Author's Note: Hey readers! Feel free to skip this if you want to get straight into the story. I am mostly just rambling about random stuff. This is my first time writing anything like this, or really writing anything in several years. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I will be honest, this is mostly a first draft, with very minimal editing. If I decide that this is something I want to do more of, I will probably rewrite the first few chapters, but for now I just wanted to get something out there. I thought the setting made it clear, but just in case, all characters involved in the story are over the age of 18. I hope this tickles your fancy, as it did mine while writing it. Comments are always appreciated.
Chapter 1
I was just out of high school when I first realized the issue I had. Of course, at the time it didn't feel like much of an issue. I couldn't tell you how long I had the power, since it tends to be pretty subtle, and I was probably using it long before I realized it. It is probably the reason that I coasted through high school as easily as I did. But that is the the boring stuff no one really wants to hear about. Lets get right to the first time I realized I had the power to make others do whatever I wanted them to.
Austin was dragging me along to the post graduation party. I probably would have just stayed at home, but he can be quite insistent, and to be fair, he made sure I always had a good time, so I trusted his judgement a lot more than my own about these things. The party was being held at an event center. The senior class president had gotten the schools approval to spend the rest of their budget to throw a giant party after graduation, and thanks to a variety of loopholes, there would be minimal supervision. There were still some rules in place, as it was a school sponsored event on paper, but Austin was sure that once it passed midnight, things were going to get crazy.
We walked in around half past 9, and followed the signs past the indoor soccer field, and around a corner to the "Basketball Courts". There were two courts side by side, with bleachers that could be pulled out of the walls on the sides, but you could barely tell that was what they had been, as the floor space was taken up by a few inflatable games, and a mess of tables, rugs, and balloons. Along one wall there was a buffet table with snacks and drinks, watched over by the three school staff that were supervising: Principal Vikovic, a portly woman in her 50s who was known to be rather strict, Ms. Munoz; fresh out of college and teaching Spanish and history; and Mr. Edmonds, the giant of a man who taught Gym, but didn't give a hoot what the students did outside of his class.
For the first couple hours we just enjoyed the regular side of the party, trying out the different games and events. From the rock wall, to the staff fighting ring (you stand on two posts in a giant inflatable ring, and are given excessively padded sticks to knock the other person off their stand.) to the inflated obstacle course. In between I found myself talking to the other graduates, and overall just losing myself in the fun and games. But around midnight Austin tapped me on my shoulder, and pointed towards the door, where I could see Principal Vikovic slipping out, leaving the two much more lax teachers to supervise.
"Now the real party begins, Derek" His words would prove more true than he could have known.
Within minutes Alcohol emerged from seeming nowhere. Ms. Munoz looked a little worried, but Mr. Edmonds wrapped his arm around her, and whispered something in her ear that seemed to calm her down.
"Some people wanted to play soccer, and we need you." Austin had thrown his hand on my shoulder, and was gently pulling me away from my plate of chips and dip.
"You know I was never big into sports." I said as I reached for one last bite before he inevitably pulled me away.
"Trust me on this. It's guys vs girls, and Alexis started talking about making some wagers on it. With Vikovic gone, I get the feeling this is going to be where you want to be." At the mention of Alexis I let myself be dragged away. I had been nurturing a giant crush on her for a year or more, but never had the courage to do anything about it. It didn't help that she constantly seemed to have some other boy she was hanging around.
"Fine, but I don't make any promises about how well I can play." I wasn't in bad shape, but I was much more of a theatre kid than a jock. I let Austin lead me to the soccer fields, and I was a little shocked at the group that I saw there. Alexis was there of course. She was tall for a girl, standing just a hair over 6 foot, although you never would have gotten her to admit to anything over 5' 11", with long black hair done up in a ponytail that stuck out the back of her baseball cap. She had on a blue dress that fell about halfway between her knee and her ankle, with a slit on the right side that went about half way up her thigh. The other girls with her were a far bigger surprise, since they were not exactly known for running in the same crowds.
To her right was Felicia, the prom queen and chief bully of the school. Her blond hair was in a pixie cut, and her short green dress was far to reminiscent of Tinkerbell to be a coincidence, especially complimenting her diminutive stature at exactly 5 foot. It definitely served to highlight her curves though, and while here personality might have been the worst, the same could not be said for her body. She of course was flanked by her two cronies, Maddison and Ivy. Maddison was almost the lesser Felicia. Roughly the same height, but while Felicia had perfect blond hair, Maddison's was tinged with light brown. Felicia had curves that defied her stature, and Maddison's were all a size or two smaller. I had always assumed Felicia kept her around so she could always feel better about herself in comparison. Ivy on the other hand looked nothing like her friends. Her hair was dyed a dark green, and she had tattoos of plants climbing her arms, and disappearing beneath her white empire waist dress with cap sleeves. Ivy was the muscle of Felicia's little crew, used when Felicia's words weren't quite enough to get what she wanted.
One the guy's side we had me, who in spite of being 6 and a half foot tall, and reasonably fit, was fairly uncoordinated and largely inexperienced in the game. I had only played it when we had to as part of Gym class. Austin should do well enough. He was fairly short, at 5' 7" but he was built like a brick, and surprisingly fast. Apparently he had roped in Kyle, who was about 6', and bounced around pretty much all the sports. He was never a star player, but he should be good enough to give us a bit of an edge. Unfortunately I wasn't seeing a fourth player for our team.
"Lets get this rolling. When you score a goal, you get to make someone on the opposite team do a dare. If they decline, you get one of their items of clothing instead. Everyone good on the rules?" Alexis announced.
"Wait, why is it three against 4? Shouldn't the teams be even?" Kyle was looking nervous, but I thought we still had the upper hand. Alexis was probably pretty good, and Ivy might be a challenge, but Maddison and Felicia probably wouldn't be able to do very much to stop us three guys. Not to mention Kyle could probably run circles around their best player.
"So you little losers don't think you can win against a bunch of girls in dresses? I should have known they were too big of cowards for this Alexis. I don't know how you talked us into this. Come on girls, lets get out of here." Felicia waved to Maddison and Ivy and started walking to the door, and I could have sworn I saw Alexis wink at Austin, but it happened to fast to be sure.
