Super Nobody (Alphas and Omegas Book 1) by Brent Meske

of one kid who had made himself nuts by
copying himself too many times. Another kid had sprouted lightning
from his body. This wasn't happening. You didn't wake up and say
'hmm, I wonder if someone's going to fly right through my office
building today' or 'wouldn't it be totally out of control if this
kid cloned himself over a hundred times and ripped apart his
teachers?'
    “What is going on?” Michael groaned.
    “What do you mean?”
    “I mean everything's nuts. Completely
crazy.”
    “I thought you'd say something like that.
Listen kiddo, I wanted to have this chat with you, because others
might think they can get in on the action. And everybody knows that
you get your ability in a time of stress. Everybody knows you get
something that you need, something that will help you at that point
in time. They'll want their own power so they can levitate cars and
shoot lasers at people they don't like. But I need you to promise
me you're not going to try anything dumb, okay?”
    Michael thought about it. Sure it would be
cool, to fly or jump into a spiked pit or teleport wherever you
wanted, but a lot of people had killed themselves trying to go
Active, after Marcus Patterson. Thousands in the first few
months.
    “You told me that last time. Mr. Springfield
said the same thing.”
    “Well we meant it. There ain't nothing wrong
with being a normal kid, okay?”
    “Okay,” he said.
    “That's a good boy. Now, here's your reader
thing. Your mother tells me school's going to be closed tomorrow,
so you've got yourself a nice three day weekend. How's that
sound?”
    It sounded like the start of time flowing
back to normal. October was half over by the time Jared went
multiple and mental, and the rest of it slunk out without any other
mention of Jared McClaren or Trent. Halloween passed as usual. He
went out as Harry Potter and nobody really understood, but he
hadn't expected them to. Charlotte showed up looking like a thrift
store had thrown up on her. She explained that she was going as a
hippie. It didn't do much to explain the red-tinted sunglasses,
flowery and flowing dress on top of the bell bottoms, or the rings
and bangles, but Michael didn't mind. She looked great.
    But when November showed its red, gold, and
pink face, the worst and most unimaginable thing happened to
Michael.
    He lost his only friend.
    One day she was telling him about how the
twins were making trouble at home, and then that she'd started to
get into the work of a guy named John Legend, and the next she
didn't show up to school at all. She couldn't have been sick.
    She didn't show up the next day. Or the
next.
    Then one day during first hour, which was
social studies again, Jared McClaren came in before the bell rang.
Silence took over the classroom at his heels. Everybody stared at
him, but he only looked around, passed Michael, tripped over a
desk, muttered something about a bathroom, and headed out again. He
was lucky Wozniak hadn't gotten to the classroom, he thought.
    Somebody told the old man just as soon as
he'd walked in the class, though.
    Mr. Wozniak's eyes widened. “What, where?
Where exactly did he go? What did he do?”
    Lindsay Schwartz cocked her head. “He must
have been drunk or something. He was tripping all over the place.
He went over there and...” She appeared to realize that she was
pointing right at Michael, and hastily pulled her hand back.
    “And?” Mr. Wozniak asked.
    “He just went to the bathroom.”
    Mr. Wozniak was on the phone before she
finished her sentence. The school was on lockdown in a matter of
minutes. Even though his grandfather had told him about it, Michael
was still surprised when someone came over the intercom to say it
was a code yellow, and for everyone to remain in their classrooms.
A golden flash erupted just outside the door, and the face of a
young woman appeared in the window. Mr. Wozniak held up his hands
in a big X shape. He's not here.
    The search lasted through the bell time, and
all of them