text: “The United States entered World War I in 1917 as an associated power on the allied...” I groaned internally in my seat as Mr. Lawson rambled on for eons about... whatever it was he was talking about. Honestly, I was doing anything but listening, and judging from the varying looks of weariness, ennui and fatigue around the dead-silent classroom, my classmates were probably doing the same. I lazily lifted my arm up to glance at my wristwatch. 11:05 am. Which meant we were in store for 25 more minutes of Mr. Lawson’s *glorious* monotoning. Hooray. Struggling to maintain consciousness at my desk -a losing battle, I might add-, a familiar thought came to my mind. See, ever since I was a kid, I’ve always had this idea that if I just randomly screamed internally, maybe, just maybe, I’d be able to catch some random psychic off guard and startle them. Yes, you read that right. Mind readers. I thought I could startle a mind reader by screaming in my head. Before you laugh, just know I was a very... imaginative kid, ok? I also happened to be *tremendously* obsessed with superheroes and comics at the time. And no, I don’t believe in psychics or mind readers or super powers *anymore*, I was just a kid. But occasionally, just sometimes, I would still give a random shout in my head, just for the heck of it. Weird, I know. Call it my idiosyncrasy if you will. So, as I was sitting at my desk, physically dying of boredom, I thought with a hint of a smirk, why not? For old times sake. So I sat up a bit straighter in my chair, took a slow, deep breath, and let loose a long, shrill scream, inside my head of course. My features scrunched up as I yelled internally, and if anyone had looked at my face right at that moment, I’d probably look like I was trying to lay an egg. But I made sure to keep my eyes open, you know, to see if anyone actually reacted to my ridiculous mental howling. Now *obviously* I wasn’t actually expecting anything to happen. Like I said, I stopped believing in that kinda stuff a long time ago. No one's gonna like, suddenly yelp and fall out of their chair in surprise or something. Or at least, I thought no one would. The moment the shout flitted across my mind, my eyes caught a glimpse of movement ahead of me. Two desks up and to the right of me, a long haired brunette girl had just jolted in her seat. Veronica I think her name was? For a second I just stared, wide eyed. That *had* to have been a coincidence right? ...Right? *“Pssshhhhhhh,”* I thought to myself with a smirk, “*Lucky timing. Calm down.”* I contemplated for a moment. *“But just in case...”* Now staring directly at the girl who’s name may-or-may-not be Veronica, I silently counted down from 3 and let out another mental shout. This time, I saw her make a subtle, slightly more controlled jolt, like... like she’d been *expecting* to be startled and was *ready* for it. As soon as the realization hit me, I involuntarily gasped out loud. Loud enough for Mr. Lawson to stop his lecture and make everyone turn to look. “Is there anything you’d like to add to the topic, Mr. Wade?” Mr. Lawson said over his horn-rimmed glasses. “I-uh... No sir,” I said quickly, anxious to remove myself from the student’s expectant gazes. “Then I would appreciate it if you refrained from interrupting my class again.” I grimaced and nodded. Seeming satisfied, Mr. Lawson turned back to the board and resumed his lecture. The moment the coast was clear, my attention snapped back to Veronica, who was the only one seemingly undisturbed by my outburst. I was dumbfounded. I couldn’t have moved my mouth to speak if I’d tried. Good thing I didn’t need to. “*Y-you...*” I thought, now knowing she was listening. “*You can read MINDS!?”* No reaction. Veronica made no gesture to show she heard me. She didn’t even budge. But I knew better, and I wasn’t just gonna let her ignore me. “*I know you hear me,*” I thought. I was boring my eyes straight into her, attempting to make eye contact, but no such luck. In fact, the harder I stared, the more she seemed to tilt her head slightly in the other direction. She was *intentionally* avoiding my gaze. At this point, any doubts I had before were now squashed. “*Oh my god, it’s true isn’t it?*” Then finally a reaction. As I confirm my suspicion, Veronica seems to almost slump into her chair, defeated. The body signals couldn’t have been more clear: “The jig is up.” I also sank into my seat, wallowing in my own epiphany. Questions bounced around in my head, directed more to myself this time. Not that it made a difference to Veronica. “*How is this possible?”* *“Does anyone else know?”* *“How long have you been able to do this?”* *“Who are you?”* *“WHAT are you?”* Veronica visibly flinched at the last question, and immediately I felt a pang of guilt. It was already kind of bad enough I inadvertently found out her biggest secret (Or advertently? The whole point of the “mind jump-scare” *was* to find mind readers after all.), and now I’m questioning whether or not she’s even *human*. It made me realize, maybe I’m in over my head here. Maybe if I can just act like nothing ever happen- *Briiiiiiiing!* My thoughts were interrupted by the school bell ringing, signifying the end of class. Students were already packing their stuff to leave, and I anxiously joined them. As I dumped my supplies into my bag and zipped it shut, I felt something grab my arm. I turned around to find myself face to face with Veronica. She took a deep breath, then spoke. “We need to talk.