There was a stunned silence in the room for the next two or three minutes as Kyla, Erin, and Geri tried to make sense of what had happened. For a while, the three merely stared in shocked silence. I wasn't sure what to do, so I glanced around the room, avoiding their eyes. I was just waiting for one of them to call me a freak or a weirdo or something like that.
Erin was the first to react. "Wow!" she cheered. "That was cool! How did you do that? Can you do it again?"
I blinked. "Um…well, yeah I can but there's really no point," I began.
Geri recovered next. "What does this mean?" she asked. "You're an alien?"
I shifted focus, a bit confused. "Um, I don't know," I replied.
"Are there others like you?" Erin asked.
"I don't know…"
"Does the government know about you?" Geri asked.
"I don't think so…"
"What does your brother think?" Erin asked.
"Um…he's okay with it..."
"Does anybody else know about this?" Geri asked.
"Well…"
"Guys," Kyla spoke up. "You're gonna give her a headache. One at a time." She had been quiet until now, and I guess she had been digesting it. "Give her a chance to answer, at least!"
"Well, I'm not sure how I do it, really," I replied. "I just kinda envision myself as that and it happens. I don't even think about it much anymore. I don't know of any others like me. I'm not sure what I am only that I'm obviously not the same as you guys. I don't think the government knows who or, or what I am." I paused to take a breath.
"Does anyone else know about this?" Geri jumped in. I thought a moment.
"Not really. My family, of course, my mom, my dad, and my brother."
"What about your third-grade class or whatever it was that first saw it?" Erin spoke up.
"They've convinced themselves it was all a dream," I replied.
"Are you serious?" Kyla asked.
"Well, something to that effect. It was a really short episode and I denied it every time they questioned me about it. There weren't any teachers or adults in the room at the time so it was easy to assume the kids had made up a funny story," I told them, remembering.
"Convenient," Kyla replied.
There was silence in the room again for a few moments as the three of them took in the idea. At first the silence was nice after the barrage of questioning, but then it became awkward. I wondered what they were thinking about.
I wondered if they were thinking about how to respond to it. I was wondering how I would have acted if the roles had been reversed. Honestly, I couldn't. I couldn't imagine how I'd react if a friend had told me what I had just told them…what I had just shown them. I wasn't envying them in the least bit.
"Well," Kyla began, breaking the silence. She was unsure about what to say after that.
"Well what?" her roommate asked, looking at her. Erin and I both looked, also.
"I don't know," Kyla answered. "I just was sick of sitting in silence." Erin and Geri chuckled slightly. I rolled my eyes.
(three days later)
I was sitting at lunch, somewhat oblivious to the world around me as I tried to digest my food. I was reading a book at the same time, and was quite uninvolved with the loud and smelly cafeteria. Just the way I'd prefer it to be.
"HEY RONNIE!" I heard someone scream at the top of his or her lungs. I grimaced. It could only be Erin. She was the only person, first of all, who called me that, and second of all, the only one who would shout it across the crowded cafeteria.
Several people around me went silent, wondering who was yelling at whom. I rolled my eyes as I tore them away from the book. Erin, Geri, and Kyla were approaching me. Geri and Kyla were laughing hysterically, and Erin looked as though she was going to die of embarrassment.
I couldn't help laughing myself, earning a vicious glare from Erin as she set her tray down at the table. Kyla and Geri set theirs down to, barely able to sit as they laughed.
"Do you think they heard you outside?" I asked, and Erin blushed even more. Geri and Kyla laughed even harder.
"Wouldn't be surprised," Kyla said between chuckles. Geri was laughing so hard she wasn't going to bother to try to speak. After the laughter had died down and she'd regained control she glanced at the food-like substance in front of me.
"What is that?" she asked. "Supposed to be pasta," I replied, making a face. "The sauce tastes like water, though."
"Ah, so it tastes like it usually does?" Kyla asked. I nodded, and she made a face. I grinned. It looked like life was getting back to normal.
