Mach: The Super Hero

2.1 Different Interests

“The school has a library?”

Tafari looked up at Michael. Since his ears were wholly inside his audio phones, which were connected to his laptop, he had to uncover one of them.

“What?”

Michael eagerly took the chair across from him.“I didn’t know the school had a library.”

“Of course you did,” Tafari simply stated, his eyes drifting back to his laptop’s screen.

“Well, yeah, but I didn’t know someone actually used it. Isn’t it a bit ironic? Coming to the library to use the internet?” Michael asked.

“To be in peace,” Tafari corrected, “and quiet. Fact nobody’s ever here’s exactly what’s so great about it. And maybe I’ll want a book that they have instead of reading a wiki article about it,” Tafari added.

Michael nodded. “I wanted to thank you for what you did. I’ve kinda been struggling with the… Well, with the whole thing. It’s been rough.”

“Yeah, and now so am I,” Tafari said, a bit grudgingly. “I hear you and Max have quieted down, though.”

“Oh, yeah. Max can think he can beat me, but he sure can’t put you down. So of course he’s stopped being an i***t,” Michael explained.

Tafari scoffed dismissively. “If that’s why, he’s still the same fool. I don’t get why you’d be getting into fights like that. It’s stupid.”

“You’re right. It’s not that I want to,” Michael admitted, “but what else was I supposed to do?”

“Not antagonize him. And if your friends antagonized him, you’re stupid to get in the middle o’ that, too. They act the fools, they deserve to get smacked. It ain’t like Max hides what he’s capable of.”

Michael raised his eyebrows. Apparently, Tafari’s bluntness was not a symptom of his mood. That was probably why he was always alone. “You’re not the type o’ guy to take a bullet for someone else, are you?”

“No one is, not really,” Tafari said with a shrug. “Unless you’re insane. But then, people only pull the insane card when things turn out bad, don’t they? If your insanity saves a life, it’s not insanity at all, it’s somethin’ else.”

“Hm.” Michael looked up in thought. “Never thought of it that way.”

Tafari scoffed and shook his head. “Never thought of it any way, man, that’s why you did it. Me? I’m stayin’ well away from all this super power nonsense.”

Michael frowned. “Well, I’m not sure it will stay away from you, dude.”

Tafari looked up at him a bit more menacingly than probably intended, but Michael just disarmed it with a smile. He leaned back at once and showed him the open palms of peace.

“Not me! I’m not looking for trouble, I’m just sayin’.”

“Listen, man, and give what I’m about to say some though. Alright? I won’t ever be defined by this supernatural bullcrap,” Tafari told him seriously. “What I want is that my studies go well so I can get into the career job that I want.”

“Oh?” Michael asked, perking up. “What’s that?”

“None o’ yo business is what that is,” Tafari said, throwing him a belligerent look.

“Damn, dude!” Michael went full on defensive, leaning back against his chair. “You don’t have to be like that, I’m just trying to be friendly, here.”

Tafari scoffed yet again. “Only reason you want to be friends is because we both have super powers, and like I said, I’ve no interest in that crap.”

Michael took a heavy breath and straightened up, kind of defeated. Looking away, he scratched his head.

He didn’t really expect it to go that badly, but Tafari really wasn’t one to mince words. “I guess you’re right again, but it’s not... it’s not completely like that. Max is an a*s, you know? And I don’t really feel like I can talk to my friends anymore. They always… I dunno, maybe it’s my fault, but I just thought maybe you’d be cool to hang out with. Someone I could talk to about…” Michael chuckled, “this super power crap.”

Tafari looked at him, finally, as if to ascertain his words. A bit disgruntled, he turned back to his computer. “Whatever, forget about it. ‘Ve you heard about the new schools?”

Michael recognized the opportunity, and he wasn’t about to waste it. “Oh, yeah, they sound so cool!” Michael said quickly, and happily leaned in again. “It’s awesome how much funding the government’s giving them, right?”

Tafari scoffed, disgruntled. “If they’re gonna force us to attend, they better make it cheap as hell, and help with relocation and all that.”

“They’re boarding schools basically, right? They have all these housing complexes around them, it’s gonna be kinda like college, huh?” Michael said.

“Which is good,” Tafari said, lightly nodding in agreement. “Always felt like high school was a waste of my damn time.”

Michael laughed. Tafari had this disgruntled tone of voice that was starting to sound pretty funny. As if he was hassled but not really seriously bothered.

Tafari grunted at his laughter. “You’re not gonna need housing, though, are you?”

“Nah, I can run back and forth,” Michael said, and soon as he said it, he recalled his argument with Tom. He was instantly struck with guilt. “Uh, I mean, my parents really want me to uh… it’s good training if I -- I don’t mean to gloat or anything.”

“Calm down, man,” Tafari said, chuckling once. “It’s fine, I don’t give a crap. I could fly myself home, I guess, I just don’t want to.”

“Oh? How come, don’t like your mom’s cooking?” Michael asked, teasing him.

Tafari’s mood dropped back down, his eyes dragging themselves back to the computer screen as if a brooding cloud had suddenly set over him.

“Yeah, somethin’ like that.”

“Ehhh…” Michael frowned, sensing he had messed up. “Sorry if I said something--”

“It’s not your fault,” Tafari interrupted.

