NaNo 2008 - Chapter Two
Chapter Two - Hidden from View: In Which Ollie Realizes that Some Powers Have Great Costs
Nothing is ever as it seems. That single thought seemed to echo over and over in Oliver’s mind as he made his way over to the soccer field. He could hardly believe what Professor Lawton had told him. Everything he'd seen throughout the day made sense, in light of the strange nature of the school. However, not everything the teacher had told him was so easy to accept.
He paused and heaved a deep sigh. Then he glanced up at the sloping hill that led to the soccer field, where he knew people were already gathering. He was shaken out of his reverie by a familiar, excited voice.
"Ollie! Where are you going?"
Oliver turned around and sighed lightly. He forced a faintly cheerful expression onto his face. Elle didn't need to know the whole truth just yet. "Have a nice time in class today?" he asked, as his sister bounded up behind him.
She nodded and then grinned. "I learned how to cover something with a thin sheet of ice," she said. She spun around and her skirts swirled around her knees. Then she stopped and looked at him, her eyes wide with barely contained excitement. "They're going to teach me how to work a crime scene, like the cops on television!"
Oliver couldn't help but laugh at his sister's enthusiasm. "I wish my day was going that well," he said. He grimaced when he realized what he'd said. His sister's question was inevitable, given that reply.
Her cheerful expression faded slightly. "What's wrong, Ollie?" she asked. She caught his hand and said, "You all right?"
He knew what she was thinking. He shook his head and whispered, "It's not anything to do with Uncle Roy." He slipped his hand out of her and continued along the path he'd started out on. As he did so, his sister fell into step beside him.
He winced. She was waiting for an answer and he knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't be satisfied until she had one. However, he wasn't ready yet to admit what was really bothering him. Instead, he found something else to tell her - something very nearly as awful, though in a completely different way.
"In order to play tennis in the springtime, I have to sign up for the school's All Sports Team," he said. He made a distasteful face and shook his head.
"That doesn't sound so bad," Elle said. "You like sports, so why would it bother you to be on an All Sports Team."
He chuckled softly and shook his head. "That's just the name they use for it," he said. "What it really is, however, is another matter. The All Sports Team is what they call the Pep Squad at this school!" He stopped again and said, "If I want to play tennis in the spring, I have to become a cheerleader!" He shuddered and shook his head again.
He waited for the expected laughter, however, Elle's reaction was completely different from what he'd expected. She skipped ahead of him and then whirled back to face him. "Can I be a cheerleader too?" she asked, practically bouncing in place.
"Try out for it," he said, rolling his eyes. "That's where I'm headed." With a cheer, Elle fell into step beside him once again and they made their way over to the soccer field.
As they approached the soccer field, Oliver noted that the students were divided by grade level. The fifth and sixth grade were together. As were the third and fourth grade and the first and second grade. His brows furrowed and he moved towards the area of the field where the fifth and sixth grade students were.
"I mean, really?" a boy was saying, as they stepped closer. Oliver recognized him as Rick. They had homeroom together. As usual, a scarf was firmly in place around his neck, partially obscuring his face. "It's awful that he was killed, but... that's just insane! How does someone die from a shovel? That's got to take either skill or all kinds of stupid."
A girl beside him shrugged. "Maybe he stepped on it and...." She pantomimed the end of the shovel smacking her in the face, complete with falling back as though she'd been struck. As she did so, she stumbled into Professor Stanford.
The professor caught her and gently pushed her upright. "Please, do be careful?" he said, arching an eyebrow.
"Sorry, sir," the two students said together.
Oliver scowled. His sister's homeroom teacher seemed to be ever-present, like some kind of strange hall monitor god. He bit back a laugh at the errant thought. He could hardly believe that students were speaking with such levity about the groundskeeper's death. He didn't even know Mister Smith and he found the news upsetting.
"You have more respect," he said. He flushed faintly when the pair looked at him. "He died," he said. "Someone, somewhere, lost their son."
"Quite right," Professor Stanford said, nodding.
"Sorry," the students said in unison.
Professor Stanford nodded once at them, then smiled faintly at Oliver, before he headed away from the clot of students, towards the edge of the group.
