Second Chance (Background) (Patreon)

It's a public holiday today, and I'm also coming down with a cold, so you get some filler today. This isn't a chapter from a story I'm working on, it's... an exercise and a reference. This story will have a chapter where Jack gets introduced to the class, and it might contain some of this, but I'm not going to do a chapter that's just descriptions. I'm not sure how I'll play it when the time comes.

Writing this was an exercise getting me to write more descriptions, and having this is a useful resource for when I need to remember what these guys look like. We'll see how much of it makes it into the story when the time comes.

Ah, some context: Second Chance is a story about a world in 2035 where a small number of people get Gifts (superpowers). This has been happening since 2000, so society has mostly adjusted to the new normal. There are no tech-creating Gifts, so technology has only advanced a little bit beyond our own. Jack is starting at a school for people with Gifts, and while it isn't required, the stated intention is to prepare them for a career as a superhero.

So onto the bit!

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Miss Sanchez addressed Class 1A. She was short, and slightly built, dressed professionally, as was appropriate for a teacher. Her tanned skin and dark hair marked her as Hispanic, even if the name wasn’t a giveaway.

“Okay, class, since we have a new member, let him introduce himself, and then you can all take a turn.”

Jack stood in front of the class, feeling more than a little intimidated. He was a little taller than average, but skinny with it, making him seem gangly and awkward. He had the pale skin of someone who spent most of his time playing games indoors and blue-grey eyes. He had unruly black hair that was closely cut around the sides and brushed up on top with a small amount of product.

“Hi, I’m Jack Mansfield,” he said nervously. “My Gift is shapeshifting, so, uh,” he trailed off as he focussed. He’d given some thought about how to present his gift, but he was already having second thoughts. He pushed them aside, and turned his skin green. There was some murmuring from the students in front of him, but no one said anything, so he made himself grow scales, and turned his hair into feathers.

“Very good, Mr Mansfield,” Miss Sanchez said, and he quickly reverted to his natural self. “Donald, perhaps you would like to start.”

A beefy looking kid in the front row waved lazily at him. “Yo. I’m Don, Don Harris,” he said. He had bleached blonde hair, and looked to be pretty tall. He wore a polo shirt, and Jack could see the muscles bulging underneath it. “As for what I do…” He held out his hand and beckoned for Jack to come closer. Looking nervously at the teacher, Jack complied.

When he touched Don’s hand he felt a surge of strength and power.

“Whoa,” he said, stepping back in surprise. Don grinned at him.

“Feels pretty good, yeah? I can give people more strength, toughness, speed, the lot. The more juice I give it, the longer it lasts, so enjoy it while you can.”

“That’s… a pretty useful Gift,” Jack said.

“You know it! I should have the pick of super teams once I graduate,” Don said smugly. “Couple of them already sent feelers out.”

“Pretty sure those guys were just checking out your finely toned ass,” the boy next to Don said with a smirk. There were a few giggles around the classroom.”

“Gerald,” Miss Sanchez said sternly. “Just the introduction, please.”

“Yes, Miss,” Gerald intoned with a sigh. He had brown, curly hair and was wearing Kylon jeans and an old T-shirt. Jack wasn’t familiar with the logo it was showing, but he’d bet that it was for a heavy metal band. It had the look. He wore glasses with thick frames plastic frames. Unless they were made from some kind of new super-material that just looked like plastic.

Gerald turned towards Jack and introduced himself. “I’m Gerry, sometimes known as Loudmouth. My Gift is sonic stuff. I’d show you, but I’m not allowed to do it in class.”

“Or in the halls, the grounds or the administration buildings,” Miss Sanchez reminded him “Only in the reinforced training areas.”

“Yeah, that,” Gerry said, rolling his eyes. “They never let me have any fun.”

“Moving on,” Miss Sanchez said. “Timothy?”

“The good looking blonde boy next to Gerald gave Jack an easy smile. “Hi, you can call me Tim.”

Despite the fact that Tim had the school blazer hanging on the back of his chair, Tim wasn’t dressed in the school uniform. He was wearing a fancy-looking, button-up shirt, paired with designer jeans— actual jeans— and five hundred dollar sneakers. A glittery-looking smartwatch hugged his wrist.

