Charged~ Electric Book One
Chapter Four~ Electric

Despite my lack ofsleep last night, my energy levels are through the roof. I’m up early, and mymom is shocked when she discovers I’m halfway done with breakfast. I take alittle extra time getting ready. I wear my favorite jeans, and a newer shirt. Ieven throw on a little eyeliner and lip gloss. This is about as girly as I get.I shove my feet into my chucks and grab my backpack to meet Mason in thebackyard.

Brie meets us at hercorner and the three of us are off. I’m mentally preparing myself for school. Iknow that everyone will be buzzing about Friday’s show as well as theexplosion. But with Brie and Mason by my side, I think I can handle it. I justhope to keep my temper and accusations in check around Kiera and Shelby.

Turns out, I never evensaw them. I’m sure they were there, but all day I had either Brie or Masonbeside me, and a throng of people I usually consider mere acquaintancesswarming us. I can tell the difference between those who just want the latestthing to gossip about, and the ones who are sincerely concerned. The amount ofthe latter surprises me, but it makes me feel good to know more people carethan I thought.

In Biology, Mr. Murphyhas been just about bursting with excitement over the successful use of thenanobots from BioNano. We all had to promise to follow the story closely, as itis now becoming a graded project. I love Mr. Murphy, but those microscopicrobots still give me the heebie-jeebies.

On our way home, Briedeclares that we will not have practice today. I only argue a little, mostlybecause Mason flashes his puppy dog eyes at me, and maybe a little because I’mscared to strap a guitar on again. Not that I’m going to let that stop me. Myguitar is a fried memory: the last I saw it, a melted blotch of plastic andmetal. Brie has a spare she’s giving me, but I don’t think that putting it offone more day should matter. We split at Brie’s road; she winks at me behindMason’s back and I wonder for a moment if he planned this.

Mason looks nervouslyat me. “I was thinking that maybe, you might want to come to my house for achange? Maybe meet my parents?”

I grin. “I’d love to.”

I’ve been insideMason’s house many times before over the years. Our neighborhood has alwaysbeen close knit, something you don’t see too much of anymore. Right away Inotice the changes that they’ve made. The old wallpaper is gone, and the mutedearth tones in the room make it relaxed.

“My parents won’t behome for a couple hours. Do you want to watch a movie or something?” Masonasks.

“Maybe in a littlebit?” I reply. “I want to get this calculus homework done and over with.”

He shrugs. “Okay.” Heleads me to the kitchen and sets his bag on the table, “Anything to eat ordrink?”

“Sure, whatever youhave works for me.”

I enjoy watching himmove around the kitchen, being all domestic. It’s cute. He sets two sodas and abag of chips on the table as I set out my homework. He joins me, and we quicklyget through it. I’m putting my books away when I hear the front door open, anda voice calls out. “Mason, you home?”

“In the kitchen, Mom!”He calls back, and then looks at me. “You ready?”

I swallow hard.Apparently it doesn’t matter if I’m ready because Mason’s mom is here. As sheenters the room, I quickly see the resemblance between them. My manners kick inand I force a smile on my face, “Hello, Mrs. Griffin, it’s nice to meet you.” Istand and extend my hand.

She has the same smileas Mason. “Hello, you must be Kat. How nice to finally meet you!” She shakes myhand gently, but I don’t miss the look she shoots Mason as she speaks.

“Sorry Mom,” Masonsays, sounding contrite.

“Well,” she says, “it’snot like you’ve ever brought a girl home before, so I guess I should be gratefulI get to meet Kat here.” She winks at me.

I’m still stuck on thefact that Mason has never brought a girl home before. Obviously he hasmentioned me, or his mom wouldn’t have known my name.

I’m still thinking thisover when Mason grabs my hand. “C’mon. I’ll show you my room.”

I give his mom a smallsmile and allow myself to be dragged behind him. We go upstairs, and Masonpulls me through the first door on the right. The walls are a deep blue, andremind me of his eyes. A large window dominates one wall, a full size bedacross from it. It’s not much bigger than my room, but his TV is larger and acouple of game consoles lay next to it on the floor. My attention is drawn tothe art over the bed on the wall. The pictures are beautiful. As I pass thedesk, I notice more art work. “I didn’t know you draw.” I say quietly, more tomyself than to Mason.

“I don’t like to brag.”He smirks. He doesn’t stop me when I move to open one of the drawing pads. Thefirst page is a landscape of the ocean. I flip the page and see a picture of myface. In awe, I turn. Page after page is me! It’s like a series of photographs:me laughing, me pouting, me sleeping—only much prettier versions, “I like todraw what I know.” He says quietly.

I smile at him. If itwas anyone else, it would be kind of creepy. But because it’s Mason, I replace itendearing. “I think it’s sweet.” I tell him, and he relaxes a little.

