Chapter 53 - Kenzium Overdrive

I pointed out the differences to Summer. Natasha immediately scooted her chair back. Even though I remarked that nothing had changed for her, she still took a hand mirror from her backpack and checked herself.

After a minute of scrutiny, she noted, “Skin a little clearer. Maybe.” I disagreed, but didn't dispute her findings as I mentioned, “There was this girl in my Bio class whose skin totally cleared up.”

Inching her chair back towards me, Natasha remarked, “I’d be okay with that…if that were the only thing that happened…”
   
Yeah. If I only made people prettier and more handsome in just the ways they wanted then I might quickly become the most popular person around. But would I want that any more than I wanted this?

I wrapped my arm around the back of my hard, plastic chair and continued, “So…back to Wes. It was kinda amazing because I’ve never really had a sleepover and it was kinda one.”

Summer raised a finger to this. “Woah wait…you…have never had a sleepover? Like any sort of sleepover? Ever?” A tone of mounting incredulity seeped into her voice.

I had to point to my mom, even though I told myself I could’ve made it happen. I could’ve brought together groups of friends. I could’ve proposed events. I could’ve done it without the presence of a snuggly, transformed boy. Of course, I could’ve made a lot more shit happen in general than I had, without the benefit and handicap of superpowers.

Natasha chirped in, “Our church’s youth group always has sleepovers.”

Summer added, “Last year, the swim team had a sleepover before each meet.”

I smiled and did my best to restrain enough jealousy as I continued, “Cool. And the sleepover part was fun, even though the whole situation was obviously…weird.”

I left out my little booster focus on Lea, and her sneaking into my room, but picked up, “Wes stayed the night and dad dropped us off. First period was really stressful because it was his first day back…after.”

And here, I omitted Lea watching the guys and their basketball game and jumped immediately into, “Then, last period, Natalie Gordon…his girlfriend…almost fought me. She screamed a bit, but I remained calm. She threatened to tell everyone and get the police on my case. And all that…Security broke it up. But that sucked. Lea got depressed about that.”

Scrunching her brow, which did look clearer now, Natasha inquired, “Who’s Lea?”

Aw, crap. I’d been half-trying to keep from saying Wes’s chosen name. I could’ve fibbed and said that was just a friend in English class and that would’ve been right, though deliberately misleading. Instead, I stretched my neck till it gave a slightly-disturbing pop and announced, “Wes picked a new name, Lea.”

Natasha launched a skeptical squint with a grimace. Time to claw at the back of my chair. I clarified, “I didn’t ask or prompt Wes or anything. It just sorta happened. That was what he wanted.”

Summer brushed her hair back with her hands and gave me a sympathetic smile. She definitely had more hair, as did Natasha, whose blemishes were greatly reduced. Summer’s lips puffed out and her chin may have been a little different. She was still at maximum buff (the technical term) though.

Calmly, she set one of those skull-crusher hands on my shoulder, thankfully didn’t squeeze, and said, “Stuff happens. I’m sure it’ll work out. If I had to make a list of all the girls who’ve ever threatened me…I’d definitely run out of paper.”

Clearly, they had death wishes. But that was oddly comforting to hear. So, I had one, known enemy out there. And the guys in my Biology class group probably didn’t feel that great about me either. But that was it, out of so many thousands of people on campus. Probably.  

Soon, Natasha’s skin completely cleared up. Though she smiled in her hand mirror, she still kept to the edge of my influence.

Summer poked at a few math questions when Mrs. Horwitz returned to her desk.

“Kenzie?”

I turned to look at the teacher with the best smile I could manage. “Yeah?”

“You okay?”

She raised her eyebrows as she glanced over at my friends. They had both slipped into the motions of book work. I wasn’t even sure what the assignment after the quiz was supposed to be. Probably something to make sure we didn’t suck at the next quiz.

I cocked my head and offered, “As okay as I can be right now.”

Mrs. Horwitz rested a hand on her chin and told me, “Don’t be afraid to talk if you need help. To anyone at your church, to anyone at school, or whoever you need.” 

I just pleasantly nodded and thanked her. For now, even though Natasha had her concerns, being around her and Summer was enough for me.

After a lull, the chat shifted to music. Summer had good taste in music, but I’m not even going to begin to construct what sort of songs she was into. Just imagine a batch of 90s perennials to get you dancing and leave it at that.

Eventually, Summer’s hips flared out and her voice got softer but no more so than the day before. Natasha’s voice lost its nasal lilt. Mine remained as firmly entrenched as ever.

We passed the period as painlessly as possible. Summer talked about something she wanted to sew for her niece for Christmas. She had some ideas in her notebook. She got really nervous when showing them off. I liked them. But so long as someone can put a decent line to paper, then I’m liable to like it.  

Natasha knew enough to give a few pointers. I just watched from the side. I was fine with that. I never needed to be the center of attention. I just didn’t want to be lost and forgotten.

Towards the end of the period, I’d made…tangible progress on what I needed to do. I put a lot of questions to Horwitz, I still couldn’t replicate the ease with which she broke down a problem for anything beyond each individual one she managed to explain to me (in the loosest of senses).

