My name is Gavin McArthur. I’m a nobody who can't even seem to get the bus to notice me. It roared past me as I made it to the bus-stop, breathing in ragged autumn air as I knelt over. I watched it continue off down the road, a few lingering stares visible out the back windows, no doubt from some of the usual dicks who rode it. Classic move for the Crescent City public transportation system. I pulled my backpack tight to my shoulder. Guess I was going to have to walk to class.

My feet slowly carried me over the cracked sidewalk as I made my way down the street. Mom had dropped me off relatively close to the stop before taking my little siblings to school, but the late start getting up this morning had basically sealed my fate of first-day tardiness in Super School. A few months back my old high school had been conducting end of year Alter testing to see if any of us kids were on our way to developing laser vision, or wings, or whatever the fuck, I hadn’t really listened since I already knew most of what they were spouting anyways. There were superpowers in the world, but you had to have an Alter-Form to use them. Based on what I knew, Alter-Forms tended to grant you a new form that reflected your inner self, for better and for worse. Imagine my surprise when my pricked finger ended up signaling some sort of positive on their machinery. Powers. Apparently, I had latent super powers in me, or so they told me. 

Oddly enough, my mom wasn’t exactly surprised. My aunt had an Alter-Form that gave her this minor flight ability that she used to run packages for the USPS back in the day, though she’d since retired with a pretty nice retirement package last I’d heard. I guess they figured it would reappear at some point in our family.

The resulting summer had been a whirlwind, Mom was juggling her cyber security gig with the surprisingly time-consuming bureaucracy of getting me registered with my new school. I sighed into my hand, with everything she had done for me I couldn’t tell her I was late today. Before long I was able to catch a different bus a dozen or so blocks down the street and rode to the school. The bus had to detour along the way, looked like a bunch of asphalt got torn up from a fight between Comraidery and Miracle Maiden the previous night which unfortunately cost us a few more precious minutes. Eventually we pulled up out in front of the courtyard of the school. Despite the circumstances I couldn’t help but smile as I took in the concrete sign reading “Alter Academy: Crescent City” just inside the courtyard itself. As I stepped off the bus, a quick check of my phone told me that I had five minutes before class started. I fished my schedule out of my bag quickly; maybe I wasn’t going to be late today after all.

I hurried up the stone steps of the school, excited that this might be my chance to finally reinvent myself at a whole new school. Unfortunately, fate seemingly conspired against me as I slammed into a previously unseen obstacle. I tried and ultimately failed to catch myself as I tumbled over the pavement like a rag doll. It took me a moment to regain my bearings as I opened my eyes to a stranger standing above me clad in a yellow letterman jacket with blonde frosted tips in his brunette hair. His nose was somewhat pointy and his eyes were uncompassionate despite looking down at me. He looked like a Class-A dillweed.

“Watch out, dude. You could really hurt someone like that.” He snickered.
“Sorry…” I muttered as I shook my head. He extended his hand to me and I reached for it, pulling myself up. Before I knew it, however, his hand seemed to blink away from mine in a yellow blur, sending me falling back to the ground as wind gushed around. I groaned, not only had his hand disappeared but so had the rest of him.

“Behind you, dude,” I heard him snicker once more behind me. I turned around and found him barely suppressing laughter as he stuck his hands into his letterman jacket.

“W-what the hell?” I mumbled, unsure what had just happened.

“What? If you think you’re off limits because it’s the first day, you’re sorely mistaken fresh-meat.” He shrugged.

“How did you do that?” I gaped at him, trying to grasp what had just happened. His expression turned doubtful.

“Powers? C’mon, I’m the Speedster around here, dude. You know who I am.” I slowly shook my head. I had no idea who this clown was. “What? Seriously? Fine,” he huffed, “I’m Markus St. Peters? Star Speedster? I’m a legend around here, dude.”

“Okay, well it’s my first day so that doesn’t really mean much to me, ‘dude’,” I retorted, “Besides, doesn’t the school have that policy about Alter-Forms not being allowed except in certain circumstances?” He frowned for a second, but quickly returned to the smirk he previously wore and held up his hands.

“My apologies, I didn’t even get your name. What was it?”

