Psychic Chapter Two: April In the point of view of William I walked out of Geometry swiftly. As soon as the bell rang, I jumped up and was gone. I didn’t like that I couldn’t read April’s mind. It made me feel like there were holes in my ability to read people’s thoughts. Lindsey couldn’t read April’s mind either, though. What did that mean? Lindsey somehow caught up to me. “William, you can’t do that!” She whispered to me. I looked at her blankly. “Do what?” I asked. Lindsey rolled her eyes. “You were looking at April like she was the devil! She’s probably going to be afraid of you now!” I suddenly felt guilty. “I’m sorry.” I said finally. “I was kind of panicking. I thought that something was wrong with me.” Lindsey sympathetically put her hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay. Just try to do better from now on. We need to stay a secret. April’s a shy girl. Try not to scare her anymore.” I felt another pang of guilt. “Did I scare her?” I asked. Lindsey shrugged. “See you later.” She said. I nodded once. I grimaced. Would I be able to get through one day without freaking someone out? I suddenly felt another hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Jackson, accompanied by Hannah. “Man, are you okay?” he asked. I smiled. “Yeah, I just felt a little sick. I’m okay now.” Hannah smiled. “So you’re William Duncan?” she asked. I held out my hand. “Yeah. Jackson told me about you. Hannah, right?” she beamed and nodded. She shook my hand. Jackson grinned. “So what do you have next?” he asked. I suddenly remembered. “English. With Mrs. Roberts.” Hannah smiled. “I have that class too! I’ll show you where it is!” she turned to Jackson. “See you at lunch, baby!” Jackson waved at us as we left. While we walked to English, Hannah asked me about where I was from, why I’d been homeschooled, how I liked school so far and things like that. I gave the same story I’d given the others. Jackson was right. She was very friendly. We walked into English class. As before, I was introduced in front of the class. Hannah had gone to sit with her friends. There was an empty seat in the corner in the back. I sat down. The girl in front of me turned around to face me. She smiled, twirling her long, blonde hair in her fingers, and blinked her blue eyes. I warily read her thoughts. Oh, no. I smiled politely back, and pulled out a pad of paper, pretending to take notes. I didn’t really need to pay attention. I already knew the entire lesson by hearing it from the teacher’s mind. Suddenly, I felt a tap on my knee. I looked down and saw that the girl in front of me was poking me with a neatly folded piece of paper. Reluctantly, I accepted it. In bright-pink marker, she had written: 'Hi! I’m Penny Bells! What was your name again?' I wanted to ignore it, but that would’ve been terribly rude, so I answered in my blue pen. 'William Duncan.' I felt so foolish handing her back the note. I felt like I was in third grade. She was utterly thrilled. Soon after, she replied. 'What a nice name! So, William! Are you going to try out for sports? I think you should. You look like you’d do really well!' Shoot. Maybe I should’ve cut back on those intense workouts I did during the summer. 'Thanks. I was thinking about baseball.' 'Oh, no. baseball’s great and all, but someone like you should go for football!' Hm. But I liked baseball. 'Football? What’s so great about football? I think there’s more pain than necessary involved.' 'Well, I think football is a more fun sport to watch.' I probed her mind. Just as I thought. She had no clue about football. She simply thought the football players were good-looking. I sighed. I wrote slowly to take up as much of the period as possible. 'Oh, well, I don’t know. I’m not really looking to join a sports team right now. I’m just going to focus on adjusting into school.' 'You need any help? I can help you out somehow!' Oh, great. 'Naw, things are okay. But thanks anyways.' 'You want me to eat lunch with you today?' Jeez, she was persistent! I almost found it funny. 'Oh, gosh. I’m sorry. I already promised Jackson and Steve I’d eat with them today. Sorry.' 'That’s okay. Maybe another time.' 'Maybe.' I hated to shut her down like that, but I just wasn’t ready for something like this to happen yet. I still felt guilty for scaring off poor April, and now this. Man, I was on a roll today! I grimaced. She stopped passing notes. When the bell finally rang, the whole class escaped as fast as they could. It was lunchtime. I went back to Jackson’s locker and found him, Hannah, and Steve waiting for me. I grinned. As soon as they saw me, they called my name. “Hey, Will! Let’s do lunch!” Jackson said. I shoved my stuff in the locker and nodded. I was starving. “Wait, Jackson! We have to wait for everyone!” Hannah said. Everyone? There was more to this group of friends? I was excited to meet them. I hoped they were all as friendly