Chapter 1

The San Diego International Airport sat rather quiet.

There were only hundreds of people working or waiting for planes, yet it was still quiet.

Early in the morning, nobody was fully awake.

At one gate, a young white man was sitting wearing a metal band t-shirt under an open flannel with black jeans covered in holes and tears and black converse shoes.

He was slumped over far in the chair, his head at the bottom while his legs were stretched far out.

“Sit up.” A woman said with a silent shout.

The boy rolled his eyes and sat up, staring at a woman in her late 20s wearing a very expensive dress, sunglasses despite them being indoors while the sun was still hiding, and waving herself with a large fan.

Next to her was a man who was at least 20 years older than her, passed out asleep in an expensive suit.

“Why are we here so early?” The boy asked.

“Because I wanted to get here before too many people got here. Being seen along with all of these…” She stopped as she struggled to come up with a word to describe the poor people around her.

“Let me guess…peasants.” He said.

She shivered and covered her face.

“Maybe if you hadn’t broken the private jet, we’d already be in Bali by now. But you had to have a stupid party with your friends.” She tried her best to not be too loud. To not draw attention to herself.

“I’m going to use the bathroom. If Dad wakes up, tell him I ran away.” The boy said as he got up, walking away before she could say anything else.

She looked offended, but then pulled out her phone to message all of her friends in a group chat.

Over at another gate, a very large boy with dark skin was sitting, wearing a football jersey. He was reading War and Peace, a massive book that he was already halfway through.

“Are you ready?” A voice asked.

The young boy looked over at an older man with similar skin tone.

“I’m ready Dad.” The boy sighed.

His Dad sighed, leaning forward and reaching out to very slowly close the book.

“This school will be good for you. I mean, Notre Dame? You’ll get a full ride! All you gotta do is play football, and you are the best player I’ve ever seen.” His Dad said.

“But I told you. I don’t want to do football.” The boy said, trying to open the book again.

His Dad sighed.

“We’ve talked about this. You going to somewhere like Yale or MIT or Harvard is impressive, but then what are you going to do after that?” His Dad asked.

“And I told you I had a plan.” His Son replied, going back to reading the book.

“A quadruple major isn’t going to do anything for you. You’ll spend so much time focusing on studying that you won’t be able to do anything else. No football, no friends, no partying. You’ll just be learning.” His Dad said.

The boy didn’t respond.

To him, all of that stuff sounded perfect.

His Dad reached out and put his hand on the boy’s knee.

“Just think about your Mom.”

The boy suddenly felt his entire body go stiff and tense.

“Don’t do that. That’s not fair.”

The boy began to tear up.

His Dad sighed, sitting back with an apologetic face.

“I’m sorry…but you know what she wanted.” He said softly.

The boy shut his book rather hard.

“I’m going to the bathroom.”

The boy stood up, his Father reaching out, but not following him.

“Fuck.” The Dad whispered to himself.

At a third gate, another young white boy was sitting. His hair was orange and curly, very poorly maintained. His eyes had heavy bags, almost like he had never slept in his entire life.

“Where’s the pretty lady with more…”

The boy looked over at an old man with a very poorly kept white beard. Around him were dozens of empty beer bottles and crushed up beer cans.

“That lady was a flight attendant. And she doesn’t have more drinks. She was picking up the ones you left here as a mess.” The boy said as he groaned.

“Well I need more. Go get me some.”

The man pulled out a wallet and threw it at the boy. The boy opened it to see an empty wallet, not even ID inside.

“Yeah…sure thing Dad.” He rolled his eyes and got up, just wanting to get away from his alcoholic Father.

He walked the quiet and empty halls of the airport terminal. None of the shops or food places were open. Everything was shut tightly. He found a vending machine full of junk food, stopping and staring at the bags of chips and candy bars. His stomach grumbled as he pulled at all four of his pockets in his blue jeans, all of them coming out to show they were completely empty.

“God damn it…” He mumbled to himself.

He could see his reflection in the glass of the vending machine.

His messy face and hair. The bags under his eyes so large and deep that his cheeks were almost gone completely.

He looked over his shoulder in the reflection, spotting his Dad walking around drunk.

“Shit.” He said before turning around and running after them.

At a fourth gate, there were 8 boys, all college aged wearing tank tops and shorts while laughing loudly.

“Man this trip is gonna be SIIIICCCKKK!” One shouted, dropping his voice very low as he shouted sick.

“I’m hoping to get fucked up man. I heard Ibiza has some crazy drugs you can’t find anywhere else.” Another said.

While the 8 boys laughed, a 9th sat at the edge, looking uncomfortable and nervous.

One turned to him, slapping his back hard, making him lose his breath in an instant.

“Aww what’s wrong boy, gotta call your Mom for permission?” He joked, all of the other boys laughing.

The boy immediately stood up and began to walk away, the boys all laughing and pointing at him.

