Chapter 14: Sunday Evening, 6:52PM

“I’m never going outside ever again,” Alaina said, laying on her side on the couch and continuing to shiver, though she was no longer in the fetal position.

Mom stroked her shoulder. “Sorry, Lainy, I just wanted to make sure you understood how important it is that you don’t accidentally let the wrong people know.”

“No, I’m really glad you told me, Mom.” Alaina shuddered, hugging her arms more tightly around herself. “I can’t believe how stupid I’ve been. I shouldn’t have told anyone. Your way of never telling anyone is so much smarter!”

“Maybe,” Mom said, sounding wistful. “But it’s also a lot lonelier. It’s not a coincidence you don’t see me inviting friends over or going out when I’m off from work. I’m ... glad you don’t take after me in that.”

Alaina snuggled up closer to her mom, adjusting her head on her mom’s lap. Poor Mom. She doesn’t have any friends? She frowned. It’s true, though. She’s never had anyone over the house, and I’ve never heard her talk about going out to meet anyone. I never thought about how hard she must have it. “Don’t worry, Mom,” she said, putting on the best smile she could muster. “I’m still here if you wanna hang out.” A thought struck her. “What do you do on your off days if I’m not around, anyway?”

Her mom smiled down at her. “Are you ready for that Biology lecture finally?”

I’d really rather not... “Um...”

“It takes a lot of practice to be able to do any of the stuff I did last week, y’know.” Mom patted her shoulder. “Lots of practice.”

“It does?” Alaina’s face scrunched up. “I kind of figured you just imagined what you wanted and it happened.” That’s how it is when I change myself, at least.

Mom snorted. “That’d be living the dream. Do you know how hard it was to learn how to begin growing and modifying individual, specialized cells?”

“You mean—”

“Yup, each and every one.”

“Is it even possible to concentrate on that many things at a time?”

Her mom gave her a devious look. “A normal, human brain couldn’t do it, no.”

Alaina’s eyes widened.

“But that’s all I’m gonna say until you decide you’re ready to actually learn—and not just cool-stuff-your-mom-can-do learning, either.”

“Mom!” Alaina whined. “Come on! You can’t just say something like that and then not tell me!”

“So I should go get my whiteboard?” Mom said in an eager voice.

The student council president and valedictorian grimaced at the prospect of learning. I don’t know if I’ve ever had as bad a headache as the last time I agreed to let mom teach me something. It’s like her mind operates on a completely different level. Which ... it maybe does? That’s too much for tonight though, my brain needs a rest. “Um ... Maybe another time, actually?”

Her mom gave her a forlorn look. “Well ... Okay, I guess.” She sighed. “If you’re already past a hundred levels in your Class, you probably don’t need your old mom trying to explain how the world works anymore. At least now I know you’ve really been working on getting me those grandkids, though.”

At least I’ve really been... Alaina’s thoughts ground to a halt as she realized the implication. “Moom!” She put her hands up to cover her burning face.

Mom patted her shoulder. “I trust you to pick good names for all four of them, Lainy, but I’ve got a few picked out in case you want help.”

“If you wanna know about that, you’ll have to give me something in exchange,” Mom said, gazing over at her expectantly.

Alaina gave her a helpless look from her seat on the end of the couch. “Really, Mom?”

“Sweetie, I need to know more about your Class so I can help keep you safe. Just tell me something I don’t know, and I’ll answer your question.”

Ugh, I’m running out of stuff to tell her that isn’t so embarrassing I’d want to die. Well, not actually die ... Alaina grimaced. “Alright, fine. That time I gave you a foot massage on Monday, I was using a Skill.” She moved her legs, putting them down over the front of the couch, and reached her hand over to grab her mom’s nearest hand. Then she activated a Skill at near full power.

“Now that’s interesting,” Mom said excitedly, turning her daughter’s vibrating hand to get a better look. “Hm, it doesn’t seem to be muscular,” she muttered after a moment, eyes studying intently. Another moment passed, and she blinked. “Well, that’s quite something, Lainy,” she said, looking back up.