as Jackson was. Soon, a black- haired boy with brown eyes walked toward us with a brown-haired, green-eyed girl clinging to his arm. Jackson introduced us. “William, this is Isaac and Emily. Guys, this is William Duncan.” Isaac nodded. “The new kid? Nice to meet you.” He held out his free hand. I shook it. Emily smiled. Jackson sighed. “All we need now is April! Where is she?” I looked up. April? Emily let go if Isaac and spoke. “She said she had to talk to our Spanish teacher. She told me to tell you guys that we should just meet her at the spot.” Jackson nodded. “Alright. Let’s go!” as we walked to the cafeteria, I nudged Jackson with my elbow. “What’s ‘the spot’?” I asked. “It’s just the place where we always eat lunch. We’ll show you.” I nodded. After we got our lunches, Jackson led the way outside to the parking lot. There was a little grassy island in the center. Everyone made themselves comfortable on the grass. I leaned up against the one tree in the island. I looked around. I was suddenly extremely happy. I felt so normal. Sitting here, surrounded by my friends, doing nothing more than eating lunch and enjoying the good weather. I ignored the voices I heard inside my head. I wanted to feel as normal as possible. This feeling of being normal suddenly vanished with three small words: “Hey! April’s here!” Where? I grimaced. Why had I suddenly sat up and looked around? I had no interest in this April person. I probably scared her anyways. Nevertheless, I watched as she walked toward us, carrying her lunch tray. Her shoulder-length, sandy brown hair almost covered her face completely. She sat down next to Emily and smiled. Jackson must’ve noticed that I was watching her, because he sat up. “Oh yeah! April! This is William. He’s new here. William, this is April Palmer.” I watched as April’s face gradually turned pink. “Hi.” She said. Uselessly, I tried to read her mind. Nothing. I didn’t let my confusion get the best of me this time. Instead, I smiled and held out my hand. Timidly, she took it. I gently shook it. Her hand was so small compared to mine. Everything about her was small. I sat back and continued eating. I noticed that Emily and April were talking quietly to each other. I couldn’t resist. I read the thoughts of Emily. I saw and heard them in my mind. I closed my eyes so I could focus better. I saw April’s small face through Emily’s eyes. I was surprised to see that April’s eyes were grey. Not blue, or anything else. A colorless grey. They were almost hypnotizing. I sat there with my eyes closed, listening and watching. <“I really don’t think he likes me very much.”> April said, frowning. <“You can’t know that yet, April!”> Emily said. <“It’s only his first day.”> <“You didn’t see how he was looking at me in geometry! It was like the very sight of me made him sick!”> she looked up at Emily with her big, grey eyes. She was wearing the saddest expression I’d ever seen. Guilt pounded on my chest like a sledgehammer. I wanted to apologize for acting so rudely. She didn’t deserve this. I sighed. Suddenly, I felt a gentle shake on my shoulder. I opened my eyes. Jackson was sitting in front of me, grinning widely. “Dosing off there, Will?” he asked me. I blinked. “Um… oh, yeah.” I finally said. I glanced at April. Her face still looked sad. I was going to have to apologize to her if I ever wanted to feel good about myself again. Jackson laughed. “The bell’s going to ring soon.” He said. Everyone stirred, slowly getting up and stretching. I faked a yawn, pretending I was sleepy. Best to let them think what they would. “What do you have now, William?” Jackson asked. I slowly remembered my conversation with Mrs. Taylor earlier that day. “Oh, uh, I don’t have a fourth hour. The counselor said she was going to figure something out.” Jackson frowned. “You lucky dog.” He said. “I have band.” I smiled. Sure enough, the bell rang just then. We took our trays to the cafeteria to dump them and put them on the racks to get cleaned. As April walked forward, I decided it was finally time I started acting like a gentleman. “You want me to dump that for you?” I asked her. She looked up at me shyly. “Oh, um, sure.” She said quietly. Her face turned pink again. I smiled at her and dumped both of our trays and put them away. For some strange reason, I liked it when April blushed. It gave color to her otherwise pale skin. She looked up at me, momentarily clearing her curtain of hair from her face. “So you don’t have class this hour?” she asked me. I smiled. “No. the computer class is full… and I’m musically challenged.” I said. April smiled. She waved at me before heading off to the choir room. I waved back. Then I went to my locker and got my biology stuff. I might as well do the rest of my assignment. I sat down at one of the cafeteria tables and began to work. Suddenly, a teacher walked into the large room. When he saw me, his face lit up. “Young