance in hell to get a date with her. On the first day of school, back in grade nine, when all the grade nine students were gathered in the gym for orientation, everyone was asked to turn to the person standing next them and introduce themselves. Michael had turned to his right and immediately lost himself in the large liquid soft brown eyes of May. His whole body began to shake and he couldn’t bring himself to shake her hand. Sputtering something un-intelligible he virtually ran from the gym. That was the last time he had ever come close to her.

He had three classes with her this semester. The first was English, then Math, and finally last period Gym. While in English class, he learned that May was quite the intellectual. In fact in the many classroom discussions about books, he discovered that he actually had a lot in common with her. They had read almost the same books and shared many interests. However, due to his non-performance on the first day of school, there was no way for him to talk to her. Now that she joined the cheerleading squad she was totally beyond his reach. Or was she now?

Getting sudden inspiration, Michael closed his eyes and reached out with his new sense. He moved over to the fantastic four and watched them scribble away at their tests. He first settled on Tracy, the blonde bombshell with the body of a centerfold. Sometime between grades 9 and 10, Tracy had suddenly jumped 2 cup sizes, leading many people to speculate and gossip that she’d had them ‘done’.

On sudden impulse, he brushed over Tracy’s breasts. They were every bit as soft as they looked. Tracy squirmed in her seat under his ministrations. He quickly moved on. He moved over to Linna and traveled up her legs and up under her skirt. She was wearing white panties. Like Tracy before her, Linna started to squirm in her seat. Again, Michael moved away before Linna became too distracted. He moved to Catherine with her mile long legs. As with Linna before her, Michael traveled up her legs, feeling them with his senses as he went. When he reached the junction where her legs met, he received a startling surprise.

Holy crap! She’s not wearing any panties!

Apparently Catherine liked going commando in school! Saving the best for last, Michael moved to May. Unlike the others, Michael just couldn’t bring himself to explore her body. In fact, he suddenly started to feel guilty at what he’d been doing – both this morning and right now with these girls. Just because he now had the ability to peep without anyone knowing did not mean he had the right. While not quite rape, it was still voyeurism, invasion of privacy, and just plain wrong. His father’s moral ethics along with a splash of his mother’s factored into his growing sense of guilt and wrongdoing. He studied May, and instead of exploring her body, he found himself drawn into her eyes.

“Five minutes!” warned Mr. Cameron.

There were only five minutes left and Michael hadn’t written one thing on his paper! Desperately, he looked at May’s test and copied all her answers onto his paper. He had just finished writing when Mr. Cameron stopped the test.

“Time! That’s it everyone, pass your test to the front of the room please.”

After the test, Mr. Cameron continued on with the next chapter in the textbook. Overcome with guilt, Michael bowed his head in shame and did not hear a single word.

I copied her test! I’ve never cheated on a test before and I copied her test!

Although not a brainer, Michael was usually able to get decent grades. The words of his father came to him now, “Win or lose, as long as you’ve done your best, you can hold your head up high!” Up until now, he had always tried to live up to these words. Up until now, he had always been able to hold his head up high. Not today.

When the bell rang, Michael roused himself from his self-imposed stupor and shuffled out of the room. He couldn’t bring himself to even look in the direction of the fantastic four. Making his way to the cafeteria, a rumbling in his stomach reminded him that he had skipped breakfast. However, as he stood in line, none of the food looked very appetizing to him. Near the front of the line, the rest of the cheerleading squad joined the fantastic four. Giggling and laughing, they were oblivious to Michael’s presence.

Not wanting to be anywhere near May right now, Michael left the line and walked out of the school. Wandering aimlessly, he was lost in remorse over the events of the morning. He initial feelings of excitement and euphoria over discovering his powers were now being overcome by feelings of guilt and shame for having abused them. As he walked in the sunshine, he started feeling warm again. Also, he wasn’t nearly as hungry as he was earlier.

What the hell? I should be starving right about now! Mom calls me the bottomless pit!

“Hey, what do we have here? The wimp’s not hungry today?”

The sudden voice broke Michael out of his reverie. He had wandered into the forbidden corner. The forbidden corner was a popular hangout for the undesirables in school. This was where the ‘bad kids’ came to skip class and smoke pot. Currently it was occupied by three of the worse kids Markville High had ever seen. Mark, Tony and Butch were in grade 12, but rumour had it that they had failed a couple of years and the only reason they hadn’t been expelled yet was because of their physical size and the advantage that gave them on the football field. They were all well over 6’ and had beefy arms and bull-like chests. They had bullied Michael mercilessly since grade 9. The leader, Mark, spoke again.

