Lucas sighed when she informed him that she had been reading his emotions this entire time. He expected to experience a feeling of invaded privacy, but to his own surprise, he didn’t feel like that at all. It came as a slight relief to hear that he was bore to read mentally, which was a sign to him that his own mental walls were pretty well-fortified. Or maybe he really just was boring. He smiled at that thought because that it was probably true. Nevertheless, he reminded himself to be especially careful with his feelings around her.

“Don’t be sorry,” he told her. “And look—you’ve got dirt on me too. There isn’t any possible benefit in telling everyone at school about you. Besides, I’m not [i]that[/i] big of an asshole.”

He then exhaled deeply and leaned backwards slightly when she asked him about his powers. 

“Well… It’s kinda a big story,” he explained. “I think I was like thirteen when I noticed something was, well, different. It was pretty innocent actually. Like, I remember, whenever my phone died, it would turn on when I held it in my hand.” He held out his palms as he spoke.

“But I mean, that isn’t [i]that[/i] strange, so I didn’t really think much of it. I honestly thought it was just because my phone was really shitty. In fact I’d still believe that was the case if things didn’t get weirder. Like… after that, I noticed that on really dry days, these sparks would sometimes pop around me—kinda like the static when you pull a hoodie on or something—except these would happen out of nowhere. I’d just be sitting and my bed trying to sleep, completely still, and then [i]pop[/i]! Sometimes when I got upset, I’d come up here as then as I would fume, [i]pop, pop, pop[/i]! I never felt them like you would with static, but I could see them. Sometimes it really scared me. And—this was really weird—whenever there’d by a thunder storm, I’d get filled with this really weird, almost euphoric energy, almost like some kind of high. It was the strangest feeling…”

He stopped and stared up at the ceiling for a moment, trying to remember what happened next.

“I think, after I accepted that there was something different about me, I wanted to really see what I could do with what I had,” he continued slowly. “So one day, before my parents got home, I wandered down the street to this forest nearby, and I walked in deep enough so I was sure I was completely alone. And at first, I didn’t know exactly how to summon my powers, because, you know, I didn’t really know what exactly my powers were, except that it had something to do with electricity. So all I did was, I imagined all this static energy bided up inside me, and I thrust my hand out, channeling my energy in that direction and this bright little vein of lightning came right out of my palm and burned the bark of nearby tree. All I can say is that it felt… exhilarating, but a little exhausting too. I ran straight home after that, but since then, I’ve occasionally gone back to that forest and played around with my powers… The good news is that I haven’t started a forest fire yet!”

He smiled but quickly went on. “Anyway,” he said, “I’ve gotten a pretty good grip on my powers and controlling them.” He left the part about keeping his emotions in check out. “Now, I’m perfectly okay with going in a swimming pool without barbecuing everyone inside,” he added with another chuckle. “But, so yeah. That’s my story… I still don’t know if I’ve found out every applied use of my powers, but I’m pretty sure my affinity is electricity. Sometimes it’s pretty handy, especially if you’ve lost your phone charger or something.”

He stopped for a moment to let that sink in, but he was also curious to hear her own story. “What about you?” he asked, leaning forward and giving her his undivided attention.