He began to cry, so he wiped the tears away as he walked into the nearest restroom. He quickly made his way through the empty space and went to one of the stalls, shutting it and sitting down hard. He buried his face into his hands, crying quietly as his body shook.

As he sat, he heard the restroom door open again.

He stopped and looked at the bottom of the stalls, lifting his legs up so he couldn’t be spotted.

“God damn…”

A voice said, sounding tired and annoyed.

The large dark skinned boy made his way to the mirror, turning the sink on and splashing the water onto his face. He groaned and stared deep into the eyes of his reflection, taking long and deep breaths.

A few seconds later, the door opened again.

The first young boy with his metal shirt walked in, immediately going to the sinks and leaning against the wall, pulling out his phone and scrolling through the internet.

The dark skinned boy looked over at him and smirked.

“Hiding from your parents?” He asked.

“Crazy stepmom who married my dad for his money. You?” He asked.

“Dad who wants me to go to college to play football rather than go where I want to go and do what I want to do.” He replied.

“Oh, that’s gotta suck.” The other boy replied.

“What’s your name?” The dark skinned boy asked.

The other boy sighed.

“Tristan. Yours?” He asked.

The black boy sighed.

“Kenny.”

“Why the sigh?” Tristan asked.

“I’m named after Kenny Washington.” He replied.

Tristan looked completely oblivious.

“Kenny Washington? First African American to sign a contract with the NFL? There’s a documentary about him and three other athletes called Forgotten Four.” Kenny said.

Tristan kept looking oblivious.

“Alright, whatever.” He sighed.

The stall door opened as the other boy stepped out, both of them looking at him.

“Did you flush?” Tristan asked.

“Did you even go?” Kenny asked.

The boy looked nervous and scared, wiping his eyes quickly.

“Y…y…yeah…just need…to…” He began to walk towards the sinks with shaking hands.

Tristan sighed.

“What’s going on with you buddy?” He asked.

The boy looked nervous and cleared his throat.

“Well…my name…is Jordan…and I’m…in a fra…frat house…” He said.

Tristan softly chuckled.

“Let me guess. They did all the hazing stuff to you?” Tristan joked, thinking it was light hearted.

“They…locked me…in a basement…for a week…completely naked…during winter break.” He said.

Tristan’s eyes went wide as Kenny stepped back.

“Holy shit.” They both said in unison.

“I almost died…got saved by a janitor who wasn’t even supposed to be there.” Jordan said as his eye teared up.

Kenny stepped forward and wrapped his arms around him.

Jordan immediately began to cry as he was embraced, wrapping his arms around Kenny.

Kenny and Tristan looked at each other, Kenny mouthing to Tristan.

“Get over here.”

Tristan moved his arms around as he mouthed back.

“What am I gonna do?”

“Hug him.”

“I don’t want to hug him. I’m not a group hug kind of guy either.”

Kenny gave very intense eyes to Tristan, who rolled his own before walking over. He was about to wrap his arms around Jordan from behind, but then the restroom door flung open loudly, making all three boys jump.

The drunk man stumbled in, needing the wall to hold himself up as he began to stand between two urinals, pulling his pants all the way down.

“Dad!”

The fourth boy ran in and pulled his Dad to the side just before he began to pee with a loud and long stream into the urinal. The boy groaned and rubbed his head as his Dad peed.

“Sorry about that. He likes to stumble around when he’s drunk.” He said, looking like the dictionary definition of exhaustion.

“You need to get in on this group hug?” Kenny asked.

Tristan looked at Kenny annoyed as Jordan wiped his face.

“Group hug? Why would I do that with some strangers?” He asked.

“I’m Kenny. That’s Tristan and this is Jordan. There, now we’re not strangers anymore.” Kenny said with a smile.

The boy softly chuckled and tried to hide a smirk.

“Alright, but why should I tell you my name?” He asked.

“I didn’t say you had to.” Kenny replied.

The boy looked over at Tristan, who was scratching the back of his head.

“What’s everyone else’s deal?” He asked.

Tristan looked at him annoyed.

“Tristan has a crazy gold digger stepmom. I got a Dad pushing me to do something I don’t want to do. Jordan here is in an abusive cult.” Kenny said.

“Abusive cult? Is that code for frat house or something?” The boy asked.

Kenny shrugged as the boy locked eyes with Jordan.

“Well damn. I’m sorry to hear that.” He said.

They all stood in silence, well as much silence as they could with the boy’s dad still peeing.

“So, what’s your name?” Tristan asked.

“Joan! I need your help!” The boy’s father shouted.

The boy sighed and slowly closed his eyes, embarrassed.

“Yeah yeah dad.” He walked over and grabbed his dad by his shoulders, shaking him to get the last bit of pee out. The he crouched down in order to help him get his pants up. Even having to button and zip them.

“Joan?” Kenny asked.

