Ascension (The Ascension Series) (10 page)

“I’m not taking that chance,” Clark bluntly told him.

“I’m with Clark,” Charles said. “Let’s not touch it.”

“What do we do then? Why’re we here?” Big Dan asked.

“We’re going to take it with us,” Charles told them.

“No way!” said Big Dan.

“I don’t know if we should do that,” Clark muffled.

“Yeah,” Charles let out a laugh. “That’s why I didn’t tell you in the car. There’s no turning back now.”

After a few minutes of back and forth bickering, they
came to the decision to take the crystal with them. Naturally they decided to use the power of telekinesis to move it. All at once, they focused on the crystal and it lifted off the ground. Slowly the crystal pushed its way through the barn door and floated into the back of Big Dan’s pickup truck. When the crystal fell, the truck lowered with its tremendous weight.

“Damn, that took a lot
out of me,” Charles said.

“Where do we take it?” John asked.

Charles went into the trunk of his car and pulled out a large blanket. He threw it over the crystal which he made sure not to touch.

“My dad owns this old warehouse,” Charles said.
“It has a security locked basement and nobody uses it. We’ll take it there.”

Clark and John got into the car with Charles who
drove west to the warehouse as Big Dan followed. Big Dan drove slowly due to the weight of the crystal in his truck. It took them twenty-five minutes to get to their destination and they pulled around back. When no one was watching, they again used their powers to swiftly levitate the blanket-covered crystal into the secure basement of the warehouse. 

“And now…,” Charles said as he looked to the crystal in the basement. “To just find out where you came from
and what else you’re capable of.”

CHAPTER 5

“Did you find out anything else about it?” Clark asked Charles before he headed off to class the next morning.

“No,” Charle
s said. “Didn’t have time to study a magic crystal. I had a date after we left the warehouse.”

“Maybe Donny can study it or something,” Clark suggested.

“Good idea. I’ll tell Donny the Geek to bring his microscope next time,” Charles laughed. “I’m sure he’s got plenty of time on his hands.”

“Actually,” Clark corrected him. “Donny’s been spending a lot of time with Chloe lately.”

“I was wondering about that,” Charles said. “What the hell does Chloe Li see in him? You know he’s not even getting to first base. They’re probably just solving math problems together.”

“Wow,” Clark said. “Why are you so down on him?”

“Cause I was interested in Chloe,” Charles admitted.

“With all those other fish in the sea,” Clark joked sarcastically, “Whatever will fisherman Charles do when he loses one catch?”

Across the hall in the girl’s restroom, Sarah skipped speaking with Clark in order to find Jessica, the cheerleading captain. Jessica was standing in front of the large restroom mirror changing her makeup. She was speaking with another cheerleader, Samantha, when Sarah walked in.

“You know, he’s really not that good,” Jessica said to Samantha as Sarah walked in.

“Who?” Samantha asked.

“Charles Walsh,” Jessica told her friend. “Who do you think? He’s
overrated by almost everyone. They just like his gifts.”

“Hey girls,” Sarah said as
the two other girls looked to her.

“Hey Sarah,” Jessica and Samantha said simultaneously.

“What are you talking about?” Sarah asked as she pulled out her eyeliner and applied in while looking into the mirror.

“Oh, nothing,” Jessica said nonchalantly.

“Everything going well on the team, captain?” Sarah asked.

“Yeah,” Jessica told her. “You need to show up tomorrow afternoon. We’re having tr
youts for additional members. All current members must attend.”

“About that,” Sarah said. “I was kinda thinking that I would try out for team captain.”

“What?” Jessica said bewildered, “That’s my spot?”

“I know.”

“What makes you think you can try out for my spot?”

“You know just as well as I that every spot is up for grabs at the beginning of the year,” Sarah fluttered.

“And what makes you think you’re good enough to be captain?” Jessica scoffed.

“I just think I’d do a really great job,” Sarah said as she placed her items into her handbag. “And your head isn’t always in the game.”

Sarah turned around and exited the girls’ restroom as Jessica and Samantha looked to one another in shock.

