Chapter 5
The noise of laughter began to bother me, so I headed back to the quiet classroom.
Surprisingly, Hero was there too, sitting at his desk.
Mr. Miller had left the classroom for his lunch break, so it was only Hero and me in the classroom.
He was watching the door, as if waiting for something or someone.
When he saw me, he shifted his gaze to his desk.
I stepped into the classroom, slowly walking closer to him. “Is something wrong?”
“I’m sorry, Pepper,” he exhaled, exhaustion present in his voice.
“What for?” I asked, sitting down next to him.
Hero roughly ran his hand through his straight, dark hair and returned his gaze to the door. “You should go home.”
“Why?” I started to feel a pit in my stomach. “Why?” I repeated, more demanding.
“It doesn’t concern you. Leave the classroom and don’t come back for today,” he warned. “Don’t ruin my plan.”
Leaving for the day would cost me ten points.
“Your plan?” I asked, puzzled. “What plan?”
No response.
“What plan, Hero?” I urged, my voice growing louder.
He shifted his gaze from the door to my eyes and grabbed my arm with a firm grip. “Go while you can. I don’t want you to get hurt.” He noticed the terrified expression on my face and released his grip on my arm. “Just go. Please.”
Why would I get hurt? What was he planning to do? I wanted to continue questioning him, but I knew he would get annoyed at me. And I couldn’t possibly bear that.
So, I decided to leave the classroom. As I did, I passed Ayden in the hallway. I couldn’t just do nothing about it, so I turned around. “Wait, Ayden!”
Ayden stopped in his tracks, but didn’t turn to face me. He stood there, waiting for me to speak.
“Don’t go in there,” I said, walking closer so I wouldn’t have to shout across the hallway.
“Why?”
“Hero told me to leave the classroom. He said something about a plan, and that he didn’t want me getting hurt. I’m scared it might involve you.”
He looked back at me. “I’m not scared of him, Peps. You shouldn’t be, either.” He opened the door to the classroom and stepped foot inside.
I grunted and followed him into the classroom. Hero’s eyes widened as he spotted me.
“Leave,” he mouthed. I made my way further into the classroom and sat back down in my seat.
“I won’t let you do whatever it is you are planning to do,” I whispered.
He shook his head. “You’re so stubborn.”
* * *
Everyone was now present in the classroom, including Violet, who was sitting in the opposite corner of her former friend group. Hero left his seat and went to the front of the classroom.
“Attention everyone,” he said, his voice loud enough for the back of the class to hear.
Everyone turned their heads to look at him.
“This morning, I made this.” He paused, reaching into his left pocket and pulling out a small beaker filled with a clear liquid. Removing the cover, he continued, “It allows me to levitate.”
“And why would you need to do that?” the blonde curly-haired girl sitting next to Reese asked.
Gwendolyn Hill, girlfriend of Reese.
Hero didn’t respond. He downed the clear liquid and, within seconds, began to levitate into the air. He pulled out another small beaker from his right pocket—this one had blue liquid—and drank it too.
“Get down here at this instant, sir,” Mr. Miller commanded.
“What does the blue one do?” the burly boy asked.
Colin Lopez, best friend of Reese.
“You’ll see soon enough,” Hero answered, ignoring the teacher. The bullies started to laugh at how ‘weird’ he was. Even Ayden laughed. But they didn’t know him like I did. I could sense something was very wrong. He was about to do something bad.
“Hero, get down, please,” I pleaded, standing up.
“None of you can convince me,” he said, turning to make eye contact with me. “Not even you, Pepper.”
He closed his eyes and lifted up his hands, concentrating on something. I had no idea what he was doing.
Until I felt it.
My socks were getting soaked through the hole in my shoes.
As I glanced down, I noticed there was water filling the classroom.
It was currently at ankle-level. I scanned the room to see the others’ reactions but nobody had noticed it yet.
I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. I was in a state of shock.
I tapped Ayden and pointed to the floor. He immediately lifted his feet off of the floor and stood on top of his chair. Extending a hand out to me, he said, “Come up here.”
I took his hand, and he helped me stand up on my own chair before turning to face everyone. “Water is rising in the classroom!” he informed everyone.
Everyone shifted their gaze from Hero to the floor, then jumped on top of their chairs. Nobody wanted to leave the classroom and lose seven points.
I desperately wanted to say something, but I couldn’t. My heart started to beat faster.