Tim ran one hand through his elaborately styled hair, in what looked like a practiced move. “I do lasers, so I can’t show my Gift here either,” he said. “There’s not that much to see, anyway, unless I aim them at you.”

“Oh! I can show you mine!” The girl next to Tim held her hand up in excitement. She had long hair that ran down in waves, dyed in streaks of green and blue. Her half-jacket was made of puffed out Everlar and looked expensive.

“Lorretta, you’re not supposed to use your illusions in class,” Miss Sanchez said sternly.

The girl giggled. “Oh no, I forgot! I’ll have to turn off the ones I’ve already got then, won’t I?”

Before Miss Sanchez could respond, her clothes and hair faded out before Jack’s eyes, replaced with a different look. Now, her hair was braided, each strand dyed in either red or purple. Her jacket was gone, replaced by a comfy looking sweater.

“Loretta…” Miss Sanchez said.

“Or is this the illusion?” Loretta giggled. “It’s a mystery! What do you think, Jack? Can you tell?”

“No,” Jack admitted. Both of her looks were equally fantastical, but she was pretty enough that they both worked.

She beamed at him. “We should get along. With shapeshifting and illusions, I’m sure we can pull some great pranks!”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, and turned to the final person in the front row. She was even prettier than Loretta, a gorgeous face framed with stylish platinum blond hair. Her blouse was extended with padding at the shoulders, but it was closely cut around her torso, showing off the swell of her bust.

Jack swallowed, and quickly looked away. Her face was actually eye-catching as well, her lashes had been somehow made to glitter. She gave him a wink, and he felt his heart skip a beat.

“I’m Sherry,” she said. “I have plant growth powers, so they want to call me Mother Nature, but I’m too young for that.”

“The city knows— and fears— her as the Sidewalk Slayer,” Gerry called out, causing her to flush and some of the class to snigger.

“That was just— insurance paid for it, alright?” She turned around and glared at the rest of the class. “The wanted poster was just a stupid rumour.” She glared at Gerry.

“Next is Joshua— no wait.” Miss Sanchez examined something on her watch. “Helen, are you hiding again? I will mark you absent if I have to.”

“Fine.” A voice came out of nowhere, and Jack blinked to see that it was suddenly accompanied by a student sitting at a desk where… there hadn’t been anything before? That didn’t make sense, the desks were arranged in a grid. If a desk had been missing, he would have noticed, surely?

The girl that had appeared was wearing the school uniform, at least nominally. Jack hadn’t looked at the guidelines for female students, but the ones for guys were pretty strict. If you were going to wear the uniform, you had to wear it properly. The way Tim had just… appropriated his blazer was probably against the rules, but he could always just take it off to be in compliance.

Helen was… not likely to become compliant any time soon. Jack doubted that the guidelines allowed for fishnet stockings to be worn under the skirt. Let alone pink fishnet stockings. Helen’s top two buttons were undone, her tie was missing, and her shoes looked nothing like sensible.

Helen herself looked… garish. Her hair had been dyed pink, her tan looked fake and she was wearing makeup. She was overweight, and whatever underwear she was wearing was pushing her cleavage out from the top of her blouse.

“Ugh, boring,” she said. “Teach already said my name, so, like, my Gift is to make people ignore me.”

“I’ll be checking to make sure you’re not using your Gift,” Miss Sanchez said. “You’re in school to learn and interact with other people.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Helen said. She waved him on to the next student.

“We’re supposed to stand for introductions, right?” The boy said. Though none of the others had, he stood up with a smirk. He was another bodybuilder, with blue eyes, crew-cut brown hair and tanned skin.

Then he was right in front of Jack, hand held out. “Joshua Bateman,” he said, “Pleased to meet you.”

Jack jerked in surprise, but somehow his hand was already in Joshua’s being shaken. Joshua winked at him. “Call me Josh, my Gift is speed.”

There was a blur, and then Josh was back in his seat. “Over to you, babe,” he said, pointing at the girl sitting next to him.

