Page 23 of Electricity

I was still trying to figure out what that was, if it was okay, if I was okay with it, when I was in chemistry class—and in chemistry class, there was Liam.

He jerked his chin at me as I walked in the door and since we sat in the same isle I had to walk right toward him. “Hey, so about tonight—practice finishes around seven. Can I pick you up on my way home?”

I’d known this would be coming up all day, and had alternated between talking myself into and out of it at least a hundred different times.

If Lacey didn’t want me to do anything, I shouldn’t, it was her decision.

And yet, if there was something I could do, on the off chance she changed her mind later, I should do it, right?

Even if that kind-of-sort-of made me a jerk right now?

“Jessie?” Liam prompted.

“Sure thing,” I said, so much sure-er than I felt.

He grinned and pulled out his phone. “What’s your address?”

I told it to him—and for a strange double-vision moment, I could see-feel him typing it in.

“Okay. See you then,” he said, tucking his phone back into his pocket before going to his seat behind me.

I made sure to leave class ahead of him—I was over my RDA of awkward interactions for today—and headed to my locker, only to find that someone had written LOSER on Lacey’s locker with red lipstick.

I sighed, went to the bathroom, got paper towels and water, and came back to try to get it off, managing only to smear it around in great red streaks. It took so long that I almost missed the bus.

That night I helped Allie with her homework when I got home and did my own, while feeling the clock tick.

Literally. Every minute the number on the microwave’s clock changed, I could feel it.

I couldn’t feel that yesterday—was I getting more sensitive? Was my condition getting worse? Or, better? What the hell was wrong with me, anyways?

I went for the bathroom quickly— “Do you have diarrhea?” my sister asked, loud enough that someone three trailers over could hear—and hid inside.

I pulled my shirt up and twisted to look at my back again, and sure enough the marks were still there—and they were even brighter than they had been.

How could that be? I reached back and touched them, and now they were all raised, like old scars suddenly erupting. It was so strange. I was so strange.

Now that I could use my phone—I sat on the toilet and typed in ‘Things that happen to you after you get hit by lightning’, and saw the images it pulled up.

People—just like me! I thumbed through each of their stories, and every single one of them had been hit by lightning—the marks were called Lichtenberg Figures, I wasn’t alone, oh my God!

But—none of their stories were like mine, entirely.

The only website that said anything about gaining powers was one in Russian that my phone translated into halting English.

It specifically mentioned exceptional math abilities?

So I sat there and tried to do something crazy, like calculate Pi out—and got stuck at 3. 14 because yeah, no.

“Jessie—” my sister started on the other side of the door.

I looked at myself in the mirror one last time. I was weird in an entirely not weird way, except for the one way in which I was.

“I’m hungry,” Allie whined.

“Okay, okay,” I said, shoving my shirt down and going back outside.

We made dinner together again—me far more carefully than her—in time for my mom to emerge from her room with a yawn.

Between the clock-feeling and my eyeballs, I knew I had just an hour left before Liam came over.

I wasn’t sure how entirely grounded I was now, since she’d given me my phone back and we’d ended last night in hugs.

She’d already had three beers since waking up, so right now was probably as good as any time to ask.

“Uh, Mom?”

“Yeah?”

“There’s a study group for chemistry class tonight.”

“You do great in that class—don’t you?” her eyes narrowed as she tried to remember.

“Yeah. But only because I study. Not everyone’s as smart as I am—and some other kids need my help.”

“Other kids like who?”

“Um. Liam.”

She double-blinked. “Liam…Lewis?”

“Yeah.”

“Colton and Taylor’s brother? Like Lewis-Lewis?”

“Yeah. How do you know them?”

“Everyone in town knows the team—and his brothers—” She made a low whistling sound. “If any of them had been in school when I was there, y’all might have had a different dad.”

“What?” My voice rose in volume and broke as I visibly cringed. The thought of my mom with our current dad was bad enough.

“I’m teasing, sheesh.”

I decided to double-down in that case. “Well, if I don’t help him study, he might not pass.”

“Oh, you can go,” she cut me off. “When is it?”

“Seven.”

“You’d better get ready then.”

“Thanks. Mom.” I said the two words completely separately, bewildered but pleased.

She waved me off with her beer.

I went to my room and spun around, unsure of what to wear. It was the kind of thing I’d normally involve Sarah in, except she’d give me the exact wrong advice right now—I didn’t own any thongs, and considering the situation would actually be more interested in wearing a chastity belt.

I wound up leaving my room fifteen minutes later in a mock turtleneck and the baggiest pants I owned.

My mother saw me in passing as she got ready for her shift inside the bathroom. “Oh no—no no no,” she said, and leaned out into the hall to wave me back. “What are you thinking?”

“What?” I said, as innocently as I could.

“No daughter of mine is going to go out with Liam Lewis wearing that.” She set her curling iron down and hauled me into her room.

Allie and I didn’t go in here that often—because she’d yell at you if you did, and also because it was smoke-smelly. But I stood, the dutiful daughter, as my mother waded into her closet’s worth of clothes, most of which were on the floor, and found things she thought were suitable for me.

“Here. Try these—and this, too,” she said, handing over a collection of low-cut tops and one of her minis.

“Mom,” I said, backing up.

“Jessica, you might not get a chance like this again,” she said, going through a stack of barely folded jeans. “This is Cinderella material right here. Every girl needs a gown.”

“And this is it?” I held up the last top she’d given me—it was a stretchy blue with a bow right where the neck dove lowest, so in case you weren’t already looking there, you would be.

My other hand held a purple top with a row of completely non-functional buttons, pre-opened down to a spot where your bra would peek through.

“It’s better than what you’re wearing now.”

It both was…and it wasn’t. “I don’t think—” I said, trying to give the clothing back.

But I couldn’t. Not without condemning her.

Anything I said could be taken wrong and she’d veto my leaving at all—and I was protesting essentially what she wore every night.

Because she wanted to? Or because she had to?

If she didn’t look good, she wouldn’t get tips, and if she didn’t get tips, what would happen?

“—I look as good in purple as I do in blue,” I finished, handing her back the purple top.

She smiled widely at me again. “If you hurry, I’ll help you with your hair.”

I sprayed room deodorizer in my bedroom and then ran through the mist a few times like it was a sprinkler. After that, I put on make-up and let her help me with my hair and, well, I looked…nice. Presentable. Not Sarah levels of fantastic, but pretty damn good for me.

My mother and I looked more alike than I wanted to admit, we were shaped the same, plus or minus thirty pounds and a c-section scar.

I leaned forward into the mirror like I’d often seen her do, and maneuvered my breasts front and center.

The skirt I’d borrowed didn’t hang much longer than my fingertips.

Was this safe? No. Was it wise? No. But after what’d happened to Lacey—someone had to do the right thing. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure this was it, but this was the only thing I could think of.

I walked out to the living room for inspection. My mother made an appraising sound. “Much better.”

“Jessie, you look beautiful!” Allie exclaimed.

“Thanks,” I told them both—and just after that, I knew the doorbell was going to ring.

I felt the charge of it spring and release—it was as if Liam was ringing me. Allie bolted for the door, and I caught her just in time.

“I’ve got it,” I announced to the room at large, then eyed my mother. “You don’t need to meet him or anything, do you?”

“If I did, then he’d fall for me, and the whole thing would be messy,” she teased.

“This is just a study thing,” I repeated.

“Sure, sure,” she said, and reached for the remote.

I gave Allie one more stern look, then opened and practically slid through the door, closing it to leave my family behind.