“Gavin.” I replied, crossing my arms. Now that we were both upright, I noticed that he was around my height at 5’10, if not a little bigger. Was he actually in his Alter-Form? I had always thought the forms you could receive would look, well, more impressive than a dumbass jock with frosted tips.

“Well ‘Gavin’,” he said, mocking my name before disappearing in a blur before reappearing next to my ear in a burst of wind, “I think we’ll be getting to know each other very well.” He shoved me roughly back to the ground.

“What does that mean?” I asked in a frustrated tone. Taking a few steps back, he shrugged again.

“You’ll see.” With that, he was gone in a split second, the wind desperately trying to keep up. I shuddered at the thought of what that could possibly mean and stood up once more. As I made my way into the building, I noticed that everything seemed cleaner. More vibrant. I could see the sheen of the wax on the floor, the paint on the walls didn’t look dilapidated. There even were a few little drones flying high over head. I marveled at the image of it all. Obviously this place got way more funding than the pennies the government sent public schools. I was snapped out of my reverie by the bell ringing, signaling that I was officially late. I grumbled under my breath and made my way to what I assumed was my class, though the crumpling on the paper had made the text a bit hard to read.

Curiously, the teacher for the classroom hadn’t arrived as well. I sat back in my chair and relaxed as students began to awkwardly converse around me. The classroom itself looked just as nice as everything else did, everything was shiny and new it seemed. I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked to my right to find a… well, I wasn’t sure what gender they were, but I could tell that they were around my age with red hair tied in a small bun behind their head. They were wearing fitted pants and a loose black top.

“Hey. Are you new here too?” they asked quietly.

“Actually, yeah. Are all first timers placed in classes together?” I asked. They nodded their head.

“Yeah, they pair new students together in our first hour home room. I guess it’s because they want us to face all this new stuff together.” They shrugged. Recalling the social isolation I felt at my last school, I decided that it was probably best to try and make friends here when I could. I reached my hand out, a part of me hoping that this person wouldn’t turn out to be a speedster too.

“I’m Gavin,” I said. They smiled.

“Cass! Nice to meet you, Gavin.” They shook my hand vigorously, catching me off guard. I looked around us at the different types of people in the class around us. Up near the front was a preppy looking girl with a braid who was filing her nails, to my left a bigger guy was sitting in a way that, when paired with his pulled over hood, felt closed off. I guess I’ll have plenty of time to meet everyone soon. The door at the front of the classroom closed, and we all snapped our attention to the sound of the classroom door closing. Next to it was a smaller woman with sleek black hair pulled back into a low ponytail and a small pair of glasses that sat on her nose.

“Hello class, sorry I’m late. I don’t intend to make a habit out of it if I can help it. My name is Ms. Catarelli. Allow me to be the first to welcome you to Alter Academy,” she said, speaking in a warm but low tone. “Alter Academy was founded by the illustrious Danielle Tosier to provide a place for young people to attend who are developing powers and abilities. Somewhere you can grow into your abilities safely and with guidance from your teachers. During your time here you will learn to control your abilities and incorporate them into your life so as to always maintain control and presence of mind over them. As you may have already noticed, you are not all in the same grade as you were in your previous schools. That is because you all are at the same place in your transitions, Alter wise. Some of you may have already received your Alter form, though I believe a lot of you still haven’t.” A suppressed murmur of approval ran through the class, confirming her thesis. “There’s no shame in taking your time. It will come to you in the end. The point of this school is to provide you with a safe environment to learn and grow into your abilities. Are there any questions so far?”

“What are the drone things?” I heard on my right from Cass.

“Good question,” Ms. Catarelli replied, “Those drones are called AndrAI. They are a collective of drones that help clean and,” her voice hung for a moment as she considered her words, “repair the school as needed. They will usually stay out of the way unless you’re damaging school property in some fashion.” Someone to my left raised his hand.

“So what do we, like, learn here?” he asked.

“Well, almost exactly what you were learning in your old school. We just have extra classes and facilities designed to teach you how to handle yourselves, in a manner of speaking.”

“So if we get powers can we just use them all the time?” asked another girl, which prompted a sigh from Ms. Catarelli.

