One (One Universe)

comments by jerks like me.
    “Are you the only three?” I ask.
    Now Leni’s mouth turns down even more. “There are other Ones, but they won’t admit it. We’re the only Ones we know of around here who have kept trying.”
    A wave of intensity throbs through my chest. I’m not the only one who hasn’t stopped practicing my One in my free time?
    I turn to Leni, asking the question that I don’t want to put words to. “Wait, so you…you still can…”
    “Yeah.” She smiles, and there is a glisten to her eyes. She kind of rubs her fingers together, then flings them open. I see the hint of a dancing orange glow hover above her whole hand, centered on her palm. One second later, she winces, sucks in a breath, and claps her hand shut, putting out the fire. She shows me the redness of her fingertips and the scald in the dip of her hand. “Still hoping the Second will manifest kind of. I really don’t have any fingerprints left. So, if it never does, I can always turn to a life of crime.”
    “That’s my girl,” says Elias, and her eyes turn from sad to grateful.
    Yeah. I hate this girl, even if I really, really like her.
    I shake my head, trying to distract myself. “So, wait,” I say, looking over at Daniel, who’s sitting on the floor against the wall, absorbed with something on his cell. “What can you do?” I silently scold myself for talking about these Ones like they’re a freaking parlor trick. I would have spit at anyone who suggested the same to me.
    “I’m indestructible.” The tone in his voice is weird, and I’m not sure if he’s trying to make a joke.
    “Really? But nothing else?” Every kid I know who’s indestructible also has super-strength or could combust or was super-fast. If Daniel’s telling the truth, his One is like a Second — the physical traits that make the Ones possible.
    “Yeah. Pretty lame, huh? I’ve cut myself more times than any of the depressed emos or cheerleaders here, and nothing.” He stretches out his arms, insides up, to show me. He’s right. His skin is completely flawless.
    “Shut up about the cheerleaders,” Leni says. Her eyes dart between the floor and her hands, which she twists and untwists over and over again. I can tell that she’s torn between fitting in and being a One, between being loyal to her Normal friends or to this ragtag group of Ones. Whether she wants to take a natural place in the world or fight to make her own.
    I’ve never done anything but fight, never even imagined another option. But then again, I’m not like Leni. I’m not beautiful or sweet or smiley. Even if I should be on antidepressants, I’m not.
    I’m just Merrin. And my only option is to get that Second. Because the only way I’ll ever be worth anything is if I figure out how to fly.
     
    We don’t study any calc. When Rosie announces, “Fifteen minutes till dinner,” the three of them flip open their readers, and their styluses fly across their tablets, working the problems. I follow suit, plopping myself down on the floor.
    Daniel switches off his reader no more than 10 minutes later, and I’m next to finish. He grins up at me, eyes flashing again, and I can’t help but smile back. “Brought us a genius, here, man. And you said she’s a sophomore?”
    Elias snorts and looks up at him, his eyes darting to me first. “Your ego’s so huge you don’t think it’s possible that an underclassman is smarter than you?”
    “No,” he says, still smiling. “Just because she finished almost as fast as me doesn’t mean she got the answers right.”
    “He probably hacked his tablet to work the problems for him,” Leni says, flipping the cover back over her reader.
    Daniel snorts. “Please. I could do that, but then I’d have nothing to do while you losers take your sweet time.”
    Well, I’m impressed. It took me days to hack one thing about the ID file on my cuff, and I’m not sure it wasn’t a mistake.
    Leni smiles at him with an unmistakable fondness, then hoists herself out of her chair and looks down at Elias, who’s still scribbling. “Gotta go,” she says. “Family game night.” She rolls her eyes and smacks Daniel on the head. “Coming, genius? Or are you going to make Merrin drive you home?”
    Daniel gives me one look and says, “Nah, she’s had enough of me for one night. And maybe the extra few minutes will keep you from the ‘pick a Monopoly piece’ drama.”
    She laughs, the sound of it like a bell. Real, not like the