William Trey, Water elemental

  Classwork. Pretty underwhelming for a guy with superpowers, but who am I to complain about getting the simple life I’ve always wanted. Well, simple besides every night sneaking off with Selena to practice my powers. My notebook is full of all the information we’ve learned about my powers.

  First of all, the difficulty of doing something with my powers is three things. The first being how probable it is for water to be able to do it naturally, and the second being how possible it is for it to do it naturally. Difficulty is also indirectly influenced by what it’s doing, and for how long it’s doing it.

  I’ve also learned that using my powers for too long makes me faint. I also learned that my skull is harder to damage. I ALSO learned that the corner of my desk table was not denser. I’m now missing a table corner. And I’m not missing the headache.

  At the moment, me and Selena sit in our little shitty treehouse together. One benefit to my powers is I can lift things with water. That meant carrying two chairs up here was pretty easy. A desk, though?

  “So, what exactly defines water?” Selena asks, flipping through my notes, which haven’t expanded much from when she last wrote in them.

  “Di-hydrogen monoxide?” I offer.

  “No water naturally found is that pure as to just be those elements.” Selena points out. “No matter what, any water you control won’t be just water. So. How much easier was it to control, say, juice over water?”

  “It was practically the same.” I say, frowning. “Maybe a little more difficult, but nothing noticeable. And I’ve started to notice everything I’m doing is getting easier, so it might reach a point where something of even small amounts of actual H2O could be controlled.” I lean back in my stiff plastic chair, the front legs rising on the floor as the back of the seat makes contact with the wall. “It’s a good point, though. What counts as water…” I look down at the ground then pause. “I wonder how pure the water I pull out of things is. I can expel things out of water, so couldn’t I make perfectly pure water whenever I want?”

  “It’d be good for cleaning wounds, but isn’t your body all durable now?” Selena asks.

  “Well, yeah, but who knows how durable.” I shrug. “Maybe there's a way to make it more durable, but hell if I know.”

  “There might be.” She shrugs. “You know, the human body is, like, 70 percent water or something. There’s even liquid in your muscles and even bones.”“Yeah, that-” I freeze. “Muscles and bones?” I frown, then pull out my phone, googling something.“What are you doing?” Selena asks, notebook snapping shut and being set aside.

  “Having something confirmed.” I say. Then I grin, turning my phone off. “And I just did.”

  “What did you have confirmed?” She asks, curious.

  “Do you know how working out works?” I ask her instead. She frowns at the question but answers anyway.

  “It works your body down to make it stronger? Continuous usage of a muscle breaks it down or something, then it grows back slightly stronger.”

  “Something like that, yeah.” I say. “You see, when you use a muscle a lot, it creates microtears in the muscle fibers. When these fibers regrow, it causes them to grow back stronger.”

  “Wait, I get it!” She sits up, eyes widening. “If you could tear the muscles without needing a workout, you could get stronger, faster, right?”

  “Exactly right!” I grin. “Though…” I frown. “It’d hurt like shit, and the blood rushing would turn me into a tomato. Also, I’d need to eat, like, 5 times as much as normal for a few months to ensure I don’t die of starvation. I’ll still need a balanced diet too.”

  “That’d give us another excuse to come here then.” She agrees. “Going to the gym. When really you’re just turning your muscles into mashed potatoes.”“Diced potatoes, more like.”I chuckle. “The thing is, I'd have to know how to use water to tear the fibers. That’d take practice.”

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Wait, would this turn you into a hunk of muscle?” She asks, raising an eyebrow.

  “Probably.” I shrug. “I’ll have to start doing runs more often. Getting some cardio can only help in the long run.”

  “Yeah, I guess. It’d be better to do that either way.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “In case guys who want to study you come to chop you into tiny bits and put your eyeballs in jars.” Selena grins. I give her a flat look.

  “Thanks for that visual.”

  “Any time.”

  …

  “William, may I speak to you for a moment?” I freeze up as my Physics prof approaches me. I look up from my side notes, which I’d been scribbling images of bubbles and flowing water on. I snap the book shut and slide it into my bag.

  “Sure, is there a problem?” I ask, slinging my bag over my shoulder.

  “No, nothing so serious.” She leans against the desk as I keep packing up my things. “I just have a question for you, if you don’t mind. Do you have a passion for physics?”

  “Do I? Well, sort of.” I say, zipping my bag shut and slinging it over my shoulder. “I’m interested in working with hydraulics when I graduate. I thought that knowing the reason water moved the way it did would be a good idea. Well that and the tides.”

  “Ah, so thats it.” She nods to herself. “You studied on a higher level before coming here, correct?”

  “Yeah, I did. Is that a problem?”

  “No, of course not. Quite the opposite. You see, there’s a competition going around the tail end of first semester in Edmonton. I was wondering if you’d be interested in signing up.”

  “Isn’t that for second years?” I ask, confused.

  “It isn’t actually. We only send second years and above since there’s not much a first year will know to get them very far.”

  “I’ve heard about it, but I don’t actually know much about what goes on there.” I scratch the back of my head, thinking to myself.

  “It’s a competition of various sciences, to see who knows their discipline they specialize in best.” She explains, smiling. “I got silver back when I went. Everyone in a group goes up at once with these tablets in front of them and everyone is presented with a question. Whoever answers first, correctly, will go on to the next round. There are 3 rounds before the finale, with only 2 people.”

  “That sounds like a lot of fun.” I say almost to myself, before nodding to her. “Yeah, I’d like something like that. When is it happening?”

  “January 22nd. Anyone who wants to join our school’s team has to pass a test. We’re sending 10 kids. Used to be 9, but one school up north decided they’re not sending anyone this year due to some event that went on. Heard it got on the news. A shame, but it means less competition, and I can’t complain about that.”

  “Alright, yeah, count me in.” I offer a smile before turning to go. “Thanks prof.”

  “Do ask if you have trouble with anything. Not that you seem to have trouble with any projects I assign, but you understand the sentiment.” She smiles, and I make my way to the door, ducking out of the room.

  The halls are crowded, as they usually are during transitional periods, but nothing too hard to get around after a week here. Time has gone by quite quickly, so I've been focused on my… Let's call it a project. But I’ve got a strong map in my head, and everyone who's moving in the halls tends to keep to the right when they move, like roads. It’s fairly easy to get to the doors, which I slip out of and make my way to a bench against a wall. I sit down and wait, only for Selena to make her way out a door a minute later.

  “So, what’s now?” She asks, sitting down beside me.

  “Now, I’m taking a snack break.” I say, pulling out a bag of mini oreos from my lunchkit. “Professor Margers asked me if I wanted to try for what I can only call the science team.”

  “For that trip to Edmonton, right?” Selena asks, pulling a banana out of her own bag.“Yeah, that one.” I nod. “Wants me to join the physics people. No idea how many will be there for what types of science.”

  “I heard a bit from Tammy yesterday in art.” Selena says, taking a bite of the banana. She waits to finish chewing before continuing. “Her older sister went 2 years back and her parents brought her to watch.”

  “Tammy’s the fat one, right?” I ask. I can never keep Selena’s friends straight, I swear.

  “No, that’s Babs. Tammy is the tall girl with that blonde hair.”

  “You have 3 friends who are tall with blonde hair, Selena.” I say flatly. She just shrugs.

  “It's your fault that you can’t remember them then.”

  “Fine, fine, you're probably right.” I concede, then shrug. “Anything interesting going on for you?”

  “Not particularly.” She shrugs. “Id ask about you but you already told me. Oh, and I’ve got a few more ideas to try out whenever you’re interested, ok?”

  “With the water stuff?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Sound’s good, I’ll be there tonight.”