Appearances

[Faige Harrison]

"Why did you skip two weeks Faige?" Ms. Wilson didn't sound upset. After all it was Faige's own choice to come, though not keeping one's appointments without so much as a drop in to notify was a bit rude.

"Meh..." Faige shrugged as she fell onto the couch. "Didn't feel like it."

"Why not? Is everything okay?" Ms. Wilson click-clicked her pen and reviewed her notes from two weeks ago.

"Oh yeah it's fine, everything's great." the teenager shrugged. "I'm used to Don's powers now I think, not like he's been much help."

"Is he still avoiding you?"

"Yeah... I think it's more he's just avoiding everyone. I thought he'd gotten a grip on it ya know? I thought he was gonna be Fallout Boy and we could be cool and train together and stuff..." she sighed "I guess I was hoping for too much but come on. I shouldn't have to deal with this alone. Everyone else has been hanging out with their swap partner and I'm just..." Faige trailed off, frowning. "I miss him. He used to be my friend."

"If you get a hold of him, you should tell him to come visit me some time." Ms. Wilson smiled a bit.

"I dunno... yeah I'll mention it if I see him." She nodded a bit. "Herrera had me look at some security tapes. I hope they catch the guy or guys or whatever soon. I just want things to go back to the way they were. I want Don to be happy again, I want him to be my friend again and not resent me because he got my crappy powers. I miss Ar being Ar and I miss Roach being able to read minds and I just... y'know I wanna help."

"It's good that you want to look into this, Faige." Ms. Wilson wrote something down as she spoke.

"Oh yeah well I mean we been sitting around doing nothing for too long and it's not going away. So we need to make it go away ya know?" She glanced at Ms. Wilson. "I'm not the only person that's sick of it. I mean this is like being forced to wear somebody else's underpants. They're still underpants but they just don't feel right."

"Interesting metaphor." The councilor chuckled.

Pausing, she wrinkled her nose and just kind of spat out the next thing that was hanging on in the back of her mind. "I have a boyfriend."

"Oh yes?" Ms. Wilson was curious, but didn't ask for a name. "Are you happy about it?"

"Well yeah of course I'm happy, if I wasn't happy I'd just break up with him right?" She found herself phrasing that like a question for some reason, "It's just..." she paused, biting her lip. Come on Faige, whatever you say here is said in confidence. She nodded to herself.

"Go on.."

"It's just he ... he told my dad he's in love with me. I... " another pause, she needed to collect her thoughts. "I mean I feel kinda... like that about him too. I dunno if 'love' is the right word but... I'm just wondering if this is too much too soon ya know? Every time I try to bring it up he's just so sure of himself though."

"What did your father think?" The councilor leaned forward a bit.

"He wasn't happy." Faige frowned. "He told me that I needed to stop seeing him but I managed to convince him that Espy's not psychotic..." she paused, realizing that she'd just name dropped. Feeling her face flush all the way to the tips of her ears she looked at Ms. Wilson who was hiding surprise underneath her usually kind, neutral expression.

"Have things been moving too fast?" She asked.

"Yeah a little bit." Faige confessed. "But I mean... when I'm with him I have a hard time thinking logically. I know in my head we should slow down but the rest of me disagrees."

"You probably should." Ms. Wilson agreed, nodding and writing something down. "And if you don't think you'll be able to maybe take a little break and re-evaluate things?"

"Yeah, it all sounds good when you talk about it this way but like in practice that just doesn't work. I say "Espy we need to slow down" and he agrees and then we end up ...." Faige cleared her throat. "Uhm... anyway yeah I'll think about what you said okay?"

There was a question on Ms. Wilson's mind, but she decided to let it slide. "Keep in touch okay? Remember I'm here to listen any time you need someone to talk to."

The girl nodded, hopping up from the couch again. "Thanks Ms. Wilson. You're pretty awesome."

Walking out, she passed her hand through her hair. Head in the game tonight. Well... the bandstand. Whatever.

[Faige Harrison]

Faige had spotted Espy heading into Trig, but he was already pretty much in the class room so she hadn't bothered. There was a general air of sadness about the boy that made her sad as well. He was trying his best, he really was. Trying to be fun and trying to hide it, but Espy was a terrible liar. Sad wasn't something she wanted to feel, not for two weeks, not until-- Shit. Faige still hadn't told him that's when she was going. December the first. Why was it so soon?