Mason’s mom yells upthe stairs that his father is home. Mason rolls his eyes and grabs my hand.“Ready for round two?” He asks, before leading me back down.

Mason’s dad is everybit as warm and funny as his mom. They insist I stay for dinner, and when theyrealize I live next door, they extend the invitation to my mom, also. This ishow the five of us replace ourselves sitting in the Griffin’s dining room. But Ihave no complaints. Our parents are getting along great. Mason and I manage asmall kiss goodbye before my mom and I go home. I kind of wish we had some moretime alone this afternoon and I can tell by looking at him he feels the same.

No sooner do I getsettled into bed, my phone goes off. I feel around in the dark, until my handclasps over it. It takes a second for my eyes to adjust to the light from thescreen. It’s a text from Mason. He wants me to meet him out back in tenminutes. I peek my head into the hallway. My mom’s light is off, but her TV ison, and I hear lines from Cat on A Hot Tin Roof. She’s not getting up againtonight. I’ve never snuck out before, but then I’ve also never had a reason to.

Feeling excited andkind of naughty, I text back “okay” and get dressed again. I pull on jeans anda hooded sweatshirt and stuff a pillow under my blanket. I punch it a few timesto make it look more realistic. Satisfied, I creep quietly out of my bedroom,into the hallway, and down the stairs. I slip my key off of the hook and cringeat the small squeak the back door makes when I open it. Once it’s closed andlocked, I allow myself a small sigh of relief. This sneaking out thing sure isexhilarating.

Mason is waiting for mebeneath the tree that separates our yards. He greets me with a kiss. When we’redone he presses his forehead against mine. “Hi, again.”

“Hi, again.” I can’thelp the smile on my lips. “This is exciting.” I whisper.

He repositions us sohis arms are still wrapped around me, but I’m now far enough away for him tosee my whole face. He gazes down at me, quizzically. “Have you never done thisbefore?”

I’m glad it’s darkout—it covers my blush. “Um, no.”

He looks taken abackmomentarily. “Now I feel like a bad influence.”

“Well, don’t.” I holdhis gaze. “I’ve never really had a good reason to before.” I’m surprised hissmile doesn’t light up the whole backyard. “Are you up for a field trip ofsorts?” I ask.

“Lead the way.” Hereleases all of me except my hand, as I quietly lead him through the backyards.

I take him to ourchildhood stomping ground. The small park has long since been forgotten byeveryone, except those of us who used to play here every day. Two of the fourswings still hang next to each other, so I drag him over to them and sit downon one. He sits next to me.

The tingling under myskin hasn’t gone away since the…incident. Rather, I’ve gotten used to it. Ihaven’t even allowed myself to think of my possible mental breakdown the nightI got home from the hospital. I’ve steered clear of electrical outlets, no easyfeat in this day and age. I would be more than happy to continue on as thoughnothing is wrong. As I release Mason’s hand so he can sit on the adjacentswing, I grab both chains of my own swing to steady myself. In the darkness,the glow between the metal and my hands is hard to miss. I drop them quickly,but not quick enough and I glance next to me to replace Mason gaping at me.

I half grimace, halfsmile. “Were your hands just glowing,Kat?” He sputters.

“Yeah,” I bite my lipand look away. I hope this doesn’t change anything between us. “After…when Igot home from the hospital, I thought I was crazy. But I guess if you can seeit too, then I’m not, right?” I look back at him, hopeful.

He’s not freaking outor running away, which I take as a good sign. My body relaxes when he smiles.“It’s kind of cool actually. You really thought you were going crazy?”

I tell him the story ofthe weird shimmer and the oddness of the electrical outlet. His eyebrows shootway up, but to his credit he doesn’t laugh. When I’m done he looks kind ofexcited. “Have you tried anything else?” He asks.

I shrug. “Not yet. Iwasn’t even sure that it was real. I’ve kind of just been trying to ignore it.”

He turns his swingtowards me. “Try something now, anything.” He encourages.

I roll my eyes, butstand up making sure Mason is a few feet behind me. I don’t know if I can doanything, but if I can I certainly don’t want hurt him. I hold my hands apartin front of me, palms facing the other, and again I can see the light forming.I focus and push out all of that nervous energy I’ve had bottled up for days,visualizing it between them. I’m rewarded (and frankly quite shocked) to seethe light grow into a sphere of electric energy.

“Can you throw it?”Mason asks behind me, startling me and causing the sphere to shrink momentarilybefore ballooning back to its previous size. I take a deep breath beforethrowing the sphere in front of me.

The old teeter-totterhad seen better days. So when my sphere of energy hit it and instantlyobliterated it, I was only a little surprised. The aftershock from theelectrical explosion (almost like when you see an atomic bomb explosion in amovie) did surprise me. Mason grabs me quickly from behind, pulling me away.“Kat, are you alright?”

I do a quick check. “Ithink so. That was…interesting.”

