“Uhm, hi.” said this new person from behind the door. His hair was dyed a surprising shade of cotton candy pink. The rule banning dyed hair in this school was abolished two years ago and a lot of students had taken advantage of this (myself included, having gone from black to a burnished blonde), but this was the first time I saw a male student sporting pink.

“Can we... help you, or-?” asked Chanyeol.

The boy entered the spacious room cautiously. “I saw something in the lunchroom.” he said.

“Something.” repeated Chanyeol, still not getting what the boy was here for.

“Something,” he began again. “That leads me to believe that you aren't quite... normal.” Chanyeol's eyes widened. “I saw cold, tasteless vegetables suddenly start steaming, but-”

A gust of wind from the other side of the gym blew the boy back into a padded wall. Just when I wondered where it came from, the boy from the corner appeared with another gust right in front of the boy, taking a strong stance. “What are you planning to do about it, hmm?” Being only able to see him from the back, I could really only tell that he had a skinny frame and that his hair was also dyed a light color. The lights in the gym weren't all on, so I couldn't see much more than that.

The visitor coughed a few times before replying. “If you had let me finish,” He raised an arm and the boy from the corner was now pushed back a few meters before hitting the floor. “You'd know that I'm not quite normal myself.” This pink-haired boy coughed once more and stood, smoothing out the wrinkles of his uniform.

“Whew! I thought we were in trouble!” Chanyeol smiled brightly and came over to clap this new boy on the back. “What power is that? I couldn't see it properly.”

“You wouldn't.” he smirked. “It's telekinesis.”

“Tele-what?”

“He can move things with his mind.” I supplied. After the time-stop incident, I had done my research and learned quite a bit about lots of different suspected powers in the universe. It was all complete nonsense by people who could only wish they could do incredible things, but it was just a bit fascinating to hear all the strange opinions and hypotheses.

“God, you guys got all the cool powers. All I got is this.” Chanyeol brought to life a small flame and let it dance around in his palm. “You know how many times I almost got caught for arson because of this stupid-” he squashed the flame out in a fist. “Ugh.”

The boy from the corner rose with a rush of air, landing lightly on his feet. “Name?”

“Luhan.” the boy with pink hair grunted. “You?”

“Sehun.”

“Good, introductions are done on this end.” Chanyeol chimed in. “Now meet Zitao, he can stop time and move it forward. That's too long of an introduction... Ah! He can control time. That's a better way to phrase it.” He looked so proud of himself at this.

At this moment, I thought it would be better if I had the ability to turn invisible. What was with the glares I was getting? I wasn't the one who had knocked them to their feet.

“This is the kid from the park.” Sehun came over to study me closer while I stood awkwardly with my lunch tray. In the end, I studied him back, since I could finally see his face clearly. I found it odd that he called me kid, seeing as how he looked to be younger and certainly a bit shorter. “He smells like chemicals.”

“It's cologne. Most guys wear it. And why are you sniffing me anyway?” This was such an invasion of privacy- I think... Come to think of it, we guys wear cologne in order to smell. This was just the scent doing it's job.

“The wind brought your scent to me. I didn't ask to have your stench fill my nostrils.”

My mom had given me this cologne for my birthday though. It seemed like it cost her a lot too. She would be sad if I stopped using it.

“He's weak.” Sehun decided, stepping away.

“Oh, shut up.” Chanyeol punched him lightly in the shoulder. “Didn't you notice that class ended a lot earlier today? And you saw what happened at the park. Tell me that wasn't amazing.”

“Please. So he can freeze things for two minutes. Like that has any use. And class didn't end earlier. I would know, I saw my phone every couple minutes because that idiot Jongin wouldn't stop texting me.”

“Huh,” mumbled Chanyeol, thinking. “Maybe we're only immune inside a certain distance then. Did time not stop for you before school started?”

Sehun shook his head. “No. I don't remember anything being frozen.”

“Well, that's it then. My class was close to Zitao's so I got affected by the weird fast-forward thing he did there. We'll have to test this theory more.”

“What about you?” Sehun asked Luhan, who had been watching the exchange with interest. “Got any weaknesses we should know about?”

“If I did, why should I tell you?”

“I'll take that as a yes.” he smirked.

“Why don't you take that and shove it up your-"

“Kids!” Chanyeol broke in. “Relax. It's his choice how much he wants to share, so no prying!” He directed the last statement to Sehun, who scoffed and went back to his abandoned lunch in the shadowy corner of the gym.

“Let's just eat.” I said, patting Luhan on the arm so he knew to follow.

He ducked away sheepishly. “I don't have a lunch.”

“You're in luck, the lunch lady gave me extra.” I said, smiling. I wanted friends so badly. This was normal, right? At least, as normal as it could be for teenage boys with strange powers.

Chanyeol sulked a little when he heard me say this. I felt bad for not being able to share with him like I said, but sharing with someone who had no lunch at all took priority.

We all joined Sehun in his corner and sat on the floor to eat. Sehun made a point to scoot further away from us newcomers.

“You're gonna feel like an idiot when you discover you actually like them.” Chanyeol pointed out, before digging into his food.

“I doubt it.”

I handed my spoon to Luhan and got started eating with my chopsticks, occasionally placing things on top of his spoonful of rice. One of the times I did this, he turned the spoon my way. It was also a small fantasy of mine to have a friend feed me and the other way around like in dramas. Today was turning out to be pretty great.

Every once in a while, when I was busy eating, Luhan used his telekinesis to move the meat and side dishes onto the spoon instead. It was really cool to watch. Later though, his food started to waver in the air and a bite of kimchi plopped into the stew, unable to move any further.

“So your weakness is stamina?” I whispered to him.

“Stamina?” Sehun scoffed. “The wind carries whispers.” he added, noting my surprise.