She shook her head, flipping her phone out and typing a quick text to him. "Lol gl @ trig. Westy's l8r? <3 u Machito". It was easy to sound upbeat in a text message.

Pushing the door to the side, she walked into the councilors office and said "Hey Ms. W."

Ms. Wilson wasn't expecting Faige for another five minutes, and she closed the file she was reading over, replacing it on the shelf. The girl didn't notice the name on the tab read "Guillermo Espinosa"

Faige sat down on the couch heavily without being asked to. She picked the stress ball up and squeezed it in her hands. "There's a lot on my mind."

Ms. Wilson nodded, retrieving Faige's file from the shelf and sitting down in her usual chair. "Well, I'm always here to listen." she said, smiling a bit.

The teenager nodded. "Yeah my dad... uh... " Faige frowned, then flopped on her back on the couch and tossed the ball up in the air. "My dad got offered this job... and uh..." She looked at Ms. Wilson, who was looking back curiously. Faige exhaled, "He thinks he's gonna sign on it... and... we gotta move to Japan."

Ms. Wilson seemed to have an air of realization. That was what was bothering Guillermo. "What do you think about that?"

"I dunno." Faige sighed "I mean Tokyo is pretty bad ass and I would be stoked but," she looked over at the councilor again. "I don't really wanna leave Westbrook. I mean I got friends here and Espy is here and Donovan is here and what if we move before the powers go back and I'm stuck like this forever." She started rambling, then stopped herself.

"Is anything planned yet?" Ms. Wilson asked, writing something down on a separate piece of paper.

"Naw..." the teen wrinkled her nose. "He hasn't signed on it yet. We've pretty much decided that he's gonna after the Thanksgiving Holiday though. The tentative move date they have for us is December the first. So like... it's right now. Dad said we're at least gonna wait until the powers are sorted out and... if that means that they go first and I stay with my aunt and uncle for a bit that's okay."

The councilor smiled, "I'm glad to hear that. Have you told Guillermo at all?"

"Yeah..." Faige frowned. "He's not taking it well. I mean, he's trying to pretend to be happy but I can tell he's not. He's trying to do everything fun with me ya know? But I... I kinda feel like a death row inmate having her last meal a buncha times. Maybe we should just chillax. Ms. Wilson I'm really worried about him..."

Nodding, Ms. Wilson wrote something else down on that separate piece of paper. "Why are you worried?"

"I dunno... I mean Espy's a big boy and he can totes handle this but Abby thinks he's gonna like... fly to Japan and stand outside my apartment with a boom box held over his head. I wouldn't put it past him." Faige laughed a little, fondly before sighing, "I just want him to be happy, ya know? Sometimes I think that maybe if I leave sooner he'll get over me sooner and be happy. I'm just... making him sad at this point."

"I don't think that's the case, Faige." Ms. Wilson looked over her clip board, meeting eyes with the teenager. "I think it is a good idea to try to enjoy what time you have here and leave on a positive note."

"Yeah I know..." Faige sat up again, nodding. "I just don't like seeing him miserable. I guess that's not really something I can help."

"It's alright to be sad when things like this happen."

The girl nodded, pushing herself back up to a stand. "I know. I still don't like it." she smiled a little. The bell for second period was about to ring. "Welp that nearly wasted my study hall, I should get going, History class and all that." She shouldered her backpack. "I'll drop in at least one more time Ms. W."

"I'll see you then Faige." The councilor gave her a small wave as she left.

Out in the hallway, Faige half walked half ran over to the math room then waited with her back to the lockers for the kids to file out.

[Faige Harrison]

"Hello?"

"Dad?"

"Hi Princess! How are you? Is everything okay?"

That was the standard question he asked every time she called now. What did that say about her? Such a fucking whiner. Faige nodded her head, as if he could see that. She was walking along outside in the orchard, pushing the thin layer of snow with her feet. She wondered what the weather was like in Tokyo right now, wasn't that in the southern hemis--

"Yeah, I dunno if the school called you but everyone has their own powers back now." she muttered, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"That's wonderful news!" Her father said, my he seemed chipper for this time of the morning.