man!” he called. “What’s your name?” I looked up from my schoolwork. “Uh, William Duncan, sir.” I answered. He walked towards me. “Do you not have a class this hour?” he asked. I shook my head. “No, sir.” I said. He smiled. “Very well. In that case, could I ask for your help?” I stood up, closing my biology book. “What do you need me to do?” I asked, walking towards him. “My choir class is having a performance this month and I need them to practice in the auditorium on the stage. The problem is, I can’t get the piano on the stage by myself. Do you think you could help me?” I smiled. “Of course!” I said. The teacher thanked me and led me to the choir room where he had left his students. It was an all-girls choir. They were giggling and laughing when we entered the room. The teacher looked perplexed. I leaned over to talk to him. “You worry about your choir, sir. Let me worry about the piano.” He looked at me gratefully. I walked over to the piano. It was a stubby electric one with wheels on the bottom. The teacher quieted down the students. “Alright, class! Alright! Now, we’re going to move to the stage. I’ve asked Mr. Duncan here to help move the piano.” Several of the girls giggled. I looked up to see most of them looking at me the way Penny Bells had in English class. I sighed. The teacher continued. “I need someone to help him with the electrical cords. April? Go.” I looked up again. April skipped off the front row and came towards me. This was just great. I didn’t want to be telling her what to do. She didn’t need that from me. But she looked happy all the same. I smiled down at her. Suddenly, I could hear loud voices from the other side of the room. Although none of them were spoken. I was hearing their thoughts. Some of them were quiet, but they were drowned out by the angry, loud ones. The loudest ones were the jealous ones. What? It was like everything I did was to April’s disadvantage. Now the majority of the choir hated her because I smiled at her. She didn’t deserve this. I pretended everything was fine as I politely asked her to coil up one of the cords. She obeyed. I unplugged the piano as the rest of the choir left. Soon, we were alone. ‘Now’s the perfect time to apologize.’ A part of my brain told me. I gulped. “Um, April?” I asked. She looked up at me, but continued to coil the cord around her arm. I swallowed. “April, I realize that my behavior today in Geometry was extremely unacceptable.” I said in a low voice. “I wasn’t feeling well. I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable.” I smiled apologetically at her. She stopped coiling the cord and stared at me. Her face was expressionless. After a few seconds, she seemed to come out of her trance and blinked. Then she smiled and her face turned slightly red. “Oh, no problem.” She said quietly, and then she hid her face behind her hair and continued to coil the cord. Soon, we were ready. She carried the cords while I pushed the piano. We got everything situated on the stage while I unwillingly listened to the jealous thoughts of the others. How could anyone hate April? She didn’t have a mean bone in her body. She was so small. She looked so fragile. I was suddenly grateful she had friends like Emily, Hannah and Jackson. The choir began their practice and I realized that I was no longer needed. I lingered in the auditorium for a while and watched April sing with the choir. She was kind of pretty. Cute. There was something about her that made me want to smile. I couldn’t read her mind, and that made me feel… normal. I could pretend I was just like anyone else when I was around her. I finally made myself leave. I found my biology book where I had left it. I finished my assignment and waited for the bell to ring. As I sat waiting, a senior boy walked past me and leaned against the door to the auditorium. I jumped. Why was he thinking about April? The bell rang and the girls from the choir came out. I watched. April walked out with a smile on her face. The senior boy stepped forward. I probed his mind to see what they would talk about. As soon as she saw him, her smile fell. She pretended like she hadn’t seen him and walked in the opposite direction. He called her name. Reluctantly, she turned around. I watched through the senior boy’s mind. April had an annoyed look on her face. <“What do you want, Flint?”> she asked. The boy walked confidently forward and grabbed April’s hand. I started. <“Hey, baby. How’s my girl?”> he asked. April snatched her hand away. <“Shut up, Flint. I’m not talking to you.”> she snapped. Flint insisted. <“Hey, hey, what’s up with the hostility?”> April’s face became angry. <“I heard why you dumped your girlfriend, Flint! You think now that you’re single that you can just have any girl you want! I’m not stupid!”> I could feel the anger flow from Flint’s mind. Then, he got an idea. <“I’ll see you later then, Cupcake.”