Chapter one
Nothing ever goes as planned



Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Jordan moaned, and reached over, clicking off his alarm clock. He glanced at the time. Six thirty. ‘Perfect’,he thought,’Those nightmares kept me up half the night, and now I’ve got to go to school. I didn’t get much sleep last night....’ He got slowly out of bed, grumbling to himself. The nightmares had been increasing as graduation day had grown near. All he got was the feeling that something bad was going to happen at the ceremony. Something bad was going to happen to HIM.
“Graduation...”, he mumbled to himself tiredly. Suddenly, he bolted out of bed, realizing what day it was. Today was his last day ever in High School! The ceremony was today!

He jumped into his bathroom, hurling himself into the shower, despite the icy water. He quickly washed, and jumped back out, wrapping a towel around him. He went over to the mirror to brush his teeth and shave, and marveled at the young man facing him. It seemed like yesterday he was leaving for his first day of school....

Then, he had been a little dorky, with a smile filled with teeth that didn’t quite fit his mouth. He had big, wire rimmed bi focals, and a clean cut, nicely combed head of blond hair. He had been made fun of for his looks.

Now, his smile had been transformed through the miracles of braces, and was perfect, shining as white as the pearl of the world. His hair was still neat, but not business neat. It was semi long, and simply combed over to one side, where it hung just above his left eye. He even lost his glasses to a knew laser work surgery his parents had developed. Yeah, his parents were loaded. They worked on trying to cure cancer, AIDS, blindness, deafness, blah blah blah....

Jordan didn’t really see much of his parents then. They were usually off at the lab, or on an expedition to some foreign land, or on a fund raising tour. He scowled, and smudged smelly shaving cream on his over night facial hair growth. He clicked on his electric razor; also invented by his parents, and shaved his facial hair off.

He rubbed his chin when he was done, marveling at the close shave. It was the best shaver the world had see, or at least that’s what the critics said. He sighed, looking into his sky blue eyes. He couldn’t believe today would be the last day.

He thought about his first day in high school. That day had been his worst. People had made fun of him to a traumatic end.

White hot anger coarsed through him, and he through the shaver at the wall. It smashed into tiny, silvery pieces, clattering to the tiled floor. He scowled at it, and reached down to pick them up. As he drew near, they suddenly shivered and pushed away, as if blown by a light wind coming from his hand.

Jordan stared down at them, confused, and noticed that there was a fan on behind him. He chuckled, and switched it off. How silly of him, letting a simple thing like that scare him. He walked out of the bathroom, changed, and grabbed the keys to his silver Camairo, and headed out the door, preferring to skip breakfast. He wasn’t hungry.

***

Jordan walked in the front doors, taking in the early morning hall traffic one last time. He noticed a fluorescent pink piece of paper on the notice board, which said that all seniors were to report to the auditorium until twelve, where they would either be bussed or would drive to the convention center, where graduation was being held.

Jordan headed toward the auditorium, which was located in the back of the school, taking his time, since he was in no rush to get to class on time. The younger students bustled around them, talking to friends, or pushing through just to get a glance at the one girl or guy they liked. Jordan chuckled at the insanity of it all. He had once been like that.

He had been walking through the science hallways, when he accidentally bumped into a student who had been cleaning out their locker. A box was sent crashing to the floor, along with the person who Jordan had bumped into. He bent over, and picked up the boxing, while at the same time reaching down to offer the victim of his clumsy ways. He began to apologize, saying,”Sorry, sorry! Here, I’ll get your box. I didn’t mean to hurt you...” The person he had knocked over turned out to be a young woman, who was also a senior graduating. She was in two of his classes, English IV and Government. Her name was Sarah. She had long, rich, dark curly hair that fell down her back. Her brown eyes were deep and mysterious. Her face was soft, yet serious, and she had a short, but well shaped figure.

Jordan came to a stuttering stop when she grabbed his hand. He quickly pulled her to her feet, and reached down to pick up a few spilled papers and books. He placed them on top of the box, once again beginning his stuttering apologies. Sarah held up her hand, and said,”It’s okay. I should’ve been watching out for other people. Hey, aren’t you the valedictorian, Jordan?”

Jordan nodded, and said,”Yeah, that’s me, the nerdy cool guy. Hey, do you need me to take these to the auditorium?”

Sarah gasped, and said,”Well, uh, I don’t want to seem like I’m MAKING you or anything. I can manage.”

