Chapter 4

“Are you sure about this?” His father was looking him over in the car. Just as the nurse had said, he’d been discharged the day before from the hospital. He’d spent that day at home resting, playing video games, and popping ibuprofen every 4 hours to fight the bruising that covered part of his body. Apparently, getting hit by a truck, even if it was just a good clipping, could cause quite a bit of bruising.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He wasn’t really fine. Well, physically he was pretty much fine. His head only had the occasional slight pain if he moved it too quickly, courtesy of course of the head meeting asphalt from two days ago. But, he was still trying to comprehend everything that had happened with regards to his ‘powers’. He’d actually spent the entire free day at home yesterday playing specifically the Sims, and Elder Scrolls…trying to figure out the system, and try to guess how his ‘special powers’ would work. He figured it counted as research, but he hadn’t really gained all that much from it. After all, in reality, he knew he wouldn’t truly understand it all until he got to put more use into it.

Though, that wasn’t to say he hadn’t made a breakthrough. During his gaming sessions, he had unlocked something in Special Traits.

Gamer- Rank 1

Simulation- 1/100

RPG- 1/100

Best he could figure, the Special Traits portion of his powers revealed skills he had in specific types of his life. Dan guessed if he’d been transported to another world…as crazy as that sounded, that tab would likely have dealt with magical skills he gained, or special weapon traits. At least, that’s what would have made the most sense.

But, because he was on Earth, and there weren’t things like magic or special powers…normally, it instead considered Special Traits as likely things such as gaming, cooking, crafting, and sports. Dan had a guess that Peter’s Tennis skills would be listed under special traits.

That thought, was part of why he’d insisted on heading to school the next day. Even though it was only 2 days since the accident, he wanted to get to school, so he could further explore his powers. Especially because for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to delve too far into his dad’s information. Finding out he had an Excellent relationship with his dad had been enough for him. He didn’t want to go delving into all of his father’s information. For some reason, something in his mind said that would be wrong. So…he needed other people to test it on, and who better than the people at St. Arthurs.

Which was why he was sitting in the car with his dad, getting ready to step out onto the pathway leading to the school.

“Well, you’ve got my cell number. And I passed on what the doctors said to the Principal. If you need anything, they will make sure you are taken care of until I can come get you.” His dad looked at him, the man’s eyes filled with love and worry. Dan had never really noticed just how much his father cared about him. But now, with the accident, and his powers telling him their relationship was excellent, he found himself suddenly very aware of how much his father cared about him. And that in and of itself, was a powerful thing.

+1 Happiness (71). Those…were still annoying. And some of the stats, such as Happiness, could change quite a bit in the span of a day.

“I know dad.” Dan grabbed his backpack and opened the door, glancing back at his father as he exited the car. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” His father said quickly. Then, the man cleared his throat and turned away, driving off shortly after Dan closed the car door. His father had never been the emotional type, and neither had Dan.

“Well that was sweet.” A voice said from behind, and Dan turned quickly, too quickly, to identify the speaker. His head throbbed for a moment and he winced. “How you doing road runner?” Peter grinned at him, the senior’s school uniform partially untucked, one hand holding a tennis racket. It looked like he’d been practicing in his school uniform before school started.

“I’m fine.” Dan responded hesitantly. He glanced above Peter’s head. Peter Young. He was tempted to pull up all the information on Peter right then, but held off. Standing outside of school, surrounded by students, was probably not the best time to try and read through a set of character information. Because he had no doubt it would appear quite strange to everyone… him just standing there, seemingly staring at blank space for a long period of time. Definitely not something he needed to do. At least, not until he got more comfortable with his power.

“Good to hear. We were all worried for ya man. Seriously, you shouldn’t run into the street without looking both ways.” Peter chuckled as he walked up to Dan and set a hand on his shoulder. “Gotta be careful man. Showing off for the girls ain’t going to get you anywhere if you get yourself killed in the process.” He leaned forward slightly, his voice dropping for a moment. “And probably not a good idea to try and show me up on your first day.”