“No, you cannot. As is clearly stated in the rulebook Miss Sumpter, Alter Forms are only allowed on school grounds under three circumstances. One, you are in the Gymnasium or the Sport Field outside. Two, a special event is being held in which you have received permission to utilize your Alter Form, or three, an emergency is taking place and you need to defend yourself.” She replied sharply. The girl who asked slumped down into her chair. Ms. Catarelli continued, “This school isn’t a free wheeling jungle gym to run wild. While we teach you to use your powers, we also value self control and discipline. Those qualities will serve you very well out in the real world.” I had to admit I saw her point, how would anyone ever learn if they were levitating their pencils and paper during an entire class period or were teleporting here and there?

“Are there any other questions?” she continued, looking around us. When nobody else raised their hands she seemed satisfied. “Okay, now I’m going to pass out a syllabus. You won’t really have any homework in this class so the syllabus is geared towards your school experience and expectations. After this we’ll do a couple name exercises as well.”

Soon enough class was over and we filed out and on to our other classes. It looked like we were placed into classes that matched our previous school’s experience, so I had Advanced History up next. The teacher Mr. Bayes, went over a syllabus as well for his class in pretty much the same fashion that Ms.Catarelli had. Something told me that was going to be a common theme today. I did take notice that his history course was going to cover Alter Forms and the history of Alters which caught me off guard. Most of my previous courses had lightly touched on the topic, but stayed clear of any deep discussion likely due to pressure from more conservative families. Whatever allowed us to finally touch on the topic here was, I’d have to make sure to be thankful for it.

Math had passed by as well without much thought, it was never my strong suit of a class, so I mostly tuned out during it. Before I knew it, however, I was standing on the shining concrete floors of the Gymnasium with dozens of AndrAI flying overhead. If you watched them fly around each other, it really did look like they were mingling and talking to each other. I smirked, it was kind of cute in a weird, robotic way. I noticed that some of the people from my home period had rejoined me in the class. Eventually Cass wandered in as well looking quite preoccupied in their own world.

“Good afternoon, class,” a shrill voice from the front called, taking most of us by surprise. A tall woman wearing sweat gear with a long braid and a clipboard stood in front of us staring us down. “My name is Mrs. Bittinboulder. I’ll be your Alter instructor this year. Before we get into any brass tacks, your Gym uniforms are located off to the right on the bleachers. These uniforms are a standard poly-spandex blend mixed with highly resistant material that will allow you to vigorously exercise your Alter abilities without worry about your clothing. Girls uniforms are on the right, boys are on the left. Same with the locker rooms. Go change and report back out here.” She shouted, before walking back towards her office, leaving us with the outfits. 

We exchanged some confused glances but took our respective packages and made off towards the locker rooms. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Cass lingered behind before choosing a package from the girls side. But that didn’t automatically mean they were a girl right? Regardless, I was left scratching my head as I entered the men’s locker room. Now, I’d never really had a great big reason for hating locker rooms so much, but I had a lot of little good ones involving the smell, the vulgarity, and the oft-occurring hazing. I sighed in frustration as the realization that even in “Super hero school” I’d still have to participate in that tradition set in. I kept my head down and changed into the suit provided in the package. She hadn’t been kidding, it was a poly-spandex blend but it felt surprisingly comfortable and breathable. I rolled my arm back a bit as I finished putting the top and bottoms on. This thing was great, it felt like I wasn’t wearing anything at all. I looked down quizzically at the footwear included in the package. Examining it up close, it appeared to be like a sock but with a hard rubber sole attached. I slipped it over my foot but found that it was pretty loose. After investigating further I found a button on the sole which once pushed tightened the whole article up against my skin providing a nice snug fit. I’d have to ask her about getting another one of these.

Before I left the locker room I looked around for Cass, but didn’t see them. Maybe they were just a really androgynous girl? I wasn’t sure, but the thought of having an appearance like that was fascinating to me in a way that was hard to grasp. Kind of like reaching for a word on the tip of your tongue, I guess. We stepped back outside into the Gymnasium and noticed another group of students walking up to us in the same uniforms. 

“Who’re they?” Cass whispered from beside me. Mrs. Bittinboulder cleared her throat as our groups grew closer.