"He's always got that scarf over his face," Oliver said, nodding over his shoulder at Rick.
Elle's brow furrowed and she turned around, walking backwards for a few steps to get a good look at him. "Even when he eats?" she asked, turning around to face forward again. "How's that work?"
"Osmosis?" Oliver suggested, shrugging his shoulders. He chuckled and shook his head. "I honestly don't know. I was talking to my homeroom teacher and, by the time Professor Lawton had finished explaining things to me, Rick had finished his lunch."
Elle giggled. "Can you imagine him just absorbing food through the material of the scarf?" she said. She shook her head. "I imagine he must take it down. I wonder what he looks like without it."
Before Oliver could say a word, someone called across the field to them. "Elle! Hey, Elle!"
Oliver turned around to face the speaker. It took him just a moment to spot the person who'd called his sister. "You know him?" he asked, nodding at the dark-haired boy that was waving at them from across the field.
"That's Hitoshi," she said. She grinned and said, "He's in my homeroom class." She waved once and then bounded up to him. Shaking his head, Oliver followed his sister at a more sedate pace. "Hey, Hitoshi," she said, as she skidded across the grass to stop at his side.
"Hey," he said. He smiled and looked from Elle to Oliver and then back. "Is this your brother, Ollie?" he asked, as Oliver joined them. His voice was soft, with little if any inflection. Elle nodded and Hitoshi grinned faintly. "Nice to meet you. Elle told us about you in homeroom."
"Likewise," Oliver said.
"We might be starting a needlework club," Elle said. She giggled and bounced excitedly. "Hitoshi crochets, too!"
"Sure do," Hitoshi said. He grinned and said, "I'm surprised to see you here for the try outs for the All Sports Team. You said you didn't like sports."
"But you didn't say we'd be cheerleading!" Elle said. She shoved him playfully and said, "I love that sort of thing!"
He grinned. "Sorry," he said, shrugging. His eyes widened and he said, "It's sort of a two way thing. You have to be on a sports team, if you want to be on the pep squad." When Elle looked upset, his brows furrowed. After a moment, he said, "The school has a dance team - intramural, obviously. You could join that!"
"I'd love that," Elle said. "What do they do?" She giggled and spun around a few times, much to Hitoshi's amusement.
"Each month, each grade's team competes against the teams from the other grades," Hitoshi said. "The teachers pick a theme - contra dance, Highland dance, step dancing, whatever - and the class that scores the highest wins. It's judged by the Parent-Teacher Association members."
While Hitoshi and Elle chattered away, Oliver glanced around at the other students. Most were just standing around talking. What were they waiting for? "When are we getting started?" He looked back at Hitoshi and said, "Do you know?"
Hitoshi blinked and then tilted his head to one side. The expression was clearly one of confusion, but Oliver couldn't understand why. Wasn't his question clear enough? Was it his accent the younger boy was having trouble with?
"Do I know what?" Hitoshi said after a moment.
Whatever Oliver had been expecting, that wasn't it. He blinked and shook his head. "I'm sorry?" he said.
He bit his lip and his cheeks reddened faintly. He motioned towards his left ear and said, "I've got hearing loss, so it's hard for me to make out what people are saying in crowds like this."
Oliver's eyes widened. It hadn't even occurred to him that Hitoshi hadn't heard his words. He remember, now, that Jake had said the boy had trouble hearing. "Unless they're looking at you? How does that help?"
"I read lips," Hitoshi said, grinning. He shrugged and shook his head. "Since most of my hearing lost is in my left ear, I can get by in class all right, but I have a lot of trouble with things like this." He gestured to the crowd of students around them. "Probably why I play tennis instead of something like soccer."
Oliver grinned then. He had yet to meet anyone else who played on the school's tennis team. "You're on the tennis team too?" he said. Then he flushed. He wasn't actually on the tennis team - not yet, anyway. "I mean... I mean..."
"I know what you mean," Hitoshi said, chuckling. He nodded and said, "I play tennis, yeah. So does Hana - my sister." He glanced around for a moment and his brows furrowed. His voice might not carry much emotion, but his expression reflected every passing thought. Right then, he was wondering where his aforementioned sister might be.