“Whacha doin here punk? Don’t you know this place is off limits to losers?” He sneered down at Michael. Reaching out with his hand, he pushed Michael into the wall. “Where’s your glasses wimp? Left them at home?”

Still feeling shamed, Michael was suddenly not in the mood to be bullied today. “Leave me alone, guys, I’m not in the mood today!”

“Look, the punk has a voice!” laughed Mark.

Tony and Butch moved into position on either side of Michael. With the wall at his back, and Mark in front of him, he was effectively surrounded. The smell of grapefruit filled the air.

Geez, they’re high on pot! This could be trouble! Usually they just shove me around a bit and then let me go. Well, I’m really not in the mood today!

“Whacha gonna do about it, wimp! Come on, whacha gonna do if I do this?” With that, Mark reached out both hands and roughly shoved Michael back into the wall.

Furious, Michael rebounded off the wall. “I said LAY OFF!” He put his right hand on Mark’s chest and pushed. Mark stumbled back several metres.

“What the fuck?! Grab ‘im boys!” Shouted Mark.

On cue, Tony and Butch grabbed both of Michael’s arms. Mark sauntered back and sneered, “Is that all you got, punk?” Mark pulled back his fist and drove it into Michael’s stomach. Instead of seeing Michael double over as he intended, his fist stopped almost an inch in front of Michael’s stomach. “What the fu—“ was all he could say before he went flying back again. This time, he hit the ground with a dull thud.

Tony and Butch looked on in shock as their leader flew back. Michael’s right leg was up in the air from where he had kicked Mark. Before they could do anything, Michael lowered his leg and clapped his hands together hard. Since Tony and Butch were latched onto each hand, they crashed into each other with a loud thump. They both fell to the ground, stunned.

Mark watched from the ground in utter shock as his two henchmen fell to the ground. He watched as Michael walked up to him, reached down, and put one hand on his throat. Suddenly he felt himself being lifted off the ground. The hand at his throat was like an iron vise. He looked down at Michael. Michael suddenly looked extremely dangerous. His eyes were hooded and his face was set in a grim mask. When he spoke, it was in a low deep growl.

“I said lay off! You will never touch me again, got that!”

Unable to do more than croak, Mark tried to nod his head. Suddenly he felt himself being swung around, and then he was flying through the air once again. He hit the wall with a crunch and slid to the ground. Before he passed out, he saw Michael walk away, back to the school entrance.

Back in the safety of the school, in an empty stairwell, Michael tried to come to grips with what had just happened. He had taken on three of the largest guys in school and kicked the shit out of them.

Hey, big bro! What the hell just happened?

<<I thought that was obvious. You defeated your enemies most effectively.>>

Yeah, but how did I do that? I’m not that strong!

<<You are stronger than you think. While walking out in the sun, you had charged up enough energy to give you strength when you needed it.>>

Hey, I meant to ask you about that too. Why was I hungry, but I didn’t feel like eating anything in the cafeteria? I mean, the food there is terrible, but I’ve never cared in the past! Then, when I walked out into the sun, I wasn’t hungry anymore.

<<You feed off energy now. You no longer need to fill your body with physical sustenance.>>

Ok, so I take in energy from the sun… But what if it’s a cloudy day? I’m gonna starve!

<<The sun is only the easiest way for you to absorb energy. There are other sources too. A Shiza-haran could absorb energy from just about any source, from Valean weapons to simple electricity.>>

Electricity? Like in a battery or a power socket?

<<Correct.>>

Michael dug into his backpack for his walkman. He pulled out the two AA batteries.

Ok, so what do I do?

<<You must absorb the stored energy. Think about a sponge as it absorbs water.>>

Picturing a sponge in his head, Michael reached out with his senses. He could feel the power stored in the batteries. It felt like a warm tingle. Imagining that he was the sponge and the tingling power was water, he pulled the tingle into his body. Almost immediately, his body began to warm up. It felt as if he were sitting out in the sun again, but to a much smaller degree. All too soon, the batteries were drained.

Hey, that was easy! But does that mean I’ll never eat another steak dinner?

<<I am not sure. In this form, I believe you are still capable of digesting food, but you probably will not need to.>>

That’s good. It’s going to be hard to explain to Mom and Dad that I don’t feel like eating, and then suddenly their electricity bill goes through the roof!

The bell signaling the end of lunch period rang over his head. Startled, Michael got up and headed for this next class.