“Okay, now that we’re all out here we can begin. First years, Gym is actually a combined year program. The fact that you are standing next to more advanced students is quite intentional. This group has more experience with their Alter forms and you will be able to take notes from them and ask any questions that you may have,” I looked over at the other group and found one oddly familiar looking boy shooting me a surprised look followed by a snide smile. Mrs. Bittinboulder continued, “I as well will of course be overseeing you here to ensure we stay safe and nobody gets hurt. Class B, please feel free to enter your Alter Forms.” A dozen or so faint lights began glowing in their direction, lighting up all around us as the air grew slightly heavy. As soon as it began, however, the light stopped and in the place each member of Class B stood something totally different. There was a crystalline giant, an ethereal rainbow girl, a shady looking strong man with four arms, and a girl who looked to be made of water. As much of as you could see of Alters on TV, nothing really compare to seeing them in real life. As I gazed at them further however, I found my stomach souring. Just between the girl with the glowing green eyes and the smaller wolf boy stood a stocky, frosted tip jackass. Markus. Electricity seemed to faintly run off of him into the surrounding air. I found myself scowling and tried to correct.

“Okay, thank you class B. Class A, I’m going to run through a role call, please state whether you are here and if you have received your Alter form yet when your name is called. If you have, please enter it then. If you have not, please take a seat on the bench for today and watch. You will be involved more and more as we progress through the class, though having your Alter form is key to excelling in this class. Thankfully, I’ve never seen someone get more than three months through the year without gaining their form.” She pulled her clipboard up and began calling out names from my group. As she worked her way through the list, it appears that about a third of the class had already gained access to their Alter Forms which I found myself jealous of. No matter how hard I’d tried, I still felt nothing inside of me. No well of power untapped, no supernatural tendencies, nothing. A few people in our class had received some truly cool powers, while a few others had received less outwardly majestic ones. A sandy-blonde haired girl named Hazel for instance had a form that looked not too dissimilar from her normal form and could alter any fabric of clothing she and anyone else was wearing, though Mrs. Bittinboulder mentioned under her breath that that would be good for reconnaissance. Another person, a taller guy named Dale, was able to levitate a few feet into the air with a form that, I had to admit, was pretty attractive. Before long Cass’ name came up and they made their way up to her. 

“Hi, I’m here. I have received my alter form, ma’am,” they piped up. 

“Okay, feel free to enter it.” Mrs. Bittinboulder replied. Cass nodded and closed their eyes. A circle of flame erupted on the concrete underneath them and quickly rose up their body to reveal a ball of dark red in its wake with white claw like outcroppings dotting the ball in a conspicuous pattern. Before anyone could say anything the ball opened up and revealed itself to be a set of wings not unlike a bat’s. Cass stood in the circle of smoke left behind by the heat with the wings flanking them on their sides. Their skin appeared to be much more porcelain and flawless then before. Their hair flowed around freely despite the horns now adorning the top of their head.

“Woah…” I heard someone mutter, and I had to agree. Woah. Mrs. Bittinboulder nodded and wrote some notes onto her clipboard as she mouthed the word fire a few times and shook her head. She continued down the list until my own name was called.

“Gavin McArthur?” she called out. I stepped forward.

“Here, and uh, no. I don’t have my Alter Form yet.” I expected a few snickers to come forward like they had with the first few people, but heard nothing behind me. It sounded like everyone else was too busy with their own conversations to notice.

“Okay, head on over to the bench then.” Mrs. Bittinboulder said as she marked something on her paper. I moved to being walking towards the bleachers when suddenly I felt myself pushed to the side slightly and a cold breeze on my legs as a chorus of laughter swelled up behind me. I looked down and realized that my pants were now somehow around my ankles, showing off my briefs to everyone in the class. How the hell did my pants fall down? I was sure they had been tight and everything. Of course this had to happen on the first day. Feeling my cheeks burn red I quickly pulled my pants back up and secured them.

“Mr. McArthur, please do your best to keep your pants secured.” Mrs. Bittinboulder sighed and continued down the list. I quickly sat down on the bleachers and started to bury my face in my hands in shame when Markus caught my eye. He was smiling that stupid dumb smile and waving my way. He blurred between that location and a foot away in the blink of an eye a few times before I caught on. He had pulled my pants down using his damn super speed! I gnashed my teeth together in fury. I could try to report him to Mrs. Bittinboulder, but that might only make things worse. Even still, I wasn't going to --

I stood up. I wasn't going to stand for this.