"Shi-chan!" someone yelled across the field.
Oliver noticed that Hitoshi heard the call, but couldn't tell where it had come from. He pointed over towards a girl that was running across the field towards them. "Is that her?"
"I knew when I heard it. No one else calls me that," he said, nodding. It was uncanny - as if just mentioning Hana's name made her appear. He grinned at Oliver and pointed at his left ear again. "Unilateral hearing loss. Makes it hard to tell where a sound is coming from," he said. He sighed when, as the girl reached them, she threw her arms around his shoulders and very nearly knocked him off his feet.
His brows furrowed and he gave her a sidelong glance. "What kept you?" he asked, sounding more tired than truly annoyed.
She stepped back and Hitoshi breathed a soft sigh of relief. He loved his sister, he truly did, but she could be a little over-exuberant at times. "I had to talk to Nomi," she said, signing as she spoke. "I needed to go over what sort of setup we'll need for our recital next month."
Hitoshi nodded. "So you told her that you need to be on my right?" he said. His brows furrowed and he shook his head. "Your flute is too soft and too high for me to hear it, if you're to my left. She understands that, right?"
Hanako grimaced. "She heard me, but I don't think she was really paying attention."
Hitoshi rolled his eyes. He looked back at Oliver and said, "You asked me something earlier and I never answered you."
"Yes," Oliver said. It took him a moment to remember just what he'd asked Hitoshi. He chuckled and said, "I asked if you knew when we were getting started."
"They start with the younger grades first," Hitoshi said, "but that won't take long." He smirked and said, "The first and second grade pep squad mostly just shakes the ponpoms and jumps up and down. All of them will be accepted. The third and fourth grade pep squad does some things that are a bit more complex, but most of them will get on and they all get tested at the same time."
"So, what do they make us do?" Oliver asked.
"Hey, Ollie!" someone called, as Hitoshi opened his mouth to speak. Hitoshi grinned as Jake and Shysie bounded over to them. "Hey, Hitoshi," Jake said, grinning.
"Hello, Jake," Hitoshi said. He looked back at Oliver and shrugged. "I'm not sure what we'll do," he said. "I was on the third and fourth grade squad last year. Shysie'll know. She's the lead, um... cheerleader? Head cheerleader?" He shook his head. "Whatever, she figures out our cheers. We just do them."
"It's similar to what you did last year," Shysie said. "We'll all line up and I'll show you one of our cheers. Then, you all have about twenty minutes to get it down. Then, everyone will line up again, same way you had the first time, and we'll go through the cheer. Best people will be on the pep squad."
"And, if we don't get on the pep squad, we can't play on any of the sports teams," Oliver said. He grimaced when Shysie nodded. He hated dancing or anything like it. Just how was he going to get on a pep squad?
Shysie grinned and said, "If you can chase a tennis ball around a court, you can shake pompoms and move in rhythm."
"It's actually a lot of fun," Hitoshi said. He grinned. "Of course, I like dancing, so... if you don't enjoy dancing, then you might not enjoy cheerleading, especially the way we do it."
"I guess," Oliver said. He ducked his head and then shrugged. Looking back at Hitoshi, he added, "I always feel foolish dancing, especially line dancing. I mean..." he trailed off and mimed out the first few motions of one of the few dancing he knew. "I guess I just feel embarrassed and inhibited. Afraid that I'll look foolish. You know?"
Hitoshi chuckled and nodded. "Well, yeah, you look weird doing the moves alone," he said. He grinned and held up a finger, "but once you get ten or twenty people out there doing it with you? It's a sight to behold."
"Right," Shysie said, nodding. "Think of those people who do the line dancing in the clubs. Some of them, if you did them all alone would look real stupid, but you get a whole group of people and it's like - like a work of art!"
"I suppose," Oliver said, sounding doubtful. Somehow, he just couldn't get passed his natural fear of looking like an idiot in front of others to see where doing silly hand motions might look at all artistic.
"Whatever, Ollie," Shysie said. "I'll catch you later." Then, without another word, she waved and bounded away.