Things were winding down when the door on the opposite end of our side of the room peeked open. I didn’t pay much attention until I saw the face peering through the cracked door. Lea’s face.

She slipped through the doorway with a paper in her hand and walked over to Mrs. Horwitz. My heart pulsed in my neck. Why was she here? Should I say anything to her? I held all my questions in and tried not to stare too long. Instead, I listened.

Lea passed the note to the teacher, who gave a little frown, and asked, “Miller’s class?” With her hands folded in front of her, Lea nodded shyly and said, “Look at the reverse.”

Horwitz turned the paper around, said a soft ‘ah’, and quietly read some text on the back. When she was done, she immediately looked over at me and then back at Lea before connecting, “You’re…ahhh…my goodness. Okay. Hmmm…”

With a sigh, Horwitz mused, “Where to put you…”

Without delay, Lea asked, “Could I…sit over there by Kenzie? Would that be equitable?”

The teacher’s mouth hung open for a moment before she rubbed at her creased forehead and said, “I suppose so. But it’s getting crowded. And I don’t want this to be an excuse to kibitz for the rest of the period.”

She leveled her head at Lea, who gave an obedient nod. Horwitz handed the paper back to her before she walked around the front of the teacher’s desk. There was an extra chair, but it was at the back. Summer retrieved it, lofted it easily above her head, and set it down between the gray storage cabinet and the old PC.

Quietly, Lea took her seat and regarded the three of us. She appeared about the same as I’d left her. She, or someone else, had undone her ponytail and brushed her hair really nicely so it lay orderly on her shoulders but, otherwise, there were no visible changes one way or the other.

Natasha leaned on the edge of the desk and tried not to settle on the dusty, blue paper stapled to the wall with a decorative fringe. Lea crossed her legs and hugged her loaner backpack as she said, with a hand up, “Uhh…hi…sorry to intrude.”

Natasha and Summer both scrutinized her before Natasha finally whispered, “Are you…Wes?”

Unzipping her bag, Lea offered softly, “That’s the predominant question of the day.”

She didn’t appear different but that revealed nothing about the inside. I held back a wince. Anything could’ve happened while I wasn’t focusing my full self on her.

For nearly two periods, she’d slipped my mind. Even though, if I was being fair to myself, I’d thought plenty about her with the creature on the hallway roof and eager questions from Natasha and Summer. But was it enough? I’d nearly gone mad first period from obsession about her safety. She’d had an easy period. Correlation or coincidence?

Didn’t matter. What mattered was I would make sure her next period was even better and easier.

Lea sunk her hands into the depths of her sleeves and gripped the ends together like two ducks kissing bills. She turned her wrists back and forth before saying firmly but quietly, “I’m Lea. My birth name is Wesley, but I always just used ‘Wes’. Now I’m adapting the ‘Ley’ part, I suppose. But ‘Ley-a’ just sounds more harmonious than a literal ‘lee’.” She accented this with a quick nod.

Natasha pressed a hand to her jaw and asked, not bothering to be too quiet, “So…you have fifth period psychology with Ms. Watts, right?” Mrs. Horwitz was distracted by student questions.

I knew Natasha and Wes both had Psych classes but…in usual form for me…it took till right then for me to put together they had the exact same class. Lea nodded and asked, “Did I miss any quizzes?”

After giving a few quick blinks, Natasha mouthed back what Lea had said with an emphasis on ‘quizzes’ before pointing out, “I think…there’s a bit more to be concerned about right now than quizzes…” She finished that with a nervous little laugh.

Lea shrugged and answered, “I suppose I could be more concerned, but my life goes on…and I gotta deal with it.”

Summer offered a little smile and an even nod. Natasha gripped her jaw and squinted before saying, “But you’re….you’ve gone through something so huge. And I hear you were in a….very deep depression until yesterday.” I could feel the words Natasha was skirting around. I leaned against the computer desk to let them better see one another.

It was the same sort of question Heather had asked and Lea had only half-answered.

Lopsided, puffy bunnies formed out of the ends of Lea’s sleeves as she dropped them to her sides. She squared her shoulders, narrowed her eyes, and said, “I was. But Kenzie helped me. Kenzie brought me out of that mournful, hopeless place. She showed me life. Life is a gift, a precious and sacred gift. Every God-given moment.” I could see large dabs of glittering tears holding back at the edge of her eyes.

I wanted to hug and hold her tightly right then. Forget who was watching, forget what they thought or felt. I just wanted to hug her.

So, I did.

I released the back of the chair and dragged myself closer, so I wrapped both arms around Lea’s shoulders. She made a small, soft sound then rested her hands on me.

In my right ear, I heard Mrs. Horwitz ask sympathetically, “You girls okay?”

Summer answered for us, "Kenzie's friend has just been through a lot this week."

Lea gave a weak laugh by my ear, gingerly squeezed my shoulders, and whispered, "Indubitably..."

As we finished our hug, I glanced over at Natasha and noticed the purple in her hair, which previously looked faded around where she'd bleached it, had taken on a sharper, fresher tint verging on marker purple. Summer's muscles, if anything, looked firmer. But that was the extent of the new changes.

Before anything else could be asked or answered, the lunch bell wailed.

Art by Alexis Rillera/Anirhapsodist