“I’m not giving you a choice, Kaden. Not only did you involuntarily throw a dangerous bolt of energy at him, but I can tell you have some weird thing going on,” she said, motioning with her hands toward me.
“He’s my nemesis,” I said, mostly because I was frustrated and determined to make her understand how important it was not to make him my lab partner as she had demanded after the class stopped clapping.
“Nonsense,” she barked. “That’s a myth. There’s absolutely no proof that you have a nemesis. Enemies are made, Kaden, not born.”
I sulked, not knowing how else to argue my point, but determined to win, nonetheless.
Finally, she sighed. “Listen, Kaden, we don’t like to make predictions this early in the game, but the power exchanged between you and Lysander indicates he could be your polarity, your Yin to his Yang.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?” I asked.
“Gosh, I hope not. Could you imagine the problems we’d have if your enemy was your magnetic opposite? No, son, your polarity is the person on this planet that allows your power to exist. Well, that’s another unproven theory. What is proven is polarities help you to becomemorepowerful.”
She thought for a moment before reaching into her desk and pulling out two magnets. “Look at how these magnets repel each other. No matter what I do, I can’t get them to match up as long as they are in opposition to one another. However…” She turned the magnets around, causing them to slam into one another. “…when working together, they are a force almost impossible to overcome.”
I sighed. “He makes me feel weird,” I finally admitted, knowing I sounded like a child but having no other argument.
She smiled at me. “I’m sure. When I first met my polarity, I was overcome with emotion. Even now, when I’m around him, I feel strange. If Lysander is your polarity, it makes sense that you feel strange around him.”
I’d already lost the argument, so I didn’t even bother to mention I thought he was a bully. I was still convinced he was an enemy, but as I’d once heard someone say, “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”
So, instead of arguing, I just tipped my head in acknowledgment. “Perfect,” she said, way too pleased with her win. “Shall we bring Lysander in now, so you can officially meet?”
I didn’t even need to answer, because the woman was already on her feet and moving toward the door.
When she opened it, Lysander walked in. I hadn’t known his name before, but he looked like it fit well enough. His expression was pinched and angry. I could tell he was as frustrated as I was with the whole lab partner requirement.
“So, you’ve both agreed.”
“I have not,” Lysander interrupted Dr. Grace midsentence. “That guy,” he said, pointing at me. “…tried to kill me. I will not be his lab partner. In fact, if this goes any further, I will withdraw from school and be done with the entire thing.”
He turned to go, and I couldn’t help but laugh at his dramatics. It was like watching some old telenovela one of my foster moms used to watch.
The laughter enraged him, and he turned back to me. “How dare you laugh at me.” Then he turned to Dr. Grace. “What the hell kind of school is this, a place where you set weaker students up to be murdered by the stronger ones? Fuck if I won’t expose this fucking school for what you really are.”
He was walking out of the room when he stopped. I could hear something that sounded like singing or maybe chanting. I turned to find the sound coming out of Dr. Grace’s mouth. When Lysander turned back around, his eyes were glazed. “Lysander, will you at least stay to discuss this?” she asked, and he nodded.
He sat in the vacant chair on my side of Dr. Grace’s desk. “Now that we’ve calmed down, Kaden, did you try to kill Lysander this morning?”
I shook my head, suddenly afraid of what I was witnessing. “Could you tell him with your voice, Kaden? He won’t be able to see your nonverbal communication.”
“No,” I said, “I didn’t try to kill Lysander this morning.”
“Good, you see, Lysander, it was a misunderstanding. Now, why don’t you go back to your room and sleep on it? You can tell us tomorrow morning whether you’ve changed your mind.”
Lysander stood and nodded, then he walked out the door.
“W-what was that?” I asked.
“That is my ability,” she said as if she’d just told me the sky was blue.
“You can control people’s minds?”
She nodded. “I don’t do it often, and usually only when someone is hysterical. You didn’t intentionally want to kill Lysander, but he thought you did. I simply caused him to hesitate before he stormed off campus and lost the right to return.”
I didn’t say anything, suddenly aware that the tickle I felt every time I came into the office was her meddling with my mind.
“I don’t want you to do that to me,” I said defensively.