On the other side of the school, the first class bell was on its way to going off when
Clark parted with Charles. They were wondering why John had not joined them before classes began as he routinely did. Clark quickly found out why John was absent during first period. When Clark entered the classroom, John was already sitting in his seat. His head was lowered and covered by the hoodie of his trench coat.

“What’s up, man?” Clark asked. “We were looking for you.”

John said nothing, his head still down.

“You okay, John?”

Without removing the hoodie, John tilted his head which allowed Clark to see a large bruise around his left eye. The bruised area of John’s pale face was swollen. He used his hand to brush his long hair in a manner that concealed his face.

“How did that happen?” Clark dismally asked.

“My old man,” John whispered.

“Jesus, he just gave you a black eye?”

“This morning. Drunk out of his fucking mind.”

“You didn’t do anything to him?”

“I could have, Clark─ do you know what I could have done to him? But I didn’t,” John’s voice progressed to pain. “I didn’t put a single finger on him when I so
easily
could have. Because I care. Because I know somewhere within that extremely horrible person is my father. I could have thrown him through a wall. I could have dropped an extremely heavy object on him. But then my real father wouldn’t have a chance of returning. But I feel like this morning confirmed to me that he
never
will.”

Clark could see the sorrow in John’s eyes before John turned away from h
im and lied his head down on his desk. All was calm and all was quiet until the first bell finally rang. The history teacher sprang into the room and started her lecture but all Clark could think about was the anguish he felt for John. He simply thought, “How terrible it must be to lack a loving family.”

When class was over, Clark walked out with John and placed his arm over his shoulder. It was a gesture of friendship that
Clark hoped John would appreciate. Just as they were walking out of class, John was shoved into a set of lockers by a bully named TJ.

“Watch where you’re going, Ahern,” TJ laughed. “I think you need to get that black eye fixed.”

John looked at him with rage, his fist clenched as Clark spoke up. “Leave him the hell alone, TJ. You really don’t know who you’re screwing with.”

The bully laughed and continued walking.

“Don’t worry about him, man,” Clark told him. “I’ll see you later today, okay? Stay strong.”

Clark waved him bye as John sullenly walked down another hallway
and vanished from sight. The tone shifted when Clark arrived at computer class. Donny the Geek was as cheery as ever. He bounced about the classroom and waved at Chloe every few minutes.

Donny waved his finger through the air and sent paper airplane one after the other to Chloe. She laughed and flew them right back with her own powers. “Calm yourself, man!” Clark told him twice.

“No! I’m in love! Don’t you know the feeling, Clark?”

“Yes, I have a girlfriend too, remember? But I’m not about to expose the one really awesome secret thing that I’ve got going for myself.”

“What?” Donny said smarmily, “Aren’t you about to try out for the football team using these beautiful telekinetic abilities?”

Donny used a red ink pen to draw a heart on another piece of paper. Instead of folding it with his hands, he concentr
ated with his mind and the sheet folded itself into a paper plane. He whisked it through the air and into Chloe’s lap just as he did all the others.

“No,” Clark corrected him. “I’m being covert about what I do.”

“I can’t help it, Clark. I’ve fallen hard!”

During one point in class, Donny was using telekinesis to send another paper plane to Chloe when Clark decided to have a little fun of his own. Clark concentrated on a pencil and sent it flying through the air. The pencil shot the paper plane down and Clark began laughing.

“Hey!” Donny yelped.

“S
-O-S! Drone down!” Clark laughed.

“Not funny!”

Finally, Clark’s attention was turned elsewhere. “Where’s Andrew?” he asked.

“No clue,” Donny answered. “Didn’t realize he wasn’t here.”

After computer class, Clark went straight to English class where he managed to both take notes and pay attention. He didn’t want his grades to slip if he was to be a star athlete on the football team. And trying out for the team was the big thought that wouldn’t leave his mind until the time arrived. After English class Clark headed to the cafeteria for lunch. He stood in line for a meal with Sarah when he decided to pull off another sophomoric trick.

A student was paying for their meal with cash when Clark noticed the register open up. And just as it opened, Clark touched the temple of his head. The money within the cash register flew into the air as students began laughing and jumping over one another to catch the dollar bills that came floating down.

“Look up,” Clark told Sarah. “There’s one left.”

