Tick Tock Tick Tock (Open)

[Akira Koizumi]

Akira thought about skipping detention but if he did that nothing good would come from it. The boy took his sweet time getting to detention. It wasn’t that Akira was a bad student. He just rather be playing, or swimming, or drawing than be in the sitting in a classroom with a teacher lecturing about something. So most of the time Akira would show up late for class or he would skip. And now he was walking to his punishment for missing one too many classes.

Akira didn’t see what the problem was. He’s always made sure his classwork and homework was done and handed in on time. So what was the big deal if he didn’t show up to some classes?

He entered the classroom. Akira looked to the analog clock. Of course he would be on time today. He even shuffled his feet on the way to the detention room. Akira plopped himself down at a desk in the back of the classroom with an oomph.

[Deleted]

Jackson was a good student - kept his grades up, connected well with the teachers, showed up for classes, etc etc etc - but even he got detention from time to time. And every time for him, it was like the end of the world for him. He’d drag his feet and look like a beaten puppy for the better part of the hour, wondering just what he did that was so wrong that he had to sit around with a lot of troublemakers as if he were one of them?

And what would Grams think? Ohhh, if she found out about this, Jackson would never hear the end of it. And she always used his real name too, so it was going to be “Osiris this” and “Osiris that” all week until forever and he just didn’t know if he had it in him for a week of lectures.

That is…if he decided to tell her about it. Would the school call Grams to let her know that he was given detention for showing up late for class…on top of having flaked on doing the reading for the day. He supposed that the teacher was just trying to make an example of him - a goody-good student like him still getting detention for something so small - but it still sucked and he wanted to go out and shoot some hoops with the guys instead of sit in here doing practically nothing. Sigh…

Jackson kicked the back of the seat in front of him just as some other kid sank in the seat beside him. He glanced over at his fellow “inmate” and send him a nod of greeting. “Hey,” he said.

[Akira Koizumi]

Akira looked over to his detention buddy. “Hey,” Akira greeted him. It wasn’t the friendliest greeting, but it was two boys in detention. What did you expect? Detention wasn’t a place to be jumping with joy to meet new people. “Welcome.”

This was a new detention buddy. The amount of time Akira had spent in detention since he started attending Hammel, he learned who normally would be doing time with him. This buddy was a new face. Yeah, sometimes a new face would show up once or twice. Either this was going to a one time thing or a recurring thing for this guy.

“I’m Akira, your detention buddy. First time in detention?” Akira smiled at him. It was a friendly smile. At least he had someone to past the time with. Time would move a tinsy bit faster with someone to spend that time with.

[Deleted]

Jackson smiled. It was nice to have his greeting returned, even in a situation like this. There was no reason why they couldn't be friendly, right? "Thanks," he said with a small laugh. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as he thought. Having someone interesting to share the detention made it more tolerable. At least he hoped so.

Jackson sat up more in his seat and turned his attention towards the other boy. "Not really...just not a lot, y'know?" he explained. This kid, Akira, sounded like he got detention often. Poor guy. "I'm Jackson."

He looked around the room. It was pretty bare, maybe only a few other people whom Jackson recognized as being regular troublemakers. People he didn't really associate with. He wondered if Akira happened to be one of those sort, if he was in here a lot. "So....what'd you do to get here, if you don't mind me asking, Akira?" He looked up to the front where he expected the overseeing teacher would be, but she wasn't paying attention much. "And...what're we supposed to be doing, anyway? Anything special?"

[Akira Koizumi]

“Skipped class, again.” Akira paused when the teacher looked up. He waited for the teacher to go back to her work before he continued. “I don’t like sitting in a classroom. But don’t think I’m a troublemaker. I get all my homework done and keep with my schoolwork. I don’t see the problem if I miss some classes.”

“Homework, schoolwork, whatever you need to catch up in. If you’re all caught up then I hope you brought something to do.” Akira noticed the teacher looking at him. “And there’s no talking.” He smiled at the teacher. Akira pulled out his notebook out of his backpack. He began writing in it.

Once he finished writing he passed it to Jackson. The note read:

We don’t want to get into trouble. The teacher knows that I like to talk in detention. What are you in here for?

[Deleted]

Ah, skipping class. But a decent student. So they had that in common at least, though Jackson rarely missed class. Sometimes he did, but Grams got on him about that last time, so he made a point of not doing it anymore. At least, not the classes he couldn’t get away with. Which weren’t many. “Yeah, I’m not either,” he said quietly. A troublemaker, he meant.

Jackson winced. Well, if they were expected to do that, then this hour was going to suck. Jackson didn’t have any homework left to finish. He did the reading he missed during lunch and everything else in the middle of his other classes. While he was, of course, barely paying attention to the lecture.

Guess he could…do some doodling for the next hour? And apparently pass notes between himself and Akira. Jackson smiled and composed a message back.

Was late for class. And missed an assignment. I think the teacher was just picking on me.

I haven’t seen you around much. What grade you in? I’m a sophomore.

[Akira Koizumi]

Akira read the note. Man, he hated teachers like that. They would pick on students for the littlest things. It was like the teacher had nothing to better to do. It was like the teacher wanted a student to do something little thing wrong.

Some teachers suck like that. I’m a senior. There a lot of students at Hammel. Do you live on campus?

Akira passed to the note to Jackson. He pulled out his sketchbook and a pen out of his backpack. It was time to play with his ink manipulation to pass the time. Akira was happy to have someone who wanted to pass notes with him.

Akira wrote another note to Jackson.

What is your power, if you don’t mind me asking? I have ink manipulation.

[Deleted]

Jackson didn’t have the habit of passing notes in class…but that didn’t mean he never did it. And by his age, any kid should have learned the techniques of passing notes without getting the teacher’s eye on them. He scribbled down a response and stealthily passed it back.