"She's got to talk to the coach," Jake explained. He grinned at Hitoshi, then, and completely changed the subject. "You all set for the recital?"
"Nearly," Hitoshi said, nodding. His brows furrowed. "You and I need to get together and go over that concerto. I mean, it's a month away and I haven't heard you playing your part with me yet. We need to make sure we're at the same tempo."
"Right," Jake said. He bit his lip and said, "After school tomorrow? You could come over to my house?"
"I have to talk to Mama," Hitoshi said, shrugging. He grinned then and said, "If I go to your house, we'll have to walk, right? I mean... there are seven of you now and the van only seats eight, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, your right," Jake said, nodding. He chuckled and then said, "I'd better go to your house instead."
Hitoshi nodded once and then stopped, "Oh, and make sure you bring your violin. Otherwise, you'll be borrowing my old one again."
"Yeah, yeah," Jake said, waving the words away.
"You play the violin?" Oliver said. Hitoshi nodded and he blinked in surprise. Oliver shook his head for a moment. How could he play the violin if he was partially deaf? How could he go out for cheerleading, for that matter?
Hitoshi grinned and shrugged. "My Oyaji, much as I fight with him, has gotten a few things right in his life," he said. He folded his hands in front of his chest and added, "One thing he taught me, starting at a very early age, was that there's no such thing as 'I can't'. You can do anything you set your mind to."
Oliver's brows furrowed and he nodded. "That's... really good advice," he said, in a soft voice. It made him think about what Professor Lawton had told him during their meeting. The words had rung in his ears for the last few hours, distracting him from his last two classes. Now, though, he had to wonder if it was really so bad as he'd originally thought.
"Words to live by," Jake said, nodding. He winked and said, "Then there's Yoda's advice: There is no try."
"There is only do, or do not," Hitoshi said. He grinned and nodded. "In this school, there's not even a 'do not'." He looked up at Oliver and pointed a finger at him sternly. "You will get on the pep squad," he said.
Oliver laughed and said, "Guess that's the right attitude to have." He grimaced and looked over at the first and second graders. They were getting their pompoms and the coach was writing down names and sizes, for their uniforms, as well as whatever sport they were actually interested in playing. Oliver recognized her as the woman he'd seen in the schoolyard that morning. Her casual dress made sense now, knowing that she was the physical education teacher and coach for the elementary school.
He still wasn't too happy about being forced to try out for a team he wasn't really interested in being on. At the same time, he realized, it made sense. Not every school had a pep squad, but he knew they were good for player moral. The school was small enough that they probably wouldn't have a pep squad if all the kids on the sports teams weren't on it. As it was, they had few enough people that most games couldn't be played intramurally. Most of the time, there simply wasn't enough people to make more than one team. In light of that, it made sense to have everyone on a sports team also be a member of the pep squad.
He watched closely as the next older group was put through their paces. Most of the students did a fairly good job keeping up with the coach's instructions. He surprised, in fact, at how well the boys did. At his old school, nearly everyone on the pep squad was a girl. The split here was fairly even.
He adjusted his glasses and then smiled. "Is it like this with the middle school and high school pep squads?" he asked, glancing over at Jake.
Jake grimaced and shook his head. "They don't have the same requirements we do," he said. "The middle school has three grades to work with for their sports. So does the high school. That kind of makes it easier to get enough kids together to have an actual team."
"The middle school and high school also have large class sizes," Hitoshi added. He shrugged. "Most times, teachers and parents don't realize kids our age are gifted. It tends to become more obvious when you reach puberty."
"By that, you mean like... I make fire," Oliver said, smirking, "not like, I can program a computer from the ground up. Am I right?"
Hitoshi grinned and nodded. "Yeah," he said. He smirked and said, "Some psionic gifts and most magic ones don't manifest until puberty, so the class size doubles and, in some cases, triples, when you get to that age set."
"Fire, eh?"
Oliver looked over at the new speaker and nodded. His brows furrowed. "Do I know you?" he asked, shaking his head.
"Not yet," he said. He grinned and thrust out a hand. "Aidan McPhie," he said, "I'm in your sister's homeroom."
