Harris Institute for Gifted Students Episode 5: Discomfort

Harris Institute for Gifted Students by Pineapple | Content warnings

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“I think you guys are getting to the stage where we need to try something different,” Ms. Hera said. And then, like she was revealing a great magic trick, Ms. Hera stepped aside to reveal Ben and Marjani, who didn’t look like they were trying to pose but looked like supermodels at the end of a runway nonetheless. Marjani was in her tall, impeccable heels as always, a hand on her hip. Ben was next to her, rubbing the back of his neck, his shoulders wide and squared.

Sofia felt small in comparison.

“I invited Marjani and Ben to come help!” Ms. Hera explained, her smile bright. “I think we’re all getting too comfortable with each other and this exercise will keep us on our toes.”

“Is this necessary?” Sugi asked timidly. His reluctance and anxiety were written across his face. When Ben laughed and went to hug him, Sugi elbowed Ben in the ribs. “He’s a monster at bat. I’ve never seen him in combat and…”

“Ow—hey.”

“This is a common thing among senior students,” Marjani said. Ben was rubbing the sore spot in his side, and Marjani could barely tear her eyes away to look at the twins in front of her. “We spar all the time with different people. Ultimately, nothing can substitute for the experience of having fought a lot.”

“Consider yourselves lucky that Miss Marjani is willing to spare her valuable time to fight y’all,” Ben said.

Marjani smirked, playing along with him. “Okay, Mister Charming.”

Behind them, Ms. Hera pretended to gag. “Why don’t you guys stop flirting and go to the other side of the field, huh? You know the rules. I’ll set the first and second years up with it.”

Marjani laughed as Ben’s face lit up, his cheeks glowing. Sofia saw him gesturing like he was begging as they made their way across the grassy area designated for Ms. Hera’s class block. Ms. Hera set Sofia back towards a baseline drawn in chalk, the twins closer to the middle of their half. A similar set-up to how they’d been preparing for their fights against Ms. Hera.

Ben was at the other baseline; Marjani on the offensive line.

Sofia had only seen them in action on the first night of classes, when she’d gotten hit with Vanessa’s rogue ball. She hadn’t even really seen them and she’d been impressed with how swiftly they’d acted. Of course the two twins worked well together, but Ben and Marjani were a cohesive team as well from what Sofia had heard. (Vanessa liked to complain about Ben’s “googly eyes.”)

It would be a match in good spirit, Ms. Hera told them. Not like sparring against her. No fight-ending moves. She’d score them based on effective impact and defense, and it would be a timed match. The twins seemed familiar, but it was all new to Sofia.

As the twins did their usual transformations, Ms. Hera took the time to answer Sofia’s questions. She assured her she’d get a feel for it as time went on. Plus, Ms. Hera said, Ben and Marjani were great at leading the new ones, so she didn’t have to worry too much. Then Ms. Hera was walking to the edge of the field and signaling a start.

Ten minutes never felt so fast.

Marjani was on the twins before they’d even thought to move. Sumire was there to defend her brother, but only for a second before she was knocked backwards by the sheer force of Marjani’s strength.

Sugi was a mix of excited and awed, his face conflicted as he watched his sister try to gain traction with her hands. Sofia saw what she was trying to do and helped her slow enough to reverse her direction, get her footing, send her back into the fight. By the time she was running back at Marjani, Sugi was blasting her with pearlescent bubbles that exploded into a sticky, glue-like substance.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t doing much to deter her. She’d started glowing the same way she did at the first baseball practice. It was Ben’s power, his barrier, that was causing Sugi’s to be ineffective. The slime was sliding off her like water off a duck’s back.

She landed a punch in Sugi’s stomach. On impact, Ben’s barrier expanded. It sent Sugi flying back as if it were a physical wall. Sugi flipped in the air, slicing through the blue of Ben’s magic with his hand. With a swimming motion, Sugi dove back at Marjani to attack now that she was vulnerable.

