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Nick flung the textbook open on the bench and told himself to get excited about mass and acceleration and inclined planes.
The room emptied, and when Quinn flicked on the stereo to start warming up, Nick tried to convince himself he would’ve been better off staying in the car.
His brain wasn’t convinced. He didn’t move.
The air told him when Adam walked into the room. Nick ig-34
nored the swirl in the currents, the minute temperature change as his element reacted to his tension.
Study.
He tried. He read the same equation sixteen times. It could have been written in crayon by a dyslexic toddler for all the sense it made.
Adam walked over to the risers.
Nick’s eyes froze on his textbook. Now he couldn’t remember what subject he was studying.
Adam put his hand on one of the wooden benches and leapt to the upper level.
Nick had forgotten how he moved, like a jungle cat crossed with an acrobat. Powerful yet agile. Instead of sitting beside him, Adam sat cross-legged on the riser in front of him.
this afternoon, she thought. But then she picked up on what Nick had said, that Tyler and Seth used to beat the shit out of them. Like his twin brother, Nick was tall, and landscaping gave his body some solid definition. She couldn’t imagine anyone beating the shit out of him—but then again, if everything he’d told her was true, maybe he’d been afraid to fight back.
“I just don’t understand why,” said Quinn. “What do they care?”
Nick glanced over. “We scare them.”
“They’re scared of a little breeze?”
“Remember Homecoming? Remember the tornado that formed over the soccer field? Ripped out a few trees?”
“Yeah?”
Nick gave her a significant look.
“No way,” she said.
“Way.” He grimaced. “I lost control of it. Ended up breaking my leg in three places.”
More events were clicking into place. “You said you threw out your knee playing soccer.”
“It made for a good cover story.” He looked away from her eyes. “Air is everywhere. I heal fast.”
“Can you fly?”
She couldn’t keep the hushed wonder from her voice, and Nick smiled. “No. Too much weight. I can’t focus the air pressure enough for that.”
“What does air pressure have to do with anything?”
“Are you kidding? Air pressure is awesome.”
She rolled her eyes. “You are such a nerd sometimes. You’re lucky you’re hot or you couldn’t get away with saying things like air pressure is awesome.”
“Seriously. Air pressure affects everything. Haven’t you ever heard the expression nature abhors a vacuum?” He grinned.
“Actually, we were doing this experiment in class once where Dr. Cutter was trying to prove a point with a balloon, but I kept making it pop—”
“You are the only person alive who would use superpowers to be more dorky.”
