I was lost in my thoughts once again, a habit I had grown accustomed to recently. I began to daydream about how I could get my power to work better. A bunch of ideas flooded my brain. As I was trying to work out my thoughts, a certain beanie-wearing best friend slammed her lunch tray on the table. I raised my eyes to meet Winnie's green stare.

"I can see that you've been thinking about your ability," Winnie observed while sliding into the seat next to me.

"Yeah. I just wish I could make sense out of it. You feel me?"

"Mhm. I feel you. We can work on it though. We can make sense of it together."

A smile snuck its way onto my slightly chapped lips. My friend will always be there for me no matter how crazy the situation. That, in fact, was a comforting thought. I loved that she would stay by my side no matter how insane my life had become.

"I bought an extra bag of chips. You want it?" I offered.

"Is that even a question? Of course I want some chips!"

Her slim hand grabbed the half-filled-with-air bag of Lays original flavored chips. I couldn't help but notice that she had painted her nails. The light shade of blue coated her nails and matched the tips of her long hair perfectly. I smiled at the thought of us painting our nails together. A while back, we were in Winnie's room painting each other's nails as us girls do. Next thing we knew a bottle of bright red nail polish was knocked over and it drenched her light carpet. It left a nasty blood-like stain that can still be seen next to her desk today. We were also left with an even nastier scolding from Sarah. We were terrified but looking back now, the whole event was really funny.

"I wish you got Doritos. They're so much better than—"

Winnie's highly opinionated statement was cut short when a certain girl walked over. I looked up at Ally and found that the scowl she was usually sporting was replaced with a smirk. Her crisp smile sent a shiver down my spine. I willed myself to meet her harsh stare. Her heels clacked against the cafeteria tiles as she took the seat across from us. I hated to admit it, but even without her posse she still held the invincible power of intimidation.

"Why have we been blessed with your glorious presence today, Allison?" Winnie spewed, sarcasm laced in her voice.

I sank into my seat and kept my eyes on my bag of chips. Despite my previous confidence, I was in no mood to deal with Ally today. The way I look at it, the less she sees you, the better.

"I wanted to talk to human trash for a change."

"Then why aren't you talking to yourself?" Win spat.

Ally's nose began to scrunch up once again due to Winnie's incredible comebacks. Her forehead was marked with several creases caused by anger. I smiled to myself after seeing her face scrunch up like a soda can. Despite the horrendous amount of makeup on her face, her cheeks flushed into a bright red color.

"Oh look. It speaks."

"I'm not a thing Ally. If I could be a thing I would probably be the stick up your butt."

I snickered while watching Ally's face reach an unnatural shade of red. Her dark eyes turned to me and peered through my soul. I stopped laughing after I took one look at Ally seething with rage. If we were in a cartoon steam would've been coming out of her ears.

"I can't believe that garbage is talking."

"Really? Haven't you talked to yourself before?"

"Don't you have a dumpster you need to dive into?"

"I don't want to ruin your house by diving in it."

"I'm surprised you aren't sleeping with Mr. Jacoby right now, whore!"

"And I'm surprised you don't have twenty STDs."

"I do not have STDs!"

"Are you sure about that, Ally the Asshole?"

"Ugh! You two are impossible. I'll come for you later. Bye whore! Bye slut!"

You could hear her saunter away, her heals clicking angrily on the ground. Ally only wants attention and a reaction out of the "less superior." I could tell that she was defeated when Winnie continued to keep her composure and stay calm. I don't doubt that she'll come back for us. I also don't doubt that Winnie will anger her once again.

Once I was sure Ally left, I turned to talk to Winnie again. "We need to talk about some training strategies," I spoke.

"Well, my method worked last time."

"Yeah, but I can't read minds unless I'm either closing my eyes or half asleep. That means that it's pretty much useless."

"It's not useless. I think it's pretty cool."

"It's not cool if I can't control it."

"Fair point, I guess. Do you have any ideas?"

"No, not really. We could try talking back and forth really fast and you don't say anything but think it every once in a while."

"That could work. Maybe we could use the blindfold method as a warmup of sorts. I know that you got a migraine last time you tried it, but it did work."

"Sure. Maybe the headaches are a sort of side effect from using my power."

"Too bad you aren't invincible with your power. That would've been pretty cool."

"Yeah, I guess—"

My sentence was cut off by the blaring of the school bell. I shoved my half eaten sandwich back into my bright red lunchbox.

"Wanna come over to my house tonight and binge watch some Marvel movies until midnight?" Winnie questioned eagerly with a smile as she rocked back and forth on her feet.

"It couldn't hurt to watch your favorite heroes in action," I grinned at the extremely excited Winnie in front of me.

"Yes! Come over after school!" She called over her shoulder, already walking to her physics class.

I wish I was as brave with my power as a superhero is with theirs.

***

"Captain America is not better than Iron Man, Macyn!"

I was eleven o'clock—on a school night, I might add—and Winnie and I were currently halfway through Avengers: Infinity War. We were on our third bowl of extra-buttery popcorn and showed no signs of stopping our ravenous eating spree. Winnie had always been way more into superhero stuff than me. That's one of the reasons why we would often argue about something like Thor's hammer until three in the morning. Winnie ultimately wins each argument in the end but that doesn't stop our movie watching and binge eating sprees.

"But he's played by Chris Evans!"

"But Iron Man is played by Robert Downey Jr!"

I seemed as if we had reached yet another stalemate. I tried to return my focus back to the movie. Somehow I wasn't able to focus on the marvelous superheroes. My thoughts wandered to my own superpower of sorts. Most of my thoughts these days were replaced with the cruel reality of my gift. I couldn't stop thinking about the ways in which my powers could backfire. I often worried that my head would eventually explode from all the stress, migraines, and distant whispers. It was a silly thought but one that often popped into my head.

"You're kinda like a superhero, Mace."

I'm not going to lie, that thought also popped in my head often. I'd always thought that superheroes were myths, a figment of the imagination. It wasn't until recently that my opinions began to change. Superheroes could exist in this world if I wasn't the only one who held a special power. That doesn't make me a superhero. There's a big difference between me and a superhero: they use their powers to fight for what's right and what they believe in. I, on the other hand, just wanted to control my power and learn how to use it without anyone getting hurt. I am no superhero.

"I'm not like them, Win. Yes, I have a superpower. That doesn't mean that I'm gonna use it to fight people, even bad guys," I croaked.

I took another handful of the dwindling popcorn. I tried to focus on the movie once again. However, I still couldn't shake Winnie's words out of my mind. Her suggestion sat in there like a bag of rocks.

I'm not a superhero. I don't want to be one. I just want control.