Sumire had stopped in her pursuit to join the fray to block Ben’s force field for herself. It didn’t do damage, just pushed her farther away as it grew. Sofia tried to push back, but Ben was stronger. All Sofia could do was slow it down, weaken it a bit so Sumire could kick through it. It shattered like glass around her foot.

Sofia saw the moment Sumire set her sights on Ben instead of Marjani. Sumire looked over at Marjani and Sugi, in the throes of battle. Marjani was punching every projectile Sugi shot at her out of the air, redirecting them into the ground, kicking up dirt.

Sumire’s head craned to Ben, who was solely focused on the little shields around Marjani’s hands that were blocking Sugi’s attacks while making her own hits harder. Sumire ran.

Marjani must have felt it before any of them saw it. Her head snapped back to look at Ben just as the barriers and the light around her faded.

Ben was doing a decent enough job at fending Sumire off, but it was clear he was at a disadvantage. He was barely keeping up with her and the lagging was getting longer. She was landing more and more hits, but it wouldn’t be long before Marjani was there, unless—

Sofia focused on her ankles. Like the little, localized barriers Ben used. A bubble. A bubble to keep her from running. Like the ones Sugi was using. The ones that popped up in her mind when she didn’t want them.

Marjani stopped dead in her tracks, almost falling over. She first looked at Sugi. When he looked just as confused as she was, Marjani turned her sights on Sofia. She looked impressed, and Sofia felt her insides melt.

But then Sugi was setting his assault of magic on Ben, and Marjani’s attention went back to the fight. Even from afar, Sofia could see Marjani grit her teeth as she watched Ben try to fend off the twins. Then… she jumped. Her legs still locked together, she pushed off the ground and launched herself straight into Sumire’s side.

Sumire barely caught her, the two of them falling into the dirt in a heap.

It was then that Ms. Hera declared the time was up. She looked delighted, clapping her hands together as she approached them. She helped Sumire and Marjani up with one hand each as Sofia jogged over to join the group.

“That was a new trick, Sofie,” Ms. Hera said. “I was hoping you’d learn something from Ben.”

Sofia felt a flush crawl up the back of her neck.

“Who won?” Marjani asked, patting dirt from her slacks. “We lost a lot of points when the twins decided to attack Ben.”

Sumire waved her hands in front of her. “He did good. I wasn’t expecting him to fight so well.”

“He’s a weakness,” she said, smiling sideways at him. “But he does alright.”

Ben huffed. “It’s only thanks to me you’re invincible, ma’am.”

She shrugged, knocking him with her shoulder. “You know I don’t mean it,” she said, overly sweet, and he let her have it.

Sugi and Sumire exchanged a glance and a small gesture that Sofia didn’t understand. Ms. Hera did tell Marjani and Ben that they technically won, but Ben didn’t brighten nearly as much as Marjani did.

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The weather was nice enough that evening that Sofia felt like taking the long way back to the dorms as she finished off the strawberry paleta she’d bought in the cafeteria. She was watching a video on her phone as she walked, glancing up every so often to make sure she wasn’t going to run into a tree.

When she saw Ms. Fatima closing up at the old training building, she did a double take.

“What are you doing?”

Ms. Fatima didn’t jump. She was too composed for that. But she did look surprised, her eyes darting to the door, her breath catching for just a second before she looked back at Sofia and sighed. “Nothing, mi niña,” she said. “What are you up to?”

“I thought there wasn’t anything in there.” Sofia gestured with the ice cream stick to the building. “They said just old equipment.”

Ms. Fatima’s hand trailed along the seam of the doors. “That’s… true,” she said slowly. “I was just checking up on some things. A part of my job. You don’t need to worry.”

She knew Ms. Fatima was lying. There was something at the back of her head telling her so, but otherwise, it was silent. Just white noise there, keeping her from hearing anything. Static, maybe, or a rainstorm.