Alaina deactivated her Skill and moved her hand to her lap. “What is?” I never really thought about how any of my Skills or Traits work. Did she figure it out? “You know how it works?”

Her mom tapped her lip. “I don’t have the slightest clue, actually. That’s what’s so interesting.”

Alaina rolled her eyes. “Of course it is, Mom. Now, will you tell me what’s going on with my Class already?”

Mom continued tapping her lip, seeming lost in thought for a moment. “Sorry, I got a little distracted,” she said, blinking. “It’s just so...” She harrumphed. “I’ll have to think on this. Anyway, you wanted to know why you don’t know your Class level or new abilities?” She spread her arms wide and grinned. “Welcome to having an anomalous Class, Lainy.”

Alaina frowned. “That’s not funny, Mom.”

“I’m not joking, sweetie,” her mom said. “Sometimes you’ll know everything about your Class, and sometimes you won’t.” Her grin faded. “As best I can tell, the human brain can only keep up with so much change before it stops tracking Class data. After a while it catches up again, though.”

“So ... For a while I’ll only know about the parts of my Class I knew about before I stopped knowing about parts of it?” Ugh, this is why I hate learning stuff from Mom...

“More or less,” Mom said, rubbing her daughter’s knee. “You’ll be able to stumble on newer Skills and Traits you have if you happen to think about them—sort of like remembering where you left your keys, which we’re still gonna have to talk about—but that’s pretty unlikely.”

That at least explains how I knew I had a Trait that would make Tiff and Kay immune to all the bullshit from the owner Trait. So stupid, though; why does it affect all the girls Will’s had sex with? Not all girls like bringing sex toys to bed! “I see,” she said slowly.

I also figured out that Trait where my body fluids inoculate against everything they cure, which is, as Tiff would say, AWESOOOME! She smiled a little. I can imagine her saying it, too. “It doesn’t seem too bad?”

Her mom smiled back. “That’s my brave girl.”

“How long does it usually last?” Alaina asked.

“From my own experience, it varied depending on my growth,” her mom said, her gaze losing focus. “The shortest was a day or two, and the longest was a couple months.”

“A couple months?” Alaina said, her eyebrows climbing up her forehead. “How many levels was that?”

Mom’s eyes focused once more. “No clue, sweetie. It’s a little tedious to worry about that kind of thing after a while, though, don’t you think? If you’ve got a hundred Skills and Traits, not to mention however many Quirks, even keeping track of them gets exhausting.” She yawned.

A hundred Skills and Traits? Isn’t that like, level five hundred? Or ... Did she mean a hundred Skills and a hundred Traits? Alaina stared.

“I’d love to keep talking, Lainy, but I’m falling asleep, and I think your boyfriend wants to talk to you,” her mom said.

“Uh, Alaina, Mrs. Bishop?” Will’s voice floated over from behind the couch in the direction of the front door. “I think I’m going to head back to Vin’s. Alaina, do you—”

“I’ll walk you out,” Alaina said, scrambling off the couch. My head hurts. And I need to know what he and Laura were up to. Why is he leaving, though? I was gonna invite him to stay over.

She turned, expecting to see Laura clinging to Will again, but he was alone, kneeling down to tie his sneakers. A tide of palpable relief washed over her.

Wait, am I jealous? She paused. “Hold on a sec, I have something for you.” She turned and raced back through the living room to the kitchen.

Laura was nowhere to be seen. Alaina glanced around as she pulled open the refrigerator and retrieved a plastic container. Did she disappear?

Will met her in the doorway to the atrium. “What’s that?” he asked.

She tugged on his sweater with her free hand until he bent down for a kiss. Ugh, I can’t tell if they’ve been kissing because of this stupid Quirk flavor. “I made it for you, so take it,” she said, holding out the container after she’d released him.