“Don't act like you don't have a weakness. You have the weirdest weakness of us all.” Sehun shot a glare at Chanyeol that would have made me weak at the knees. He didn't seem to care and continued on. “If you get him while he's eating, he can't do a thing. It's why he never chews gum anymore- ah!”

Sehun had thrown a pickle slice at Chanyeol, hitting him with a splat on the cheek.

“Ugh! You got pickle juices in my eye. It stings!”

The light-haired boy didn't hear him. He was too busy checking his phone and typing in a little message. “Incoming.” he warned.

Luhan blinked. “What?-”

“Ah!” I yelled, jumping back as a student with another school's uniform on appeared in front of us with a wisp of shadow that trailed about his arms before dissipating.

“You said the coast was clear!” this new student said, panicking.

“It is,” said an unphased Chanyeol. “Jongin, this is Zitao and Luhan. Time control and Teleka-something.”

“Telekinesis.”

“Kids, this is Jongin. He can teleport.”

“That's way cooler than what I can do.” I admired, visualizing never having to take a public bus again.

“I can't seem to go very far though, and sometimes I stop short from where I meant to be.” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

The drowned bite of kimchi floated up and out of my stew with difficulty and paused in the air while Luhan ate it up.

“Now that is a useful power!” He sat down and created a little triangle sub-group with me and Luhan. “Can I have a bite? I want to experience it just once.”

I gave a nod to Luhan to show it was okay to share. He responded by lifting a small shaking mound of rice, a couple grains falling back onto the tray, and I put a portion of meat on top with my chopsticks before Jongin leaned in and took it all in one bite. I chuckled, watching him trying to chew the mouthful without smiling.

“I've never seen you laugh before.” That was Sehun. He was talking to me now?

But what he said didn't make sense. “We only just met today.” I reminded him.

“We've gone to the same school for a couple years now. I've seen you around, but never smiling and never laughing.”

Luhan agreed with this. “You always look like you're going to murder somebody. I bet it's your eyes. You need to lay off the eyeliner.”

“But then my dark circles get really obvious...” I trailed off, tracing the basketball court lines with a finger. But wait, they noticed I existed? I thought I was blatantly ignored because no one ever bothered to acknowledge my presence in the never-ending sea of high schoolers. I did often wonder if it was somehow my fault, but I never thought it was because I looked intimidating.

“Stick with the makeup.”advised Sehun, packing up his lunch box. “I don't want it to look like I eat with a ert who stays up all night watching .”

What? “It's hereditary! I don't- I don't do that.” I sputtered.

“What guy doesn't watch ?” joked Jongin. Chanyeol nodded, but Sehun and Luhan seemed to shrink in their spots. “Wait, seriously? It's like a given. You have to see it at least once.”

“I never had the time.” shrugged Luhan. “I have to work for my tuition.”

“My family is very strict about using the computer for anything other than homework.” After hearing Sehun's excuse, Jongin turned to me.

“It's a personal choice.” I said, feeling small. There was a mild curiosity for the subject of , but I had never acted on it, feeling like it was something I should wait for when the right time came.

“See, I don't understand that. Girls basically expect you to know what to do when the time comes, so shouldn't you study?”

I set down my chopsticks. “It's just too soon.”

“You're almost out of high school! Most guys dig right into this subject in middle school or their first year of high school at the latest. Do you... you know?” Jongin raised an eyebrow.

Sehun groaned at the question. “Why are you asking him these things? I don't want to know whether some other guy touches himself or not, especially not after I just ate.”

“I'm a curious person.” he shrugged.

Our tray was empty, so I took it with me as I got up.

“Where are you going? There's still another ten minutes before the first bell rings.” said Chanyeol, checking the time on his phone to be sure.

“I'm going to study." I said. "We have a test coming up.”

I just felt uncomfortable there. Do friends really talk about such matters so easily? Were we even considered friends?

I guessed not. We just had something in common is all.

After putting the tray away to be washed, I wandered out to a small, secluded area where I usually spent my lunch time. It was where the school board wanted to have a mini garden-like area, but the idea was abandoned and the flowers and trees died long ago. They put in a hedge around it to block it from view, as it became an eyesore to them, something that should be obscured from the public eye.

I liked it here though. It was quiet and stood in the partial shade of two big, leafless trees. An old wooden bench with peeling blue paint lined against the brick wall of the building the garden sat up against. This place suited me. It took me in with no stares to judge and brought peace in this place so riddled with hormones and teenage drama. Here is where I liked to meditate.

Imagine my surprise when I found someone sitting there already, crouched over the withered flowerbed. I paused in my tracks.

“If you seek solitude, I can leave.” he said, looking up.

“No, it's okay. You were here first.”

He shook his head and smiled, revealing a deep-set dimple on his cheek. “I couldn't do much here anyways.” He bowed in farewell and left.

Wondering how he found this place, I sat down on the bench and brought up my knees to meditate, when I noticed a small splash of color where that boy had been crouching over. There in the parched soil sprouted two very small daisies.

He was one of us?

I could test him. The others couldn't- it was just too dangerous for them. But for me, I could do it without hurting anyone.

So I followed him.

I didn't quite see where he went, but I had a hunch that I could find him if I really tried. I weaved past the students, nearly running into more than a few. Being tall had it's advantages, and I used this height to look over the heads of others, searching for one of short, light hair. In the depths of my mind, I felt a small tug that told me I should take to the roof.

I climbed the stairs two at a time then, not knowing why I was rushing and not caring. At last, I burst through the last door out into the open air and saw the boy with the dimple with another boy, who stood on the other side of the fence at the very edge of the rooftop. He stretched his arms out slowly, feeling the light breeze lift at his clothes and hair.

And I watched as he took a step forward, unable to stop it.