"Not usually outside, Aidan," Jake said, as Oliver shook the boy's hand. "Aren't you afraid of spontaneously combusting?"
The boy smiled and, for the first time, Oliver noticed that he had a pair of fangs where his incisors should have been. "Oh, that's naught but a wives' tale," he said, shaking his head. "My kind are very sensitive to sunlight, true enough, but we don't burn up. We just sunburn - very badly."
"You - you're a vampire," Oliver said. His voice sounded strained, but he simply couldn't believe what he was seeing. Vampires were real?
"You could say that," Aidan said. He grinned cheerfully and said, "I drink blood, but I'm not undead or anything."
"Just not human," Jake said. He chuckled and Oliver could tell the younger boy was nervous.
He didn't blame him. He pulled his hand away and folded his fingers together. "Well, that's... unexpected," he said. He shook his head and glanced over at Elle. He chuckled and said, "See, we're not freaks. We're all like this."
"At least at this school," Elle said, nodding cheerfully.
Aidan laughed, showing off his fangs to their fullest. "Right enough," he said. Then, he looked more serious and said, "Do you have the usual weakness of pyrokinetics, then?"
"Usual weakness?"
Oliver grimaced and nodded at Aidan. Then he looked over at Elle. "Apparently, using my power, because it's directed out of my eyes, is slowly destroying my vision," he said. "I will, in all likelihood, go completely blind."
Elle's brow furrowed. "What are you going to do?" she asked, her voice soft and full of concern.
Oliver chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. "Not much I can do," he said. Then he shrugged and added, "I'm not going to let it stop me, I know that much. I'll play tennis for as long as I'm able. Who knows, I might be the first severely visually impaired Grand Slam tennis player."
"That's the sort of attitude to have," Hitoshi said, nodding.
Oliver grinned at the younger boy. "Glad to hear you approve," he said, keeping his voice low, but being careful to maintain eye contact. "You're the one who inspired it."
Hitoshi's eyes widened and then he grinned and his cheeks darkened. He bowed politely and said, "Anytime." His voice was so soft that Oliver wondered if he even heard it.
"All right," the coach called.
Oliver glanced over at her and bit his lip. He noticed that most of the third and fourth grade students were moving away from the field now. Marisol caught a blond haired boy by the hand and practically dragged him over to the fortress-like playground equipment that was at the edge of the soccer field. He could guess that this was Luke, the boy she'd been playing with for the past couple weeks.
"Everyone form nice even lines," the coach said, motioning with her hands. "Make sure you have enough room to raise your arms out to each side and just as much room in front of and behind you. You should also stagger the rows, so that you are directly behind the person two rows in front of you."
It didn't take long before the students were lined up the way she wanted them. That was when Shysie took them through the short routine. Oliver was surprised with how simple the moves were. He'd been a little afraid that he would be able to do some of them, but it was mostly simple, straight movements. He imagined, though, that it might be harder to do them rhythmically to music.
"All ready?" Shysie said, glancing around at everyone. She nodded once and then walked over to a stereo. She cued up the music and then counted out the rhythm. Just as the music began, everyone began to move. As Oliver had expected, it was much harder to remember everything he was supposed to do and move in time to the music at the same time.
He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate, without paying attention to what other people were doing. Once he felt a little more confident, he opened them again. The coach and Shysie were moving through the crowd. Every once in a while, one of them would shake their head and point at someone.
Shysie looked rather apologetic as Darian was sent away by the coach, but he just shrugged and shook his head. Finally, they were done. Oliver stopped and chuckled wanly. From a group of about fifty students, only ten had been sent away.
"Alright," the coach said. "Hopefully, I've got enough people remaining that I can have at least ten of you at each of the school's sporting events."
Nodding, Shysie said, "Form a line. Coach needs your size, for your uniforms, and what sport you'll be going out for."
Finally, all the paperwork was done. The coach smiled and said, "We'll start going over our routines next week, when the uniforms come in." She clapped her hands together and said, "Good job everyone. See you all tomorrow."
Jake grinned and looked at Oliver. "So," he said, "was it as horrible as you feared?"