Jordan dispelled her apologies, saying,”It’s not too much trouble. I think I’m strong enough to heft a few books and papers.”

Together, they set off to the auditorium, where the seniors had grouped into their respective groups. Sarah headed to one, and Jordan found an empty group of seats. He didn’t have any friends. He didn’t need them.

He pulled out his iPod, and was listening to music when somebody tapped him on the shoulder. He hit pause, and looked straight into the eyes of Sarah. Sarah pointed to her group of friends, and said,”Hey, I’d like to introduce you to my friends. After all, it’s not everyday that the valedictorian knocks you over.” She chuckled at her joke, and motioned toward her friends again, just to emphasize the point.

Jordan shrugged, and got up, following Sarah. Sarah pointed at Jordan, and said,”This is the guy who carried my stuff for me. His name’s Jordan. Not only is he helpful, but he’s the valedictorian for our class.”

One of her friends bent over another one of Sarah’s friend’s ear, and whispered something Jordan only managed to catch. He had heard,”That’s the guy who knocked her over in the hall. Not only that, but he’s the one who stole valedictorian from Sarah. I can’t believe she’s introducing that sorry jerk.”

Jordan was appalled by this fact. Sarah had been second in his class? And she thinks valedictorian was stolen from her? Jordan shook his head, unable to believe it.

He waved a little awkwardly at them, and said,”Hi, uh, yeah, as Sarah said, um, I’m the , uh, valedictorian for our class. Well, would you look at the time. I’ve got to, uh, take a call. Over there.”

He sprint walked away from the group, taking cover in the very back of the auditorium, every other step bringing a cuss word out of his mouth. He jumped into the very last seat in the very last row, which was in a significant amount of shade.

He sat down, letting out a heavy breath. This was just great. He couldn’t believe that her friends had made those judgments about him! He didn’t try to STEAL the valedictorian position! He scowled, placing his hands on the rough wood of the arm rests. White hot anger once again coarsed through him. He stayed like that, till a burning smell interrupted his mental rampage. He looked around, lifting up his hands. He looked at the wooden arm rests, and couldn’t believe his eyes. They were burnt! He didn’t know how it had happened. Maybe it had been there, and he had imagined the burning smell.

A teacher walked in, saying,”Would all seniors either report to their cars, or board the busses, we are leaving for graduation.” The teacher walked away, as the squeaks of the rusty stadium seats filled the air as people slowly got up. Jordan shook his head. This day was just getting worse and worse...

***

The students filed into the musty old room, taking seats in cheap plastic chairs. They were in alphabetical order, as they had been for the last four hours, practicing how to walk up a stupid stage the right way. Jordan was in groan at his aching feet. He really wanted to go home, though it would probably be to an empty one....

He shook his head, dislodging any negative thoughts. This was supposed to be a happy day. He looked at the heads, searching for a female one long, richly colored brown curly hair. He gave up when he noticed the graduation hats obscured any over head vision of hair. He sighed, and looked at the stage, as the actual, real, LIVE ceremony started. The people surrounding him grumbled in relief. Like Jordan, they thought it was better than rehearsing how to walk. As it turned out, a surprising amount of people didn’t know how to walk up a bloody stage.

Jordan laughed quietly at his joke, which actually was true. He sighed, and heard the principal of his high school call for the valedictorian. He stood up, and gracefully walked up the stage. He was surprised and mildly angered to hear many people softly call names at him, like dumb ass, jack ass, jerk, and nerd (and other things that would get this story locked and my butt canned and banned).


He pushed his annoyance, and took his place at the stand. “Thank you,”he said politely into the mike,”I would like to read a speech that sums up our four years in our high school.” He pulled out a neatly folded speech he had written in anticipation. He was about to start, but was interrupted as someone stood up and called him a horrendous name. The principal instantly rushed to take the stand, but Jordan refused to move, lost in his world of rage. He had worked HARD to get where he was now! And he would be damned, DAMNED, if some jerk off jock was going to ruin it for him.

Another person stood up, and threw a paper ball at him. Another person stood up, and gave him the finger. Jordan roared in rage. He focused the blunt of his anger on that middle finger, and was shocked, yet somehow satisfied, to see it literally explode into a fire ball. The kid screamed, his other hand trying to grip the spot where his finger had been.

Jordan laughed, and reveled as more rage filled his system. The next thing that was set ablaze was the jock’s head of perfect hair. He screamed as fire sprang out of nowhere, consuming not only his hair, but also his entire head. He ran through the rows, knocking people over. The standbyars had stayed put, petrified at what they had seen. Now, with a flaming pre graduate running through the isles, they now realized that SOMETHING was trying to kill students. They all screamed at once, and rushed toward the exit.