Sarah looked up and a single dollar bill drifted above her head. As the dollar bill floated closer to her, like a feather, it twisted and folded itself. When it landed into Sarah’s hand, the dollar bill was folded into the shape of a heart.

“You’re so sweet,” Sarah smiled.

“I told Donny not to show of
f… then I thought─ what the hell.”

“So you caused anarchy in the lunch room and sent tons of money flying through the air just to impress me?” Sarah laughed.

“Yeah, there’s nothing else to it,” Clark winked.

They sat together and ate lunch when Clark mentioned that Andrew had not shown up for class. Then he mentioned that he had not seen Big Dan all day either.

“Big Dan usually stops by to say hi during lunch,” Sarah said.

“Yeah
, I know. And both he and Andrew are missing today. I feel like something’s up.”

“Are your spider senses tingling?” Sarah laughed.

When they finished eating, Sarah suggested they leave the lunch room. Without questioning why, Clark jumped out of his seat and together they headed for the back of the school. They went outside and alone together.

“The lunch room’s just so noisy,” Sarah said. “I can’t concentrate.”

“Yeah,” Clark agreed. “So are you still going for cheer captain?”

Sarah answered his question with a question of her own, “Are you still
trying out for the football team?”

“Of course!” Clark exclaimed.

“Think you’ll need any luck?” Sarah asked.

“No, I can do pretty much any…,” Clark paused for a moment before correcting himself. “In fact, yeah, I think I will need a little luck.”

Sarah stood on her toes,
wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him. They continued making out against a school wall until the bell sounded.

“Gotta go!” Clark said.

“Me too!” Sarah nodded.

They entered the same back entrance but quickly parted ways down different hallways. Clark headed to the gym for P.E. and saw Charles along the way.

“Yo, what’s up, bro?” Charles said as they walked into the gym locker-room. “Big day, huh?”

“Just saw Sarah,” Clark said
as he pulled his shoes off. “She wished me luck so I think I’m ready.”

“Ha!” Charles joked
as he pulled his shirt over his head, “Don’t forget to gimme the details.”

They continued changing into their gym outfits and Charles was showing Clark his newest diamond watch when they both noticed John enter
ing the gym.

“You heard about what happened?” Clark asked Charles.

“Yeah,” Charles said. “Pretty crappy. I know he’s not feeling well so I’m trying to cheer him up. I don’t want my buddy being around a dad like that so I told him he could spend a little more time at my place.”

“What’d he say?” Clark asked.

“He seemed a little reluctant but I swayed him,” Charles said. “He’s gonna spend the rest of the week at my place. Hell, next two weeks if he likes.”

“We can always count on you, man,” Clark said
.

John approached them and gave a weak wave before opening his gym locker. He kicked off his shoes and changed into his outfit. After John stuffed his normal clothes into the locker he was bum rushed by TJ the bully. TJ rammed his shoulder into
John and knocked him against the locker.

Clark and Charles were terrified of how John might retaliate when they noticed his clenched
fists and burrowed brows. John squinted his eyes as TJ laughed at him.

“Look!” Clark whispered to Charles and nudged him. They both looked down at TJ’s feet and watched his shoestrings tie themselves together in a knot. Then the bully’s shorts fell to his
ankles. He attempted to take a step and fell over with a thud. The entire boy’s locker-room roared with laughter.

The bully was embarrasse
d as he quickly pulled his shorts up and tried his hardest to undo the knot that tied both of his shoes together. When he finally succeeded the laughter continued and he bailed out of the locker-room.

“Asshole,” John said under his breath.

“Dude─ that was awesome!” Charles said as he high fived John.

If that wasn’t enough to get back at the ki
ds who taunted him, John’s actions progressed when they all went outside to play kickball. Clark and Charles both played at a normal pace without the use of any superpowers but John used telekinesis to boost his performance on the field. He angrily kicked the ball and the moment his foot connected to it, he used his powers to make the ball fly out of the school zone.

“Jesus, kid! That was some kick!” Coach Smith said to John. “Heck son, we could use a punter on our football team. Try outs are after school today.”

“No thanks,” John said as monotonous as possible.

“I’m going to try out!” Clark yelled to the coach. “I’ll be on the field after school.”