“I,” Dan started as Peter pulled back. The senior shot him a grin and a wink as he turned back towards the school.

“No worries man. Though seriously, you ruined the racquet I gave ya.” The senior started walking towards the Academy. “So, try not to break the next one I lend you. And, don’t think I’m going to go easy on you today. If, you still plan on learning tennis that is.”

Peter paused and looked back at Dan. The way he looked at him, Dan couldn’t help but feel that wasn’t really a question. Peter wasn’t giving him an option to back out, and Dan knew Peter likely already heard from his father, the principal, that Dan was still fine to practice, if it was light. Dan got the feeling it maybe wasn’t a good idea for him to have tried to beat the Senior in the sprint. After all, Peter definitely seemed like the top dog in the school, meaning a new freshman trying to upstart him on day one, was probably really bad for his image.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Dan responded with a smile. “And sorry about the racquet.” He muttered. That part, he was sincere about. Peter had been nice to him. And had lent him a racquet. Which he’d researched and saw cost over 100 dollars. Sure, Peter claimed he’d won it off another player…but still, that wasn’t something cheap. And Dan had ruined it.

“No worries man.” Peter chuckled and motioned for Dan to follow him. “I’ve got plenty more. And I’m sure we can come up with some way for you to pay me back, later on, if you still feel bad about it.”

Dan nodded, his mind racing. He definitely got the feeling he didn’t want to be indebted to Peter. But there wasn’t any way for him to pay the Senior back just yet. Meaning, he would keep his eyes out for a way in the future to make sure he could clear his debt with Peter, preferable in his own way, not Peter’s.

“Good, good.” They walked to school, carrying on with small talk for a while as Peter took him to his locker, and helped him swing by the Principal’s Office to pick up the work he’d missed. Just because the school year had just started, apparently didn’t mean there wasn’t much work. A school like St. Arthur’s had a reputation like it did for a reason. Dan died a little on the inside as he saw the amount of work waiting for him at the Office. It was only day three of school. He’d only missed a single day. And it looked like he had a week’s worth of homework already.

Mental Health -2 (71) Happiness -5 (66)

“You okay buddy?” Peter asked him as he stared blankly at the pile of homework. Dan nodded, shoving it all inside of his backpack, already filled with books for his classes. The bag had to weigh close to 40lbs already.

“Yeah,” Dan muttered. He’d been so glad he’d gotten his happiness back into the 70s, but that apparently was short lived. Ugh. “Just, a lot of schoolwork.”

“Yeah, you get used to it.” Peter shrugged. “And, it really isn’t all that bad. You’ll see when you get to work on it. A lot of it is repetitive, and just a lot of testing if you can find the information in the schoolbooks and whatnot. Course work is more about teaching you to track down the information and being able to properly use that information to answer a question, rather than just memorization BS like they do in public schools.”

That was actually a relief. Mental Health +1 (72) Happiness +2 (68)

“I’ll take your word for it.” Dan replied. If that was the case, this wouldn’t be all that bad. He had hated that in the old schools. Mindlessly memorizing information, just to forget it whenever the test was over, and it was time for learning about a new subject, or new period in history, or whatnot.

“Hey man, I wouldn’t lie to you. I’ve been tasked with helping you succeed here buddy, and I’m going to make sure you do.” Peter looked at him, and offered him a genuine smile. “Besides, gotta make sure I leave something behind here, after I graduate. And I’ve got a good feeling about you.” Peter’s eyes seemed to flash with energy, or more so, passion, for a moment as he spoke. The way he looked at Dan, the way he spoke…the closest Dan could think of was someone choosing their replacement, their mentee, who they would leave to carry on their work in their stead. If Dan had been in a fantasy world, at that moment, he had no doubt he would have just become Peter’s protégé.

Dan, had no idea how to feel in that moment. And luckily, he was saved by the bell.

“Time for class.” Peter said as the bell finished ringing. “I’ll see you after school. Meet me on the hard court…and make sure this time you actually cross the road Danny.”