> He said smoothly. <“My name’s not Cupcake.”> I heard April mutter as he walked away. I smiled. Go April! She stood up to that sleazy senior wonderfully. But there was no time to dwell on that now. Fifth hour was about to start. I quickly went to the gym. As I walked into gym class, Jackson greeted me. “Hey, man! We have gym together! Sweet!” I smiled. The teacher stepped forward. “Alright, people! Let’s get started with five laps around the track outside!” most of the kids groaned. I was relieved. I thought that I was going to have to be introduced in front of the class again. We went to the changing rooms. I was handed a P.E. uniform, and I quickly got ready. I met Jackson out on the field. We talked as we ran. I asked, “So how was band?” Jackson laughed and rolled his eyes. “We’ve been playing the same song for three weeks! I could play it in my sleep. It’s so boring. How was not having class at all?” I shrugged. “I had to help Mr. Quinn move his electric piano from the choir room to the stage.” “Fun.” Jackson said. I breathed a laugh. Then I paused. “Um, do you know April pretty well?” I asked. Jackson looked at me and smiled. “Yeah. Why?” I didn’t know why I should be asking this either. “Well, as I was walking to this class, I saw her with this older guy…” I trailed off, pretending I didn’t know as much as I did. “Is that her boyfriend?” Jackson looked confused. “April’s never had a boyfriend before. I’m sure she would have told us if she got one. What did he look like?” “Well, he had a baseball cap on; he had blonde, curly hair, and brown eyes. And it looked like needed to shave more often.” I added with a small laugh. This last clue seemed to identify who it was to Jackson. His face was serious. “It wasn’t Flint Yonni, was it?” I shrugged. Jackson paled. Uh-oh. “Who’s Flint Yonni?” I asked. Jackson swallowed. “He’s one messed up kid.” He answered. “He’s had, like, five girlfriends at once before. He also gets abusive sometimes.” I almost tripped. “That’s awful!” I sputtered. Jackson looked at me intently. “What were they doing when you saw them? Did you get close enough to hear what they were saying?” I didn’t want Jackson to worry, but I knew I couldn’t reveal myself to him either. “Well, I wasn’t in earshot, but I saw that April was pretty mad at him. I don’t think you need to worry.” I spoke truthfully. I hated to lie. I wasn’t in earshot, and I did see what happened. He looked relieved. Suddenly, we realized that we had almost finished the last lap. When we crossed the line, we slowed to a stop. Then the teacher instructed us to drop down and do twenty push-ups. As we got down on the grass, Jackson smiled. “So I asked Hannah to the dance coming up.” I sighed. His mind clearly told me that he wanted to talk about this, so I humored him. “One… two… three… There’s a… four… dance coming up?” I asked as I started my push-ups. “Six… Seven… Yeah!” Jackson said, still smiling. “Eight… It’s… nine… homecoming.” I was silent. I knew he was going to ask me this question even without reading his mind. “Are you… eleven… going to ask… twelve… anyone?” Sigh. “Thirteen… fourteen… Oh… fifteen… I’m not the best… sixteen… dancer.” Jackson laughed briefly. “Eighteen… That doesn’t… nineteen… matter… twenty!” We sat up. Not all the students were finished yet, so Jackson turned to me. “It’s a great way to meet people!” he urged. I rolled my eyes. “Maybe the next dance, Jackson.” I said. Jackson gave up. After the rest of the classmates finished their push-ups, it was free gym. Most of everyone stayed outside. It was a nice day. Some of the guys started up a game of catch with a football. Jackson turned to me. “So what do you want to do, Will?” he asked me. I thought. “Is there a weight room?” I asked. Jackson smiled. He led me back inside to a room next to the changing rooms. I spotted a chin-up bar bolted into a doorway. I loved chin-ups. Jackson jumped on a treadmill. It was silent for most of the remainder of the period. Something was bothering me, though. Something that Jackson had said earlier. I didn’t know why it bothered me. It didn’t seem like it should. Finally, I asked him. “Jackson?” I said. “Yeah?” he asked breathlessly. I hesitated. I could just imagine what would happen if I asked this question. “Um… so… April doesn’t have a boyfriend?” Jackson stopped running. The treadmill moved by itself, making the only noise in the room. I glanced at him to see his facial expression. He was grinning. That smile made me uncomfortable. “Nope. Why?” I knew he’d ask why. His mind was burning with this question. I gave him the only answer I could think of. “No reason. Just curious.” "Right." Jackson responded. I continued to do chin-ups, going faster than necessary. I listened to his thoughts. I frowned. Hey, I was the psychic one. How come he thought he could read my thoughts? I felt uncomfortable again. He was assuming too much. I was just curious. Wasn’t I?