Ms. Fatima adjusted her work bag on her shoulder, searching for something in Sofia’s eyes. “You have many questions,” she said. “The answers to them are not in this building. We can talk tomorrow in class, okay?”

“Okay, Ms. Fatima,” Sofia agreed softly, nodding.

Ms. Fatima smiled gently, and as she passed Sofia, Ms. Fatima patted her on the shoulder.

Sofia looked at the doors to the training building. She knew that Ms. Fatima was telling the truth about it being her job. She’d had her work bag with her. Ms. Fatima had also said questions. Plural. There was really only one bouncing around in Sofia’s head right now.

When she pulled on the door to open it, it was locked. Figures.

She might be able to unlock it, if she tried. But something else had been tugging at her attention since she came this way, and that was Ben. He was by himself in the field a little bit away. Sofia could see him from here, his little barriers flying into a pitching target like the one Vanessa used. There was a fighting dummy off to the side it. He’d been training for a while from the looks of it.

Sofia jogged over to say hi. “You’re not tired after today’s practice match?” she shouted once she was close enough.

Ben stopped in his drills to look back at her. “Oh, hey, Sof.”

“Hey.” She grinned, then she kicked at the mannequin. “What’s got you so heated, huh?”

Sofia expected him to crack a joke or at least smile, but he kept a straight face. He shrugged.

Sofia rerouted. “You okay?”

“Yep.”

Her mind went over everything she saw of him, what happened at practice. What Vanessa said of him. The gesture the twins made. “Want to talk about it?” Sofia offered.

Ben sighed, glancing at her. “Want to listen?” he offered back.

She felt relieved. Vanessa sometimes called him mushy, but he seemed understanding enough. “I wouldn’t have offered otherwise,” Sofia said. “Least I could do since you gave me the inspiration on how to stop Marjani. Plus, you’re a friend now anyway.”

He laughed. “Clever girl, huh,” he said. He started doing cool down movements and stretches, keeping his eyes off Sofia. “I’m just… You know Marj’s in her fourth year?”

“Sure, okay.”

“She could start a journey, if she wanted,” he explained. “Usually, offense types like her start right away and leave for real world experience.”

“So, why hasn’t she?”

“I don’t know? ‘Cause of me?” Ben threw up his hands, but it was clear he was doing it at himself, or maybe Marjani, not Sofia. “I don’t want to hold her back, but, like, if she leaves, what then? I lose either way.”

“You think she’s waiting for you?” Sofia asked. When Ben started jogging in place, Sofia joined him.

“She told me she didn’t want to go alone once,” he said. “I told her to wait for me. As a joke, but also… not…” He was blushing now, just a bit, but Sofia could see it. She politely pretended not to, looking resolutely ahead at the target he’d been hitting. “She could do it on her own. Of course she could. She could do whatever she wanted. But she’s right—at the moment, I’m a liability to her. And I need to fix that. I can’t keep holding her back and asking her to wait for me. It’s not good of me.”

He stopped jogging, and so did Sofia. He breathed deeply and turned to her.

“Thanks for listening, anyway,” he said. “Vanessa always just calls me stupid.”

Sofia stifled a laugh. “It’s not stupid,” she assured him. “Vanessa’s just bad with emotions.”

“Is every girl like that, or just the girls here?”

“Hey—”

“Ben!” They both spun towards the new voice, Ben perking up like a puppy as Marjani approached them.

He seemed to remember he was upset, or that he was mad at her, or whatever it was he was feeling, and tried to play it cool. He cleared his throat before she was close enough to hear and raised a hand in a wave. “Hey,” he said, suddenly deeper than usual. “What’s up?”

“You were not in your room, Benjamin,” Marjani answered, pointing an accusatory finger at him.

He was clearly lost.

She huffed. “You said you’d watch that new sci-fi clone movie with me.”

“Ah.” He nodded in understanding, catching on quickly to what Marjani was saying. “I—God. Sorry. I totally forgot. I got caught up in what I was doing, and I just…”

Marjani crossed her arms, raising a brow. “And what is it that you are doing?”

