I remember waking up before the sun, like always. The sky was a bright blue color, and I stayed in my bed all snug under the covers, imagining a nice scene.
The judge was right at my stand. It was a plain looking cake. A golden brown outside with a creamy, almost translucent glaze covering all three levels of the cake. The judge cut a slice out of the cake and put it on a plastic plate. The insides of the treat were a bright, sunny yellow. Good. That was how it was supposed to be. She cut a part of the cake slice with her fork and rose it to her mouth. I looked at my assistant chef nervously. She looked nervously back at me, her hands clasped shakily in front of her.
Please, please, gods of taste, let her like it.
“Mint.” someone said.
“Mint? That wasn’t in the cake!” I said startled.
“Mint, you’re making those weird noises in your sleep again.”
It wasn’t the judge tasting mint in my cake. It was just my name being called by my idiot brother. Aw, Dale ruined my imagination! Why’d he have to wake up!?
I glared across the room to my brother’s bed, where he lay lazily on his pillow, staring at the ceiling.
“You stupid little- Why’d you wake me up!?” I shouted.
“You weren’t asleep and you know it. You were daydreaming again. Mint, that’s weird, and you need to stop.”
I couldn’t wait until he turned 18. Then I could finally have this room to myself.
I heard a door open and slippers slide across the hallway. “Good. you two are up. Well, get ready for school.” Grandmom said from the hall.
Aw, great. Now Dale’s really done it.
“Dale, why’d you have to say anything!?” I yelled at him. “You’re the worst.” I wanted to say more, like I hate you, but Grandmom always calls that an extreme, and though I hate to say it, she’s right. I could already hear my brain saying you hate Dale? Well, what if you didn’t have him? Then would you be happy?
I was no slob at getting dressed. I dawned on my favorite pink shirt with the eiffel tower on it, and a matching box-pleated skirt. Long peach socks, and my favorite knee-high blue sneakers.
I tried not to think about school. Instead I occupied my mind with thinking about what type of cookies I wanted to bake this afternoon. Mmm, butterscotch. Totally being added.
In the kitchen, Grandpa was busy pouring himself some coffee. When I came down, he glanced at me and then the dining room table, then the stairs again. “Dale still upstairs?”
“Yeah,” I answered. He skipped his mandatory morning joke AND was searching for me and Dale? He wanted to talk to us about something important.
Dale came downstairs still zipping up his pants. Such a Slob.
He turned to see Grandpa staring at him. “And, why am I being stared at?” Dale asked.
“Because we need to talk. Have a seat,” Grandpa motioned over to the table.
Dale came and sat on the left side of me. He looked at me, eyebrows raised. What’s this all about?
I shrugged.
Grandpa looked Dale in the eyes, then looked in mine. It was hard not to flinch. His deep, brown eyes looking this serious made me uneasy.
“Now, I know this may come as a shock…” he started. “But, the people you meet at school, this school especially, aren’t like you.” said Grandpa.
“I know gramps. They can’t manipulate fire or rocks and stuff. I get it.” Dale said.
Grandmom had told us something like this before. When we had finally packed up everything from our old house, she told us in our new neighborhood, Ordinaries would dominate the population over F.O.N.s. Why did we need to be told this again?
“Okay we get it. Lots of Ordinaries. Let’s go Dale.” I slung my school bag across my shoulder and got up.
“I’m not finished, Spearmint. Sit back down.”
uh-oh, the full first name. Sit back down, Mint! My mind yelled at me. I quickly took my seat again.
Grandpa sat quietly and looked at us again. Then, “Look, amongst the Ordinaries, there's going to be Tamai too.”
I looked to Dale for help with that one, but he just shrugged at me.
“Uh… what’s that?” I said nervously.
“Those are… basically things you want to stay away from. I don’t believe any will go to your school, since Ordinaries fear them more than they fear us, but still, be aware.” said Grandpa. “If one tries to attack you-
“Attack us!?” yelled Dale. “Why would they try to attack us!?”
“Just listen boy!” Grandpa yelled. “If one tries to attack you, you beat them up, and beat them up until blue blood spills out of them. I don’t care if you have to use your powers, but just make sure you see them bleed.
This made me scared.
“Don’t worry too much about it, though. There’s a half a percent chance you’ll run into one of those situations.” Grandpa told us.
“Um, great, scare me and then tell me that.” I said at the same time Dale said “Yeah, no pressure.” hearing that Dale felt baffled by this too made me feel better. I donno, just something about my older brother feeling scared too comforted me.
Grandpa could see how we felt. “Don’t worry. Even if you run into a situation like that, I know you’ll be prepared for it. Smart and strong kids, you two are. Have a good day at school.”
This made me smile. I hugged gramps and then me and Dale departed from our home.
Living in this part of the city felt weird. Though I usually can’t tell the difference between an Ordinary and a F.O.N., I could kind of feel it. I saw lots of kids talking to each other about their first day of school. Not only was this my first day of school, but this was my first day of highschool too.
“Hopefully we don’t run into any Tamai’s,” I said to my brother.
“Yeah,” he said back. “Or there will be a cleanup on aisle 11.”
I guessed that since he was going to eleventh grade this year, he meant he’d beat that Tamai to bits in his hallway.
Unless he meant a cleanup for himself.
Soon me and my brother made it to BROADTOWN HIGH SCHOOL where they had a banner over the top that read NOW EXCEPTING Freaks Of Nature (F.O.N.s)!
“Wow, what a nice way to treat your new students,” my brother said after reading the banner.
“I know,” I laughed. “How sweet.”
And we parted ways for the school day ahead.