“Is it my turn?” the girl asked softly. She stood as well, but stayed by her desk. “I’m Roberta Acosta,” she said. She spoke so quietly that Jack couldn’t understand why he heard her clearly.

She was wearing the school uniform, but properly. Dark green skirt, cream blouse, and in Roberta’s case, a forest green sweater with orange trim. An orange and green short tie completed the ensemble. Roberta herself had light brown skin and black hair, tied up behind her in a loose pony tail.

“I can shake your hand too,” she said, still quietly, and held out her hand. Jack did too, even though she was more than ten feet away. To his surprise, there was a shift, and then she was shaking his hand. She hadn’t moved, he hadn’t moved, but they were touching. Then she let go, and they were far apart again.

“That’s my Gift,” she said with a small smile. “I can make things close or far away.”

“Spatial manipulation?” Jack guessed.

“Something like that,” she said, shrugging.

“Yeah, its real special, said the boy next to her. “Now me, I can fly!”

Jack looked over to him. He looked Hispanic, with tanned skin and loosely curled hair.

“Yeah?” Jack said, interested. “Like, levitation?”

“Nah, bro, I got energy wings!” he exclaimed, and then grimaced. “That I can’t take out in class, so you’ll just have to wait until later.”

“Sure thing,” Jack replied. “So what’s your name?”

“Oh yeah, call me Will.”

The last student in the second row was a chubby girl with freckles, red hair and green eyes. She also wore the uniform.

“Dorothy, I have air control,” she said briskly. “If we could get this over with quickly, so we can resume class?”

“Uh sure,” Jack said, and moved on to the back row. The first one along was one of the few black students that Jack had seen in this school.

“Micheal Bishop,” the boy said. “I do forcefields.”

He was wearing the school uniform, the first boy in class that was. He was prominently wearing a pair of headphone around his neck, though, which probably violated the dress code.

“More like bubbles,” Don sneered from the front of the class. “Why don’t you show him, bubble boy?”

“Donald!” Miss Sanchez interjected.

Micheal shrugged. “They’re not very strong,” he admitted.

“Yeah, you’re done now, it’s my turn.” The boy next to Micheal said. He was black as well, but that was where the similarities ended. While Micheal was overweight, the other black kid was thin and wiry. He’d had something done to his hair, the tight curls seemed like they’d been coated in a white powder.

“Coleman Lamar,” the skinny kid said. “And my Gift is, I can see five seconds into the future.”

“I thought—”

“It’s predictive, not like seeing fates or anything,” Lamar said. “But it’s real useful, when you’re a martial artist like me.”

Jack nodded thoughtfully. There was an awkward pause as Lamar looked at the next student along.

“Carissa, it’s your turn now,” Miss Sanchez called out.

The girl on the back row sniffed and looked up from the device she was examining. Jack’s eyes widened in surprise. All of the students so far had managed a certain level of presentation—even the eccentric ones. Carissa didn’t seem to have combed her hair in months. Despite being indoors, she was huddled up in a full length coat. The tough fabric looked worn and torn in places.

On the other hand, the high-tech display covering one of her eyes looked expensive and was either new or kept scrupulously clean.

“New kid, just like the old kids,” she muttered. “Wasting time sucking on the Government teat.”

Jack looked at Miss Sanchez, “Is she… alright?”

“She’s…” Miss Sanchez trailed off. “Carissa! Do the introduction properly!”

“Fine,” the girl sighed. She looked up, giving Jack a clear look at her face, which had been obscured by her wild hair. She had quite dark skin, and he guessed that she was Indian. “Carissa Sharma, my Gift is electrical powers.”

Then she looked down and pointedly didn’t say anything else. Jack moved on to the last student, a lanky white boy. He was wearing casual clothing, a soft looking Everlar shirt, and grey pants that were probably of the same material. From this distance, Jack couldn’t tell if he had freckles or pimples, but whatever they were, they stood out on his pasty white face.

“Jeff Steely,” the boy said. “I… can make insects bigger and control them.”

“Bug Boy!” Don called out from the front. The call was taken up by Will and Joshua.

“Quiet class!” Miss Sanchez shouted. “If there’s any more disruption, I’ll be handing out detention!