Issue 1 Downtime

Haley sat in the back row of a bunch of folding chairs that had been set out on the grounds in front of a small stage with a podium. Someone had been talking about something boring like classes or tuition assistance and she hadn't bothered to move when it was over and people moved on. All of her friends were still in Texas, enjoying their summer vacation while she was already AT SCHOOL.

She took out her frustration on the touch screen of her phone, tapping furious texts to her friends decrying the injustice of it all from behind her sunglasses.

"Stupid powers," she muttered under her breath.

a couple rows up, a skinny kid wearing a wizard's hat was slumped down, doing much the same thing with his own cellphone. h e too seemed a little bored.

Haley let out a bored sigh.

Except it also shook all of the chairs enough to jumble the neatly arranged rows. She looked up, mortified, and turned several shades of scarlet.

with a yelp, the skinny kid went flying to the grass, grabbing onto a folding chair to try and break his fall.

"Wha?" he said, looking around, and spotting the embarrassed girl.

"Was that you?"

"Sorry!" she cringed, getting up and shoving her phone into the back pocket of her shorts.

She pondered for a fraction of a second helping him up with her tk, but almost instantly thought better of it when she pictured him flying across the grounds.

"Kinda...not very good at not doing that. I'm Haley," she said, offering her hand to Tommy.

"I'm tommy," he replied, standing up. "That was pretty cool, Haley.. I really felt that Telekinetic wave.. Really solid."

Straightening his pointed hat, he smiled.

"Interesting hat..." she said, not really sure what to make of the whole situation. "Do you do magic or something?"

"Yep! I do alchemy. i make metal stuff into other metals. it's my thing."

"Oh that's cool. Let trade powers. I want to make myself some jewelry, and you can deal with random things moving around," she giggled.

And don't forget the best part: hearing all sorts of shit you don't want inside your head!

That last part may have gotten mentally shouted a bit.

"nah, I've already got enough stuff already in here. thanks!"

He smiled, not realizing she hadn't meant to give the psychic shout out.

Haley's jaw dropped, and she looked absolutely mortified. "Oh gosh. I...didn't mean for you to hear that."

"Oh! sorry.."

Tommy blushed a little bit himself.

"I didn't mean to listen.."

"If you heard it I must've been practically shouting," she mumbled. "Just wish I could turn these damn powers off,"

"maybe you can get help here, right? That's what this place is for..."

"Gosh I hope so. If I left home, my family, good food, and all of my friends and didn't get any better, I'd be so pissed off," she said balling her hands into fists. Nearby chairs trembled.

"okay, want to go explore a little? Maybe away from the chairs?" he asked, smiling a little, while looking at the shaking chairs out of the corner of his eye.

"Yeah," she smiled, "That'd probably be a lot better than staying here and waiting for another snorefest presentation."

"Cool! They say the basketball court opens up to launch jet planes.. Want to go find that?"

"Jet planes? Really?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah.. I don't believe it, but it sounds cool. I think it's just an urban legend."

"It's gotta be. That just sounds crazy!" she said. "But even if it's not real, going looking for it will stink less than this."

"C'mon, Dumbledore, let's go find a hidden jet," she grinned, grabbing his hand and pulling him awkwardly through the jumbled rows of chairs.

tommy followed, happy to have found someone to explore the grounds with.

"I mean,you'd think there would be a seam, right? In the concrete, or something?"

"The concrete in my driveway at home is filled with seams and cracks and stuff. it wouldn't have to be that hidden even," she remarked, looking around the campus and craning her neck to see various sights while they walked around.

"Where are you from?"

"Oh, I live upstate, north of Albany. not too far away. you?"

"Austin, Texas," she said, over-exaggerating the slight Texas drawl she had with a smile. "I'm a long way from home."

"Well.. With traffic, and construction, I bet it takes you the same time to go home as it takes me!" he replied, smiling.

"my brother went to school in Texas for a while. he said it got pretty hot and dry."

"It does get pretty warm. I am kind of excited to see some snow that actually lasts. Not sure how I'll feel about the cold though."

"Ah, cold is easy. Just put oN another layer!"

"We'll see about that," she laughed.

"we've got a good six months before we need to worry about it, anyway."

Looking about, he picks up a discarded nail.

"I don't know about that," she smirked, "when you're still wearing shorts, I'll probably have a winter coat on."

"Oh, you'll say that until you get used to that! Aclimatation will get you!" he replied, smirking right back.

"Maybe I'll just find someone who can change the weather to keep me warm all winter. There's mutants who can do that, right?"

"I'm sure there's a couple.. Theres a really well known one named Storm. Maybe she's teaching here this year.." he said, wondering himself.

"That'd be a pretty cool power. Way better than barely-controlled TK."

She thought about that for a moment and then smirked, "Though I guess barely controlled weather control wouldn't be much better. Are you good at your powers at least?"

He moved the nail between his fingers, moving his left hand over it. the nail shimmered slightly, before cycling through 4-5 different metallic hues.

"I'm pretty good with gold, and lead.. Irons pretty easy as well, and I'm learning to feel out other metals as I go.."

"Wow....that's really cool," she said, stopping and staring at the display. She squinted her eyes slightly in concentration, trying to move the nail with her mind. It of course, didn't budge. "Damnit. Never works when I want it to, and it always does when I don't," she pouted.

"oh, come on! Try it again!" he said, holding it out in his hand.

"just breathe."

"I'll just give myself a headache, or shoot you in the eye with a nail. I probably shouldn't," she sighed.

"okay, no big deal."

tommy put the nail in his pocket, and pulled out a map of the campus, looking where they were.

"The basketball court is right over there.." he said, pointing beyond a line of trees.