After Mrs. Bittinboulder had finished making her way through the list, she had the individuals with alter abilities step forward and demonstrate their powers to the class. Some had ice abilities or super strength or even laser vision. If not for having been pantsed not a few minutes ago I would have loved the sight of Alters this close up. The last in line was Markus who quickly zipped up to the teacher, looking to all the world like a smug asshat.

“Now some of you may have already met the final student in our class. Markus’ Alter ability is actually quite unique. Markus, why don’t you demonstrate for us by taking a lap around the track.” She stepped back and allowed Markus the stage. Markus stepped up to a line on the concrete and took a runner’s pose. Like before he was off in a cloud of dust as he raced a full lap around the gym in under a second.

“Like that?” he asked. Mrs. Bittinboulder responded with a clap, something she hadn’t done with the other students.

“Yes Markus, just like that. Now class, can any of you guess what Alter ability Markus has?” she asked. I didn’t need to guess, I already knew.

“He’s a speedster,” I said tersely.

“Correct. Do you know why speedsters are so unique, Mr. McArthur?” She replied. 

“Uh… I don’t... know.” I shook my head. 

“It’s because speedsters tend to come in groups of two. One holds a positive charge, one holds a negative charge. Both sides are needed to maintain a successful balance. Markus here has been the only speedster we’ve had in the city area for the last two years or so, which is unusually rare.”

“Is that bad?” Cass asked. Mrs. Bittinboulder thought for a moment before responding.

“Well, not immediately so, but it can have wonky effects on nature and physics and whatnot. Here’s hoping the someone with a balancing nature can show up sometime soon for the sake of my nerves. Who knows, it may even be one of you.” She chuckled. “Okay, enough chit chat. Let’s do some warm ups.” She motioned for everyone not seated to move to the center of the gym. Cass shot me a look of regret as they joined the others. I waved them on, I didn’t want them to miss out because of me. I was used to sitting on the bench from my old school after all. Even though I wasn’t really doing anything, the rest of the class went by pretty quickly while watching the incredible things my classmates were capable of. Maybe one day I’d be out there too.

Lunch was pretty uneventful for a school full of super teenagers. The facilities were just as nice as they had been everywhere else, though oddly the food still sucked just as much as it had in public school. I guess somethings always stay the same. I procured a table by myself and ate in silence, still embarrassed by the occasional snicker that came my way. Ugh. What happened in gym must be getting out. I saw that Cass was across a few tables, though she seemed to be pretty occupied by the person she was with. She had short cropped pink hair and a multitude of piercings. They seemed to be pretty into whatever they were talking about so I figured I’d try not to disturb them and keep my head down.

My next few classes passed by just as fast as the latter half of gym what with Chemistry and Civics going over pretty much the standard fare I saw in my other classes. I found it interesting that civics was a required elective here, but it was pretty easy to see the logic behind it. What school wanted to be responsible for allowing a supervillain to rise and wreak havoc? All that said, it was an incredibly easy hour. Civics was just about doing the right thing, right? It’d probably be smooth sailing through the course. Before I knew it though the class was over and I was heading home for the day. I didn’t see Cass anywhere as I walked out, but I figured I’d certainly see them tomorrow.

The autumn sun shone down on my shoulders while I walked back down the sidewalk towards the bus stop over on Fifth Ave. Reflecting on the events of the day I had to admit that while everything I had seen was amazing, and I couldn’t wait to get my own powers, Markus was probably the biggest prick I had ever met and had mostly ruined the day for me. It wasn’t really surprising in retrospect I guess. I’ve never really fit in with anyone. Always the last to get picked for teams, never invited to birthdays, hell even my little twin siblings got more attention at home then I did. Often times I felt like more of a shell than a person.

I passed by Planetarium Pizzeria on the way back and decided to turn in for a slice. The bell above the doorway rang as I walked into the small shop. Quiet pop music was playing over a speaker set up on a shelf near the front counter. Mister Stavros was manning the front counter as always with his off-white smile and dark bushy mustache.

“Gavin! Back again for the usual, eh?” he greeted me warmly. 