Jordan noticed the guy who called him a horrendous name. He focused all of his anger on him, and he was picked up and thrown into the wall head first. There was a sickening snap, and his head bent a way it wasn’t made to. He hit the ground, having an instant seizure.

Jordan didn’t know how, but he was doing all of this. The fire... he did burn the arm rest. And the pieces of the shaver... he had moved them! It hadn’t been the fan. He had read fictional stories about people being telekinetic, and pyrokinetic, but he thought it was just that, fictional. He couldn’t believe that he was showing signs of being one....

He sensed something behind him, and he turned around, summoning up anger. But it was too late. One of the teachers had picked up a four by four, and hit him as hard as they could in the face, sending him crashing to the ground. He felt the darkness of unconsciousness close around him. He passed out, the flames that had been appearing around him disappearing.

Chapter two
Nightmare Warning

Jordan grunted in his sleep, rolling over. In his mind, pictures were flashing by. He saw fire, a person running by, an exploding finger, and someone flying across a chair filled room, hitting the wall and snapping his neck. He grumbled, rolling back over. Suddenly, a picture of a room room filled his head. He felt himself materialize in the picture, actually living it.

Jordan saw himself, lying in a hospital bed in a room that was plain white. Jordan saw that there was a bandage wrapped around his head, and he was surprised and outraged to see three pairs of hand cuffs chaining him to the bed. There was a pair on his right arm, and the other two were cuffed to his to his legs.

He stepped forward, finding that he was wearing a plain white robe. He walked over, and tried to remove one of the cuffs, but discovered he had no cellular mass, his hands sweeping through the chains. He scowled, and was about to try again, when the door behind him opened.

He turned around, and his parents were standing there, each dressed in plain hospital garbs and holding clip boards in their hands. His father reached behind his back, and pulled out a syringe, taking off the plastic topper. He spritsed a bit of the clear fluid into the air, and walked over to where Jordan lay, inserting the needle into his forearm.

Jordan scowled, and rushed forward, trying to knock the syringe out of his father’s hands. But Jordan’s hands just swept through his father’s arms. His father didn’t even flinch, and injected the clear substance. Jordan stepped back, watching the other Jordan roll to one side. The fluid was clearly having a negative impact on Jordan’s system.

His mom watched a computer screen, which was giving brain readings from the electro patches connected to his forehead. She turned to his dad, and said,”The readings are different from the other test subject. This is amazing. That poison should have sent him into shock by now, but it seems that his immune system is strengthened by his telekinetic powers. It’s like it’s pushing the poison out of his body...” Sure enough, there was clear fluid leaking out of his sweat pores.

Jordan gasped. Poison? Why the hell were his parents doing experiments on him. He was their son! Jordan scowled, feeling very angry all of a sudden. Fire rose up around him, and he sent it flying at his father. But, the fire just passed through him, having no effect what so ever on him.

Jordan fell to his knees, his pyrokinetic powers failing. He couldn’t believe it. His parents had betrayed him. The freakish hospital disintegrated around Jordan.

Jordan moaned, rubbing the place where he had been hit on the head. He scowled, trying to stand up. He found that there was a restraint across his chest. He opened his eyes, and found himself in a brightly lit, sunny hospital room. He looked around, comparing the room mentally to the room in his dream. This one was nothing like it. There were plenty of windows, warm blankets, and no monitors or other equipment. He felt his head, and was relieved to feel only a thick bandage that wrapped around his head, covering his wound. He sighed. The best part of waking up was that his parents weren’t here.

The oak door on the side of the room opened, and in walked Sarah. Jordan struggled to sit up, but couldn’t budge against his restraint. Sarah sat down in the visitor’s chair, staring at Jordan with her big, brown eyes. She sat there in silence, then blurted,”What the hell happened at graduation? All those people were making fun of you, and suddenly, there was an exploding finger, a person caught fire out of no where, and one of the line men is hospitalized with a broken neck.”

Jordan sighed, and opened his mouth to talk, when the oak door was opened a second time. Jordan tensed when his parents walked inside, huge, fake smiles plastered on their evil looking faces. Jordan stared at them in horror, realizing that the dream had really been a vision of warning. Jordan glanced at their white coats, and realized that each one had a lump that looked about the size of a gun. This couldn’t be good....