Her boyfriend’s eyes lit up as he accepted the previous night’s leftovers. “I was wondering why you made so much. Thanks, Alaina.”

He really liked my cooking. She smiled and nestled in under his right arm as they approached the door. Glancing to her right, she spotted the back of her mom’s head leaning against the couch. Mom was even more tired than I thought. I guess not even she can escape being sleepy.

“Hold on, let me get my shoes,” Alaina said, separating from him and kneeling down to pull a pair of sneakers from the nearby mat onto her feet. She started to lace them.

“That lobster mac and cheese you made was great,” Will said.

“You mean that we made,” Alaina said. She stood up.

Will grinned at her. “Yes, Chef!”

She snorted. “Don’t start that again.”

He looked over her head into the sitting room. “Things are good now?” he whispered.

She nodded. “Thanks, Will,” she said softly. If I hadn’t listened to him, I might not have made up with Mom for a while. We don’t fight much, but when we do, it usually lasts a while... “Um ... Do you wanna stay over instead?” she asked, fidgeting a little. Don’t go.

Will’s expression turned complicated. “I don’t think I should, at least not tonight. Walk me out, and I’ll explain?”

Alaina pouted. “Alright.” She unlocked the front door and pulled it open.

Her boyfriend pushed through the storm door and held it open for her as she stepped out after him. “Brrr, it’s colder than I thought it would be,” Will said, putting his free hand in his pocket as he ambled towards the driveway.

“Feels fine to me,” Alaina said after tweaking her body temperature to a more comfortable level.

“I’m so jealous of that Skill.”

She cozied up to his side, and he took his hand out of his pocket to wrap it around her. Her hand reached up to clasp his.

“The main reason I’m leaving,” Will said after a moment, “is I need some time to consider things.” They reached his car and stopped.

“What?” Alaina blinked. Consider things? Her eyes went wide. “Are you br—”

“I just got three days of memories dumped into my head, including all the dreams,” he continued, ignoring the question she was going to ask. “I need a little time to piece through what’s real by myself. There’s ... a lot there, and it’s unbelievably distracting.”

“You can’t do that here?” she asked, clutching his hand.

He squeezed her against himself. “If I’m here, I’m just going to want to spend time with you, and I won’t be able to focus. It’s only one night, Alaina.”

He’s right, it is only one night. So why do I want him to stay so badly?

“We’ll see how dinner tomorrow night goes; maybe I’ll stay over after if you want me to,” he said.

Fuck, I completely forgot about that. “Okay,” she said, trying not to sound disappointed.

“The other reason I’m leaving is for you,” he said.

“What?” She frowned up at him.

“I know you’re still worrying about Laura, Alaina,” said Will, giving her another, longer squeeze. “So to prove to you that I’m still your boyfriend, I’m leaving. Because she’s still here, and I don’t want you thinking that if I stay it’s because of her. Leaving a house with two beautiful girls who both like me a lot: not something I’d do if I didn’t have complete control of myself, wouldn’t you say?” He waggled his eyebrows down at her.

She giggled. “That’s the dumbest smart person reasoning I think I’ve ever heard.”

“Dumber than the outfits from last night?” he teased.

“Hey!” Alaina said, poking him in his side. “You liked those outfits. I picked them because I knew you would!”

“I did,” he agreed with a chuckle.

A moment passed.

“Um...” She ran her fingers along his hand. “So what did you and Laura do for the past couple hours?”

“Are you going to believe me if I tell you?”

She nodded firmly. “I will.”

“No, I’m Will.”

She pinched the back of his hand.

“Tough crowd,” he said nonchalantly.

She pinched harder.

“Ow, ow, ow, alright, alright! I’m just trying to lighten the mood a little...”

She stopped pinching.

“We sat on the couch in the den and I gave her a hug,” Will said, placing the container on his car’s trunk and reaching around her to rub his hand.

“You gave her a hug for two hours?” Alaina said, sounding anxious despite her best efforts. With how she feels about him, they really didn’t kiss or anything more?