"Yeah I guess so. It means we don't have to delay the move for me at least."

"Are you sure you don't want to stick around until the end of the term?"

"Yeah I'm sure. Hell I'd go now if I could." Faige chuckled hollowly. The sooner she left the sooner Espy would cheer up and stop being depressed, right? "Can you call the school to get me leave from class tomorrow and Wednesday? So I can pack and shit?"

"Faige..."

"And stuff."

"Yeah. I'll give them a call. Are you sure you're alright princess?"

Faige cringed. Princess. Fuck princess. "Yeah I'm fine. I just don't wanna stick around this dump any longer than I have to okay?" she nearly spat before clearing her throat. "I'm... I'm sorry dad."

"It's alright, why don't we just call today and have you excused for the week. What's a partial week going to do anyway right? It will give you some time to say goodbye to your friends."

"My friends don't care. In fact I bet they're glad I'm leaving. They'll probably throw a party the minute I walk out the door." Faige said, lowering herself to a bench. "So I guess they're not really my friends anyway. Good. Fuck them. I just want to leave."

She wondered why anger was her go to, especially anger at her friends who hadn't done anything wrong. "Dad... " she finally said, a little weakly. "I just don't want 'em to see me cry okay?"

"I know it's hard but remember, you can come back and visit. It's not like you're saying goodbye forever." He always knew what to say.

"Yeah I know... thanks dad..." she said, almost a whisper now. "I'll call you back during lunch period okay?"

"Okay, princess. Talk to you then."

Faiged frowned, pressing "end" on her phone before scrolling through her list of contact. She selected a few of them and sent a mass text. "What are you guys doing tonight?"

[Faige Harrison]

The airport was a bustle of pre-holiday traffic. Not quite the Christmas rush but it was getting close. Decorations had gone up, there were those unlicensed holiday songs everyone had heard over and over playing softly between boarding announcements.

Faige was standing by the security checkpoint, watching her mother take her shoes off and load them one by one onto the conveyer as she complained that this was humiliating. She always did this, every time they had to fly somewhere. Her dad was already standing on the other side of the scanner, putting his belt back on. This was, for all intents and purposes, the point of no return.

She'd said no party, and true to the word of her friends there had been no party. A low key thing with fireworks in a trash can, perfect. Espy had even worn a party hat, which was almost funny given how mopy he was. And now he stood to the side of the scanners with Faige's Aunt and Uncle.

"Well I guess this is it..." Faige said, giving him another squeeze. "I'll.. call you in eighteen hours yeah?" She could almost feel her mother rolling her eyes.

"Come on Faige, your turn."

Espy's arms tightened, he didn't want to let her go. Not yet. "Yeah." was all he said, the short monosyllabic reply nearly hiding the tremble to his voice. After a pause he added, whispered against her ear "I love you Faige."

Faige felt herself choke up and swallowed hard. Damnit don't cry now... "I gotta go..." she just sort of forced herself to say, finally stepping backward from him. "Take... take care of yourself?" She didn't know what to say, this was weird. Was goodbye even appropriate? She didn't think it was.

"You too, okay?" There was more to say lingering in Espy's mind, but he was trying to keep composure in front of her family. Losing it would come later.

She nodded, loading up the conveyer belt with all her various affects and stepping through the scanner. As if the universe was trying to prolong the awkwardness of this moment the scanner beeped and she stepped back, emptying all her pockets and taking off her belt. That did it. On the other side of the scanner she re-dressed, waving.

Her bag collected, she glanced over her shoulder one last time as she disappeared into the crowd with her parents.

Espy looked at the adults he barely knew who had been so gracious as to let him come with them. "Can I watch the plane?"

Faige's uncle nodded, walking with him over to the windows and pointing. "That one is hers."

They stood there together in silence for what seemed like forever until the plane finally taxied away and made it's way down the runway, ascending into the sky.

"Come on kid." Espy felt a hand on his shoulder, causing his concentration to break.

"Hmm? Oh ... yeah okay..." He muttered, shuffling out. The holiday music seemed more annoying than ever.