“Nothing. Just… let me clean up here and we can go watch it, if you still want to.”

“Benjamin.” It sounded a bit like she was scolding him. “Is this because of what I said earlier?”

Sofia wondered if she should leave.

Ben rubbed his head, the back of his neck. “Yes and no.”

She puffed out her cheeks. “It was just a joke.”

“I know,” he said gracefully. “But you’re not wrong.”

“I didn’t mean…” Marjani looked at a loss of what to do, what to say. “I just…”

Ben gave her a beat of extra time but just sighed when an apology didn’t come. “I’m sorry if you feel like I’m holding you back, Marj,” he said. “I wanna be good enough for you, but you don’t have to wait for me. I told you that already.”

Marjani fiddled with the rings on her fingers.

Ben shrugged and went to grab the practice dummy he’d been using.

“I had an idea,” Marjani said suddenly. When Ben came back, she had him drop the equipment. “Sofia, if you would.”

“What? Me?” Sofia pointed to herself.

Marjani nodded. She took one of Ben’s hands and one of Sofia’s hands. She gestured for the two of them to complete the circle.

“I thought of it after our fight,” she said. “Ben is unable to protect himself with his own powers and barriers. But I thought Sofia might be able to amplify Ben’s, like an antenna, so he would be able to. Ben, go ahead.”

“Why did you… why would I be able to do that?” Sofia asked.

Marjani was already starting to glow. Sofia could feel Ben’s magic surround her, like a warm hug.

“Telepathy is reaching into somebody else’s mind,” she said. “Plus, with telekinesis, I thought maybe you could bring something from his mind into a physicality.”

“Um. Okay.” Sofia took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the feeling of Ben’s magic. It didn’t… feel like magic exactly, now that she was focusing on it. Not strictly speaking. Not like Sugi’s powers did. It was something else.

She tried to give Ben that same feeling back.

“Good,” Marjani said, ringing in Sofia’s consciousness.

Sofia opened her eyes. Ben was encased in his own powers. His own warm hug.

“Now take a step back…”

Sofia let go of their hands. Ben instantly latched onto Marjani’s.

“Try throwing something at us. It should break on impact.”

Sofia saw a rock nearby. She used her telekinesis to lift it and launch it at the couple. Just as Marjani suspected, it exploded into dust.

Ben flinched, but Marjani held fast onto his hands. She smiled at him even as the barrier faded. “There, you see?” she said. “I knew we could find a way to protect you.”

“How did you know that would work?” he asked.

Marjani shrugged, waving it off. “We need to understand each other’s powers if we ever want to defeat the Evil Ones,” she said. Sofia wasn’t sure if she meant everyone or just her and Ben. “I’ll help you put your things away. Then movie night?”

He smiled. “Definitely.”

They dumped the training equipment in the little shed at the edge of the field where Ms. Hera kept her things. Then they waved goodbye to Sofia, promising her a lunch in return for her help.

She was still buzzing with it. The residual power from Ben or her own power that had bounced off of Ben’s barriers… she wasn’t sure. It was something making everything feel too still and too quiet now that the other two were gone, making the hairs on her arms stand up.

Silence. The bubbles in her brain felt almost physical.

She tried to pop them.

Tune the radio so she didn’t hear it. But then somebody else was in the passenger’s side, messing with her presets.

She heard metal music. She wasn’t familiar enough to know what kind, just that it was heavy and fast and noisy. But far away, like it was a concert in the venue next door. Like sitting next to someone on the bus who listens to their music way too loud.

“What the fuck is that?”

Clear as day. Sofia startled, looked around.

It was unmistakably a bubble thought, but… It sounded clear, clearer than the bubble thoughts had ever been before. Pointed. Someone talking at her.

Someone else was tuning again. The clarity was getting blurry. The buzz under her skin was fading, her heart rate slowing.

Sofia felt like she was coming back to earth.