“Cause when he was born…he looked like Joan Jett!” His father shouted before falling to the ground, snoring loudly.

Joan clenched his hands into fists before taking a very slow and deep breath.

“That’s a very weird person to look like when you’re born.” Kenny replied.

“Are you like secretly old or something? Who are these people?” Tristan asked.

“You don’t know who Joan Jett is?” Kenny asked.

“No. I listen to good music.” Tristan showed off his shirt.

“Alright, we can discuss that at another time.” Kenny replied.

The boys all looked at each other with awkward tension.

“So, I guess we should go back to our gates now huh?” Jordan asked.

“Yeah. Never thought I’d make friends in a airport bathroom.” Joan said.

“Nope. We aren't friends. Just some guys who were in the bathroom at the same time.” Tristan replied.

He went to leave, but a airport police officer walked into the bathroom. All four boys froze with faces of panic as the officer looked at the passed out man on the floor.

Kenny immediately lifted his hands into the air while Jordan and Joan slowly lifted theirs, and Tristan didn’t lift his at all.

“What’s going on in here?” The officer asked.

“Just my dad being drunk and passed out like always.” Joan said as he tried to pick his dad up, but he was too heavy.

The officer looked at the other three boys.

Tristan looked like he couldn’t be bothered, Jordan looked only slightly fearful, and Kenny was shaking and sweating.

“Excuse me son, are you alright?” The officer asked as his eyes locked onto Kenny, who towered over himself and the other boys.

Kenny stared at him with more panic in his eyes.

“Officer he didn’t do anything. Lay off.” Tristan said.

The officer turned his attention to Tristan, reaching down to his belt.

“Excuse me?” The officer asked.

“Oh come on. You’re an officer at an airport. What can you do?” Tristan asked.

The officer softly chuckled, then went to punch Tristan.

His arm suddenly froze in midair, his entire body seeming to go rigid, yet shaking.

His eyes were full of pain and anger, bulging with bloodshot eyes.

Tristan looked confused, but then looked over the officer’s shoulder.

Joan was crouched on the ground with his eyes glowing blood red.

“No ******* way.” Tristan said, shocked at what he was seeing.

The officer suddenly dropped to the ground as Joan’s eyes stopped glowing.

“I…” Tristan started.

“You didn’t see anything.” Joan said as he lifted his father up, not struggling at all.

“No I mean…”

Tristan’s eyes began to glow bright purple as the air around him was pressed into tight balls in his hands, turning into liquid, then solid oxygen and hydrogen. In a split second, the solid turned into balls of plasma before he let them turn back into air.

“Oxygen Manipulation?” Joan asked.

“Hydrogen. Can control it completely. Change the state of matter, control where it goes. Stuff like that.” Tristan asked.

“So you could control water?” Joan asked.

“It’s difficult because of the oxygen, but yeah.” Tristan replied.

“Nice. I got Collagen. Rather specific, but comes in handy for things like that.” Joan replied back.

The two then looked over at Kenny and Jordan.

“Shit.” Tristan said.

Jordan swallowed hard, closing his eyes slowly when they began to glow a faint, dark blue color.

He opened them, and the light bulbs in the room began to flicker rapidly before bolts of electricity shot out and into Jordan’s body. The room was dark, pitch black with all of the lights off. Lightning flickered and ran over his body, creating flashes of light and sparks to illuminate himself and the space around him, before they shot back to the light bulbs, the lights turning back on and shining as if nothing happened.

“Electricity…don’t really understand it more than that.” Jordan said with a nervous smile.

All three of them turned and looked at Kenny, who had an obviously fake face of shock.

“Holy shit! This is crazy! What the **** am…”

Kenny realized the three didn’t buy it, making him sigh and slouch his shoulders.

“Alright fine.”

He went over to the kitchen counter and put his hand on it. He closed his eyes and they began to glow a dark brown color.

His skin suddenly became the same pattern as the counter. Very ugly beige, green, and brown dots covering his hand before it spread more. Within a few seconds, his entire body was the same color and pattern. He pulled his hand away and raised his arms up.

“Somebody come hit me.” He said.

Tristan walked over and felt his skin.

It was the same material as the counter.

“Holy shit.” He said.

“Skin, muscles, even my bones.” He replied.

Tristan pulled his hand back and punched hard, his hand hitting a wall and making him clutch his hand.

“Aww…fuck!” He said loudly as he shook his hand around.

Kenny softly laughed before closing his eyes and seeming to concentrate. His body slowly went back to its normal skin tone and texture.

“How does that work?” Joan asked.

“I have done a lot of research into it. I haven’t exactly found any research papers about human bodies changing the material they’re made of.” Kenny joked.

The four boys looked at each other, unsure what to do or say next.

“So…we just go back to our awful lives and pretend we never met?” Jordan asked.

They continued to all share looks at each other.

“You know…I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii.” Joan piped in.

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