Kinda. My Grams lives in town, so I stay with her on weekends. Are you? What room?

Now came the question of what he was going to do between notes. And something that wouldn’t get him in trouble. He could…practice his power. Maybe? There were some small exercises he could do right there at his desk, right? He read the next note and replied before beginning.

That sounds cool! What kind of stuff do you do with that? As for my power….I’m a Jedi. XD

Jackson hoped Akira would understand what he meant by that.

[Akira Koizumi]

It must be nice to have family living close by. Akira’s parents were living in Massachusetts and his big brother was in Japan. Akira looked down to his left wrist at his tattoo his brother gave him.

I’m in room 506. Watch

The Japanese teen took apart a pen. Akira waited for Jackson to look over and then he began his demonstration. He held his hand over the opening of the pen. He pulled his hand up and the ink followed. Akira put the ink on the paper. He moved his hand around and the ink followed. When he was done, a bird. Akira smiled at Jackson.

A Jedi? Like in “Luke, I am your father?”

[Deleted]

Yes, it was nice having family nearby. It was just him and his Grams though, all the way out here in Vermont. And as much as he didn’t like them most of the time, it was still somewhat comforting having them nearby instead of a whole country away.

Room 506? So he was in the boy’s dorm too? That meant they were on the same floor. He wondered why they hadn’t met earlier?

Jackson watched as instructed. The other boy, Akira, dismantled his pen, and then pulled the ink straight out of it! Sooo cooool! Why did powers have to be so cool? Jackson couldn’t help smiling widely, watching the demonstration.

That’s so cool!

Yeah, only I’m not anyone’s father. Telekinesis. I'm not very good, but I'll try to show you.

Jackson pulled out a pencil and set it on the desk. He gave it a sharp stare, trying to reach out with his power carefully. If he didn't do it that way, the pencil might dart across the room. It wasn't working....he shook his head dejectedly. "It's not working today," he said out loud by mistake. Darnit!

[Akira Koizumi]

“It’s okay.” Akira smiled an encouraging smile. He knew some people didn’t have full control of their yet, so sometimes their powers didn’t work or did what they wanted them to do. Akira had pretty good control over his ink manipulation. If he was having an off day then his power didn’t really work properly like he had demonstrated. He rubbed the kanji written on the inside of his left wrist. “How about you show me another time then.” Akira took a quick glance at the teacher because he too was speaking out loud. He smiled at the teacher then lowered his head and pretended he was busy doing something at his desk.

Akira was totally curious about Jackson’s powers. When they did work, it must be so cool.

[Deleted]

This was depressing. Whenever Jackson wanted to show off his powers, they just conveniently stopped working, like they were trying to make him look like a fool. After too long of having nothing to show for all his boasting, it wouldn’t be surprising if people thought he was just outright lying, and that his power was really something else. Jackson wondered sometimes if the recruiter hadn’t made some sort of mistake?

No, but he did use it sometimes! So…maybe they misdiagnosed him and his power was really something else that looked like telekinesis? Was that possible?

He wondered if other kids ever had the same kinds of problems that Jackson did with his powers? At least his detention-buddy seemed to be understanding. “Right,” he said softly, nodding to Akira. Jackson looked up to the teacher, then back down to his desk. “….I hate that it keeps doing that, y’know?” he muttered softly, hopefully quiet enough that the teacher couldn’t hear. “Have you ever had that problem?” Jackson flit his eyes back to Akira.

[Akira Koizumi]

Akira nodded his head. “Hai.” He had a hard time controlling his power when he was recruited. After some training Akira had achieved good control over his ink manipulation. If he was stressed or couldn’t focus then his powers sucked. But everyone has off days with their powers, or at least that was Akira’s thought.

The Japanese artist picked up his pen and began doodling in his notebook. After doodling for a few minutes he looked up to the clock. He reached over and poked Jackson and then pointed to the clock on the wall. “We’re half way done.” Akira mouthed to Jackson.

[Deleted]

The difference was that Jackson had been here for almost two years already and hadn't made nearly as much progress as he expected to have made by now. Despite working with his trainer repeatedly, it was like there was something incredibly lacking in the boy and his connection with his power. Maybe he did need to get angry and crazy like how telekinetics were so often depicted. Because the 'clear your mine, let go of your feelings' tactic didn't seem to be working.

Jackson was a little bit lost in his thoughts when Akira poked him. He jumped, startled a bit after being disrupted from his reverie, then looked to Akira with confused eyes. Huh? What was he...? Oh! "Yeah...we are," he said softly. Jackson envied Akira a little, watching him over his doodling. At least he had something to keep him occupied, but Jackson....the only thing he could think of to do was try again with practicing his power.

He stared at the pencil. It didn't move. He'd keep doing this for a while, eventually getting lost in his fantasies of stardom in basketball and soccer, at the same time! A smile crossed his face, unapparent of where it came from. Then a subdued giggle.

[Akira Koizumi]

After doodling some little pigs, Akira was bored. He was like other artist. He wanted to draw something but he didn’t know what to draw. Plus time was slowly coming to an end. The Japanese teen just wanted detention to be over already. Out of the corner of his eye, Akira watched Jackson.

Akira’s thoughts had taken over his mind. He thought about his brother who was still in Japan. The two brothers usually could time it right so they could talk to each other on Skype. But they hadn’t been doing that lately. Akira hoped that everything was all right and nothing bad happen to his brother. Akira’s dark brown eyes glanced down to the kanji that was written on the inside of his left wrist.

He looked over to Jackson who also seemed like he was lost in his thoughts. Akira wanted to say something. He wanted to have a conversation, but his mind was drawing a blank on what to say. Is this detention over yet?