Chapter 43

I awoke the next morning with another pleasant smile on my face. It was Friday, the day of the school week I always looked forward to. I stretched out and yawned before smacking my lips. I then threw my sheet off my body and sat up on the bed. I rubbed my face with both hands, but soon came to a slow halt as I noticed something about my arms. Upon closer inspection, I saw some visible definition in my muscles. I began to curiously flex them around in all directions. There was definitely a slight bulge of lean muscle there on my skinny arms.

I quickly shuffled into the bathroom and took off my shirt, gazing upon the barely noticeable tone of muscle in my chest and the slight tightness in my abdominals. Although there wasn't too much muscle to speak of, it was certainly more than I had before.

"Wow," I quietly remarked in reaction. A smile slowly spread across my lips as I couldn't take my eyes off the mirror. I was starting to feel like one of those self-absorbed gym monkeys. I then harkened back to the previous morning when I lifted the desk with little effort.

Apparently lifting my heavy computer desk once was the magical secret to getting ripped.

I was feeling awesome about my physique. It made me wonder if I should've started wearing sleeveless t-shirts to school. Maybe I could even flex and 'Hulk' out of my t-shirts to impress the girls. That'd be pretty damn sweet. Regardless, I decided to once again wear my usual outfit of a loose t-shirt and jeans.

Out on the sidewalk, I strutted along with my hands in my pockets. The morning air was a little warmer than usual, which was pleasant. I began to secretly hope that it would eventually get hot enough to cover my body in sweat and force me to take my shirt off. I smirked mischievously at the very thought of removing my shirt in the middle of the school courtyard, endless girls swooning over my looks as I glistened like a pale-white Adonis in the sunlight.

At the bus stop, I kept my hands in my pockets. I gazed around at everyone else with a big, confident smirk. I was tensing my arms and stuck my chest out, hoping that someone would notice my physique.

But then, a realization suddenly hit me.

I had already decided before that I wasn't going to use my powers to show off or brag or be overall reckless. The same should be true for my new look. But, then again, if a girl came up to me wanting to touch my muscles, well, I would happily take such a request.

Still, I so badly wanted to flex my biceps and go, 'Hey, check these babies out!' Of course, there wasn't much to show but I couldn't help feeling good about it. I sighed heavily and deflated my chest. Trying to be an upstanding, well-meaning guy was tough when the temptation to just spill everything and brag in peoples' faces was always there. As if teenage life wasn't conflicting enough, I also had a bunch of secrets I wanted to keep to myself.

And so, I sat and pondered to myself during the bus ride to school. My lips were almost continuously pursed together in frustration as I stared out the window. I was mostly just annoyed with myself for not letting go of my inhibitions, ripping my t-shirt down the middle and going, 'Hello, ladies.' I was feeling like, well, a bratty teenager. I wanted to tell my self-restraint to take its sense of responsibility and shove it. Though I knew in the back of my mind that keeping all of this to myself would pay off in the end, for the moment it was irritating me.

At the end of our ride, I picked up my backpack. I took a brief moment to really just watch my muscles flex before quickly slinging it over my shoulders and following the other students off. I headed into the front gates and almost immediately, I spotted Eve sitting on the same bench where we had talked a couple days prior. I smiled and headed over to her as she seemed engaged in the paperback book she was reading.

"Hey there," I said, causing her to quickly look up at me. She beamed a smile at me, closing her book and setting it aside.

"Hey!" she happily replied. I leaned in toward her, sharing a quick one-armed hug with her as she gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.

"How are you feeling?" I asked as I stood up.

"Better," she replied with a nod. She then patted the bench. "Come, sit with me for a bit."

"Oh, well, I don't know," I playfully said. "I've got a lot of stuff to do and people to see..."

"Come on," she innocently whined as she tugged at my arm with both hands, "just for a minute?"

"Okay," I replied as I quickly sat down. We grinned happily at each other for a brief moment as I looked into her eyes. Things felt so different, yet so pleasant, between us now that the two of us had become lovers. There was a warm bond there between the two of us that allowed us to be comfortable and casual with each other.

"So, how's your morning going?" she asked as she gently pushed the straps of my backpack aside and began slowly rubbing up and down my shoulders.

"Much better now that I got to see you," I replied.

"You're so sweet," she said with a soft giggle. She then looked down at my chest for a moment with a happy smile before looking up at me again. "I really wanted to personally thank you for everything you did for me yesterday. You took my mind off of my troubles and made me feel so much better."

I nodded to her. "You didn't deserve to be sad like that. It was really killing me to see you like that. I care about you, Eve."

"I care about you too, Anthony," she softly replied with an unfaltering smile. She then leaned in toward me and we shared a brief kiss before she gently pulled away. She happily sighed as she let her hands fall away from me.

"Well, I don't want to hold you up any longer," she said. "I'll see you later today, okay?"

"Bye for now," I replied, readjusting my backpack before getting to my feet. She smiled to me as I flashed her a happy grin and took my leave. I breathed happily. Spending even just a short time together with Eve was more than enough to make my morning.

I made haste getting into the cafeteria so I could acquisition my breakfast. Then, as was the norm for me by then, I took a seat that was far away from prying eyes before stopping time with a mere blink of my eyes. As I ate, I had to give pause to the fact that I was able to look upon stopping time itself as normal. I shook my head and scoffed in amusement, looking out at the motionless students with a mouthful of cereal.

But then, I suddenly heard the same eerie whispering that I had heard before. I quickly snapped my head toward the source, slowly swallowing my food as I remained motionless myself. In the dead silence of the time-frozen world, any noise was audible. The fact that I was hearing something meant I wasn't alone and that was a thought that worried me.

How could that be? Was I not stopping time for everyone? Perhaps it was some sort of strange audial side-effect of time stop. From where I heard the whispers, there was no one and nothing around. It couldn't have just been a fluke since I had heard it before. Whatever it was, it seemed to be gone. I was still a bit uneasy about it, but maybe it really was just an odd fluke.

By the time I was finished with my food, I'd forgotten all about the creepy whispering. I resumed time and then got up from my seat, disposing of my tray in the nearest garbage bin and headed outside.

I felt almost lucky when I noticed Frank, Josh and Brandon all sitting with Nora and not using me for some weird experiment. I stopped for a moment to think about what I was going to say to Nora. I had no idea how upset she was after yesterday and so I thought there had to be something I could do for her.

I closed my eyes and thought hard about what I could possibly do. My mind focused intensely upon figuring out that one simple goal, when suddenly I felt something thin and light drop into my hand.

I shot my eyes open and stifled a shocked gasp as my fingers clasped around the object: a rose. It was a perfectly red, de-thorned rose with a few leaves sprouting from the stem.

Oh, crap. I had just made something appear out of thin air again.