“Hey Mister Stavros! Yeah, bacon-pepperoni please.” I replied leaning on the worn color faded counter. 

“Coming right up!” he chimed, pulling a slice from the display and placing it into the pizza oven with his large pizza spatula. “So, your mom tells me you’re in super hero school now?” he asked while rubbing at his mustache.

“Alter Academy,” I gently corrected, “And yep, today was my first day.”

“Oh? How’d it go?”

“Well…”

“Not great, huh?” He must have sensed the hesitation in my voice and read it for what I guess it plainly was.

“N-no. Not really.” I replied sullenly. Mister Stavros sighed along with me.

“Well, buck up. I’m sure things will get better the more time you give it.” He smiled.

“You sound like my mom.”

“Now that’s a compliment! Your mom is whip smart, we’d all be lucky if we ended up half as smart as her.” He laughed. 

“Yeah, yeah…” After a minute my slice was done and boxed up for me. I gave him my last fiver and headed out. “Have a nice night, Mr. Stavros!” I called out.

“You too, Gav!”

I made my way down the city street taking bites here and there of my pizza haul when I passed by a shop that had drawn my eyes earlier in the morning, a cute little boutique nestled in between a dry cleaners and plant store called Margie’s Magnificent Finds . I approached the display window gazing at a powdered white dress that was affixed to a mannequin striking a sexy pose. The same feeling I’d been struck with earlier when thinking about Cass resurfaced quickly. I couldn’t tear my eyes off of it, it was so beautiful and extravagant. With the diminishing light of the gathering clouds outside I could almost see my reflection- No. I caught myself gaping in the reflection of the window and shook my head. Why were these thoughts continually hounding me, whispering suggestions into my head? I’m a boy, why would I be interested in dresses? I wasn’t trans or anything, that was something that happened to other people, not me. I checked out around me to see if anyone was staring as was relieved to find nobody was. I hurried away from the storefront before someone called out to me about it.

I continued my walk until getting on the bus and arriving back near my Mom’s house in the suburbs. Being finished with my pizza slice I dumped the box into the trashcan as I walked up the sidewalk. Hearing rumbling overhead in the overcast sky I was glad to be back inside where there was no chance of getting rained on. We usually kept the door unlocked most of the time as mom was usually home most of the day working from her office. I stepped up the porch steps and entered through the door.

“I’m home!” I called out from the entryway. Immediately my younger brother Parker came into view passing by me while absorbed in a game on his phone.

“Yo,” he mumbled as he continued on toward the couch. I watched him with amusement as he flopped onto the couch. His messy brown hair floofed up when he sat down and he made no attempt to fix it. I heard a rustling from further in the house. Parker and my little sister Jules were twins a few years younger than I, I think they were in 7th or 8th grade by this point? It felt like they were growing up a lot faster these days.

Parker and I had always been pretty close growing up, I was the big brother he always looked up to and he was both my partner in crime when we were picking on Jules and my target for pranks when she wasn’t around. We liked to play video games together, but these days I couldn’t seem to bring myself to do that with him as often as he wanted. A lot of my interests these days were beginning to seem less and less… fulfilling. As a result, I felt that I was drifting away from him more and more, and I wasn’t sure what to do about it.

“Hey honey!” I heard my mom’s familiar voice call out. Mom walked into the room with my little sister Jules in tow. Mom stood just a bit shorter than I at 5’8” and had shared her deeply ginger red hair with me, something the twins used to mock me over relentlessly when they were younger. “How was school?” I shrugged figuring I didn’t really need to share what had happened. 

It’d only make her worry. “It was okay. Superhero school without super powers is still just school,” I said. She mussed my hair up with a rub of my head.

“You’ll get your Alter form in no-time, Gav. Just give it a bit more time,” she said. I sighed frustratedly and nod my head,

“Yeah yeah,” I set my backpack down by the door and slipped out of my shoes. As I did I noticed that they both had their shoes on and were grabbing for their purses. Even Parker was wearing shoes, pressing into the couch cushion as they were. “Going somewhere?”

“Yeah, the mall Gav, duh,” Jules retorted at me, “We told you this morning we’d be going.” I scratched my head in confusion before I recalled that conversation in the car. I felt way too wiped to go to the mall after everything today.