Ayden noticed and grabbed my shoulders. “Look at me,” he said, his eyes darting between both of my eyes. “Take deep breaths, you’re okay.”
I maintained eye contact with him as I did as instructed. After a few deep breaths, I managed to speak again. “It’s my fault,” I said, tears forming from my eye sockets. “I knew he was going to do something bad and I didn’t do anything.”
“It isn’t your fault,” Ayden said firmly. “I take back what I said earlier, in the cafeteria. I was angry and I didn’t mean it. You don’t make things worse, and you can still get through to him.”
“Didn’t you hear him?” I asked, shaking my head. “He said that nobody can convince him. Not even me.”
“If that were true, he wouldn’t have tried to make you leave the class in the first place. He cares about you, Peps.”
The water had risen to knee-level, and students were starting to panic. “We’re going to drown!” I heard someone say.
Mr. Miller rushed to the door to let the water out, but Hero noticed and used water pressure to push the frail teacher down, unintentionally knocking him unconscious.
A short, dark-skinned girl named Imani was the only one brave enough to go into the water and pull the teacher out.
Shaking him awake, she helped him get on top of the teachers’ desk, which was taller than the students’ desks.
Mr. Miller was terrified, so Imani stayed with him, making sure he wouldn’t faint.
The water had risen midway of the back of the chair. Ayden was right; I had to convince him to stop, otherwise we would all die—except for Hero, who was levitating to the ceiling of the tall classroom.
“Hero!” I shouted to get his attention, my fingers trembling. “I’m your best friend, so please listen to me and stop this! This isn’t like you!”
Hero shot a cold glare at me and scoffed. “You think you know everything about me, don’t you?”
“Then tell me what I don’t know so I can understand.”
“You know why I was late to school this morning?!”
“Tell me.”
“My uncle.” He didn’t expand on what he meant. The water had risen to my waist, and I stepped on the desk to be a bit higher.
“Your uncle Derrick?” I asked, concerned.
“What happened to him?” Uncle Derrick had always been an angel to me, always gave the best advice, and always lightened the mood in the darkest of times.
He was the only one who knew about my home life.
He was the best uncle that anyone could ever ask for.
He was like a father to Hero, and to me for the past two years.
“He passed away.” He clenched his fists, his chest tightening. “I found him on his bedroom floor this morning.”
“He…passed away?” I repeated, biting down on my lip in an attempt to hold in my tears. Uncle Derrick had been battling cancer for a year.
He didn’t win.
“Is drowning everyone your solution, huh?” Ayden asked. “What exactly would that solve?”
“I wouldn’t have to see your face.” Hero paused. “Violet’s face.”
“And what about everyone else?”
“They’re bullies.”
“But I’m not,” I chimed in.
“I know,” he whispered, his gaze softening. “I know you’re not.”
“Listen to me, Hero,” Ayden warned. “You will go to jail if you go through with this.” I could see in Ayden’s eyes that he didn’t want Hero to go to jail, no matter how much he hated him.
“Nothing would tie this crime to me,” Hero said, the water rising to my chest.
“Kayden,” Reese whispered to the skinny boy, “open the door while I distract him.”
Kayden Lovett, second best friend of Reese.
He nodded and swam underwater as Reese waved his muscular arms above his head. “Hey, idiot! Over here! I have to tell you something privately!”
Hero levitated over to Reese. “This better be worth my time.”
“Over there.” Reese grinned and gestured to the door with his eyes. Kayden had made his way to the door, his hand resting on the door handle. Hero’s eyes widened and levitated over to the door as fast as he could, but it was too late; water was gushing out of the classroom.
He closed his eyes and concentrated again, this time making the water dissolve into thin air before it could be spotted by the security guards in the hall. There was no trace of water coming into contact with any of us, either.
“You…you…” Reese stammered.
“I can’t have me going to jail now, can I?” Hero said, breathing heavily.
I could tell he was relieved his plan was stopped. He didn’t want to drown me. His emotions just took over. Losing an uncle—one that felt like a father—after getting into a fight the night before with a boy that he used to be best friends with had to have ultimately been the worst feeling.
He slowly descended back to the floor, glaring at me with guilt written all over his face.
“Gwen, should we go to the police?” Imani shouted across the room. Gwendolyn, alongside Reese, was the leader of the group and everyone seemed clueless without her.
“No. There’s no point without proof” was the response from Gwendolyn. She folded her arms and popped the bubblegum in her mouth. Imani nodded and helped Mr. Miller get down from the teachers’ desk.