Michael tried to rally and change the subject. “Well, uh, have you heard anything about what the classes might be like? I haven’t found anything about it.”

“Just rumors so far,” Tafari said with a shrug. “I bet we’ll know by next week.”

“I guess so. I’m feeling kinda anxious, though, I think it’s gonna be a way different experience. Don’t you think it’s dangerous to put us all together?”

“For us, maybe,” Tafari admitted. “We’ll have to see how the schools’re actually set up, ya know? But I think it’s the best solution they got that doesn’t screw with our freedom and privacy. Too much,” Tafari added, glancing aside. “It’s better than what’s happening out there. China’s already setting up training camps.”

“Really? Wow. Yeah, I guess I haven’t really thought about what it must be like in other places,” Michael conceded, looking up in consideration.

“Ain’t nothin’ more American than that, man,” Tafari teased with a smirking.

Michael threw him an ironic glare, which made him chuckle once. It was quite the victory.

“Still. If one country weaponizes their super people, won’t that force us to do the same?” Michael asked.

“Who knows?” Tafari asked.

After a moment of pause, Tafari offered Michael a crooked smile, one drenched in sarcasm.

“Maybe we already are.”

After that conversation, Michael started watching the news more often. However, it only took a couple of days for him to realize how depressing they were. They had him constantly feeling pretty down. On top of that, those news outlets would try to manipulate his perspective and opinion of the events they were reporting on. That, he really didn’t like, so he stopped watching them.

Instead, Michael started hitting the web. He was constantly checking on discussion forums and news reel websites, but being a very impatient reader, a lot of details escaped his understanding. Still, that was better than the alternative. Michael was able to piece together that the government was purposefully hiding a lot when it came to the new schools. Information was scarce when it came to curriculum, class schedules, or even the subjects that students would be taking.

Still, there were always leaks, dubious as they may be.

“You know about the latest?” Michael asked, sitting down on his chair while allowing a draft of wind to blow past him and Tafari.

From his dash.

Sensing the now familiar wind of Michael’s approach, Tafari took out one of his phone-pieces. “Sup, Michael.”

“Nuthin’ much, man, I’m happy the school day’s over, you know how it is. Did you hear the latest? Apparently, the school’ll be having a lot of counselors.”

“Counselors, huh?” Tafari asked.

Michael nodded. “To help disaparalias handle their abilities better.”

“Don’t call us disaparalias, Michael,” Tafari said, chiding him.

“What? Why not? It’s the official name, apparently,” Michael mentioned.

“It’s a mix of the Latin words ‘dispar’ and ‘alia’…or ‘alius’. First roughly means ‘different’, second ‘other’. We’re different, we’re others, it’s a damn bad word,” Tafari protested, wincing angrily. “Makes no difference if it’s technical or scientific, according to them. Don’t use it.”

“Whoah,” Michael reacted, a bit insulted. “I had no idea, how can they just class us as different? And in two ways even. Like double different. Wow.”

“They’ll come up with another word soon, you’ll see,” Tafari said, dismissing the issue with a mild shrug. “Ain’t no way that’ll fly these days.”

“Well, the common terms are either ‘supers’, ‘metas’ or ‘mutants’?” Michael pointed out.

Tafari nodded, looking uninterested. “I know, and again, I care very little about my power so I care even less about the counselors. Or whatever the hell they decide to call me.”

“Well, I care,” Michael said. “I don’t need them, I think, but there’s a lot of supers out there who could probably use the help. A lot of powers can get really scary.”

Tafari glanced at him, reassessing Michael for a few seconds. It was something that happened with every conversation they had, and some point or another. “Fair enough,” he simply said, turning his judgement back over to his laptop screen.

“Even if the counsel doesn’t come from fellow supers,” Michael added.

“Wait what?” Tafari was actually surprised at that, “it won’t be people with powers?”

“Nope, just regular psychologists and stuff. You haven’t been keeping up? There’s nobody like us that’s over eighteen. Anywhere in the world, actually,” Michael mentioned.

Tafari hummed with a nod, now fully drawn into the conversation. “That’s really something. I don’t keep up with that stuff, I’ve just been paying attention to the curriculum.”

“Really?”

“Yeah… So far it’s looking like they’re focusing on all the contemporary domains of knowledge. You know, languages, sciences. Coolest thing is we’ll be able to choose the subjects we do, or at least that’s what they’re saying. I’m hoping we can avoid all the boring crap.”

“I can’t imagine school without all the boring crap,” Michael complained, laughing to himself.

Tafari chuckled, which always felt like a legitimate win.

Then suddenly, Michael gasped and looked at his phone. “Oh, I gotta go! I got called to the principal’s office. He said to be there now.”

“Yeah, same,” Tafari said, closing his laptop.

“Really?”

Tafari started to pack his things into his rucksack. “I imagine Max will be there too. Probably needs to talk to us about our transfer.”

“Oh yeah,” Michael realized. “I guess nobody has told us. Like, officially.”

“Yeah,” Tafari agreed. “C’mon, let’s see what he has to say.”

Michael promptly followed. “Dude, this is kinda hype. You think he’s got something new to tell us? You think there might be more supers in this school?”

Tafari sighed. “If there are, I’m sure we’re about to find out.”