“Can I not? I’m exhausted.” Mom looked me over doubtfully but nodded after a moment.

“Okay honey,” she started to say.

“Wait, does that mean I don’t have to go?” Parker interjected. Mom groaned.

“No, your sneakers have three different holes in them. You’re going,” she turned her attention back to me. “You and I can go later, but we will be going later. I don’t know what it is with you two boys, it’s like pulling teeth getting you to go shopping.” I just shrugged and sat down onto the couch next to Parker. Jules took hold of his hand and yanked him over to the door.

“C’mon, they’re doing a sale at Kaleidoscope Kicks and I don’t want to miss out!” she whined. He shook his head as they walked out the front door.

“Well be back in a few hours, Gav.” Mom smiled at me, “Don’t open the door for strangers.” Ugh, she always says that, like it’s the funniest joke she knows.

“I’m 17 mom. I’ll be fine,” I replied tersely. She laughed softly and held up her hands in defense.
“I know, I know. You’ll just always be my little man.” I flinched a bit. I hated when she called me that. “Take care, sweetie. Make sure to start a load of laundry while we’re out,” She said closing the door. I sighed deeply and leaned back onto the armrest of the couch. Today sucked. Markus sucks. I don’t think I’m ever going to fit into that school. With my luck, I’d probably get my Alter form on the very last day of school.

I pulled my phone out and perused a few websites including a few chat-rooms I had some online friends in. Some of them updated way too fast for me to feel like I was a part of the discussion, but I still liked knowing how everyone was doing. Before I knew it, 20 minutes had gone by and rain had started to pitter patter on the window sills. I stretched and got up from the couch and headed towards the laundry room attached to the kitchen. In all honesty I usually preferred washing dishes or mopping something up than doing the laundry. I hated washing mom and Jules’ clothes; I always got mad when doing so though I’d never been able to pin down exactly why. I steeled myself for an annoying task. 

Although I found myself to be slightly less irritated by the task than I had been in the past while I placed articles of clothing into the washing machine and I couldn’t play dumb with myself. I knew exactly why my irritation wasn’t present.. I was holding my breath in anticipation before throwing a sweatshirt of Parker’s in revealed a cute t-shirt belonging to Jules laid out in the basket with hardly any wrinkles. It’s color was deep pink, and had little cap sleeves on the ends and said Grl Power. My mouth ran dry and I could feel my heartbeat start to pick up. I looked out into the kitchen, listening for the sound of anyone in the house. Nothing but silence. My inhibitions thoroughly overpowered by opportunity, I hurriedly stripped off my t-shirt and sweatshirt and pulled the top over myself. It was like an old friend wrapping their embracing arms around my shoulders. I exhaled silently, content as could be. I continued digging in the hamper; the pretense of doing laundry gone. 

Finding what I was looking for I pulled out a pair of Jules yoga pants as well. I felt a twinge of shame as I pulled on my little sister’s pants but quickly ignored it. Something in my core felt exuberant. Like this was everything. Like I was right. My trance was cut short by the front door opening up to the sound of my mother’s voice.

“I know, I know. I forgot my wallet on the kitchen table, just give me a second.” She said to someone else, likely one of my siblings. My heart sank like a stone, the kitchen table was right in front of the laundry room which had no door attached. She’d see me. There’s no way she wouldn’t see me. This was it, I had no explanation for the way I was dressed, not even to myself. Fear ran its icy fingers throughout my body. “Parker, stop messing with your sister all ready!” my mom called out, sounding like she was still near the front door. If she was still there I had at most 60 seconds before she’d walk into the kitchen. I had to act fast. A window to my left was open without the screen installed, Mom had been cleaning them earlier today if I remembered correctly. I didn’t have time to think about it. I quickly jumped through the window onto the back porch in the pouring rain. I only heard “What was that?” from Mom before I took off into the backyard and into the woods. I couldn’t let her see me wearing what I was wearing.
I felt branches and bushes scrape past me as I ran deeper and deeper into the forest. It was good I wasn’t wearing shoes or socks as with the amount of rain coming down they would've been drenched. Thunder boomed overhead, cracking through the air with a massive boom. With fear clouding my mind I didn’t care that anyone else could see me. It only mattered that she couldn’t. When Dad had been around, he took a particularly bad approach to me expressing any traits or desires that he deemed “feminine”. I was pushed into sport after sport without having a voice in any of it. Unsurprisingly, I never performed very well in any of them. Mom always took his side either because she agreed with him or because she had to; I wasn’t sure which was more correct. He might’ve taken a hike, but I still didn’t know how she felt and I didn’t want to find out like this. The air in my lungs was thinning and eventually I stopped for a breath in a small clearing and collapsed to my knees.

