Hunter sat at her desk with her head lying on her history textbook. She could hear snickers coming from her classmates, but she tried her hardest to tune them out. She didn’t need her perfect memory to know what they were saying about her.

“She’s absorbing the information like a sponge.”

“Is her ability Memory or Osmosis?”

She grimaced and turned the volume up on her iPod. She wished she could just fast-track out of high school, but then she’d be stuck in college with other students who knew nothing about her and her ability. At least at Robin Thrush’s Ability Academy, people knew what was going on.

The chair at the desk beside Hunter’s scraped against the floor and she looked over, a smile spreading over her frown. “Hey, James.” She greeted her friend.

“I told you to stop calling me that.” Lucas gave her a light punch on her shoulder. “I go by Lucas. Can’t you just forget what you heard?”

“No dice.” She said back, tapping her forehead.

Lucas sighed, running a hand through his dark blond hair. He pulled his textbook from his bag and fiddled with the edges, charred flakes falling to his desk. It made Hunter smile, seeing how his ability to control fire worked itself into his daily life.

When their teacher entered the room to start the lesson, Hunter sat up and opened her textbook, but let her eyes wander. She paid only enough attention to be able to pull it up in her mind later. With her perfect memory, she didn’t have to actually focus to get the information.

“Lucky quack.” Lucas’s boyfriend had complained upon hearing about her situation. “And all I can do is stop time.” He’d grumbled.

Hunter didn’t know when, but she fell asleep at some point during the class. She awoke to Lucas scraping back his chair.

“Dan says he’ll introduce his new friend at lunch.” Lucas said as he pulled his bag onto his shoulder.

“New friend?”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Hunter, you have to stop zoning out like that. I told you, and you’ll remember it later, that Dan’s class got a new transfer student from a normal school.”

Hunter paled at the mention of a ‘normal school’. She’d fought with her parents for months to transfer her to RTAA and couldn’t imagine going through the normal system with an ability like her brother had. “What’s his damage?” She asked without thinking.

“You, if you aren’t careful.” Lucas warned. “We all know you’re joking. But he won’t. Try to be considerate.”

“This coming from the guy who set his own boyfriend’s backpack on fire.” Hunter shook her head, laughing, as she stood. “At least he wasn’t wearing it.”

They laughed together as they walked through the halls. Around them, other students stopped their own conversations to watch them.

It made Hunter nervous sometimes, having so many eyes on her, but one joke from Lucas was all it took to drown out the onlookers. He was her best friend and she was his. Even if he’d gotten himself a boyfriend, she was still his go-to for most problems.

They parted ways at the stairway, Lucas heading for his ability class while Hunter headed for the cafeteria. It felt odd, having all but one class with all the same people. She spent all day listening to the same voices drone on about meaningless crap. Then, just before lunch, everyone split off into specialized classes. Hunter didn’t fit into any of the lessons, so she had a free block to find the perfect table.