Chuckling, Oliver shook his head. "It was actually a lot of fun," he admitted. He sighed and then waved at Hitoshi. "See you around. Thanks for the pep talk."
"No problem," Hitoshi said. He waved and then hurried off across the field. Then he stopped and said, "So, Jake, you're coming to my house tomorrow, to go over the concerto with me?"
"Yes," Jake said, motioning with one fist at the same time. Hitoshi tapped his chin and then spun around to continue on his way. Jake grinned at Oliver and Elle. He repeated the motion and said, "It means, thank you."
"I'll remember that," Oliver said. He opened his mouth to speak, but a shrill cry interrupted him before he got out another word.
"Brother!" Marisol shouted, as she careened across the soccer field. He ran into Jake full force, knocking him off his feet. They landed in a heap on the ground. Marisol giggled and hopped off of him.
Jake sighed and sat up. "You need to settle down," he said. He smirked and shook his head. "You'll crush your elephants."
Marisol's eyes widened. She looked into her jacket pocket. "How's everybody doing?" she said, actually sounding concerned for the welfare of her animal crackers. After a moment, she grinned and said, "They're all right, Jake."
"Glad to hear it," Jake said. He stood up and brushed himself off. "Come on, then," he said, taking her hand gently. "Papí will be waiting for us."
"I'll catch up," Oliver said, waving. He grimaced and said, "I just realized that I forgot my jacket in my cubby."
"Don't take too long," Darian said. He smiled faintly and said, "The parking gods are displeased. If Dad has the van in that spot too much longer, some sort of sacrifice will have to made."
"Right," Oliver said. He stifled a chuckled and nodded. "Won't be but a minute." Then he hurried into the school building.
He glanced around for a moment once he was inside. His brows furrowed, as he tried to figure out where his homeroom was. "This way," he said, pointing down the left hand corridor. He remembered going right to go out the door.
As he made his way down the hall towards his class, he passed several other classrooms. Most were empty already. However, some students were gathered in a couple, working on projects of one kind or another. He wondered how long it would be before they put him to work on one of these projects.
"But that's impossible!"
Oliver stopped, a frown creasing his brow. He moved towards the voice and stopped. He was just outside the teacher's lounge.
"Calm down, Robert," someone was saying. "Someone might hear you?"
"Who? The students have mostly gone home, right?"
"Yes," another voice said. Oliver recognized that as Professor Stanford. He sighed and went on. "In any case, the fact remains - whether you think it's impossible or not - that Mister Smith's unfortunate encounter with the shovel was judged to be accidental, by the police, at least."
"Yeah, well," Robert said, sounding distinctly unhappy. "The police don't know about the Circle Society, do they? They couldn't possibly realize that William has to be behind this."
"But, why would the Circle Society target Mister Smith?" a soft, feminine voice said. She sounded more curious than upset, although there was a hint of concern in her voice. "His powers were so minor - literally spot on the wall type stuff."
"He might have seen something he shouldn't have," a soft, lightly accented voice said. Oliver recognized this speaker too, but he couldn't put a name to the familiar voice. "The fact of the matter is this: the police are satisfied it was naught more than a tragic, if odd, accident. We know different, but can't prove it. All we can do is be on guard and protect the students as best we can."
"Yes, sir," a few voices chorused.
Oliver could tell they were breaking up and he was sure they hadn't meant anyone - especially a student - to overhear their conversation. He would, however, make sure he asked Jake about this Circle Society. Jake had been going to the school for a few years now. He'd be sure to know more about it.
Oliver nodded once and filed the information away for later. Then, he bit his lip and hurried on ahead. He ducked into his homeroom class and hurried over to the cubby where he'd left his jacket. Then he hurried back to the door.
He paused there for a moment, to listen. Then, when he was sure no one was there, he slipped out of the room and hurried out through a different door. I watched him silently from the shadows. The others would disapprove of telling any of the students outright about the Circle Society. Indirect means were best in this case. Satisfied that things were working to my favor, I turned around and headed out, by the door that Oliver had entered through. It wouldn't look at all suspicious if someone saw me there. After all, nearly everyone had stayed to try out for the pep squad.