Water poured over my face as my palms sunk into the mud. Why did I have to be like this? Why couldn’t I just be… be normal? I would feel more comfortable talking to people. I would be able to relate to people better. I’d just… I didn’t know. I just didn’t want to be me anymore.

The hair on my arms abruptly stood up along with the ones on the back of my neck. I looked around me, finding and hearing nothing. Not even the drops of rain. Upon closer inspection, there were droplets of rain hanging in mid-air. Not moving. Water around me in puddles started to pull away from the ground in small quantities at first before giving way to continuous globules. Fear once more struck a chord in my core. I tried to rise to my feet but found my muscles wouldn’t move the weight. For a moment, I could see my breath in front of me as if it were a crisp winter day. I looked up and saw nothing but bright light.

Lightning struck me.

Lightning is the static discharge of masses of air rubbing against one another. Massive things moving slowly that eventually release a lot of energy all at once. And all at once I could see it. I could see everything. People from… everywhere. Wanting, wishing, hoping for something to change for the better. Just like me. All of those hopes, those desires, those dreams. All rubbing against one another, creating this massive force. This energy. And somehow, I had tapped into it. I was flowing through this turbulent-yet-calm, ferocious-yet still-torrent of energy. And it was flowing through me. Everything was so bright. I could feel all of it. I could feel it changing me. My very molecules felt like they were being torn apart and sewn back together as if confetti had been tossed through a fan. Slowly however I could feel myself becoming whole. I could almost reach out and touch this wonderful explosive, embracing light. 

I opened my eyes slowly. Smoke filled my eyes from the surrounding crater. I pushed into the dirt to move myself onto my back and free my face from the smokiness I found myself in. The rain had stopped and wind was gently blowing through the trees. It was darker than when I ran out here and the sky was partially dusky. Was it night? Was I even still in the same place? My head throbbed deeply as if I had looked into the center of a flashlight for hours. 

I shook it to try and clear some of the fog away when I felt something new brush my cheek. Was that my hair? It wasn’t supposed to be that long, I’d gotten it cut pretty recently. I ran a hand through it only to find that it was indeed longer than I’d remembered. Pulling it taught it looked to be at around the length of the middle of my neck. I rubbed my eyes, hoping to get a better look my hair situation but instead found myself enraptured with my hands which too had changed. They were much slimmer than before, delicate even. Hazarding a guess, I spoke aloud.

“H-hello?” I yelped. My voice was so… so high! And so cute! Was that me? I looked down at myself and saw what I expected. The tank top of my sister’s, while muddied, clearly showed two mounds pushing the fabric out. They didn’t look too big, nor too small. Just… right? Was that right? An inspection of my crotch confirmed my suspicion. I was a girl. 

Why… was that not shocking to me? Why wasn’t I freaking out? I rose to my feet with surprising ease considering everything that had happened. I actually felt great, better than I had in a long time. I needed to see myself. I needed to see this from a different angle. Surely the freakout would commence after that. I took a step forward and promptly ended up bouncing off a tree and collapsing on the ground again. What the hell? I craned my neck from the ground behind myself, finding the crater where I once stood a good 20 feet away. How did I get over here? Again I found myself moving abruptly, this time to a standing position 30 feet from my previous spot. What the hell was going on? 

I felt my body shaking like I was freezing cold. The only issue was that it was 65 degrees out tonight, I knew I wasn’t cold. I looked down at my hands and blanched. They were vibrating intensely, almost translucent. My breath picked up and once again I found myself moved in a whirlwind flying face first back into the crater. Once recovered I opened my eyes again, I could feel my entire body shaking. Bolts of light orange energy shot around me and I felt my mind moving at a million miles per second. I was officially freaking out. I had received my Alter.

I was a speedster.