“That was freaking awesome.” Mason exclaims. “Canyou do it again?”

A dog is barkingnearby. “Maybe we better not.” I say quietly. “That was kind of loud.”

Mason looks at me.“Okay,” He nods and grabs my hand again. “Let’s get out of here.”

Now that the adrenalineis waning and the reality of what I just did has sunk in, I’m kind of freakingout. “Has this ever happened to anyone before?” I ask.

Mason shakes his head.“Not that I’ve ever heard of.”

“Me either.” I lead usback through the yards without even thinking about it from years of practice.“Do I go back to the hospital?” My stomach turns just thinking about it.

Mason stops short andwhips me towards him. “No!” He says much too loudly.

“Shhh!” I remind him.

“Sorry,” he runs hisfree hand through his hair. “But you’ve seen the movies—they’ll lock you up andturn you into some freaky science experiment.”

I consider this. Masonreally looks worried. I definitely don’t want to become a science experiment. Ishudder, my mind drifting to those freaky nanobots. “Yeah,” I agree. “I won’ttell anyone else, except for Brie.”

“Agreed,” he pulls meto him. “You still feel the same.” Nuzzling his nose against mine, he kisses mesweetly. “Mmmm, and you still taste the same.” My knees almost give out. “ButI’m a little worried about you. Maybe we should get you home, so you can go tosleep.”

This time it’s me thatanswers a little too loudly. “No!” I catch myself. “I’ve been having a hardtime getting to sleep, since…” My voice trails off.

Gazing at the sky andlying in a secluded corner of my backyard, Mason and I stay up until we can nolonger deny the impending sunrise. Grudgingly we part (which is just sillybecause in a couple hours we’ll be going to school together.)

After having some timeto think it over, I’m still completely freaked out by my shocking new talent. Ifeel better that Mason knows, and more than anything, confirming that I’m notlosing my mind. Of course, the alternative is not any more comforting thaninsanity, but I still prefer it.

I text Brie as soon asI think she’s up. I need to spill the beans to her, too, or she’ll be reallypissed at me for holding out on her. Not telling Brie doesn’t even occur to me.Brie would never tell any of my secrets. While glowing and throwing zappyspheres is not my typical type of secret, I know it will still be safe.

When Mason and I meetup with her she is about to explode with curiosity. Best friend or not, I knowit’s something that she has to see first-hand to believe. She demands weforfeit first period and let her into the loop. I have no qualms missing gym.Mason just shrugs, so we go back to her house. Her mom has already left for theday.

“Okay,” Brie huffs.“Now, spill.”

As I tell the storyagain, we walk into Brie’s kitchen for the first demonstration. Standing nextto the outlet by her back door, and warning them to stand back, I raise my handtowards the outlet and approach it. Almost a foot away from it, I feel thetingling sensation jump from my palm, and then the current is visible.

Both Brie and Mason aredoing their best goldfish impressions. I lower my hand. The energy disappearsfrom sight and I feel what my body has absorbed. I turn to them both. “Weshould probably go outside for part two.” Not waiting for a response, I go outthe back door, sitting on the steps of the porch until I hear the door openbehind me.

“There’s more?” Brieasks, quietly.

I nod. Mason sits nextto me, throwing an arm over my shoulder. I can’t help but feel a littleself-conscious. “I’m a total freak, right?”

Mason says no at thesame time Brie says yes. They both stop talking, and maybe I’m slightlyhysterical, but I replace it so funny that I begin laughing, hard. Within a fewseconds they are laughing with me.

When we recover, bothof them seem to be regarding me normally again. Brie looks at me, smirking.“So, c’mon already, I still want to see.”

I glance at Mason. Westill don’t know how volatile the sphere can be. “Maybe we should go back tothat playground?”

In agreement, we leaveour bags and weave through the backyards again to the old park. Brie stops infront of the old, now obliterated teeter-totter. “What the heck happened tothis thing?” She asks and as I blush, her eyes widen. “Get out.”

Instructing her andMason to stand in the trees behind me, I look for my next target. I see the oldslide, complete with holes. It looks dangerous, so I guess it’s almost a publicservice to demolish it…at least that’s what I tell myself as I hold my palmsout in front of me again, facing each other.

Once more I push theenergy out. I throw the glowing sphere in my hands at the slide, but this timeI’m prepared for the aftershock. I place a steadying hand on the ground andduck down to one knee. The effect is the same as last time.

“Holy crap!” Brieexclaims. But her eyes are dancing. “Kat, that’s amazing!”

I smile. “It is kind ofcool, isn’t it?”

“I told you.” Masonsays. “I wonder: can you make it less intense, like change the power of it soit’s not quite so potent?”

I shrug but give it atry. I try sending a small sphere at a small leftover piece of the slide. Itcoats the metal in an eerie glow before it dissipates. I play around for a fewmore minutes, but then a quick glance at my phone tells me that we should be onour way.